Heaven, Texas (Chicago Stars #2)(57)

In the years that followed, Trudy had barely scraped together a living for herself and her son by cleaning the houses of the few families who would let her in the door, and apparently the hard work and social ostracism had gradually broken her down. Around the time Way had started high school, she seemed to have given up and accepted everyone’s judgment of her. That was when she began selling herself to the men who passed through town. At the age of thirty-five, she had died of pneumonia, and Way had joined the marines not long after.

As Suzy studied him over the rim of her wineglass, her uneasiness grew. Trudy Sawyer had been the victim of grave injustice, and a man like Way Sawyer wouldn’t have forgotten it. To what lengths would he go in order to even up the balance sheet?

To her relief, the maid appeared to announce dinner, and Way escorted her into a formal dining room decorated in pale green accented with jade. He made polite, meaningless conversation during the salad course, and by the time the main course of salmon and wild rice arrived, her nerves felt raw from the strain. Why didn’t he tell her what he wanted from her? If she knew why he’d insisted she dine here with him tonight, maybe she could relax.

The silence that fell between them didn’t seem to bother him, but it became unbearable to her, so she broke it. “I noticed your piano. Do you play?”

“No. The piano was my daughter Sarah’s. I bought it for her when she was ten and Dee and I divorced. It was her consolation prize for losing her mother.”

It was the first personal remark he’d made. “You had custody of her? That was unusual for the time, wasn’t it?”

“Dee had trouble being a mother. She agreed to the arrangement.”

“Do you see your daughter often?”

He broke a poppy seed roll in half, and for the first time that evening, his features softened. “Not nearly often enough. She’s a commercial photographer in San Francisco, so we get together every few months. She lives in this fleabag apartment—that’s why I still have the piano—but she’s self-sufficient and happy.”

“These days, I guess that’s the most a parent can ask.” As she thought of her son, she toyed with a piece of salmon on her plate. He was certainly self-sufficient, but she didn’t believe he was all that happy.

“Would you like more wine?” he said brusquely.

“No, thank you. If I have more than one drink, I get a headache. Hoyt used to say I was the cheapest date in town.”

He didn’t even smile at her weak attempt to lighten the atmosphere. Instead, he abandoned all pretense of eating, settled back in his chair, and gazed at her with an intensity that made her conscious of how seldom people truly looked at each other. She was startled to realize that if she’d been meeting him for the first time, she would have found him attractive. Although he was the polar opposite of her sunny-natured husband, his rugged good looks and powerful presence had an appeal that was difficult to ignore.

“You still miss Hoyt?”

“Very much.”

“The two of us were the same age, and we went through school together. He was Telarosa High’s golden boy, just like your son.” His smile didn’t make it to his eyes. “He even dated the prettiest girl in the sophomore class.”

“Thank you for the compliment, but I wasn’t even close to being the prettiest girl. I still had braces on my teeth that year.”

“I thought you were the prettiest girl.” He took a sip of wine. “I’d just worked up the nerve to ask you out when I heard you and Hoyt were dating.”

She couldn’t have been more startled. “I had no idea.”

“It’s hard to believe I really thought I had a chance with Suzy Westlight. After all, I was Trudy Sawyer’s son, and I lived in a different world from Dr. Westlight’s daughter. You came from the right side of the railroad tracks and had pretty clothes. Your mother drove you around in a shiny red Oldsmobile, and you always smelled clean and new.” His words were poetic, but he spoke them in hard, clipped tones that robbed them of any sentiment.

“That was a long time ago,” she said. “I’m not new anymore.” She brushed her fingers over the silky fabric of her evening trousers and felt the small bump on her hip from her estrogen patch. It was another sign that life had lost its promise.

“Aren’t you going to laugh at the idea of a dead-end kid like me wanting to ask you out?”

“You always acted as if you hated me.”

“I didn’t hate you. I hated the fact that you were so far out of my reach. You and Hoyt came from a different world, one I couldn’t come close to touching. The golden boy and the golden girl, happily-ever-after.”

“Not anymore.” She ducked her head as she felt her throat close.

“I’m sorry,” he said brusquely. “I didn’t mean to be cruel.”

Her head shot back up, and her eyes were glazed with tears. “Then why are you doing this? I know you’re playing some kind of game with me, but I don’t know what the rules are. What do you want from me?”

“I thought you were the one who wanted something from me.”

His flat response told her that he was unmoved by her obvious distress. She blinked her eyes, determined not to let tears fall, but she hadn’t been sleeping well since her first meeting with him, and it was difficult to hold on to her composure. “I don’t want you to destroy this town. Too many lives will be ruined.”