Practice Husband

“Addy? Is that really you?”

Addy winced at his incredulous tone. “Did I look that bad that you don’t believe the improvement?”

“Improvement?”

She stated the obvious. “I’m not fat anymore.”

He took her comment as an invitation to look at her, and Addy felt her skin tighten as his hot, blue gaze slowly wandered over her. She could feel her breasts tightening as his gaze lingered on them.

“No,” he agreed, “you’re not fat anymore.” His eyes narrowed. “In fact, you look downright skinny. What have you been doing to yourself?”

Addy blinked at his description. No one had ever called her skinny in her life. It wasn’t an idea she could relate to, so she ignored it.

“I’ve spent the last four years with a bunch of nuns trying to save the world,” she said self-mockingly.

“From what I’ve seen of the world, you’re lucky to still be in one piece. The world generally takes exception to being saved.”

“Not my part of it. I work with children, and they’re darlings no matter where you find them.” Her voice unconsciously softened.

“Teacher?” he guessed.

Addy felt a stab of disappointment that he didn’t know. A feeling that she told herself was ridiculous. She was nothing more than an old school friend. There was no reason why he should have kept up with her life. She hadn’t kept up with his.

“I’m a pediatric nurse-practitioner.”

“As well as the owner of a parcel of land that we need.”

His reference to her land brought Addy back to reality with a thump.

“We really need that land, Addy.”

“You really need that land,” she corrected. “I already have it, and I intend to keep it.”

Addy watched as his eyes narrowed, showing a line of fine wrinkles at the corners. As if he laughed a lot. Her gaze dropped to the firm set of his jaw, and she mentally rejected the idea. He probably just spent a lot of time outside in the sunlight.

“Addy, be reasonable.” His plaintive words echoed through her mind, dislodging old memories. He must have said those exact same words to her hundreds of times when they were children. The familiar sound of them served to dispel the strangeness of her reaction to him. Suddenly, he was simply Joe. Her childhood friend.

She grinned at him, inexplicably feeling carefree. “If memory serves me right, your idea of being reasonable means that I do exactly what you want.”

Joe shrugged, and Addy watched in fascination as his powerful shoulders moved beneath the perfection of his custom-tailored suit In some strange way, his highly civilized clothes didn’t make him seem civilized. They actually seemed to make him more ruggedly masculine, as if their purpose was to highlight the difference between the way he really was and the way he wanted people to perceive him.

“I really need that land Addy,” he said. “Our present plant has reached capacity, and we need to expand to meet the increasing demand.”

“Demand for what?” Addy asked, curious about what he did.

“Computer chips.”

“Oh,” Addy said, “You’re one of them.”

“One of who?”

“One of those fanatics who want to put computers everywhere. Do you know they’re even putting the blasted things in libraries?” she said in remembered outrage. “They’re getting rid of card catalogues and making you use computers, and half the time they don’t even work.”

Joe grinned at her, giving her a glimpse of his gleaming, white teeth. “You may look a lot different, but you haven’t really changed. You can still divert a conversation quicker than anyone I know.”

Addy felt her spirits rise at the warmth of his smile. A smile that was echoed by the sparkle of humor in his eyes.

“But the fact remains that I need your land.”

“I know you want it, but I want it, too. It’s...” Addy struggled to explain her feelings. “That house is all I have left of my folks. I grew up there. All my memories are there. If I sell it and you raze it, they’ll all be goue.”

“Your memories aren’t in the house, they’re in your mind. And nothing I or anyone else can ever do will destroy them. Be grateful you’ve got happy memories. to cherish.”

His voice took on a bitter tinge, and Addy suddenly remembered overhearing her mother and her friends whispering about the disgraceful way Joe’s mother drank.

“Why don’t you simply build your plant somewhere else?” Addy ventured. “I can’t own the only vacant tract in town.”

“Yours is the best,” he insisted. “The location is perfect. Every other site that’s available had big problems. Our engineers—”

Joe paused as his assistant stuck his head in the door and said, “You asked me to tell you when Hodkins over at the bank called. He’s on the line now.”

“Addy, would you mind waiting a minute while I take this call?” Joe asked as he reached for his phone. “It’s important.”

Deciding to take advantage of the interruption, Addy got to her feet. She needed to think about what Joe had said and she found it hard to do it when he was just a few feet from her. Somehow, the sight of him did strange things to her thought processes.

“Of course not, Joe. I promised a friend I’d drop by this morning, and it’s almost noon now.”

“But we haven’t reached an agreement.”

“I’ll give you a call this afternoon,” Addy said and then escaped. She had the feeling that people didn’t reach an agreement with Joe. They gave in to him. The very forcefulness of his personality would tend to wear down the opposition.

She gave the surprised-looking Bill a quick smile as she hurried down the hall, breathing a sigh of relief when she was out of the building. Kathy should be able to tell her all about Joe. Addy unconsciously sped up at the thought. Kathy had always known all the gossip when they were in school together.

“Addy!” Joe stuck his head out of his office and glanced around the deserted reception area.

“She went that-a-way.” Bill gestured toward the exit. “Would you like me to see if I can catch her?”

“Fat chance you’d have of getting her to do anything she didn’t want to. She was always the most aggravating, stubborn kid....”

Bill stared thoughtfully in the direction Addy had gone. “I don’t know about that, but she sure turned out spectacularly.”

A shaft of anger lanced through Joe at Bill’s bemused expression.

“Leave her alone!” Joe’s harsh command surprised them both. He hadn’t meant to say it. He’d thought it, but he hadn’t meant to say it.

“I’m trying to negotiate with her for her land,” Joe added, to rationalize his order. “I don’t need any complications from you chasing her.”

“It’s only a complication if I catch her.” Bill chuckled and then hastily sobered at Joe’s scowl.