Something Old - Dianne L. Christner [111]
When she felt Harry intended to let the matter drop, Katy withdrew her hand from Jake’s and squared her shoulders. “Normally, I don’t pry into personal affairs, but under the circumstances…well your ad stated you were a widower.”
Harry placed his son on the floor and ruffled his hair. “Your brother’s home. Why don’t you scoot up and say hi?”
The boy nodded and tramped partway upstairs. Then he turned back and jutted his lower lip out. “I wanted to go with Mommy.” He swiped his forearm across his eyes and sullenly went up the stairs.
With a sigh, Harry sank back onto the sofa. “Okay, look. I’m not a widower. I’m divorced. I haven’t been having any luck getting a housekeeper. I just thought if I implied I was a widower, it might help. I can’t afford an agency. The divorce really cost me. I’m a good guy. You’d be safe working here. We need help. But I can only pay ten dollars.”
Katy met Harry’s gaze, unswayed by his sentimental act. “Implied? You gave me false information.”
“I just thought that once you met me, you’d see I was a good guy.”
She narrowed her eyes, wondering if that was what his secretary thought. Then she snatched her references off the coffee table and stood. Jake quickly jumped to his feet, and reassuringly, touched her elbow.
“I can’t accept the position,” Katy said. “It’s not about the money anymore. But if you lied to me once, I don’t feel I can trust you.”
“But you can trust me.”
Did all men think trust could be earned so flippantly? She wanted to add that she didn’t like the way he’d looked her over, either. Instead, she said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Chalmers.”
He rose, following them to the door. “You’re sure? I wouldn’t even be here. The kids, either. You’d have the place entirely to yourself.”
She hesitated. That did sound inviting. Her gaze swept over the grand entry, taking in the elegant furnishings and marble floor, but her heart sank when she felt uneasiness in her stomach and recognized the little warning voice. This time she listened to it. “I’m sorry.”
Chalmers opened the door, and they stepped into the sunny March afternoon. Jake matched her hurried strides.
“Good choice. I didn’t like him,” he said. “I didn’t like the way he looked at you. Especially after what his ex said about his secretary.” So she hadn’t imagined that. But while Jake intended to show his support, he made her feel worse, reminding her of how deceptive a man could be. This new peek into the outsiders’ ways disturbed her peace of mind.
Jake opened the truck door for her, and she climbed up into the cab. As soon as he jumped up and seated himself behind the wheel, he went on, “We’ll put another ad online. I know there’s the perfect job out there for you.”
“No. This isn’t working out.”
Jake turned the key, and his truck rumbled to life, but he let it idle while he studied Katy. There was an edge to the tone of her voice that insinuated more than disappointment. She had shot the remark at him as if she were speaking of their relationship and not the computer ad service. As soon as she’d gotten inside the cab, she stiffened her shoulders and clenched her jaw, not looking his way but straight ahead out the windshield. No doubt, she blamed him for owning the computer that set up the failed interview.
How illogical. He’d only wanted to help her see that she needed to come out of the Dark Ages. He pulled onto the suburban street and glanced over again. Her shoulders had relaxed a bit so he tried to put it as logically as he could manage. “The point of job interviews is weeding out the undesirables. The right one will come along. There was no way of knowing that man was a liar.”
She turned glittering, brown eyes in his direction. “I should have known. He’s an outsider.”
Again, her frustration seemed personally directed at him. “That’s rather harsh.”
“Is it? Or are you so close to…them…that you can’t see the difference anymore?