The Trouble with Angels (Angels Everywhere #2)(72)
"What can I do to help?” Joy said as she came into the kitchen. She reached for a radish from the relish tray and munched noisily on it.
"You can keep your hands out of that,” Erlene Palmer said teasingly. Her mother was busy cutting fresh fruit for a gelatin salad, one of her brother’s favorites, as Joy recalled. "You can tell me about the young man you’re bringing with you. You said his name was Ted.”
"Yes.”
"I don’t suppose this is the same Ted your father mentioned not long ago?”
"Yes.”
"He’s tall and good-looking. An engineer, right?”
"Yes.”
"Your father spoke highly of him.”
Joy figured her mother knew everything there was to know already, so she kept her mouth closed. Shuffling around inside the open refrigerator, she created enough space to hide the relish tray before it tempted anyone else.
"Well?” her mother said when she reappeared. "I’m waiting.”
Joy sat on the stool on the other side of the counter from her mother. "It seems to me you know everything already.”
"Details, maybe.” Erlene’s fingers agilely cut bananas into even slices as she spoke. "What I want to know is how you feel about him. Are you in love with him?”
"Mom! I barely know him.”
Her mother’s faint smile was comment enough. "I don’t think I’ve ever seen you act this way toward a man.”
"And just how am I acting?”
"Dreamy-eyed. You don’t think your mother notices these things?” she asked, and laughed softly. "Every time you say his name your eyes go soft and this look comes over you. It reminds me of the way I felt when I first met your father.”
"This is different.”
"Oh?”
"Mom, I don’t know. Yes, I like him, and that’s a weak word. It doesn’t even begin to describe the way I feel about Ted. But I’m afraid.”
"Afraid?” Her mother raised quizzical eyes to her.
"You know what it’s like when something wonderful happens. Like the time Joe won the full-ride football scholarship, and when we learned Diana was pregnant with twins. An excitement comes over me, but I’m afraid to believe it’s really true. That’s the way I feel about Ted.”
"Time will fix that.”
"But sometimes it’s better to be cautious. Remember, Diana miscarried the twins.”
"But she and Bill have three beautiful children now.”
"Yes, I know.” Joy laughed softly. "I’m so crazy about this guy, I bought myself a dress that cost three hundred and fifty dollars.”
She had her mother’s attention now.
"I’m planning to wear it tonight. You know why I bought that dress?”
"Of course I do. You wanted to see Ted’s reaction when he first saw you wearing it. Why does any woman spend that much money on anything?”
It seemed her mother understood her better than she realized.
Joy stayed and helped prepare for the big dinner and the family festivities that followed. She was humming Christmas music when she let herself back into her apartment.
After putting her purse away, she walked into the bathroom and turned on the water for a long, leisurely soak in the tub.
A faint sound in the distance distracted her, and she realized it was her phone. She turned off the water and grabbed the bedroom telephone.
"Merry Christmas,” she greeted cheerfully.
A silence.
"Hello?” she tried again.
"Joy, it’s Ted.”
"Well, hello there,” she said, pleased to hear from him, especially when she’d be seeing him in less than two hours.
"Joy, listen, something’s come up and I won’t be able to make the dinner with your family.” His words were flat, devoid of emotion.
"I see.” She waited for an explanation, but none was forthcoming.
"I tried to phone earlier.”
"I was shopping, and then I was over at my parents’ house.”
There was another short silence. She tensed, waiting. Somehow she knew he was going to say something that would hurt her. Some inner defense mechanism prepared her for the worst.
"Blythe stopped by my place yesterday,” he began, "and I’ve had to do some heavy-duty thinking since. There’s no easy way to say this. No easy way—”
"Then don’t,” she interrupted him, making sure her words betrayed none of the pain she was experiencing. "You don’t need to say another word. I understand.”
"I’m sure you don’t.”
"But what does it matter, right?” She pressed her hand to her forehead and sat down on the edge of her bed, uncertain that her legs would continue to support her.
"You’re right,” he said miserably, "what does it matter?”
"It was fun while it lasted, and I can still take the dress back, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
"Still take the dress back?”
She laughed once, shortly, and feared it was more sob than any display of mirth. "As you so eloquently put it, what does it matter. Good-bye, Ted Griffin. Have a wonderful life.”
"You, too, my beautiful Joy.”