“Marisa Avalos,” Amanda Bolliton said, her voice warm. “I expected your call.”
“So I understand. Can we do anything legally to fight the sale of the plant? Should I ask for a town meeting?”
“Definitely. How about tomorrow night at eight?”
“That soon?”
“My phone has rung nonstop for the past hour. Some people were panicked. I heard from Mae Ellen Ferguson that the Chinese were buying the plant. The sooner we have an open forum the better. Will you be ready to present by then?”
“Me?”
“Of course. Henry DeSoto told me you started the awareness campaign.”
“But I’ve never spoken to a crowd before.”
“You’re a business owner in this town. You’ve got a big stake in the town’s success or failure. There can’t be any issue more important than this one.”
Marisa sighed. “You’re right. I’ll be ready by eight tomorrow. Thanks, Your Honor.”
When Marisa hung up, her mother beamed at her. “See, you are an important part of this town. The mayor herself has asked you to speak. I am so proud of you,
mi hija
.”
Marisa’s smile felt strained. “Thanks, Mamá.”
• • •
Later, as they made empanadas together in her mother’s kitchen, Anjelita spoke. “You think this Nick is attractive.”
Marisa blushed and hoped the heat of the kitchen hid it. “He’s a good-looking man.”
“He likes what he sees too. But there is darkness in him.”
“I know.” Marisa told her mother about Nick’s job burnout.
“So he is hungry for what is good, or for what will divert his mind from what is bad.”
“Mamá, you don’t have to worry about me. I don’t intend to have an affair with him.” But her lower body clenched against her will.
Her mother seemed to look inward. “Sometimes attraction is so intense you cannot help yourself.”
“Is that how it was with my father?”
Anjelita looked at her with sad eyes. “You are old enough now,
mi hija
, I think you will understand. I was new to this town and alone for the first time in my life. All the men thought I was beautiful. They paid attention to me. It went to my head. But they only wanted my body. It made me felt even more alone. I am ashamed at how I came to know carnal love and with how many men. I wanted to be loved, you see.
“When I was at my loneliest, I met a man who set my body aflame with his touch. I gave myself to him, and I gave him my heart. I would have done anything for him,
mi hija,
even though I knew it was wrong. I let him use me because I loved him.”
Marisa’s throat felt tight. “And then he left you.”
Her mother’s answer came slowly. “Yes. I love him still. I shall never love another man like that.”
“But he deserted you.”
Her mother clasped Marisa’s hands in hers. “Oh,
mi hija
, how can I make you understand?”
“You can’t.” Marisa pulled her hands away and swallowed through a tight throat. “Did he know about me?”
Her mother looked down, tucking the last empanada carefully into the oven dish. “He knew.”
“So he deserted me too. And yet you still love him.” All this time Marisa had suspected her father’s desertion was because of her mother’s pregnancy — because of
her
. Now was the perfect time to ask, but she couldn’t bring herself to confirm it.
“Do not let this Nick do that to you,
mi hija
. There is such intensity about him. I think he could be one whose touch is like flame. And he is not here to stay. I do not wish to see your heart broken again.”
“Mamá, do you wish you’d never met my father?”
Anjelita shook her head. “No,
mi hija.
To feel a love like that is not to be missed. Besides, I was blessed with you.”
Marisa squeezed her mother’s hand. “But he didn’t really love you, Mamá. He couldn’t have.”
“He did, as much as he was able. That is why I love him still.”
Her mother and father’s strange relationship consumed Marisa’s thoughts later as she left her mother’s cottage and took the shortcut across the big house grounds. A breeze blew from the west, making the tree branches sway and chasing the few fallen leaves across her path. The quarter moon showed through the leaves and cast ghostly moving shadows.
A chill roughened the skin on Marisa’s forearms. The brisk fall evening was a sharp contrast to the hot day and the heat in her mother’s kitchen. But it was a beautiful night to walk the half mile to her apartment. The sky was clear, without the glare and pollution of big city lights and smog. She sucked in the crisp, fresh air. Down the hill, a truck changed gears as it climbed out of the valley.
A shadow darkened the path and leaves crackled. Marisa’s neck prickled. She whirled to face whomever it might be, her key gripped like a weapon in her hand. But the lawn behind her was empty, the trees silent sentinels to the night.
Marisa’s heart pounded. She could swear she hadn’t been alone. A cloud moved across the crescent of the moon as she scanned the trees, but when the area was once again bathed in gentle moonlight, she still saw no one.
Turning, she hurried toward the road. She was just rattled from the events of the day. Ghosts haunted her tonight.
As the road heaved into sight through the front gate, a breeze chased leaves around her feet. Tree branches swayed alarmingly. The hairs on her neck stood out. Marisa sprinted the last hundred yards. She couldn’t hear anything over her pounding feet and heart. Was someone running too? She dare not turn around to see.
She flashed through the brick posts that bracketed the Easterling driveway and reached the streetlight. Swiveling, she planted her feet to attack. But there was no one there. Her gaze jerked right and left as she gulped breath into her heaving lungs. Her heart continued to thud too loudly to hear anything else. The trees still swayed in the breeze. Leaves danced. But no human moved among the shadows.
Marisa swung in the other direction and scrutinized her surroundings. No one jumped out at her. Still, she couldn’t shake her uneasiness, even though it was just the wind. She hurried down the center of the street toward her apartment. She hated being afraid for apparently no reason.
By mid-morning the next day, Marisa felt she’d spoken to half the townspeople about the upcoming meeting. She understood why they couldn’t wait until that night to find out the details, but she wasn’t getting any work done. And she hadn’t had a chance to speak to her mother about her strange uneasiness last night.
When the phone rang again, she dreaded answering but did.
“It’s Nick Stark. Do you have a place picked out to photograph?”
Chagrined, she grimaced. “Oh, Nick, I’m so sorry. I forgot all about it with the town meeting coming up.”
“That’s okay. Maybe some other time.” His response sounded too bright and forced.
At that moment, she decided her work could wait. She wanted to watch him take photographs again. Maybe he might loosen up enough to smile. “No, no. I’ll come get you right now. I need a break from all these phone calls.”
“I can drive.” He sounded eager.
But Marisa had a better idea. “Let me drive so you can take pictures along the way.”
“Okay. I’m renting a cabin on Salt Point Road.” He gave her the address.
“I’ll be there in about ten minutes. We’ll drive up through the wineries on the west side of the lake. It’s beautiful country.”
“It sounds great.”
No sooner had Marisa hung up then the phone rang again. Thinking Nick had forgotten something, she answered with, “Don’t worry about lunch. We’ll stop along the way.”
“Miss Avalos?” The woman’s voice was familiar, but Marisa couldn’t place it.
“Yes?”
“It’s Grace Vanaker, the general manager’s secretary at the plant. I’m calling to notify you of a stockholder’s meeting at three.” Grace sounded harried.
“So soon?” Scott sure didn’t waste any time.
“Mr. Wentworth called an emergency meeting.”
Her chest muscles constricted. Scott was going to beat them to the punch. Her mind scrambled for a reason to delay until after tonight’s town meeting, but she could think of nothing. She sighed. “Where’s it to be held?”
“In the conference room at the plant.”
“I’ll be there.” She hung up, but her anger and frustration boiled over. Her fists clenched on the desktop. “Damn Scott Wentworth!”
“What has he done now,
mi hija
?”
“Called an emergency board meeting. He must have heard about the town meeting tonight and he’s trying to outmaneuver us.”
“Surely he will not be able to sell the plant today?”
“Not sell it, no. But he’ll try to pass a motion to put the plant on the market. I’ve got to stop him, but I only own a few shares. Damn, I’ll have to call Nick back and cancel.” Disappointment weighted her down and took some of the brightness from the day. How strange that the planned time with Nick seemed so important to her.
“You are tired,
mi hija
. There are dark circles under your eyes. Surely you will fight better if you take a few hours to plan what you will say.”
Marisa wondered why her mother was pushing her into Nick’s company when she’d already warned Marisa about him. But she was too stressed to come up with an answer. Besides, the glow had returned to the day. So she turned on the answering machine, kissed her mother good-bye and headed down the road to Nick’s cabin. Her heart beat faster and her breathing accelerated the closer she got to his road. She tried but failed to tamp down an almost giddy eagerness.
Nick was just as darkly appealing as he’d been the other times she’d seen him. He wore a white T-shirt that stretched across his wide chest and faded blue jeans that hugged his narrow hips. He looked great. Marisa’s mouth dried. Again, she felt guilty about the strength of her attraction to him.
Nick climbed in her car and suddenly the front seat wasn’t big enough. She was acutely aware of his body heat and the fresh outdoorsy scent that clung to him. Her clothes felt too tight and her palms were moist on the steering wheel.
“I’m glad you could spare the time.” His deep voice vibrated the air between them and her lower body clenched in response.
Marisa managed a coherent reply, even though her brain was processing on the most primal of levels. “You gave me an excuse to get away from all the phone calls.” As they headed up Route 14, she filled him in on the town meeting and the upcoming stockholder’s meeting.
He frowned. “One man wields a lot of power over your town.”
“It was different when Andrew Easterling owned everything. He was one of us.”
Nick turned in his seat to face her. “You knew him well?”
“I spent half my life at the big house with Carolyn. She spent the other half at mine. So when Mr. Easterling played with her, he played with me too. Carolyn’s mom was an invalid, so he taught us to ride bikes, how to skate, and how to drive a car. In a way, he was the dad I never had, and my mom was the mother figure Carolyn’s mom couldn’t be.”
“Was he at your house a lot?”
“He was our landlord and Mamá’s employer, and his daughter spent half her days at our house. Of course, he was there. I saw him every day except when he was out of town. Why are you asking?” She narrowed her eyes at him, an ugly suspicion forming.
He confirmed it. “I’ve heard rumors your mother was more than his employee.”
“It’s a lie. My mother is still in love with my father. She’s never even looked at another man.” She felt oddly hurt by his doubt.
“Sorry. I just wondered if Andrew Easterling might have been your father.”
Marisa’s hands gripped the steering wheel until they hurt. “No. My father left town before Mamá went to work for the Easterlings.”
A tense silence filled the car. Her mother’s words from yesterday sprang into Marisa’s mind. She’d known a lot of carnal love before Marisa’s father. Would her mother have needed sex after she’d been deserted? And there was Andrew Easterling with a newly paralyzed wife looking to assuage a need.
Marisa shuddered. Before yesterday, she never would have entertained the idea. But yesterday her body had come alive near Nick, and today it was even worse. Apparently a woman could be in love with one man and still desire another. But she was stronger than her desire. She burned with shame.
“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I spoiled our day.”
Marisa glanced at him and saw the concern in his dark eyes. She swallowed her retort. “It’s a hard time for everyone right now and Scott is making it worse. Here’s the first winery.”
Nick looked like he wanted to say more, but Marisa parked the car and strode to stand looking down the hill. Nick stood beside her, his camera clasped in his hands.
The straight rows of vines soothed her logical mind. The blue backdrop of Seneca Lake calmed her agitated emotions. The pastoral scene eased the knots of tension from her tight muscles. The quiet clicking of the camera’s shutter did nothing to disturb the scene.
Nick lowered his camera. “I knew there were wineries around here, but I never thought of seeing one.”
“There are twenty-eight around Seneca Lake, each one a different style. I wish we had time to drive up to Belhurst on the tip of the lake so you could photograph the castle.”
His brown eyes gleamed with eagerness. “How long would it take?”
“If we don’t stop at any other wineries, about forty minutes.”
Nick’s mouth kicked up on one side, displaying a dimple. Marisa’s breath stalled in her throat. What would it be like to see a full smile? Half of her wanted to, while the other half was afraid what would happen if she did.
• • •
The drive up the lake was beautiful and soothing. When he saw the castle, Nick sucked in his breath. “Is that it?”
His excitement sparked Marisa’s. “Yes, beautiful, isn’t it.”
“Oh yes.” He gripped his camera.
As she watched Nick photograph the castle and vineyards, Marisa knew she’d chosen correctly. Slowly, the lines of strain drained from his face and his dimple flashed more often. She had to look away because she was finding him too damned attractive.
She and Kevin had come here long ago, two high school seniors in the rush of dating euphoria. He’d played the knight, gallantly showing her Belhurst. They hadn’t been able to afford a room at the castle, so she’d rewarded him her virginity that night in his car by the lake. In retrospect, their passionate fumbling seemed almost comical. Kevin had gone off to college soon afterwards. Had they ever gotten to know one another deeper than that?