IF I HAD EXPECTED a hint of romance in our meeting, it was quickly dismissed. Pete’s greeting to me was “You look great,” accompanied by a quick kiss on the cheek.
“And you’re so gussied up, you look as though you won a fifteen-minute shopping spree in Blooming-dale’s,” I told him.
“Twenty minutes,” he corrected. “I’m starving, aren’t you?”
I had made a reservation at Cathryn’s, and while we were driving over, I said, “Big request.”
“Let’s have it.”
“Tonight I would like not to talk about what I’ve been doing these past weeks. You watch the Website, so you really know what’s going on anyhow. But I need to get away from it for a few hours. So tonight is your night. Tell me every single place you’ve been since I saw you in Atlanta. I want every detail about the interviews you’ve had. Then tell me why you’re so pleased about the job you’re taking. You can even tell me if you had a hard time choosing between that very nice, and obviously new, red tie or another one.”
Pete has a way of raising one eyebrow. He did that now. “You’re serious?”
“Absolutely.”
“The minute I saw this tie, I knew I had to have it.”
“Very good,” I encouraged. “I want to hear more.”
At the restaurant we looked at the menu, ordered smoked salmon and a seafood pasta, and agreed to split a bottle of Pinot Grigio. “It’s handy that we both like the same entrées,” Pete said. “Makes it easier with the wine selection.”
“The last time I was here I had the rack of lamb,” I told him.
He looked at me.
“I love to irritate you,” I admitted.
“It shows.”
Over dinner he did open up to me. “Ellie, I knew the paper was on the way out. That happens to any business that’s family owned when the present generation is only interested in the dollar sign. Frankly, I was getting itchy anyway. In this business, unless you can see that you have a good reason to stay with a company, you’ve got to be aware of other opportunities.”
“Then why didn’t you leave sooner?” I asked.
He looked at me. “I’ll take a pass on that one. But when it became inevitable, I knew two things for sure. I wanted either to get with a solid newspaper—such as The New York Times, the L. A. Times, the Chicago Trib, or the Houston Chronicle—or to try something else altogether. The newspaper jobs were there, but then that ‘something else’ opened up, and I went for it.”
“A new cable news station.”
“Exactly. I’m in on the ground floor. It has risks, of course, but substantial investors are committed to making it happen.”
“You said it involved a lot of traveling?”
“By a lot I mean the kind anchormen do when they’re onto a big story.”
“You’re not telling me you’re an anchorman!”
“Perhaps that’s too grandiose a word. I’m on the news desk. Short, clipped, and hard-hitting is in these days. Maybe it will work; maybe it won’t.”
I thought about it. Pete was smart, intense, and got to the point quickly. “I think you’ll actually be good at it,” I told him.
“There’s something so touching about the way you lavish praise on me, Ellie. Don’t go overboard, please. It might go to my head.”
I ignored that. “Then you’re going to be based in New York City and you’re moving there?”
“I already have. I found an apartment in SoHo. It’s not great, but it’s a start.”
“Won’t that be kind of a big change for you? Your whole family is in Atlanta.”
“My grandparents were all New Yorkers. I used to visit them a lot when I was a kid.”
“I see.”
We waited silently while the table was cleared. Then when we’d ordered espresso, Pete said, “All right, Ellie, we’ve played the game by your rules. Now I get my two cents in. I want to hear everything you’ve been up to, and I mean everything.”
By now I was ready to talk about it, so I told him all, including Teddy’s visit. When I was finished, Pete said, “Your father’s right. You’ve got to move in with him or at least not be visible around Oldham.”
“I think he may be right about that,” I admitted reluctantly.
“I have to go to Chicago in the morning for a meeting with the board of Packard Cable. I’ll be gone until Saturday. Ellie, please go down to New York and stay in my apartment. You can be in touch with Marcus Longo and Mrs. Hilmer and Mrs. Stroebel from there, and you can keep up your Website as well. But at the same time, you’ll be safe. Will you do that?”
I knew he was right. “For a few days, until I can figure out where to go, yes, I will.”
When we got back to the inn, Pete left his car in the driveway and walked me inside. The night clerk was on duty. “Has anyone been looking for Ms. Cavanaugh?” Pete asked him.
“No, sir.”
“Any messages for her?”
“Mr. Longo and Mrs. Hilmer returned her calls.”
“Thank you.”
At the foot of the stairs, he put his hands on my shoulders. “Ellie, I know you’ve had to see this through, and I’ve understood. But now you can’t go it alone anymore. You need us around you.”
“Us?”
“Your father, Teddy, me.”
“You’ve been in touch with my father, haven’t you?”
He patted my cheek. “Of course I have.”