“That’s ridiculous. You’re lying to me. You know perfectly well where she is. She doesn’t move an inch without telling you first.”
“Well, she did this time. She was gone when I got to work.”
“Did she get hurt again?” Deanna asked, sounding worried for an instant.
“I don’t think so. She told me she’d be out this morning. She didn’t tell me where.”
“That’s very odd. Well, tell her to call me when she gets back. I’ve got to resolve this thing about the benefit.”
“I think she resolved it,” Penny said blandly, chuckling inwardly. “She told me it’s not going to happen here.”
“We haven’t finished discussing it,” Deanna said firmly.
“I think she has.” Deanna made a snorting sound into the phone and didn’t comment, and without saying goodbye to Penny she hung up. “Thank you to you too, Miss Charming,” Penny said to the receiver after Deanna hung up, and then she got on with her work. There would be plenty to do without Maddie, for the first week or two at least. And she’d find enough to keep her busy after that. Maddie had wrapped up all her own pending projects before she left, and had spent the weekend doing it. It explained the mountain of work Maddie had left for Penny the previous Monday, which made total sense to her now. She was clearing her desk, and her head.
* * *
—
When Maddie got to Boston, she drove around for a few minutes, trying to get her bearings, and consulted the GPS in the rented car. It took her to the Four Seasons Hotel, where she checked in to a junior suite. It was big enough to give her some space, without being overly luxurious. She sat down for a few minutes after she checked in to the room, thought about it, and called Bob at his venture capital firm. It was noon, and a secretary told her he had just left for lunch. Maddie left her name and number, and went out for a walk. She stopped to have a salad at a small restaurant on the way back. There were young people everywhere. Boston was always full of students. There were more colleges per square inch than any city she knew of. It was a haven for college kids from all over the world.
She went back to her room after she returned, and lay down for a while, thinking about Bob. She wondered if he was going to call her. He called her at four o’clock.
“Is that you?” he asked in a shocked voice. He had just gotten her message after an unusually long lunch, celebrating a big deal and going over final details.
“Yes, it is,” she said, smiling. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to hear from me or not. It’s been a long time.”
“Twenty-six years, to be exact,” he said a little drily, curious about why she’d called.
“Looking at your website, you’ve been busy in the meantime. Very impressive,” she said generously.
“You’re the one who’s a big star now. I went to your show at the Museum of Fine Arts about five years ago. I was going to write to you then, but time got away from me, and then I felt stupid writing to you, and I wasn’t sure you’d get it. How are your kids?” She was touched that he asked. He’d been somewhat overwhelmed by them when they dated. Three young children was a lot for him to deal with. He was young then, and so were they.
“Fine. Busy. Grown up. Ben and Deanna are both married with kids of their own. Milagra is writing gothic novels in Mendocino with a flock of cats and dogs. Ben lives in San Francisco, and Deanna is in New York. She’s a fashion designer, and he’s doing his second start-up. I hardly see any of them, but they’re happy, and I work a lot.”
“You always did,” he said, sounding warmer than he had at first.
“What about you? Married? Kids?” she asked.
“Yes, to both questions. A son at Vassar, a daughter at Princeton. Times have changed.” They both laughed. “They’re good kids. He wants to be an artist, she wants to go to law school. What are you doing in Boston?” She had thought a lot about how she would answer that question, and had decided that honesty was the simplest course.
“It will sound crazy, but I came to see you.”
“I’m not sure I believe that,” he said, skeptical. “Why didn’t you call first?”
“I decided on the trip on fairly short notice. But you’re right, I should have let you know.” She felt rude for a minute, he had always been very traditional and conservative about things like that. He was not a spontaneous kind of person, and liked to plan, a little too much for Maddie in those days, especially since her plans changed constantly with three young kids, when one of them got an earache or a babysitter didn’t show up. Their lives had been incompatible in a number of ways, which was why the relationship hadn’t lasted. But two years had been a respectable run, and she wanted to see him anyway, for old times’ sake, if nothing else. “I had one of those weird epiphanies a couple of weeks ago. I was cleaning out a closet and came across a box of old letters and photographs, and there you were. I then proceeded to fall off the ladder and break my ankle. And I decided it would be nice to see you and find out how you are. So I looked you up on Google a few days later, rented a car, drove to Boston, and here I am. It’s probably inconvenient as hell.” He was quiet for a minute before he answered.
“It’s not inconvenient. It’s just kind of a shock. I never thought I’d see you again. I’d love to see you, Maddie.” His voice was suddenly full of emotion. He’d always had a somewhat stiff exterior, but a soft heart.
“Whenever you want.” She was free and had no plans.
“Are you free for dinner tonight?”
“Yes, I am. Do you want to bring your wife?” It would be somewhat disappointing, but she was open to anything, that’s what this trip was all about. Finding them where they were and discovering who they were now.
“No, I don’t. I’ll explain all that when I see you. We have a lot to catch up on.”
“Maybe less on my side than on yours. My life hasn’t changed much. I work harder and my kids are bigger, other than that nothing is different.”
“I don’t see how you could work harder than you used to,” he said admiringly. “You were the workhorse of all time. Superwoman, with kids.”
“Thank you for the compliment.” He had obviously worked hard too, as he had then. They had that in common.
“Where are you staying?”
“The Four Seasons.”
“I’ll pick you up at eight. I drive a black Ferrari, in case you don’t recognize me.”
“I have a cast on my left leg. I’ll wave it at you so you know it’s me.”