Page 22 of The Playboy and the Widow
“I know,” Shirley answered softly, shaking her head. “That confuses me, too. I never thought Cliff Howard would like children.”
“Mikey thinks he’s great.”
“Yeah, but Cliff won him over early by bringing him an autographed baseball.”
Shirley had a point there. Besides, Mikey was the friendly sort and not easily offended. “Joan and Katie are crazy about him.”
Shirley’s eyes narrowed. “Just don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re different from all the other women who have wandered in and out of his life.”
Diana pondered her friend’s words. Shirley had gone to great lengths to describe Cliff’s “women.” To hear her neighbor tell it, Cliff Howard hadn’t so much as looked at a woman over thirty, much less shown an interest in dating one. It went without saying that he usually avoided women with children. Cliff had told her himself that she was the first widow he’d taken out. Diana didn’t know what was different about her, wasn’t sure she wanted to know. He seemed to honestly enjoy being with her and the girls, and for now that was enough.
“What makes you think you’ll be different?” Shirley pressed.
“But I am different. You said so yourself,” Diana answered after a lengthy pause, holding her neighbor’s concerned gaze.
“I don’t mean it like that.” An exasperated sigh followed. “Just keep reminding yourself that Cliff could well be another Casanova.”
Diana laughed outright. “Unfortunately he’s got his good looks.”
“You’re about as likely to have a lasting relationship with Cliff as you are with Casanova, so keep that in mind.”
“Yes, Mother,” Diana teased softly. She found Shirley’s concern more touching than irritating.
“Just don’t make me say ‘I told you so,’” her neighbor returned, and the doubt rang clear in her voice.
Diana mused over their conversation for most of the day. Shirley wasn’t telling her anything she hadn’t already considered herself. She’d been playing with fire from the minute she’d agreed to that first dinner date with Cliff, and she knew it, but the flickering flames had never been more attractive. She was thirty, and it was time to let her hair down and kick up her heels a little.
For his part, Cliff wasn’t stupid, Diana realized. He knew what kind of physical response he drew from her, knew she had been teetering with indecision when he had suggested they see each other again. So when Katie had piped in and asked to go to the movies with them, Cliff had jumped on the idea. By including the girls, he’d known she wouldn’t refuse. How could she, with Joan and Katie doing flips over the idea? The man was a successful attorney and he’d read her ambivalence with the ease of a first grade primer. Although she’d been determined to put an end to this silliness, her well-constructed defenses had tumbled with astonishing unconcern and she was as eager for the drive-in as the girls. It was one of the last left in the country and in South King Country, in the countryside.
“Mom,” Katie cried as she rushed into the kitchen the minute the school bus dropped her off. “Can Mikey go to the drive-in movie with us?”
Diana hedged. “I don’t know, honey. Cliff has to agree.”
“He won’t care. I know he won’t, and besides, he knows Mikey and Mikey’s parents know Cliff.” She slapped her hands against her side as though that fact alone were enough for anyone to come to the same decision, then grinned beguilingly.
Arguing with such logic seemed fruitless. “Let’s wait and talk to Cliff once he arrives.”
“Okay.”
Diana watched in amazement as Katie grabbed an apple from the fruit basket and dashed out the front door to join her friends. Usually Diana was subjected to a long series of arguments whenever the girls were after something, and Katie’s easy acceptance pulled her up short.
“Well, all right,” she muttered after her daughter, still bemused.
By the time Cliff arrived, Diana was convinced that half the neighborhood was waiting. He parked his sports car in the driveway, and was instantly besieged by a breathless, excited Joan and two or three of Joan’s friends. Katie and Mikey followed a second later. Both Diana’s girls grabbed for Cliff’s hand, one trying to outdo the other. With a patience that pleased and surprised Diana, Cliff stopped their excited chatter. He directed his first question to Joan.
Watching the humorous scene from the front porch, Diana saw her elder daughter issue an urgent plea for Cliff to allow her to invite their very best friends in all the world to the drive-in with them.
Katie started in next. Cliff’s gaze went from the girls to a series of neighborhood kids who stood in the background, awaiting his reply.
From her position, Diana could clearly see Cliff’s confusion. He’d asked for this, she mused, having trouble holding in her laughter.
“Hi,” she greeted him, coming down the steps.
“Hi.” His bewildered gaze sought hers as he motioned toward Joan and Katie and the accumulated friends. “What do you think?”
“It’s up to you.”
“Please, Cliff,” Katie cried, her hands folded as if praying.
