Runaway Vegas Bride / Vegas Two-Step. Liz Talley

Chapter Two

      “But, I know the pay for aides in a retirement community is not good.” Abysmal, actually. How could any woman live on that, and the workers here were primarily female, as the lowest-paid workers most usually were, Jane knew.

      “Yes,” Amy admitted. “But all I have is my GED. You don’t make a lot of money with a GED.”

      “Which is why going back to school is so important,” Jane said.

      “And costs a ton of money. Where would I get the money?”

      “There are programs to loan money to people who are furthering their education. I’ll bring the paperwork here. We can fill it out together.”

      “And then what? Classes at night? Working all day? When am I going to see Max? I’m all he has. And I can’t afford to pay someone to take care of him all the time.” Amy looked tired suddenly, taking care of too many people for too long with no one to help her.

      “Do it now, and you’ll be grateful for the rest of your life and Max’s. No more living paycheck to paycheck. Think about it. Job security, health insurance. You can do it. I know you can,” Jane promised, trying not to break into her basic speech on education and financial well-being with all the bells and whistles, the cheerleading, the chants, the whole bit.

      She tended to do that, even when she wasn’t on the podium conducting a seminar, and it made some people uncomfortable.

      “I’ll think about it,” Amy said. “But I just don’t see how I can make it work.”

      “I do. I’ve helped thousands of women just like you get back to school and get good jobs—”

      “Jane?” Gram said, as she and Gladdy came around the corner and into the kitchen. “Don’t nag, dear. Amy loves it here, and we can’t imagine this place without her.”

      “Sorry, Amy.” Jane took a breath and hoped she truly did look sorry.

      Gram thought Jane was too militant in her ways, crusading for women’s financial freedom and security.

      Of course, Gram and Gladdy’s idea of financial security was a man, a well-to-do man. Jane had finally convinced them to at least ask for gold and diamonds as gifts from their various admirers. Gold and diamonds held their value quite well and could always be sold, if need be. Stock certificates and bonds in divorce settlements worked well, too. They’d been involved with enough men, by this age, to have accumulated smartly diverse and extensive investment portfolios, something of which Jane, who’d handled their finances for years, was very proud.

      “Don’t worry.” Amy laid her hand on top of Jane’s. “It’s fine. And it’s nice to have someone who cares.”

      “I do,” Jane promised. “If you ever decide to leave here, or they catch you bringing Max to work one day, promise to call me.”

      “Jane!” Gram said again.

      “You know the administrator would fire Amy if she ever caught Max here during Amy’s working hours,” Jane argued in her own defense.

      “We love Max and Amy, and we are very good at hiding Max when necessary,” Aunt Gladdy said. “Plus, we have our eyes out for a nice young man for Amy. We’re going to find her someone fabulous!”

      Jane groaned, then looked pleadingly at Amy. “A man is not the answer.”

      “They are to some things,” Amy countered. “I’ve been alone a long time, if you know what I mean.”

      “Okay, men have their uses,” Jane admitted. “Limited at best, but they are not the answer.”

      “Well, I don’t know about that,” a lively older man claimed, smiling as he took his place by Gram’s side and leaned over to give her a little kiss on the cheek. “I’d have to say it depends on exactly what the question is.”

      Though he looked younger, Jane would bet money he was at least eighty, maybe older, just because she knew men seemed to think they were entitled to a younger woman, the younger the better.

      Her father had already married and divorced two women younger than Jane. Why was that, exactly, that they thought they were entitled to younger and younger women? Didn’t they know how ridiculous they looked? Running around with wives younger than their daughters?

      Jane had never been able to figure that one out.

      And she feared she disliked Leo Gray on sight.

      Gram gave him a dazzling smile, which faded fast after Leo greeted her and then turned to give Gladdy the same treatment, little kiss on the cheek and all. Gladdy glowed for a moment, then caught Gram’s look and eased maybe an inch farther away from Leo.

      So…Gladdy liked him, too?

      Not good, Jane thought. Really not good.

      She tried to comfort herself by remembering that in all their years together, Gram and Gladdy had never fought over a man. Surely they wouldn’t start now.

      Gram put her hand on Leo’s arm and said, “Leo Gray, meet my favorite granddaughter, Jane Clayton. Jane, darling, this is Leo.”

      Jane held out her hand, only to find Leo clasping it in both of his and slowly bringing it to his lips for the barest hint of a kiss. “Well, she is just as adorable as you said, Kathleen. I can see now what you must have looked like as a girl, you gorgeous thing.”

       Adorable?

       Girl?

      He made it sound like Jane was six. She fumed but said nothing, not wanting to embarrass Gram.

      This was going to be a very long dinner.

      “Men have their uses. Limited at best…”

      Wyatt caught that much as he followed Leo through the cottage door, then hung back, not wanting to walk into the middle of that particular conversation. Leo, of course, had no reservations about getting into anything with any number of women, kissing his new lady-love, Kathleen, and her friend, which Wyatt could see didn’t go over so well with Kathleen.

      Jeez, right in front of her like that? What was Leo thinking?

      And the granddaughter, Jane, the adorable girl, had just met Leo and already she was fuming on her grandmother’s behalf.

      Wyatt decided navigating this room was going to take all the diplomatic skills he possessed, that he’d rather step in between feuding spouses on the way to divorce court than this particular group.

      Bracing himself, he walked to Leo’s side.

      “My nephew Wyatt dropped by for a few minutes. To take care of some business for me,” Leo said. “He met Kathleen in the garden by the pool earlier. Gladdy, my dear, Jane, meet Wyatt. Wyatt, these two lovely ladies are Kathleen’s cousin Gladdy and her granddaughter, Jane.”

      Wyatt smiled and nodded to Gladdy, a shorter, more gently rounded version of Kathleen with the same pretty white hair. He would have done the same to Jane, but she stood ramrod straight and extended a hand, giving him a firm, businesslike handshake, which he returned in the same manner, fighting the urge to snap to attention and salute at the way she held herself.

      He hoped he passed her little test, being properly businesslike and not trying the bowing-over-the-back-of-the-hand kiss Leo favored in greeting all women, whether they were five or one hundred and five.

      Wyatt anticipated Jane might have slapped him if he’d tried it. He’d seen her reaction to Leo’s patented move, after all.

      She was obviously going for the classic power-suit look some women favored, and she might have pulled it off. She had the matching skirt and jacket in power-red, a no-frills white blouse, hair raked back from her face in a severe knot and carried her leather briefcase by her side.

      It was just that Jane was pint-size, maybe five foot two, Wyatt guessed.