Page 47 of One Texas Night...
* * *
Monday morning she dressed and left for work, thankful for the other people in her life.
Driving to an area of shops on the fringe of a residential part of Dallas north of downtown, she turned into the parking lot and entered through the back. Their appraisal offices were opposite two large rooms in the back of the building with another even larger room for storage. She found her father in the front rooms set aside for displaying furniture, mirrors, paintings and objects they had for sale.
When she joined Herman Tyler in his office, she kissed him on the cheek. He sat behind his desk, his gray hair neatly combed. He wore a pale blue shirt with an aged navy cardigan.
“I got the library table and the mirror from Houston. I think you had a hand in that.”
“Jared wanted you to have them,” Herman said, studying her. “Want to talk about Jared?”
“Dad, he’s out of my life. We said goodbye this morning,” she said, her words sounding stiff even to herself as she looked away from her dad’s perceptive stare.
“He must like you a lot to give you those pieces.”
She shrugged. “Jared is immensely wealthy, so the money part doesn’t matter.”
Her father nodded. “You don’t look so happy.”
She smiled at him. “You see too much.”
“It doesn’t look as if saying goodbye to him was something you really wanted to do.”
“We just have very different lifestyles. I watched him ride in the rodeo Friday night.” She nearly shuddered at the memory. “He probably won the bull riding.”
“So Jared still likes doing the wild things.”
“Too wild for me.”
Her father put his arm around her. “Honey, are you sure you’re all right?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she answered, smiling at him. “Now, let’s get to work here,” she said, looking at pages of pictures and descriptions spread on his desk.
“I’m putting more of the catalog together. You can start looking through the new pages I have and see what you think. You’re in charge of the mailing list.”
“I’ll start getting it ready today.”
* * *
All day it was difficult to concentrate, and her thoughts kept returning to Jared, but she expected to get him out of her mind soon and be able to work without thinking of him constantly.
When Phillip phoned her at three o’clock, she was in the front with customers, so she walked across the room to take the call and speak softly. When he asked her out that night, she accepted. She was swept away by an undercurrent of pain that flowed through her without warning. How long would it take to get over Jared?
Before she went home late in the afternoon, she stopped at the door of her father’s office.
“Phillip is taking me to dinner tonight. He said you’re invited if you’d like.”
“Tell him thanks, but I’ll decline. There’s a baseball game on TV that I want to watch, and frankly, I’m tired. Be sure you thank him for me, and you have a good time.”
“I will, Dad.” She blew him a kiss and left for home, having mixed feelings and missing Jared more than she thought possible.
He didn’t call, and by the end of the following week, she felt he was out of her life for good.
After work one night, Sloan came by to help her unload the boxes. “Dad said Jared gave you these.”
“Yes, he did.”
Sloan studied her intently and she looked away, busying herself trying to take some of the fasteners out of the box.
