The Company You Keep (35 page)

Mimi looked around. “So where is she? I don’t see her anywhere. She’s not at the vet’s, is she?” For the first time, she softened.

“No, no, nothing like that,” he assured her. “I left her in the car, right on Edinburgh Avenue—just down there.” He pointed in the direction.

“You left her in the car?” Mimi was aghast.

Vic held up his hands. “Don’t worry. I left the window open practically the whole way.”

“The whole way?” Mimi looked skeptical.

Vic nodded. “Yeah.”

Mimi brought her fingers to her mouth and whistled loudly.

Two seconds later, Roxie came running to the fountain, skittering next to Mimi.

Mimi knelt down and gave the dog a good rub around the head and ears. “What a good girl. What kind of an owner leaves a dog like you in the car, huh?” Roxie whimpered in agreement. “And he says you haven’t eaten. I bet he didn’t even think to buy you the special treats like I got you for the picnic.”

“You’re right. You can see why she needs you.”

Mimi gave the dog a final big squeeze and stood up. “What’s this all about, Vic? Roxie’s fine. Why did you send that text message? I think I deserve the truth.” She shot his own words back at him.

“You’re right. You do.” He peered at her. “The text didn’t come at a bad time, did it? I didn’t interrupt anything important, did I?”

“As it so happens, I was having lunch in the City with Lilah and her sister-in-law, Penelope, at her fiancé’s restaurant—yes, Penelope has finally agreed to marry Nick Rheinhardt. Is that what you wanted to know?” she asked innocently.

Vic opened his mouth, started to say something and stopped.

“We also discussed my future employment prospects. The network offered me a weekend anchor spot. Then of all things, I got a call from the Dean of Allie Hammy. She’s offered me a visiting lectureship position on the role of jornalism in international conflicts. Interesting, don’t you think?”

“You’d consider coming back to Grantham?”

“It’s a possibility.”

“In which case…” Vic hesitated, then started all over again. “Listen.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’ve got a proposal.”

Mimi narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “What kind of a proposal?”

“That we try again. Only this time, we get to know each other gradually—over a longer period of time.”

“What? You’re proposing we go to a kabuki performance together?”

Vic looked like he wanted to laugh but was way too nervous. “My idea was that we go on vacation,” he ventured.

“I never go on vacation,” she informed him.

“Neither do I. That’s why I suggested it—something new…the start of something new for both of us.”

Mimi frowned. “Did you have any place in particular?”

“Joe suggested Australia.”

“Australia’s nice.”

“Yeah, it sounded nice to me, but it has one drawback.”

“Oh?” Mimi tapped her foot.

“We couldn’t take Roxie. They have strict animal quarantine laws in Australia. I checked.”

Mimi shook her head. “Then that wouldn’t work at all.”

“I agree. See, we’re getting somewhere.”

Mimi raised a dubious eyebrow. “Go on.”

“So, then I thought. What about a road trip across the U.S.—you, me and Roxie?”

“A road trip across America.” Now that she hadn’t expected.

“We could take as long as we wanted to. No reservations. Maybe take a tent, go camping. I’ve always wanted to go to North Dakota. I’ve never been there. Have you?”

Mimi shook her head. “You’re crazy. A road trip? We could end up killing each other.”

“I’m crazy? I thought
you
had dibs on that?”

She tried to hide her smile by covering her mouth.

“Anyway, who says we’d kill each other. Who knows? It could end up that we actually
like
being with each other—even fall in love again, only this time even more.” He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her response. “You want to take the chance? I know that Roxie would love it.”

Mimi made a face. “That’s…that’s blackmail!”

“I know. But I’m desperate.”

Mimi regarded Roxie. On cue, she rolled over and exposed herself. “Shameless as usual,” Mimi told her. Then she went back to eyeing Vic. “So, say we don’t kill each other. Then what?”

“Then I was thinking,” he forged on. “If we didn’t come to blows driving cross-country, we could then maybe…I don’t know…take the trip to Australia?”

“I thought you just nixed that idea?”

“That’s true. But I thought it might be a good idea to see if we could function together without the aid of our guardian angel.” He looked down at Roxie. “No offence, girl.”

Roxie scratched her own tummy with a back paw.

Mimi frowned in thought. “Australia? Maybe that’s not such a bad idea. That way I could check in on Press—see how he’s doing.”

“You think your brother really wants you to check in on him?”

Mimi looked offended. “Yes…well, maybe, no… Yes and no,” she concluded. She smiled brightly.

Vic attempted a smile of his own. It looked pretty feeble to Mimi.

“So what do you think?” he asked. “Should we become travel buddies and then possibly…I don’t know…if things go well…see what happens?”

“You’re being remarkably inarticulate. You know, the way you’re making a muck of this whole ‘dare’ thing—and now this fuzzy travel plan—I might just have to take a while to think about it.” She was teasing, and she was pretty sure he didn’t know it.

In fact, Mimi could see that Vic was really desperate, and somehow it amused her in a perverse way. Because she had missed him more than she thought possible.

Well, hell.
She knew that she was going to give in even before she put on her stupid Reunions costume and got on the train to Grantham.

“Woman, you’re killing me.” He shook his head. Then after a moment, he held up a finger. “I know what will persuade you.” Vic pushed off his shoes and removed his socks. He passed them to Roxie. “Here, chew to your heart’s content.”

The dog eyed him warily.

He slipped off his jacket, but didn’t bother to fold it, just dropped it on the marble plaza. Next, he yanked off his tie, undid his belt and tossed it away.

Roxie shifted her head back and forth nervously.

Mimi watched. “It’s okay, girl. He’s just going crazy.”

“Who says I’m going crazy?” He lifted one leg and clambered over the low wall and into the pool. He undid the top button of his dress shirt, then the next and the next. He tore off his shirt and sent it flying.

It slapped Mimi in the face.

She removed it. Her mouth was open as she watched him strip off his pants, leaving nothing but a pair of knit boxers.

Mimi held out her hand. “Vic, no. People might come by. You’ll get in trouble.”

“It’s summer vacation. No one’s around. And as for trouble? That’s my middle name. Besides, if the police come to arrest me, I’ll just give them your father’s name. It worked the last time.”

Mimi bit her bottom lip. “Actually, it wasn’t my father. I was the one who came to the police station and confessed it was all my fault. I said that my father had sent you to rescue me. Then I left before you could see me—I was so embarrassed.”

Vic had his hands on the waistband of his boxers. “Really? That’s nice to know.” He smiled broadly. “Well, this time in a way, he played a vital part—much as I hate to say it. Because the old coot did ask me to come to Reunions to rescue you.”

The wail of sirens pierced the air.

“Vic, get out of there,” Mimi ordered.

“Not until you agree to travel with me.” He started to lower the underwear.

Mimi shook her head, climbed in the pool and waded over to him. “Okay, okay. Enough.” She wrapped her arms around his chest. “You made your point. I’ll travel with you.”

“And afterward?” He held her tight.

“Afterward, we’ll see.” But she already knew the answer.

The sirens grew louder.

Mimi looked at him, her brow worried. “Who’s going to save us now?”

Vic smiled. “Roxie. Just whistle, and she’ll come running.”

“Just like me, if it’s the right whistler.”

Then they put their lips together and used them in an even more satisfying way.

EPILOGUE

Late August
Australia

“WHAT?” MIMI SHOT Vic a look.

He glanced at her sideways. They were seated side by side in front of an oversize computer screen.

She followed his gaze, which honed in on the way she was sitting on her hands. “Oh, that. I’m cold. So sue me.” True, the damp winter temperatures in Melbourne were a marked change from the tropical climate of the Great Barrier Reef where they’d just come from. But she also knew that the weather wasn’t the only reason she’d jammed her hands under her thighs.

“Hello? Hello?” Noreen’s voice came over the Skype connection.

“Noreen.” Mimi turned to the screen. “Hold up. I hear you, but I can’t see you. There’s a small window showing Vic and me, but the rest of the screen is blank.”

“Geez. You’d think you’d never used Skype before.” Press leaned over her shoulder and moved the curser to the icon of a video camera in the upper right corner. Immediately, Noreen came into view.

“Now we’ve got you,” Vic announced. “So how are things in Grantham? And more important, how are you feeling?”

“Enormous.” Noreen laughed and rubbed her swollen midriff. “Being pregnant with twins tends to accelerate the bodily changes. Have I mentioned my enormous breasts?” She held up her hands to display ever more burgeoning curves.

Vic opened his eyes wide.

Mimi teasingly backhanded him in the stomach. “You look great, Noreen. Nobody wears a baby bump as well as you, that’s for sure.” In her sleeveless yoga top, riding high on her rounded belly, Noreen appeared positively radiant. “So do you feel as well as you look? No complications?”

Noreen shook her head. “None really. Thank goodness the first trimester’s nausea is over—that’s all I can say. Unfortunately, the only downside is that at my advanced age—and with the prospect of twins—the doctor is a little toe-y about me doing too much travel, especially to Africa. So that means that Lilah will have to bear the brunt of traveling to Congo for a while.”

“I’m sure Lilah and Justin understand. And speaking of adjustments, how’s my father handling the news of twins?”

“Why don’t you ask him?” Noreen shifted her laptop, and Conrad came into the picture. He was sitting next to her on one of the stools at the kitchen island in their house in Grantham.

“Hello, Mary Louise. You look well. It appears that Australia agrees with you,” Conrad said with a stiff smile.

At the mention of her double-barrel given name, Mimi immediately sat up straighter.

Out of range of the computer, Vic patted her on her leg. “She’s a champion snorkler, I can tell you that,” he responded to Conrad’s comment. “You should have been there. She was the first one off the boat to swim with the manta rays, and they were not exactly tiny.”

“I’m glad to hear you are back to your bold self, not to mention enjoying life,” Conrad said.

Begrudgingly, Mimi had to admit he sounded genuine. “And what about you? Ready for the changes that come with a growing family?”

“Actually, Conrad has news in that department,” Noreen said with a loving smile at her husband.

It may have been the slightly erratic connection, but Mimi could have sworn she saw her father blush.

Conrad reached across the counter and took Noreen’s hand. “I’ve decided I should spend more time closer to home. I’m giving up my commuting ways, so to speak.” He gazed at his wife. “Indeed, Noreen, with her altruistic outlook, convinced me that I should consider giving back to the community in some way. So, I talked to several university administrators to offer my services, and we all agreed that the perfect fit would be in the Development Office. I’ll be involved with drumming up support from my fellow alumni, helping them to remember their alma mater in the generous manner it deserves. After all, they wouldn’t have become so successful if it weren’t for the polish and the academic excellence, not to mention the connections, that a Grantham education afforded them. Don’t think I won’t be meeting with you, too, Vic.”

“I look forward to it,” Vic replied, carefully keeping his voice neutral.

“So with you teaching at Grantham this coming Fall semester, that means we’ll be able to have lunch together at the Faculty Club,” Conrad reminded Mimi.