Big Girls Don’t Cry (Dundee, Idaho #6)(60)
Author: Brenda Novak

Not that Isaac hoped she’d be warmer to Keith. He just wanted her to recover, be the person she’d been before Keith undid all the good of the past several years.

Somehow Isaac needed to get her to engage again. To care about people besides her kids.

“Have fun?” she said.

The strain in her shoulders and face told him she knew where he’d been. “Sort of. Why? Keith call?”

She watched him. “Stopped by, actually. He was furious.”

“He had no right to bother you.”

“I finally told him I’d have to call you out of your bedroom if he didn’t leave.”

“I’m sorry.”

She said nothing.

“I would’ve told you about Reenie myself. You know that, don’t you?” he said.

“You have the right to decide who you want to see.”

“I know, but…I can understand how you must feel toward her, Liz. I wish—” he shoved his hands into his pockets “—I wish I wasn’t so attracted to her.”

His sister opened her mouth, then closed it again and disappeared into the kitchen.

“Say it,” he said to her retreating back.

“Say what?”

He followed her to find that she was busy sewing the curtains she’d promised Mica for her bedroom. She spent all her time, when she wasn’t at the grocery store, working on projects that included her children or served them in some way. “Whatever you want to say. I’m tired of feeling as though you might shatter at any moment. Can’t we just—” he thought of Reenie and how honestly she faced the world “—talk frankly?”

“There’s nothing to say. You like her, I don’t.”

“You don’t really know her.”

“We’re not in the position to become good friends.”

He sat at the table. “I’ll be leaving for Africa soon.”

“Which is why I can’t understand what you’re doing. It’s not fair of me to expect you not to see her for my sake. But God, Isaac, what about her? As much as I hate her for the jealousy she inspires in me, as much as I hate her because Keith still wants her more than he ever wanted me, I know she’s been through a lot. Why would you get involved with her if you know that you’re leaving?”

“Because…there’s something about her, Liz. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“She’s the other woman in my life!”

“You don’t think I realize that?”

“Is she aware of how you feel?”

“She knows I’ll be leaving in a few months,” he said in lieu of an answer.

Only the sound of Liz’s scissors cutting through fabric broke the silence. Finally she said, “How do you think she feels about you?”

He shrugged. He was pretty certain Reenie would have made love with him tonight, had he handled the situation differently. But he didn’t volunteer that. There was honesty, and then there was stupidity.

“Is she over Keith?”

“She acts like it.”

“Keith said the girls are in Texas.”

“She told me the same thing.”

Liz set her scissors down and straightened. “Isaac, I—”

“What?” he said.

“You told me you wanted me to say what was on my mind.”

“Go ahead.”

“Since you’re leaving Dundee soon anyway, could you just…stay away from her?” she asked. Her expression turned beseeching. “Please?”

He stared at his sister, wondering why he found agreeing to her request so difficult. His libido had to be the problem, right? What else could it be? He and Reenie had very little in common other than having a close connection to Keith, which wasn’t a favorable thing. She was still recovering from her divorce. She had three children. The word commitment might as well be stamped across her forehead.

When he considered all those factors, he thought he could overcome his physical desire. “I’ll make you a deal,” he said at last.

“What?”

“You quit calling Dave Shapiro, and I’ll stop seeing Reenie.”

A frown creased her brow. “You know about Dave?”

“I knew there had to be some reason you waited for the phone bill every month, snatched it out of the pile and paid it before I could.”

“We just talk like friends. It’s nothing, really. He—he gives me something I need right now, Isaac, that’s all.”

“Reenie felt pretty necessary to me tonight, too,” he admitted. When he remembered her and that kiss, she still did.

“Did you sleep with her?” she asked, her eyes widening.

“No.”

“Good,” she said. “If I fall for Dave, it isn’t as though he’s going to love me back. They’re both dead-end relationships.”

“So we have nothing to lose by giving them up.”

“Right.” She finally nodded. “Okay.”

REENIE HAD WANTED to arrive early, so she could get a good seat for Caldwell Elementary’s Annual Talent Show and be settled before Liz or Isaac arrived. But she’d forgotten her video camera and had gone home for it at the last minute. Now Liz and her brother were already standing at the back of the multipurpose room, and Agnes Scott, who was in charge of the talent show this year, was addressing the audience.

“The children have worked so hard. I think this will be one of Caldwell’s best talent shows ever. When I first held the auditions…”

The place was packed to overflowing. Almost immediately, Reenie removed her lightweight black jacket and slung it over one arm. The weather was cool and mellow, a perfect spring evening, but it was stifling inside. Especially because a few folks still turned to stare when she and Liz were in a room together. She hated the extra attention, wished people would mind their own business. But she couldn’t escape it tonight. Jennifer would soon be on stage doing a cheer she’d choreographed herself. Angela would perform a tap-dance routine. And Isabella would be singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

“Reenie!”

Reenie glanced up to see Keith waving at her. He’d told her he probably wouldn’t be coming, that he had to drive his dad to Boise for a doctor’s appointment in the late afternoon. Evidently he’d managed to get back in time.

I’ve got a seat for you right here! he mouthed, pointing to the chair next to him. But Reenie didn’t want to sit there. She didn’t want to hear what he had to say about Isaac coming to her house last Friday. Keith had tried to call her several times already, had even stopped by the farm again after Isaac had left that night, and then the next day. But she’d managed to brush him off with the threat that she’d call Gabe if he didn’t leave her alone. Gabe might be in a wheelchair, but no one messed with him. He could make people back off with a single raised eyebrow.