A Night to Remember by Adrienne Basso Page B

he loved it. What a relief.”
    â€œSo you were happy with the book?” Eleanor inquired.
    â€œIt was a milestone for me in many ways,” Rosemary replied. “I remember the lovely party my publisher generously threw to introduce the book. I flew to New York and had a fabulous time. There were book signings all over Manhattan. It was very exciting.
    â€œMy editor came with me to most of them. It was delightful having an opportunity to meet him at long last. We even had a chance to work together, in person, instead of by phone and fax, on a few future story ideas. I found him to be a very talented and creative young man.”
    Rosemary folded her napkin and placed it on the edge of the table. “I also understood why at last, after so many months of drawing and revisions, he finally liked the drawing of General Explorer so much.”
    â€œWhy?” Joshua asked.
    â€œWell, I realized after spending so much time with him that the final drawing of General Explorer looked exactly like my editor.”
    Everyone laughed. Joshua glanced over at his father. The older man’s eyes twinkled with merriment, but there was something more in his face. Real happiness and contentment. An easygoing, relaxed element that in Joshua’s opinion was almost foreign to his father’s personality.
    Joshua’s eyes shifted between his father and his father’s wife. Rosemary glowed with good humor. She gave her husband a sly look that spoke volumes. Warren returned her teasing glance with a wink.
    Joshua suddenly felt like an intruder, witnessing this private, almost intimate exchange. He could clearly sense the glimmer of passion beneath the surface of those glances and it made him very uncomfortable.
    Eleanor’s soft voice distracted him. She was asking Rosemary additional questions about her books and her writing. Astonishingly, his father answered one, sounding very knowledgeable. Rosemary smiled approvingly at her husband.
    The older man appeared to blush. It had to be a trick of the light, Joshua instantly decided. His father blushing? He stared harder at the older man, then jerked his head over to look at Rosemary.
    Though separated by the considerable length of the dining room table, Rosemary and Warren seemed to touch, to connect with each other. The knowing glances, the comfortable smiles, the affectionate expressions all spoke of their deep feelings and commitment. They were a couple, a team.
    An unexpected knot of resentment tightened inside Joshua. He knew his parents had loved each other deeply, knew his father had grieved at Joshua’s mother’s untimely death. Yet clearly his father had recovered from his sorrow, had successfully gone on with his life. Had apparently forgotten all about the woman who had been his wife for over thirty years and had given birth to his only son.
    The resentment confused Joshua. It made him feel petty and small. But it wouldn’t go away. He looked at his father’s smiling face one last time and knew he needed to leave . . . quickly, before these odd feelings overwhelmed him, took control of his tongue. Forced him to say things that were best left unsaid.
    â€œIf you’ll excuse me, I believe I’ll stretch my legs,” Joshua announced to no one in particular. He stood up abruptly and his chair, pushed off the lush Oriental area rug, scraped loudly against the hardwood floor. Making no further explanations, he escaped the room.
    The silence seemed outrageously loud behind him. But Joshua didn’t pause to consider it. He kept walking. Through the sitting room, the sun room, past the maid tidying up in the library, then finally out the French doors at the rear of the solarium, into the blessed cool air of the night.
    He strolled aimlessly along the lower veranda, trying to move the direction of his thoughts. His feelings were childish and downright ridiculous. His father was a grown man. He had been a widower a long time. It was