"I"m sure she does, and I haven"t even broached the subject with her yet. I wanted to get you on board first."
"I"m on board for helping Susan get her ratings up. Listen, I am not a cook, I am not a home manager. The people of America certainly don"t want to watch the chaos of my normal life."
"The women of America like a woman who struggles with the same things they do. They like to see her overcome, of course, which could be part of your continuing series."
"No." Julie shook her head firmly. "No. I would never take Susan"s dream from her and make it mine. Never."
"You don"t have to give a final answer now; in fact, I won"t accept that right now. I want you to spend some time thinking about it."
"There"s no reason. That"s something I would never do. Now, if you"ll excuse me, I"m going back to my family." Julie hurried from the building. She made it only until she closed the door behind her before she had to run to the bushes and empty her stomach.
Chapter 32.
Susan jerked open the door so suddenly, a man with an armload of Happy Meals stumbled through it. He reached forward just in time to catch a loose box before it hit the ground.
"I"m so sorry. Are you all right?"
"No harm done. You want to slow it-"
Susan hurried inside, leaving the man and his admonition behind. There wasn"t time for it right now.
It took a few seconds to get her bearings, but then she saw them. They were sitting on opposite sides of a corner booth, leaning in toward each other, holding hands across the table. Chris released Angie"s right hand just long enough to wipe tears from her cheek with the back of his fingers; then he grasped onto her hand again.
The sight of her daughter so upset momentarily tempered her fury, but not completely, and not for long. If Angie was upset, then she should have come to Susan to talk about it. Sneaking off with this . . . person, was not the answer. She marched up to the booth. "Angie Reynolds, you are coming back to the house with me right now."
Angie jerked back in her seat and looked up. "Mom! How did you find us here?"
"It doesn"t matter. You"re leaving with me right now."
Chris nodded. "You should go." The ruffian had the nerve to pull Angie"s hand up to his lips and kiss it before he let her go. "I"ll be praying for you."
"I"m sure you will." Susan couldn"t believe the nerve of that boy, acting like he had any sort of real spiritual beliefs just to get on Angie"s good side, or perhaps out of trouble with Susan. Either way, she wasn"t buying it. "Come on, Angie. We"re leaving right now."
Angie stood up slowly, her eyes trained on Chris the entire time. She walked to his side of the booth, leaned down, and hugged him. "Thank you." She let him go and stood up, her tears falling harder now. "I"m sorry." She more or less whispered the words, but she wasn"t talking to Susan; she was still talking to Chris.
Susan waited until they were outside before she said, "Let me get this straight, you run off in the middle of the night with a boy you were forbidden to see, and you tell him you"re sorry? What about the mother who has spent the last hour frantically searching for you? Why aren"t you sorry about that?"
"I am sorry, Mom, but I needed someone I could talk to. Chris is the only one who understands."
"That boy would tell you anything to make you think he"s truly interested in you, Angie. All you have to do is take one look at him to know his interests in anyone are far from n.o.ble."
"Maybe if you spent some time caring about the inside rather than the outside of everything!" Across the parking lot, a family of four turned to watch them. Susan tried not to imagine the smug look on the wife"s face.
"Don"t you dare talk to me that way." By now, Susan was shaking with rage. "We"re going to get in that truck and not say a single word in front of Gary. But as soon as we get back to the farm, we are going to have a very long talk."
"Fine." Angie walked past Susan toward the truck. Gary was leaning against the tailgate, obviously making a point not to look in their direction.
As Angie approached, she did say, "Good evening, Gary."
"Evening to you, too." He raced around and opened the pa.s.senger-side door. Angie climbed in and slid across.
He held the door for Susan. "Thank you so much for bringing me out to find her. Can I ask one more favor?"
"Shoot."
"Don"t tell anyone about this. I"m not asking you to lie. If someone asks, tell them the truth, but if it doesn"t get brought up, will you please help keep it quiet?"
"I"ll help in any way I can."
Chapter 33.
Susan stumbled down to the kitchen the next morning and immediately lit the wood in the stove. Today"s coffee would have to be extra strong, considering the fact that she and Angie had been up until well past midnight. But, in the end, the talk had been good . . . perhaps even better than that. There were many issues that had been needing a good discussion.
Susan poured the water into the percolator, then added extra grounds into the top basket. She sank down at the kitchen table, knowing it would be awhile before everything heated sufficiently. It was mornings like these that she most missed the modern conveniences like automatic-grind coffeepots with automatic brew settings.
"Knock, knock."
Kendra walked in the door, looking every bit as fresh at 5:00 A.M. as she usually did at her normal arrival time of nine or so.
"What are you doing here so early?"
"I understand we had some excitement last night." Her smile was huge, her blue eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.
Susan, quite suddenly, felt a deep sense of dread push down on her with a force hard enough that she couldn"t even force a smile. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, come now. Let"s not pretend that we both don"t know the obvious. But I"ve got to tell you, I"m bringing the best news I"ve brought since you"ve been here."
"Really? What"s that?"
"Two things, really. First of all, Chris will not be returning to work today. It has become more than apparent that his staying here is not going to work."
"But, wait-"
"Just like you wanted before, right? Second, and best of all, this whole episode is exactly what we needed to happen for all of America to see you at your best. The conversation you had with your daughter last night, it was . . . compelling, amazing, heartwarming. All of America is going to love you. We"ve already got the snippets ready to start running today. I expect the highest ratings we"ve ever had on this Friday"s show."
"The conversation I had with my daughter last night?" How had she been so stupid? She"d been so caught up in the moment, the cameras had never entered her mind.
Kendra nodded. "The one at this very table." She stroked her hand across the oak top as if petting a dog.
"How do you even know about that?" The cameras were there all the time, but for someone to have already seen the footage of last night, to have even checked the footage for the middle of the night, someone must have known to look. There could be only one way. Gary must have come right home and called Kendra, told her to get the cameras going because this was going to make for some good stuff. The sense of betrayal she felt went clear through to her spine.
"Come now, I told you on that very first day that there are hidden cameras all around the public portions of the farmhouse. You"ve always known they were there. They"re on 24/7. I was very upfront about that."
"You can"t use that footage. That was highly personal."
"Of course we can, and emotional, authentic footage is the best possible kind of footage. The viewers will eat it up. When one of the night crew noticed late-night lights and went to the monitor, that was the best thing that ever happened to your career, because I have to tell you, it was looking iffy at best until just now."
Susan put her hands on each side of her head and leaned against the table. "No."
"I probably shouldn"t have come in here so early in the morning before you"re awake enough to see this for the gift that it is. It"s just that I was in the editing trailer and I saw the lamps come on in the kitchen, and I just had to come and tell you. You know what? You come talk to me after you"ve had your coffee. I"ll even break the rules just this once and show you the clip." She stood from the kitchen table and walked out the back door, humming the Lisa Lee theme song under her breath.
Chapter 34.
Julie tiptoed down the stairs. She got up a little early, thinking she would make some coffee for Susan, and hopefully get a chance to talk to her about how things went last night with Angie.
As she neared the kitchen, she felt the heat from the stove and smelled the coffee. She entered the room to find Susan with her head resting on her arms on the kitchen table. Asleep?
Julie didn"t want to wake her, so she stopped walking, considering her next move. The coffee was percolating on the stove, and given the strong smell, it likely had been for a while. She quietly poured two cups, then went to sit across the table from Susan.
"Good morning." Susan said the words without lifting her head.
"Is it?" Julie slid one of the mugs across the table. "Your coffee"s ready."
"Thanks." She still didn"t lift her head.
"Susan, why don"t you go back to bed? I can handle what needs doing around here today."
Susan sat up then, rubbed her forehead with her left hand, and shook her head. "No. That"s okay. Thank you, though." She took a sip of her coffee. "And thank you for last night. For figuring out what was going on, I mean."
Julie reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "How are things?"
"Dandy. Just dandy." She gestured toward the walls. "I feel the need for a walk."
"What?"
"Join me?" She stood up, coffee cup in hand, and started toward the back porch without waiting for an answer.
Julie grabbed her own mug and followed Susan out to the screened-in porch. They both sat on the bench and began lacing up their work boots. "We"re going to be quite the stylish ladies, walking through the place in our boots and pj"s."
"Doesn"t matter." Susan stood and walked out the door. Julie rushed after her, but didn"t say anything, choosing to wait instead for Susan to speak when she was ready. She waited until they were past the barn. "They caught it all on film."
Julie thought about the events of last night. "All . . . as in escape, search, everything? How is that possible?"
"Well, most everything. It seems that they noticed lights on in the kitchen really late last night, so they pulled up those monitors, just in time to realize that Angie and I were having a serious talk. They recorded the whole thing."
"I thought Kendra didn"t want any of this to accidentally end up on the show."
"She didn"t." Susan took a sip of her coffee. "Until now. She says it is the most compelling footage they"ve gotten all season."
"Oh, Susan. Surely you told her she can"t use it?"
"I told her. She reminded me about a little thing called the contract. They can use whatever they darn well want to."
"Oh, sweetie." Julie put her arm around Susan"s shoulder. "I"m so sorry."
They walked in silence for some time, until they reached the observatory. Susan stopped and turned back toward the house. "The thing is, it was the best talk we"ve had in a long time. Since the divorce really. But we talked about some really personal things-about James, about Chris. For them to air it for all of America to see . . . you know how shy she is . . . this will be humiliating for her."
"Then you"ve got to stop them."
"I just told you, there is a contract. I can"t."
"Maybe not, but don"t you let it happen without putting every single ounce of your being against it. At least Angie will know that you gave everything you had."
"I never thought I"d hear these words come out of my mouth, but I don"t know what else to do."
"You walk out, if that"s what it takes."
"My contract forbids that, too."
"Susan, you"re in a battle for your daughter"s well-being. This is one of those times when you give up everything if that"s what it takes."
"But what kind of example would I be setting? Walking away from a project I promised to see through to the end?"
"You"d be setting the best possible example. Showing her there are some areas where you won"t compromise, no matter what it costs you."
"I don"t know." Susan was wiping tears from her eyes. "I"m going to sit by the creek for a while. Think. Pray. Will you cover for me?"
"Take as long as you need." Julie walked toward the house, her heart heavy. Everything had gone so wrong.
Susan sat just above the creek bank. Dew on the early-morning gra.s.s soaked through her pajamas, but what did it matter? She extended her legs in front of her, knees slightly bent so she could rest her elbows on them when she leaned forward, then put a hand over each ear.
It was ruined. Everything was ruined.
G.o.d, I just don"t get it. I was certain You had called me here to this. It seemed to be a clear answer to prayers. This job was giving me the means to provide for Angie and me, plus the opportunity to expand Lydia"s Legacy to even more women. But everything is wrong. I"m going to lose this job, go home in disgrace as a complete failure, and my daughter will still have to suffer the consequences. Why didn"t I think about those cameras last night? What kind of an idiot am I?
As much as she tried to shut them out, the memories of two years ago joined in the fray of her swirling thoughts. The nights that James worked late. She hadn"t thought a thing about it initially. Of course he worked late-he was an engineer in the aeros.p.a.ce industry, and there were things that needed to be done. All that talk about the big project they were working on.
She remembered walking down the aisle of the grocery store, her neatly printed grocery list in one hand while she squeezed an apricot with the other. One of the store employees was cutting up peaches and handing out slices for people to try, causing the area to have a fresh, fruity smell.
"Susan, how are you doing?" Annamarie Rickman, wife of one of James"s colleagues, appeared, picking up a peach sample and waving it at Susan in greeting before she popped it in her mouth.