Part 9 (1/2)
Then he sobered as he watched me getting dressed.
”Karina,” he said in a soft voice. ”Are you satisfied? I mean, information-wise.”
”For now,” I said, squeezing his shoulder as I pulled on my sandals. ”I should get back.”
”Stefan will follow you and check out the neighborhood.” He pushed a b.u.t.ton on his phone, and I realized he must've had Stefan on some kind of speed-dial. Speed text? ”With any luck, your mother's con man will have moved on to another target, but better to be safe.”
”All right.” I wished Stefan could drive me so we could continue to catch up, but I had a car of my own to drive. We could talk on the phone, but it was nicer to sit in the front seat with him. ”My sister's leaving tomorrow.”
”To go back to the restaurant?”
”Yes.”
”They must really be missing her there,” he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
Something about the way he said it caught my attention. ”That's right,” I said with a frown. ”Do you know why?” I didn't remember telling him this.
”Yes. They're launching the new menu on Thursday,” he said, looking at me quizzically, then with alarm as my frown turned to an angry glare. ”Karina, what's wrong?”
”How did you know about the restaurant changing?”
”Shouldn't I know about it?”
I yanked the phone out of my purse and shook it at him. ”Do you have some kind of tap on my phone? Some other kind of spy c.r.a.p? Didn't you just get through saying you should have trusted me? What the h.e.l.l, James!”
He had his hands up as if I were shaking a gun at him, not a smartphone, and tried to defend himself verbally. ”No! Nothing like that! Karina, don't jump to hasty conclusions!”
”What the h.e.l.l kind of conclusion am I supposed to make, then? How do you know about the restaurant?”
”I'm Xavier's angel investor,” he said.
”How the f.u.c.k do you know Xavier!” I shouted.
The alarm on his face only grew. ”Karina, it's not what it looks like...”
”A patent attempt to own all the people around me so you control everything?” I spat.
A soft knock came at the door. Stefan, most likely.
”No, Karina. It's nothing like that.”
”The h.e.l.l it's not,” I said, and yanked open the door. Stefan was standing there looking sheepish. ”Come on. Let's go.”
I marched into the hallway as Stefan looked back and forth between us before hurrying after me, catching up after a few steps.
”Everything all right?” he asked hesitantly.
”Argh! Your boss is the freakiest control freak who ever lived!” I said, jabbing the elevator b.u.t.ton.
We stepped in. After the door closed, Stefan said, ”I cannot dispute that, though I have very few points of comparison.” He looked quite distressed.
”Don't give me that look.”
”I'm upset that you're upset. That's all, Karina.”
”I thought it was going to work. I thought we could get past the bulls.h.i.+t. But now I'm not so sure.”
”Give him a chance, Karina, please.”
”Why? Why should I give him a chance?”
The elevator doors opened, but Stefan stood blocking them, his hands pressed together like he was praying. ”Because he loves you so very very much. And I have never seen him in this much pain.”
”Not even with Lucinda?”
”Not even close. Karina, please. Because I care about him and you as well-”
I pushed past him into the lobby and headed for my car. For a moment, though, I couldn't remember which one it was, and he caught up while I was staring at three or four rentals that were all almost the same.
”I'll give him one more chance tomorrow,” I said. ”One more.” I pushed the key fob and one of the cars in front of me flashed its lights. ”Do you know my address?”
”I do,” Stefan admitted. ”It wasn't hard to find.”
”Fine.” If I had been smart, I would have told him the make and model of Phil's car. But I couldn't remember. I'd only gotten a glimpse of the car and had been too focused on Phil himself, and getting rid of him, to think about it. ”Let's go.”
I fumed the whole way home. Stefan followed at a discreet distance, as if giving me s.p.a.ce to vent.
When I got home, I saw the limo circle the block at least once, and then I stopped paying attention. I sat down with Jill to watch the late news.
She took one look at me, though, and said, ”You don't look so happy.”
I shook my head. ”One step forward, two steps back,” I said. I really didn't want to say anything about the restaurant, though. The last thing I wanted to do was throw a monkey wrench into Jill's dreams.
”What happened?”
”Oh, we talked a lot. He answered all my questions. I really thought everything was going great. But then... right at the end he let something slip that made me stop trusting him all over again.”
”That sucks,” Jill said.
And then a third voice I didn't expect, added, ”Trust is hard.”
I looked to see my mother standing at the bottom of the stairs. ”Oh, Mom, did we wake you?”
She shook her head and came to sit on the couch next to me. She took the remote off the coffee table and turned down the volume partway. ”The medicine wore off is all,” she said with a shrug. ”I think I'm going to try to switch to ibuprofen.”
”Okay, if you're sure.”