Beck And Call by Abby Gordon Read Free Book Online Page B

“About
    his attitudes toward women.”
    “Penny is a grown woman,” he replied, pressing the
    key remote to unlock and disarm the alarm. He opened
    her door. “She can make her own decisions.”
    Serena slid in and sat in shock as he closed the door
    and walked around. Her boss was back in a huge way.
    Impersonal and cold, not worried about others. Keith
    got in and looked at her before starting the car.
    “I know you think I should say something to her,
    but she wouldn’t listen to me. We went over that
    already.” He backed out and headed for the exit. “By
    not saying anything…”
    “You let her walk into a situation where she could
    be terribly hurt,” Serena said shortly. The urge to tell
    him what had happened welled up and she squashed it.
    With his current attitude, she wasn’t sure what his
    reaction would be. That didn’t quell the need to push
    him to talk to Penny. “Keith, she’s barely twenty-two
    years old and she has no idea what kind of man Mark
    really is. You can’t just stand by and let her do
    something that could ruin her life!”
    “How do you know she doesn’t already know this
    side of Mark?” he asked. “She may have decided this is
    what she wants out of life.” Pausing at the exit, he
    glanced at her. “Which way?”
    She quickly gave him directions.
    “No, I’ve talked to her. He’s the first man she has
    ever been serious about and she’s in love with the idea
    of being in love.” Serena shook her head, searching for
    the words to convince him. “Mark won’t care if he hurts
    her, and he will because he doesn’t love her the way she
    needs to be loved. I doubt he knows how to love,” she
    muttered, glancing out the window, then at him. “I
    don’t understand how you can say nothing and stand
    by as she gets hurt. Is that how it works in your
    family?” She gave him a sad look. “I’m guessing it is.
    Sounds like a pretty lonely way to live.”
    “And how close are you to your family?” he retorted,
    not liking how close her barbs hit their target. “I don’t
    remember seeing any flowers from them.”
    “I went home a couple weeks ago and my parents
    had a party for me then,” she told him in a quiet
    dignified way.
    “Your parents are still married to each other?”
    “Yes,” she nodded.
    “Still in love?” he pressed.
    She hesitated.
    “The ‘in’ part varies from time to time,” she
    admitted. “But the love and commitment have always
    been there. They still live in the house they bought two
    years after they got married and where they raised five
    children. They’ve had arguments that became yelling
    matches, but they took their differences and made them
    work for them.”
    “What differences?”
    “Mother’s more impulsive and reactive than Father.
    He plans everything out and refuses to change his
    mind once he’s decided on something. Mother is more
    willing to listen and change her opinion on some
    things.” Serena bit her bottom lip. “Some things are
    harder to talk to Mother about than Father. Mother
    can be decidedly old-fashioned.”
    “About what?”
    “Roles for men and women, for one,” she sighed,
    letting her head rest on the leather. “Women can work,
    she accepts that, but she doesn’t see it as the best way.
    Mother sees marriage and family as the best role for
    women. It’s difficult for her to understand that I am not
    there yet in my life. My parents have a strict sense of
    right and wrong. If the line is crossed, you cannot
    reason through it. Father calls it an excuse of the
    weak.”
    “Sounds like hard people to live with.”
    “They lived a hard life. It’s only been the past
    fifteen years or so that things have gotten easier for
    them financially. Not that they see it that way. My
    paternal grandfather was a harsh, hard man because of
    the Depression, and I think it scarred my father to an
    extent.”
    “The grandfather that died?”
    She nodded.
    “He had only three sons and eleven grandsons