Lessons Learned

remember, I grew up in a house with five women. Your powders and bottles hold no secrets from me.”
    She’d forgotten that, perhaps because she’d chosen to forget anything about him that didn’t connect directly with the book. Yet now it made her wonder. Just what sort of insight did a man get into women when he’d been surrounded by them since childhood? Frowning a bit, she picked up her mascara.
    “Were you a close family?”
    “We are a close family,” he corrected. “My mother’s a widow who runs a successful dress shop in Rome.” It was typical of him not to mention that he’d bought it for her. “My four sisters alllive within thirty kilometers. Perhaps I no longer share the bathroom with them, but little else changes.”
    She thought about it. It sounded cozy and easy and rather sweet. Juliet didn’t believe she could relate at all. “Your mother must be proud of you.”
    “She’d be prouder if I added to her growing horde of grandchildren.”
    She smiled at that. It sounded more familiar. “I know what you mean.”
    “You should leave your hair just like this,” he told her as he set down the brush. “You have a family?”
    “My parents live in Pennsylvania.”
    He struggled with geography a moment. “Ah, then you’ll visit them when we go to Philadelphia.”
    “No.” The word was flat as she recapped the tube of mascara. “There won’t be time for that.”
    “I see.” And he thought he was beginning to. “You have brothers, sisters?”
    “A sister.” Because he was right about her hair, Juliet let it be and slipped out for her jacket. “She married a doctor and produced two children, one of each gender, before she was twenty-five.”
    Oh yes, he was beginning to see well enough. Though the words had been easy, the muscles in her shoulders had been tight. “She makes an excellent doctor’s wife?”
    “Carrie makes a perfect doctor’s wife.”
    “Not all of us are meant for the same things.”
    “I wasn’t.” She picked up her briefcase and her purse. “We’d better get going. They said it would take about fifteen minutes to drive to the studio.”
    Strange, he thought, how people always believed their tender spots could go undetected. For now, he’d leave her with the illusion that hers had.
     
    Because the directions were good and the traffic was light, Juliet drove the late model Chevy she’d rented with confidence. Carlo obliged by navigating because he enjoyed the poised, skilled way she handled the wheel.
    “You haven’t lectured me on today’s schedule,” he pointed out. “Turn right here at this light.”
    Juliet glanced in the mirror, switched lanes, then made the turn. She wasn’t yet sure what his reaction would be to the fact that there barely was one. “I’ve decided to give you a break,” she said brightly, knowing how some authors snarled and ranted when they had a dip in exposure. “You have this morning spot, then the autographing at World of Books downtown.”
    He waited, expecting the list to go on. When he turned to her, his brow was lifted. “And?”
    “That’s all.” She heard the apology in her voice as she stopped at a red light. “It happens sometimes, Carlo. Things just don’t come through. I knew it was going to be light here, but as it happens they’ve just started shooting a major film using Denver locations. Every reporter, every news team, every camera crew is covering it this afternoon. The bottom line is we got bumped.”
    “Bumped? Do you mean there is no radio show, no lunch with a reporter, no dinner engagement?”
    “No, I’m sorry. It’s just—”
    “Fantastico!” Grabbing her face with both hands he kissed herhard. “I’ll find out the name of this movie and go to its premiere.”
    The little knot of tension and guilt vanished. “Don’t take it so hard, Carlo.”
    He felt as though he’d just been paroled. “Juliet, did you think I’d be upset? Dio, for a week it’s been nothing but go here, rush there.”
    She spotted the TV tower and turned left. “You’ve been wonderful,” she told him. The best time to admit it, she decided, was when they only had two minutes to spare. “Not everyone I’ve toured with has been as considerate.”
    She surprised him. He preferred it when a woman could do so. He twined a lock of the hair he’d brushed around his finger. “So, you’ve forgiven me for the basil?”
    She smiled and had to stop herself from reaching up to touch the heart on her lapel.