Chapter 19
JAY BOLTON came at five-thirty. Janice admitted him reluctantly. His face was grave-almost grim. He looked at her with concern. She was dry-eyed but her unhappiness was etched upon her face. She could not have concealed it if she had tried. She told him to sit down, and seated herself on the couch.
"What's happened?" Jay said. "Tell me about it. Aren't we close enough for you to confide in me when you have trouble?"
"I doubt that you want to hear my troubles."
"Damn it, Janice, your troubles are mine."
"Why? I'm nothing to you-except an accommodation."
Jay swore under his breath, got to his feet, came to stand over her.
"Don't talk like that," he said. "If our relationship has been one-sided, the fault is yours. You've been the one who's held back. You've never even said you love me. You've avoided all commitments."
"All right," she said. "I'll tell you what my problem is. Al's done something that makes it necessary for me to divorce him. He wants to contest. That means hell probably name you as correspondent-drag our affair through the courts."
Jay asked quietly, "Is that all?"
Janice nodded.
This was as much as she would tell him. She would not reveal that Al was involved with his wife. Nor did she intend to use that fact in her own suit. She would use Greta-and what Mike and Al had done last night-and to hell with Al's dirty pictures.
"Then, I don't see what the big difficulty is," Jay said. "I came here to tell you I've also decided on a divorce. I've instructed my lawyer to get in touch with Alice. I called him yesterday. He's to tell her to obtain a quiet divorce-preferably in Nevada. He'll also advise her of the settlement I'm willing to make on her." He smiled somewhat ruefully. "I don't feel that I have to salve my conscience where she's concerned. But I will be generous with her-make sure that she can continue to live in the style to which I've accustomed her. In the event that she's difficult, she'll be informed that I will apply for a divorce if she doesn't. The threat will certainly make her see things my way-for if I get the divorce there will be no settlement. That's a part of what I wanted to tell you, Janice. The rest of it is-or was-that I intended to ask you to obtain your freedom. Now it isn't necessary for me to ask that, since you've already made up your mind on your own."
Janice gazed up at him with near-consternation. "You're divorcing Alice because of me?"
"I'm divorcing her because I'm over being in love with her."
"And because you think yourself in love with me?"
"Because I know I'm in love with you," he said. "I've known it for quite a while. I want to marry you."
Shaking her head, she said, "It's not all that simple. I-I can't even tell you what all this may lead to. I've got to think about it."
He said quietly, "Yes-think about it. When each of us is free we'll talk about this again."
"Yes-yes, of course."
By the time each of them was free-Jay might not be able to stand the sound of her name. "Meanwhile you won't want to see me, I suppose."
"I need to be alone for a while, Jay."
"I understand," he said, and turned to leave. He looked at her from the door, adding, "I think I know you better than you know yourself. I believe that in time you'll find that you can love me."
He left.
Janice remained as he had left her, contemplating her future and finding it bleak indeed. He was right in this-she could love him. Probably she already did. At least she had no comparable depth of feeling for anyone else-even though, right now, she could not bear the thought of having him touch her.
But how long, if Al kept his threats, would Jay love her? Was she really worthy of any man's love?
Alice Bolton came back the following Sunday. She had called Al from Miami Beach before flight time and asked him to meet her at the airport. He did. And when he saw her descend from the jetliner his heart gave a joyful lurch. He had missed her more than he had realized.
She said, when he reached her, "It's good to see you, darling. It really is."
She kissed him. The touch of her lips set off instant desire in him.
She looked radiant. She looked like a young woman who had had a very good time away from home. Jealousy tore at Al. She had the power to hurt him, something no other woman had ever possessed.
He found her luggage, drove her in his car toward the city.
"You're quiet, darling," she said. "You're not in some kind of mood the very day I get home, are you?"
"I've missed you," he said. "It hasn't been easy for m me.
"You poor dear. I'll make it up to you."
He could not keep from asking, "How were the people you visited?"
"Very nice. Lots of fun."
"You'll have to tell me all about your visit with them."
"Is that sarcasm I detect?"
He gave her a sour smile. "If I say another word, you'll accuse me of being too possessive. I thought kissing and telling was part of the game. By the way, did you mean what you said on the phone last Saturday-that you've decided I'm to be your one and only?"
"I meant it," she said. "Now are you happy?"
"I will be-if you keep your word."
"I'll keep it," she said, patting him on the thigh.
Al carried her bags into her apartment and left them in the dressing room adjoining her bedroom. She did not follow him to the second floor of the duplex. He returned to the living room to find her at her desk, going through an accumulation of mail, notes and telephoned messages. She was so preoccupied that Al went to the bar and fixed drinks. He joined her, set a drink on the desk for her. She was staring at a note.
"That's odd," she said, more to herself than to him. "I wonder what he wants."
"Who, baby?" Al asked.
He slipped an arm about her, kissed the nape of her neck.
She jerked away, said crossly, "Not now, please." He was hurt. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"I'm to call Herb Jensen," Alice said. "He gave my maid both his office number and his home number. He had her write down, 'Call immediately-Important.' Why should he want to talk to me?"
"Who's Herb Jensen?"
"My husband's lawyer."
"Trouble, eh?"
"What else?" Alice said. "Jay's probably gotten tired of having me live apart from him. He's no doubt told Herb to throw a scare into me."
"What kind of a scare?"
"A threat to cut off my allowance if I don't go back to him."
Al looked alarmed. "And you'll have to go?"
"How else would I get along?" she said. "I've no income of my own." Then, angrily: "If he forces me to go back, I'll make him regret it. I'll make life miserable for him."
She picked up the phone, began dialing Jensen's office number. She looked increasingly upset. She let the phone ring a long time, but no one answered.
"Saturday afternoon," she said. "Nobody at his office." She began dialing the lawyer's residence. "Give me a cigarette."
Al lit a cigarette for her.
She puffed on it nervously. Then: "I'm just back from two weeks in Florida, Herb, and only now got your message. What do you want to talk to me about?"
She listened. A stricken look came to her face. She crushed out the cigarette in an ashtray with jerky little movements of her hand.
Finally she burst out, "What's behind this? Does he intend to marry that tramp he's been shacking up with?" And after a pause: "Of course you know his plans. You're his lawyer. Well, no matter what he's up to, he's not getting off cheaply. He's got to take care of me. You tell him that for me."
Again she listened, then said, "He had better be generous. After all, I gave him the best years of my life-and as a husband, he's no bargain. All right, I'll come to your office-but not until I've retained a lawyer of my own. I'm not going to get the short end of this deal, believe me."
She slammed down the phone, fumbled in her purse for another cigarette. She lit it herself, then strode back and forth agitatedly as she puffed on it.
"He's demanding that I get a divorce," she said, talking as much to herself as to Al. "A quiet one. I'm to go to Las Vegas or Reno and take up residence. Hell pay my expenses, and he'll make what he calls a fair settlement on me. Fair? I should get half of what he's worth." She stopped pacing, stared at Al. "Has that wife of yours said anything to you about a divorce?"
Al nodded. "She's getting one. She told me last Sunday. I told her I'd give her a battle."
"So I was right. Jay wants to marry her."
"What do you care-if he gives you a fair settlement?"
"I told you once that I like being Mrs. Jay Bolton."
"You didn't like working at it."
"That's true. Working at it bored me to tears."
"What sort of a settlement will he give you?"
"According to Herb, Jay will give me a block of stock in his company," Alice said. "It will be large enough for the dividends to equal the allowance I've been getting since I separated from Jay."
"You can't complain about that, can you?"
"No, I can't. But I can still try to get a little more." She smiled suddenly. "I don't know why I'm so upset. After all, I'll be well off. I guess I'm being a woman-jealous because I have to let another woman have what is mine. But I've no choice. Jay threatens to get the divorce if I don't. And if he does, there'll be no settlement."
"He can't get away with that, can he?" Al asked.
"He probably can. After all, I did leave him-against his wishes. And I have been misbehaving. If he has had me watched, he has certainly got grounds ten times over."
Alice went to the desk, snubbed out her cigarette. She watched Al while doing it, her amber-flecked eyes oddly luminous.
"So that's that," she said. "I get an expense-paid trip to Las Vegas or Reno. I'll go to Las Vegas, I think. And I'll have a ball. Which reminds me, lover, that I haven't had a ball with you for too long. Would you like to make love to me-right now?"