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  "Men are good for one thing," Allegra said, looking at her reflection again. "Buying stuff. All the rest is just sex. Give them sex and they give you what you want. Don't you know that by now?"

  "Maybe I want more than that," Lisa said. "And you should, too."

  Allegra's laugh was gritty. "Sure. You can want it, but you won't get it. Look at you--all pale and listless because you're waiting for the phone to ring. He said he'd call, didn't he? And he hasn't?"

  "How'd you know that?"

  Allegra shrugged. "They all say they'll call. But if you'd given Terry some good old- fashioned sex last night, he'd have been on the phone first thing this morning."

  Terry. She hadn't even been thinking about him. Apparently, Allegra saw Lisa's expression and understood what it meant. She stopped looking at herself long enough to peer at Lisa.

  "Don't tell me," she said. "You're not all teary eyed because of Ter-Bear, are you? You're waiting for that loser Campbell to call!"

  Before Lisa could answer, the phone rang. Both sisters turned to the sound of the ringing from beneath a pile of Allegra's hoard of clothes. Allegra dove for it, snatching up the cordless phone triumphantly before Lisa could get to it.

  "Hello?" She smirked at Lisa. "Yes, of course she's here. Can you talk to her? I don't know. Can you?"

  "Give me the phone." Lisa held out her hand, but Allegra didn't listen.

  "I thought you might call this morning," Allegra continued, cooing into the phone.

  Lisa yanked the phone away from her sister and barked into the mouthpiece. "Hello?"

  "Honey?" Her dad sounded concerned. "Are you all right?"

  Allegra pointed and laughed, and Lisa left the room. "I wasn't expecting you to call."

  "Apparently not," he said. "Sorry to disappoint you, honey."

  "Oh, Dad." Lisa sighed. She went to her own bedroom and shut the door. "It's not that at all. What's up?"

  "Your mom and I want you to come over to the house this afternoon. We want to talk to you about some things."

  That didn't sound good. "What things?"

  "Just some things your sister has told us. We're worried."

  For once, Lisa wasn't furious with Allegra for talking out of turn. It would be nice to talk to her parents about all the things that had been going on. "I'll be there around two."

  At least the ongoing Allegra drama was good for one thing. She went to the bathroom and picked up the load of soiled towels, throwing them in the hamper. After dealing with her sister, she was too tired to worry about them any more.

  * * * *

  "It's too bad we couldn't stay for Joey's soccer practice," Bertha said on the ride home.

  Deacon felt a flash of guilt. "I need to get home. Do some work."

  "Uh-huh."

  He could feel his mother looking at him, but he kept his eyes fixed firmly on the road. She could read him like a book, but he wasn't ready to go into details with her just yet. She cleared her throat. He was caught.

  "Must be important work to do on a Saturday," she said.

  "Yeah," he answered, glancing at the clock. It was nearly two. He still had time to call Lisa.

  "It wouldn't have anything to do with the girl Maisy Eckerd saw you sparking with last night on the front porch, would it?"

  Now he looked at her. "You're too good."

  She laughed. "Maisy Eckerd is too nosy. So, does your hurry to get home have anything to do with her?"

  He nodded, signaling to get into the passing lane. "Yeah."

  Bertha sighed. "Well, finally! I thought I'd never see the day. Who is she?"

  He hesitated before telling her. "It's Lisa Shadd, Mom."

  Bertha gasped. "The one who sent you away?"

  "Mom," he began, but Bertha was already off and running.

  "Deacon Timothy Campbell! What on earth are you thinking, getting mixed up with her again? After what she did? Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"

  She must really be riled to start invoking religious curses. Deacon tried to calm her. "Mom, I'm a grown man--"

  "Without a bit of sense in your head!" Bertha said. "I knew you taking that job at her father's business was a bad idea! What'd she do, force you to take up with her to keep your job? I told you, Deacon, go talk to Bucky Sherman over at the plant! He'll give you your old job back!"

  "I don't want my old job back," Deacon said. "Mom, listen. What happened in the past is over. I really like Lisa."

  Bertha muttered, "I thought I'd raised you with some sense."

  "Mom, why do you have to treat me like I'm twelve years old?"

  That stopped her. "You're right," she said. "I guess I'm just a old lady--"

  "Mom..."

  "Who only wants the best for her children."

  "Mom!"

  "What?"

  "Never mind."

  They were home. Deacon pulled into the driveway and parked. He helped his mother out of the car, ignoring her attempts to get him talking again.

  Once inside, he pulled the phone off the hook and used a trick he hadn't used since adolescence. He pulled the cord as far as it would reach, and locked himself in the bathroom to dial Lisa's number.

  "Hello?"

  Allegra. "Can I talk to Lisa?"

  A pause. "She's not here. Who's this?"

  He guessed she damn well knew who it was already. "This is Deacon."

  She laughed under her breath. "Oh, well, she's not here, Deacon. I'll be sure to tell her you called."

  "You do that," he said, knowing she wouldn't.

  She didn't bother with goodbye. With the dial tone buzzing in his ear, Deacon left the bathroom and went back out to the kitchen. Bertha began busily wiping down the counter as though she hadn't been listening.

  "She wasn't home," Deacon told her.

  "Oh?" Bertha said. "Then I guess we could've stayed for Joey's soccer practice."

  There was nothing quite like a mother to make a guy feel guilty, Deacon thought. But he loved her anyway. He bent to kiss her cheek, and she beamed, surprised.

  "I'm going to the store," he told her.

  "What for?" she asked.

  "A cordless phone," he told her and ducked out the door before the flying dishtowel could hit him.

  Chapter 10

  * * *

  "She's moving out?" Lisa sat back, stunned.

  Marcia wrung her hands. "You know how sensitive Allegra is, Lisa. She says she feels like a third wheel. That she's coming between you and Terry."

  The absurdity of the statement made Lisa laugh out loud. She saw her parents exchange uneasy glances. Doug reached out and patted her hand.

  "We know how stressed you've been lately working with Deacon and everything. And that nasty email."

  "Allegra says you've been misplacing things," Marcia continued with a glance for reassurance at Doug. She seemed to gather her courage before speaking again. "Lisa, honey, she says you've even accused her of taking your things."

  God forbid her parents think of Allegra as anything but an angel. "It wouldn't be the first time."

  "Listen, we're just concerned, that's all," Doug said sternly. "Since this Campbell fellow's been back in town, you haven't been acting like yourself at all. And it's affecting your sister."

  "So she wants to move out?" Lisa said, getting up from the sofa. "Fine by me."

  She wasn't upset by Allegra's unsurprising decision to flee to the safety of Mommy and Daddy's arms. What stung was that she'd thought her parents were worried for her. That their wanting to talk to her about their concerns were...well, about her for once and not Allegra. Instead, she'd just listened to half an hour of discussion on Allegra's sensitivities.

  "Lisa, don't be that way." Marcia seemed close to tears, a state Lisa wanted no part of. Her mother simply hated conflict, especially between her children, and would rather turn a blind eye to it than have to confront it.

  "Allegra feels like a third wheel with me and Terry?" Lisa said. "Well, she won't have to worry about that anymore. Terry and I brok
e up."

  "What?" Marcia cried, aghast.

  "What happened?" Doug asked more practically. "Does it have anything to do with Campbell?"

  "As a matter of fact, it does," Lisa told him.

  Her mom's hands fluttered. "Oh, Lisa!"

  "I knew it would be a mistake to hire him," Doug said. "What's he done to you?"

  "Nothing," Lisa cried in frustration. Yet anyway, and nothing without her consent. But she couldn't exactly tell her parents that, could she? "Mom, Dad, listen. I have something to tell you about Allegra. Something you should know."

  Again, she saw them exchange glances. "I think Allegra's been...stealing things. Clothes. Maybe other stuff, I'm not sure."

  "Oh, Lisa!" Marcia cried again, covering her face with her hands.

  "She said you'd accuse her of that," Doug told Lisa. "Frankly, I didn't want to believe it."

  "Did she tell you why I'd be accusing her?" Lisa demanded. She put her hands on her hips, squaring off with her parents.

  "She said you saw a few new things in her room and asked her where she got them." Doug's face was stony as he faced her. She'd gotten her stubborn temper from her dad, and it was times like these that it showed.

  "A few?" Lisa thought of the room full of clothes. "It was a lot more than that, Dad. And there are other things, too."

  "She told us you'd been giving her a hard time over there," Doug said. "Demanding she do more than her share of the chores, not sharing your things with her--"

  "Are we three years old?" Lisa asked. "When she moved in with me, I told her there'd be rules. Like doing her share of the chores, yes. Like being adults, not children!"

  "Nobody says you're still kids," Doug said.

  "You treat her like she is," Lisa said. "You make excuses for her, you ignore the things she does--"

  "Allegra has always been special!" Marcia cried. "And I won't hear another word against her from you, Lisa!"

  "Fine." Lisa grabbed her purse from the end table and headed for the door. She paused, hanging her head to stop the tears from falling. She fought them back successfully before turning to her mom and dad. "I thought...I thought you wanted to talk about me today."

  "We were talking about you," Doug said.

  Lisa shook her head. "No, you were talking about her. You're concerned about her. You're always concerned about her!"

  "We've never had to worry about you, honey," Marcia said, trying to make peace. "We know you can handle things."

  So that was the way it was. Lisa nodded slowly, her hand on the door. "I'll see you guys later."

  "Lisa..." Her dad was calling after her, but she ignored him.

  Once outside, the hot afternoon sun did nothing to improve her mood. Lisa slid behind the wheel of her car, pressing her lips together to keep them from trembling. She pounded the wheel once before regaining control.

  If nothing else good came of the past few weeks' events, at least Allegra was moving out. She couldn't pretend to be sorry about that. Lord knew, she loved her sister...but she didn't always like her.

  Allegra had certainly wrapped their parents around her little finger, and was Lisa really surprised? Her sister was manipulative and sly. Of course she'd covered all the bases before pleading her woes to Mommy and Daddy. It just burned that they chose to believe Allegra and ignore Lisa.

  She pulled up to her house, noting that Allegra's car wasn't in the drive. Good. Maybe she's already gone. Lisa went into the house and straight to the thermostat. She could keep the house as cool or warm as she liked now, instead of conforming to Allegra's insane insistence that the temperature be set only on even numbers.

  She managed to hold herself together until she entered the living room. There, the sight of her carefully chosen, tapestry print couch no longer covered with Allegra's faded, tattered Penn State throw blanket suddenly made her burst into tears. Lisa flung herself onto the couch, giving herself over to the need to rage and weep and flail.

  Damn, but it felt good. She punched the pillows fiercely, then lay back and kicked the cushions. That felt even better. That she was abusing her own couch, the first piece of really good furniture she'd ever owned, didn't really matter. It just felt so good to let go!

  After awhile, the tears stopped and she rested, breathing heavily on the somewhat dented couch. Lisa wiped her face, pressing her fingers against her swollen eyes. A cool cloth would feel good right now.

  She went to the kitchen to get one, leaning over the sink and letting the water run until it was reasonably cold. The cloth felt marvelous on her skin, and she let out a sigh of pure delight. A tantrum followed by a soothing cloth. Now she only needed some self-indulgent ice cream, and she'd be complete.

  "Lisa?"

  Startled at the sudden male voice in front of her, Lisa let out a shriek and stepped back. Her elbow connected squarely with the edge of the kitchen counter and she yelped in pain. Her entire arm tingled and she cradled it.

  "Deacon!" She sounded exasperated when she meant to sound pleased.

  He looked at her uncertainly. "Are you all right? You look like you were crying."

  She touched her cheek, thinking about how she must look. "I was."

  His instant look of concern made her almost glad she'd been weeping. "Did something happen?"

  She thought of the night before and today's discussion with her parents. Lisa laughed, suddenly feeling much better about everything now Deacon stood so solid and real in her kitchen. "Nothing that won't go away," she said.

  He looked confused. "Okay."

  She felt her face again, embarrassed. "Let me get cleaned up."

  She splashed water on her face, too aware of him standing so close behind her. The water felt good on her skin, which was hot now and not from temper. He was so close she could smell him...and that thought made her tense.

  "What're you doing here?" she asked a little too sharply.

  Last night's phone call played in her mind. I know everything you do, the voice had said. Someone was watching her. She didn't want to believe it was Deacon, but....

  "You said you were going to call."

  "I did call," he replied patiently. "You weren't home. I didn't know where you were...."

  "So you came over anyway?" she said, her voice rising. "Even though you knew I wasn't here? Why would you come over if I wasn't here?"

  She was being irrational, but knowing it didn't stop her heart from thumping or the accusation from forming on her tongue. Thankfully, Deacon stopped her before she could speak by putting his hands in the air in a gesture of peace. Lisa felt foolish...but also wary.

  "Can we sit down and talk?"

  Lisa nodded. "We'll go into the living room."

  She led the way, entirely too conscious of how swiftly her moods and temper were changing. Lisa did not like being on an emotional roller coaster. She'd always prided herself on her ability to handle stress. The past few weeks, however, were catching up to her. And who knew, she thought bitterly as she and Deacon sat on opposite ends of the couch. Maybe Allegra isn't the only diva bitch in the Shadd family.

  "What happened after I dropped you off last night?" Deacon cut right to the center of things.

  His frank honesty was a quality she admired. It seemed difficult to believe she'd ever doubted his penchant for being truthful. At once, suspicion reared its ugly head again because how did she know he was being truthful? She'd said she believed him about the robbery, but could she believe anything anymore?

  "I got a prank phone call," she told him. "It was pretty nasty."

  "Dirty?" Deacon shifted on the cushions to face her, one long leg crossed over his knee.

  "Why does everyone assume that?" Lisa kept her own body facing forward, aware of her stiff posture. "Not like the email, no. Just...creepy."

  Swiftly she outlined what the voice on the phone had told her, ending with the part about knowing everything she did. Lisa shuddered even as she said it, though in the bright light of afternoon, she should have felt safe. She toyed wi
th her shirt hem, plucking at the fabric with nervous fingers until she annoyed herself with the action and forced herself to stop.

  "Then Terry came back because he'd said I beeped him," Lisa continued. "But I hadn't."

  "Came back?" Deacon's voice played at being casual, but Lisa sensed the tension in it.

  She sighed mentally, feeling machismo fill the space between them. "He was here when I got home."

  "Oh."

  The short declaration carried as much meaning as if he'd spoken for an hour.

  "I didn't know he'd be here, Deacon. We fought. He left."

  "Then he came back," Deacon said.

  Now Lisa turned to look at him. "Yes, because he said I paged him."

  "But you didn't." Deacon tapped his crossed leg with his fingers.

  "No. I told him about the phone call and he insisted on checking all the locks before I went to bed. And he left."

  Lisa didn't mention Terry's unsubtle accusation that Deacon might be at the heart of her recent disturbances, neither did she tell him what Terry had said about Deacon just leaving her without making sure she was safe. There was enough rivalry between the two men already without her egging them on.

  "You should've called me," Deacon said. "I would have come over."

  The thought of what that would have meant caused another sort of chill to slip down her spine. Lisa could not deny the affect Deacon had on her. Even with all that had happened, even with the doubts Terry had tried to plant in her head, the thought of Deacon spending the night still made her squirm.

  "Today my parents called and said they wanted to talk to me," Lisa continued, as though he hadn't spoken. "I thought they wanted to talk about me, about the things that have been going on. Instead I had to listen to a lecture about how special Allegra is, and how horribly I've been treating her. She's moving back home to get away from me."

  Deacon laughed. "Are you sorry about that?"

  "No, actually, I'm not," Lisa said, and a welcome smile brushed her mouth. "Not about that. I just thought for once they'd be worried about me instead of her."

  "You're too responsible," Deacon said. "They never have to worry about you."

  "That's what Mom said," Lisa answered, surprised again at his insight.