Destined (25 page)

“I’ve got to make plans to be out of
town for a few days,” I said, thinking about it.

Siri offered to bring Isabella Reyes
in to help in the shop while I was gone. She felt the two of them could handle
it, with Mr. Paradis’ help. Siri offered to call Bella right away, and soon
reported to me that she had agreed to the plan. I went upstairs to find my
employer and give him the news. I wondered whether Tony had returned during my
absence, but there was no sign of him on the second floor, where I found Henry
in his study. He was sitting at the computer, and I saw the eBay logo at the
top of the screen.

Henry listened to my story with attention,
and agreed that he and the girls would mind the store while I was away. He told
me that Tony had called earlier, saying that he had gone to Boston for the day
and would return in time to drive me home after work. Everything seemed to be
falling into place, so I dialed Lexi’s cell phone and left voice mail saying
that we were all set for going to Nantucket in the morning.

I was concerned about what we would
find when we got there. As the afternoon passed, I imagined how the rest of
Lexi’s family must have been feeling right now. I had no idea how many
relatives would be gathered there, but it was sure to be an emotional family
event. I would feel a little out of place, never having met any of them and not
exactly coming from the same social strata. I was curious to see the Gladstone
summer cottage, which was sure to be fabulous. I had never been to Nantucket
before. I started thinking about what clothes to bring with me, and how long we
might be gone. I made a list of what to pack, and another list for Siri and
Bella of things I knew had to be done later in the week.

At almost closing time, I was sitting
behind the cash register doodling on my notes. I heard the back door open, and
someone came into the hallway by the kitchen. Tony Novak poked his head around
the corner and spotted me.

“Hey,” he called, walking across the
showroom, “How’s it going?”

He looked happy and relaxed, as though
his business had gone well today. He was dressed somewhat formally in a white
shirt and tie, with a sport coat and khaki slacks. He smiled as he came towards
me, flashing those gorgeous white teeth. I was struck afresh by how incredibly
good-looking he was, to me anyhow. Square jaw, flashing brown eyes, and a lock
of straight dark hair falling across his forehead. When he smiled at me like
that, I drifted off into absentminded euphoria, and had a little trouble
remembering to breathe.

“Good, it’s going…good!” I stammered,
remembering not to fall too hard, too fast. “How about you? I hear you went all
the way to Boston today.”

He stood across the jewelry case from
me and reached over to take my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. Leaning
closer, he kissed me on the cheek. He examined my facial expression carefully,
as though reading me in some way. Then he smiled, and kissed my other cheek. He
kept holding on to my hand. I started to feel lightheaded again.

“All the way to Boston and back again,
like a homing pigeon,” he said.

I smiled at the image. He smiled back.
We floated blissfully in the air together for a moment. Then I came back down
to earth and said sadly, “I have to go away for a few days, Tony. Lexi’s sister
died.”

He considered the news. “And you found
this out when you went to see her today?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Good girl, Emily. You did a brave
thing,” Tony said. “And you’re going to the funeral?”

“Yes, I’m bringing Lexi there.”

“Can I help you in some way?”

“I guess you could feed Tree for me.”

“No problem,” he said, stroking my
arm. “And can I cook for you tonight? While you…pack?”

I looked at him dubiously. “You, cook?
Are you sure of that?”

“You shouldn’t underestimate me,” he
laughed, shaking his head.

“I’m beginning to get that message!”

“I told you before what a wonderful
person I am, Emily!” he said. “And, I am a pretty good cook, too. I have taken
care of myself in some relatively rustic situations, you know,” he finished,
more seriously.

“Well, I do have a stove, so we won’t
be needing you to cook over an open fire or anything,” I teased, batting my
eyelashes at him.

“Leave it to me,” he said happily. “I’ll
be right back.”

He sprang up the front stairs and
disappeared from view. Curious, I hurried over to peak around the corner just
in time to see a door on the left side of the upstairs landing swing shut. I
caught a quick glimpse of stairs leading up to the third floor, which I had
still never visited. I was intrigued to see the rooms, but this was obviously
not the time. I went up to tell Henry that I was leaving and give him my notes.
He still sat at the computer, and I came to stand behind him.

“Very efficient,” he complimented me,
scanning the lined yellow pages with his reading glasses perched on the end of
his nose. “I believe you’ve covered everything. And don’t you worry, we won’t
forget to feed Amy. If she’ll dare to come inside while you aren’t here, that
is.”

“I’m sure Siri can tempt her,” I said.
“She has a way with children, you know.”

I put my hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you for letting me go so
unexpectedly. I know this is a lot of trouble for all of you, and I appreciate
it.”

The old man beamed at me, patting my
hand. “Always glad to help, Emily. You’ve been a stalwart ally, my dear, happy
to return the favor!”

“Are we the three Musketeers then,
Henry?” came Tony’s voice as he entered the room, dressed now in his jeans and
leather jacket.

Mr. Paradis looked startled for a
moment, but then he smiled nostalgically, with a fond glance at Tony. “Remember
when we were the three Musketeers once before?”

Tony nodded. “I do remember, Henry. It
was an adventure, wasn’t it?”

The old man nodded. He looked up at
me. “You would have enjoyed it, my dear. And so did Margaret. I do think she
would have approved of Emily, don’t you Tony?”

“Most definitely,” the younger man
agreed. “Cut from the same piece of cloth.”

“That’s a compliment, dear,” Henry whispered
to me.

“Can you get along OK by yourself for
dinner tonight?” Tony asked him. “I’m going to help Emily pack.”

Henry squinted a skeptical glance his
way, but told us he’d be glad to have a chance for a nice long nap. He did look
tired. I offered to get him a pizza from across the street before I left for
the day, but he declined, saying he preferred to rummage around downstairs and
see what was in the fridge.

We locked up on our way out the back
and Tony drove me home. He dropped me off and immediately left again to go and
buy groceries, refusing to tell me what was on the menu and apparently quite
excited to be cooking. I got out my suitcase, put it on the bed and opened the
closet door to stare inside, thanking the gods of fashion for the current popularity
of black, even in the summer. It goes with everything, looks formal even when
it isn’t, and doesn’t show dirt. The perfect color for someone who can’t afford
a different outfit for every occasion, like me. I had several black skirts,
pants and even a linen jacket. I decided to bring one of each, with a few silk
shirts to go under the jacket. I had a decent navy blue sundress to wear on the
way over tomorrow, too. I got out my ironing board and plugged in the steam
iron.

Half an hour or so later, Tony was
back with a bag of groceries and a bottle of wine. My freshly ironed clothes
were hanging all around the apartment on hangers, as I stood barefoot in front
of the ironing board working on one last extra pair of black capris. He put a
CD on my stereo and started banging pots and pans around in the kitchen. I
recognized the same music he’d been playing in the car the night we drove to
Vermont. He brought me a glass of wine and we toasted.

“To our first dinner at home together,”
he said.

“I can’t afford to get food poisoning
tonight, Tony,” I cautioned.

He pouted and we clinked glasses.

“To the three Musketeers?” I
suggested.

“Salut!”
he agreed, and we drank.

While I carefully folded and packed my
clothes, he chopped and pounded and clanked and sizzled and flipped things in
the kitchen, until a wonderful aroma of garlic and onions and something else
delicious wafted around the partition and told me that he just might know what
he was doing in there, after all. I heard the oven door screech open and shut,
and a few minutes later I smelled something baking. The noises subsided, and
eventually he came back around the corner into the main room.

I was just finishing up, so we sat
down together on the couch.

“So,” I said, leaning back against the
cushions. “What were you doing in Boston? Importing and exporting?”

Tony reached down and pulled my legs
up, swinging me around so I was turned sideways on the couch, my head on the
pillows and my bare feet resting in his lap. He started to massage my foot,
immediately finding the sore spot at the base of my second toe and rubbing it
in little circles. Flashes of sensation jolted up my leg.

“I was in Boston for a job interview.”

“You? You’re getting a job? In Boston?”
I was dismayed.

“No, the interview was in Boston. The
job is here. And they haven’t offered it to me yet, so don’t get so excited!”
He laughed at me and bore down, working his thumbs toward my heel. I squirmed,
but didn’t pull away. It was exquisite agony.

“What’s the job?” I asked, wondering
why he would want to give up his independence, since he obviously didn’t need
the money.

“Teaching, at the University,” he
said. “Something I‘ve thought about before.”

“International business?” I asked.

He nodded. “What do you think?” he
asked.

He started to massage my other foot.
His hands were very warm.

“I think you’d be great at it.” I knew
immediately this was true. “The kids would love to hear about your adventures.
You would be their hero, a kind of Johnny Depp of the global economy.”

“Emily, I am not a pirate, I am a
legitimate businessman!”

“Yes, I know, but you are rather…swashbuckling.”

He considered that word for a minute,
and seemed to like it. The foot massage started to creep up my ankle.

“Be that as it may,” he said, “The
Powers That Be want to consider my professional credentials and take a look at
some other candidates. I had a very good recommendation, though, from an old
friend of mine who teaches there.”

“If they offer it, what will you say?”

He stopped rubbing my leg and looked
at me appraisingly. “I believe I would say yes, I’ll sign on for a two-year
contract and we’ll all see how it goes. How does that sound?”

We stared at each other. I couldn’t
think what to say. I loved the idea of him being settled around here for a
while, but I hesitated to be so bold as to advise him what to do.

“It sounds adventurous, yet sensible,”
I replied.

“Well, that’s me in a nutshell,” he
replied, “Don’t you think?”

He grinned at me, teasingly.

“Sensible?” I challenged him.

“About most things. When it’s not one
of my obsessions. Like, you, for example.”

Suddenly he was lying on top of me on
the couch, one elbow on either side of my chest. He kissed me slowly, deeply,
and extremely thoroughly. I snuggled down into the pillows and put my arms
around his neck, settling in for the duration. After a few minutes, a strange
beeping noise started to go off somewhere nearby. At first we both ignored it.
Then he nibbled on my ear lobe and whispered, “Your dinner awaits!”

I pulled back my head and demanded, “What
is that annoying noise?”

“My alarm watch,” he said, turning it
off and sitting up. “Come on, then!”

He stood up and reached down for me,
giving me a hand up. We went into the kitchen, where he had set the little
table by the window. A single red rose in a bud vase stood between two white
votive candles, already lit. I sat at the table while he served me chicken and
wild mushrooms in a light tomato sauce, over whole wheat
fettucine
, with hot garlic bread and a Caesar
salad with toasted
pignoli
nuts. Everything was spectacular, and I told him so in no uncertain terms.

Tree came in the window, back from a
jaunt around the yard. He sat on the windowsill next to the rosemary plant and
watched us eat, obviously fascinated.

“Don’t worry old boy,” Tony said,
scratching him behind the ear. “You’ll get some soon.”

“I don’t feed him scraps,” I said.

“Never? That is so cold, Emily.” Tony
shivered dramatically.

“Oh, all right. But it just encourages
him to beg.”

“That is very true. When you give a
man a taste of something delicious, he will undoubtedly be encouraged to beg
for more.”