It wasn’t fair; I had what I wanted, she didn’t. We fell into an odd waltz: I dampened my happiness, she masked her sorrow.
The prospect of meeting Marc for dinner raised her spirits a little. I still hadn’t heard from him, aside from the drawing I carried in my purse. I missed him.
When the shop closed and Uncle Michael returned from his meetings, I retreated to my room upstairs in relief. My failed stint as a cheerleader left the bitter taste of disappointment on my tongue. I dialed Auntie Faye’s number.
“Hi, Auntie, did you send the picture?”
My aunt was in her salon. The ambient noise filled the background, making it hard for me to hear her. “Yes, it should arrive tomorrow morning. What’s the rush?”
I ignored the question. It would lead to too many follow-up demands. “Did you find anything else out?”
“Mr. Renaud has many admirers. So many desperate women. The worst is his close friend’s sister, Leticia Chirac. She has been after him for years. One time, she bribed the concierge of a hotel he was staying at in Zurich to get into his room. It caused a scandal. She was waiting for him on his bed, naked. Allegedly. One of the maids found her when he called to have someone check if he had left his briefcase in the room. Everyone involved was fired. He travels with his assistant now.”
“Creepy.” I shuddered. “Does this mean he has a bodyguard then?”
“You mean his driver and assistant. Mr. Leo Lieu. Ex-marine. Ninth-degree red belt in jujitsu. He’s a distant relative of Ning’s husband. I asked George, and he said they met once at a family reunion in upstate New York.”
I might be able to use this. Uncle George had always doted on me, and dropping his name on the bodyguard might give me access to Girard. Enlisting him in my matchmaking scheme was a stretch, but at minimum, I hoped that the vague family connection could grant me an audience before he put me in a chokehold.
“Linda wants to know when you’re calling. You know you don’t want to keep your mother waiting. Call her after you get off the phone with me.”
“I will. I promise.”
“How is Evelyn doing?”
Miserable and defeated. “She’s with Uncle Michael now. He’s visiting from Munich,” I said instead. “We’re going to have dinner soon.”
“Good. We’re worried about her.”
“You sound like you miss her.”
“I do. We all do. She’s one of us, even she can’t deny that.” There was a pause and a sigh. “Go call your mother.”
“Yes, Auntie. Thank you again.”
I hung up.
Before I could call Ma, I needed to figure out how to downplay the accident. She would worry regardless, yet I had to mitigate the damage as much as possible. The best-case scenario happened: I was alive and free of the curse. And I had a romantic prospect. If I could get her to focus on the latter, maybe she’d gloss over the former.
I dialed Ma’s number and crossed my fingers that she was in a meeting and I could leave a voice message.
No luck. My mother picked up. “Vanessa, why haven’t you called? Are you avoiding me?”
“It’s been busy here. I need you to do me a favor: please don’t freak out.” I then detailed what happened in a gush of words, an inundation of trivial facts in a shower of syllables. It was the preferred tactic of a guilty child caught in the act. “And I’m about to have dinner now with Uncle Michael and Aunt Evelyn. They’re going to meet Marc.”
Ma created a series of exasperated noises that made me thankful I was 5,571 miles away. “You almost died and you didn’t even call your mother!” Her scream made me pull the phone away from my face.
“I am okay. Only minor scrapes. My suitcase took the brunt of it. I’m fine, Ma, really.”
“That’s not the point. I’m also upset with Evelyn, but that’s between me and her.”
I didn’t want to be privy to that conversation, nor the current one, where my dear mother needed to be placated like an angry deity. “She didn’t want to alarm you. She talked to the doctor and knew I was fine. Calling you would have freaked you out when the situation was handled. She probably asked them to keep me overnight, and I was discharged the next day.” The last part was a lie, but my aunt needed all the points with my mother that I could give her.
“Still.” The decibels decreased as her outrage subsided. “You both should have told me sooner.”
A message flashed across the screen. It was an incoming call from Marc.
“I have to go. It’s Marc. I have to take this.”
“Fine. We’ll talk later.”
As I hung up and switched to the other line, I felt a foreboding sense of dread, not from any kind of preternatural ability, but born from the repeated experience of being stood up.
Forty-One
I’m sorry. I couldn’t call earlier. The boss has me working long hours and is making me come in during my time off to help out. It’s worse then ever, if you can imagine that. I miss you.”
“I miss you too.” The sound of his deep voice was soothing. “Did you get my earlier message?”
“About the hotel. Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to respond.”
“Marc, I almost died the other day. I was going to the hotel. A van almost ran me over.”
“Oh God, are you all right? I should come over. I’m so sorry. I should have been there . . .”
“It’s okay. I was a bit shaken up, but my suitcase bore the brunt of the impact. My aunt helped me and I decided to stay with her.”
There was a pause, and then he sighed.
“You’re not coming tonight, are you?” I asked.
“I was set to come, but then, a few minutes ago, he called me back in. I swear, he’s sabotaging my life. It feels like forever since we shared pancakes.”
I pushed down my disappointment. The slight bothered me, but I didn’t want to make a fuss: I understood the pressure he was under, but I wanted him to make time for us.
“As bad as my problems are, I’m sure they’re minor compared to your aunt. How is she doing?” he asked.
“Not well. Few people are going in. The boycott and setbacks are killing her business, and her hopes. Everything she has, she poured into the store. Did you find out anything?”
“Claude’s sister, Leticia, is responsible for the flyer. She’s been in love with the boss for years. She eats dinner at the restaurant every night just to see him. Beautiful woman, but obsessive and territorial.”