15 Chapter 15

Beatrice

"What is this? Guantanamo? Are you going to waterboard me?" I ask.

"Not if you tell us everything," Rosalind says.

I'm sitting on the coffee table, and Olivia, Rosalind, Diane, and Bessie are on the couch facing me, like I'm the movie screen at a matinee. Even Olivia's kids are looking at me while they sit on the floor with Tiffany in a sea of Legos. Diane even turned off the television. I'm definitely the center of attention. I don't want to let them down. Everyone's put a lot of time and effort into my love life.

"We had sex," I tell them. "And there was a volcano involved. Not with the sex but during the trip. Cole saved me from the volcano."

"Ohhh," the women say in unison, nodding.

"Did he pop the question?" Bessie asks.

"He asked me if I wanted fish or beef at dinner. Does that count?"

"No!" the women say in unison.

"This man is a confirmed bachelor," I say. "I don't think he's going to pop the question any time soon or ever."

But I'm not sure I'm telling the truth, and besides that, I'm happy. Deliriously happy. I could get an overdraft statement from the bank, have trouble opening a jar of pasta sauce, and break a heel on my way to a job interview, and I would still be smiling. I keep skipping instead of walking and giggling for no apparent reason.

"I don't think she's telling us everything," Olivia says. "She looks like the cashier at the store just informed her that it's double coupon day."

"Like she's gotten an armadillo purse for her birthday," Bessie says, and everyone looks at her.

Rosalind shakes her head. "So where are we in our Operation Billionaire timeline? Has he told you he loves you yet?"

No, he hasn't. "He fell asleep on my lap," I say because that's my biggest proof that Cole cares for me beyond liking to get naked with me.

"What does that mean?" Olivia asks. "Is that code?"

"Cole never sleeps," Bessie explains. "Only a couple hours a night, and that's in his bed, not on bony legs."

I want to kiss Bessie for calling my legs bony.

"So, we've got an evolution in the paradigm," Rosalind says. "Now we have to give it a jolt."

"The gala's tonight. She can show him how competent she is," Olivia suggests.

"Is that a good idea?" Diane asks. "What if she paralyzes him or gouges out his eye?"

"Hey, the volcano wasn't my fault," I say, affronted. "I'm not God. I don't have power over volcanoes. And Cole was totally fine. It was the safari guy who fell in."

Diane nods. "See that? Collateral damage. Nobody's safe. Maybe we can seal them in a glass box and hope for the best. Like Shamu's tank. I hear that Shamu's not doing shows anymore."

"Shamu's tank? Really, Diane?" I ask.

Rosalind shrugs. "She has a point."

"Excuse me?"

"About getting you two alone together. You made progress in Hawaii. We have to get you alone like that again."

"Good luck," I say. "Tonight's the gala, and tomorrow we leave. I don't know if we'll ever see each other again."

Olivia gnaws on her lip. "Do we have to leave tomorrow?"

"Olivia has the hots for Rock," Rosalind explains. "She wants to adopt him."

"Just what we need. Another mouth to feed," Diane says.

"We'll deal with Rock after Cole," Rosalind says, always the most sensible of us. "We have a plan, and we have to keep to it. Yes, time is against us, but it's not impossible. We just have to put our heads together and figure it out."

There's a lot of silence as we eye each other, each waiting for the other to figure it out. But nobody figures it out. We seem to be at a stalemate.

"Don't you young women have sex tricks you can do?" Bessie asks.

"Like acrobatics?" I ask. "Like trapeze?"

"Didn't you read that Fifty Shades book? Isn't he supposed to tie you up or you tie him up or smack each other with spatulas or drip hot wax?"

"No," I say. "I'm not a big reader."

"I think Bessie's right," Diane says. "You already have the bald you-know-what. Shouldn't you be doing kinky stuff with it?"

"I don't do kinky stuff with my bald you-know-what, Diane," I say.

"But you have, right?" Bessie asks. "You know how if you needed to, right?"

"I...uh...Are there any Toblerones left?" I ask.

There's supreme disappointment about my lack of kinky activities, and a curtain of pessimism falls over our little group. Without any strategy to further Cole's ardor, there's an unspoken feeling that tonight's gala will be a goodbye to Operation Billionaire.

The other women let me get ready for the gala by myself. There's no pestering about makeup or hair or Spanx. I guess they figure I'm a lost cause. The general mood in the suite is putting a damper on my afterglow happiness, and it seeps into my confidence, making me doubt everything that's gone on between Cole and me. I don't know what's been real and what's been in my imagination.

The feeling stays with me as I arrive at the gala and organize details and put out fires during the hour before it starts. I'm wearing a white ballgown, and my hair is pulled back in a simple ponytail. There's an army of caterers and backup event planners, making sure that the gala is perfect. A band warms up, and cleaners are sweeping the dance floor. Florists are tweaking the centerpieces. It's all proceeding like a well-rehearsed ballet, and I wish I could enjoy it more.

Then, all the doubt washes away in an instant because Cole walks in.

He's breathtaking in an Armani suit, which is meticulously tailored to Cole's large frame. He's smiling, and as he walks, his eyes never leave me. His cowboy boots hit the floor as he marches with a loud noise.

Cole sure knows how to make an entrance.

My hand touches a table to balance myself. I shut my eyes and open them again. Yep, I'm awake and the most perfect man on the planet is walking my way. Walking to me.

Cole reaches me in a few long strides. His smile disappears as he focuses on my mouth. His arms wrap around me, and he pulls me close against him.

There's a chemical reaction that happens when Cole kisses me. It's sort of like an electrical shock mixed with peyote. At some point, I'm pretty sure the CDC should look into it or at least the Pentagon because it could be used as chemical warfare, immediately reducing the enemy to a disoriented, dizzy, mountain of jelly.

That's what I am right now. Jelly. My head is spinning round and round. It occurs to me that everyone can see us kissing, but Cole doesn't seem to mind. The kiss becomes even more passionate, and his hands move lower, and my knee rises, caressing the outside of his leg.

Kissing is a great invention. The guy who invented it deserves a Nobel Prize much more than the safari guy. That's for sure.

"What do we have here? I didn't know the gala was this kind of party. Not that I mind or anything."

I recognize the voice. It's Rock.

Cole breaks off the kiss, but keeps an arm around me so I don't melt in a heap on the floor. His face is covered with my lipstick, and he wipes it with a handkerchief. "Rock, I didn't know you were coming."

Rock has a black eye and a cut lip. "Charities love money, and what do you know, I have tons of it. But what's going on with you two? Beatrice, you wound me. You were my date only two nights ago, and now you betray me with Cole. I wouldn't have minded so much if you had chosen someone worthwhile, but Cole is such a loser."

"I think you're using that word wrong," Cole says. "I wasn't the one who let himself get hog-tied." Despite the bickering, Cole is smiling, obviously enjoying the give and take.

"I'm going to ask you a hard question, Sprinkles," Rock tells Cole.

"A hard question for you would be eight times seven," Cole says.

Rock arches an eyebrow. "A joke? Really? Beatrice, Cole told a joke. That's a first. He's so different when he's around you. A totally different man. And you know what? I approve." He tugs on Cole's tie.

"What's happening? What's happening?" Bessie asks, joining us.

"I think Operation Billionaire is a lock, Bessie," Rock tells her.

She claps her hands and bounces on her toes. "Oh, goody. Oh, goody. I was worried, but Operation Billionaire has come through. Now I get to be a grandmother."

"What do you mean, Operation Billionaire, Mom?" Cole asks Bessie.

"Uh oh," she says.

"What do you mean 'Mom'?" I ask.

"Didn't I mention that I'm Cole's mother?" Bessie asks.

Cole drops his hand from my waist. "What does she mean by Operation Billionaire? What's going on here?"

"Cool your jets, Aerospace King," Rock tells Cole. "Girls will be girls. Who cares if Beatrice hunted you down like it was deer season? You're the deer in this scenario, by the way."

"You were hunting for billionaires?" Cole asks me. He's furious and terrifying. His mouth is set in a sharp line, and his eyes are dark with fury. And there's something else. Wounded. I've hurt Cole.

"It's not what it seems," I say.

"It's not what it seems," Bessie repeats. "Well, yes, it's exactly what it seems, but I want some grandchildren. I'm not going to live forever, you know. I've eaten a lot of cheese in my life."

"I want the whole story," Cole demands.

I tell him, and the entire time, I feel like I'm two feet tall. Like I'm a four year old, getting caught coloring with crayons on the walls behind the drapes. While I talk, Cole takes three steps back from me. I count them. One step when I tell him about Olivia and Rosalind. One step when I tell him about the plan to marry billionaires. And one final step when Bessie confirms the story.

Cole points at Bessie. "Mom, you and I will talk later. I have a gala to attend. It's for a worthy cause, and I don't plan on letting them down. But you have to leave," he says pointing at me. "I want nothing to do with you now or ever. You can say goodbye to your job, too. I'm going to make sure that you're fired. I usually spot grifters, but you're better than most."

"She's not a grifter," Bessie says.

"She's sort of a grifter," Rock says. "But that doesn't mean Sprinkles shouldn't marry her."

"I'll deal with you later, too," Cole tells Rock. His voice is cold and brimming with anger.

I'm frozen in place. I can't breathe. It's like I've been kicked in the gut, and all of the wind has been knocked out of me.

"You have to leave, now," Cole tells me, his voice emotionless and threatening.

Suddenly, my legs take off, and I run across the room toward the exit in my heels and ballgown. I'm aware that I'm making a scene, that everyone is watching me run away from Cole, and I'm aware that I'm crying. Tears stream down my face, and my nose runs, but I continue to hightail it. I throw open the door to the outside and keep running out into the night. I don't know where I'm going. My body is moving, and all I know is that I want to get as far away from Cole as possible, as if distance will help ease the pain and heartbreak.

But I also know that even if I run to the next state, I'll never get over losing Cole. And this time, heartbreak has nothing to do with appliances.

avataravatar
Next chapter