Page 29 of A Family Affair: The Ring
And that’s why she was here; he’d bet his best bottle of scotch on it.The rumors about a breakup had been swirling around town, but Harry’s observations said those two were never together.Sure, Will might have enjoyed her company and whatever else she offered, but Harry bet the guy wasn’t picturing her on one of those family photo Christmas cards Greta loved to send.Nope, not sharing his name either, or much past “casual but not the one.”So, now what?He guessed he’d listen to her and ask himself what Pop would do.How bad could he screw up?
“If you heard I might be replacing Pop, then you know I’m still in training.”He smiled, motioned toward the chair opposite his desk.“Have a seat and tell me what’s got you looking like you just lost your dog.I know that look because I had it too, but from what I remember, you have a cat.”Damn, had her cat died?“Please tell me you did not lose your cat.”
A shake of her blonde head, a hint of a smile.“No, Harry.Felicity is happy and still the princess.”She slid into a chair, placed her tiny purse in her lap.“This is about me and Will.”
No sense attaching Callahan to Will because everybody knew she’d been seeing Will Callahan for close to a year.People noticed when a guy who never stayed with the same woman for longer than a month or two has a regular.Does it mean he’s going to put a ring on her finger?No, it does not, but apparently Delaney Hall thought it did.“You do know I didn’t settle down until I was over fifty, right?”
The smile spread, made her eyes light up.“That’s exactly why you’re the perfect choice.You’ll be honest and Ineedhonesty right now.I also need a bit of help because Will and I have something special and I can’t just let it go, not when we are so good together.”
Good together?The boy might not have complained, and he might have bought her flowers and taken her away for a weekend, but did he lose his wordsorhis logic when she was around?Not that Harry saw, and he would have seen it, because “attraction and can’t-be-without-you” were hard to miss.Like the look on Will’s face when Harry messed up and mentioned the new girl in town, who happened to be his ex-fiancée.Yeah, that face said more than one of the guy’s spreadsheets.But had Harry ever seen that look on Will Callahan’s handsome mug when he was with Delaney or any of the other ones?Nope.And that’s why he knew the woman had an agenda and needed Harry’s help to make it work.
What would Pop do?He’d ask questions, he’d listen and lay out a plan so the one coming to him would realize the truth, good or bad.“Why don’t you tell me what’s really going on so I can piece it together?Didheend things, or did you push him too hard, and that made him end it?Or did you misread whatever he was offering as in ‘good for now,’ but not ‘good for long term’?”What was the point of playing games and pretending?She wanted to know what he thought, and he’d tell her.
“Would he talk about taking a trip to Napa Valley, or an Alaskan cruise if I were short term?”A tiny huff and a frown.“I do not appreciate those words, Harry.I amnota short-term sort of person.”She fluffed her long hair over her shoulder, added, “He also mentioned how much he’s always wanted to visit the Grand Canyon and spent a whole dinner telling me about the view and the colors...and whatever.”
Harry settled back in his chair, rubbed his jaw as he sifted through her words, matched them to her expression and what he knew about Will and his current situation, a.k.a.the return of Melanie Russell.What would Pop do right now?Would he ask questions and listen to the answers, poke through and try to uncover the meaning inside them?Hmm.The first thing he would do was listenandask.
“When he mentioned wanting to see these places, were you included?”
“Excuse me?”
He didn’t miss the confusion on her face that said she had no idea what he meant.Sometimes a person had to have it spelled out.“Did Will say he wanted to takeyouto these places?”
“Well, he said he wanted to see them, and we were talking about places we’d never been.Of course, it was implied we’d go together.”
“Delaney, the guy’s an accountant.They deal in reality, not implied or inferred, or any other BS.So, did the man eversayhe wanted you to go together?”
She bit her bottom lip, eyes bright.“Not exactly, but when I asked him where he’d like to go, he told me.Will knew my reason for asking meant it would be a joint vacation.How could he not know?”
What would Pop say?“He wouldn’t know because Will Callahan is a numbers guy,nota touchy-feely guy.He’s the kind who appreciates straight-up asking for what you want, not pretending, not posturing, not playing games.”
“You’re wrong, Harry.He might not have spoken the words, but I know he meant them, and ifshehadn’t come back…”
Ahh...now they were getting somewhere.“You mean Melanie Russell.”
Those blue eyes sparked.“Yes.Since she’s been back, everything’s been different.Okay, so maybe I tried to rush things along, and maybe I involved his mother and shouldn’t have, and maybe I snooped around and—”
“Hold on.Snooped around?What are you talking about?”Either the woman was snooping in Will’s business—his life or his belongings—and had found something and confronted himorsomeone else had provided that information.Harry bet the mother was somehow involved.Damn pain-in-the-ass woman, more bitter than the dandelion tea Pop once convinced him to try.
“Oh, Harry, what have I done?”When the tears started, he reached in his back pocket, handed her his handkerchief.
“Please tell me Marjorie Callahan is not in the middle of this.”Of course, she was, he sensed it before the girl spoke.
A half nod, a tiny sniff.“I didn’t mean to intrude, but when I found the ring, I was so excited, believed he bought it for me.And then…” One sniff, two, more tears and lots of handkerchief dabbing.
“Are we talking about an engagement ring?”Pop had filled him in on the whole story of how Will and Melanie were engaged for a nanosecond before the parents destroyed it.A thousand bucks said Delaney found the old engagement ring.
“Yes, Will bought it forher.His mother told me all about it and when I confronted Will, he was not happy.He was so cold and once I started asking about Melanie, I couldn’t stop.I had to know.It was horrible and I should have just been quiet, but I couldn’t.I tried to get him to tell me he was over her, that he loved me, andIwas his future.But he didn’t.He said he was sorry, and then he said it was over.”Big sobs into his handkerchief.“I am so sorry for the horrible mistake I made.I just want another chance to show him how much I love him, how much I regret pushing him too hard when he wasn’t ready.”
If Harry hadn’t been caught up by the tears and seeming remorse in Delaney’s words, he would have sensed the holes in the delivery, been more forceful in his questioning.But he was new to this whole godfather business and he’d never met a man who could tolerate a woman’s tears.Most would do anything to stop them, and he was one of those men.Maybe that’s what Delaney had counted on because she soaked his handkerchief as she vowed to do anything to make it up to Will.
“Tell me what I can do, Harry.Please, help me.”And then she snuck in the other part of this equation, the one that said she was not as remorseful as she appeared.“Melanie Russell was his high school and college sweetheart and what happened to them is sad, but who’s to say they would’ve actually gotten married?Or if they had, that they’d still be together?”Those blue eyes turned fierce, her words opening the possibility of doubt.“A woman who walks away from the man she supposedly loves, no matter the reason, isnota partnerora soulmate.I never would have done that.I would have stood by Will’s side, no matter what.”
Harry lifted his pen, fiddled with it.“It’s always easy to say what you would and wouldn’t do when you don’t have to make a choice.But unless you’re knee-deep in the stuff, you don’t know.”
She clutched the edge of his desk, leaned forward.“Idoknow, Harry.From the moment I first saw Will Callahan, I knew we were meant to be together, and the fact that I never heard about Melanie Russell means one of two things.Either Will was so furious and humiliated that he blocked her from his world, or she was inconsequential and he didn’t think he needed to tell me.I’m going with the second, but I suppose it could be the first.Either way,I’mhere now and he can think we’re done and maybe even wonder if there’s still something between him and his ex, but it’s not real.People change, and eight years is a long time to mesh fantasy with reality.I’ll bet she’s not the same person and I’ll bet he isn’t either.But I do know who he is now, and that’s the person I love, and whether or not he’s spoken the words, that’s the person who loves me.”
Harry drifted back to his life before Greta, to a time when he’d been footloose, self-absorbed, interested in nothing but the next pleasure.Was he still that same person?Hell no.He wasn’t the same person he’d been at thirty, or forty, but by fifty he’d begun to turn into a human being.Could Delaney be on to something?Maybe Willwascaught up in Melanie’s hazel eyes and curves, and the dreams they’d shared, but was it real?
