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.I’ll see you in the morning.”“Ernie,” she protested, but he kept going.“I’ll see you in the morning,” he called over his shoulder.“Bambi?” she suddenly remembered as the front door slammed.She didn’t expect him to be there.She got up early and dressed, leaving Petey asleep and fully expecting she’d have to call the station manager again with another tale of woe.She paced and watched out the window and waited, feeling the cold fist of anxiety in the pit of her stomach.Relax, Hannah, she told herself.You’ve got the scripts done, at least.Ernie Watson wasn’t dependable.Whatever had made her think he was dependable? she asked herself a hundred times.But he arrived on time, freshly showered and looking rather boyish and adorable with his hair wet and slicked down, though he still had his five-o’clock shadow.He gave her his and Petey’s itinerary for the day, in case she needed to get in touch with him, and he said a kind word about the way she looked before she left.She accepted the compliment a bit skeptically—since she was wearing a gray pin-striped business suit and high heels, her hair in a severe bun and a briefcase under her arm.“Thanks a lot, Ernie.You really know how to shore up a woman’s confidence.”“Why are you dressed like that?”“Because I’m selling another furniture outlet commercial.This owner is not the Tinker Bell type.I have to look as if I know what I’m doing.”“Well, Hannah, you look like Perry Mason,” he advised her.“I thought I looked like Bambi,” she said, searching for the car keys she’d had only a moment ago.“That’s when you’re worried.Hey,” he said, catching her by the shoulders so he could see her face.The feel of his big warm hands through the fabric of her suit was distracting enough to make her frown.“You’re worried again.Now what are you worried about?”“What am I worried about? Ernie, for heaven’s sake!” she said in exasperation.She tried to get away from him.Personal contact with this man was an indulgence she couldn’t afford—although the fact that he was a hard-drinking cowboy-womanizer who wouldn’t admit that he was in love with her sister ought to be enough deterrent for anyone.“I mean, besides Elizabeth and Petey, and having to leave Petey with me,” he said.The dark eyes that held hers demanded honesty, whether she wanted to give it or not.“That … pretty well covers it,” she said, giving him what he wanted.He smiled his crooked smile.“Well, if that’s all you got to worry about, you got it knocked, Miss Hannah.Elizabeth I can’t do anything about.But I promise you, you can take me and Petey off the worry list.We’re going to watch Kissyfur cartoons, and we’re going to check out a few people who might have seen Elizabeth.Okay?”She stared back at him, drawing comfort from the melancholy calm she saw in his eyes.“Okay,” she finally said.“Damn right.Now—if we can do something about that Perry Mason outfit.”“What is the matter with this outfit!” she cried.“Well, Hannah, I’ll tell you what’s the matter … You want me to tell you what’s the matter?”“Tell me, tell me.”“Okay.It’s like a … plain brown wrapper.”“I beg your pardon?” she said.“You know—some things you can order through the mail and they promise they’ll send it to you in a plain brown wrapper—”“Ernie, what has that got to do with anything!”“Now, wait.See, when that package in the plain brown wrapper comes, everybody who sees it just knows there’s something wicked in there, and everybody is busy as hell wondering what it is.Now, you walk into a business meeting dressed like that, and you think you’re looking all efficient and everything—well, I’m telling you, Hannah, there won’t be a man in the place who’s not wondering what’s in that plain—”“I get the picture!” Hannah interrupted, trying not to grin.“You really are … full of it, you know that?”“Yeah, I know that.I just didn’t know you did.” He was trying to keep a straight face, too, but they both laughed.“Give ’em hell, Miss Hannah,” he told her on her way out, giving her a hard hug as if he knew she needed it, regardless of the suit and the briefcase, and leaving her all addled and ridiculously reassured.She replayed the moment in her mind all day, his warmth and his masculine soap and leather scent, and the strength of his hard male body.For a moment, just a moment, she’d pressed her face into that place at his neck: the place in the V of his undershirt where she could see the beginnings of the curling hair on his chest.It had been entirely pleasant—wonderful—no matter how hard she tried to deny it.She had to work late, and she looked up just after nine to see Ernie and Petey through the glass windows of the studio, the misery in Petey’s face abating somewhat at the sight of Anna-Hannah working hard on her ’mercial just the way she had at home.“Sorry,” Ernie whispered to her when she came out into the hall.“I think she’s scared you’ll go off, like Libby.”Petey, what are we going to do? Hannah thought as she held out her arms to the child.She stood in the dimly lit hallway, holding a silent Petey tightly and leaning against the wall.Someone opened a door nearby and Hannah could hear the noise of KHRB’s eight-o’clock supermovie until the door closed again [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]