***
Walter wasn’t at the office, at Harrison’s, or even at his own place. Jane found that out for sure because she made Harrison let her in to check. Despite it being her first time in his space, she hadn’t taken any time to look around.
As she trudged back to the office, she reflected on how grateful she was that neither Amanda or Harrison had teased her about her raggedy-striped bathrobe. Brenner on the other hand, had stared in disbelief when she’d tracked him down. She’d had to ask him twice before he finally admitted that he hadn’t seen Walter since he’d seen her that morning. That left only one place to check.
“Yeah. It’s confirmed. Daniel says Walter is at the firehouse and mad as hell,” Amanda said, after she got a text back. “Want some advice?”
Jane nodded.
“Untie the robe. What’s under it might help Walter pay attention long enough so you can get your story out. Daniel said he’s having a meltdown as big as he is. He thinks you’ve found someone else,” Amanda said. “Want to me pass any explanation along to pave the way for you?”
“No. It’s an embarrassing explanation. I’ll just tell him when I see him.”
Jane smiled, thanked the younger woman, and slunk back out the front door to her car.
She had to park on the street when she got to the fire station, but did take Amanda’s advice, even though she felt practically naked in her tank top, no bra, and her second favorite pair of shorts leftover from college. Several men stopped their tasks and stared as she walked in.
“Hello,” one of the braver ones said, his gaze dropping to her bare legs and staying there.
“Walter Graham,” Jane said firmly. “I’m looking for Walter.”
“All the women are,” another joked, his singsong voice mocking her.
Any other time she’d have looked for a way to take the smart mouth down and teach him some respect, but she was a woman on a mission. The first guy that had spoken finally lifted his gaze to her breasts and pointed to a back room. Jane ignored the surprised stares as she walked in that direction.
When she found him, Walter’s back was turned to her, but the dark-haired man she had seen with him at the restaurant peered around Walter’s bulk. His gaze dropped to her bare legs as well, his face automatically lighting with a grin of welcome when it rose back to her face. Had to be Daniel, Jane thought. She could definitely see what Amanda saw in the man.
“Walter, we need to talk,” Jane said.
Walter turned around, looked her over, and met her gaze with a glare. This is what she threw on after her shower? Knowing she had dressed for the other guy in the same clothes she worn with him just added fuel to the fire burning up his insides.
Jane crossed her arms over her breasts, resisting the urge to belt her robe back up. She could feel the anger rolling off Walter. It put her in momentary shock. She hadn’t even known he’d had a temper. Then she thought about her own upset in a similar situation with her ex—only it had been real and not just a misunderstanding.
“Can we talk in private?” Jane asked.
“Why? What is there to talk about, Jane? Oh yeah, the naked guy I found at your house. I suppose you have a great explanation for why he was running around with almost no clothes on while you were in the shower.”
“Actually, I do have an explanation,” Jane said, stunned over his mean tone.
“I don’t think I want to hear it. Obviously I’ve had blinders on about you all this time. Judging from the age of the guy, I’m guessing you’re one of those older single women who collect younger men to sleep with while you date older, more appropriate ones. My serious intentions toward you must have really cramped your style since you had to sneak behind my back to see the one today. Thanks for this morning though. It was a hell of a send-off for me. I doubt I will ever forget you, but I’m going to try my best to find a woman who really wants me. In fact, I told Amanda to fish the phone numbers and notes out of the trash,” Walter said.
Jane’s stomach bottomed out with the pain of Walter’s accusations, but worse with the announcement that he intended to replace her with one or more of his groupies. It was her worst nightmare come true and in a worse way than she ever imagined.
Collecting younger men? Yeah right. Walter should know better. He should know because it took her forever to give in to him.
Feeling exposed in more ways than she could handle, Jane took a moment to belt the robe closed over the body that might still betray her in Walter’s presence. Amanda’s advice had been well intended, but Walter was too upset to be affected.
What ran through her mind as she considered how to respond was how very tired she was of being hurt by men. First by the one that cheated on her. Now by the one that was planning to do so because he was too young and too immature to listen to the simplest of explanations. It was the most ironic thing that had ever happened to her.
“So just like that, huh Walter? You’re so smart, you’ve got it all figured out without hearing what I have to say. You don’t really even care what my story is about the guy, do you?” Jane asked.
“Walter, I think you should listen to her,” Daniel said.
Jane was shaking her head. “No. Thanks for trying. But no. Walter obviously doesn’t want to know. If he wanted to know, he would have stayed at my house and asked me. I don’t know why I bothered to come tearing over here. When I left North Winds, there were still a few notes left taped to the wall, Walter. Go and enjoy yourself. That’s what you should be doing at your age anyway. Have a nice life, but stay out of mine from now on.”
She turned and saw about ten men scrambling away from the open doorway like the fire alarm had just went off. Walter’s scathing comments had multiple witnesses. It was hard to accept that he had humiliated her for something she would never even do.
Crossing younger men off her list for good, Jane cleared the doorway in a run, her well-worn house shoes making no sound as she fled.
***
“Dude, there is jealous. . .and there is what you just did,” Daniel announced, staring at the door the upset woman had run through.
“You didn’t see the guy, Daniel,” Walter said. “I’m still in shock that Jane had someone else in her life this whole time. I knew she was dating—like, stuffy older guys—but this guy was like me. He was like mid-thirties with a cheesy dragon tattoo. He needed a haircut and his pants were all but falling off him. I could have snapped him into pieces, but I decided it wasn’t worth the jail time.”
“Shut up, Walter. No one believes that shit about her but you,” Daniel declared. “You’ve spun up this drama in your head just to rationalize the fact that you were so stinking jealous you couldn’t see straight. But your stupid story doesn’t make sense with anything else you’ve said about the woman. Amanda said Jane tore up North Winds looking for you. You should at least have let her explain.”
Walter snorted. “You heard her. She did explain.”
“No she didn’t,” Daniel argued. “I know you haven’t ever kept a girlfriend long enough to appreciate the fine art of fighting in a relationship, but you were too brutal for her to respond honestly. Who could blame her for not saying anything after that shit you said to her first? I didn’t even know you had that much asshole capacity in you. Damn Walter, I can’t believe you were so mean to a woman you slept with just this morning. That’s just cold, bro.”
“So you don’t think the guy was anyone important to her? You think I ought to just let Jane go from me to him without a word of complaint? I like her a lot, but I’m not that desperate for female company. Sex is not my problem. There are plenty of other women in the world,” Walter declared.
“Dude, how can you be so smart about everything else and so dumb about that woman that just ran away from you? You’re going to be sorry as hell if you don’t fix this quickly. You’re going to be sorry in ways that you can’t even imagine being right now when you find out what this is really about,” Daniel said. “I’m warning you, Walter. The truth is going to make you feel like the lowest idiot that ever lived. And I don’t know if anyone’s going to be able to help you.”
“He was naked, Daniel. You didn’t see him. I did. The man was obviously very much at home in her house.”
Walter shook his head and headed back to work.
***
Walter wasn’t surprised when Jane didn’t show up on Tuesday. Amanda wasn’t talking to him much, but she did attach a note to the special courier delivery that arrived that afternoon.
Jane was invoking her right to cancel their project agreement. In lieu of her continued involvement, attached to the cancellation notice was a check for some bogus calculated share of project costs. The letter from her attorney outlined her suggestion that her thirty thousand dollar contribution be used to replace the resident swimming pool.
Walter snapped the check from its staple and handed it to Amanda. “Send it back to her by Harrison’s attorney. Have him release Jane Waterfield from all liability and involvement at North Winds. I’m not taking her money. I’ll find another way to pay for the replacement swimming pool.”
“What if you just called her to talk?” Amanda asked.
Walter shook his head. “About what?”
“I really hope you wake up soon and get your head out of your ass before Jane gets over you,” Amanda said, picking up the paperwork and leaving Walter to stew.
“Janey won’t talk about what happened. She left chasing after some guy in her bathrobe and when she got back, she went to her room and cried for the rest of the day. Tuesday morning, I found her making coffee, dressed in business clothes. We had breakfast and then she left. She came home late in the afternoon, looking like chalk. What is going on, Dad?”
Morrie frowned and studied the table. Jane wasn’t talking to any of them. And Walter wasn’t talking to Harrison. Something had gone badly wrong between them, but nobody knew what it was. Jane had been happy working on the project with Walter. For the first time since Nathan Waterfield, his daughter had been truly happy. He had thought Walter was the reason.
“His name is Walter Graham. He bought North Winds from her. I think they were. . .involved,” Morrie said, carefully choosing his term for their relationship.
“Well, that would explain why he wanted to kill me at first sight when I answered the door without my shirt,” Eli said. “Geez, I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself, but how was I supposed to know? He was so young. He didn’t look like her type. He certainly didn’t look like Waterfield. The kid was not nearly as polished as her usual.”
Morrie nodded. “Walter is an intellectual. I don’t understand how he could have jumped so fast to any conclusion. It would have taken him two questions to find out who you were. In my opinion, if a mistake was made, it is on his head more than yours. He should have asked who you were. There is being jealous and there is acting ridiculous.”
“Are you sure the man is an intellectual? The guy who showed up at the door didn’t look like he had a brain, much less knew how to use one. I thought he was some gang punk, all wild-eyed and enraged. I was expecting him to throw a punch any minute. He certainly didn’t ask who I was. He just asked where Jane was. I may have been a little abrupt in my answer at that point because he sounded like a dick about my sister,” Eli said, rubbing his small growth of beard.
“Yes. I’ve heard you be abrupt before,” Morrie said dryly, drinking the coffee his son had made. “And your language has certainly gotten very colorful.”
“Sorry. Bad habits over the last year. So should I track down this guy and tell him who I am?” Eli asked. “I don’t mind doing that. I’ve gotten pretty creative about getting unwilling people to listen to me.”
Morrie shook his head. “A week ago, I would have said yes. Now. . .now I’m not so sure I want Jane involved with a man who won’t listen to her. As far as I know, this was their first fight. If a woman comes looking for you, it means your opinion matters to her. The least Walter could have done was heard her out. Think of the heartache his listening would have saved. Do we want Jane going through that again and again if the man isn’t capable of trusting her? I don’t. Walter lashing out in a jealous rage every five seconds would be as bad as anything Waterfield did to her.”
Eli nodded. “I hear you, but you should have heard her crying, Dad. It was heartwrenching. I was sick listening to it. She obviously cared.”
Morrie sighed. “More than just cared. Jane was falling in love with Walter, even despite the age difference. Lots of us have been watching it happen and crossing our fingers.”
“Is some guy named Harrison one of those watching?” Eli asked. “He was calling two or three times a day until Jane changed her phone number.”
Morrie put his head in his hand. “Harrison is Walter’s elderly grandfather. He was the original matchmaker between the two of them. He’s probably disappointed in how this has worked out.”
“The last time I saw Janey this hurt, it was right after she had found Nathan in bed with someone. Did she ever tell you who the woman was?” Eli asked.
Morrie shook his head. “No. I don’t think she knows. She told me she ran out of the room too quickly to see. Then she left the house after she confronted him. I know catching him in the act has stayed with her though. She didn’t date for almost a year.”
“Well the woman thought Jane saw her, so she confessed to her fiancé. He took the first out of town job he could get,” Eli said. “But you know what the guy discovered? It doesn’t work like that. Your problems just keep getting in your face until you stop and confront them. Now I’m back and that shit is behind me. Jane needs to put it away for good too.”
“Shira? You’re telling me the woman Jane caught with Nathan Waterfield was Shira,” Morrie exclaimed.
“Yes,” Eli said. “Hell of a mess, right? How was I supposed to look at Jane all the time knowing the woman I planned to marry had caused the end of her marriage? And you know how guilty she feels about every little thing, Dad. I couldn’t stand the idea of that. Now I’ve managed to help screw up Jane’s happy life a second time. What kind of sense does any of this shit make?”