Easy Loving

Chapter Three

Easy smiled at the elderly woman who answered the door of the small brick bungalow in Arvada. This quiet neighborhood in a suburb of Denver consisted of tract homes built in the 1950s. Mature elm trees shaded the sidewalks. In this house Jeffrey Livman had grown from a boy into a man.

“Mrs. Vera Livman?” He looked up from the clipboard he carried and glanced at the metal house numbers attached to the bricks next to the door. “I’m from the utility company.” He flicked a finger against the identification badge clipped to the pocket of his coveralls. A computer publishing program, a Polaroid camera and a small laminating machine made producing identification badges and cards a snap. At the moment he was Earl Spencer, employee number 187 with the gas company.

“We’ve got a suspected gas leak in this block. May I come in to check your lines, ma’am?” The lie slipped smoothly from his mouth—he’d used it before. It rarely failed, especially with older women who lived alone. He held up a toy laser gun. Shaped like an oversize television remote, it had an impressive array of dials, switches and lights. It made a terrific “gas detector.” “It won’t take five minutes, ma’am.”

“Gas? I haven’t smelled anything.” She blinked owl-ishly from behind thick bifocals.

“With any luck, you won’t. Safety first, though. It’s nothing to mess around with.”

She unlatched the storm door and pushed it open. “Certainly.”

He walked inside. “Gas leaks are worse in the summertime. People have their windows open so they don’t smell the fumes. Gas builds up in pockets. Is your husband home, ma’am? I’d like to show you both where the—”

“I’m a widow.” She nervously rubbed her hands together.

He noticed the telltale swelling of arthritis in her knuckles. He noticed, too, the guileless trust in her eyes.

A pang of conscience tightened his chest. He preferred gathering information in a straightforward manner. Ask the questions, glean what answers he could, then split. He needed, however, to handle this operation as he did for the occasional bail jumpers he traced—carefully, without alarming friends and family with too many questions. He especially didn’t want to alarm Livman’s mother. No matter what, a mother’s love won out every single time.

He’d discovered a worrisome pattern in Livman’s life. The man apparently felt no qualms about dumping jobs, homes, cars or acquaintances. In the past twenty years, he’d worked for more than a dozen real-estate companies. He’d bought and sold dozens of homes and properties. Nobody seemed to know Livman well. A few people had been surprised to learn he’d been married and was now a widower. Easy suspected if the heat turned up too high, Livman wouldn’t have a second thought about skipping the state. Still, sneaking around, asking covert questions and hoping nobody noticed his interest, was getting on Easy’s nerves.

Mrs. Livman showed him to the basement. It had linoleum flooring, simulated wood panelling on the walls, and that funky, old-house-basement smell. It reminded him of the house where he’d grown up. While the woman hovered anxiously, he played with the laser toy, sweeping it around the gas lines, furnace and water heater. He made lights blink and a few presses of his thumb caused dial indicators to jump.

“Clean as a whistle,” he announced.

“Oh, good! You were scaring me, young man.”

“Sorry. My instrument is sensitive. But everything is operating normally. No leaks, no problems. Thank you for your time, ma’am, and sorry for bothering you.”

She protested heartily that he was no bother at all. At the top of the stairs, he noticed the knob was loose on the basement door. He pretended to lose his grip on his clipboard and while catching it, he gave the doorknob an ex-trahard shake. It rattled loudly.

“You’re about to lose your doorknob, ma’am.”

She sighed heavily. “Sometimes it just seems like this old house is falling apart. Sort of like I am.”

He pulled a Phillips head screwdriver from his work belt. “Just need to tighten the screws, ma’am. Only take a second.”

Her smile beamed pure gratitude; he lowered his head so she couldn’t see his shame. He jiggled the doorknob into place and tightened the screws. As he sensed she might, she acted as if he’d saved her from a burning building. She offered him something to drink. He made a show of checking his watch, but allowed her to coax him into accepting the offer.

In the small living room he pretended to make notes on the clipboard while she fetched him a glass of lemonade. He sipped and declared it the best he’d ever tasted. Then he nodded at a large, framed portrait hanging prominently in the middle of a montage of photographs. It pictured five girls, ranging from around ten to perhaps eighteen, all of them blue-eyed blondes with pretty faces and big smiles. Seated on the lap of the eldest girl was a toddler, a blond, blue-eyed boy.

“Your family?”

“My children.” She practically wriggled with pride. “All grown-up now and on their own. They visit whenever they can.”

“My wife and I have only one boy. He’s a handful. A real little terror.”

“Boys are like that. Always into one thing or another.” She clucked her tongue. “Mischief and pranks and being ornery. I never had a speck of trouble with the girls, but Jeff sure gave me the devil.”

“I bet it was hard,” Easy said sympathetically.

“It sure was! My husband died soon after little Jeff was born, leaving me with six kids and no money. Fortunately I was a skilled legal secretary. I managed to support us. And the girls were a great help with little Jeff.” She giggled. “He’s not so little anymore. But he’s still my baby. He would have come to fix that doorknob, but he’s a very important businessman. He owns a huge real-estate company down south in Colorado Springs.”

A creepy sensation crawled up Easy’s spine. Livman’s sisters were all blue-eyed blondes. Roberta had been a blue-eyed blonde. As was Catherine. While Mrs. Livman waxed poetic about her perfect family and how the girls all rallied to help their mother raise the baby boy, Easy began to wonder if perhaps something more than money had motivated Livman to kill his wife.

CATHERINE HOPPED onto a picnic table. She shook her ponytail and raked damp tendrils of hair off her face. Not a whiff of breeze offered a cooling touch on her hot face, but she didn’t care. She loved Fox Run Park with its winding trails and pine trees. Oscar and Bent loved it, too. Mouths wide open and tongues dragging, the greyhounds lay in a patch of shade, serenely watching the small lake below.

She watched Jeffrey stretch his hamstrings. He’d been avoiding her all week. She’d hurt his feelings during the scene at the Grape and Olive. She’d acted poorly—reacted poorly. He loved her and she had treated his proposal like a personal attack. No wonder he’d been short on the telephone and “busy” all week. It surprised her somewhat that he’d agreed to meet her for a run in the park this morning.

“For an old guy,” she said, “you run pretty good.”

“Old, huh?” He used both hands to swipe sweat off his face. He sat on the picnic table beside her.

She admired the way he looked in his shorts and sleeveless T-shirt, his body toned and fit, his smile relaxed. He worked hard, vowing he’d be a millionaire before his fortieth birthday, but he knew how to play, too.

They liked the same music and movies. Both of them loved their work. Jeffrey enjoyed the outdoors—biking, hiking, running, camping—as much as she did. Most of the time they were so comfortable together it seemed as if she’d known him all her life.

“Can we talk?” she asked. All week she’d been working toward this conversation, seeking the perfect time and place. Now alone in the park, she knew it would never get better than this.

“Uh-oh, sounds serious.”

She couldn’t face him. “It’s about…the other night.”

“Is this a good talk? Or the kiss of death?”

She rested her forearms on her knees. This was hard. She didn’t know anything about relationships. “I owe you an apology. I realize now that what you did was very special. You’re romantic and impulsive, and I do want you to know I appreciate the gesture.”

He snorted. “Didn’t look appreciative. It was a real kick in the gut when you ran out on me.”

She cringed inwardly. She’d had plenty of time to consider what he meant to her. After Easy’s visit, it struck her that she could live her life on hold, or she could really live. A man as good as Jeffrey didn’t come along every day. Considering how difficult it was for her to meet new people, she might never meet another man like him. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. You’re right, we’re good together. We could make a great life.”

He lifted an eyebrow. His lips pursed. “It seems to me, that’s what I told you.”

“Please don’t be difficult, Jeffrey. I’m trying to apologize. To explain. There’s something I have to tell you, but it’s hard.”

“Sounds ominous.”

Maybe it was. She watched crows wheeling lazy circles over the pine trees. Did she love Jeffrey? If love meant respect, affection and a desire for his approval, then she did. It felt far, far different than what she’d felt for Easy. That, she reasoned, had been infatuation, not true, mature love.

“Cath—”

“Give me a minute. This is hard. I’ve never talked about it before.” She licked her lips and swiped sweat off her brow. The only way to say it was to just say it. “When I was sixteen, a junior in high school, I fell in love with a boy. I got pregnant. I gave the baby up for adoption.” She closed her eyes, waiting.

“That’s it?” he asked.

“That’s it” She made herself look at him, seeking clues to his reaction.

“You’ve never told anybody?”

Bemused by his nonreaction, she lifted a shoulder. “Nowadays, the talk shows and magazines make out-of-wedlock babies seem like no big deal. But it was a big deal to me, and still is.” She stretched out her legs and flexed her feet. “It still hurts.”

“Are you scared I’ll call you damaged goods and stomp off?”

It startled her to discover that was exactly what she feared. At hearing it said aloud, it seemed ridiculous. She forced a smile. “I don’t know: Will you?”

He laughed and picked up her hand. “I should have known it was something like this. You’re too sensitive. I’m glad you told me, Catherine. Honest. It explains a lot.”

“Like what?”

“Like why it’s so hard getting close to you.” He scowled in mock ferocity and leaned his face close to hers. “Why you ran out on me when I proposed. I felt like a jerk. Not to mention wasting a bottle of very expensive champagne.”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“And I forgive you.” His scowl transformed into a smile. “Does this mean you love me?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but hesitated. She’d loved Easy Martel, passionately, desperately, painfully, joyfully. One of his smiles could leave her floating on air all day long. His touch had set her on fire. She’d placed her heart at his feet and invited him, without reservations, to do with it what he would.

That was a long, long time ago.

With Jeffrey there was no pain, but no mindless joy either. She enjoyed talking to him, but the sound of his voice didn’t set her heart racing. When she imagined a life with him, her visions made practical sense. Jeffrey could do repairs on the house and maintain the cars. He could give her financial advice. She could make sure his laundry was done and he ate properly. They’d keep each other company and make babies. He seemed very safe. Very sensible.

“Yes, I love you, Jeffrey.”

His smile rivaled the sun. He caught her shoulders and planted an exuberant kiss on her lips. “You’ll marry me? Say yes, Catherine. Say yes or I’ll die right here as we speak.”

“Wait a minute! Wait!” She struggled out of his em-brace and half turned to put her back to him. From inside her damp sports bra she worked loose a chain where she carried the engagement ring. The sapphire and diamonds flashed and sparkled with cold fire. She pulled the chain over her head and unfastened the clasp, freeing the ring. For a long moment she stared at the shiny piece of jewelry. Once she committed, there was no turning back. She closed her eyes and envisioned a yard full of laughing children. She handed him the ring.

She offered him her left hand, her fingers extended.

With great solemnity, he slipped the ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit. “So when are we getting married? Tomorrow?”

She hopped off the table. “No quickies.” She waved her left hand slowly, admiring the beautiful ring. “I want plenty of time to savor my status as a fiancée.” She pointed at the gazebo perched on a rock pile that jutted into the lake. “We’re doing this right. I want to get married there.”

His features tightened. “In the park? Like hippies?”

His reaction dismayed her, but she quickly recovered. He was a special guy, but still a guy, and she doubted if wedding plans interested him in the least. “It’ll be beautiful, and dignified.”

He loosed a martyred sigh. “Let’s run off to Vegas. We don’t need a dog and pony show.”

“I only intend to get married once. I’m not doing it in a cheesy chapel officiated by an Elvis impersonator. We’ll have a proper wedding. If you really object to holding it outdoors, then we’ll do it in church.”

“Whatever you want,” he grumbled.

She poked his chin playfully. “Countless men have survived weddings. You will, too.” She laughed, whirling in a dreamy circle. Oscar and Bent leaped to their feet and posed ready to run. She ruffled their floppy ears. She did love Jeffrey and this was the right decision and they’d live happily ever after—

She spotted Easy Martel.

She stopped so quickly, she stumbled and stared open-mouthed toward the other, smaller lake. Only Easy’s head was visible, his hair as black and glossy as the wings of crows flying overhead. He wore dark sunglasses, but she knew. He spied on her!

She confessed her youthful indiscretion to her fiancé, and then lo and behold, there’s the daddy. Easy’s timing couldn’t be more appalling.

“Catherine?”

“I have to get home. Oscar, Bent, come.” The dogs crowded her legs and she gathered their leashes.

Jeffrey put a restraining hand on her shoulder. “What in the world is wrong with you?”

She sneaked a peek toward Easy. He’d ducked out of sight. The Front Range, encompassing Colorado Springs, stretching from Fountain to the far south and Monument to the north, covered an area more than forty miles long. In the eight months she’d been living here, she hadn’t run into a single person she knew from her childhood. That Easy Martel chose this particular day to be in Fox Run Park was not a coincidence.

“Nothing, nothing,” she said weakly. “I have a million things to do.”

He glowered at his wristwatch. “I cancelled two appointments to run with you this morning. Don’t jerk me around.”

She scuffed her running shoe through a pile of pine straw. “See what happens when I get frazzled? I turn into a flaky artist.” She fished in her fanny pack for her Blazer keys. She tossed them to him. “You drive.”

He eyed her suspiciously, but acted amiably enough as she herded him and the dogs to her Blazer parked above the lake. She began to wonder if she’d conjured Easy out of her guilty conscience.

By the time they reached the park entrance, she convinced herself she hadn’t seen Easy. When she adjusted the air-conditioner vent to blow on her hot face, she noticed in the side mirror a white car pulling out of the park behind them. She thought little of it until they reached Roller Coaster Road and turned right, and the car turned right behind them. The car continued following them south, all the way to Shoup Road where she felt certain it would continue toward the Springs, but it turned after them.

“You haven’t heard a word I said,” Jeffrey complained.

“What?” She clenched her hands on her lap, resisting the urge to turn on the seat to see better the driver behind them. She hadn’t a clue as to why Easy had appeared on her doorstep last week, as she hadn’t a clue as to why he followed her now. A sinking sensation, however, said telling him about the baby they’d made twelve years ago had been a major mistake. He’d been a quick-tempered, impulsive boy with far more energy than good sense. For all she knew, he hadn’t changed. She wouldn’t put it past him to pester her until she told him what happened to Elizabeth.