Family Affair Read Free Page B

ex.”
    “I’m not blaming other men.”
    “You’ve been divorced for over a year now and you never date.”
    “I don’t want another relationship.”
    “You were wise not to date right away,” Jeanne said sympathetically, “but now it’s time you got on with your life. If you want my advice, I think you should go out with Jack. He’s adorable.”
    “Are you crazy?” Lacey insisted. “He was fighting with Sarah again. It’s all I can do not to tell that sweet young girl what I know. He’s playing her for a fool just the way Peter played me.”
    “You’re jumping to conclusions.”
    “I don’t think so,” Lacey insisted. “They’re constantly fighting. From bits of conversation I’ve heard, it sounds like Jack wants her to move in with him. Apparently she’s on to him because she refuses. I wouldn’t trust him either.”
    “You know what’s happened, don’t you?” Jeanne asked. “You’ve gotten to be a cynic. I don’t think you realize how much Peter hurt you.”
    “Nonsense,” was Lacey’s immediate reply. “He didn’t do anything more than teach me a valuable lesson.”
    Lacey didn’t sleep well that night. It was little wonder, in light of how her day had gone. The unpleasant run-in with her neighbor continued to plague her. Jack was easygoing and friendly, the kind of man who put people at ease. Not her, though. Lacey’s defenses went up whenever he was around her.
    As luck would have it, they met in the hallway on their way to work the following morning.
    “Off to the coal mines, I see,” he said amicably as they made their way to the elevator. He was dressed in a dark three-piece suit, and the only word she could think to describe him was debonair. His smile was wide and charming. Too charming, Lacey decided. His eyes were friendly and warm, the type of eyes a woman remembers for a long time.
    “Where do you work?” he asked conversationally as he summoned the elevator.
    “Sullivan’s Decorating,” she answered, without elaborating. Encouraging conversation between them wouldn’t be smart. It would be far too easy to be seduced by his magnetism.
    “Really? I think that was the firm the bank hired last year when we redecorated.”
    “We’ve been involved in several bank renovations,” she agreeded evenly. So Jack was a bank executive? Lacey didn’t press for information, although she couldn’t help being curious.
    As if reading her thoughts, he reached inside his suit pocket and handed her a business card. “Come see me if you ever need a loan.”
    “I will, thank you.”
    “I’ll look forward to having you apply.” He smiled down on her and, even knowing what she did about him, her heart fluttered. She was cursed, Lacey mused, destined to be attracted to the wrong kind of men. There was probably some technical name for it, some term psychologists used for women like her. Nutty would do, she decided. Tangling her life with his would be downright disastrous.
    “Have a good day,” Jack said when the elevator opened.
    “You too.” Her voice was little more than a whisper.
    “Say,” Jack said, turning back abruptly, as if struck by inspiration. “I don’t suppose you’d be free for dinner tomorrow night?”
    Instinctively, Lacey stiffened. So he hadn’t given up trying. “No . . . I’m sorry, I’m not free,” she said. Apparently she conveyed her message because he didn’t press her.
    He glanced at his watch and frowned. “Perhaps another time.”
    “Perhaps.”
    Lacey wasn’t making Jack Walker any promises. But she couldn’t get the thought of Jack out of her mind all day.
    The following evening, when Lacey was taking her trash to the chute at the end of the hallway, she ran into Jack a second time, just as he was going out his door.
    Taken by surprise, they stopped and stared at each other. He was dressed formally as if for a fancy dinner date. Lacey didn’t need to be reminded that he could have been wining and dining her. She’d declined