Thoughts of the gallery made him think about Maxi and James. Mike made a mental note to try to persuade Jane to talk to James. He had a feeling the guy was sincere and totally lost without his wife.
He hung up with Tim just as Jane was coming out the door.
“Something wrong?” Her blue eyes were dark with concern as they flicked to the phone in his hand.
Mike took her hand. “Of course not. That was Tim. I might have someone to take over my lease in Seattle.”
Jane smiled. “Really? So you really are going to stay?”
“I think so. There’s a lot of benefits to staying in Lobster Bay.”
Jane nodded and stepped past him to lead the way down the hall.
“Good, Cooper will be happy about that,” she teased over her shoulder.
Mike fell in step with her. “Hey, speaking of happy... I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind hearing James Stevens out.”
Jane’s smile faltered. “You really think I should talk to him? I know you and Rob mentioned it this morning, but I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“I think you should hear him out. Honestly, the guy was hurting. I’m convinced he didn’t do anything wrong and really wants her back.”
Jane stopped and turned to him. “Really? Why?”
“Just a feeling. When you see the guy, you’ll see what I mean.” Mike put on his most sincere face.
Jane rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. But only because you’re vouching for his innocence. I still think he’s a louse. But I’ll talk to Claire, and if she agrees, thenmaybewe’ll see what he has to say.”
Chapter Eleven
“What should I wear to meet with Jane and Claire?” James glanced back at Picasso, but the cat was no help. He barely slitted an ice-blue eye at him from his position curled up on the bed.
James was regretting setting up the meeting, even though it was probably his best chance of winning Maxi back. The frigid tone in Jane’s voice when he’d called made him realize that convincing them to help might be difficult. But why was she so cold toward him? Was it just that she was acting standoffish in support of Maxi? He’d done nothing wrong.
Now the thought of meeting with both Jane and Claire, who he assumed would be equally icy, terrified him.
“Clothing is important, and I want to make a favorable impression so that they can see their way toward helping me.” James laid out some slacks and shirts on the bed and stood back. Slacks might be too formal. Where were his old jeans?
He pushed to the back of the closet where the clothes he hadn’t worn in years still hung. One pair of jeans was all faded. That wouldn’t do. He picked a stiff dark indigo pair that he’d hardly worn and brought that out to the bed.
Picasso perked up. Perhaps sensing that his white hair would make a mess on the dark blue, he stretched and wandered over to the jeans.
“Don’t even think about it.” James whipped the jeans off the bed and laid them on a chair. Undaunted, Picasso sat on his haunches and started to wash behind his ear.
James pulled his tie rack out of the closet and laid it on the bed. He picked out a blue paisley tie and held it up. “Maybe this one?”
Mew!Picasso swatted at the tie.
Okay, apparently he didn’t like the blue tie. James held up a yellow one. “How about—”
Merow!Picasso lashed out, ripping the yellow tie from his hand and then batting all the others off the bed.
“Right. No tie. That’s exactly what I was thinking.” The cat might be on to something. Rob and Mike hadn’t been wearing ties last night. In fact, they’d been dressed pretty casually in T-shirts and jeans. James eyed the button-down shirt he’d selected. Too formal? He didn’t want Jane and Claire to feel like they were in a business meeting. Maybe it was best to dress like Mike and Rob. Did he even have any regular T-shirts?
James rummaged in the bureau, eliciting more interest from Picasso, who managed to jump on top of it so he could look down into the drawers. No doubt he was looking for the cashmere sweater vest.
The closest thing to a T-shirt was a polyester short-sleeved shirt with a pocket on the left front side. That would have to do.
James put the rest of his clothes away, got dressed, and checked himself in the mirror. He glanced over at Picasso for approval. The cat simply blinked and curled up in a ball.
