Ann looked away from him.
“There’s another reason I came,” he added.
“Yes?” Ann said.
“It was a nice thing you did for me, and I know I wasn’t acting very grateful.”
“Don’t worry about it, I understand. You were in pain and worried about your hand...”
“That wasn’t it,” he said.
Ann stopped.
“People like you look down on people like me, and I didn’t want to be indebted to any snob.”
“I’m not a snob, Heath.”
“I realized that after I got home and thought about it. I guess I just reacted instinctively, and I’m sorry.”
He extended his hand, and she took it. His palm was callused and warm.
The telephone rang and they both jumped, as if caught in a stolen embrace.
“Just let me answer that,” Ann said hastily, “and I’ll be right back.”
When she got to the phone it was her father, calling from work. That was odd enough in itself to make her wonder what was going on. Henry Talbot’s business was his life, and when he left the house in the morning it was usually as if he had disappeared into a parallel universe until he returned in the evening.
“I just wanted to let you know that there’s a dance at the Heron Club this Friday night and Dan Witherspoon asked me if you and Alan Michael would like to attend,” Henry said.
Ann saw the fine hand of Luisa in this development. The housekeeper had obviously told Henry about the incident with Heath, and Henry’s response was to provide his daughter with what he considered a more appropriate alternative.
Ann’s grip tightened on the receiver. She had spent exactly two hours with Heath Bodine, most of it in an intensely romantic hospital emergency room, and her father was behaving as if she had been discovered in a motel bed with him.
“Mr. Witherspoon is now arranging Alan’s dates?” Ann said to her father.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Henry Talbot replied testily. “He just thought it would be a nice idea if we could all go together.”
“Well, I’m sorry, you’re going to have to disappoint Mr. Witherspoon. I have plans for Friday.”
“What are you doing?”
“Amy and I are going over to Big Palm Island for an Aerosmith concert.”
“Can’t you postpone that?”
“Dad, they’re playing one night before going on to Miami. We’ve had the tickets for three months.”
Henry sighed dramatically. “All right, we’ll arrange something for the future then.”
Over my cooling carcass, Ann thought. Aloud she asked, “Is that all, Daddy?”
“I suppose so. Tell your mother I’ll be home at seven-fifteen. Goodbye.”
“Bye.” Ann hung up the phone and walked back into the living room to discover that Heath was gone.
* * * *
“What do you mean, he left?” Amy said as they drove over the causeway to Big Palm on Friday night.
“Just what I said. I went into the kitchen to get the phone and when I came back he was gone.”
“That’s odd.”
“Not to mention rude.”
“I don’t think he was being rude,” Amy said thoughtfully, turning down the radio.
“What would you call it?”
“He probably had to work up his nerve to come and see you, and then when you left he felt uncertain about it. Maybe he thought you were trying to get rid of him.”
“He heard the phone ringing in the kitchen, Amy. It wasn’t a magic trick.”
“But you did stay talking on the phone for several minutes, right?”
“It was my father, Amy. You know what he’s like.”
“Heath doesn’t know that. He may have thought you seized the opportunity to escape.”
“That’s stupid, Amy, why would I do that? He was only returning my sweater.”
Amy turned to look at her in amazement. “You’re the one who’s stupid, Annie. He could have mailed the sweater to you. He wanted to see you again and the sweater was an excuse.”
“You really think so?”
Amy rolled her eyes. “You’ve spent too much time in an all-girls’ school, sweetie.”
“You’ve been going to the same school.”
“But I sneak out every weekend to drive to Far Hills Community College to party while you stay in our room and read Victoria Holt novels and watch old movies. Trust me, I know about these things. He’s hooked.”
“I’d like to see him again,” Ann said softly.
“Then do it,” Amy said firmly.
“What do you mean?”
“Tonight is the perfect opportunity. Your parents think you’re at the concert with me. I’ll drop you off at Jensen’s Marina.”
“I can’t do that!” Ann said, aghast.
“Why not?”
“It’s so... forward.”
“What is this, 1959? Is Donna Reed at your house, giving advice in a shirtwaist dress, high heels and pearls? You want him, go for it.”
“I don’t even know if he’s working tonight.”
“From what I hear he’s always there. I don’t think home is too much fun. But we can make sure. Let’s pull over and call him.”
Ann stared at her in horror.
“I won’t say who it is, I’ll just ask for him and see if he’s there, okay?” Amy said, shrugging innocently.
Ann hesitated.
“Come on, come on—no guts, no glory.” Amy pulled into a driveway and turned her car around, heading back toward Lime Island.
“What if he is there? Are you going on to the concert by yourself?”
“Are you kidding? Gloria Stansfield has been bugging me for weeks to sell her my ticket, she’ll take yours in a second. I know for a fact she’s home tonight, I just talked to her this morning. I can pick her up after I drop you off at Jensen’s.”
“Got it all figured out, haven’t you?”
“Yup,” Amy said smugly, and grinned.
She guided her red Camaro into the Jiffy Stop strip mall and stopped the car in front of the pay phone. “Well?” she said as she put the car in park.
“All right. Should I call?”
Amy shook her head. “He might recognize your voice if he comes to the phone or answers it himself. This way, if I call and then you chicken out, he won’t be the wiser.”
Ann watched as Amy got out of the car and went to the phone. She had to hand it to her more sophisticated friend; Amy was a whiz at this stuff.
She saw Amy’s lips moving and then waited what seemed like an eternity before Amy flashed her the thumbs-up sign and nodded emphatically.
Ann felt her heart lurch. She had been half hoping that Heath wouldn’t be there. As much as she wanted to see him again, the thought of actually confronting him made her go weak in the knees.
What if he told her to get lost?
Amy scampered back to the car and chortled “Bingo” as she pulled open the door. She started the engine and the car shot out into the street, its tires kicking up sprays of gravel in her eagerness to get back onto the road.
“What took you so long?” Ann demanded, gnawing on her thumbnail.
“I had to get the number of the marina from information first. I didn’t exactly have it memorized, you know.”
“What did he say?”
“I didn’t talk to him. When somebody answered I just asked her for Heath Bodine, and when she went to get him, I hung up the phone. But we know he’s there.”
“For how long?”
“Probably until the place closes at nine.”
“But what if he leaves early? What if he goes out on a job and isn’t there when I arrive?”
Amy looked over at her in exasperation. “Then take a cab back home. Luisa’s gone for the day and your parents are out, anyway, they’ll never know the difference.”
“I only have ten dollars.”
Amy picked up her purse from the car’s console with her free hand and thrust it into Ann’s lap.
“There’s fifty in my wallet, take half. That’ll be more than enough, even if the cabbie takes you home by way of Santiago. Anything else, Nervous Nellie?”
“I’m not dressed right.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake Annie. You’re driving me nuts. You look perfectly fine.”
“This blouse is old.”