Carole Halston - Separate Bedrooms...?

“Too many painful memories?” Cara’s voice was soft with sympathy as she filled in the gaps of what he hadn’t needed to explain. Some of those hit songs on classic rock stations would take him back to the era when he’d dated Lisa, back to their married years.

“Yes. You and Roy had a spat?” he asked. As always, he seemed more interested in her than himself.

“It was more than a spat. Neil, he insists I quit my job!” she burst out.

“I was afraid of that.”

“He’s actually jealous of you! I tried to tell him that you’re like a brother to me, but I couldn’t seem to get it through that thick skull of his that my relationship with you poses no threat to him.”

Neil crossed his arms and leaned against the car. The slump of his shoulders spelled out resignation. “It won’t be easy to replace you, but I certainly understand your position.”

“My position is that I’m not quitting.”

He sighed, rubbing a hand down the back of his head and neck. “Cara, there’s a lot of give and take in a marriage.”

“Roy’s being unreasonable. He’s not considering my feelings. I love my job. When I said yes to him, it was with the full intention of continuing working. For years and years.”

“You plan to have a family, don’t you?”

Cara bobbed her head in the affirmative. “Yes, but so what? I figured you wouldn’t mind if I set up a playpen at the store like Allison did when she had Jessica.” Allison was one of the two other women employees who worked in the office under Cara’s supervision. “Remember how we all pitched in and helped take care of Jessica? Even Jimmy and Peewee?”

“Maybe Roy will come around.”

“He’d better.” Cara stood on tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek, letting her actions thank him for listening and being there for her, centering her world. He responded in kind, silently saying You’re welcome with a brief, warm hug. “See you tomorrow,” she called over her shoulder as she walked to her car.

“Drive carefully,” he called back, his tone sober and concerned.

On the way to her apartment, Cara remembered the question Roy had asked her this afternoon during their heated argument: You’re not telling me you’d back out of marrying me before you’d quit working for Griffin?

Yes, Roy, that’s what I’m telling you, she thought now. She simply couldn’t marry anyone who expected her to cut Neil out of her life. For that was what Roy actually demanded.

Even though Neil had never said as much, Cara knew intuitively that he needed her to be there for him, too. She brightened up his day-to-day existence. Under no circumstances was she going to abandon him.

If Roy couldn’t understand, then he definitely wasn’t the right husband for Cara. She needed to call a halt to the wedding plans.

Her whole family would be terribly disappointed, but no more disappointed than Cara would at postponing becoming a married woman. By the time she eventually did find a better husband prospect—a man more considerate of her needs—Sophia would have passed away. Cara would live the rest of her days regretting that she hadn’t fulfilled her grandmother’s wish to attend her favorite granddaughter’s wedding.

Moving like an old man, Neil closed the garage doors after Cara’s car had disappeared from sight. Her visit had robbed him of all incentive to resume his repairs to the engine of the car. After turning off the boom box, he went inside his silent house.

For all her bravado, Neil expected that Cara would give in to Xavier’s ultimatum that she quit her job at Griffin’s Auto Parts. What choice did she have?—other than to cancel the wedding, and she wouldn’t go that far. Those same pressures that had caused her to settle for Xavier were still operative, primary among them the desire to grant her dying grandmother’s fervent wish to see Cara married.

In a matter of a few weeks or a couple of months at most, Cara would no longer be Neil’s employee. He wouldn’t have daily contact with her. For a while she’d keep in touch, dropping by the store occasionally or calling him on the phone. Then she’d get caught up in her world that didn’t include him any more.

The whole chain of events he foresaw was so damned depressing. And yet Neil couldn’t let Cara suspect how her absence from his life would affect him. Not for anything would he cause her guilt on his behalf.

Xavier might as well snatch the sun right out of the sky as deprive Neil of Cara’s sunny presence.

In the kitchen, Neil opened the refrigerator and closed it. He wasn’t hungry, and the effort to fix himself even the simplest meal didn’t seem worth the trouble.

Cara stuck her head in the door of the stockroom, where Neil was training a new stockboy. “Neil, I’m going to the post office now. Can I run any errands for you while I’m out and about?”

“Hmm, seems like there was some errand,” he replied, scratching his head. “I’ll walk out with you. Maybe it’ll come to me.” Mainly Neil was seizing the opportunity to talk to Cara one-on-one.

Three days had gone by since she’d come to his house. She’d been awfully subdued for someone usually so outgoing and carefree. He hadn’t questioned her about the status of her relationship with Xavier out of respect for her privacy, instead waiting for her to come to him. But so far she hadn’t, and Neil was concerned about her.

“Is everything okay?” he asked when they’d emerged from the store, both of them pausing to carry on conversation. “Did you patch things up with Xavier?”

Cara sighed. “Yes, but it’s not going to work out. I’ve decided to break up with him.”

“I noticed he hasn’t been around.”

“He’s making a big deal about not coming here to the store in order to avoid you. But there are more issues than my job. Roy’s turned out to be a domineering type. I would never be happy married to him.” She mustered a smile. “Your instincts were right on target, not surprisingly.”

“Better to find out now,” he said, his voice gruff with sympathy.

“If only I hadn’t talked myself into saying yes to him. You don’t know how I dread breaking the news to my family that there isn’t going to be a wedding. I’ll never live this down.” She closed her eyes and shuddered. “What a mess. Nonna and my mother and sisters didn’t waste a minute going shopping for their outfits to wear. They all spent a fortune.”

“They haven’t worn the outfits. Can’t they be returned?”

“That’s not the point. It’s just going to be such a big letdown for the whole family.” Cara shook her head slowly, her pretty face haunted. “Especially Nonna. It was so cruel of me to give her a false sense of happiness. Last night I lay awake half the night, trying to think of some solution. I even considered begging Roy to go through with the wedding with the agreement that we’d only stay married while Nonna was alive. Then we’d get a divorce. But I know he wouldn’t do it.”

“That’s a crazy idea. You poor kid. I wish there was something I could do to help you out.” Neil wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close, not really caring that cars were passing by on the street behind the store parking lot.

Cara leaned into him, burrowing her cheek against his shoulder. “What I need is a bridegroom and temporary husband. It wouldn’t be a bad deal for a man who liked Italian food,” she said with a brave attempt at humor. “You’ve eaten my lasagne.”

“I sure have, and you’re tempting me to volunteer.”

“I wish.” She kissed him on the cheek and stepped away, glancing out toward the street. “There goes Agnes Tanner in that green car, talking on her trusty cell phone. The whole town will be abuzz with her description of us in a clench outside the store.”