“I just want to put them together as often as possible.”
Peregrine got out of his chair. This particular scheme of his wife’s seemed harmless enough. It wouldn’t be the first time Jean and Colin had broken up, and there’d be tears, but that could be handled by turning the whole thing over to his wife. Too bad about Jean though. He liked her, and he loved her cooking. “Well, dear,” he said, “you can play matchmaker all you want, but be sure to keep me up-to-date.” He paused. “What about Dr. Tris? Wasn’t there talk about him? Maybe he and Gemma will like each other.”
“Every woman in town has tried for that man. I can’t imagine that our studious little Gemma will be able to win him. Even gorgeous Jean doesn’t turn Dr. Tris’s head.”
In college, Peregrine had dated many women who were much prettier and certainly more glamorous than Alea, but he’d known she was the one for him the moment he saw her stride across the gym floor. It had been during a basketball match, and as he watched her, the ball had hit his head and bounced off. The whole school burst into laughter. Four months later, she was pregnant and two months afterward, they were married.
He kissed his wife’s cheek. “I hope you’re right, dear, and that you get what you want. Just don’t do anything drastic, will you?”
“Explain the meaning of drastic.”
Peregrine didn’t want to think about what could happen. “How about if I grill some steaks tonight?”
“Lovely. I’ll have Rachel get them today. Have a good time today, dearest. Tell Dr. Henry hello for me.”
5
GEMMA WENT UPSTAIRS to get her bag and when she got outside, Colin was standing by his Jeep, talking on his cell. He didn’t look happy. When he saw Gemma, he gave a curt good-bye, clicked off the phone, and put it in his pocket.
She got into the car beside him, and he was silent as he maneuvered out of the driveway around the other vehicles. “Did something bad happen?” she asked.
“No, nothing. Everything is fine. Do you know what kind of car you want?”
“I told your dad a Duesenberg.” When this elicited no response from him, she said, “How about if we do this later? When you’re in a better mood?”
As they reached the highway, Colin stepped on the clutch, shoved the car into third, and she was thrown back against the seat. “No, I need the distraction. Do you know where I live?”
“In town somewhere?”
“I live in an apartment over my office. The downstairs used to be a shop that sold ladies’ apparel, while upstairs was used for storage. There are only a few windows, and the place smells like mothballs.”
Gemma was beginning to understand. “And you want to move into your new house.”
“Exactly. But as you saw, I have no furniture. Jean said she’d go with me tomorrow to buy some. But she left a voice mail saying she has an important case early on Monday morning, and she can’t get back until next week.”
Gemma was thinking about what Rachel had told her. If Jean couldn’t find time to spend a weekend, how was she going to live there? “I bet you didn’t tell her you had a big surprise for her.” Gemma thought Jean didn’t seem to be the type who’d want someone else to choose her house for her, but that wasn’t any of her business. What she wanted was for Colin to tell her about him and Jean.
But he didn’t take the hint. “Do you know anything about furniture?” he asked.
“Not after about 1860, although I am familiar with the Bauhaus School. Mies van der Rohe never did anything for me, though. But then Rococo also leaves me cold, and no two styles could be more different, right?” Colin was looking at her. “Oh. You mean furniture today, don’t you? What you can buy in a shop now. No, I know nothing about it.”
“You and my father are going to get on well. He lives in a world of past automobiles. He is extremely disappointed that none of his kids has inherited the family obsession.”
“But you said that two of your brothers work for him.”
“Work but don’t love,” Colin said.
Gemma couldn’t imagine a parent being disappointed because he had a son who was a sheriff, a daughter who was about to become a doctor, and another son who lived for his art. “Maybe—” Gemma began, but the two-way radio in the console interrupted her.
“Colin!” said a man’s voice. “You there?”
He picked up the microphone. “Yeah, Tom. What do you need?”
“How far away are you from the fork in K Creek?”
“Ten minutes,” he said as he glanced at Gemma. “Hold on.” He downshifted, then turned the car ninety degrees without so much as slowing down.
Gemma held on to the door and her seat, and felt as though she were on a ride at a fair—or a NASA training device.