Journey by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online Page B

do this, and she was thinking of not going with him.
    “I don't think so,” he said coldly. “Besides, I have things to do here. I have some meetings at thePentagon. You can do whatever you want. I won't have time to spend with you.”
    “This is ridiculous, Jack. That was business. This is our life.”
    “The two stand pretty well intertwined in our case. You should have thought of that, before you shot off your mouth.”
    “Fine. Punish me then. But this is getting childish.”
    “If McCutchins sues me, believe me, the amount won't be ‘childish.’”
    “I'm not so sure he's going to do that, particularly with the First Lady applauding the broadcast. Besides, he can't defend himself. If there is an investigation, the coroner's report must show her bruises.”
    “He may not be as impressed with the First Lady as you are.”
    “Why don't you just give it a rest for a while, Jack? I can't unring the bell, and I wouldn't anyway. So why don't we just try to put it behind us?”
    But as she said it, he turned to her with narrowed eyes, and the look in them was icy. “Maybe you'd like to refresh your memory a little bit, Joan of Arc, and recall that before you took up the crusades for the underdog, you were no one and nothing when I found you. You were nothing, Mad. Zero. You were a hick from nowhere going straight to a lifetime of beer cans and abuse in a trailer park. Whatever the hell it is you think you are now, keep in mind that I made you. And you owe me. I'm sick of this idealistic bullshit and a lot of whining and moaning about a fat, unattractive piece of shit like Janet McCutchins. She wasn't worth putting my ass on the line for, or yours, or the network's.”
    She looked at her husband suddenly as though hewere a stranger, and maybe he was, and she had just never noticed. “You're making me sick,” she said, leaning forward and tapping the driver on the shoulder. “Stop the car. I'm getting out here.”
    Jack looked instantly startled. “I thought you were going back to the office.”
    “I am, I think I'd rather walk than sit here and listen to you talk to me like that. I get the message, Jack. You made me, and I owe you. How much? My life? My principles? My dignity? What's the price for saving someone from being poor white trash for the rest of her life? Let me know, when you figure it out. I want to be sure not to shortchange you.” And with that, she got out of the car, and strode quickly away toward their office. Jack said nothing, and silently rolled up the window. And when he got back to his own office, he didn't call her. She was only five floors away, eating a sandwich with Greg.
    “How was the funeral?” he asked with a look of concern for her. He thought she looked strained and exhausted.
    “Depressing. That asshole cried through the whole service.”
    “The Senator?” She nodded, with her mouth full. “Maybe he feels guilty.”
    “He should. He might as well have killed her. Jack is still convinced that she was psychotic.” And he was making her feel that way herself with the way he was behaving.
    “Is Jack still pissed?” Greg asked cautiously, handing her his pickle, he knew she loved them.
    “That doesn't begin to describe it. He's convinced I did it to spite him.”“He'll get over it,” Greg said, sprawling back in his chair and looking at her. She was so damn smart and decent and incredible looking. Greg loved the fact that she was always willing to fight for what she believed in, but she seemed worried and unhappy. She hated it when Jack was angry at her, and he had never, in his seven years of marriage to her, been this angry before.
    “What makes you think he'll get over it?” She wasn't as sure now, and for the first time ever felt her marriage in jeopardy, and in truth, that terrified her.
    “He'll get over it because he loves you,” Greg said firmly. “And he needs you. You're one of the best an-chorwomen in the country, if not the best. He's not