Wild and Wonderful by Janet Dailey Page B

turned off the light. Lying beneath the covers in the dark, Glenna thought about the episode with Jett and how much worse it could have been. He hadn't carried out the deception to its final conclusion. Her anger had been a face-saving device to salvage her pride. Knowing that did not improve Glenna's opinion of herself.
    A HAND shook her awake. She groaned a protest, weighted by some sleepy depression that she didn't understand. But the hand on her shoulder was insistent that she should wake up. Finally she rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. Memory rushed back with the sunlight flooding the room. First, Jett's announcement that there would be no merger, then her father's despondency, followed by her disastrous attempt to appeal to Jett to reconsider. Pain sawed on her nerve ends.
    "Good morning." Her father was standing beside her bed, smiling down at her.
    Glenna blinked and tried to refocus. Her father looked so different from the man she had seen last night. He was dressed in a bright sport shirt anti blue slacks. There was color in his freshly shaved cheeks and a twinkle in his eye.
    "Come on. Get up," he coaxed. "It's a new day outside and I'm hungry for breakfast."
    Confused, she pushed herself into a sitting position and stared at this cheerful replica of her father. Her expression drew a hearty chuckle from him. That only deepened her frown.
    "What reason do you have to be so happy?" She shook her head in total bewilderment.
    "Why are you so glum?" he grinned.
    Her mouth opened, but all she was capable of doing was releasing a short incredulous breath. Her reasons were so obvious that there wasn't any need to list them. Helplessly she searched for some explanation for his attitude.
    "How can you say that?" she said finally.
    "Because I've just spent a night counting my blessings," he informed her.
    "I know we have some, but…have you forgotten that we're losing the company, our home, everything?" It wasn't that she wanted him to become depressed again, but the change in his attitude was so drastic that Glenna was worried.
    "And that's blessing number one," he stated with a brisk nod of his head.
    "A blessing?" she echoed.
    "Yes, because now we know it's a fact, so we can stop wondering and worrying whether we're going to find some way or someone to bail us out of our mess," Orin Reynolds explained as if his reasoning was perfectly logical.
    "Dad, are you feeling all right?" Glenna eyed him warily.
    "I'm fine. A good dose of optimism will cure what's ailing you, too. Hop out of bed and I'll give you your first injection over breakfast." He glanced at his watch. "I'll give you twenty minutes to get dressed and meet me downstairs at the restaurant."
    As he moved toward the door Glenna protested, "But dad, I don't want to meet Jett again. He might be there—"
    "That's blessing number two," he winked. "He's already checked out of the hotel and gone."
    The vision of his beaming smile stayed with her after he had disappeared into the outer hallway. Driven by curiosity Glenna climbed out of bed. Her own low spirits had been overwhelmed by her father's ebullience. His sunny disposition was forcing her to venture out of the darkness whether she wanted to or not.
    Exactly twenty minutes later she joined him in the restaurant. He'd already taken the liberty of ordering for her. She stared at his choices that were so indicative of his mood. First, a glass of orange juice—liquid sunshine—two eggs sunny-side up, a rasher of snapping-crisp bacon, and golden brown toast with orange marmalade.
    "Dad, I'm not hungry enough to eat all this." Actually she wasn't hungry at all.
    "You'd better eat it," he shrugged good-naturedly. "After all, we can't be sure where our next meal is coming from."
    "And you're smiling about that," Glenna accused, quickly swallowing the sip of orange juice she'd taken. "I don't understand because last night—"
    "Last night I was selfishly looking at all I was losing instead of what I was gaining,"