All Summer Long: A Novel Part 36

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 shining 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!"

"You're pretty amusing yourself. That was some trip, wasn't it?"

"Yes. I have to say, I've never been to a wedding like that. It's incredible to see what greed and anger can make people do."

"Well, I hate to sound judgmental, but this is what happens when a man overstirs the pot."

"Aren't we all our own worst enemies?" Olivia said.

"Yes, we are. You know what strikes me as ironic is the difference between normal average people and super rich people. They do the exact same things to each other, but the super rich seem to have a strange appeal."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure how to pa.r.s.e this, but it's almost as if they give themselves permission to be insanely dramatic or something. If that wedding had taken place down on Sullivans Island and there were the exact same characters and situation, the Bob in that scenario would've taken the Colette in that situation aside long before it got to toppling the cake."

"Oh, I see what you mean." Olivia said. "He might have said something like, Now Colette, let's remember this day is about our son getting married. It's not about you and me."

"Precisely," Nick said. "It seems like there's a devil-may-care att.i.tude that invariably leads to an unwanted spectacle."

"Not enough thought goes into the situation in advance?"

"Yes. But I must say. I loved watching you tell Colette to shove it! Cheers!"

They touched the rim of their gla.s.ses.

"Cheers! And it felt really good to do it too. Lord knows, she is absolutely the most odious woman I have ever met. She used to be a lot nicer before Bob left her."

"But not nice enough to keep Bob."

"Well, that's what happens with him. He gets bored. Then he runs around. The wives get mad. He buys them off, but they lose the grand lifestyle. Then they become bitter because they're not wildly rich, just rich. Would you like to split an order of pasta, sweetheart?"

"Sure. Just choose. But your a.s.sessment sounds about right," Nick said.

"Look, this job Roni got for us will keep us afloat for a while, and then I'll just start beating the streets and see what I can find," Olivia said.

"Well, I have some news to tell you. You know when we went away, we were at odds about money and you not being completely honest with me about what shape we were really in? Well, this afternoon I received an email from the College of Charleston offering me a position in the history department. It's only part-time, but in addition to my pension and social security, it would help us a bit. I mean, I have to do my part as well. It's not fair for you to have to push all the rocks up the hill."

"Oh, Nick! You are such a darling! Do you care for bread?"

Olivia offered the breadbasket to him.

"Sure. Well, as much as I liked the idea of being a kept man, we can only eat so much fish. And to be perfectly honest, I like caviar better!"

"So do I. Shame on me, but so do I."

It was a sweet night for Olivia and Nick, walking hand in hand through the streets of Manhattan. They stopped in front of Rockefeller Center and peered through the windows of Teuscher Chocolates, Olivia's favorite chocolatier. Olivia told Nick a dozen times how much she loved him. He did the same. Then they strolled across the street to have a look in Saks Fifth Avenue's windows. Finally, they began to make their way home.

"It's good to have a walk after dinner. We'll sleep better."

"I don't think we're going to have trouble sleeping tonight," Olivia said.

She fell asleep before he did, but he drifted off while he was memorizing her beautiful face in the ambient light that streamed through the windows of their bedroom.

Nick left early in the morning.

"I'll call you and let you know how it's going," Olivia said.

"It's such a crazy story."

"You know, this morning I remembered that some time ago Maritza told me she knew she was going to have to do something spectacular to make Bob love her again."

"Well, I can't think of anything much more over the top, especially when it was apparently carried out on the spur of the moment. Or maybe it wasn't. It will be fun to talk about," Nick said and kissed her cheek.

"In any case, it looks like it worked. Have a safe trip."

"You too!" Nick was on his way back to the island of his heart.

Olivia spent the next few hours with Roni, going over details of their new job.

"Let's get an exact floor plan of the co-op, and if you could send it to me, I can get busy on scale and an electrical plan. She's going to love the Scalamandre fabrics for the living room. I know I do."

"I do too. And I love the Old World Weavers brocade the most."

"Yes, it's amazing. Okay, that does it for me. I've got to get out to Teterboro."

"Things have been very dull without you around. I have to admit it. I wish I was going on this jaunt."

"I'll be back on Sullivans Island tomorrow night. I can't wait to give you the details."

"And I can't wait to hear them! Have fun! Tell Maritza I said Atta girl!"

Olivia got into the Uber, and all the way to the airport, she thought about Nick and him not feeling tip-top. She didn't like it. When she got to Charleston, she'd find out who the local physician was and make him get a checkup. He would fight her about that, because like most men, Nick hated to go to the doctor. He was sixty-seven and in pretty good shape for his age. Maybe she'd get a checkup too. When they were back in the chips, maybe she'd hire a concierge doctor for them. No one was getting any younger, and maybe a doctor who was on call for them would make them seek out better health. It was something to think about. Then she wondered, pa.s.sing all the visual blight that was the insult of Route 46, if Maritza was angry with her, if Bob had spoken to her yet, if Ellen was coming along.

They pulled up to the terminal. Olivia got out and took her bag. She had everything with her that she had taken to Spain because she was flying straight from Jackson, Mississippi, back to Charleston. She kept thinking all she wanted was for Maritza and Bob to work out their differences and reconcile. Maybe then they'd buy a different house on Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard and she'd get the job of decorating it. Maybe then her life would become normal again. Maybe she'd get used to the South.

That's a whole lot of maybes, she thought.

She spotted Bob across the waiting area. He was on his cell phone, scowling. Gladdie was sitting quietly on a leather chair, one so large that it made her seem like she was very tiny. It occurred to Olivia then that there certainly was an awful lot of personality packed into one tiny person.

"Well, good morning, little miss! Where's Ellen?"

"Daddy told her to go away." Gladdie looked very sad.

"Really?" Olivia looked up at Bob, who had just ended his call. "Is this true? No more Ellen?"

"Uh, yeah. It's a preemptive move on my end, you know, to make the peace," he said.

"Well, good for you, Bob! That was a very good decision."