Unfinished Business Read Free

much the same,” she began, in a light, polite voice. “Does Mrs. Gaynor still live on the corner?”
    “Oh yes.” Relieved, Loretta began to chatter. “She’s nearly eighty now, and still walks every day, rain or shine, to the post office to get her mail. The Breckenridges moved away, oh, about five years ago. Went south. A nice family bought their house. Three children. The youngest just started school this year. He’s a pistol. And the Hawbaker boy, Rick, you remember? You used to baby-sit for him.”

    “I remember being paid a dollar an hour to be driven crazy by a little monster with buckteeth and a slingshot.”
    “That’s the one.” Loretta laughed. It was a sound, Vanessa realized, that she’d remembered all through the years. “He’s in college now, on a scholarship.”
    “Hard to believe.”
    “He came to see me when he was home last Christmas. Asked about you.” She fumbled again, cleared her throat. “Joanie’s still here.”
    “Joanie Tucker?”
    “It’s Joanie Knight now,” Loretta told her. “She married young Jack Knight three years ago. They have a beautiful baby.”
    “Joanie,” Vanessa murmured. Joanie Tucker, who had been her best friend since her earliest memory, her confidante, wailing wall and partner in crime. “She has a child.”
    “A little girl. Lara. They have a farm outside of town. I know she’d want to see you.”
    “Yes.” For the first time all day, Vanessa felt something click. “Yes, I want to see her. Her parents, are they well?”
    “Emily died almost eight years ago.”
    “Oh.” Vanessa reached out instinctively to touch her mother’s hand. As Joanie had been her closest friend, so had Emily Tucker been her mother’s. “I’m so sorry.”
    Loretta looked down at their joined hands, and her eyes filled. “I still miss her.”
    “She was the kindest woman I’ve ever known. I wish I had—” But it was too late for regrets. “Dr. Tucker, is he all right?”
    “Ham is fine.” Loretta blinked back tears, and tried not to be hurt when Vanessa removed her hand. “He grieved hard, but his family and his work got him through. He’ll be so pleased to see you, Van.”

    No one had called Vanessa by her nickname in more years than she could count. Hearing it now touched her.
    “Does he still have his office in his house?”
    “Of course. You’re not eating. Would you like something else?”
    “No, this is fine.” Dutifully she ate a forkful of salad.
    “Don’t you want to know about Brady?”
    “No.” Vanessa took another bite. “Not particularly.”
    There was something of the daughter she remembered in that look. The slight pout, the faint line between the brows. It warmed Loretta’s heart, as the polite stranger had not. “Brady Tucker followed in his father’s footsteps.”
    Vanessa almost choked. “He’s a doctor?”
    “That’s right. Had himself a fine, important position with some hospital in New York. Chief resident, I think Ham told me.”
    “I always thought Brady would end up pitching for the Orioles or going to jail.”
    Loretta laughed again, warmly. “So did most of us. But he turned into quite a respectable young man. Of course, he was always too handsome for his own good.”
    “Or anyone else’s,” Vanessa muttered, and her mother smiled again.
    “It’s always hard for a woman to resist the tall, dark and handsome kind, especially if he’s a rogue, as well.”
    “I think hood was the word.”
    “He never did anything really bad,” Loretta pointed out. “Not that he didn’t give Emily and Ham a few headaches. Well, a lot of headaches.” She laughed. “But the boy always looked out for his sister. I liked him for that. And he was taken with you.”
    Vanessa sniffed. “Brady Tucker was taken with anything in skirts.”

    “He was young.” They had all been young once, Loretta thought, looking at the lovely, composed stranger who was her daughter. “Emily told me he mooned around the house for weeks after