course of the past two days, she had called Talia no fewer than a dozen times in a dither over what she should wear tonight.
Meanwhile, Talia hadn’t seen or heard from Drex since leaving him on his doorstep. Without taking time even to say goodbye, she’d gotten the hell out of there. Several times, she had noticed that his car wasn’t in the driveway, but hadn’t caught sight of him leaving or returning. When she casually asked Jasper if he’d crossed paths with him, he’d said with disinterest, “No.”
Now, soaking in a bubble bath, chin-deep in scented suds, Talia wondered if Drex shared her disquiet over the incident. If he had dwelled on those few moments as much as she had, he might regret what he’d done and could well be embarrassed when he saw her tonight. Would it make for an awkward situation?
No. There wouldn’t be any awkwardness because she wouldn’t allow there to be. She would treat him as she had before: friendly, but with boundaries clearly drawn.
She was probably making far too much out of it anyway.
Having resolved that, she climbed out of the tub and proceeded to dress for the evening. She and Jasper had offered to pick up Elaine at seven. At fifteen minutes to, Talia checked her reflection in the mirror one last time, picked up her handbag, and, as she emerged from her dressing room, called to Jasper, “I’m ready.”
Elaine lived in a classy community of townhouses, Georgian in design, which afforded owners ample and pricey square footage, but zero lot lines. Talia parked at the curb and went up the walkway connecting the sidewalk to Elaine’s front door, which was made private from the street by an iron picket fence lined with shrubbery.
Within seconds of Talia’s ringing the bell, Elaine opened the door and exclaimed, “Oh my God, you look stunning!”
“Thank you. So do you.”
“It’s new.” Elaine pinched up the full skirt of her dress and curtsied.
“It’s lovely.”
“I can’t do slinky anymore,” she said wistfully, eyeing Talia up and down. “Is Jasper parking the car? Come in, come in so the mosquitoes don’t eat us alive. Drex, will you please tend bar?”
Talia drew up short just as she stepped across the threshold and spotted him lounging on the sofa. A great cat, having feasted on a fresh kill and lazing in the sun, couldn’t have appeared more satiated and indolent as he unfolded himself and stood up. “Hello, Talia.”
He was wearing dress slacks and a necktie, but the tie had been loosened, his collar button undone. She hadn’t yet braced herself to look him in the eye for the first time since last she saw him and was so taken off guard to find him here that the first words out of her mouth sounded like an accusation. “I thought you were meeting us at the restaurant.”
“He called and asked if he could come by early,” Elaine said. “And look what he brought me!” She pointed to the coffee table on which lay a rubber-banded manuscript.
“He had a copy made and asked me to read it and give him an honest assessment, which I swore I would do.”
Talia’s gaze moved from the manuscript back up to Drex. His smile was smug, his eyes glinting with insinuation, and she was certain he shifted them ever so subtly to the spot near her mouth that he’d touched with his thumb.
Before she gave in to the temptation to cross the room and slap him as hard as she could, she turned her back to him and addressed Elaine. “I’m sure he’ll benefit from your opinion.”
“He already has. He bounced several titles off me, and we decided on one just before you got here. Am I at liberty to tell her, Drex?”
“I’d rather keep it between us for now.”
Taking in the scene, Talia noticed that Elaine’s high-heeled sandals were lying on their sides in front of the sofa. Drex’s suit jacket was folded over the arm of a chair. Two half-filled highball glasses were on the coffee table. A gas fire flickered in the fireplace. It lent a romantic ambiance, but wasn’t radiating any heat.
Talia’s cheeks, however, were. She was furious over the way he had played her. It was an insult that he had asked Elaine to read his manuscript when he had soundly rejected her offer to do so. He was also playing Elaine in the very manner that Talia had warned him against.