Coffee Sonata (17 page)

“I’ve never met anyone like her.” Eryn spoke in a low voice.

Mike didn’t have to ask who Eryn was talking about. “She’s quite the mystery, isn’t she? Contradictory.”

“Yes, isn’t she?” Eryn nodded emphatically. “So collected, with her official image usually in place. But so…caring, with a strange sort of passion showing through, which I don’t think she realizes.”

Mike sat waiting for her friend to choose to confide in her—or not.

“She was so good to me last Friday night. She rubbed my back and acted like I mattered. And then she goes right back to being strict and stern…acting like freakin’ nobility!”

“And you think that’s a problem?” It wasn’t like Eryn to be this upset. Mike wondered just how vulnerable she’d become.

“I’m so stupid.” Eryn clenched the mug. “I have no clue if she’s into women. God knows she’s had enough men to fill two soccer teams. All hunks, from the look of them.”

“You researched her?” Mike raised an eyebrow and tried not to sound judgmental, even if she was surprised.

“Yeah.” Eryn’s cheeks finally colored when a faint blush crept up from her neck. “I went through some files. There were pictures from the social events she goes to. You know, fund-raisers, openings, that sort of thing.”

“Not everything’s the way it seems.”

“Some things are. Most, even.”

“Don’t judge her too quickly. I know what some people still say about me after all these years.” Mike swallowed. “I’d hoped they’d invite me to the East Quay Chamber of Commerce dinner this year. Someone, somewhere, put a stop to that. And the Sea Stone Café is one of the fastest-growing new businesses in East Quay.” She knew she sounded angry and hurt, but that was how she felt, and it was a relief to finally tell someone.

“Damn, Mike, they’re idiots.”

“Yeah, but they have the power. You know, Mr. Ludlow, the banker, is chairman and he decides if I do or die. I thought I’d proved myself, and after the article you wrote, I actually thought someone like me could enter their realm. But I guess not.”

Feeling defeated, Mike slumped against the wall.
And then there’s Vivian. Have I pushed her away for good? It felt so right to kiss her. How could that be a mistake?

“You could appeal their decision.” Eryn turned and looked at Mike. “They’ve got standards for membership. You fulfill those standards and ought to be voted in. It’s that simple.”

“It’s not simple at all. I’m persona non grata.”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Who says that?”

A famous voice interrupted and Mike twirled. “Vivian!”

“Hello, Mike. First of all, I need a double espresso. Your best.”

“You got it.” Happy to have something distract her rampaging emotions, Mike turned to the espresso machine and pressed finely ground coffee beans into the mallet. She had to force herself not to use too much strength with the tamper, not to destroy the beans.

She inhaled and exhaled three times, slowly and deliberately. Holding Vivian’s espresso in a tall cup, she made sure she was smiling politely.
If it’s possible to smile with such stiff lips.
Mike was sure she looked like an idiot, grinning from ear to ear in pure nervousness.

“Thanks.” Vivian sighed and sipped her coffee. “I needed this. All of it.” She gestured around the room. “I had to meet with a New York conductor, an old friend, but he kept trying to persuade me to do three concerts at Carnegie Hall in six months. I had to tell him twice that I’m not doing any concerts after my farewell performance here.” Vivian sounded strong and certain of her decision, but Mike saw the hurt in her eyes, the beautiful eyes that were going blind.

“I’m looking forward to hearing you sing and take your hometown by storm,” Eryn said.

“Thank you, but I’m not so sure these days. I…have a lot on my mind, and it affects my voice.”

“Then we just have to make sure your mind is where it should be.” Mike grabbed a cloth and began wiping off the spotless counter. She’d rather put her arms around Vivian and hold her tight, to comfort her. She rubbed more vigorously.

“Time to call it a day,” Eryn said, and rose. “I feel better now. I’ll call AAA after all and have them come pick up the bike. I’m too tired to fiddle with it myself.”

“I put a plastic cover over it.”

“Great. Thanks.” Eryn lit up. She felt around in her pocket, flipped open her cell phone, and walked away from them to place her call.

Vivian looked at Mike with a question in her eyes. “Are you all right, Mike? You seem…muted.”

“I’m fine. The after-work crowd should be here soon, and business is great.” Mike knew she was stalling, but Vivian’s steady gaze didn’t let her off the hook. Annoyed and feeling cornered, she reached for a crate of oranges and began stacking them next to the juice press.

“Have I done something to upset you?” Vivian’s voice, tinged with sudden sorrow, stung.

Upset doesn’t even begin to describe it. I kissed you, for heaven’s sake! I more or less attacked you on the couch and forced a kiss on you…
“No. Yes. I mean, it was my fault.” She sent the customers at the other end of the room a worried look. “Let’s don’t talk about it here.”

“Fine. Where then?”

“I don’t know. I’m busy now.” Goose bumps rose all over Mike’s arms and legs.
Can’t you see I’m dying, Vivian? Stop pushing.

“Can you come over tonight? We could walk the dogs and have a late-night snack.”

Mike wanted to decline. More than anything she wanted to hide from Vivian, who had pierced her shields with strange effortlessness.
But I did promise to be there for her.
“All right. I close at ten. I can ask Martha and Edward to cover for me the last half hour.”

“I’d like that. A lot.” Vivian slumped back a little on her stool.

“I’m off, then. Thank you, Mike,” Erin said.

“Go home and rest. You’re still pale.”

Eryn frowned. “I’ll try.”

She left, and Vivian also rose from the stool and finished the last of her espresso. “Delicious, as always,
cara
. See you later.”

Mike nodded, reached for the cup at the same time as Vivian, and their hands met. Vivian, who apparently hadn’t seen Mike’s hand, grasped it. “Mike. Don’t shut me out,” she whispered. “Please.”

The touch almost did Mike in. She squeezed Vivian’s hand and held on for a few seconds too long. “I’ll be there.”

*

“Hold the elevator, please!”

Eryn, about to press the button for the third floor, opened the outer gate while Manon hurried through it, holding at least eight shopping bags from different boutiques and carrying her briefcase under her left arm. “Eryn. Great. Could you save my computer? I overestimated my strength.”

“Got it.” Eryn grabbed the briefcase and tried to hold back the gasp that escaped her when she inadvertently stroked the outside of Manon’s breast. “Sorry.”

Manon put down her bags and reached for the briefcase. “Thank you,” she said. “That could have been a disaster.”

“Here you go.” Eryn handed it over and motioned toward the bags, happy to have something else to focus on. “You’ve been busy.”

“Yes. I have so many functions coming up, not to mention the fund-raiser concert in a few weeks. I had to restock my wardrobe. I realized just how busy I’d be when Marjorie and I tried to find a time to go over the research material with you—should you choose to accept.”

“You sound like
Mission Impossible.
” Eryn smiled. “‘Should you choose…’”

Manon hesitated, then chuckled. “I did, didn’t I?” Manon seemed more at ease and younger as she leaned against the elevator wall. Only when it stopped with a sudden jerk did she square her shoulders again. “You
will
give it serious thought, won’t you, Eryn?”

“Yes. I said I would.”
Please, don’t try to weasel a decision out of me just yet.
Eryn opened the inner gate.

“I know. I know.” Manon held up her hands, palms toward Eryn.

Eryn pushed the outer gate open and regretted her terse reply.
They might be offering me the chance of a lifetime, and I’m acting like I’m being stalked.
“Hey. Want a cup of coffee?”

Manon looked at her for several seconds, and Eryn had no idea what might be going through her head. “Coffee would be lovely. Thank you.”

“I don’t have Mike’s flair for making espresso, but I make good regular black coffee.”

“I’d take instant after trying on seventeen cocktail dresses at Genevieve’s.”

Genevieve’s Boutique & Shoes was one of the fancy clothing stores on Main Street that carried shoes costing half a month of Eryn’s salary. “Seventeen? You’re kidding.”

Eryn took mercy on the briefcase again, and Manon gathered her purchases. “No. All gorgeous, which made it almost impossible to choose.”

They walked into Eryn’s condo and into the kitchen. “Please, sit down. I’ll have some real coffee—not instant—brewing in a minute.”

“Sounds heavenly.”

Eryn busied herself with the coffee machine, pouring ground coffee beans into the filter and measuring water. Manon’s discreet scent permeated the kitchen, and Eryn hoped it would linger after she left. “You like it strong, don’t you?”

“Yes, please. Nothing’s worse than weak coffee.”

God, that voice of hers.
Its velvet, throaty qualities rippled along Eryn’s spine and sent dark shivers through her abdomen.
How can a voice cause physical reactions?
Eryn had never experienced such a blatant response. Sure, her former lover Jenny had been hot, sizzling, even, but it had taken obvious overtures and hands-on caresses for Eryn to react the way she now responded to Manon’s voice.
Say something more. Please.

“I like the way you’ve arranged the copper pieces.”

That’s it. A topic.
“They were my aunt’s, and she kept them in a cabinet.”

Eryn glanced up at the collection, everything from copper coffeepots to cookie cutters that she’d polished and now displayed on the window sill. She wasn’t going to tell Manon how, while polishing the smallest toy-size kettle, she’d begun to cry.

Amanda never spoke ill of Harriet Goddard to Eryn’s face, but Eryn had once overheard her great-aunt talk to one of her friends. “The child needs love. It’s as simple as that. If Harriet can’t see past her own prejudice to meet her daughter’s needs, then I will. She praises Eryn’s sisters for tying their shoes, and this child…she brings home top-grade essays to show her mother, and…Harriet’s a fool. A blind, misguided fool.”

The conversation had stuck in the seventeen-year-old Eryn’s memory all these years, and Amanda’s condo had been the only place she’d been able to relax and be herself.

Not now, though. She felt jittery and as if she were running a temperature, merely because Manon was sitting on one of her kitchen chairs.

“Your kitchen is so cozy. Perhaps I should go for something less…strict. My interior decorator talked me into an austere-looking…well, you’ve seen it.”

Manon’s kitchen was white, gray, and brushed steel, very modern. “Yes. It’s beautiful, but not very homey.”

“I know.”

There was an uncomfortable silence as Eryn finished setting up the coffee machine. She turned and reached for mugs from the cabinet, moaning when she accidentally raised her left arm too high.

“Let me help.” Manon was immediately by Eryn’s side and placed an arm around her waist. “You’ve been carrying that bag of yours all day. It may have made your shoulder worse.”

“No, I’m okay. It’s only when I try to raise my arm above my head—”

“Listen to me. Sit. I’ll pour the coffee when it’s ready.”

“All right.” Eryn knew when to give in. Manon’s voice, as sexy as it could be, sometimes sounded relentless. “You take it black, right?”

“Yes.”

“Me too.”

“I downloaded the pictures I took at the Dodd Mansion.” Eryn sat down, reached into her bag, and pulled out her computer. “Want to see?”
Anything to get away from feeling so darn jittery.

“I’d love to.” Manon rose and pulled out two ceramic mugs from the open cabinet before walking over to stand behind Eryn. “Marjorie’s still striking, don’t you think?”

“Yes, you can tell she was gorgeous. She doesn’t look her age at all.”

Eryn pulled up the image folder and made sure only the pictures she wanted to show Manon were highlighted, then clicked the button that launched the preview.

Manon leaned closer and steadied herself against the kitchen table. “You’re a good photographer,” she said as the first few images rolled by. “Marjorie looks really great and…what…”

Eryn stared at her computer in horror. Frozen, she watched as the slideshow kept going and displayed the five close-ups she’d taken of Manon.

Shit! What the hell…how could this happen? I selected only the pictures of Marjorie.
The silence was overwhelming, and Eryn wanted to crawl down under the table and hide.

“When did you intend to use these?” Manon straightened up and walked over to the counter. She poured coffee into two mugs and slowly, deliberately turned around. Her slate gray eyes were cold. Darker than usual, they bored into Eryn and demanded an answer.