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“Go to lunch, Polly,” Robert said. “You look done in. I sincerely apologize for sending you to the school in my place.”
“It wasn’t your fault it was a disaster.” Polly glanced at the empty chair that belonged to the receptionist. “Don’t you want me to cover the phone, per usual, while Becky is at lunch?”
“I’ll do it,” Nancy said. “We’re on schedule here. The next appointment isn’t for an hour. We’re waiting for the restaurant to deliver Pookie’s food.”
“Pookie the poodle is having her meals catered by a restaurant while she’s boarding here?” Polly said.
“Yep,” Robert said, smiling. “Isn’t that a hoot? No ordinary canned dog food for that pooch. Today she’s having custom-made dog food and a few thin slices of medium-rare steak. Do you think she’d notice if I ate the steak?”
“She’d notice,” Nancy said. “Don’t you dare take one bite of that meat when it arrives.”
Catered restaurant meals for a poodle? Polly thought incredulously. How many of Joe Dillon’s students had ever had thinly sliced steak, or eaten in a place fancy enough to serve it? She’d never even dined in an establishment like that.
If the students at Abraham Lincoln High School knew about Pookie’s culinary delights, Joe would probably have a riot on his hands.
“Don’t...don’t you think that this nonsense about Pookie’s food is a bit much?” she asked.
Robert shrugged. “The Hendersons can afford it. Pookie is like a child to them. They never would have boarded her if it wasn’t for a family emergency back east. They’ve already called twice to check on their little darling. Once from the airport and then from the plane, thirty thousand feet up in the clouds.”
“Oh, good grief,” Polly said.
“I think it’s sweet,” Nancy said. “We see our share of abused and abandoned animals. The Hendersons love Pookie and have no qualms about letting it be known how they feel about her. There’s no harm in that.”
“But...” Polly began, then stopped speaking and pressed her fingertips to her throbbing temples. “Forget it. I have a killer headache, my mind is mush, and the events of this morning are a nightmare I intend to erase from my memory bank.”
“Go to lunch and take extra time,” Nancy said.
“Yes, all right,” Polly said. “I’ll get my brown bag from the refrigerator and go eat in the park. That ought to fix me right up.”
“Give me the bird, Joe,” Jazzy hollered.
“Oops,” Robert said, lifting Jazzy’s cage from the counter. “You’re going out of sight, Jazzy. Polly definitely has murder on her agenda in regard to you. Come on, I’ll give you a piece of apple.”
“Apple,” Jazzy repeated. “Apple and a bottle of beer.”
Robert left the reception area with the chattering bird.
“Polly, are you really all right?” Nancy asked, frowning. “You’re awfully pale.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, managing to produce a small smile. “This morning’s adventure was rather unsettling, that’s all. After some food and bit of peace and quiet in the park, I’ll be as good as new.”
The bell over the door chimed as someone entered the office.
“Oh, here’s Pookie’s lunch,” Nancy said.
“I’m gone.” Polly hurried away in the direction of the back room where her packed lunch was waiting in the refrigerator. “Thinly sliced steak? Cripes, I’m having peanut butter and jelly.”
Three
The next morning, Polly sat at the round wooden table placed in front of the windows at one end of her narrow kitchen.
Sipping from a mug of hot tea, she willed the brew to infuse her with energy, render her wide-awake and ready to face the new day with vigor and enthusiasm.
It didn’t work.
She plunked her elbows on the table, nestled her chin in her hands, then closed her eyes.
She was so-o-o tired, she thought. She’d hardly slept last night, had tossed and turned for hours. When she did manage to doze off she’d dreamed about Joe Dillon, the rotten bum.
In one of her dumb dreams, Joe had been decked out in a tuxedo and was waltzing with a six-foot macaw wearing a top hat. The bird was the same colors as Jazzy and she knew, just knew, that the trouble-making creature had been in subconscious cahoots with Joe to rob her of blissful, peaceful slumber.
But then the scene had shifted to a misty clearing in a wood. The trees had leaves of glittering silver that shimmered like a million stars.
Joe was still wearing the tuxedo, but this time she was his dance partner, emerging from the ring of magical trees in a gorgeous, full-length dress to step into his embrace.
Polly sighed wistfully as she allowed the dream to replay in her mind like a movie.
What an elegant couple they made as they waltzed to music that was floating over them from a source unknown.
Even now, in the light of the new day, she could remember the heat of passion that had suffused her in the dream, and could vividly recall the desire radiating from Joe’s compelling brown eyes as he kept his gaze riveted on her.
He’d dipped his head and she’d known, and gloried in the fact, that he was about to claim her lips in what would be a searing kiss.
Closer and closer his lips had come to hers. Closer and closer and then...
“I woke up,” Polly said, opening her eyes and smacking the table with the palm of one hand. “Drat. No, forget it. I wouldn’t want to kiss that grouchy, opinionated man anyway.”
Joe Dillon was a menace. He was totally disrupting her peace of mind. Granted, her quiet lunch in the park yesterday had soothed her jangled nerves regarding the angry outburst from the students at Lincoln high.
She understood why she’d upset those kids, although she still felt it wasn’t her fault. She should have been coached about what to say, or not say, before being thrown unprepared on the mercy of the Abraham Lincoln Grizzlies.
So, live and learn, and put the disastrous morning behind her. Fine. But as she’d left the pretty park to return to the office, the image of Joe came with her and refused to budge from her mental vision for the remainder of the day.
And the long, long hours of the night.
“Darn him,” Polly said.
She sipped some more tea, then swept her gaze over her small apartment. From where she was sitting she could see the living room, with its sofa, easy chair, rocker and television set. Out of her view was the bedroom and bathroom.
The sofa and chair were a splash of vibrantly colored flowers. The rocker was the one her mother had used to lull her babies to sleep.
This was usually one of her favorite times of the day in her little abode, she thought, with the morning sun streaming in the sparkling clean windows, touching everything with a warm, golden glow.
But not today.
Not with Joe Dillon still haunting her, seeming so close, so real, she might as well offer him a cup of tea.
Why? she thought, aware of a bubble of anger growing within her.
Why couldn’t she dismiss Joe Dillon, along with the memories of the fiasco at the school?
Why could she still feel that incredible heat that had suffused her when their hands had brushed against each other?
Why could she hear that rumbly, sexy chuckle of Joe’s, see those fathomless fudge-sauce-colored eyes, his wide shoulders, muscled legs and that—shame on her—gorgeous, tight tush?
Why was Joe Dillon having such a lingering, disturbing, sensual, ridiculous impact on her?
“Darned if I know,” Polly said aloud, then drained her mug. “But I’ve had enough of this nonsense. Have you got that, Dillon? Get out of my brain space.”
Dandy, she thought dryly, getting to her feet. Now she was talking to the man as though he were actually there in her kitchen. She was off to work to spend the day with lovely animals who wouldn’t do, or say, anything that would further boggle her mind.
And she wasn’t going anywhere near gabby Jazzy.
The morning at the office was busy, the appointment book fully scheduled.
Just before noon, a frantic man came rushing in the door with his yowling cat wrapped in a fluffy pink towel. The feline proceeded to calmly deliver three kittens on one of the examining tables. Polly had to wave an ammonia stick beneath the man’s nose to keep him from passing out cold on his face.
Becky went to lunch and Polly settled onto the receptionist’s chair to answer the telephone for the next hour.
Nancy and Robert came up behind Polly to take a look at the appointment book that would tell them what was on the agenda for the afternoon.
The bell over the door chimed as someone entered the office.
“Oh, Robert,” Nancy said, “are those for me? What’s the occasion? Did I forget something important? Aren’t those flowers beautiful?”
“Well, I...um...” Robert said.
The delivery boy placed a vase of a variety of brightly colored flowers on the counter, then looked at the paper on the clipboard he carried.
“Polly Chapman?” he said.
Polly’s head snapped around and her eyes widened as she stared at the gorgeous bouquet. She got to her feet slowly and moved to the counter.
“Those are for me?” she said.
“Yep,” the boy said, “if you’re Polly Chapman.”
“No one has ever sent me flowers before,” Polly said, frowning.
“Well, someone has sent you flowers now,” Nancy said, beaming. In the next instant she poked Robert on the arm. “Hey, buster, why aren’t they for me from you?”
“I knew I was going to be in trouble,” Robert muttered, rolling his eyes heavenward. “I just knew it.”
Polly signed the paper on the line the boy pointed to, then the messenger left the office, whistling off-key.
Polly buried her nose in the pretty blossoms and inhaled deeply.
“Heavenly,” she said. “They smell so good. It’s springtime in November.”
“Polly, if you don’t open the card,” Nancy said, “I’m going to blow a fuse in my brain. A woman can take just so much curiosity before something breaks.”
“Did it ever occur to you, dear wife,” Robert said, “that the identity of Polly’s admirer is none of your business?”
“Don’t be silly,” Nancy said, with a sniff. “Polly is part of our family. Therefore, it’s most definitely my business. Polly, the card.”
Robert chuckled and shook his head.
Polly pulled the little white envelope free of the plastic, pronged stick and withdrew the card.
“Oh, my,” she whispered, feeling a warm flush stain her cheeks.
“Gracious, you’re blushing.” Nancy peered over Polly’s shoulder and read the message on the card aloud. “‘I’m sorry. Dinner? I’ll call you. Joe.’ Joe? Who’s Joe? What’s he sorry about?”
“Joe Dillon?” Robert said. “From Abraham Lincoln High School?”
“Well, I... well. yes, I...” Polly stammered.
“What’s he sorry about?” Nancy said, frowning. “What did that man do to you that you didn’t tell us about?”
“Nothing,” Polly said quickly. “We had an argument of sorts over my speech. You know, my telling the students that Jazzy cost thousands of dollars, and his owners were in Europe and...Joe Dillon has some very strong opinions about...some things, that’s all.”
Like her working for the Dogwoods, Polly thought, and catering to the rich, and on and on and on.
“Oh,” Nancy said. “Well, your Joe obviously feels badly about your spat.”
“He’s not mine,” Polly said, the flush on her cheeks deepening.
“Figure of speech,” Nancy said. “Is this Joe Dillon good-looking?”
“Scrumptious,” Polly said. “What I mean is, he’s...he’s attractive, in a rugged, earthy, masculine way that... Oh, never mind.”
“Interesting,” Nancy said. “Very interesting. Joe. Now, there’s a strong, no-nonsense name. Yes, very good. I hope he takes you to a snazzy restaurant as part of his apology. What are you going to wear?”
“Nancy,” Polly said, “I didn’t say that I was going to accept Joe’s invitation to dinner.”
“Well, why wouldn’t you?” Nancy said, raising her eyebrows.
“Because we have such opposite views about certain things that all we would do is argue,” she said, slipping the florist card back into the envelope.
And because, she mentally tacked on, she could still remember the startling heat that had swirled within her, then lingered for so long, after Joe’s hand had brushed hers.
Because when she looked into those incredible eyes of his, she felt as though she were drowning in their depths.
Because Joe Dillon did tricky little things to her sense of self, made her so acutely aware of her own femininity compared to his blatant masculinity, it was disconcerting, to say the least.
“Then just avoid addressing those issues,” Nancy was saying.
“Pardon me?” Polly said, pulling her attention from her jumbled thoughts.
“Goodness, you’re spacey,” Nancy said. “Joe Dillon has you in a tizzy.”
“Oh, he does not,” Polly said, frowning. “I don’t even like him.”
“That’s because you got off on the wrong foot with him,” Nancy said. “You know, your saying how much Jazzy cost and what have you, during your speech. That’s what I was saying. Avoid the topics that you two don’t see eye to eye on and enjoy a lovely evening out with a scrumptious...to quote...man.”
“I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” Polly said slowly.
“Sure it is,” Nancy said. “You’re dating a med student and a law student, both of whom are dead broke and exhausted when they surface long enough to take you for pizza, or to a free concert in a park. They’re duds.”
They’re safe! Polly’s mind screamed. They were focused on achieving their career goals, had no long-range plans regarding her, simply enjoyed her company when they managed to wiggle a few hours free from their busy schedules.
But Joe Dillon? He was dangerous.
He was the type of man who could render a woman speechless and unable to think clearly.
It wasn’t hard to fathom waking up in Joe’s bed after a wondrous night of lovemaking and wondering how on earth she had gotten there.
Joe could cause daydreams to become dreams of heartfelt yearning of a home and beautiful baby boys with dark hair and chocolate brown eyes.
Oh, yes, Joe was very, very dangerous.
“Polly? Hello?” Nancy said. “You’re gone again.”
“What? Oh. I was just thinking.”
“Well, let’s think about what you’re going to wear for your dinner date with Joe.”
“Nancy,” Robert said, smiling, “leave the poor girl alone. Why would Polly want to spend the evening with a man she doesn’t even like?”
“Well, in all fairness,” Polly said, “that’s a rather harsh statement, I guess. I certainly didn’t like his attitude about...certain things, and he was very grumpy and borderline rude, but I did create a disaster at the assembly, and I suppose that would get on anyone’s nerves, because you would not believe how noisy and wild those students got in a blink of an eye. Of course, it wasn’t my fault, because no one told me what to say, let alone what not to say. Then again—am I babbling?”
Nancy and Robert nodded in unison.
Polly sighed. “I thought I was. Look, I need to mull this over. Joe said on the card that he’d call about the dinner date. I’ll use the time until then to sift and sort, pro and con, yes and no, and...”
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