then let himself in with a key, she was still doing figures.
“What do you mean you don’t want to see A Majority of One?” he barked a few minutes later. “It’s your favorite movie of all time.”
“I know,” Lacey sighed.
“And we don’t have to hurry home to George. He’s gone for two whole days and nights.”
“I know.”
“So, what do you want to do? We could still make the last few plays of the Utah-Wyoming game.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to talk. I’ve met this man, but I don’t want anything to do with him if he’s married.”
Greg rubbed his chin pensively. “Why can’t you just ask him the next time he calls?”
She took a deep breath. “Because he doesn’t know my real name or my number.”
“That could be a problem,” he muttered. “Why don’t we stop being cryptic. Who is it? Another slick attorney like Perry?”
“Actually, it’s Max Jarvis.”
“The hotshot from California? The one you can’t stand? It happened awfully fast, didn’t it? Or maybe being on the air sort of went to your head.”
She had to admit it had been pretty exciting to tangle with Max in front of thousands of listeners. In fact she couldn’t remember a time when she’d been more stimulated. Except of course when she thought about tangling with him without an audience, which had little to do with words and more to do with—
“Take my advice and find a man with a real job.”
She had no comeback to that. In fact she’d been guilty of thinking the same thing the first time she’d heard The Voice.
Out of the window she spotted a lighted ‘U’ on the mountain. It was too late to drive to the stadium. The Utes had won the football game. “Maybe I’ll call in on the air and put the question to him one more time. He can’t very well evade me without his whole listening audience giving him a hard time.”
“You’re really gone on him.” Greg didn’t sound in the least happy about it.
“Let’s just say I’m interested. He asked me out.”
“When did all this happen?”
“After the show.”
“I don’t like it, Lacey.”
“You sound just like Nester when he’s trying to come on like my father.”
“You need watching. I told Valerie I’d keep an eye on you.”
“That’s funny. I told her I’d make sure you got back together with Annette. What you two need to do is start having fun together again.”
“Annette and I don’t have fun. We fight.”
“Then think up something wild and surprise her. For our first date—that is, if we get that far—I’m going to ask Max to take a scuba diving class with me. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. But coming from California, he probably already knows how and is terrific at it.”
Greg scowled. “How come you never asked me to do that?”
“Because that’s the sort of thing you should do with Annette. Why don’t you call her while I turn on the radio?”
She hurried into the kitchen for her Walkman and came back to the living room wearing her earphones. Greg had buried his head in the newspaper.
“...All you Radio Talk listeners. As you know, once a week, this hour is devoted to the outrage of the week. I’m Max Jarvis filling in tonight for Lon Freeman, who’s ill.
“I hope I won’t be offending you when I tell you that of all the states in the U.S., including the foreign countries where I’ve driven, Utah stands alone in its insistence to pass in the right-hand lane. The law states that faster traffic should pass on the left, but you Utahns act as if you’ve never heard of that law. I wonder if some of you would call in and tell me why this phenomenon only occurs in Utah?
“When I came here from California, it was a little like Alice in Through the Looking Glass. Everything was just a little different Your highway sense is unique. My producer is letting me know the calls are stacking up. Let’s go to our local phone line first and talk to Mavis.”
“Hi, Max.”
“Hi, Mavis. What’s your outrage this evening?”
“You won’t remember my husband Joe who died two years ago, but he felt exactly the same way you do. He used to drive—”
Lacey removed the earphones and reached for the cordless phone. She knew Radio Talk’s number by heart and punched the digits.
“Hi. This is Rob Clark. You want to go on the air with Max Jarvis?”
“Yes.”
“What’s your name?”
“Lorraine.”
“Hey—Lorraine. Hi. It’s me.”
“I know.”
“How do you like the lotion?”
Rob had just given her a legitimate reason to call in. “I thought I’d say something about it over the air.”
“Uh-oh. Okay. You’ll be on after Mavis.”
“Thanks.”
“Sure thing.”
Suddenly she could hear Max’s conversation with Mavis and waited until he switched over to her. The thought of talking to him made her heart leap into her throat.
“He would have liked your show, Max. Keep up the good work. I’ll hang up now.”
“Thanks for your vote of confidence, Mavis. Perhaps before the night is out we’ll have some answers. Let’s go to our other local line.
“Well, well. My producer says it’s Lorraine, our talk show celebrity from last week. How are you, Lorraine?”
She couldn’t tell if he was happy to hear from her or not.
“I’m fine, Mr. Jarvis,” she answered nervously, trying to ignore Greg’s speaking glance.
“You’re on the air. Can you talk a little louder.”
She cleared her throat. “Yes. This is open forum, isn’t it? We can talk about anything?”
“Absolutely.” The adrenaline started to flow. “But first, give us your outrage.”
My outrage. How perfect.
“Well—you never talk
