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night!”
“Oh!” Connie threw up her hands and started to say something else when she noticed the car in
the driveway. She smoothed down her greasy coveralls and glanced from the car to Bob.
“Lang!” his brother exclaimed, grateful for the diversion. “Lang, is that you?”
“Looks like it,” Lang said ruefully. He got out and waited for Kirry to join him at the steps. “We
just got engaged and thought we'd come and tell you. This doesn't look like the best time for an
announcement.”
“Engaged?” Connie stumbled. “You and Kirry? Again?”
“We weren't actually engaged then,” Lang said irritably. “We were almost engaged.”
Connie's face softened. “Well, well. And when are you getting married, soon?”
“I wish everybody would stop asking that!” Lang burst out, running an irritated big hand through
his hair.
“We haven't set a date,” Kirry said quickly. “It was very sudden. We haven't really had a lot of
time to talk about it, what with our jobs…”
“Well, of course they haven't,” Bob told his wife. “Can't you stop throwing questions at them
when they've only just gotten here? Teresa, make some coffee and slice some cake, will you?!”
“Si, Senor Bob,” Teresa's soft voice came back, followed by the scurrying of feet.
“She's a sweetheart,” Bob said with a smile. It faded when he looked at his haggard wife. “She
doesn't think so. She doesn't even appreciate all the hard work Teresa does here to save her work.”
“I'm sure Connie appreciates it, Bob,” Kirry interjected. “Can we go inside? I'm cold.”
“It's all but summer,” Lang muttered. “How can you have chills?”
“Are you feverish?” Connie felt Kirry's forehead. “Not at all, thank goodness. You know, I had
chills when I got pregnant with Mikey…”
“There's no possibility whatsoever that Kirry's pregnant,” Lang said shortly.
“Oh, I know that, for heaven's sake,” Connie muttered at him. “I was just making a statement.”
Lang flushed, but no one noticed except Kirry. She averted her eyes. They'd taken precautions,
and it had only been the one time. She couldn't be pregnant. The thing was, precautions did fail one
time out of a hundred… But, no, she wouldn't think about it.
“This is Teresa.” Bob introduced the young Mexican-American woman with a smile. His eyes
were twinkling as he looked at her. “Ninita, éste es mi hermano, Lang.”
“Mucho gusto enconocerlo, señor,”she said with a smile. She had a lovely round figure and big
brown eyes in a frame of long, jet black hair. She was a beauty. No wonder Connie was furious!
“Y mi,” Lang replied. “Se alegro de trabajar aquí, señorita?” he added.
“Oh, sí,” she said without enthusiasm, and she looked worried. “Este familia es muy simpático,
especialamente el ninito.”
She liked Mikey. She didn't mention liking Connie, who was glaring at everybody who spoke
Spanish, because she didn't.
“Speak English,” Connie said harshly.
“She's learning. It takes time.” Bob shot back the words. “Stop being so unpleasant!”
Connie put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I will not. You're imagining yourself in
love with her, aren't you?”
Bob flushed. “For heaven's sake…!”
“Admit it, you coward!” Connie goaded him. “Come on, admit it!”
“She's a sweet, kind little thing who likes kids and housework and men!” he said finally, his dark
eyes glaring at her. “How do you expect me to feel about her, when my wife looks and smells like a
grease pit and never has time for me or her son?”
Connie gasped and suddenly turned and ran for the bedroom, where she slammed the door with a
loud sob.
Bob grimaced. “Now I've done it.”
Lang and Kirry exchanged looks. “I think we picked a bad night to come,” Lang began.
“There aren't any good ones,” he muttered. He saw Teresa's huge eyes fill with tears and moved
to put an arm around her. “No sea triste, amada,” he said softly. “Todo es bien.”
“Everything is not well,” Lang replied darkly. “And she should be sad, since it seems to me that
she's about to break up your marriage. You're a married man. Bob. Why don't you act like it? The
person who needs comforting is your wife, not your housekeeper.”
Bob's face flamed. He took his arm from around Teresa and glowered at Lang. “I don't need you
to tell me how to conduct my marriage!”
“No?” Lang looked past him. Connie was coming out of the bedroom with a suitcase in one hand
and Mikey by the other.
“Where are we going. Mom?” he asked sleepily.
“To my sister's!” she informed the world. She glared at Bob. “When you come to your senses, if
you do, I'll be at Louise's.”
“What about your precious business out back?” he asked.
“Put up a Closed sign. You can spell that, can't you?” she asked sweetly. ”In the meanwhile, Todd
Steele has a vacancy for a mechanic in his garage, and he'll hire me in a minute."
His eyes bulged. “I won't have you working for your ex-sweetheart who just got divorced!” he
told her.
“Why not? I'm about to be divorced myself!”
“Connie!” he wailed.
“Mom, why are you yelling at daddy?” Mikey asked, still drowsy and not making much sense of
the confrontation.
“Because he's deaf,” Connie replied, glaring at her husband. “He doesn't understand simple
language like 'fire her'!”
“You can't tell me who to fire in my own house,” Bob informed her.
“It used to be my house, too, and Mikey's,” Connie returned proudly. “Now it seems to be
Teresa's.”
Bob seemed to realize all at once what was happening to his life. “She's just the housekeeper,” he
began.
“That's right,” Connie replied. “But you don't treat her like one.”
“You don't treat me like a husband,” he retorted.
Connie didn't answer him. “Say good-night to everyone, Mikey,” she told their son.
“Good night,” he said obligingly.
Connie smiled apologetically at Lang and Kirry, ignored the others and stalked out the door with
Mikey. Minutes later, her car started up and moved out of the driveway around Lang's.
Bob's eyes narrowed. “Connie isn't my wife, she's the resident mechanic. She has no time for
anything except her damned job! Mikey and I were just flotsam, don't you realize that? She doesn't [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]