“Actually, we have,” Stone said. “After running into our mutual acquaintance last night at the inn, I think it might be best if you didn’t come back to the house with me.”
“You mean you are abandoning me in the wilds of Connecticut?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so. Barton has agreed to shelter you for a bit, then return you to New York. I’ll pack your things and leave them on my front stoop, and you and Barton can collect them when you go to the Mayflower Inn for dinner this evening.”
“Why the Mayflower?” Barton asked.
“Because a former friend of Carla is staying there, and I think it would be a good idea if he saw the two of you together.”
“Rather,” Carla said, “than the two of us?”
“Yes. It would cause more grief than you can imagine if Harlan saw you and me together.”
“If you say so,” she replied.
Stone drained his teacup and stood up. “Will you two excuse me, then?”
“Of course,” Barton said. “I’ll walk you out. Be right back, Carla.”
Stone and Barton shuffled through the leaves to where he had parked his car.
“That was deftly done,” Barton said.
“It seemed the best solution to the problem for all concerned.”
“I’m grateful for your solution.”
“Barton, you were saying that the crate I saw at Ab’s house was of a size and shape to hold a mahogany secretary?”
“Yes.”
“But it was empty on both arrival and departure.”
“There might be a very good reason for that.”
“What would that be?”
“The crate was also of a size and shape that one could use to see if it would fit well in an empty space in Ab’s study.”
“Ah.”
“Ah, indeed.”
Stone got into the car. “We’ll talk more about this.”
“Good.”
Stone started his car and drove away, relieved to have Carla off his hands, at least temporarily and maybe permanently.
35
Stone arrived at Elaine’s that evening to find Dino parked at the usual table, but this time in the company of the lovely Genevieve. “Good evening,” he said, sitting down. Somebody placed a glass of Knob Creek before him.
“How was the country?” Genevieve asked.
Stone noticed that she was wearing a small but lovely diamond bracelet that he hadn’t seen before. “Like a picture postcard,” he said. “The foliage is at its very peak. Why don’t the two of you run up there for a couple of days and use the house?”
“What a nice idea,” she said. “We’ll have to coordinate our schedules, Dino, and see what we can arrange.”
“I’m am at your beck and call,” Dino said. Whatever his transgression against Genevieve might have been, he had apparently been absolved and had promised not to sin again.
Genevieve excused herself and went to the ladies’.
“Did you figure out what you did?” Stone asked Dino.
“Something to do with the relative placement of our shoes in the closet, I think. I’m still not sure exactly what.”
“Never touch anything of hers, unless you’re helping her remove it from her body,” Stone said.
“Sage advice, for once.”
“What do you mean, for once? I always give sage advice. Your life would be so much richer and fuller and happier if you would just take my sage advice. If you’ll cast your thoughts back a few years, you’ll recall that I advised you not to marry Mary Ann.”
“Yeah, but you waited until she was pregnant to advise me.”
“I didn’t say my advice was always timely, just sage.”
“It wasn’t very timely with Genevieve, either.”
“You had only to ask.”
“You mean, I should call you up and ask you about the arrangement of her clothes in the closet?”
“Such a call might have saved you the purchase of a diamond bracelet.”
Dino reddened slightly. “You noticed that, huh?”
“Noticed it? She was waving it back and forth under my nose. My eyes must have looked like I was watching a tennis match.”
“Well, I know a guy in the diamond district; he gave me a price.”
“I would not advise you on the purchase of diamond jewelry,” Stone said. “I have always avoided anything to do with diamonds.”
“That’s because you don’t know your women long enough to get around to gift giving, before they dump you.”
“Once and a while, if I’m a little out of sync, a birthday pops up. Or Christmas.”
Genevieve returned to the table and sat down. “Eliza is getting married to her doctor next Sunday afternoon,” she said to Stone, not too casually.
Stone snorted. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said.
“You can see it next Sunday afternoon; she asked me to invite you. She’s not sending out formal invitations.”
Dino spoke up. “I think you should send her a wedding gift – something nice from Tiffany.”
“If I did, she’d just have to return it when she calls off the wedding.”
“You doubt her commitment?” Genevieve asked.
“Gen, less than a month ago, she was telling me she’d rather perform major abdominal surgery on herself than marry a doctor.”
“Things change.”
“Like wedding plans.”
“This particular doctor is the most brilliant surgeon at the hospital.”
“Good, then she won’t have to perform surgery on herself.”
“Half the celebrities and rich people in this city have gone under his knife.”
Stone turned to Dino. “If I ever need surgery, put me in a different hospital.”
“I’ll just shoot you,” Dino replied.
“Eliza has dangled this marriage possibility before me, looking for some response,” Stone said.
“A response would be nice,” Genevieve replied.
“She’s expecting me to charge down the aisle when the minister gets to the part ‘if any man can show cause why this woman should not marry this man’…”
“How romantic that would be,” Genevieve said. “Shall I tell Eliza to expect you?”
“To charge down the aisle?”
“To come to the wedding.”
“I suppose it would be churlish of me to decline.”
“Very churlish.”
“Well, okay. I’ll send some sort of gift. What would be appropriate?”
Genevieve stared at the ceiling, as if deep in thought. “I don’t think there is an appropriate wedding gift from a man who has disappointed a woman,” she said finally.
“Disappointed? That assumes that I’ve appointed… uh, that I’ve made promises I didn’t keep.”
“Promises are often implied,” Genevieve said.
“That’s right,” Dino said. “Promises are often implied.” Genevieve patted his hand. Dino might finally get laid.
“You stay out of this,” Stone said to him. He picked up a menu. “Let’s order dinner.” He waved his empty glass at a waiter.
Elaine came and sat down. “So, you going to the wedding?”
Stone didn’t look up from the menu. “I’m a victim of a conspiracy,” he said.
“We’re just all concerned about you,” Dino said, his voice dripping sarcasm.
Stone closed his menu. “Am I going to have to dine down the street somewhere?”
Elaine glared at him. “Not unless you want your legs broken,” she said.
A waiter appeared with Stone’s bourbon, then whipped out his pad. “What may I get for you?”
Stone ordered the green bean salad and the spaghetti carbonara and a bottle of the Mondavi Cabernet for the table.
“Elaine,” Genevieve said, “after next Sunday, you’re going to have to put crow on the menu for Stone’s benefit.”
Elaine laughed heartily. “Stone, you don’t think she’s gonna go through with it?”
“I have accepted her invitation to the wedding,” Stone said, “and I will accept whatever she decides next Sunday.”
Elaine laughed. “He doesn’t think she’s gonna go through with it.”
“Of course not,” Dino said.
Stone sipped his drink.
36
Stone got home late that night, having been somewhat overserved at Elaine’s. He reset the alarm system and took the elevator upstairs to his bedroom.