The point is, the entire time I was cutting her hair she was on her cell phone getting updates on the chess championship. She couldn’t believe Bobby Polgar was behind. I was curious, so after I finished her haircut, I turned on the TV at the salon and I saw him playing his first match, the one he lost.” Teri said all this apparently without taking a breath.
“And?” Rachel urged.
“And he needs a haircut.”
“Bobby Polgar needs a haircut?” What did that have to do with anything?
“Yes, he does,” Teri said. “He kept brushing his hair out of his eyes. His hair is distracting him. He’s long overdue for a cut and I decided to do something about it. I’m going to the tournament and I’m going to offer to cut his hair.”
Rachel could list at least a dozen obstacles her friend was likely to encounter before she got to Bobby Polgar, if she ever did. However, Teri wasn’t easily dissuaded once she’d made up her mind.
“I’m doing this for my country,” she announced with melodramatic flair.
“Good for you.” Grinning, Rachel patted her on the shoulder. “Let me know what happens, okay?”
“I will,” Teri promised, practically running out the door to her car.
No sooner had Teri left than Bruce and Jolene arrived. Rachel was still waving Teri off when the nine-year-old dashed up the sidewalk toward her, hugging Rachel around the waist. Bruce followed at a much slower pace. “What time should I pick her up?” he asked.
“I’ll drop her off at home,” Rachel told him. He didn’t live far out of her way and it wasn’t as if she had other plans.
“I’ve got a better idea,” Bruce said. “Why don’t I meet you somewhere and the three of us can have dinner together?”
“Can we, Rachel?” Jolene asked, pigtails bouncing as she leaped up and down. “Can we? Can we?”
“That sounds like fun.”
Three hours later, Rachel and Jolene pulled into the parking lot at the Pancake Palace, where they’d agreed to meet for dinner. The food was cheap and plentiful, and this was Jolene’s favorite place in Cedar Cove to dine. She liked to dip her French fries in her cream-topped hot chocolate, a culinary activity that made Rachel wince.
Bruce was waiting for them in a booth near the front. The moment they walked in the door, he gestured to them. Jolene ran to his side as if it’d been weeks since she’d last seen her father. Rachel joined them a few seconds later.
“How’d it go?” Bruce asked, sliding over so his daughter could slip in beside him.
Rachel hid a smile when Jolene chose to sit beside her, instead.
“Daddy, we had so much fun. Shopping is great! We bought me a pink dress on sale, so we had money left over for tights and a purse.”
“Men don’t generally appreciate fifty-percent-off sales unless it involves hardware,” Rachel told the little girl. She reached for the menu and scanned it, deciding on a ham-and-cheese omelet.
The waitress came for their order and disappeared with quiet efficiency. Jolene chattered for a while, then selected a crayon from the juice glass filled with them and started to color the paper place mat, which had a connect-the-dots outline of a bunny.
Rachel and Bruce picked up the conversation. They always seemed to have plenty to talk about, although she saw Bruce infrequently. Over the years they’d become comfortable with each other. They’d shared a kiss now and then, but they had no romantic illusions. In any case, Bruce still loved his wife, and Rachel was seeing Nate. In fact, Bruce was someone she’d confided in when she’d first learned Nate’s father was a U.S. congressman.
“I didn’t think you ever had a free Saturday night,” Bruce said in an offhand way. “Don’t you and Nate usually go out?”
“I wish. The navy comes first, and he’s working on some hush-hush project that’s kept him tied up for a few weeks now.” She didn’t point out that although they did manage to talk every day, it was almost always late at night when they were both exhausted.
She and Bruce lingered over coffee, while Jolene had a second hot chocolate. It was after eight by the time Rachel returned home. She’d enjoyed dinner as much as she had the shopping—which had netted her two new sweaters. Afterward, they’d all gone down to the Cedar Cove waterfront for a walk and an ice-cream cone. She’d described her odd meeting with Teri, and Bruce had laughed.
“If anyone can get past security to see Bobby Polgar, it’ll be Teri,” Bruce said.
“You think so?”
“I know so.” Bruce nodded confidently. “She isn’t one to let a little thing like security guards or TV cameras stop her.”
Rachel suspected he was right. If anyone could talk her way into meeting the top-ranked American chess champion, it’d be Teri.
She’d just unlocked her front door when the phone rang. Running to answer it, she threw down her shopping bags. As she’d hoped, it was Nate.
He told her he was calling from the stag, and she could hear shouts and laughter in the background. He didn’t seem to be enjoying himself.
“Where were you?” he demanded, sounding tired and argumentative.
“I told you I took Jolene shopping.”
“Until after eight? You said you’d be back by six.”
“Yes, but…” But he hadn’t suggested anything after that, since he’d had his own plans. “We finished up around six and then met Bruce for dinner at the Pancake Palace.”
Nate went quiet for a long moment. “You didn’t say anything about you and Brucie having dinner,” he muttered sarcastically.
“Well, no,” she agreed, “that didn’t come up until later. Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”
“Yes,” he stated matter-of-factly, “I am. I haven’t seen you all week.”
“I know, and I’ve missed you like crazy. This dinner thing didn’t mean anything, Nate. You know that. It was Bruce’s way of thanking me for taking Jolene shopping.”
“Okay,” he said in a grudging voice.
“Dinner meant nothing, I promise you.”
“Okay,” he said again. “Look, I’ve got tomorrow afternoon free. Do you think you could squeeze me into your busy social calendar?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Good.”
They arranged to meet at the waterfront, and after a protracted good-night, Rachel replaced the receiver. She took a long shower, then got into an old flannel nightgown and sat in front of the television, hoping the ten o’clock news would have a story on the chess tournament. She half expected to see an item about a disruption, with Teri being hauled away
