Chapter 2
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"And she actually went to lunch with you, too?" Cindy sounded both amused and disbelieving.
"Why shouldn't she?" Peter demanded.
The family had gathered in the living room at Mike and Carol's house; they were waiting for Jan and Phillip, who had requested that the entire extended Brady clan meet them there so that they could make an announcement. The word that Peter had succeeded in getting a date with Cindy's shy, quiet bridesmaid had spread to the entire family in less than a minute, which didn't surprise Peter in the least. Now that he was the last unmarried adult Brady, everyone else in the family would be focusing eagerly on every move he made around Christina Jensen.
"I just can't believe she talked to you, that's all," Scott Jensen said. Seeing Peter's expression, he held up his hands. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded. It's just that Christina and I are the two youngest of seven kids - we're from an oversized clan just like you - and she's always been a little overshadowed by the rest of us. She's always been bookish and bashful and afraid to talk to people. So it kind of blows my mind that she opened up to you as much as she did. You must really have a way with the women."
Peter nodded, his indignation toward Scott easing. "I see what you mean," he said. "I don't know if I can really say I have a way with women. If I did, I wouldn't be the only single one left."
Mickey Logan, Marcia and Wally's boy, looked up from drawing a motorcycle in painstaking detail. "Hey, Uncle Peter, you're not the only single one left. Me and Kevin and Patty and my dopey sister are still single too, y'know." He grinned and addressed the room in general. "I'M gonna be the last holdout, not Uncle Peter."
"That's for sure," said Jessica Logan, at twelve only a year older than Mickey. "No girl would ever want to marry you!" Everyone laughed at that and Mickey scowled at her.
"I'd never want to marry any old girl!" he shot back at his sister.
"That's enough, you two," Marcia intervened, carrying a tray out of the kitchen in time to catch her children's sparring. "What's keeping Phillip and Jan and Patty?"
"They're fashionably late, of course," joked Carol Brady, sitting on the couch with Mike's arm around her shoulders. At that point Nora and Tracy came in behind Marcia, both bearing trays containing filled coffee cups. Mike and Carol each accepted one with thanks.
"This is almost as good as Alice's coffee," Mike remarked teasingly.
"Hey, I consider that a compliment," Tracy Wagner Brady told him. "Nobody can cook like Alice, but if we're almost as good, it means we're pretty darn good!"
"We'd better be if we're running a catering service," Nora remarked with a chuckle. Nora, Marcia and Tracy had opened The Party Girls four years ago, shortly after Bobby's race-track accident, and it had thrived almost from the beginning. Alice had worked with them for the first two years or so before retiring to San Diego with her husband, Sam Franklin. The business had grown so much that it had moved three times, each time to a larger building than before. By now Marcia and her sisters-in-law had graduated to CEO status and were equal partners, presiding over almost fifty employees.
Nora, Tracy and Marcia continued serving coffee to the rest of the adults while conversations ebbed and flowed around them. Peter regarded his family with a combination of amusement, envy and affection. He'd been about seven when his birth mother, whom he barely remembered anymore, had died of cancer, and ten when his father married Carol Martin. Now, twenty- five years later, he had a hard time imagining his family without Carol as his mother and her three daughters as his sisters. 'Good thing there're still only four grandchildren,' he thought. 'I already need a scorecard to keep up with all the in-laws. . .'
At that point the Covingtons arrived, ushering their eight-year-old daughter Patty in ahead of them. Phillip and Jan had adopted Patty from South Korea when Patty was just four and barely knew any English. Now the adorable little girl was a regular chatterbox and could give as good as she got whenever her cousin Mickey teased her. Patty scampered ahead to greet her grandparents, while Jan and Phillip accepted cups of coffee from Tracy and found places to sit.
"Ah, the guests of honor," Mike said. "Now that everyone's here, let's have your news."
Phillip and Jan looked at each other, faces glowing with some huge secret. Impatiently Peter said, "Come on, you two, we don't want to wait all night!"
Phillip glanced at him and Jan grinned, zeroing in on her brother. "I hear you've lined up the latest in a string of conquests," she said wickedly. "Who's the poor victim this time?"
"Damn it," muttered Peter, wishing he'd kept his mouth shut. "We're not here to talk about me, Jan. I'm not the only one who wants to know what the big secret is."
Fortunately, his relatives broke out with loud agreement, so Jan relented and turned to the group at large. "Okay," she said. "Our family is going to have a new addition soon. Two of them, actually. Phillip and I decided we wanted Patty to be a big sister, so we're adopting twins from China. They should be arriving next week."
Excited congratulations broke out while Peter sat looking on, somehow feeling left out. Of course, Bobby and Cindy were just as childless as he was; but at least they were both married. Peter had to examine this strange new feeling. Never before had he felt compelled to settle down and produce kids the way his siblings were doing. He'd always been perfectly content to play the field, offering platitudes such as "variety is the spice of life" and "so many women, so little time", whenever one of his siblings or parents asked him when he was finally going to settle on one woman.
But it was different now, he realized. The feeling was brand-new and very disquieting. Looking back, Peter decided it must have come about when Cindy got married. He had at least felt as if he had company as long as Cindy was still single. But now that she'd joined the wedded ranks, he had the distinct sensation of having been forgotten and left behind on a sinking ship. Out of the blue, he wondered if Christina felt the same way.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"How wonderful for your sister Jan about her new babies," exclaimed Christina over the phone, three nights later when Peter finally had enough courage to give her a call. "When did she say they're coming here?"
"Next week," Peter said. "They're meeting the plane from Beijing at LAX on Thursday. She said they're twin sisters, and she and Phillip are planning to name them Deborah and Melissa."
"What a funny combination for twins," Christina said.
"Jan says both names have the same meaning," Peter explained. "I guess she and Phillip did some research. Deborah is Hebrew for 'bee', and Melissa is Greek for the same thing."
"That's very pretty," Christina said. Peter thought her voice sounded wistful.
"Yeah, it's cute," he said, unwilling to talk about Jan anymore. "Actually, Christina, the real reason I called is . . . well, I wanted to know if you'd be interested in going out with me sometime. I know all kinds of really nice restaurants, and I'm familiar with all the usual tourist attractions. For that matter, we could even spend a day at Disneyland if you want. Anything's fine."
"Oh," murmured Christina, and there was a long silence on her end. Peter began to squirm. Finally she said, "Could I think about it and get back to you?"
"Sure," Peter agreed, engulfed by disappointment. "You know where I am." He was so discouraged by her response that he hung up without even saying goodbye. 'Okay, okay,' he thought, 'she didn't exactly say no.' But that failed to make him feel any better. In his experience, "Can I get back to you?" was usually the precursor to a "no." He hadn't been turned down all that often, but it had happened, and the experiences had been memorable. Kerry Hathaway, his first serious crush, had been like that. After several misunderstandings, including her thinking for a while that Greg had a crush on her, Peter and Kerry had finally gotten together and dated for a few months before splitting up. 'Whatever happened to her, anyway?' he thought idly. Kerry had been a friend of Jan's, but he didn't know if Jan had kept in touch with her.
The heck with it. Peter decided he might as well go to bed; there wasn't even anything good on TV, as he discovered after browsing through the channels five times. It was going to be interesting to see how Christina reacted to him in tomorrow's training class.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Christina preferred to get to work well before she was supposed to be there. In her view, it was better to be too early than too late. As a result of this policy, she found herself sitting alone in the training room at 7:40, going over the employee handbook again. Or at least, she was trying to. Her thoughts kept wandering off to other subjects, chiefly Peter Brady.
She wasn't sure what to make of Peter, actually. She knew his sister Cindy, and Cindy was a good friend and a genuinely nice person. Christina hadn't really noticed Peter till she'd started training for her new job this week, and then he'd made it a point to come and ask her to have lunch with him. Now she wondered why he'd bothered. How many times had Colin criticized her for her crippling shyness? He'd thought she was a sham, calling her "a model's face hiding a spinster's personality." Colin had been attracted to her for her looks, but once he'd learned how shy and retiring she really was, he'd taken off for the proverbial greener pastures. They'd been going out long enough for Christina to have invested some pretty serious emotion into the relationship. She'd actually believed that for once, a guy was truly interested in her and didn't mind her lack of gregariousness. So much for Colin, she thought bitterly. He was no different from any other guy she'd ever known. Ten to one Peter Brady would be the same, once he got to know her.
"Oh, hi there," exclaimed a voice. Christina snapped her head up, startled out of her thoughts, and focused on the redhead standing in the doorway. "Gracious, but you looked serious. Are you afraid you won't pass the exam?"
"There's an exam?" blurted Christina, alarmed.
Allison Caine laughed and strolled into the room, taking a seat at Christina's table. "Of course not. I was only pulling your leg." She gazed curiously at Christina. "How come you always sit at this same table all by yourself? We don't bite, you know."
Christina shrugged uncomfortably. "There are only five chairs at your table anyway," she said.
Allison appeared to think that over. "You have a point there," she said. "But you could always move a chair over to our table. We'd love to have you."
Somehow Christina doubted that, but she only offered a halfhearted smile. Allison shrugged in her turn and slouched in her chair, folding her hands over her stomach and assuming a thoughtful expression. "Say, Christina, do you have an in with our teacher or something?"
Christina stared at her in confusion. "No, why?"
"Well, I did notice that Peter took you out to lunch Monday. I just thought you might know each other or something." Allison sat up and regarded Christina intently. "Do you?"
"Not exactly," Christina hedged, completely perplexed by this girl and her persistent questions. "I mean, my brother married his sister less than a month ago, and I guess we met at the wedding, but there were so many people there that I couldn't really remember everyone." Out of nowhere, a glorious sensation of annoyance flooded her, giving her the courage to drill Allison with a hard, suspicious stare. "Tell me, why are you so interested in whether I know Peter or not?"
Looking slightly startled, Allison reared back in her chair. "Whoa," she exclaimed. "Sorry if I offended you, sweetie. But you have to believe me when I tell you, I'm just doing this for your own good. You'd best watch out for Peter, Christina. He's got quite a reputation."
"Oh?" inquired Christina coolly. "What sort of reputation?" Maybe she'd seen too many movies about catty southern belles, because that's what Allison suddenly reminded her of, minus the accent.
Allison leaned over the table in Christina's direction, her face deadly earnest. "Peter Brady is a womanizer," she announced. "He's dated pretty much every woman who's ever worked here. Just ask any of them. Better yet, ask Mrs. Rasmussen. She's been here longer than anyone else. I really think Peter believes he's got a record to uphold. I went out with him myself a couple years or so ago, and he dumped me out of nowhere one day." Christina, still skeptical, watched Allison's face grow troubled. "I cried for a week, because I really liked him and I thought he felt the same way about me. But the only thing he was interested in was adding me to his list of women, that's all, and once he's won them over, he gets bored and moves on."
Christina frowned dubiously. "All he did was take me to lunch, Allison," she said. "He hasn't looked twice at me since then. He isn't interested in me." She had no wish to tell Allison Peter had called her last evening. "And even if he is, he'll run screaming for the hills once he finds out what a wallflower I really am."
Allison studied her. "Well, if you say so," she drawled, "but trust me, Christina, I've seen the way Peter watches you when you're not looking. He's got his sights on you, make no mistake about it. But as soon as you fall for him, he'll drop you and go on to someone else. Mark my words, he'll be dating Maura and Heather and Jenny before long. That's the way Peter is. He'll never settle down, so if you're dreaming about white picket fences and two-point-four kids, you'd better cast someone else in the role of Daddy." She patted Christina's arm. "Just wanted to warn you before you got hurt." With perfect timing, she got up just as Maura Gray and Jenny Anderson came into the room.
'Yeah, right!' thought Christina. There was something about Allison she simply didn't trust, and her instincts rarely failed her. But then again, they'd been wrong about Colin - so it might not be a bad idea to find out if Allison had her facts straight about Peter Brady.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The pessimistic mood Peter had been in on Thursday evening survived a good night's sleep, and he conducted his final training class in a manner that fairly screamed, 'Leave me alone!' Which his six students were all too willing to do, fortunately. It was a relief to end the class at lunchtime and retreat to his desk so he could eat the tuna-salad sandwich he'd slapped together that morning.
A group of his female co-workers, on their way out to lunch, stopped by his desk. "You sure look like an ogre this morning," one commented.
"I feel like one," Peter agreed tersely and glanced up. "Hi, Stephanie. Trust me, you don't want anything to do with me today. Have a good lunch, everybody."
Stephanie and her companions wished him the same and headed for the door, but Peter was not to be left in peace. Maura Gray, one of his erstwhile students, approached him looking worried. "I hope I'm not disturbing you, Peter," she said.
Peter looked up and resignedly put his sandwich down. "What's the problem?"
"I'm not sure I really have what it takes to make appeals for donations," Maura said. "Do you?"
"You did fine on the mock solicitations in class," Peter said. "Everybody gets nervous when they're faced with the real thing. Once you've made the first call, it'll get easier, and before you know it you'll be a natural. So don't worry."
Maura beamed at him. "Thanks, Peter, that's just what I needed to hear," she said happily. "Uh . . . I know this is going to sound awful, since we're co-workers and all . . . but I was kind of wondering if you'd like to see a movie with me this evening." She caught the startled expression on Peter's face and hastily backtracked. "Never mind, I didn't mean to be presumptuous. I take it back. Oh gosh, I hope I'm not going to lose my job over this."
Her demeanor made Peter laugh despite himself. Why shouldn't he go out? After all, Christina had all but told him she wasn't interested; so why not hang around with someone who was? "Quit worrying, Maura," he told her. "Just name the movie and we'll go. I've had tons of dinners and seen dozens of movies with people who work here. I guess since I'm single, they kind of feel sorry for me, so they try to include me in their plans. So yeah, sure, it's a date."
"Great," Maura exclaimed. "I'll check the showtimes and let you know." She jumped up and ran to her desk, and Peter picked up his sandwich and took a big bite.
Not ten feet away, Christina had overheard almost the whole conversation. She'd just been on her way back from the ladies' room and, realizing someone was talking to Peter, had remained out of sight around the corner in the corridor to the restrooms. So Allison had been right after all, she realized with a sinking feeling. Peter himself had said it in so many words! Thank goodness she hadn't committed herself to a date with him last evening. She was better off alone and she was more than capable of taking care of herself. With that, she emerged from the corridor and walked straight for her new desk, without even turning to look at Peter. Christina congratulated herself on avoiding another man who could hurt her, but there was a strange hollowness about it and she almost felt like crying.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"And she actually went to lunch with you, too?" Cindy sounded both amused and disbelieving.
"Why shouldn't she?" Peter demanded.
The family had gathered in the living room at Mike and Carol's house; they were waiting for Jan and Phillip, who had requested that the entire extended Brady clan meet them there so that they could make an announcement. The word that Peter had succeeded in getting a date with Cindy's shy, quiet bridesmaid had spread to the entire family in less than a minute, which didn't surprise Peter in the least. Now that he was the last unmarried adult Brady, everyone else in the family would be focusing eagerly on every move he made around Christina Jensen.
"I just can't believe she talked to you, that's all," Scott Jensen said. Seeing Peter's expression, he held up his hands. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded. It's just that Christina and I are the two youngest of seven kids - we're from an oversized clan just like you - and she's always been a little overshadowed by the rest of us. She's always been bookish and bashful and afraid to talk to people. So it kind of blows my mind that she opened up to you as much as she did. You must really have a way with the women."
Peter nodded, his indignation toward Scott easing. "I see what you mean," he said. "I don't know if I can really say I have a way with women. If I did, I wouldn't be the only single one left."
Mickey Logan, Marcia and Wally's boy, looked up from drawing a motorcycle in painstaking detail. "Hey, Uncle Peter, you're not the only single one left. Me and Kevin and Patty and my dopey sister are still single too, y'know." He grinned and addressed the room in general. "I'M gonna be the last holdout, not Uncle Peter."
"That's for sure," said Jessica Logan, at twelve only a year older than Mickey. "No girl would ever want to marry you!" Everyone laughed at that and Mickey scowled at her.
"I'd never want to marry any old girl!" he shot back at his sister.
"That's enough, you two," Marcia intervened, carrying a tray out of the kitchen in time to catch her children's sparring. "What's keeping Phillip and Jan and Patty?"
"They're fashionably late, of course," joked Carol Brady, sitting on the couch with Mike's arm around her shoulders. At that point Nora and Tracy came in behind Marcia, both bearing trays containing filled coffee cups. Mike and Carol each accepted one with thanks.
"This is almost as good as Alice's coffee," Mike remarked teasingly.
"Hey, I consider that a compliment," Tracy Wagner Brady told him. "Nobody can cook like Alice, but if we're almost as good, it means we're pretty darn good!"
"We'd better be if we're running a catering service," Nora remarked with a chuckle. Nora, Marcia and Tracy had opened The Party Girls four years ago, shortly after Bobby's race-track accident, and it had thrived almost from the beginning. Alice had worked with them for the first two years or so before retiring to San Diego with her husband, Sam Franklin. The business had grown so much that it had moved three times, each time to a larger building than before. By now Marcia and her sisters-in-law had graduated to CEO status and were equal partners, presiding over almost fifty employees.
Nora, Tracy and Marcia continued serving coffee to the rest of the adults while conversations ebbed and flowed around them. Peter regarded his family with a combination of amusement, envy and affection. He'd been about seven when his birth mother, whom he barely remembered anymore, had died of cancer, and ten when his father married Carol Martin. Now, twenty- five years later, he had a hard time imagining his family without Carol as his mother and her three daughters as his sisters. 'Good thing there're still only four grandchildren,' he thought. 'I already need a scorecard to keep up with all the in-laws. . .'
At that point the Covingtons arrived, ushering their eight-year-old daughter Patty in ahead of them. Phillip and Jan had adopted Patty from South Korea when Patty was just four and barely knew any English. Now the adorable little girl was a regular chatterbox and could give as good as she got whenever her cousin Mickey teased her. Patty scampered ahead to greet her grandparents, while Jan and Phillip accepted cups of coffee from Tracy and found places to sit.
"Ah, the guests of honor," Mike said. "Now that everyone's here, let's have your news."
Phillip and Jan looked at each other, faces glowing with some huge secret. Impatiently Peter said, "Come on, you two, we don't want to wait all night!"
Phillip glanced at him and Jan grinned, zeroing in on her brother. "I hear you've lined up the latest in a string of conquests," she said wickedly. "Who's the poor victim this time?"
"Damn it," muttered Peter, wishing he'd kept his mouth shut. "We're not here to talk about me, Jan. I'm not the only one who wants to know what the big secret is."
Fortunately, his relatives broke out with loud agreement, so Jan relented and turned to the group at large. "Okay," she said. "Our family is going to have a new addition soon. Two of them, actually. Phillip and I decided we wanted Patty to be a big sister, so we're adopting twins from China. They should be arriving next week."
Excited congratulations broke out while Peter sat looking on, somehow feeling left out. Of course, Bobby and Cindy were just as childless as he was; but at least they were both married. Peter had to examine this strange new feeling. Never before had he felt compelled to settle down and produce kids the way his siblings were doing. He'd always been perfectly content to play the field, offering platitudes such as "variety is the spice of life" and "so many women, so little time", whenever one of his siblings or parents asked him when he was finally going to settle on one woman.
But it was different now, he realized. The feeling was brand-new and very disquieting. Looking back, Peter decided it must have come about when Cindy got married. He had at least felt as if he had company as long as Cindy was still single. But now that she'd joined the wedded ranks, he had the distinct sensation of having been forgotten and left behind on a sinking ship. Out of the blue, he wondered if Christina felt the same way.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"How wonderful for your sister Jan about her new babies," exclaimed Christina over the phone, three nights later when Peter finally had enough courage to give her a call. "When did she say they're coming here?"
"Next week," Peter said. "They're meeting the plane from Beijing at LAX on Thursday. She said they're twin sisters, and she and Phillip are planning to name them Deborah and Melissa."
"What a funny combination for twins," Christina said.
"Jan says both names have the same meaning," Peter explained. "I guess she and Phillip did some research. Deborah is Hebrew for 'bee', and Melissa is Greek for the same thing."
"That's very pretty," Christina said. Peter thought her voice sounded wistful.
"Yeah, it's cute," he said, unwilling to talk about Jan anymore. "Actually, Christina, the real reason I called is . . . well, I wanted to know if you'd be interested in going out with me sometime. I know all kinds of really nice restaurants, and I'm familiar with all the usual tourist attractions. For that matter, we could even spend a day at Disneyland if you want. Anything's fine."
"Oh," murmured Christina, and there was a long silence on her end. Peter began to squirm. Finally she said, "Could I think about it and get back to you?"
"Sure," Peter agreed, engulfed by disappointment. "You know where I am." He was so discouraged by her response that he hung up without even saying goodbye. 'Okay, okay,' he thought, 'she didn't exactly say no.' But that failed to make him feel any better. In his experience, "Can I get back to you?" was usually the precursor to a "no." He hadn't been turned down all that often, but it had happened, and the experiences had been memorable. Kerry Hathaway, his first serious crush, had been like that. After several misunderstandings, including her thinking for a while that Greg had a crush on her, Peter and Kerry had finally gotten together and dated for a few months before splitting up. 'Whatever happened to her, anyway?' he thought idly. Kerry had been a friend of Jan's, but he didn't know if Jan had kept in touch with her.
The heck with it. Peter decided he might as well go to bed; there wasn't even anything good on TV, as he discovered after browsing through the channels five times. It was going to be interesting to see how Christina reacted to him in tomorrow's training class.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Christina preferred to get to work well before she was supposed to be there. In her view, it was better to be too early than too late. As a result of this policy, she found herself sitting alone in the training room at 7:40, going over the employee handbook again. Or at least, she was trying to. Her thoughts kept wandering off to other subjects, chiefly Peter Brady.
She wasn't sure what to make of Peter, actually. She knew his sister Cindy, and Cindy was a good friend and a genuinely nice person. Christina hadn't really noticed Peter till she'd started training for her new job this week, and then he'd made it a point to come and ask her to have lunch with him. Now she wondered why he'd bothered. How many times had Colin criticized her for her crippling shyness? He'd thought she was a sham, calling her "a model's face hiding a spinster's personality." Colin had been attracted to her for her looks, but once he'd learned how shy and retiring she really was, he'd taken off for the proverbial greener pastures. They'd been going out long enough for Christina to have invested some pretty serious emotion into the relationship. She'd actually believed that for once, a guy was truly interested in her and didn't mind her lack of gregariousness. So much for Colin, she thought bitterly. He was no different from any other guy she'd ever known. Ten to one Peter Brady would be the same, once he got to know her.
"Oh, hi there," exclaimed a voice. Christina snapped her head up, startled out of her thoughts, and focused on the redhead standing in the doorway. "Gracious, but you looked serious. Are you afraid you won't pass the exam?"
"There's an exam?" blurted Christina, alarmed.
Allison Caine laughed and strolled into the room, taking a seat at Christina's table. "Of course not. I was only pulling your leg." She gazed curiously at Christina. "How come you always sit at this same table all by yourself? We don't bite, you know."
Christina shrugged uncomfortably. "There are only five chairs at your table anyway," she said.
Allison appeared to think that over. "You have a point there," she said. "But you could always move a chair over to our table. We'd love to have you."
Somehow Christina doubted that, but she only offered a halfhearted smile. Allison shrugged in her turn and slouched in her chair, folding her hands over her stomach and assuming a thoughtful expression. "Say, Christina, do you have an in with our teacher or something?"
Christina stared at her in confusion. "No, why?"
"Well, I did notice that Peter took you out to lunch Monday. I just thought you might know each other or something." Allison sat up and regarded Christina intently. "Do you?"
"Not exactly," Christina hedged, completely perplexed by this girl and her persistent questions. "I mean, my brother married his sister less than a month ago, and I guess we met at the wedding, but there were so many people there that I couldn't really remember everyone." Out of nowhere, a glorious sensation of annoyance flooded her, giving her the courage to drill Allison with a hard, suspicious stare. "Tell me, why are you so interested in whether I know Peter or not?"
Looking slightly startled, Allison reared back in her chair. "Whoa," she exclaimed. "Sorry if I offended you, sweetie. But you have to believe me when I tell you, I'm just doing this for your own good. You'd best watch out for Peter, Christina. He's got quite a reputation."
"Oh?" inquired Christina coolly. "What sort of reputation?" Maybe she'd seen too many movies about catty southern belles, because that's what Allison suddenly reminded her of, minus the accent.
Allison leaned over the table in Christina's direction, her face deadly earnest. "Peter Brady is a womanizer," she announced. "He's dated pretty much every woman who's ever worked here. Just ask any of them. Better yet, ask Mrs. Rasmussen. She's been here longer than anyone else. I really think Peter believes he's got a record to uphold. I went out with him myself a couple years or so ago, and he dumped me out of nowhere one day." Christina, still skeptical, watched Allison's face grow troubled. "I cried for a week, because I really liked him and I thought he felt the same way about me. But the only thing he was interested in was adding me to his list of women, that's all, and once he's won them over, he gets bored and moves on."
Christina frowned dubiously. "All he did was take me to lunch, Allison," she said. "He hasn't looked twice at me since then. He isn't interested in me." She had no wish to tell Allison Peter had called her last evening. "And even if he is, he'll run screaming for the hills once he finds out what a wallflower I really am."
Allison studied her. "Well, if you say so," she drawled, "but trust me, Christina, I've seen the way Peter watches you when you're not looking. He's got his sights on you, make no mistake about it. But as soon as you fall for him, he'll drop you and go on to someone else. Mark my words, he'll be dating Maura and Heather and Jenny before long. That's the way Peter is. He'll never settle down, so if you're dreaming about white picket fences and two-point-four kids, you'd better cast someone else in the role of Daddy." She patted Christina's arm. "Just wanted to warn you before you got hurt." With perfect timing, she got up just as Maura Gray and Jenny Anderson came into the room.
'Yeah, right!' thought Christina. There was something about Allison she simply didn't trust, and her instincts rarely failed her. But then again, they'd been wrong about Colin - so it might not be a bad idea to find out if Allison had her facts straight about Peter Brady.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The pessimistic mood Peter had been in on Thursday evening survived a good night's sleep, and he conducted his final training class in a manner that fairly screamed, 'Leave me alone!' Which his six students were all too willing to do, fortunately. It was a relief to end the class at lunchtime and retreat to his desk so he could eat the tuna-salad sandwich he'd slapped together that morning.
A group of his female co-workers, on their way out to lunch, stopped by his desk. "You sure look like an ogre this morning," one commented.
"I feel like one," Peter agreed tersely and glanced up. "Hi, Stephanie. Trust me, you don't want anything to do with me today. Have a good lunch, everybody."
Stephanie and her companions wished him the same and headed for the door, but Peter was not to be left in peace. Maura Gray, one of his erstwhile students, approached him looking worried. "I hope I'm not disturbing you, Peter," she said.
Peter looked up and resignedly put his sandwich down. "What's the problem?"
"I'm not sure I really have what it takes to make appeals for donations," Maura said. "Do you?"
"You did fine on the mock solicitations in class," Peter said. "Everybody gets nervous when they're faced with the real thing. Once you've made the first call, it'll get easier, and before you know it you'll be a natural. So don't worry."
Maura beamed at him. "Thanks, Peter, that's just what I needed to hear," she said happily. "Uh . . . I know this is going to sound awful, since we're co-workers and all . . . but I was kind of wondering if you'd like to see a movie with me this evening." She caught the startled expression on Peter's face and hastily backtracked. "Never mind, I didn't mean to be presumptuous. I take it back. Oh gosh, I hope I'm not going to lose my job over this."
Her demeanor made Peter laugh despite himself. Why shouldn't he go out? After all, Christina had all but told him she wasn't interested; so why not hang around with someone who was? "Quit worrying, Maura," he told her. "Just name the movie and we'll go. I've had tons of dinners and seen dozens of movies with people who work here. I guess since I'm single, they kind of feel sorry for me, so they try to include me in their plans. So yeah, sure, it's a date."
"Great," Maura exclaimed. "I'll check the showtimes and let you know." She jumped up and ran to her desk, and Peter picked up his sandwich and took a big bite.
Not ten feet away, Christina had overheard almost the whole conversation. She'd just been on her way back from the ladies' room and, realizing someone was talking to Peter, had remained out of sight around the corner in the corridor to the restrooms. So Allison had been right after all, she realized with a sinking feeling. Peter himself had said it in so many words! Thank goodness she hadn't committed herself to a date with him last evening. She was better off alone and she was more than capable of taking care of herself. With that, she emerged from the corridor and walked straight for her new desk, without even turning to look at Peter. Christina congratulated herself on avoiding another man who could hurt her, but there was a strange hollowness about it and she almost felt like crying.
