'Kelly's all grown up now, Beau. She's not eleven or twelve anymore. It looks to me as though she's behaving in a very responsible fashion.'
I thought about that. 'In other words, butt out and mind my own business?'
Alex shrugged. 'Maybe that's a little stronger than I would have said it myself, but yes, that's pretty much what I mean.'
Alex left me standing in the middle of the room, walked over to the door, and clicked home the security lock. When she came back, she kissed me full on the lips.
'Hey, big guy,' she murmured. 'How about a quick roll in the hay? This is supposed to be our romantic getaway, remember? So far you haven't laid a glove on me.'
God knows I wanted her, but my ears reddened at the very suggestion. 'With Kelly right downstairs?' I croaked.
Alex laughed. 'Why not? She's doing laundry, remember? She won't even notice.'
'But what if the bed squeaks? What if the floor does?'
'What if?'
Taking me by the hand, Alex led me over to the bed. I sat down on it tentatively and bounced once or twice, testing the springs. I couldn't hear any telltale squeaks, but without being downstairs to listen, how could I be sure? Meantime, Alex slipped out of her shorts and panties and peeled her T-shirt off over her head. Seconds after the T- shirt hit the carpeted floor, so did her lacy white bra.
Alex walked over to me and pulled me against her bare skin with fierce, hungry urgency. Grasping my head, she buried my face in the soft, fragrant swell of her breasts.
'Please,' she whispered. 'Kelly will never know. Even if she did, she won't mind. I think she knows where babies come from.'
'But…'
'Kelly isn't a virgin anymore. She doesn't expect you to be one, either.'
Put that way, with Alex's suddenly taut nipples grazing against my skin and lips, I could hardly turn her down. No right-thinking male would have, not unless he was totally crazy-and, most assuredly, I am not crazy.
Eventually, with some careful urging on her part, I did manage to rise to the occasion. But given the choice between making love while my daughter was downstairs washing clothes or doing it with Alex's crazy cat lying there eyeing us malevolently from the opposite pillow, I confess I'd choose Hector every single time.
CHAPTER 6
We fell asleep. Considering the lateness of the hour when we'd arrived home from the emergency room, that was hardly surprising. Alex woke me just in time for us to go to lunch with Jeremy and Kelly. Before we left the room, I personally made sure the bed was perfectly straight.
Jeremy showed up wearing his Birkenstocks and driving the Live Oak Farm van. Once we were all together, he recommended we go directly to a restaurant called Geppetto's in hopes of beating the noontime crowd. I soon saw the wisdom in that advice. Within minutes of our being shown to a table, twenty people stood waiting in line for seating as matinee theatergoers came out in droves, prowling the area for pre-play sustenance.
Ashland, like an army, travels on its stomach. Each day the town fills up with hundreds of out-of-town visitors who expect to be fed regular meals before, after, or between performances. The fact that nobody goes hungry is one of the logistical miracles of unrepentant capitalism.
When the harried waiter arrived to take our order, all three of them-Jeremy, Kelly, and Alex-ordered the eggplant hamburger. Eggplant, for God's sake! It reminded me of Ron Peters, my longtime friend and ex-partner, in his old bean-sprout days. I fumed and ordered a real hamburger.
Kelly shook her head in disapproval. 'Daddy,' she chided, 'how can you eat all that red meat?'
'Easy,' I returned. 'Years of practice.'
My comment provoked the slightest hint of a smile in the corners of Jeremy Cartwright's otherwise strained mouth. I wondered if he was nervous about having lunch with me. I certainly hoped so. I remembered being scared witless the first time I had dinner with Karen's folks.
'I have tickets for Majestic this afternoon, if you'd like to go,' he offered.
'Oh, Jeremy. How awesome!' Kelly exclaimed, sounding every bit the eighteen-year-old she was.
'How did you manage that?'
Jeremy shrugged modestly. 'Just lucky,' he said.
Alexis Downey beamed. 'Majestic's a terrific show. One of my favorites. I understand you play the Laredo Kid?'
'Yeah,' he said. 'I only auditioned for the part on a dare. I never thought I'd actually get it.'
The in-crowd theater talk left me in the dark. 'What's it about?' I asked.
'About this old-time movie character-that's me,' Jeremy answered. 'I appear like a vision to this other guy who grew up going to movies and watching those real old western serials.'
Watch it, Buster, I thought. I used to love those 'real old' western serials.
'Now he's out West working on an Indian reservation,' Jeremy continued. 'My character is stuck in the past with all these old scripts and stereotypes of what women should and shouldn't do. He can't adjust to this new kind of modern woman who can go to school, cook gourmet meals, fix her own car, and save her boyfriend every time he gets into hot water.'
'Sounds fascinating,' I said.
Alex kicked me in the shins. 'It is,' she said. 'And we'll be delighted to go, Jeremy. It'll be a good counterpoint to Shrew tonight.'
If I personally had any objections, they'd been summarily overruled. The waiter brought our orders. Even he looked somewhat disgusted as he slapped the loaded real meat hamburger platter on the table in front of me.
With the arrival of food, conversation ground to a halt. Uncomfortable silence expanded until it seemed to stretch to the far corners of the universe. Each bite of hamburger turned to dry saw-dust in my mouth, although everyone else at the table wolfed his or her food with obvious relish. I could just as well have ordered the eggplant.
'Is your mother coming to the wedding?' Alex asked, innocently lobbing a live hand grenade onto the table. Fortunately, I had just swallowed a mouthful of burger; otherwise I would have required an on-the-spot Heimlich maneuver. Kelly's gaze faltered, and her hands dropped nervously to her lap while a vivid flush spread up her neck and cheeks.
'Mom doesn't know about it,' she responded. 'Coming to the wedding would just upset her.'
'Upset' didn't quite cover it. I doubt that's the word Dave Livingston would have used, either.
The expression on Alex's face remained utterly composed. 'If I were your mother,' she said with an impassive smile, 'I'm afraid I'd be terribly hurt if I wasn't invited.'
'Even if you thought your daughter was making a horrible mistake?' Jeremy chimed in.
I did choke at that one, couldn't help it. At least the kid was smart enough to recognize the lay of the land.
Alex nodded. 'Even if,' she replied.
That was followed by another period of dead silence. 'We'll think about it,' Kelly said finally, but Alex wasn't finished.
'If the wedding's tomorrow,' she pressed, 'there isn't much time for your mother to make arrangements. She's in California, isn't she?' Kelly nodded. 'She'll have to make plane reservations, and all that.'
'I'll try to decide today,' Kelly agreed.
It was a major concession, and I wasn't entirely sure how it had happened. I smiled at Alex, grateful for the miracle, while Kelly changed the subject. 'How was the backstage tour this morning, Jeremy?' she asked.
'Everybody's upset,' he said, 'because of the knife and all.'
Knife? It was as if someone had twanged a gigantic rubber band in the middle of my forehead. 'What knife?' I asked.
'The Henckels-the twelve-inch slicer-we use for Romeo. When the stage manager realized it was missing
