the shift in routine without comment, but both Megan and Peggy had started giving him speculative looks every time they walked through his office door. Right this second, Peggy was doing it again.
“What?” he snapped finally.
“Something’s up with you,” she said. “Want to talk about it? I know when things were real bad for me and Johnny, talking helped.”
That almost drew a full-fledged smile. The woman was a chatterbox. “I’m not surprised,” he said wryly.
“Okay, I know I babble sometimes, but I’m talking about real serious talk, you know? The heart-to-heart kind. Megan let me go on and on till I worked things out in my head. I’d be happy to listen to you.”
“The only thing I want to talk about is Megan’s idea for this cooking show,” he said adamantly. “Are you sure you’re up for it?”
She regarded him with obvious disappointment, but finally shrugged. “Okay, let’s talk about the show. I think the better question is whether you think I can do it. You’re the expert.”
“Peggy, there is not a doubt in my mind that you could handle this and be wildly successful. The real question is do you want to?”
“You’re worried that Johnny’s going to have a cow, aren’t you? Well, the truth is, he might, but you know what? That’s okay, because it’s something I want to do. For a long time, he expected me to get used to his running around with other women. That may be over, but it’s my turn now. He’ll have to get used to this.”
Todd barely resisted the urge to chuckle at her defiant tone. “It’s hardly the same thing.”
“No, but since I never wanted to run around with other men, it will have to do.”
He regarded her worriedly. “Peggy, if this is some sort of payback, if you’re not going into it with wholehearted enthusiasm, it’s a bad idea.”
“To tell you the truth, it scares me to death. The whole idea of carrying a nationally syndicated show all on my own, who would have thought it? I am so grateful to you and Megan for giving me this kind of an opportunity. I won’t let you down. I promise.”
“You can give it a hundred percent?”
“Whatever it takes,” she said firmly. “I’m not afraid of long hours or hard work.” She grinned. “Besides, it won’t hurt Johnny to spend a little more time looking after the kids. It’ll keep him out of trouble.”
“An interesting marital philosophy,” Todd observed.
“I’m learning as I go,” she admitted. “A year ago I wouldn’t have given you two cents for our chances to turn our marriage around, but we have. Almost, anyway. I think the biggest lesson we both learned is that you can’t take a relationship for granted. You have to work at it, especially when it hits the rough patches.”
“Something tells me you and Johnny will make it,” Todd said, all too aware that Heather had bolted at the first sign of difficulty. Now he was about to do the same thing.
“If we do, maybe we ought to launch a marriage-counseling program. Goodness knows I could have used some down-to-earth practical advice the first time I found out he was cheating on me.”
Todd chuckled.
“You think I’m joking, don’t you? I’m serious,” Peggy declared.
“If you keep this up, you’ll be the one with the media empire,” Todd told her.
“Not me. I’m just an average Wyoming housewife.”
“Peggy, there is nothing average about you,” Todd said, wishing he had the nerve to let her take a shot at counseling him. But he wasn’t prepared to let the world—or even this one kind, decent person—know about the situation in which he’d suddenly found himself. Years ago he’d been taught that a man faced his troubles all on his own. So what if he’d only been seventeen at the time? It was a lesson he’d never forgotten.
Despite the chill in the air, the sun was shining brightly and the breeze had a belated hint of spring in it on Friday afternoon. Angel was down for her nap, so Heather pulled a chair onto the sunny landing outside the upstairs apartment and settled down with a bottle of nail polish and an old issue of People.
She’d just finished putting the first coat of bright pink polish on her nails when she realized she wasn’t alone. She turned her head to find Sissy Perkins standing halfway up the steps and watching her solemnly.
It seemed to Heather that Sissy was way too serious for a ten-year-old. Although she was a beautiful girl, with her red hair, flawless skin and delicate features, she rarely smiled and she never laughed. In fact, she was just about the quietest, politest and most sedate child Heather had ever seen. When Heather asked Henrietta about it, the older woman said only that Sissy had been through a lot in the past year.
Henrietta had adopted Sissy and her younger brother, Will, but that was about as much as Heather had learned. She figured Henrietta would reveal the rest when she was good and ready. She already knew that was Henrietta’s way, operating on a need-to-know basis, whether it had to do with customer idiosyncrasies or the location of extra creamers. She was talkative enough when she chose to be, but those times could be few and far between.
“Hi, Sissy. Is school out?”
The girl nodded and crept up another step. “Am I bothering you? Henrietta said not to bother you.”
Heather smiled. “Nope. I’m just doing my nails.” She glanced at Sissy’s nails, which had been chewed off practically to the quick. “Want me to do yours?”
Sissy hid her hands behind her back in obvious embarrassment. “No, thanks. I bite mine.”
“Maybe if they were a pretty color, you wouldn’t want to bite them,” Heather countered.
Sissy considered that, then sighed. “It probably wouldn’t matter. It’s a nervous habit, that’s what the shrink says, anyway. He says I’ll stop when I’m ready.”
Heather was startled by the casual reference to a shrink, but she didn’t pursue it. If this child needed a psychiatrist at her age, it was none of Heather’s business. That didn’t mean she couldn’t try to be Sissy’s friend.
“So, what are your plans for the weekend?”
Sissy shrugged. “Nothing special.”
“You’re not going to see any of your friends?”
“No. I guess I’ll help Henrietta around the house. And I’ll baby-sit Will.” Her expression brightened a little. “I could baby-sit Angel, too, if you want. I’m real responsible.”
“I’m sure you are, but you should be doing something fun. What’s your favorite thing to do?”
“Reading, I guess. You can go anywhere in the whole world you want to go in a book.”
Heather heard a wistful note in the girl’s voice, as if she longed to be someplace else. It was a longing no ten-year-old should be feeling. She should be living in the here and now, surrounded
