The Affair - Danielle Steel Page 0,30

There was a silence at the other end that lasted so long Nadia thought they had been disconnected. “Hello?…Hello?…Ollie?” She still called her that, even after all the years since they’d grown up.

“I’m here. I’m thinking. We’re going to Maine, and Will is bringing a friend. I’m not sure Harley wants to deal with two fourteen-year-old boys all weekend,” but her son was very well behaved, and as serious as his parents. There was no teenage rebellion at their house. It wouldn’t have been tolerated by either parent. Nadia liked her brother-in-law, but he was extremely straightlaced and sober at sixty, but so was her sister, who was not quite forty yet. Olivia seemed much older than her years in her behavior, not her appearance. She was a beautiful slim blonde, and looked a lot like their mother, in a smaller version. She and Nadia looked as different as night and day, the one dark, the other fair, and they were so close in age and size that people had always mistaken them for fraternal twins.

“I’d love it if you came,” Nadia said gently, “but I understand if you can’t. It’s short notice, but I’ll be alone at the château with the girls for the first two weeks in July and it would be so much fun to be the four of us for the Fourth of July weekend, especially now.”

“Where’s your shit of a husband going to be then?” Olivia asked harshly.

“In the South with friends for a couple of weeks.”

“Has he moved out yet?” Olivia always went straight to the heart of the matter, like their mother, but in a much tougher way.

“Half-assedly,” Nadia answered. “We’re working on it. I told him he needs to get an apartment, that he can’t keep bouncing back and forth between the two of us. I think he’s afraid that if he moves out, I’ll never let him back in, and it really will be over.”

“I certainly hope so,” Olivia said in a clipped tone. “It is over, Naddie. You just have to get used to that idea. And so does he. I’d say her being pregnant clinches that.” Nadia knew that that was not necessarily true, but didn’t argue the point with her sister, knowing she wouldn’t win. Her sister was as American as the flag, and there were no compromises or turning back with her. As far as she was concerned, they were done. Nadia wasn’t quite as sure. She thought it was over, but what if their marriage could be salvaged? It was a living, breathing entity to her, and she wasn’t ready to euthanize it yet, even if part of her agreed with her sister and thought she should. Another part of her didn’t. Her hope for their marriage was dwindling daily, but the ashes weren’t cold yet.

“I’ll talk to Harley and Will and see how they feel about it. Can I call you tonight?”

“Of course. I’d love it if you’d come,” she said again.

“I’d better get back to work,” Olivia said. “I’d love to see you,” she said, sounding gentler. “Harley’s in a regatta that weekend, I don’t know how badly he wants me there. But at least he’ll be busy.” They hung up a minute later, and Olivia turned her attention to the document on her desk, thinking about Nadia in Paris, and how nice it would be to spend four days with her sisters. They didn’t do it often enough, and Nadia’s marital disaster gave them an excuse. Olivia was tempted to do it, if her husband didn’t object.

* * *

—

Nadia called Athena right after she’d spoken to Olivia. It was still early in California, and Athena had just come off the air. Most of the time, she was preparing food on camera live, usually with perfect results, but now and then it turned out badly. When it did, she would show her viewers how to salvage a dish that had gone wrong. She was creative and funny, and people loved her show. The sales of her vegetarian and vegan cookbooks had gone through the roof since she’d had the show. She was now considered the guru of vegetarian cuisine. Occasionally, she taped the show, but rarely. People loved the fact that it was live. Athena had a strong, happy personality that was like a warm embrace. She sounded delighted the moment she heard her sister’s voice.

“How’s my baby sister?” she asked, and always sounded as though she really cared and would drop