Cold River (30 page)

Guy looked at his watch. “That’s in less than an hour.”

Mandy grinned. “We’ll have to eat fast, and then Leesie can play. You can come and see the district offices tomorrow before you head out to Vancouver.”

Leesie dished up the soup, and as they ate, Mandy and Guy talked about what was going on in the Albuquerque schools. After dinner, they worked together to get the kitchen clean. Then Mandy asked Guy to sit on the couch again, and she commanded Leesie to get her instrument.

They played the Schubert number and were halfway through the other when Leesie mentioned that Guy needed to get on his way if he was going to meet Elizabeth before she went off shift.

“Oh, my goodness, yes,” Mandy said. “I was so into the music that I forgot the time. Here.” She grabbed a napkin from the table and drew a map to the Qwik-E Market and another from there to the district office.

“Come in the morning about nine.” Mandy smiled as she gave the napkin to Guy. “I’ve got an hour free then, and I can tell you all about the challenges of a small district.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Guy took the napkin and stuck it in his shirt pocket. “Walk me to the car,
cherie
?”

Mandy laughed as she opened the door. “You’re in Washington, Guy. Walking is not a social exercise up here— at least not for people bred in the desert. It’s raining.” She kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Come see me tomorrow.”

He patted his breast pocket. “I have the map. I’ll be there.”

“Good.” She waved to him as he descended the porch steps, and then she closed the door and leaned against it.

“I’m getting the feeling,” Leesie said as she put her cello in the case, “that I’m not the only one who left Albuquerque because of a man.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Oh, puh-leeze! Do you think I didn’t see how you kept either the width of the room or the kitchen table between you?”

“I kissed him on the cheek.”

“Yeah, with me standing right beside you. I notice you wouldn’t go out in the dark with him.”

“Not on your life.”

Leesie set her case in the corner. She didn’t turn around as she said, “I also noticed there was a wedding ring on his left hand.”

“There always has been.” Mandy walked over and hugged her sister. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“So am I, Sweetiebug. But who’s going to chaperone you tomorrow?”

“I’ll get Mo, or Mrs. Berman.” Mandy grinned. “Or better still, I’ll get Grange.”

Then, without sparing another thought for the man who was driving through the rain and the dark, following a sketchy map drawn on a napkin, Mandy picked up a book she had begun and settled down to read.

THE NEXT MORNING
at work, the first thing Mandy did as soon as she checked her calendar was sort through the papers Edith had put in her inbox. When she spied the familiar round penmanship on wide-ruled notebook paper that heralded another list of commandments from Nettie, Mandy stood and saluted.

“What was that about?”

She looked up to see Grange in the doorway. “Oh, hi.” Her eyes twinkled as she sat down. “I just got another set of marching orders from Nettie.”

He smiled and entered. “You catch on fast.” He held out a red and white can. “I found this in my truck this morning. Your groceries must have been fraternizing with mine on the way home last night.”

Mandy took the can and read the label. “You’re sure it’s not yours?”

He shook his head as he sank into the side chair and stretched out his long legs. “I haven’t eaten tomato soup since I got out of grade school. We used to have it every Friday. Tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches.”

“Oh, me too.” Mandy held the can to her breast. “Didn’t you just love it?”

Grange rubbed his bearded chin as he considered. “No.”

“Oh.” She set the can down on her desk. “I thought you were at the high school all morning.”

“I am. We’re a little more than a week away from Opening Festival, and it’s getting to be crunch time. I just came back to give you your soup.”

She grinned. “You lie through your teeth. You didn’t drive over here just to give me a can of soup.”

“Well, I needed to get a stack of posters. Oscar is taking a crew and going downriver to plaster the area.”

“What can I do to help?”

Grange stood. “You’re doing it. You’ve got Nettie minding the levy, Mo minding the budget, Midge writing a grant, and Harvey Berman’s office getting organized.”

Mandy cocked her head. “I can’t tell if you’re serious or sarcastic.”

“I’m serious. Though Harvey is the only one who doesn’t seem to be getting with the program.”

She laughed. “He will. I’m going to have Mo sit down with him and teach him about budgeting, and I’m going to send him to a couple of other districts to observe their methods. Before we’re through, we’ll make a manager out of him.”

“If I were a betting man… ” Grange’s voice trailed off as something outside caught his eye. “Now, who would that be?”

She stood and walked to the window. “Oh, that’s a friend of mine from Albuquerque,” she said. “His name is Guy Noel.”

Grange lifted an eyebrow. “He’s a little far afield, isn’t he?”

“Not too far. He’s on his way to a seminar in Vancouver.” As Mandy waved at Guy, she said, “Stay for a moment, and I’ll introduce you.”

“He looks very natty,” Grange commented.

Her eyes crinkled at the corners. “Natty? Where did you get that expression?”

“From Granny Timberlain. Gramps would say he looks fine as frog’s hair.”

Mandy wrinkled her nose at Grange as she walked past him and out to the mezzanine.

“Uncle Buck would say he’s done up like a dog’s dinner,” he called out to her.

She shook her head. “I don’t understand that at all.” She leaned over the railing and called, “Hello, Guy! Come on up.” She watched him mount the steps and smiled as she waited for him to walk around to her office. “I see you found the place all right.”

He patted his breast pocket and smiled down at Mandy. “I have your map.”

“Let me introduce you to the assistant superintendent, Grange Timberlain.” Mandy held out her hand in Grange’s direction.

Guy’s eyes flicked away from her face momentarily, but he barely acknowledged the other man’s presence.

“Well, then, I’ll be off,” Grange said. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr.… uh… ”

“Noel,” Mandy supplied.

Guy nodded absently in Grange’s direction and turned to face Mandy. “Is an hour all you can give me?” he said in an undervoice.

Mandy looked up at Grange as he passed in front of her and out the door. The corners of his mouth lifted as he sketched a wave, and she felt her cheeks get warm. She turned to Guy. “I’ve never known you to be rude before.”

“What? Oh, you wanted me to make nice to that hayseed?” He closed the door. “I didn’t come here to make small talk with rustics. I came to see you, Mandy.” He took her by the hand and led her to the far corner of the room, out of the line of sight of anyone on the mezzanine.

Mandy didn’t say anything. Guy’s nearness, the smell of his aftershave, the crispness of his pale green shirt, the way his hair falling artfully over his forehead accentuated his eyes— all flooded her with memories of a different time, a warmer place, almost a different Mandy Steenburg.

“Listen,
cherie
,” he said with quiet urgency. “I’ve come with Dr. Brenner’s blessing. He wants you to come back. He hasn’t filled your position. We all want you back.”

Mandy tore her eyes away from his face. Looking at the floor, she shook her head. “I can’t,” she whispered.

“I want you back. Do you understand,
cherie
? I want you back, and I’ll make it happen. I’ll leave Mary. I— I’ve left her, actually. I don’t love her anymore. I love you.”

Mandy felt as if she were caught in one of the eddies in the Hiesel River, being whirled around and sucked under. She closed her eyes to block out the feeling of the room turning. As she did so, Guy lifted her right hand and pressed his lips against her fingers. She could almost hear the water pulsing and surging in her ears as the whirlpool dragged her down.

“Come back,
cherie
. Leave this backwater, and come back with me right now.”

He kissed her hand once more. His left hand held her right, and as she opened her eyes, she had an up-close, full-screen view of his wedding band. She felt his arm slip around her waist, and as he pulled her to him and bent his head to kiss her lips, she tried to push him away.

She leaned back. “Stop it, Guy.”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t been thinking the same thing I have,
cherie
,” he said urgently. “I’ve seen it in your eyes, felt the heat of your glance. You want me as much as I want you.”

“Don’t, Guy.” She twisted, trying to escape from his embrace.

From the doorway, someone spoke in a conversational tone. “Do you know— ” Mandy and Guy both turned and looked at the speaker, and she felt the blood rising to her cheeks again as she realized how she looked, bent backward with Guy leaning over her.

Grange stood with one hand on the doorknob, a packet of posters in the other hand. Though his voice was restrained, his eyes were hard as he spoke to Guy. “— I don’t believe you’ve got that right, or she wouldn’t be trying to get free.”

Guy released her and stepped away, breathing heavily as he turned his back on Grange.

“Can I do anything for you, Dr. Steenburg?” Grange’s voice was neutral.

“No. Thanks, Grange.” Mandy ran her hands through her hair as if that would gather her scattered wits. “Thanks, no.”

“I’ll be off, then. I’ve calendared myself at the high school all day for the rest of the week.”

“Yes, I saw that. Thanks.”

Grange raised the packet of posters in salute then turned and walked away. He left the door open behind him.

“Sit down, Guy.” Mandy pointed to the side chair Grange had recently vacated.

“Mandy,” he said pleadingly.

“Sit down,” she commanded, eyes blazing. “Sit and listen.” Balling her hands into fists, she strode to her desk and sat opposite Guy. “How dare you presume that I would be unprincipled enough to break up a home. No, you don’t get to talk right now. Listen to me!”

Guy closed his mouth and sat back in his chair, eyes wide.

Her voice had an edge like a straight razor. “Yes, I had feelings for you. That’s why I left my job and left Albuquerque. And I was—” She searched for the word “— naïve enough, starry-eyed enough, to imagine that you were going to try as hard as I to work through this.”

“Can I close the door?” Guy asked as Mrs. Berman passed from her office across to Mo’s.

“Don’t waste the energy. I’ve only got a couple more things to say.” Mandy paused a moment. She picked up the can of tomato soup and rolled it between her hands, frowning as she chose her words. “Do you think that I would want someone so weak, such a moral wet noodle, that he would leave his family because of an infatuation? You’ve got two children, Guy. How can you even think to betray that trust? How can you betray Mary? She loves you!”

Guy leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. “Don’t, Mandy,” he moaned.

“Did you tell Mary why you were coming up here?”

He didn’t answer.

“Guy? Did you?”

“I left her a note.”

“Why am I not surprised you would leave a note instead of telling her to her face?” She sat back in her chair, still holding the soup can. “You know, I really have to thank you. You certainly cured me of my infatuation.” She smiled. “And thank you for telling me that my job is still open. I just might take them up on that.”

Guy finally looked up. “You’re kidding!”

“I’m not. I’ve a tough decision to make here, and this just might be the answer.”

The color drained from his face. “Mandy— ”

She sighed. “Go home, Guy. Go see if you can make it up with Mary. If she takes you back, it’s more than you deserve.”

He slumped in his chair for a moment, looking at her with a hangdog expression. Then he slowly stood.

“And give me back my map. I don’t want you hanging on to any mementos.”

Silently, he pulled the napkin from his breast pocket and dropped it on her desk. Then, without a backward glance, he walked through the door and out of her life.