|
The Tessarae Inn |
|
Regrets In Jade Tones
PART I ELEVATED REGRETS
CHAPTER 1 Blair dropped her head and tried to look contrite but Mrs. Cole was not buying it. She could tell because Sandra Cole leaned back against her desk, crossed her arms, stretched her mouth into a grimace and tapped her right foot lightly. Blair straightened up and looked directly at Mrs. Cole until she heard a soft growling sound coming from her right. She glanced over at RJ then burst out laughing again. The sight of his tall frame squeezed into a miniature desk in the second grade classroom was giving her giggling fits. Here they were two of Llanview’s reportedly biggest badasses reduced to what amounted to suffering through a call to the principal’s office. “Well, I don’t have to guess any longer where Starr and Jason get their behavior,” sniffed Mrs. Cole. Blair covered her mouth and tried to focus on what Mrs. Cole was saying. This was serious business, wasn’t it? “Mrs. Cole, I assure you that we are taking this quite seriously,” said RJ. Blair didn’t dare look at him. “But you must admit,” continued RJ, “this is not the most conducive setting for three full-sized adults to have this conversation.” Mrs. Cole frowned then her face softened. That damn Gannon charm was working its magic. “I promise you that Mrs. Manning and I will discuss this in depth with Jason and Starr and there will be no more misbehavior.” Mrs. Cole batted her eyelashes then said, “I appreciate that, Mr. Gannon. They are both such special children that I hate to see their education compromised by their…let’s say, lively behavior.” RJ squeezed his way out of the desk chair and stood up. Blair watched as Sandra Cole’s gaze drifted from toe to head as RJ stretched to his full height. She coughed to keep from laughing then struggled to her feet. “Yes, Mrs. Cole, you shouldn’t have anymore problems with Starr,” she glanced over at RJ who smiled at her and raised his right eyebrow, “or Jason either I suspect.” Mrs. Cole shifted her gaze to Blair and seemed to come out of the hypnotic trance RJ cast on her. She frowned slightly, walked around the desk and sat in her chair. “They are wonderful children but the world is not always forgiving of intelligence without self-restraint.” Blair gulped and then glanced at RJ who was looking down at his hands. He was trying to hide his face but she could see the corners of his smile. He was as bad as she was. “It will be a good idea,” said Mrs. Cole, “for you to talk to them together. They seem to feed off of each other’s energy.” RJ looked up with his face composed. “We will do that,” he said and stretched his hand out to Blair. She placed her hand lightly in his and walked next to him. “Thank you for talking to us,” she said as they turned toward the door of the classroom. “As always, nice seeing you, Sandra,” said RJ as he simultaneously looked over his shoulder and opened the door. He guided Blair toward the door by gently pushing at the small of her back and gently propelled her into the hall. “You’re so smooth,” whispered Blair. “As chocolate syrup.” Blair clamped her mouth shut, but RJ looked at her with a smug expression that made her ribs ache from the effort she needed to keep from laughing out loud. They walked down the miniature hallway in silence but as soon as they rounded the corner and pushed their way out of the door to the main entrance they both started laughing. “I can not believe you,” said RJ with a deep rumble. "I felt like I was back in Junior High. If we weren’t standing in front of our children’s school, I’d squeal and giggle for you.” RJ shook his head. “A pre-adolescent Blair Cramer. I bet you were a force to be reckoned with.” “Daimler. And I can’t say Starr doesn’t come by her behavior honestly. Thank goodness we weren’t together back then.” “I can see us now passing notes back and forth and wrecking havoc with a smile on our faces. We would’ve spent half of our lives in the principal’s office.” “Now we get to play the grown ups. What a world.” Blair threw her head back. “No one can tell me that life doesn’t have a sense of humor.” “A wicked sense of humor.” For a moment they stared at each other with genuine wonderment over the twists and turns their lives had taken. RJ stuck his hands in side pockets of his pants. “I guess we do need to talk about this stuff. Do you have time for lunch?” Blair glanced at her watch. It was 11:15 and her meeting with Rick St. Jean had been pushed back to the afternoon. “I think I can squeeze you in as long as we finish up by 2:30.” “2:30? Damn, you corporate types put the three in the three martini lunch, don’t you?” “Looks who’s talking. I had a lunch meeting today about the new company. I blocked out a good chuck of time for it but it got pushed back to late afternoon.” “New company? JStarr? I heard about your new enterprise.” “Really? From who?” “I’ll give you one guess and I suspect you don’t need any clues about one eight-year-old with blonde hair like her mother’s.” “Starr? I should have known.” “She’s been bragging to Jason about her name being the most important one in your new logo. Jason wants me to change the name of Capricorn to KJason.” Blair laughed. Those two children really were separated at birth.
Blair pulled out of the school parking lot carefully. She looked both ways before she pulled out onto Minnesota Street. She was able to make the light at Donovan Blvd but, of course, she got caught at Lancaster Street, which she was convinced had the longest wait time in the history of traffic lights. You could knit a scarf waiting for the light to change at this intersection. She studied the light idly until out of the corner of her eye she saw a car pull up behind her then slip beside her in the left lane. It was a gorgeous black BMW 750iL, probably a V12. She recognized it because she considered the model when she went car shopping a month earlier. The deeply tinted window on the passenger side slid down like a curtain opening and then she saw RJ leaning over the light tan leather seats grinning at her. “Looking good, Blair. What’s that an Audi S8? I like the color, red wine?” “Burgundy Red. Company car. I needed something to go with the color scheme of JStarr and, of course, something that fit the image of a CEO.” “Damn fine choice. 320 under the hood?” “360 and those horses like to run.” “I bet they do.” RJ straightened up and glanced at the traffic light. “I’ll meet you at The Palace.” Blair could see the light facing Lancaster turning amber. She looked over at RJ and said, “Wanna race?” He grinned. “Last one there has to throw herself on Mrs. Cole’s sword next week and cough up the progress report…alone.” “You mean Sandra?” “What can I say? Charm is a powerful thing.” “Spew.” “Deal?” “Deal,” she said, “but nothing higher than the posted speed limit. The race goes to the cunning not just the swift.” “Do I need to spot you a few miles then?” “Eat my exhaust fumes,” said Blair and shot forward just as the light turned green. |