Overkill(34)

He shook his head with self-deprecation. “Jesus, I was so full of myself. I felt invincible. The only serious rift Bing and I ever had was when I skipped two days of spring training. He came storming to our house, dragged me out of bed, backed me into the wall, and told me I had to be the most arrogant, obnoxious blankety-blank on the planet, and he wanted nothing to do with my big-headed self.”

“But he took you back.”

“Yeah, when I came crawling to him after three months of wedded bliss. I’d found out that Rebecca was in the throes of her first fling.”

“Ouch.”

“Oh, don’t feel sorry for me. When I heard about her affair, I started having fun on the side, too. Women were easy to come by. What escaped me were concepts like humility, gratitude, common sense, responsibility, vital stuff like that.”

“How old were you, Zach? Twenty-six, twenty-seven? Fame like that is a lot to handle when one is that young.”

“Young, yes. But mostly stupid and self-congratulatory.” He folded his arms on the table. “Enough. I’ve spilled my guts. Tell me one of your deep dark secrets.”

She laughed. “I’m boring.”

“You’re a rock star in your field.”

“Not yet. But I’m giving it the good ol’ college try.”

“What about your parents?”

“Bob and Jenny. Married forty-something years and still in love. I, too, was an only child.”

“A brain child, I’ll bet.”

“I have a healthy IQ. A genetic favor. Both my parents were physicians. They’re now retired and living on Hilton Head. They play golf every day, preach the merits of sunscreen and fiber, and complain that I don’t call often enough. See? Boring.”

“I wasn’t bored, but you told me about them, not you. Come on. One secret. I promise not to tell.”

She hunched her shoulders and took a deep breath, lowering her shoulders as she released it. “My hair turned white when I was twenty years old.”

“Heredity?”

“Neither parent had one gray strand yet. No one could account for it, not even specialists, and we consulted them all. As you can imagine, I was hysterical. I colored it for a while, but that got tedious and expensive. When I considered cancer patients who lose their hair, people with alopecia, I stopped obsessing. So.” She framed her head between her hands. “People assume that I bleach it, but this is natural.”

“What color was it?”

“Brownish.”

“This suits you better.”

“Thank you. There. Now you own a deep dark secret of mine.”

“I have another one to share.”

She grinned. “Oooh. Do tell.”

“I’ve been sitting here for ninety-something minutes, through the drinks, the salads, the steaks, and the coffee, all the time wanting to put my mouth against yours.”





Chapter 15





Kate lowered her head and fiddled with the spoon she’d used to stir cream into her coffee. “That can’t happen, Zach.”

“I know.”

“It would be a very bad idea.”

“I know.” He motioned to her left hand, the one still fiddling with the spoon. “You don’t wear a ring. Is there a Mr. Lennon?”

“My dad.”

“Besides him.”

She shook her head. “I’ve never married. I’ve been in a couple of relationships that eventually fizzled for one reason or another, but mostly from apathy.”

“I’ve never been in a relationship.”

She looked at him quizzically.

“It’s true,” he said. “One-night stands, short-term amusements, but never a relationship. Not even my marriage could be called that. Especially my marriage.”

“That’s very sad.”

“Tell me.”

“But nothing can happen between us.”

“I know.”

She gave him a tepid smile, and he gave her one back, then looked around and realized that only a handful of other diners remained. “Now that we’ve settled that, you ready?”

Even though it wasn’t a date, he kept his hand at the small of her back as they walked to the entrance. They thanked the hostess. He pushed open the door and followed Kate out. The rain was really coming down now.

She opened her umbrella. “Do you want me to walk you to your truck so you don’t get wet?”

“I’ve played four quarters in worse than this. I won’t melt.”

“Thank you for dinner and for talking me into ordering the filet.”

“You bet. I’ll walk with—” He broke off when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw motion near his pickup. Someone was walking along the bed of it on the driver’s side. As he watched, whoever it was rounded the rear end and disappeared behind it. “Hey!”

Mindless of the downpour, he took off in a sprint, splashing through the puddles that had formed in the parking lot. He rounded the rear end of his truck and nearly collided with a hulk draped in black rain gear who was peering into the bed of his pickup.

Zach saw red. “What the fuck are you doing?” Reaching for a shoulder, he spun the guy around.