She sat up Straight and said, "Burgers will do very well."And both men laughed.Mac said quickly, "Hear that?"There was a strange, almost frightened sound. An urgent, restless sound. "What is it?" It scared her a little. "The storm?""Come look." Luke sent to the window. And she followed. An emergency? In the confusion, she could escape, she snatched up her purse and Minny and joined the two men at the window.It was five O'clock on that Thursday evening. The sound was the employee exodus. How astounding. They didn't run. They walked and talked, but the parking lot was emptied in four and half minutes.Everyone had left. Now. Now Luke could take her to his place. And her captivity would begin. "It's time," said Luke. "Let's go." He took Minny from Georgia and the little cat purred.Mac refused to drive the pink car to Luke's place."If I did, I'd, see everyone I know your sweatband on your forehead." Luke gave him a bracing look."You're of age that you could be residual hippie."Qu
His apartment was in a complex nestled in a woods. It was very attractive. Obviously expensive. The units were fieldstone, ivy-covered, with balconies. They were placed with calculation, so each unit was individual.Mac was waiting for them, pacing on the sidewalk. The two men exchange an amused male look. Mac said, "I got Minny some sand for her box.. Some litter." He expected to be congratulated."We had some.""I thought it was a stroke of genius."Luke said, "It was. As soon as we get this stuff out of her car and upstairs, you can go home.""Do you know, as I was loading the cart in the grocery store, I said to myself, " Dollars to doughnuts, he'll asked me to haul all that stuff up those stairs."" Any time you read. "" Give me the keys to open the trunk." Georgia slid that in very cleverly." I'll do that." Bit Luke was just being polit. That she might try to escape hadn't occurred to him. " How can one small girl and one tiny cat have so much junk?""No furniture." She commen
"It's called bundling." He ignored her attempt to interrupt. "A good old American custom. We'll have Minny down the middle as the bundling board, and we'll both bes comfortable. If the storm gets worse, you'll be able to hold my hand without getting out of bed.""I'm not afraid of storms.""How do you know I was talking about you? I might very well be terrified of storms.""You're comforting Minny.""No, no, no. She is comforting me!""Not bundling is un-American.""You get the cot.""How about trading? Every other night?""No." But the sound was soft, fir her mind was swamped at image of sharing a bed with this man.It had been too long."I can't believe you're this hard-hearted. You have such....." He raised up, interrupting his coaxing."Shhh!"She waited, listening. A tornado? Finally she whispered, "What is it?"Minny wasn't, alarmed. she wasn't listening, so it wasn't a mouse or anything awful. Georgia took a breath to speak."She." He took her hand and beld her still. Then he g
Still in her bemused, Georgia folded and lifted her crocheted bedspread onto a chair, pulled back the clothes to crawl inside.She was tired. She lay thinking over her incredible day. Who would ever believe it? She'd gotten up that morning, wiped away the last trace of herself as she vacated her apartment near Cleveland, gone to a cafe for breakfast, innocently collected The Envelope and driven to her destiny. Astonishing. Here she was in Luke Montana's apartment, lying in his bed.How clever of him to rent that cot, the rack for her clothes and the chest of drawers. Very efficient.If he hadn't had a place to sleep and had tried to fit his big body on that living-room sofa, how long would it be before she would say, "I'll take sofa?" Would she be such a wimp as to do that? probably.It's what her mother, Felicia, would do for her Dad. For all Felicia's airy life-style, she really stroked her husband. "This is the best place and it's your father's" She'd tell the children. There was n
As she rose form the bed, Georgia inquired, "Well, Minny, I suppose you've had breakfast?" The Browns always spoke to their pets as if they could understand, because they probably could. Minny lifted one paw and gave it a couple of licks in reply. She had eaten. "More french fries?" Minny turned her head away enduringly. Georgia tapped on the connecting door to the bath, and receiving no reply, opened it cautiously as if the creature from the Black Lagoon might be lolling in the tub. It wasn't there and neither was Luke. She showered, put on a soft, dark green terry jogging suit and twisted her freshly washed hair into a soft swirl on the black of her head. She put loops in her ears and brushed her eyelashes with enough color to be seen. Then, since she was a prisoner, she added just a bit of white powder to her cheeks, so that she wouldn't look too healthy. She went back into the bedroom and put her things away. Then she opened the door of the room-Luke's room-and inadvertently
I quit teaching and worked as a soup- kitchen food chopper. When I still couldn't go back to teaching, I got a job as a 'gofer' at a florist. " She didn't mention why she left there. She took a deep breath. "I won't ever risk another involvement, it's to much to bear."Luke said, "I had a similar experience. My wife was sleeping with a friend during the day. She cleaned me out with a divorce. The man was married and had kids. How could I point the finger at him? It would have wrecked his wife. I'd never marry again, either. " " Who' have you? " Georgia smiled a little." You're a workaholic! All you think about is business."" Occasionally, I do have other thoughts." He grinned at her.He worked hard in jhis sturdy. The phone rang, he used the computer, Mac brought prapers, and then there was Georgia who was Grasshopper to Luke's industrious Ant.She was bored and restless. By the third morning of her detention, she again fixed breakfast. Luke appreciated her efforts. Mac came as us
A wine. A light white would be nice with the chicken salad. Something with a tingle." He had enough tingle for a whole case of wine. "I think I have just the thing." He went into the kitchen, reached up past her to open a high cupboard. They were standing a bit close but she hadn't moved away. She was looking up at his hands. He had to recall why he was standing there and what h'd been doing. The lunch? Wine. He took down a bottle, then another and a third. He knew very little about wines. Beer, he knew about beer, he knew about beer but wines weren't his drink. He 'd always just asked the liquor dealer's opinion. Women liked wine. They felt safe with wine. Luke smiled. With his big hands, he handled the bottles easily enough. He read the labels and handed the bottles to her, as if she would know what she wanted. He smiled again very nicely. "Too sweet." She put one back in his hands to be put away. "Either of these would be fine. Which do you prefer?" The ball back in his cou
"He'd do that?" "Every time." "I'm play left-handed." Luke looked grudgingly cooperative. Mac blabbed. "He is left-handed." "You have to be fair." Mac was reasonable. "She's your quest." "She's my captive and she's supposed to do what I want." "Careful there, Montana. Things could get out of hand. "Can you belly dance?" Luke asked her. "While I'm not too enthusiastic about table tennise, I wouldn't mind having to watch a little belly dancing." " I don't belly dance." "Ah! Here's the opportunity for you to learn a new skill. Mac, see if you can find a do-it-yourself book on it and you'd have to get the accountrements. The ruby for her belly button, the scarves, that sort of thing." Mac said, 'Well-" Georgia said, "No." Luke objected to Mac, "I have put mind to the problem of her exercising and I don't get any credit! She turns down all my suggestions and then complains because she hasn't any way to exercise." "I am going crazy cooped up in here with a madman-" "Going? you