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  "Men are good for one thing," Allegra said, looking at her reflection again. "Buying stuff. All the rest is just sex. Give them sex and they give you what you want. Don't you know that by now?"

  "Maybe I want more than that," Lisa said. "And you should, too."

  Allegra's laugh was gritty. "Sure. You can want it, but you won't get it. Look at you--all pale and listless because you're waiting for the phone to ring. He said he'd call, didn't he? And he hasn't?"

  "How'd you know that?"

  Allegra shrugged. "They all say they'll call. But if you'd given Terry some good old- fashioned sex last night, he'd have been on the phone first thing this morning."

  Terry. She hadn't even been thinking about him. Apparently, Allegra saw Lisa's expression and understood what it meant. She stopped looking at herself long enough to peer at Lisa.

  "Don't tell me," she said. "You're not all teary eyed because of Ter-Bear, are you? You're waiting for that loser Campbell to call!"

  Before Lisa could answer, the phone rang. Both sisters turned to the sound of the ringing from beneath a pile of Allegra's hoard of clothes. Allegra dove for it, snatching up the cordless phone triumphantly before Lisa could get to it.

  "Hello?" She smirked at Lisa. "Yes, of course she's here. Can you talk to her? I don't know. Can you?"

  "Give me the phone." Lisa held out her hand, but Allegra didn't listen.

  "I thought you might call this morning," Allegra continued, cooing into the phone.

  Lisa yanked the phone away from her sister and barked into the mouthpiece. "Hello?"

  "Honey?" Her dad sounded concerned. "Are you all right?"

  Allegra pointed and laughed, and Lisa left the room. "I wasn't expecting you to call."

  "Apparently not," he said. "Sorry to disappoint you, honey."

  "Oh, Dad." Lisa sighed. She went to her own bedroom and shut the door. "It's not that at all. What's up?"

  "Your mom and I want you to come over to the house this afternoon. We want to talk to you about some things."

  That didn't sound good. "What things?"

  "Just some things your sister has told us. We're worried."

  For once, Lisa wasn't furious with Allegra for talking out of turn. It would be nice to talk to her parents about all the things that had been going on. "I'll be there around two."

  At least the ongoing Allegra drama was good for one thing. She went to the bathroom and picked up the load of soiled towels, throwing them in the hamper. After dealing with her sister, she was too tired to worry about them any more.

  * * * *

  "It's too bad we couldn't stay for Joey's soccer practice," Bertha said on the ride home.

  Deacon felt a flash of guilt. "I need to get home. Do some work."

  "Uh-huh."

  He could feel his mother looking at him, but he kept his eyes fixed firmly on the road. She could read him like a book, but he wasn't ready to go into details with her just yet. She cleared her throat. He was caught.

  "Must be important work to do on a Saturday," she said.

  "Yeah," he answered, glancing at the clock. It was nearly two. He still had time to call Lisa.

  "It wouldn't have anything to do with the girl Maisy Eckerd saw you sparking with last night on the front porch, would it?"

  Now he looked at her. "You're too good."

  She laughed. "Maisy Eckerd is too nosy. So, does your hurry to get home have anything to do with her?"

  He nodded, signaling to get into the passing lane. "Yeah."

  Bertha sighed. "Well, finally! I thought I'd never see the day. Who is she?"

  He hesitated before telling her. "It's Lisa Shadd, Mom."

  Bertha gasped. "The one who sent you away?"

  "Mom," he began, but Bertha was already off and running.

  "Deacon Timothy Campbell! What on earth are you thinking, getting mixed up with her again? After what she did? Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"

  She must really be riled to start invoking religious curses. Deacon tried to calm her. "Mom, I'm a grown man--"

  "Without a bit of sense in your head!" Bertha said. "I knew you taking that job at her father's business was a bad idea! What'd she do, force you to take up with her to keep your job? I told you, Deacon, go talk to Bucky Sherman over at the plant! He'll give you your old job back!"

  "I don't want my old job back," Deacon said. "Mom, listen. What happened in the past is over. I really like Lisa."

  Bertha muttered, "I thought I'd raised you with some sense."

  "Mom, why do you have to treat me like I'm twelve years old?"

  That stopped her. "You're right," she said. "I guess I'm just a old lady--"

  "Mom..."

  "Who only wants the best for her children."

  "Mom!"

  "What?"

  "Never mind."

  They were home. Deacon pulled into the driveway and parked. He helped his mother out of the car, ignoring her attempts to get him talking again.

  Once inside, he pulled the phone off the hook and used a trick he hadn't used since adolescence. He pulled the cord as far as it would reach, and locked himself in the bathroom to dial Lisa's number.

  "Hello?"

  Allegra. "Can I talk to Lisa?"

  A pause. "She's not here. Who's this?"

  He guessed she damn well knew who it was already. "This is Deacon."

  She laughed under her breath. "Oh, well, she's not here, Deacon. I'll be sure to tell her you called."

  "You do that," he said, knowing she wouldn't.

  She didn't bother with goodbye. With the dial tone buzzing in his ear, Deacon left the bathroom and went back out to the kitchen. Bertha began busily wiping down the counter as though she hadn't been listening.

  "She wasn't home," Deacon told her.

  "Oh?" Bertha said. "Then I guess we could've stayed for Joey's soccer practice."

  There was nothing quite like a mother to make a guy feel guilty, Deacon thought. But he loved her anyway. He bent to kiss her cheek, and she beamed, surprised.

  "I'm going to the store," he told her.

  "What for?" she asked.

  "A cordless phone," he told her and ducked out the door before the flying dishtowel could hit him.

  Chapter 10

  * * *

  "She's moving out?" Lisa sat back, stunned.

  Marcia wrung her hands. "You know how sensitive Allegra is, Lisa. She says she feels like a third wheel. That she's coming between you and Terry."

  The absurdity of the statement made Lisa laugh out loud. She saw her parents exchange uneasy glances. Doug reached out and patted her hand.

  "We know how stressed you've been lately working with Deacon and everything. And that nasty email."

  "Allegra says you've been misplacing things," Marcia continued with a glance for reassurance at Doug. She seemed to gather her courage before speaking again. "Lisa, honey, she says you've even accused her of taking your things."

  God forbid her parents think of Allegra as anything but an angel. "It wouldn't be the first time."

  "Listen, we're just concerned, that's all," Doug said sternly. "Since this Campbell fellow's been back in town, you haven't been acting like yourself at all. And it's affecting your sister."

  "So she wants to move out?" Lisa said, getting up from the sofa. "Fine by me."

  She wasn't upset by Allegra's unsurprising decision to flee to the safety of Mommy and Daddy's arms. What stung was that she'd thought her parents were worried for her. That their wanting to talk to her about their concerns were...well, about her for once and not Allegra. Instead, she'd just listened to half an hour of discussion on Allegra's sensitivities.

  "Lisa, don't be that way." Marcia seemed close to tears, a state Lisa wanted no part of. Her mother simply hated conflict, especially between her children, and would rather turn a blind eye to it than have to confront it.

  "Allegra feels like a third wheel with me and Terry?" Lisa said. "Well, she won't have to worry about that anymore. Terry and I brok