Driving in Neutral (21 page)

With Maxwell’s hand clasping hers, she looked up at the blue summer sky and breathed through her nose. One more molar sweep followed by a lower lip nibble, a bit more fondling, and Karl would be through. The best way to drive Karl, to drive the unwanted thoughts for Maxwell, was to stay in neutral, to coast along.

The blond man slid his hand over Olivia’s breast and Emerson didn’t like it. He’d had enough. It took a good bit of self control not to haul off and deck the guy—or grab him by the throat and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze, which was a gesture he was pretty sure Olivia wouldn’t appreciate.

At last, the fair man released Olivia, stepped back, and Emerson got a very obvious sizing up. The man’s mouth quirked when he took notice that their hands were linked together. An eyebrow rose above his amazingly blue eyes, and his mocking, skeptical gaze moved back to Olivia.

Other than the sheen of wetness left behind by the ardent lip-lock, Olivia’s face remained utterly blank.

“Ah!” A smile lit up Alpine good looks and the foreign man extended a hand to Emerson. “
Bitte, entschuldigung
…apologies. Hallo. I think you Olifia’s…
friend
are?”

“Yes, Emerson Maxwell. And you’re…?” He made no move to shake the man’s hand and tightened his fingers around Olivia’s. He waited for her to let go, but she stayed exactly where she was.

“Karl Abenteuer.”

Karl, as in Karl the philandering ex-husband
? Emerson clamped his teeth together and nodded, glancing at Olivia. Her nostrils flared occasionally, yet her face was still devoid of expression. She breathed in and out in regularly timed intervals, exactly like she tried to get him to do the day they got stuck in the elevator. He could measure her breaths, counting as she inhaled and exhaled in perfect control.

For some reason, it made him smile.

“
Was machts du hier
, Karl?” she asked.

“I come to have
Geschenk
, a present fur Ella today.”

“You skipped the race at Monza to bring a wedding present—”

“Did you not hear I had injury
und kann nicht fahren
?”

“Well I’m sorry you can’t drive. Give me your present and I’ll give it to Ella and tell her you stopped by with good wishes.”

“
Ja, schön
. The
Geschenk ist in meinem Auto
.”

“Then get the present out of your car.”

“
Nein, Katzchen
. I vant to say hallo to Ella—”

“I’m not your
Katzchen
, Karl.”

“You are hiss?” Karl jerked his chin at Emerson and sniffed.

At that point, Olivia dropped his hand. She stepped forward, took Karl’s arm and launched into what Emerson knew was German. He didn’t think their exchange was heated, but it was obvious Karl was insulted by whatever Olivia said and switched back into his mix of half German and English.

“I was
eingeladen
to here!” he protested.

“You weren’t on any guest list I saw, so who invited you Karl?”

“
Erhielt ich eine Einladung in der Post
.”

“I know you got it in the mail, but who sent you the invitation?”

“The bride
und
groom.”

“I find that very surprising.”

“
Ja
I was
auch Überberrascht
.” Karl smiled broadly. “
Also, hier bin ich, Katzchen
.”

“Yes, here you are,” she said dryly.

Karl glanced at Emerson, sniffed dismissively and smiled at Olivia. “
Ist
there somesing I can do
fur
you?” Somesing I can…better make?” Even with his accent and funny grammar, his proposition was clear, and he licked his lips.

“You could leave.” Olivia took Emerson’s hand again.

“Anything to make you happy,
Katzchen
.
Ich
will bring
mien Geschenk
inside
und
see you at the wedding. Tomorrow.” With a slight nod of his head and, Emerson imagined, a click of his heels, Karl left them and went to a polar blue Mercedes parked a little back from Olivia’s Aston Martin.

Amused and very curious, Emerson watched her track her ex-husband’s movements. “Why does he call you Katherine?” he asked. “Is that your middle name?”

She exhaled very slowly. “He doesn’t call me Katherine.”

“It sounded like Katherine.”

“It’s
Katzchen
.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Little kitten.”

“Kitten?”

She pulled her hand from his and looked up at him with a level squint. “Yes, a pet name for a once pet wife.” On uneven feet, she trod back into the grass and pulled the broken heel of her shoe from the spongy turf.

Ten minutes later, Olivia sat on the edge of her bed with a broken shoe in her hand. She yearned for a meditative long soak in the tub in Jason’s bathroom, but she had to settle for controlled breathing to clear her head.

After a few minutes, she tossed the shoe across the room, sinking a perfect shot into a wicker wastebasket near the door. She changed her clothes, ridding herself of the grass stained shorts Justine would have commented on, and slipped into a floral halter dress.

As she stood before a mirror near the French doors and applied fresh mascara, she started laughing. She was still laughing when Ella flung open the door and froze on the threshold, looking like she’d stepped out of a Joan Crawford potboiler from the ’40s. Her arms stretched out, her hands planted against the frame, her uplifted bosom heaved in a sleeveless rose-pink wrap dress.

Olivia stopped laughing. She set down the mascara and cleared her throat. “So what sort of gift did Karl give you?”

“Oh, God, I’m sorry!” Ella crossed the room, her chin quivering. Emotion made her voice deeper and she sounded like Foghorn Leghorn as she dropped to her knees, clutched at Olivia’s hands and squeezed them. “Ah am so sorry. Ah don’t know what happened. Ah’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure this out. All Ah can think is there were so many invitations to address. Mommy and Ah kept arguing over if the addresses were supposed to be
Mr. and Mrs. John Jones
or
John and Jane Jones
. Ah got so upset she suggested we do half one way and half the other. She took A through L of the address book and Ah took M through Z. Ah think Mommy must have sent one to your old address, when Ah had you listed under Abenteuer. Ahm
so
sorry. Ah you all right?”

Olivia didn’t want to think about it. She never wanted to think about it. In fact, she hadn’t thought about it since she signed the divorce papers. It had happened and it was over. Okay, it had been unanticipated, it had been strange, but it was not overwhelming. Letting Karl perturb her and allowing it to agitate Ella was counterproductive. “I’m fine,” she said with a shrug. “It was just a momentary hiccup. Sometimes tires blow, engines fail, and gearboxes disintegrate, but you go on with the… This isn’t a competition. It’s your wedding. So let’s get back to focusing on that and leave the past where it was.”

Ella blinked a few times. Then she frowned and took a seat on the bed, wrapping her arms around Olivia. “You’re remarkable, you know that?”

“No, I’m not. I just have remarkable reflexes.” Olivia hugged her back, smoothing her friend’s hair. “I’m well trained in dealing with unexpected turns. Damn, there I go again.”

The airy little laugh that flipped from Ella’s lips was followed by a sigh. “Actually, I meant some people live in the past, but you’re so well protected, so in control and distant from your own history, you don’t let it, or anything else, touch you. I know I already said this before, but this wedding has been good for you, especially this weekend. Over the last few weeks it’s been like a fog has finally lifted from you. You seem happier than I’ve seen you in a long time. I was worried Karl was going to spoil it.”

“Spoil
your
wedding? No way would that happen. I
won’t
let that happen.”

“I know.” Ella pulled away, her expression thoughtful. She brushed her hands over her cheeks. “I mean spoil how you are. You’ve been smiling and laughing a lot more. You’ve got your old spark back and it’s nice, because for the last year you’ve been behind some kind of shield, muffled by your defense.”

“Muffled?”

“After you walked out on Karl, you cut yourself off, detached yourself from your emotions.”

“No I didn’t.” Olivia shook her head.

Ella nodded. “Yes, you did. And like I said, you’ve been muffled.”

“That’s ridiculous. I laugh all the time.”

“Oh, sure, you smile and laugh at jokes. You find humor in everything. You know when to smile, when to make a comment, you pick up all the cues, but you’re not really you. You’re so level. Everything with you has been even-handed. You look like you, but you haven’t been you. You never get mad or upset or have any wild reaction to anything at all. There’s just been this…complete calm. Except for a few times, like the day you went down to E&P for the job. Pete said you got soaked in the rain and you didn’t bat an eye, except for…except for Emerson and how he was so, um, annoying, but you got right back down to business. You’re all business and management. Everything bounces off you. Nothing sticks or penetrates. Damn, Olivia, you’ve been so well managed you’ve been…you’ve been, well not robotic, but absolutely
flat
and something’s finally sparked you back to life. You’re breathing again and I hope seeing Karl isn’t going to drag you back under cover. I know how very much you once loved him.”

Olivia ran a finger over the scar on her chin. She took a couple of steps and sat on the edge of the bed. She couldn’t deny the fact she had loved Karl deeply, but she was a little confused by Ella’s statement. “I’ve been flat?” she asked.

Ella nodded. “You’ve been flat and I’ve been a bitch. Ask anyone. They’ll all say the same thing.
Ella’s the bitchiest bitch in all Bitchtown and Olivia’s flat
. Pete noticed you were different the day you showed up at his office, and he was really shocked. He asked me if you were all right. I kind of wondered myself because you haven’t even prickled with Justine. I know you don’t like me to intervene and you usually deal with her in your own way, but you haven’t complained about her once. You haven’t made any sort of comment about her and you certainly haven’t told her or me to go to hell, even when I’ve given you lots of cause to.”

People seldom have a completely accurate self-image. They usually get one or two things wrong, usually little things, but this was something Olivia lacked any awareness of at all. She was stunned by how Ella saw her. “I’ve been
flat
?” she said again.

“I knew it was a defensive mechanism to cover up how much Karl hurt you and maybe you just got used to how it felt.” Ella squeezed Olivia’s shoulder reassuringly. “You know, I’m really good at keeping things to myself. I guess didn’t realize how good you were too.” A sly smile tugged at her lips and she giggled. “So how come you never told me
exactly
how well you got to know Emerson the day you met him in the elevator?”

Olivia groaned and rolled her eyes. “Oh, for the love of God!”

Every trace of tears gone, Ella cascaded into a sliding musical scale of laughter. “You don’t know how much I’ve wanted to say something.”

Covering her eyes with one hand, Olivia groaned again. “How long have you known?”

“Since the day you started at E&P. I think he likes you.”

“Oh, you sounded just like you did in ninth grade.
Olivia, Olivia, Gregory Wallashowski likes you!
”

“Well, he
did
.”

“Okay, what did big mouth Maxwell tell you?”

“Okay, I know he seems to annoy you. I’ve heard peculiar things come out of his mouth too, but Emerson didn’t tell me anything. Pete did.”

“Pete? What did your brother say?”

Ella laughed again, poked her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and wiggled her eyebrows. “He said Emerson talked you into getting naked in the elevator.”

“Is
anyone
interested in the real story?”

“Sweetie, you of all people should know well how scandal sells.”

Disgusted with that truth, Olivia grunted and flopped backward onto the bed.

Emerson retied the lace on his bowling shoe and glanced at the computerized screen above their lane. Not one of them seemed to know how to keep score, but it didn’t seem to matter and no one cared. The pizza was tasty and the accompanying beer was delivered by a very pretty barmaid. She wore a satiny bowling shirt that showed off her substantial cleavage and very tiny black shorts that accentuated long, tanned legs and an amazingly firm ass. The groomsmen were all mellowed enough to roll the ball down the lane without caring too much about who was knocking over the most pins in a single frame and each of them, in one way or another, noticed the girl balancing a tray of suds and glasses on her nicely rounded hip.

Jason whistled after the barmaid moved on to another lane. “Now that is
exactly
what corn-fed should be.”

“Isn’t the farmer’s daughter a little young for you Jason?” Martin poked him in the ribs.

“Hey, I’m not middle aged like you are. I can still date younger women and not look like a total cock. Which reminds me, where did you meet Addie?”

“Yeah, Mart, how old is that girl of yours anyhow?” Craig chimed in.

“Able Addie,” Martin had a nickname for every woman he saw, even the ones he supposedly liked, “is a fitness instructor at my health club.”

“How old is she?”

“Yeah. Exactly. How old is Addie?” Pete chuckled.

“I don’t know.” Martin shrugged offhandedly and bowled a pearly gray ball down the lane with a newly developed interest in the backspin he put on it.

Al, who hadn’t said a thing in two days, suddenly spoke up, his mouth full of partially chewed pepperoni. “She’s twenty-seven. Sooze said Addie’s twenty-seven.”

“You’re what, forty-five, Mart? That makes her like, half your age doesn’t it?”

“Tell me something Jason, when you were in school, did they teach math?” Martin took a seat behind the scoring desk and rested an ankle on his knee.

“Well, yeah.”

“So where did you learn twenty-seven was
half
of forty-five?”