LITMIR.BIZ

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He gave her a wistful look. “Can you?”

      “Probably not,” she admitted.

      “You left a little wiggle room in there,” he noted.

      She leveled a look into his eyes. “I didn’t mean to. Look, Walter, if you finally see what a controlling man your father is, that’s great, but I don’t want any part of that life again. I’m trying to get a handle on who I am, and until I figure that out, I don’t want any man trying to shape me into what he thinks I ought to be.”

      “I understand. You sure did get more than enough of that from me. When I think back on some of the things I said, the way I treated you…” He shook his head. “It makes me ashamed, Sarah. It really does.”

      Tears stung her eyes. “Thank you for saying that.”

      “I should have said it a long time ago.” They sat there in amazingly companionable silence for a long time. Eventually he turned to her. “Is it okay with you if I spend more time with the kids from here on out? I’m thinking I’ll try to come over every weekend and spend at least Friday night, maybe Friday and Saturday. I know that’s not what the custody agreement spelled out, but there’s probably a way to fix that if you don’t object.”

      “As long as you’re good to the kids—both of them—you can see them whenever you want,” she said. “I have them to myself all week long. Now that I’m working, that’s not as much time as it used to be, so I’ll want some weekends for myself, but we can work it out so it’s fair to both of us.”

      “Do we need it in writing? That lawyer of yours seems to like everything on paper.”

      “I’ll speak to her,” Sarah promised.

      Walter stood up. “Then I’ll say goodnight. I’ll be by in the morning to say goodbye to the kids.”

      She nodded, then sat there long after he’d left, wondering at the transformation. If he truly was turning over a new leaf, more power to him. But just in case this was some passing whim of his, she thought she’d leave their custody agreement just the way it was. Maybe change was possible for some people, but she feared Walter, like the leopard, wasn’t capable of changing his spots this easily.

      By Monday morning the word had spread that Travis McDonald had offered Sarah a job at the radio station. It was Annie who called an emergency margarita night for all of the Sweet Magnolias, young and old, to discuss what she referred to as the insane idea Sarah had of throwing away a perfectly reliable job at Wharton’s to work at a brand-new, yet-to-be-tested radio station that could be off the air in a month.

      Because Raylene had flatly refused to leave the house, Annie had convinced the original Sweet Magnolias to come here. Now Dana Sue Sullivan, who owned the town’s fanciest restaurant, attorney Helen Decatur and Maddie Maddox, who managed The Corner Spa which all three women owned, were seated in Sarah’s living room with drinks. Jeanette McDonald, who managed the spa’s personal services such as facials, massages and manicures, hadn’t yet arrived.

      Annie, newly married to Maddie’s son, Ty Townsend, wore a worried frown on her face that even one of Helen’s lethal margaritas hadn’t been able to erase.

      “You don’t know anything at all about this man,” she reminded Sarah. “He handed you some line and now you want to quit your job and become a radio star? This just isn’t like you. What’s Walter going to think? Did you mention it to him when he was here this weekend?”

      Sarah shook her head.

      “Why not?” Annie pressed. “I’ll tell you why not—because you know he’s going to make some big stink about it.”

      “Since when do you care what Walter thinks?” Sarah retorted, her determination to do this kicking up a notch. “This isn’t about Walter.”

      “Isn’t it?” Annie scoffed. “Are you telling us that on some level this isn’t an in-your-face act designed to make him crazy?”

      “So what if it is?” Sarah said, even though Walter hadn’t once crossed her mind when she’d been saying yes to Travis. “It’s not as if I’m going to be doing something disreputable that he can use against me in court.” A sudden worry nagged at her and she turned to Helen. “Right? There’s nothing wrong with having a local talk show on radio, is there?”

      “Nothing I can think of,” Helen agreed. She faced Annie. “What really has you so worried?”

      Annie squirmed uncomfortably. “Okay, I mentioned all this to Ty when he called tonight. The Braves have been on a road trip so his calls don’t last long, and believe me, we don’t spend the time talking about the local news. When I mentioned the radio station the other day, it was the first he’d heard that Travis McDonald was settling here. Anyway, it turns out Ty knows him, or knows of him, I guess I should say. He says he had a real reputation as a ladies’ man when be played for Boston. A couple of Ty’s teammates have known Travis ever since he played in the minors. He called me tonight to fill me in on all this.”

      Sarah’s mouth gaped. “Travis played for the Boston Red Sox? You’re kidding me!”

      “You didn’t know that?” Maddie asked, looking surprised.

      Sarah shook her head. “He said he’d played ball for a while. He didn’t say anything about playing in the majors. I figured he was maybe on some farm team for about a minute.”

      “It was a little longer than a minute, according to Ty,” Annie said. “It was long enough to make an impression on a lot of women in a lot of cities.”

      “Well, so what?” Sarah said, even though she was disconcerted by the news. “It’s not as if I’m going to date him. I’m just going to work for him. Besides, maybe he’s reformed and wants a chance to start fresh. Ty did.”

      Annie winced at the reminder of her husband’s well-publicized exploits with women. He’d wound up with a son during that wild phase of his life. Trevor, in fact, was living right here with Annie while Ty was on the road with the team.

      Before Annie could respond, though, Jeanette breezed in. “Sorry, I’m late. Are you talking about Travis? He just told me he’d hired you, Sarah. Congratulations!”

      Maddie, Dana Sue and Helen turned on her.

      “Just how well do you know him?” Dana Sue asked, radiating suspicion. “I know he’s Tom’s cousin, but you’ve never even mentioned him.”

      “Haven’t I?” Jeanette asked with a shrug. “He’s been staying with us. He wanted us to keep it quiet when he first got here. He’d had his fill of publicity.”

      “Did you know about the radio station?” Helen asked.

      Jeanette nodded. “Of course.”

      “And you never said a word,” Maddie said with a shake of her head. “What kind of Sweet Magnolia are you?”

      Jeanette chuckled. “One who can keep her mouth shut,” she suggested.

      “Which is not a recommendation, as far as I can tell,” Helen said. “We’re supposed to be up on all the big news in town.”

      “And now you are,” Jeanette said readily. “So, what’s the emergency? Why are we all here?”

      “Because some of us think Sarah’s nuts for taking this radio job, especially to work with a man with the kind of reputation Travis apparently has,” Annie told her. “No offense.”

      “None taken,” Jeanette said. “But how can he possibly have any reputation when he just got to town a few weeks ago?”

      “Ty,” Maddie said succinctly. “Word on the road is that Travis was a real player with the ladies when he played ball in Boston.”

      “Oh, so what?” Jeanette said, dismissing the assessment as unimportant. “Sarah’s an intelligent woman. She’s not automatically going to fall

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