Chapter 11
Joe might have been another piece of furniture for all the attention she paid him. She swept by him and on into the living room.
"Matt, darling," she said gaily, "I simply couldn't wait until tonight to see you. Do you think we could leave early? I must talk to you."
"Well," Matt said doubtfully. "I had planned on having an early dinner with Cory."
"Oh, that's all right," Joe said easily. "I don't mind. I have some things to do anyway."
He managed to get Matt alone for a second before they left and said, "If you don't believe me you won't be afraid to try a little experiment. Tell her you want time to make sure that I'll take it all right. That you want to marry her, but it's impossible for a few months. If I'm wrong what have you got to lose?" please think about it. And please say yes."
He hung up. He should be getting home from his office if he wasn't there already. Joe hurried home. Now, the next thing was to talk to Matt Landon. that he had decided what he was going to do he was anxious to get it over with.
Matt was talking to someone and it took Joe a minute to realize that he was on the phone. He seemed to be doing a lot of eavesdropping lately, but he stood still and listened.
"But, Angel," he was saying, "why must it be now? It's only fair to Cory to give him a chance to get used to the idea. Even though he did decide he didn't want to get married now he'll know that this hasn't happened since this morning. I don't suppose you'll understand this, but he trusts me and I don't want to hurt him."
There was a silence while Matt apparently listened to Angela.
"I know all that," he said impatiently. "The point is, Cory doesn't remember it. I feel more like his father than I have in a long time."
There was another, briefer silence and then he said, "All right. We'll talk about it tonight. Just don't say anything in front of Cory."
Joe walked into the room as Matt was saying good-bye.
"Oh, Cory," he said nervously. "I didn't hear you come in."
"I just saw Angela," Joe said without preliminary.
"Oh? What did she say?"
"I understand you talked to her. How did she take it?"
"She-well, she seemed rather relieved. Cory, there's something I have to tell you."
"First there's something I have to tell you. I couldn't help overhearing some of your conversation just now. Would you mind explaining it?"
"I suppose I will have to sooner or later. Angela and I want to be married, Cory."
"Kind of sudden, isn't it?"
"No, I'm afraid not. I've been in love with her for a long time."
"I know that. That's not what I mean. You see, when I talked to her this afternoon, she didn't seem relieved at all like you said. In fact, she tried to change my mind."
Matt's face was suddenly pale.
"I don't believe it. She wants to marry me, she just told me so. Right away."
"I think it's time we were honest with each other, don't you? I don't give a damn about Angela, and apparently you do. That's fine with me, but I think you should know what you're getting into."
"I think you had better explain yourself, Cory," Matt said grimly. "Does this mean that you do remember?"
"No. It means that I'm not stupid and something very odd is going on."
"Is it so strange that an attractive woman wants to marry me?" he said stiffly.
"No. It's strange that she's in such a hurry. This afternoon she wanted me. Less than an hour later had said that her father owned most of the town that didn't belong to the Landons. He didn't believe that she cared about him personally. The sex thing was too casual with her for that. And anyway, if she cared about Cory Landon why had she played around with his father? And others, as Cory had implied?
He smelled her perfume before he saw her. He turned to look and she was wearing the filmiest robe he had ever seen. She stood in the door of the bedroom, the light behind her detailing the lines of her incredible body. He stared at her, the familiar pressures mounting.
"Well, Cory?" she said huskily. "Do you still want to throw me over?"
Her green eyes sparkled an open invitation, and something else. It was the something else that stopped him. He set the glass carefully on a table and walked to the door. . "I'm sorry, Angela," he said deliberately. "Thanks, but no thanks."
Her eyes flashed green sparks, but her lips smiled as she moved sensuously toward him. She stopped in front of him, her body still swaying seductively. The something else he had seen in her eyes hit him again. Funny, he thought, how you could want a woman so much and yet feel so repelled by her.
"I want you, Cory," she whispered.
"Not me, baby. You want any man as long as he's a man."
As soon as he said it he knew that it was true. He looked at her and she wasn't anything that he wanted. She reminded him of a bitch in heat.
"I'm not used to being refused, Cory," she said, her eyes dangerous. "Look at me. Can you honestly say that you don't want me?"
He looked at her and he said, "I don't want you. Now or any other time. Go peddle your goods elsewhere, baby."
He reached for the door knob.
"Walk out that door, Cory, and you will regret it," she said, and she was quivering with rage.
He walked out and he didn't regret it.
Out on the street the air was cool and clean, but it did little to dispel the feeling of being unclean.
Joe Smith, he thought firmly, today you are resigning your position as ail-American heel.
He didn't really understand it, and he didn't try. He thought that maybe trying to step into Gary's Landon's shoes and finding how unsatisfactory the fit was must be part of it. He had always considered himself something of a scoundrel and been rather proud of himself. Now he found himself wanting to rejoin the good part of the human race.
It was perhaps significant that his first thought was of Callie. He found a phone booth and dialed her number. He waited until he heard her answer and then spoke quickly before she could hang up.
"This is Cory. Please don't hang up and don't say anything. I love you and I want to marry you. There are some things I have to take care of first and then I'll come for your answer. There are some things I'll have to explain to you and then I'll
"I-I don't know. I honestly don't know."
Very gently he took her in his arms and kissed her. She held herself stiffly at first and then gradually he felt her responding. He felt desire rising within him, but he held it carefully in check. He had the feeling that he held something very fragile in his hands and he didn't mean just the girl. After a minute she moved out of his arms.
"I think you'd better leave, Cory," she said rather shakily.
"All right. But I will see you again?"
'I don't know, Cory. I'm too confused to think right now. Call me in a few days if you like."
He left reluctantly. He didn't want to go back to the Landon house. The afternoon stretched before him endlessly. He walked toward the downtown district, not having anything special in mind. He stopped at a cafe and had a sandwich, and then wandered on aimlessly.
He had plenty to thing about, but he didn't want to think at all. He wondered idly if Matt Landon had delivered his message to Angela. Maybe he was a sucker to give up a girl that fell into bed with him so easily, but he had the feeling she was trouble, big trouble.
It wasn't by chance that he ran into her. She was obviously looking for him. Her car pulled up beside him and her lips smiled although her eyes didn't.
"Get in, Cory," she commanded.
He got in.
"I just talked to Matt," she said casually. "He tells me you're throwing me over."
"Well, that wasn't quite the way I meant it. I just don't feel like it's fair to you to go on this way when I can't remember anything."
"My, aren't you thoughtful. Why didn't you tell me before you went to bed with me? Or did you just want a sample of the goods before you decided whether you were buying or just browsing?
"You make me sound like a scoundrel. I'm sorry you feel that way."
Her eyes were angry, but all of a sudden she switched her tactics. She pulled the car up in front of her apartment.
"Oh, Cory, let's not fight. Come on up and have a drink. We might as well part friends."
They went upstairs and she made their drinks. She handed him one and then said, "Will you excuse me for a minute?"
He sipped his drink and wondered what she was up to now. Since he had seen her searching his room, he had been on his guard. He was reasonably sure that she had been looking for the clippings and pictures he had found taped under the bar, but he wasn't just sure why unless she had wanted to make sure his memory didn't come back and make him want to use them again. If she really planned to marry Matt Landon she might have wanted to destroy them. Somehow, though, he found it hard to picture her married to Cory's father. He had to be a lot older than she was and with her erotic tastes he doubted if the man could keep up for her for long. It couldn't be money, since the detective's report.
There was still Callie Shannon and Cory's son. And he knew that this was what he had been thinking about all along. He wasn't just sure why he couldn't get her out of his mind, but he knew that he had to see her again.
It took all the nerve he had to call her, but he did. He had his hand ready to hang up the phone if her father answered, but it was Callie that spoke this time.
"Callie, this is Cory Landon," he said. "I have to talk to you. May I come over?"
There was a silence and then she said, "All right, Cory. Come in about an hour."
She hung up the phone. Joe waited impatiently for the hour to pass and exactly an hour later he was at her door. She was as pretty as he had remembered, and while she wasn't exactly friendly at least she didn't seem unfriendly. She held the door silently and he went inside. He didn't know what to say to her and he was relieved when she spoke first.
"Cory, I've been doing some checking and maybe I misjudged you yesterday. A lot of people seem to believe this amnesia of yours is real. And you do seem different."
-"I wasn't lying to you, Callie. I don't know a thing about what Cory Landon was like before the accident."
"Accepting that for the moment, I still have a child to raise. A child that you are responsible for."
"I understand that. There are a lot of things that I don't understand. For one thing, you say you called me a lot of times over the last two years. Would you mind filling me in on what happened?"
"Well, at first, when I learned that I was pregnant, I suppose I expected you to marry me. You didn't answer my messages and I finally went to your house."
"Does my father know about it?"
"He knows that I had a baby, but he didn't believe that you were responsible. He was there the day I went to your house. You denied that it could be your child and of course he backed you up. I finally realized that it was hopeless so I stopped calling. Later I hoped that you would at least be decent enough to help me, but that was foolish, too. When I heard that you were back in town I thought-well, I don't know exactly what I thought."
"Callie, there's something about your story that doesn't ring true. Would you really marry me just to give your child a name?"
He looked into her eyes and she was the first to look away.
"You were in love with me," he said wonderingly.
"No," she said quickly. "How could I have been? I only went out with you that one time and-oh, what's the use? Cory, up until that night I can't remember when I wasn't in love with you."
They were standing facing each other. He moved closer but he didn't touch her.
"What about now? Do you have any feeling for me?"
Mills about two years ago. Her father bought up a lot of property here. Why do you ask?"
"I just wondered. Dad, what am I going to do about Angela?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, about us being engaged. We were planning on getting married, weren't we?"
Matt Landon's expression was unreadable, "Doesn't she want to marry you, son? Is that it?"
"No, sir. That's not it. I don't want to marry her."
"You-what?" His face was a study in amazement.
"I don't want to hurt her, but I'm not going to marry her. What am I going to do?"
"Well, Cory, if you're sure, I suppose I could talk to her if you want me to."
"I sure would appreciate it. I didn't know what had happened before and I didn't know exactly what to say to her."
Matt got up to leave and he patted Joe's shoulder reassuringly.
"Don't worry about it, son. I'll take care of it."
His walk was jaunty as he left and Joe watched him thoughtfully.
You're welcome to her, brother, he thought wryly.