The women were laughing when Lane noticed Ben was talking with Mick. Lane excused herself and slowly made her way to the corner where the two men stood.
“Hi, Mick. It’s so nice that you could come.”
Mick smiled at Lane. He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she looked in the clingy jersey dress. He also couldn’t miss the fact that the second she joined them Ben had put his arm around her waist. He wanted to say, “Okay, already, I get it, she’s yours. Hands and eyes off.” Well, hands off that was difficult, but doable. Eyes off was completely something else. Lane wasn’t the kind of woman who demanded attention, yet it seemed he couldn’t help giving it to her.
“It was thoughtful of you to invite me.”
Lane laughed. “When I invited you, I was still a suspect and I thought it would be easier for you to keep an eye on me. Speaking of suspects, I’d like to talk with Kyle Paulson. I want to help with the medical expenses for his wife. Do I need to get permission from someone?”
To say that Mick was surprised might have been an understatement. He’d spent a lot of time with Lane during the past week. His opinion of her from the first meeting to now hadn’t exactly changed, more like it had grown. He had a better feeling for the complete woman. She was beautiful, that was obvious from the start. She was intelligent, she’d proven yesterday how capable she was, and now she was clearly compassionate and caring.
“Yeah, since you’re a witness against him, you should talk to his lawyer. Maybe Ben could approach him for you.”
“Who is it? Has he got a public defender?”
Mick nodded and gave him a name.
Ben looked at Lane who was looking up at him. “Oh, no. I can tell by the look on your face you want me to defend him. That’s just not going to happen. For at least three reasons. He tried to frame you for murder, he threatened you, and the kids, and he held you at gunpoint. And we can talk about it privately later.”
Mick laughed. “Counselor, I have a feeling your winning streak may be coming to an end.”
~~~
Jake and Meg sat down at a table on the patio.
“You just finished your MBA at KU, right? I think I heard you’d accepted a job, but I don’t remember where.”
“It was an MS in Civil Engineering. I’m going to work for Burke & Jones. They do engineering, consulting, and construction worldwide. They made the offer, I accepted and now we’re just waiting for the security clearance to come through. I’m planning to move out of the house as soon as I start the job.” Why had he told her that? What did she care where he was living? Why did he want her to know that he’d have his own place soon?
“Yeah, I get that. I moved back in with my parents a couple of years ago. They have a tendency to treat me as if I’m still in high school. You know, where are you going, when will you be back.”
Jake laughed. It was hard moving from his apartment in Lawrence back into the house with Jamie and his Mom, but he knew it was temporary.
“Mom’s pretty cool. She doesn’t nag about curfew or sleeping in, but it is weird going from making all of your own decisions to being treated like a kid again. You’ve been working for Mom since she got the job, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, three years now. It’s my first office job. My degree is in Marketing, and I’d been working at Dillard’s before I went to work for your Mom.”
“You’ve got a kid, right?”
And there it was. Meg loved Abbey more than life itself; however, a two year old was a turn off for most guys. Meg shook her head. What was she thinking? First, she’d just met Jake; second, he was her boss’s son, third who said he was interested in her to begin with?
“Yes, I have a daughter. Her name’s Abigail and she’s two.”
“My brother and I just got back from Omaha. Our cousin up there has a two year old. He’s a terror, but he’s kinda cute though.” Jake smiled.
God, he has dimples. And she was lost in the blue eyes and dimples. Did he say something else?
Jake tapped Meg’s hand. “Are you okay?”
“Hmm? Oh. Yeah. I was just thinking.”
Jamie came outside. “Hey, you guys need to come in here. Ben’s uncles are here. Did you know they were identical twins?”
Ben’s uncles Sal and Vinnie had come into the party and had taken Ben and Lane aside. Vinnie handed Lane a small box.
“We wanted to get a little something for you, our little Angel of the Valley.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Lane said as she took the box and opened it. Then, she just looked from one tall white haired Italian man to the other. “What is this?” She dangled the Mercedes key fob she found in the box.
Sal and Vinnie smiled. “It’s just a little token of our affection. Come outside and see.” She and Ben went to the driveway. In the drive was a Pearl Beige Mercedes SL65 AMG convertible. She’d seen one in the show room. It was a quarter million dollar car, it was sitting in the drive way and she held the key.
“I can’t accept this,” she said as she held the key out toward them.
“Tell her, Nipote. It’s bad luck to refuse a birthday gift.”
Ben took a breath. “Well, they’re right. It’s an Italian thing, you can’t refuse it.” He looked at Lane and back to his uncles. Lane wouldn’t cause a scene in front of all of the guests who had now come into the driveway and were oooing and ahhing at the car. He leaned close to her and whispered in her ear, “Kiss the uncles and then let’s take a spin around the block in their gift.”
Ben helped Lane into the driver’s seat and closed the door. He walked to the passenger door. Pausing to whisper in Jess’s ear, “Will you play hostess until we’re back?”
“We’ll be right back, everyone. We’re just going to take a spin around the block,” Ben said to the crowd as he got into the car with Lane.
Lane started the car and backed out of the drive.
Jess stepped up to the uncles and introduced herself. “Ciao. So, you’re Ben’s uncles. I’m Jess Parker.”
“Allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Salvatore Luciano. This is my brother Vincenzo.”
“Let me do you a favor.” Jess smiled. “If you want her to keep the gift, I suggest you leave. She can’t give it back if there’s no one to give it to.”
Sal looked at Vinnie. “La ragazza ha un punto.” Yes, uncle Sal, Jess thought, I do have a point.
Vinnie smiled “Così intelligente per una così giovane.” Jess smiled at the uncles. How nice that uncle Vinnie thought she was smart.
Since leaving for college a little over a year ago, Jess had learned Italian using Rosetta Stone and she understood every word the Luciano brothers spoke.
“You’d better hurry, they were only going around the block.” She ushered them to their car and smiled. A favor accepted is a favor owed.
Chapter 20
The fix is in
It was nearing ten o’clock when Lane and Ben left the driveway in the new car. It was an amazing car, but it was so expensive. She really needed to figure out a way to give it back.
“All right, here’s the thing, you can’t refuse the car.” He held up his hand in the universal stop sign. “Lane, look, there are things you don’t understand about Italian families. It will insult my uncles if you refuse the gift they’ve given you. We, you and I, can’t insult them this way. Please, just take the gift. I know it’s expensive, but what have I told you? Expensive should be measured relative to the giver’s ability to pay for it and not dependent on the receiver’s perception. They can afford to give the gift therefore you can afford to be gracious enough to accept it.”