Kara Lennox - Tame An Older Man

"I can't work so close to you. It hurts."

"It only hurts because we're not together."

"We can't be together."

"Why not?" He barely whispered the words.

"Because… because you'll never see me as anything but-"

"Bull. I see what you show me. Try again, because that's a cop-out."

"Because I'm not ready to let anybody love me. It's like Jane says-I have to work on myself first."

They'd never talked about love, but the moment she said the word, Wyatt knew it was there, glittering between them, tempting but somehow forbidden.

"When will you be ready? When you've got your college degree? When you start your business? When you make a million dollars? When?"

"I don't know."

"Well, while you're figuring that out, you can also chew on this. I love you, Phoebe. I don't care what your IQ is, or whether you have a college degree, or how many men you've slept with, or what size bra you wear, or even whether you're called Phoebe or Adelaide. I love the essence of you.

"So you think about it, and you just let me know when you're ready for a real man to love you. And if the answer is never, then congratulations. You're destined for a long and very lonely life."

He left before he said anything else. He hadn't meant to be so hard on her. But if he hadn't forcefully stated his case, she would have slipped right through his fingers.

She might, anyway.

"I didn't know you would be so sensitive about it," Olga said, sitting in the passenger seat of Phoebe's car on their way home from the show. "I'm proud of you and I just wanted to show you off."

"You're proud of who I used to be."

"No, that's not it. I'm proud of everything you've done and all you've turned out to be. I'm very excited about your cosmetics company. I just didn't understand, before, what a big deal this science stuff is for you."

Phoebe smiled. "Thank you, Mama."

"I think I understand a little better now why it's so important to have a career or a bobby or a cause. I used to think those were things a woman did when she couldn't find a man."

"Or as an excuse for keeping men at arm's length," Phoebe murmured.

"What?"

"Nothing. Go on."

"I never realized that taking care of your own spiritual and intellectual needs would actually make you more attractive."

"You sound like a true convert."

"Listening to those other women-the happy ones with boyfriends and husbands-convinced me. Jane convinced me."

"That Jane is a pretty smart lady." Phoebe pulled her car up in front of Mesa Blue. "I should be home from class around four. We can go out for dinner or something before I have to take you to the airport."

"Okay." Olga hugged her. "You go study hard. I want to see straight As on that report card, young lady."

Phoebe tried not to laugh. Olga had never cared a whit what grades Phoebe made in school.

Richie was waiting for her with a sub sandwich, when Phoebe arrived at the university.

"I thought you were mad at me," she said, as they settled onto the library steps to eat lunch.

"I got over it. It'd be pretty stupid to stay mad at you when you're the only reason I'm passing this class." He tugged on one of her braids and smiled.

Yeah, it was stupid to stay mad, she decided. Wyatt had left the door open. He'd said he loved her, something she'd tucked away in her heart for further study-later, when she had a moment of quiet time. All she had to do now was walk through that door.

But she couldn't do it halfway. Wyatt wanted all of her, body and soul, warts and all. If she wasn't prepared to put it all on the line for him, she might as well not bother.

When Phoebe got home later that day, the first thing she noticed was that Olga's wreath was back on the door. But there was something different about it. Olga had added a few things-a tiny test tube, a miniature textbook with Biochemistry painted on the cover, an Arizona State University lapel pin and the smallest cosmetics tube Phoebe had ever seen, labeled, Phoebe's Green Mask.

Phoebe laughed out loud even as the thoughtful gesture brought tears to her eyes. How had her mother ever come up with those things on such short notice?

When she entered her apartment, she got another surprise. She heard two women laughing in the kitchen, and when she followed the laughter she found Olga and Frannie kneading dough together.

"Frannie?" Phoebe said in surprise.

"Oh, Phoebe, your mother is so funny. Do you know what she just said? She just said-"

"I thought she was 'that Jersey Blonde'!"

"That was before I saw her on 'Heads Up' this morning. Oh, my gosh, she is so much like me it's uncanny. All those things she was saying-it could have been me. And I knew exactly where she was coming from-"

"And I wasn't going to go home without apologizing to your friend," Olga cut in. "I didn't mean to break up her romance with Bill."

"Olga's showing me how to make authentic Danish. As if my waistline needs it!"

Olga waved a finger at Frannie. "Uh-uh-uh, no cutting yourself down. Remember what Jane says. We have to stop worrying about being perfect and love ourselves just the way we are."

"Oh, you're so right."

"Did you patch things up with Bill?" Phoebe asked Frannie.

"No, and he can just forget it. He's obviously much too fickle. He doesn't deserve a catch like me, and, anyway, I'm no longer interested," Frannie said, nose in the air. "I have many important things to do to fulfill myself."

Jane Jasmine has created a couple of monsters! Phoebe was about to make her escape from the Twilight Zone kitchen, but Olga stopped her.

"Phoebe, you look tired. Why don't you take a little nap? We don't have to go out to dinner."

"No, I want to take you someplace nice on your last evening," Phoebe insisted. "But I wouldn't mind taking a quick swim." That would rejuvenate her better than a nap would.

She passed up the blue lamé and put on one of her nice, safe tank suits, grabbed a towel and headed for the pool.

Nothing cleared her head like swimming laps. As her muscles went through the automatic motions, pulling her gently through the water, her mind worked things over of their own accord.

Wyatt loved her. And she loved him. Oh, how she loved him. He was a good man, intelligent, kind, funny. She'd been afraid to let herself even be attracted to him, much less fall in love. She'd tossed out every obstacle to a serious relationship she could think of, because she'd sensed that there would be no turning back once it happened.

And she'd been right.

Could they make it work? Did she dare even hope…?

Well, damn it, why not? She was a perfectly good match for Wyatt, even if she was younger than him. Jane Jasmine said age didn't really matter as long as… good gravy, now she was quoting Jane Jasmine. Maybe all the women living in Mesa Blue should start a Jasmine cult.

That made her laugh, which caused her to inhale a mouthful of water. Her head shot up and she grasped the nearest edge, coughing and sputtering.

"You okay?" Wyatt asked, sounding worried. His abrupt appearance only startled her, causing her to cough some more, but she nodded.

"Yes, I think I'll live."

He handed her a towel. "I knew I was quite a catch, but I'm not worth drowning yourself over."

What was Wyatt doing hanging out at the pool? Phoebe wondered as she completed her coughing performance. She vaulted out of the pool, sat on the edge and dried her face and shoulders.

She finally steeled herself to look up at him. He wore a pair of very brief swim trunks-and nothing else. She realized she'd never seen his body in full sunlight before. It took her breath away. He might be pushing forty, but he was in better shape than most young men half his age.