A Glimpse of Fire Read online

  “I’ll grab a beanbag chair from my room.” Dallas hesitated, tamping down her annoyance as she watched Jan take out six-packs of beer and diet cola and a box of cheese crackers.

  This wasn’t supposed to be a party. They’d said they wanted to talk to her. Fine. But she had other things to do this afternoon. Like mope around the apartment in indecision. Talk to Wendy and Trudie. Let them tell her what an idiot she was for not immediately signing on the dotted line before Horn changed his mind.

  Her head hadn’t stopped spinning since Eric had told her about Horn’s offer. Why she had the slightest hesitation, she couldn’t explain. She didn’t even get why the idea made her so edgy. A contract would lock her in and give her income and insurance while she figured out what she wanted to do when she grew up. Most people would consider the decision a no-brainer. A normal person would have jumped at the chance.

  She brought back the leather beanbag chair—a hold-over from her college-dorm days—and placed it under the small window that offered an excellent view of the dirty brick building several yards away.

  “You wanna beer or a soda?” Jan asked as she handed a cola to Yvette. Nancy and Sally already had beers in their hands.

  “Uh, neither, thanks.” Dallas sat on the floor near the beanbag chair. “What’s going on?”

  Jan grabbed a cola and they all sat down. When the other three looked to Jan, she snorted and said, “We came up with something that the other women might go for.”

  Dallas let out a slow breath. This was good. Very good. They’d come up with an idea on their own. They were looking to Jan for leadership and not Dallas. This was excellent, in fact. “What’s that?”

  “We’re gonna do the petition thing. Kind of. We’re thinkin’ maybe more like a letter.” Jan shrugged, glanced at the others. “You know, real detailed, like, about the shit that’s been going on.”

  “But no names mentioned,” Yvette added, her hands gripping the cola can as if it were life support. “Right?”

  Nancy patted her leg. “Right. We just state the stuff we want to see change.”

  “Or that we won’t put up with anymore,” Jan said, and everyone nodded.

  “Okay. Good.” Dallas smiled. This was nothing new, it’s what they’d been talking about all along. She didn’t bother pointing that out. No need. They’d finally accepted what had to be done. That’s all that was important. “Have you talked to the others?”

  “Yeah.” Jan glanced at Nancy. “They like the idea.”

  Sally snorted. “I wouldn’t say ‘like.’”

  “Okay, but they’ll hang with us.” Jan sipped her cola, her gaze on Dallas. “As long as you write the letter.”

  “No problem. I’ll get to work on it right away.”

  Yvette’s sigh was pure relief, and then she smiled. “I might even have a beer.”

  Nancy elbowed Jan. Subtly, but Dallas caught it.

  “Anything else?” she asked, even though she could see trouble in Jan’s and Nancy’s eyes.

  “Yeah.” Jan shrugged. “No big deal, though.”

  Nancy glared at Jan when she hesitated, then turned to Dallas. “We want you to sign the letter.”

  “By myself?”

  Jan wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Not exactly. We’ll all sign our names on the next page, like we’re supporting you.”

  Dallas laughed. “What am I? The sacrificial lamb?”

  They all stared at her, clearly confused, and then Jan said, “They’re gonna know you wrote it.” She snorted and glanced at the others. “None of us would know how to write that kind of letter.”

  Dallas sighed. “That isn’t the point.”

  “You wouldn’t get in trouble, right?” Yvette leaned forward, her elbows resting on her thighs, her hands clasped tightly around the can. “You said it would be illegal to fire us.”

  “Absolutely.” Dallas thought a moment. “I could get my sister to write the letter. Some of you met Dakota at our last meeting.”

  Nancy’s eyes widened. “The lawyer?”

  Dallas nodded, already knowing it was a bad idea. Too formal. Too threatening.

  “That would piss off the suits. Big-time.” Jan got up and grabbed the box of cheese crackers. “You’re one of us, Dallas. Better it comes from you.”

  “Better it comes from all of us,” Dallas corrected.

  “True.” Jan passed the crackers around. No one seemed interested. “But I don’t think it’s gonna fly any other way.”

  After a long stretch of silence, Nancy said, “This sucks, you guys. We’re asking a lot from Dallas. It’s not fair to lay this on her.”

  Sheepish looks were exchanged, and everyone nodded.

  “Let’s forget it.” Yvette stood and squared her slim shoulders. With her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, she barely looked seventeen. “We can deal.”

  “Wait a minute.” Dallas motioned for her to sit back down. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it.”

  Their expectant gazes riveted to her.

  She took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, trying to stop the crazy thoughts from taking over. Ironic, really, that she was suddenly in such demand. Pulled from opposite ends of the spectrum. But only one side truly needed her.

  “I’m saying that I’ll think about it.” Ludicrous to backpedal when she knew exactly what she had to do. “I’ll do it.”

  17

  “TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH, I DON’T know what the big deal is. I’d kill for something like this to fall in my lap. I’m jealous as hell.” Wendy fished the green olive out of her martini and popped it into her mouth. She looked at Dallas over the rim of her glass. “You’d be silly to pass up an opportunity like this.”

  Trudie snorted and set down her Fuzzy Navel to glare at Wendy. “Of course it’s a big deal. Dallas can’t just desert her friends now.”

  “Did I suggest she desert them?” Wendy looked from Trudie to Dallas. “Anybody hear me say that? I’m just saying there’s gotta be a way to work this out so she doesn’t lose the contract.”

  Duh. Is that all? Dallas sighed and briefly closed her eyes. Thank God the neighborhood restaurant wasn’t crowded. Only three other booths were occupied. If she screamed, there wouldn’t be too many witnesses to her meltdown.

  Her friends meant well, but they weren’t helping. Besides, she was tired and cranky and feeling guilty for lying to Eric about why she couldn’t see him tonight. She’d told him she had a work emergency, which wasn’t a total lie. But what she should have done was gone ahead and met with him, explained her dilemma and let the chips fall where they may.

  Of course, then he’d probably withdraw the offer, tell her she didn’t have the right image after all. Not for Horn. Not for Eric. They didn’t want just a pretty face. They wanted a total package, at least Eric did. And then if that was the case, screw him.

  “Dallas?” Wendy waved a hand in front of her face. “What’s going on in there?”

  She shook her head. “I have never been so confused in my entire life.”

  “Okay, look. I think I’m missing something here.” Wendy shot Trudie a warning glance. “You let me finish before you jump down my throat. This is how I see it. First, you do want the modeling job, right?”

  Dallas nodded.

  “But you feel an obligation to finish what you started with your buddies on the work crew, which I totally get. But why can’t you do both? I mean, wouldn’t it be kind of dramatic if you suddenly quit and, hell, lie, tell them you’re quitting because of the harassment. That would work in everyone’s favor.”

  “You don’t understand. These guys have no conscience, plus they’re sneaky and relentless. Those women would have no defense once I left.”

  Wendy sighed. “Well, Florence Nightingale, maybe your little chicks should just grow up.”

  “See? That’s what I hate.” Trudie glared at Wendy. “Do you have to be so snide? This is serious.”

  Just when Dallas figured the fireworks would start, Wendy ga
ve them a wry smile and said, “I’m just saying—okay, really badly—but I want Dallas to think about herself for a change. She’s bailed both of us out many times,” she said, glancing at Trudie and then back to Dallas. “You’re always there for everyone else. Do this for yourself.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Dallas murmured, sorry she’d involved them. They didn’t understand, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to let them in on her stupidity. The fantasy had taken over. She’d been Cinderella for several nights. And then it stretched out to a week, and now this.

  “It can be.”

  “I agree with Wendy.” Trudie sat back to nurse her Fuzzy Navel. “Eric said he’d work around your schedule. Maybe you’re making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be.”

  “Maybe.” Dallas exhaled sharply. “Let’s talk about something else.”

  “You don’t look happy.” Trudie sat forward again, concern darkening her heavily made-up eyes. “Was he freaked when you told him what you really do?”

  Avoiding their eyes, Dallas grabbed her club soda, and it sloshed onto the table.

  “Dallas?” They both said at the same time.

  “What?”

  “You haven’t told him,” Trudie said in utter amazement.

  Wendy muttered a curse. “Dallas, you’re probably more worried about your image than he is.”

  Dallas clenched her teeth at the stinging words. “Tomorrow night, okay. I’m telling him tomorrow night.”

  DALLAS HAD JUST CLOCKED OUT for the day when her cell phone rang. It was probably Eric again. He’d already called twice today. She hadn’t picked up either time. Not that she was too chicken to talk to him. Well, there was that, too. But each time she’d been working, and the boss was strict about personal calls on company time.

  She grabbed her lunch pail and the cell phone off her belt at the same time, hoping to get away from the machinery noise. The project was behind schedule, and half the guys were working overtime. She hadn’t been asked if she wanted more hours, of course, nor had Nancy. After all, they weren’t heads of households with wives and children to feed. Their attitude made her sick. Made her fighting mad. That’s why she couldn’t accept Eric’s offer.

  By the fourth ring she’d freed the phone from her belt and glanced at the caller ID. With a mixture of disappointment and relief she saw that it was Trudie and answered it.

  “Dallas, thank God.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Where are you?”

  “I just got off work. Trudie, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

  “How fast can you get to the store?”

  “Trudie!”

  “You’ve got to do this for me. Starla is sick again, and if I don’t have someone in that window in one hour, I’m going to be in serious trouble.”

  Dallas put a hand to her throat and released a breath. “Damn it. You scared the hell out of me.”

  “Please, Dallas. I’ll owe you big-time.”

  “You already do,” she muttered, thinking about how this whole mess with Eric started. “I just got off work. I’ve got to shower and wash my hair and—”

  “No, come straight here. We’ll work all that out, even if we have to use the fitness center next door.”

  “You know I have to talk to Eric tonight.”

  “That’s tonight?”

  Dallas sighed and checked her watch. “Would I have to stay until nine?”

  “Would eight work?”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  “I love you, kiddo.” Trudie paused. “From what you said, Eric sounds like a great guy. Don’t underestimate him.”

  “I know.” She started to tell Trudie about her decision but stopped herself. No more discussion was needed. She knew what she had to do. “I’ve gotta go catch a cab if you want me there soon.”

  “Go.”

  They hung up, and Dallas hurried to the corner to catch a Yellow cab that had just dropped someone off. Once she climbed inside, she called Eric’s number and got his voice mail. She left a message suggesting they meet later, close to nine, and tried not to dwell on how torturous it was going to be, stuck in that window, thinking about how she had to spill everything to Eric.

  She reminded herself that she’d done nothing wrong. She’d never lied about herself. And she wasn’t embarrassed, as her mother had hinted. Not really. Her work simply wasn’t anything you discussed over dinner. It was boring, really.

  Traffic wasn’t horrendous yet, at least not by Manhattan standards, and she got to the corner of Lexington and Fifty-seventh in good time. There the bottleneck started, so she got out to walk the rest of the way. Everyone else was dressed in business attire, and she got several second looks and a few blatant stares that really irked her.

  Damn, but she should have at least found a mirror. Made a few repairs. She always went straight home after work and changed out of her overalls, even if she was meeting Tony and some of the other guys for a beer. But here she was, in midtown no less, her hard hat in one hand and her lunch pail in the other. God only knew what her hair and face looked like. Trudie would pay dearly for this.

  Dallas spotted her standing outside the store, waiting, with a bag in her hand. She was looking the other way, so Dallas couldn’t get her attention. Especially not with all the pedestrians who seemed to have come out of nowhere, as if the recess bell had just rung. Good in a way, because people paid less attention to Dallas.

  She narrowly dodged a man too busy talking on a cell phone to see her but then bumped into someone else. “Excuse me,” she said and looked up in into Eric’s stunned eyes. Horrified, she tried to sidestep him. Disappear before his shock wore off. She ended up running into Tom. Literally.

  He took her arm to keep her from stumbling, his face a mask of astonished disbelief.

  “Dallas?”

  She looked back to Eric. “Hi.”

  He stared at her for one very long, miserable moment. Then his gaze went to the Aladdin lunch pail, to the yellow hard hat, then returned to her face. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m late,” she said, backing away and bumping into a man who cursed when she smashed his white deli sack. “Sorry,” she muttered to him. Then she said to Eric, “I really have to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Eric watched her hurry through the crowd and meet up with a short, well-dressed woman who grabbed her arm and hustled her off in the other direction. Half of him wanted to follow them and the other half was too stunned to move.

  “What the hell was that about?” Tom stood beside him, the two of them staring after her.

  “I have no idea.”

  “We’d better move before we get trampled.”

  Eric seemed rooted to the spot. He couldn’t get the image of her in dusty overalls and steel-toed boots out of his mind. Not just that. Her smudged face. Her hair a total mess, so dusty, it looked brown. He almost hadn’t recognized her.

  “Come on, Eric, or I’m going to Pete’s without you.”

  “Yeah, okay,” he said, taking a final look, even though she’d already disappeared. He finally turned around. A double shot of scotch sounded damn good about now.

  HER HANDS SHAKING, DALLAS reached for the door handle. She’d already seen him through the window, sitting at the bar, staring at the baseball game on the wall-mounted television. The place was dim, not crowded, and for both those reasons she’d asked him to meet her here.

  Not that she had to worry anymore about how she looked. She’d been cleaned up, coiffed and made up, thanks to one of the store’s stylists. She looked just like the old Dallas. At least, the one Eric was used to.

  If only she had told him before he’d seen her, she wouldn’t be so nervous. Wouldn’t feel guilty, as if she’d done something wrong, which she absolutely hadn’t. She just wished her damn hands would stop trembling.

  She opened the door and he looked over at her. He smiled, but it wasn’t the same excited smile he normally gave her. He looked confused, maybe even ap
prehensive, and she didn’t blame him. Nor did she blame him for the way he sized her up. Head to toe. As if trying to convince himself seeing her earlier had been a bad dream.

  Clearing her throat, she took the stool next to him and smiled. “Hey.”

  “Hey back.” He signaled the bartender. “Wine?” he asked her a little too politely, his tone a little distant.

  Or was it her imagination? Was she seeing and hearing what she expected to see and hear? “A triple martini would be much better.”

  He smiled.

  She looked at the bartender. “Club soda, please.”

  “I’ll have another,” Eric told the man and then turned back toward her but said nothing.

  The silence got too maddening, and she pretended interest in the television. “So, who’s winning?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Oh. I thought you were watching.”

  His gaze stayed on her. “Were you avoiding me today?”

  “No.” She gave an emphatic shake of her head. “No, really, I was working and couldn’t pick up.”

  “Working?”

  “Uh-huh,” she said and pounced on the club soda the bartender set in front of her. She hurriedly took a big gulp. Too big. It made her cough.

  “You okay?” He touched her arm, and the familiarity was so reassuring, she wanted to melt into him.

  “Fine. Now. I was in the window again tonight. For three hours. It was last-minute, and all I could think about was getting something to drink and going to the bathroom.”

  He nodded knowingly. “I knew you were doing the display window again.”

  “How?” Had she missed him in the crowd tonight? God knew she’d been looking.

  “That ridiculous way you were dressed. Tom and I figured it out.” He chuckled. “I can’t imagine what kind of display you were doing. I wanted to swing by and have a look, but I had to meet a client for dinner. Besides, I didn’t want to embarrass you, either.”