Family Affair by Debbie Macomber Page B

methods had become increasingly imaginative. He’d tried flowers, tacked notes to her door, and had once attempted to lure her into his apartment with the offer of dinner. Of all his tactics, the promise of a meal had been the most tempting, but Lacey knew trouble when she saw it and resisted.
    As far as she was concerned, dating Jack was out of the question, especially since he was already involved with someone else. Lacey had lost count of the times she’d heard him arguing with his girlfriend. Some nights she was forced to turn on her stereo to block out the noise.
    But being the polite, don’t-cause-problems sort of person she was, Lacey had never complained. She might as well throw herself down on the carpet and instruct people to walk all over her.
    “I wasn’t always a worm,” she complained to Cleo. “It’s only in the last year or so that I’ve lost my self-confidence. I’d like to blame Mr. Sullivan, but I can’t. Not when I’m the one who’s at fault. You’d think it’d be easy to ask for a little thing like a raise, wouldn’t you? It isn’t, yet I’m left feeling like Oliver Twist. At least he had the courage to ask for more.
    “Mr. Sullivan should thank his lucky stars. I’m good at what I do, but does he notice? Oh, no. He just takes me for granted.”
    Having finished this tirade, she noticed that Cleo had disappeared. Even her cat had deserted her. She found Cleo on the windowsill, meowing pathetically.
    Lacey lifted the cat in her arms and petted her. “Have I been so wrapped up in my own problems that I’ve ignored you?”
    Cleo leaped out of the embrace and raced into the bedroom.
    The arguing continued in the other apartment.
    “Sarah, for the love of heaven, be reasonable!” Jack shouted.
    “Give it to him with both barrels,” Lacey said under her breath. “I bet you didn’t know Jack was dating on the side, did you? Well, don’t get down on yourself. I didn’t know what a womanizer Peter was either.”
    Sarah apparently heeded her advice, because the shouting intensified. Jack, who generally remained the calmer of the two, was also losing it.
    If she listened real hard, she might be able to figure out the cause of their dispute, but frankly Lacey wasn’t that interested.
    “I saw him with someone new just last week,” she added, just for fun. Lacey had bumped into Jack at the mailbox. There’d been a woman with him and it wasn’t Sarah. But it was always Sarah who came back. Always Sarah he quarreled with. The poor girl apparently cared deeply for him. More fool she.
    “I’m having vegetarian vegetable soup,” Lacey informed Cleo as she strolled into the room, thinking her pet would want to know. “It isn’t anything that would interest you, unfortunately.” Whatever had been troubling her cat earlier was under control for the moment.
    Dinner complete, Lacey set her steaming bowl of soup and her grilled cheese sandwich on the table. She’d just sat down when something hit the wall in the apartment next door. Instinctively, she jumped.
    Angry voices escalated. Jack was no longer calm and in control. In fact, it sounded as if he’d lost his cool completely. The two were shouting at each other, each trying to drown the other out.
    Lacey sighed. Enough was enough. Setting her napkin aside, she went over to the kitchen wall and knocked politely. Either they didn’t hear her or they chose to ignore her, something they did with increasing frequency.
    She’d just sat down again when an explosion of noise nearly jerked her off the chair. One or the other of the disgruntled lovers had decided to turn on the radio. Full blast.
    The radio was turned off as abruptly as it had been turned on, followed by a tirade from Jack.
    The radio was switched back on.
    Off.
    Once again, ever so politely, Lacey tapped the wall.
    They ignored her.
    Then, for whatever reason, there was silence. Blissful silence. Whatever had plagued the two was settled. Either that or they’d murdered one