Call It Destiny

details of paying the bill with casual efficiency, and then politely got to his feet and held Heather’s chair.
    She was vividly aware of his presence behind her as they made their way out of the restaurant and into the balmy summer evening. It was nearly the end of August and one of the typical summer thunderstorms had been and gone during the hour and a half Heather and Jake had been in the restaurant. As usual, a great deal of water had been dropped from the skies in a short period of time and the parking lot and the cars glittered with it in the fresh aftermath of the rain. Jake’s white Mercedes had endured the sudden drenching with polite stoicism and Heather slid comfortably into the red leather interior. A small river of water still coursed down the specially designed channel between the parking lot and the street, but the car splashed through it easily. Soon all traces of the heavy storm would disappear and Tucson would once again bake in the heat of August.
    „The rains have seemed heavier than usual this year,“ Heather remarked, more for something to say than any other reason. Jake had been very silent since taking the wheel.
    „Perhaps they just seem heavier to you because you’ve been away from Tucson so long,“ he suggested.
    „Perhaps.“ Heather lapsed back into silence.
    This time it was Jake who broke the quiet. „Is it good to be home, Heather?“
    „Yes,“ she affirmed with satisfaction. „Very good.“
    „Do you regret leaving?“
    With a sigh, she shook her head. „At the time there didn’t seem to be much choice. Our home had become a battleground. My father and I fought constantly and my mother and sisters were forced to endure the warfare from the sidelines. It was very unpleasant. If I’d stayed and gone to school here at the university there would have been more of the same problems. Dad was determined to direct my life and I was just as determined to do things my way. I insisted on challenging him on every score, I’m afraid. His fury over my relationship with Rick Monroe was the last straw for both of us.“
    „You took a course in hotel administration in California?“
    „Oh, yes. Running a hotel is in my blood, I’m afraid. There was never any question in my mind that I would make a career in the hotel business. But I also knew I could never be part of Hacienda Strand as long as my father was in charge. We would have clashed on every issue.“
    „Who financed your education in California? The infamous Rick Monroe?“ Jake asked the question with seeming lightness but Heather sensed a certain grimness buried in the words. Again she felt more than a trace of annoyance.
    Quashing the faint stirrings of her long-dormant temper, Heather tried to answer the question patiently, as if it didn’t really matter. „I financed my own education. Rick didn’t have a dime to his name, I’m afraid. Lots of rebel-without-a-cause charm and some interesting ambitions, but no money. We parted ways before we even reached California.“
    Jake’s head came around sharply in surprise. „You did?“
    „I didn’t have much choice. Not after I realized Rick’s primary interest in me was my father’s money. Actually, I think I knew it all along subconsciously and didn’t want to admit it. He and the bike made for a dramatic exit from Tucson, but when he started demanding that I phone home for money I told him to get lost.“
    „And did he?“
    „Yes. Unfortunately he took the bike. I had to hitchhike to California.“ Heather forced a superficial laugh to cover the memories of fear and loneliness that had assailed her on that traumatic trip. No one, she was convinced, understood isolation and loneliness until they’d stood alone on a dusty highway with only a few dollars in their pocket and a fierce determination not to run home for protection.
    She’d been lucky. The truck driver who’d given her a lift had turned out to be a true gentleman of the road instead of a lecher. Thirty years her senior, he’d assumed a protective attitude toward her at the truck stops, let her doze in the sleeper compartment while he drove and insisted she was going to ruin her ears with pop music. He’d given her a crash course in the history of country-and-western music as an antidote, playing the country channels endlessly on the radio. Heather still retained a secret affection for the earthy stuff, which had not worn off in the intervening years.
    „Being on the road isn’t particularly