Free Fine things by Danielle Steel Page A

a few goodies from the store.”
    Elizabeth looked surprised and touched and Jane let out a squeal of delight as she held the chocolate teddy bear. It was even bigger than her doll, and she almost drooled looking at it. “Can I eat it now, Mommy? …Please? …” She turned pleading eyes to Liz, who gave a small groan of defeat. “Please, Mommy? …Please? …Just an ear?”
    “All right, all right. I give up. But don't eat too much. Lunch will be ready pretty soon.”
    “Okay.” She scampered off, holding the bear, like a puppy with a bone, and Bernard smiled at Liz.
    “She's the greatest little kid.” Someone like Jane reminded him that there were empty spots in his life, and children were one of them.
    “She's crazy about you.” Liz smiled.
    “Banana splits and chocolate bears always help. For all she knows I'm the Boston Strangler with a great source for chocolate teddy bears.” As he said it, he followed Elizabeth into the kitchen, where she unpacked the bags he had brought, and she gasped when she saw the caviar and the pate and all the expensive goodies.
    “Bernie, you shouldn't have done all that! My God …look at that…” She looked at the box of chocolate truffles in her hand, and then with a guilty look, she did exactly what Jane would have done. She offered them to him and then popped one in her mouth, closing her eyes with the ecstasy of it. “Hmm …oh …sooo good …” She made it sound like a sexual experience, and it gave him a chance to admire her again. She was delicate and graceful and really beautiful in a clean-cut American way. She was wearing her long blond hair in one long braid today, and her eyes were as blue as the faded denim shirt she wore and the white shorts showed off her shapely legs. And he noticed that she wore carefully applied red polish on her toenails, which showed a little vanity at least. But she wore nothing on her eyes, and no lipstick at all, and the nails on her hands were cut short. She was a pretty girl, more than that in fact, but she wasn't frivolous, and he liked that about her. She didn't take your breath away, but she warmed your heart… in fact, she warmed more than that as she bent over to put the two bottles of wine away, and then turned to him with a smile much like Jane's. “You've spoiled us terribly, Bernard … I don't know what to say.”
    “Listen …it's nice to make new friends … I don't have very many out here.”
    “How long have you been out here?”
    “Five months.”
    “From New York?”
    He nodded. “I've lived in New York all my life, except three years in Chicago a long time ago.”
    She looked intrigued as she got two beers out of the fridge and offered him one. “That's where I'm from. Why did you go out there?”
    “My trial by fire. I went out there to run the store His voice trailed off, thinking of it. “And now I'm here.” It still felt like a punishment to him, although slightly less so as he looked at her, and then followed her into the comfortable living room. The house was small, and the floor was covered with straw mats. The furniture was covered in faded denim and there was driftwood and shells everywhere. The house could have been anywhere, East Hampton, Fire Island, Malibu … it had a nondescript quality, but outside the picture window was the view, a spectacular beach, a vast expanse of sea, and off to one side San Francisco, clustered on the hills sparkling in the sun. It was a beautiful view …and more than that, she was a beautiful girl. She waved him to a comfortable chair, and sat down on the couch herself, pretzeling her legs under her.
    “Do you like it out here? In San Francisco, I mean.”
    “Sometimes.” He was honest with her. “I haven't seen much of it, I must admit. I've been busy with the store. I like the climate. When I left New York, it was snowing, and when I got here five hours later, it was spring. There's something to be said for that.”
    “But?” She smiled invitingly at him.