Caught in the Act by Gayle Roper

Author:Gayle Roper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 1998-11-27T05:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Someone was in my house!

Through the sheer curtain, I watched, frozen, as the giant inside turned and stalked toward the door. He paused just the other side of the glass panes and stared through the curtain at me. Then he pulled the door open and reached for me.

Suddenly I could move again.

“Jack!” I stepped up and in and he was reduced to his normal size, a mere five eleven.

I pushed him out of my way as I strode into the living room. “You scared me to death!”

Scowling fiercely and muttering about fear-induced heart attacks, I hugged the dry-cleaning bag to me like it would soothe my racing pulse. Whiskers watched me with great interest from the back of the sofa.

Jack was studying me as if he’d never seen me before, and his attitude made me angry all over again. “I think it would be a good idea if you went home.”

Of course he ignored my suggestion. What else is new?

“Easy, Merry.” He reached for me, but I ducked his embrace.

“Don’t you touch me,” I snarled.

He put his hands up placatingly. I could see him trying to control his anger, though why he was angry was beyond me. I was the one who had been scared out of the few wits I possessed.

“You know, Merry, this move to Amhearst hasn’t done much for your disposition.”

That stopped me in my tracks. “What?”

“You used to be this nice, pleasant person who was a joy to be with. You laughed and smiled. Now you’re this—this termagant.” He hurled the word at me like a pitcher aiming for a brushback.

“I’m a what?” I could picture him with his box of a thousand vocabulary flash cards, looking for one that applied to me. He’d found a doozy.

“You’re a shrew,” he said. “A fury. A harridan. A nasty—”

“I know what termagant means,” I said stiffly.

“So what are you going to do about it?” he challenged.

I stared, astonished at his gall. If anyone was being shrewish, it was not me.

“You quarrel and pick at me all the time,” he said. “You hold me at arm’s length. You won’t even talk to me on the phone.”

“After the way you spoke to me the other night? I should say not.”

“Here I am, waiting for you because Friday nights have always been our nights, and you’re not even here!” He said the last with such incredulity that I could only stare.

“Of course I’m not here! You haven’t been here. As usual, you just assumed. In fact, for six years you assumed, and I was stupid enough to meet all your expectations. I was pliable, acquiescent and stupid. Well, no more, buddy!”

“See what I mean?” He pointed an accusatory finger. “See?”

I took a deep, steadying breath. “Jack, over the last four months things have changed.”

Did I see a flash of fear race across his face before he grabbed on to his anger again?

“It’s not things that have changed, Merry,” he said, his eyes hot.

I don’t know what I would have said, but I was saved by the bell.

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