Part 36 (1/2)
They all said good-bye to one another in the lobby of the terminal. There was a part of Olivia that hoped she'd never have to travel with Dorothy and Mich.e.l.le and their husbands again. Oddly she would not have minded seeing Betty and Ernest on another occasion. They were superbly nice people with no hidden agenda. Homespun anything had never been so appealing.
Olivia and Nick took an Uber to their apartment on 58th Street, and Roni was there waiting for them. As Olivia was turning the key in the door, Roni was on the other side of the door, opening the chain lock.
”Hey!” Olivia said.
Roni gave Olivia a big hug, and to stay on the right side of decorum, a slightly less enthusiastic one to Nick.
”Hey! Welcome home! How was your trip?” she said.
”How much strength do you have?” Olivia said and began telling her the details of the story, much of which Roni already knew.
”Oh no! How terrible! Listen, at least we know she's okay.”
”Yes, and tomorrow I'm flying with Bob and Gladdie to Jackson, Mississippi, to watch Bob grovel in humble mortification.”
”I'd like to be the fly on the wall for that one. Do you think he's really sorry? I mean, will he be able to resist the next skirt that comes along?”
”As long as he stays in love, I think yes, he will. This scared him so badly that he says it changed him. Besides, he's not exactly a spring chicken. That might help.”
”Men and their zippers.”
”You said it! But I have to tell you when Maritza fell into the cake, I thought she might get up and pitch Colette over the side of the boat, except that Colette is twice the size of Maritza.”
”Too bad she didn't.”
”I think anyone there would've helped her do it, except her son.”
”Funny. But here's the big question. How the heck did she get to Mississippi from Spain without being caught when her face was plastered all over the news?”
”Well, that's the greatest mystery of all, but I'm sure it will come out eventually. So tell me, what did I miss?”
”I'm going to turn on the news,” Nick said, ”which I'm sure will seem mighty boring after what we've just been through.”
”Okay, sweetie, can I get you anything? Coffee?”
”No, sweetheart, I'm fine.”
Nick went into the den and closed the door.
”He looks tired,” Roni whispered.
Olivia nodded. ”It was an eight-hour flight and he's getting older too. Don't say I said it, though.”
”Gotcha. Well, remember that woman I told you I met at the Frick?”
”Yep.”
”We got the job! YAY! One-million-dollar budget! Her mother said, Are you kidding me? Just let Olivia do your apartment and quit whining. She's got better taste in her pinkie than you and I have in our entire bodies! So we've got almost carte blanche. I mean, we still ought to give her a presentation, but pretty much we can do what we want.”
”Oh! Congratulations! That's wonderful news! Especially since I told Bob's ex-wife Colette to buzz off. I think I need a gla.s.s of water.”
”I'll grab it. You sit. You told someone to buzz off? Why?”
”Listen, first we're supposed to decorate the Nantucket house. Right? Then we're not. We've got zero on the calendar. Then here comes Colette, Bob's most recent ex. She bought this big house in Charleston, if you can believe that for a s.h.i.+ning example of six degrees of separation. It needs a total gut and reno. She asked me if I wanted the job, and of course I said yes.”
”Well, of course you did!” Roni said and handed her a small bottle of Evian. ”It's not like you're living on some huge alimony or a trust fund.”
”I know. But when Maritza found out, she felt betrayed.”
”That's ridiculous, Olivia. She doesn't own you.”
”Yes, but Colette spent the whole wedding torturing Maritza. I mean, every time she opened her mouth, something terrible came out of it. She was so despicable. I mean, she really might be the most nasty and bitter woman I have ever met.”
”Girl? That's saying something, because we've known a few.”
Olivia told her the rest of the story about the cake and the press conference and every detail she could remember.
”You know, I stood there while Bob was on the phone with Maritza's mother just thinking that I was an actual witness to Bob's complete change of heart and add that to the possibility that he was on the verge of losing his family? Roni, it was intense. And you know what? He does not have a cavalier att.i.tude about this at all. That's why I agreed to go with him to Mississippi. I want to make sure he doesn't blow it.”
”It's a real love story,” Roni said.
”Yes, it is. A real love story coming from one of the most unlikely romantics I can even imagine.” Olivia smiled then thinking of Bob and hoping he and Maritza would find their way back to each other. She would talk to Maritza if it would help. ”So, I'm sorry I told Colette to forget it. But I just couldn't work for her.”
”Olivia? I don't blame you one bit. Don't worry. Work will find us.”
Later on that afternoon when Olivia and Roni had put together storyboards for their new client, they stopped to make cappuccinos for themselves.
”I'm feeling sleepy,” Olivia said.
”Well, it's ten o'clock at night for you. Why don't I just take off now and see you in the morning?”
”Probably not a bad idea. I'm not leaving until three tomorrow afternoon. I can get an early supper with Nick and turn in.”
”Supper? You mean dinner?” Roni said.
”I'm turning into a southerner.”
That night Olivia and Nick walked over to Il Tinello for tortellini Bolognese and a gla.s.s of red wine. They were seated at a small table near the front of the restaurant. It was their favorite Italian spot in the city.
Nick said, ”I just feel like a bowl of pasta would make me feel better.” He wiped his fork with his napkin.
”You don't feel well, sweetheart?”
”It's probably just jet lag, but I feel a little off. You know, not quite myself.”
”Do you want to stay in New York longer? I can change your ticket.”
”No, no. I hear the call of the wild! The fish are taunting me, even from here!”
”You are so funny, darling!”