The Carpenter & the Queen by Michelle Lashier Read Free Book Online

to fix up the house.”
    He didn’t respond.
    “Are you mad because I took the job or
because I didn’t tell you about it?”
    “The last one . . . kind of.”
    “You know, your father would have said
exactly the same thing. He hated for me to make any decision
without consulting him.”
    Sam didn’t respond.
    “I’m sorry that you’re angry, but this is
something I want to do.”
    She looked through the mirror, hoping to see
some sign of acquiescence. Instead, Sam stared out the window.
Well, she wanted this job, and she was going to take it. If Claire
wanted a future, she would have to make her own decisions, with or
without her child’s approval.

6
     
    Spring 1995, Chicago, Illinois
    It wasn’t even lunch time yet, and already
Paul felt a little sick when he thought of his date with Linda. If
he had his choice, they would be doing something much more low-key,
such as going out to dinner then strolling through the park.
Instead, they were attending a party for a new artist at the
gallery where Linda worked.
    He frowned as he set the level on the floor
of the kitchen he was working on. The framers could have saved him
a lot of work if they had only made sure the walls were plumb and
the floor level. But then, giving the customers what they wanted
while working within the confines of others’ mistakes was something
Paul excelled at. Too bad Linda’s parents couldn’t appreciate his
talents. They looked down their noses at him because he worked with
his hands and didn’t speak much. But Paul knew he said a lot, if
someone was willing to read his work instead of his words.
    Last year, when he first met Linda at the
bar, he had made a fool of himself, stumbling to say the right
things to impress her. Still, when he clumsily asked for her
number, she had given it to him. He called her the next night, and
now, the relationship was cruising along with Linda at the helm.
She organized dates, scheduled dinners, and talked enough for both
of them. He was pretty sure he was in love with her, so he went
along for the ride—content, certainly, but thoroughly and totally
confused as to how he had ended up here.
    He had no strategy—at least, that’s what his
father used to say when they played chess together. Paul had never
been able to think out an entire game plan. He played move to move
and lived his life the same way.
    Linda always had a strategy, and Linda
always won. Just last week she had walked him by a jewelry shop
window, pointed out a diamond ring and said, “That’s the one I
want, when you’re ready—and I hope that’s soon.” She made things
easy for him. He only had to do what she told him. To bring this
dating game to completion, only one last move was required of
him—buying the ring.
    But not tonight. Tonight he had to wear a
tie and try to fit in with Linda’s friends. At eight o’clock, Paul,
wearing his blue sport coat and a red tie, knocked on Linda’s door.
He planned to leave his car in her driveway and the two of them
take a taxi to the gallery. When she opened the door, her svelte
figure clad in a little black dress and high heels awed him. A
tantalizing smell of spicy perfume surrounded her. She drew him in,
kissing him until he couldn’t remember his own name.
    “You look great,” he said finally.
    She smiled coyly. “Thanks. Let’s get you
dressed, now.”
    “I am dressed.”
    “Like a flag. I got something better.”
    She pointed to a tuxedo hanging over the
closet door. “I’ve always wanted to see how you’d look in one of
these.”
    Paul changed begrudgingly, mostly because he
wanted Linda to be happy. He looked like a fool. His ruddy face
seemed out of place above the new ensemble. His rough hands,
complete with a blackened left forefinger, hung awkwardly below the
sleeves. He did not belong with the black-tie crowd.
    On the taxi ride, Linda talked the whole
way, briefing him on who would be there, the artist, the artist’s
work, and other information she thought he