She hurried with her keys when she heard her phone ringing and before Jillian hung up, she had her own dinner invitation.


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Jillian stepped into the room from the elevator looking for her father. The Petroleum Club was located on the thirtieth floor in one of the buildings in downtown New Orleans. With the abundance of floor to ceiling windows, the restaurant had one of the more spectacular views of the city skyline. Her father waved to her from a table in the center, and her one hope as she waved back was that Junior wouldn't think she was following her, though now she would get a look at Maria.


"Hi, Daddy." Jillian bent down and kissed her father before one of the waiters came over and pulled her chair out for her. The table in the corner was set up for diners, with a crystal bucket of ice with vodka shots embedded in it. But for now it sat empty Jillian noticed. What made her take note at all was the brass plate on the wall over one of the chairs that said Baxter Oil Company.


"How are you, sweetheart? I'm beginning to feel like if I don't ask you out to dinner, I never get to see you." Behind Jillian the elevator slid open again and Junior stepped out. Gone were the shorts and the sandals, in their place stood the CEO of Baxter Oil. She was alone and the hostess showed her to the table after she kissed her hello.


"Ms. Sterling, nice to see you again. Robert, how are you?" Junior stopped at their table nodding to the hostess to just put the menus down.


"Junior, god how are you? You know Jillie?" Jillian's father stood up and shook hands with Junior as his daughter looked like she wanted to bolt from the table for some reason. If she had really tried, she could have talked her father into eating somewhere else but Jillian had wanted to see Junior's date. Now it was going to seem as obvious to the woman who had given her a ride as it was to her. I didn't know she wore glasses, Jillian thought as she looked up at Junior.


"Fine and yes, we've met. I just didn't expect to run into her again so soon. I was going over your proposal this afternoon and it's looking good. How about if I call you next week and set up a luncheon appointment?" Junior smiled, loving the blush that was coloring Jillian's cheeks.


"That sounds great." Robert was so busy talking to Junior that he never noticed his daughter's discomfort.


"I'll have Sally call you." Before she moved on to her own table, Junior bent down to shake Jillian's hand as well. "Nice to see you again, Jillie." Moving closer, Junior whispered, "She's just a friend." Jillian smiled at the laugh Junior was enjoying and because of the heat radiating off her ears.


"Where do you two know each other from?" Robert took a sip of his drink, as his daughter's eyes stayed glued to the Baxter table. Junior had sat down and picked up one of the vials of thick liquor out of the ice and tipped it back, draining it.


"I inspected Pegasus yesterday."


"Please tell me that you didn't slam her?"


"It's my job, daddy, and yes I'm afraid the price tag was fairly steep. What proposal did you submit?" Her father launched into describing a pipe contract his company wanted to enter into with Baxter, but her attention was on the entrance as a tall blonde entered and headed to Junior's table. When she reached it, Junior was standing and the person Jillian assumed to be Maria fell into her arms giving her a not so "friendly" kiss on the lips.


"Honey…honey, do you know what you want to eat?" Her father's voice tore her eyes away from the table in the corner and the two women now seated there talking.


"I'm sorry, I'll have the Caesar salad with grilled shrimp, please." Robert Sterling handed the menus to the waiter and looked over his shoulder to see what his daughter found so fascinating.


"What did you think of her?"


"Who?"


"Come on, sweetheart, I'm your father. Tall, good looking and powerful - could be a real catch to the woman that snags her heart."


"Daddy!"


"I'm your father, Jillian, but that doesn't make me blind."


She sighed deeply, now sorry for the self-imposed rules she had set for herself. "Yeah, she's all that but she works in the oilfield."


"I work in the oilfield, Jillie, and you love me."


From her table, Junior listened to what Maria was telling her, but she was looking over one blonde's shoulder to the other blonde sitting three tables away. "Wait a second, could you repeat that last statement?"


"I don't want to talk about it here, Junior, but she changed the will and these are her new wishes."


"Maria, you can go back to her and tell her I'm never going to agree to this. You can't go back again, isn't that the old saying?" Junior turned her pale blue eyes to her dinner companion not believing what the woman was saying.


"It's you can't go home again, darling, and these are her wishes. As her attorney, I'm obligated to tell you about them." Maria removed her own vial and drained it; the next part of the conversation was going to send Junior into a tizzy.


"And I'm telling you, just because someone leaves you something in their will does not mean you are obligated to take it. Susan has other family, I'm sure they are more qualified to take on this job than I am, talk to her."


"Honey, I can't do that."


"Dammit, Maria, I don't want this and Susan is the least of it. Forgive me if not wanting to raise the children she had with that twit half brother of mine. It just isn't something I am anxious to do. You go back to her and tell her no."


"I can't do that, Junior."


"Why in the hell not?" The voice was becoming a controlled whisper but Maria could tell Junior was pissed. Susan Baxter had been the one woman that had broken through all of Junior's walls in college. The heir to an oil empire had fallen hard for the small town girl that wasn't interested in the Baxter fortune, and it had drawn Junior in.


Just before they had graduated, Susan met Junior's half brother on one of his trips to the campus to borrow money. It just so happened that her parents were also up visiting for the weekend and Susan was going to tell them she was in love and of her plans for the future. When Quinton Baxter walked into the room, Susan's parents assumed this was the wonderful Baxter she had just finished telling them about. Considering Quinton's feelings toward his sister, he had played it up as much as he could. A long talk with Susan later that afternoon, and he had her believing a line about Junior that had turned her head and closed her heart.


For Susan it felt like she was drowning in emotion, and before she got her head above water she was married with the last name of Baxter, but not to the one she had fallen in love with. The last time Susan had seen Junior was as she was making the trip back down the aisle to leave the church the day she and Quinton got married. A year later she and Quinton had their first child and with ten years of marriage had come two more.


"She's in a coma, Junior, that's why I'm here. I'm sorry to have to tell you like this, but I didn't want Sally telling you over the phone." Instead of ranting anymore or asking any questions about what she was being told, Maria was surprised when her dinner companion looked at her watch.


"Hot date?"


"No, I'm noticing that it's April first and this is the worst joke you have ever played on me. Keep it up and I'll have your pool filled with frogs or something." Junior laughed thinking she was off the hook.


"I wish it was a joke, my friend, but this one's true."


"What happened to Quinton?"


"He died at the scene and the doctors don't expect Susan to hang in much longer." Taking a moment for the information to process, Junior nodded her head and called for the check. They agreed to meet at the hospital where Junior would make arrangements for her brother, and his wife when the time came.


Jillian watched her walk out, wanting to follow Junior and ask her what was wrong. Something had happened from the stony look on Junior's face as she walked by not saying good-bye. As the elevator doors closed an idea occurred to Jillian and morning couldn't come soon enough.


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Junior looked at the woman on the bed hooked to a plethora of machines, her chest rising and falling in an artificial, rhythmic fashion. She looked so much older than the girl Junior had known in school. And if she admitted the truth - after she had walked out of the church on their wedding day, Junior had not given Susan nor Quinton much thought.


"How did it happen?" Junior asked Maria who was standing on the other side of the bed.


"Quinton had one too many and hit a truck head on. Neither one of them had their seatbelts on, which contributed to the amount of damage their bodies sustained. Not that they would have lived, but we'll never know now. It's funny, but it was like she had an idea something like this was going to happen. They didn't get along for so long that they lived almost separate lives until two years ago. I think it was then that Susan resolved herself to the life she had picked and tried to work it out. In my opinion it was then she finally convinced herself that you weren't coming back. About two weeks ago she came to me, filled out the papers and gave me a letter for you when the time came." Maria handed the envelope over to Junior, and her friend put it in her suit pocket instead of reading it.


"I'm sorry this happened, but all the love I had just died so long ago that's it's hard to remember it now."


"We all make mistakes, Junior."


"And all of them are forgivable after time. The problem is that some of them are unforgettable, at least the pain isn't." With one quick pat on her old lover's hand, Junior walked out and like she had so many years before, never looked back. Junior never heard the doctor pronounce the time of death as Susan's heart just stopped beating a short time later. She had waited long enough to feel Junior close to her before slipping away.


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From the fortieth floor of the Baxter Oil Building downtown, Junior sat behind her desk looking out at the skyline. Sitting behind her on the desk that once belonged to her father was another vodka with ice, a bolster of courage to open the letter in her hand. Had she known this was waiting for her back in the city, she would have stayed on Pegasus. With one clean swipe of the antique dagger she used as a letter opener, Junior opened the last thoughts of Susan Baxter.


My Dear Junior,


It seems like forever since I've seen you and hopefully when you read this we will have lived enough years to heal the wounds I have caused us. That is where I should begin I suppose. I'm so sorry Junior, for all the times I laid in your arms and told you how much I loved you only to betray you so deeply in the end. I have no excuse and believe me there hasn't been a night that passes that I don't wish I had made different choices so long ago.


In all my mistakes, the three that I don't ever regret are my children. They are my true treasures and I want you to take care of them if I am not able. Even if Quinton should outlive me, please honor this one wish. I know with you they will be loved and cared for, and will have opportunities no one else could give them. It's not the money I'm speaking of, but the kindness that made me feel like the luckiest woman alive once upon a time.


Again I am sorry for all the hurt I caused you. I am being selfish but I want you to forgive me. I love you Junior. I never stopped. Take care of my babies and tell them I'll always be looking out for them.


Yours,


Susan


The next morning Sally found the letter lying on the floor close to the hand that was hanging over the chair. Junior's legs were stretched out in front of her and the glass on the desk was empty. Sally said a quick prayer for forgiveness for the woman that had died, even though there were days when she had wished that fate upon her for the hurt she had caused Junior. The last time Quinton Baxter had walked into this office was when he had come to collect the check for his share of the pie. Old man Baxter had only one heir could rule the empire and it wasn't his son. For that reason Quinton had never forgiven his half sister.