Forsaking All Others by Lavyrle Spencer Page A

into her swivel chair and hooked her boot heels on the edge of the desk. “Listen, I’m sorry. You must think I’m a real asp, but sometimes I get so mad at . . . at . . . well, at men!”
    “Hey, what’d I do?”
    “Oh, it’s not you, but do you mind if I blow off a little steam? I mean, all I asked for was a little partial load of bricks, and you’d think that damn fool could tell his truck driver to pull his truck up in front of the building and deposit them on the sidewalk or something! I mean, I wasn’t asking to have them hand carried up six flights!But no, the load isn’t worth enough for them to waste the gas. If they can’t take it off with a forklift, they won’t take it off at all!”
    From his end Lang heard an ending sound like the growl of an angry bear while she worked off her frustration.
    At her end, Allison felt slightly sheepish when his understanding laugh came over the wire and he asked good-naturedly, “There, do you feel better now?”
    “No, dammit, I’ll have to carry those bricks by myself . . . yes, kind of . . . oh hell, I don’t know!” she blurted out in exasperation. But a minute later, Allison found her anger losing steam and finally disintegrating into self-effacing laughter. “Hey, I’m really sorry I took it out on you. It’s not your fault. And what if you’d been a paying customer wanting to hire me? I’d have alienated you with the first word.”
    “How do you know you didn’t? You still don’t know what I called for.”
    Allison dropped her feet to the floor, crossed her legs, leaned an elbow on the desk, and affected a sultry, ingratiating feminine drawl. “Good mawnin’ dahlin’, this’s Photo Images—hot coffee, hugs of greetin’, and free makeup with every sittin’, honey, so y’all come back, heah?”
    She was twisting a strand of hair coyly around an index finger as Lang’s full-throated laughter came over thewire, and she pictured him as he’d been last night in the woods, goofing around with the log, giving her a piggyback ride.
    But now he reminded Allison, “Hey, I didn’t get any hugs of greeting, and if I remember right, I’m the one who bought the coffee.”
    “But you’ll get free makeup when I take the shots, and I’ll buy you a cup of coffee then, so we’ll be even.”
    “What about the hug?”
    Something fluttery and warm lifted Allison’s heart. She knew she was engaging in mild flirtation and shouldn’t be. She searched for a glib answer, leaning back and gazing at the ceiling. “Mmm, what about when you gave me that piggyback ride? What would you call that?”
    “You’re too quick, Ms. Allison Scott. I’ll let you off this time. What I called for was to check on your health today after last night’s frostbite in those flimsy little duck shoes of yours.”
    “No worse for wear.”
    “Not even a head cold?”
    “Not even.”
    “Well, good, at least I didn’t add another item to your list of grievances against . . . men.”
    Allison smiled, toying now with the dial on the phone, warmed by his thoughtfulness, though she didn’t want to be. But it had been a long time since anyone other than Mattie had been concerned about her welfare.Certainly Jason had never been. With Jason it was always her catering to him.
    “Listen, what’s all this about the bricks anyway? Can I help?” he offered.
    “No, it’s not your problem, it’s mine. I need them to weigh down the plastic so I can build a lake.”
    “You’re kidding!”
    “No, I’m not! Have you ever heard of a beach without a lake?”
    “Wouldn’t it have been easier to take the pictures in the summer and use a real lake?”
    “No challenge in that.”
    “Oh, you like a challenge, do you, Ms. Scott?”
    “Rather. Besides, contracts like this don’t always accommodate the seasons. I knew when I accepted that it would present problems, but it was just too good a chance to pass up. This cover will be for a new line of books coming out next