Chapter 30

The lunch at L'Ornate had ended and guests had started to leave. Kendra had suspected that Jamie and Abby had had some sort of disagreement when they didn't sit together at the meal and they left the restaurant separately, Abby with Amanda and Jamie with Lee, but she hoped that the two Stetsons would help the younger people to work things out. One by one, the guests left, until only Harry, Billy Melrose, and the Davis party remained. Harry and Billy were in intense conversation, and then they came over to where Kendra, her family, and Phillip were standing, and Harry said, "Bob, may I have a word?"

"Of course," Bob said.

"I realize that you have a great many commitments already, but I have a huge favor to ask."

"Really, I'm the one asking, Bob," Billy said. "This morning has tired me out, and it's not even two in the afternoon yet. When I agreed to take the exec director's job on this morning, I may have bitten off a bit more than I could chew."

"I understand. I've never had heart trouble, but I have plenty of friends that have, and it really knocks them for a loop. How can I help?" Bob asked.

"Would you be willing to come out here and share the exec director's job with me until we can bring Matt on board? There's a spot on the board for you, though it doesn't pay much more than expenses."

"There's also an apartment in the building where you could live, if you choose to do that," Harry said.

Bob looked at the woman who had been his best friend and spouse for nearly fifty years and she nodded. "We can do it, Bob. It's only for a few weeks, a couple of months at the most, and we'll be here to help Deb until Matt can move back up here permanently."

"There you have it, gentlemen; the boss has spoken. I wear the stars, but she's the boss," Bob said, bending to kiss his wife lightly. "We accept. We'll fly home tomorrow, take a few days to pack up and hand off some of our responsibilities, and then plan on driving out here next week."

"You're welcome to stay with us while you're here, Sue," Deb said. "But if you want to take the apartment, that's fine too."

"I think, long-term, the apartment would be best," Sue said. "Close, but not too close, so we all have our individual spaces."

"Excellent. If you've no other plans for the afternoon, would you be willing to come back to the foundation to see the apartment and get an orientation to the job? You, too, of course, Matt," Harry said.

"Daddy, Phillip and I can take Mom and Nana home if you and Poppy can get a ride home later," Kendra said.

"I can certainly arrange that," Harry said. "At my age, I don't drive any longer, so I have a car and a driver on standby, the same one that brought me here today."

"Then that's settled," Bob said. The two Davis men said goodbye to their womenfolk and followed Harry and Billy out to where the limousine was waiting; Kendra, Sue and Deb got into the minivan, Phillip got behind the wheel, and off they went.

Back in the house in Arlington, Sue got Deb settled in bed for a nice long rest and said, "You and Phillip go and do something fun, honey."

"We'll take Mom's car over to Phillip's house and check on his grandma, then; we had to cancel lunch because of the board meeting, so we might take her out to dinner instead, if she wants to go."

"Oh, she'll want to go. She'll want to hear all about today, believe me," Phillip said.

On the way back to Maplewood Drive, Kendra said, "What do you think went wrong with Abby and Jamie?"

"At a guess, my boneheaded brother put his oversized foot in his mouth and she took exception to it. Jamie's never had a serious girlfriend before – too focused on his cameras and then on making it as one of the youngest candidates to be taken on as a full-time agent – and he's bound to make rookie mistakes. Lee will straighten him out."

"You and your brother are so lucky to have someone like Lee for a stepdad."

"Yes, we are. We love Joe King, we always will, but Lee was the one that was here when we were going through all the teenage angst. Mom's great, but sometimes a guy just needs another guy to talk some sense into him. If anybody can do that for Jamie, Lee can."

"Have you always gotten along with him? I know it's hard for boys sometimes, especially if they've gotten used to not having a man in their mother's life."

"I never really had a problem with him; Jamie did at first, but he came around. He's a heck of a lot better than some of the men Mom dated after she and Dad divorced, let me tell you. There was this one guy, Dean; he was a weatherman, and talk about a real drip. We put sugar in the gas tank of his car one time."

"You must really have disliked him."

"Oh, yeah. Now Lee – Lee was cool, even before we knew he worked for the Agency. We thought he was in documentary films back then."

"Sure."

"And then there was the time I messed with the fuel injector on his Corvette…."

"Phillip, you didn't!"

"I did. I expected to get grounded until I was out of high school, but instead, Lee came over one Saturday and took me out for a ride in the thing. Of course, I didn't get to drive it, he wasn't that generous and I was only fourteen, but he was remarkably gracious about the whole incident."

"I'm kind of surprised you didn't apply for the Agency yourself."

"Like I said the first day we met, not my scene. Three agents in the family is plenty. I'm just the boring policy wonk."

"Well, you're not boring to this agent – trainee agent, I should say."

"Only until you get trained and get through the probationary period; you'll be a full-time agent by the first of the year."

"Oh, I hope so. You're still cool with that?"

"I'm cool with that. After all these years of living in a family of agents, I know how to cope."

"Even when things get dangerous?"

"Even then."

"Thank you."

Phillip parked Deb's car in the driveway beside his Saturn and went around to open her door. She stepped out of the car and he put his hands at her waist. She responded but running her hands up his lapels and they kissed for the first time. When their lips parted, she put her arms around his waist and hugged him. "That was just as sweet as I thought it would be," she said. "Now that we've broken the ice, can we do that some more?"

"You bet, but not out here. Let's go tell Grandma all the exciting news."