Local Hero

squeeze her neck. “You’re not mad at Mitch anymore?”
    “No,” she answered in the same carrying whisper. “I’m not mad at anyone.”
    She was smiling when she straightened, but Mitch saw the worried look in her eye. He paused with his hand on the knob. “You’re really going to go up to Rosen and tell him I made that business up?”
    “I have to.” Then, because she felt guilty about launching her earlier attack, she smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m sure I can handle him.”
    “What if I told you I didn’t make it up, that my family founded Trioptic forty-seven years ago?”
    Hester lifted a brow. “I’d say don’t forget your gloves. It’s cold out there.”
    “Okay, but do yourself a favor before you bare your soul to Rosen. Look it up in
Who’s Who.
”
    With her hands in her pockets, Hester walked to her office door. From there she saw Radley reach up to put a gloved hand into Mitch’s bare one.
    “Your son’s adorable,” Kay said, offering Hester a file. The little skirmish with Rosen had completely changed her opinion of the reserved Mrs. Wallace.
    “Thanks.” When Hester smiled, Kay’s new opinion was cemented. “And I do appreciate you covering for me that way.”
    “That’s no big deal. I don’t see what’s wrong with your son dropping by for a minute.”
    “Bank policy,” Hester murmured under her breath, and Kay let out a snort.
    “Rosen policy, you mean. Beneath that gruff exterior is a gruff interior. But don’t worry about him. I happen to know he considers your work production far superior to your predecessor’s. As far as he’s concerned, that’s the bottom line.”
    Kay hesitated a moment as Hester nodded and flipped through the file. “It’s tough raising a kid on your own. My sister has a little girl, she’s just five. I know some nights Annie’s just knocked out from wearing all the badges, you know.”
    “Yes, I do.”
    “My parents want her to move back home so Mom can watch Sarah while Annie works, but Annie’s not sure it’s the best thing.”
    “Sometimes it’s hard to know if accepting help’s right,” Hester murmured, thinking of Mitch. “And sometimes we forget to be grateful that someone’s there to offer it.” She shook herself and tucked the file under her arm. “Is Mr. Greenburg here?”
    “Just came in.”
    “Fine, send him in, Kay.” She started for her office, then stopped. “Oh, and Kay, dig me up a copy of
Who’s Who.
”

Chapter 6
    He was loaded.
    Hester was still dazed when she let herself into her apartment. Her downstairs neighbor with the bare feet and the holes in his jeans was an heir to one of the biggest fortunes in the country.
    Hester took off her coat and, out of habit, went to the closet to hang it up. The man who spent his days writing the further adventures of Commander Zark came from a family who owned polo ponies and summer houses. Yet he lived on the fourth floor of a very ordinary apartment building in Manhattan.
    He was attracted to her. She’d have had to be blind and deaf not to be certain of that, and yet she’d known him for weeks and he hadn’t once mentioned his family or his position in an effort to impress her.
    Who was he? she wondered. She’d begun to think she had a handle on him, but now he was a stranger all over again.
    She had to call him, tell him she was home and to send Radley up. Hester looked at the phone with a feeling of acute embarrassment. She’d lectured him about spinning a tale to Mr. Rosen; then, in her softhearted and probably condescending way, she’d forgiven him. It all added up to her doing what she hated most. Making a fool of herself.
    Swearing, Hester snatched up the phone. She would have felt much better if she could have rapped Mitchell Dempsey II over the head with it.
    She’d dialed half the numbers when she heard Radley’s howl of laughter and the sound of stomping feet in the hall outside. She opened the door just as Radley was digging his key out of his pocket.
    Both of them were covered with snow. Some that was beginning to melt dripped from Radley’s ski cap and boot tops. They looked unmistakably as if they’d been rolling in it.
    “Hi, Mom. We’ve been in the park. We stopped by Mitch’s to get my bag, then came on up because we thought you’d be home. Come on out with us.”
    “I don’t think I’m dressed for snow wars.”
    She smiled and peeled off her son’s snow-crusted cap, but Mitch noted, she didn’t look up. “So change.”