Chapter Twenty
“So, what are we going to do about Paulina?” Nicole asked Annie, when they spoke on the phone a few days later.
“I think we should tell Wanda about it on Friday night and see what she says.”
“Oh boy. I can just imagine what she’ll say.”
“I still can’t believe Paulina didn’t trust us enough to tell us,” Annie said.
“I wonder if that was what broke up her marriage.”
“That would be my guess. Hey, remember what the psychic said to her? A mask only fools the person wearing it.”
“It was probably really hard for her to keep it from us.”
Annie paused for a moment and then, in a more serious tone said, “Listen, Nic, I have a huge favor to ask you, and you know I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need your help.”
“Sure. What is it?”
“Remember when I bought that St. Joseph statue and buried it in the backyard of my expensive listing on Mira Vista Way? Well, it must have worked, because the sale is almost in the bag.”
“Annie, that’s great!”
“You’re telling me. I haven’t sold anything in months. Rick was the one who found me the buyer.”
“Wow, he really is the perfect man for you.”
“Turns out the prospective buyer is one of Rick’s clients. He was one of the men with him at Body Language the same night we were there.”
“Uh-huh.” Nicole still didn’t understand what this had to do with her.
Annie continued. “Apparently, he became quite smitten with you from afar.”
“Oh sure, naked women everywhere, but it was me he wanted.” She snorted, waiting for the punch line of what must surely be a joke.
“He wants to have dinner with you before sealing the deal.”
Nicole was silent. “And what did you tell him?” she finally asked.
“I told him we were a package deal—me and you, Rick and—”
“Please don’t tell me that you accepted on my behalf.”
“I had to! What was I supposed to say?”
“That I’m married, gay, terminally ill?”
“Please, Nic, I need to make this sale.”
Nicole had never heard Annie beg for anything before, especially when it came to business.
“What kind of man agrees to buy a house contingent on a dinner date?”
“A very rich one?”
“Since when are you willing to bend over for the sake of selling a home?”
“Since I became two months behind on my mortgage payment,” she said quietly.
“Oh Annie, I didn’t know things were that bad. Why didn’t you ask me to loan you some money?”
“I don’t borrow money from my friends. It’s against my principles.”
“But you’re fine with pimping them out.” When Annie didn’t say anything, Nicole quickly said, “I’m kidding. Okay, I’ll go. One dinner won’t kill me.”
“Thank you.” She sighed in relief. “It’ll have to be Thursday night, because he’s leaving for Chicago Friday morning and I want the papers signed before he goes.”
“Fine, but don’t say I’ve never done anything for you.”
“I won’t,” she said happily. “In fact, in return I’ll let you be my maid-of-honor.”
Annie disconnected before Nicole could ask whether this was a probability in the near future.
****
Nicole knew she was in big trouble when Wil called on Wednesday night to remind her about his family barbeque.
“This Thursday?”
“Did you forget?” he asked.
“Of course not. It’s just that all day I’ve had this sore throat.”
What was she supposed to tell him? I can’t meet your family, Wil, because I’m being forced to go on a dinner date with some man I don’t know from a strip club, so my friend can sell a house?
“Do you think you’re getting sick?” His worried tone made her feel lower than a cockroach for lying.
“Maybe. I’d better get to sleep early tonight.”
“Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow. Hope you feel better.”
“Me too,” Nicole said, even though she knew she was going to be feeling a whole lot worse.
****
Wil knocked softly on Nicole’s door, hoping he wouldn’t wake her. He was already late for the barbeque, but his mom wouldn’t let them leave until he had brought Nicole some soup she had made.
“Babe?” he whispered when he heard the doorknob turn. He was expecting Nicole to look as bad as she had sounded on the phone.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, coming outside and shutting the door behind her. She looked surprisingly beautiful considering she was so sick. Wrapped around her was a teal-blue blanket that intensified the blue in her eyes.
Wil handed her a round plastic container. “My mom made you soup to feel better.”
“Thanks,” she rasped.
“You look pretty good for having the flu. Why don’t I blow off the barbeque, so I can stay here and take care of you instead?”
Nicole’s front door swung open and a very tall man stepped out. “Ready to go?” he bellowed.
“Go where?” Wil asked. His first thought was that Nicole was sicker than he knew and this guy was taking her to the hospital. His second thought was, Who the hell is this yahoo?
The guy glanced at his Rolex and said, “We have dinner reservations in ten minutes. Is that your wrap, sweetheart?” he asked, pointing to the fleece blanket Nicole wore.
Wil felt as if he had just been kicked in the ass. He wasn’t stupid. He realized what was going on. Nicole had lied to him because she had a date with another man. He nodded calmly and turned to leave. No way would he let her see how devastated he was.
“Can you give me a minute?” he heard Nicole say. “Wil, wait!” she called.
He stopped and faced her, taking in her black cocktail dress and heels. “You made a fast recovery.”
“This is not what you think,” she said.
“What I think,” he said, narrowing his eyes, “is that you lied to me about being sick and you have a date with another man. Am I right?”
“Yes and no. It’s not a real date.”
Wil crossed his arms. “But you lied to me about it.”
She shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “It’s hard to ex—”
“Hey, you know what, it’s cool,” he said. “You were never in this thing one hundred percent anyway. I was just a booty call, right?”
Nicole laughed, which pissed him off even more that she wasn’t taking any of this seriously. “Booty call? Who still says that?”
“I just wanted to know what it was like to be with an older woman, you know, a cougar. See if all the stories my friends told me were true. And now that I’ve had you…” He was grasping at straws here, trying to think of anything to say that would hurt her like she had hurt him. Judging from the expression on her face, he had succeeded.
“Now that you’ve had me, what? What are you trying to say, Wil?”
He put his face so close to hers he could feel her breath. “You did the one thing I can never forgive. You lied to me.”
“So, that’s it? We’re over, just like that? End of discussion?”
“You’re way too old for me, anyway. Everyone knows a young guy never stays with an old woman. Imagine what you’ll look like when you’re fifty.” It was the last nail in her coffin.
He noticed her lip quivering slightly and for a moment, Wil wondered if he had gone too far. Then he saw her big clown of a date approaching, and he knew whatever the two of them had together was finished.
“You were my first and my last. I am done chasing you, Nicole Woods,” he said, leaving her standing there alone in the middle of the sidewalk.
****
“Is everything all right?” Ben asked when he reached Nicole.
She took a deep breath before answering. “Everything is fine. We work together and we had a difference of opinion, that’s all,” she explained.
“We really should be going.”
“Yes, of course,” she said, staring down at the soup she was holding. It was too late to bail out now. Nicole had agreed to this fiasco. Some good had to come of it.
By the end of dinner, she wanted to tie her leftover fettuccine together and hang herself. All Ben spoke about was how bad things were: the struggling economy, the weak dollar, depreciating property values, his tanking stocks. Talk about a big ball of negativity. If it weren’t for Annie giving Nicole’s thigh reassuring squeezes throughout dinner, she would have bolted long before. Here was a man who was only five years older than she was, yet compared to Wil he seemed ancient.
Nicole had to force herself not to think of Wil and the ugly things he had said or else she’d break out in sobs at the table. Think of Annie, she silently chanted in her head. Nicole was here to help her sell a house. And sell it she did. Ben signed on the dotted line, eliciting sighs of relief from both Annie and Nicole.
After the check had been paid, Ben asked if he could phone Nicole when he got back into town. She cursed herself for having no excuses prepared like Gee, I’d love to see you again, but I’m leaving for Africa on a yearlong safari.
“Well, my son is coming home, and with school starting and soccer—”
“I didn’t know you had kids,” he interrupted. He turned to Annie and Rick. “You never said she had kids.”
Annie feigned surprise. “I was sure I mentioned it.”
“Is there a problem with me having a son?” Nicole asked Ben.
“I don’t get involved with women who have kids, especially young kids. I have five grown ones of my own from three marriages, and I’m sure as heck not doing the whole daddy thing all over again.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” she said. “But I understand.”
On their way out, Annie hugged Nicole tightly. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Anything for you.”
Annie and Rick walked Nicole to her car. “I’ll call you tomorrow once I talk to Wanda to see where we’re going on Friday night,” Annie said.
Nicole started her car and watched the two lovebirds through her rearview mirror. Rick opened the car door for Annie and ushered her in, but not before kissing her on the lips.
That was me a week ago, glowing and ridiculously happy, she thought bitterly.
Nicole was glad Annie had found someone worthy to love her. She deserved it after wanting it for so long. But seeing Annie so happy only magnified her own misery. A tear slid down her cheek as she considered how ironic it was to miss someone this much when she had claimed she didn’t want him in the first place.