LITMIR.BIZ

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beat them senseless. She loved him; she was proud of him and she knew his story would give other people hope. Unfortunately, it would also raise suspicion and cast a jaundiced eye on her reputation as a nonprofit manager. While they were two consenting adults, they couldn’t make their history general knowledge. It was too risky.

      They couldn’t even have people at the shelter know—it would open too many doors that should stay shut. After a while, when Ted was out on his own, established in his work and his life, they could let everyone know, saying they’d gotten together after the fact.

      Still, it bothered Pam so much to have to lie.

      The music ended and she didn’t realized how tense she’d become in Ted’s arms until he looked into her eyes with concern. She blew out a breath, laughing softly.

      “Okay, sorry. I know I should leave work at the office.” She dropped her hands from his shoulders as they walked from the dance floor. “I love that tux—you look right at home in it.”

      “Pays to buy quality.”

      She stepped back in surprise. “You bought that? It’s yours?”

      He grinned. “I wasn’t taking you out in a rented monkey suit, and I plan to get a lot of use out of this over the years. Clothes make the man,” he reminded her, a quote from one of their favorite goofy movies, Joe Versus the Volcano. She grabbed his hand and tugged him down close.

      “No. I think in this case it’s very much the opposite.”

      “Well, thank you ma’am,” he said, his eyes sparkling with desire. “How about one more drink, and then we can take the party home?”

      “That sounds like a perfect plan,” she agreed.

      She’d stayed a respectable time, had fun, mingled with the people she needed to mingle with, catching them up on the shelter’s latest doings and making sure they knew how critical their donations and services were to the shelter’s success. She’d even managed to convince the manager of a small local grocery chain not to drop their program asking customers to donate at the cash register. Every small victory counted.

      Glancing toward the bar to see if Ted was making his way back to her, Pam caught the eye of Martin Solese of Solese Construction. She hadn’t seen him earlier, and he was one person she was trying desperately to hold on to—the shelter needed new front steps in the worst way and she didn’t have enough cash on hand to pay full cost. However, Martin had become so in demand in the local housing market that she never really saw him anymore. His secretary said she forwarded Pam’s calls, but Pam never got a response.

      She thought it might have to do with the fact that he’d asked her out once and she’d said no, definitively. She didn’t mix business with pleasure as a rule, and she’d explained that to him; she hadn’t wanted to jeopardize his support by going out with him. She’d also just met Ted at that time and hadn’t been interested in anyone else. She pasted on a smile as Martin approached the table.

      “Pam! How are you? You look too gorgeous to be here all alone—didn’t I see you dancing with someone?”

      She nodded as he took a chair close by her side, Ted’s chair, wishing he’d taken one a few seats away. “I am here with someone. He’s getting drinks now. I didn’t see you here earlier.”

      “Ah, got off to a late start tonight, waiting for my date.”

      “Anyone I know?”

      “Probably not. She’s a model from L.A.—we met when I was hired to do a summer house for her father. We’ve been seeing each other for a few months now.” He delivered the news in a tone that subtly suggested that Pam had missed out. If he was serious about someone else, it would make it much easier to ask him to do some work on the shelter.

      “Listen, Martin, I wanted to talk to you about some work we need done—”

      “Here we are…. Martini for you and, oh … hello,” Ted interrupted them, and Pam looked up, glad he had returned.

      “Thanks. Oh, Ted, I wanted to introduce you to—”

      “Ted … Don’t I know you from somewhere?” Martin interrupted, his expression surprised as he stood and shook Ted’s hand. Pam noticed that Ted had gone a little pale and set his drink down on the table with a shaking hand.

      “No, I don’t think so,” Ted responded gruffly. And then it hit her and she felt slightly panicked—of course, Martin had been working on installing new windows right at the time Ted had arrived at the shelter. It seemed unlikely that either man would remember the other, so much time had passed.

      “I remember,” the contractor said, tapping his forehead now, “you helped me put in windows when I did that job at the shelter. Weren’t you … you know, uh, weren’t you staying there?”

      Martin stumbled and Ted caught Pam’s eye as the two other couples returned from the dance floor—one of them being the grocer she’d convinced to keep supporting them.

      The three stared at each other as the implications struck them all simultaneously. Pam hoped against hope that Martin wouldn’t make anything of it. As he turned his narrowed gaze on her, she saw the anger tighten his jaw and she knew she wasn’t going to be that lucky.

      “So … I asked you out at the time and you said you didn’t want to date me because we had a conflict of interest due to my donating work to the shelter—however, it appears that you didn’t feel the same conflict of interest in getting involved with one of your charity cases? Is Ted special or do you take care of all your male residents that well?”

      Pam recoiled but heard Ted growl from across the table.

      “You’d best take that back and apologize, Solese,” he warned in a tone of voice she’d only ever heard him use when some of the guys at the shelter got out of line. She looked up to see him towering over Martin.

      Mr. Douglas, the grocery-store owner, broke in, confused. “What’s going on here Ms. Reynolds? What are these two men fighting about?”

      People around them in the country club had started milling about and observing the two men angrily staring each other down. It was too late to save face—the best she could do was to try to keep them from pounding each other.

      “Ted, stop—Martin, back off—you’re out of line.”

      Martin laughed, looking around at his audience. “Oh, I’m out of line? I think you’re the one who’s out of line, dating your male residents…. How many people here know? What do you think they’d think if they did?”

      “That’s enough, Martin,” she cautioned in her own icy tone, reeling with anger. How dare he call her out like this? “I don’t owe any explanations to you or anyone. I can date whomever I like. It just so happened not to be you. The conflict of interest was an excuse—I wouldn’t have gone out with you anyway, so accept that fact and deal with it.”

      Every person’s eyes were trained on her, including Ted, who had lowered his fists, thank God. Martin was so outraged he was beyond words.

      Mr. Douglas broke the silence. “If I am not mistaken, am I to understand that you, Ms. Reynolds, have been dating this man, and he is one of your residents at Second Chance?”

      “Yeah, that sums it up nicely,” Martin added nastily, and she shot him another glare before turning her attention to Mr. Douglas.

      “Mr. Douglas, this is a terrible misunderstanding. Martin is only upset because I turned him down for a date, that’s all, and maybe everyone has had a few too many martinis,” she offered, trying to lighten the mood, but it wasn’t happening.

      Douglas was old school, and she knew he already had reservations about Second Chance as it was—he’d heard some news story “exposing” homeless people as con men and layabouts who would rather live off the system than work for a living. It had taken her a while to convince him that that was not the case, at least not in her program.

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