"You've known him a long time."
"Known him, been crazy about him. So if you screw with him, I'll find a way to hurt you. Other than that, we'll be fine."
"Do people often screw with him?"
"Not many, not often. He's got excellent radar. There was a woman a few years back cruised under that radar. Butter wouldn't melt." Loo sipped her mimosa. "I couldn't stand her. But Dune, he was fond, and she was clever with her hard-luck stories. She got a few thousand out of him before she blipped for him."
"What did he do about her?"
Loo flicked her middle finger against her thumb. "He's an easygoing sort, but he has a low tolerance for lies."
"Are you warning me, Loo?"
"Irritated. Good. Makes me like you more, which I already do. And
I like your little girl. I saw your press conference yesterday." Loo lifted her eyebrows as Phoebe's face went cool and blank. "Let me start off saying things aren't black and white for me. First, I'm a lawyer, so I live in the gray. Second, that man up there with mine is family-and I do believe he's white. And last, I thought you handled yourself very well in what's a very difficult, even delicate situation. That's all I wanted to say about that. Those are pretty shoes," Loo commented with a nod toward Phoebe's sandals. "Maybe I could try them on."
With a laugh, Phoebe relaxed and enjoyed the ride.
They had lunch on the lake, and splashed and swam in it. Carly was given the thrill of her life with a turn at the tiller.
"Having fun?" Duncan asked when Phoebe joined him at the bow. "It's going down as the best day of my life in recent memory."
"We can extend it. Cruise over to my place. We can wear Carly out, tuck her up somewhere, tuck ourselves up somewhere else."
"What about Biff and company?"
"I'll just toss them all overboard." He leaned down to kiss her laughing mouth. "Say the word."
"The word is I like your friends too much to toss them."
"I was afraid of that."
"But I will be inviting you in for drinks in the courtyard when you escort us home."
"I'll be accepting. Listen… " He cupped his hand at the back of her neck and let his kiss shimmer out.
"What?" Phoebe managed. "Not a thing."
"Why do people close their eyes when they kiss?" Carly demanded, and Phoebe turned to see her daughter studying her with considerable interest.
"I don't know." Duncan frowned thoughtfully. "Let's try it the other way." Eyes open and amused, he pulled Phoebe back for another kiss. "It's good that way, too."
"Mama says she's too old for boyfriends."
"Carly-"
"What do you think?" Duncan asked, interrupting Phoebe's protest. "I think if you're going to be taking her on dates and kissing her all the time, you should be her boyfriend. And Ava told Grandma it's good Mama's getting some romance because-"
"Carly go get yourself one of those cookies, or something else to put in your mouth."
"You said I had enough cookies."
"I changed my mind."
"That's about enough snickering over there," Phoebe said, waving a hand toward Phin and Loo. And over here, too," she added to Duncan. "Are we having some romance?" he asked her. He grabbed her, dropped her into a romance-novel dip. "Let's have some more." Phin's wolf whistle joined, the buzzing in her ears before she could struggle her way up again. "I think that's about all the romance I can handle in a public forum. I'm going to go have another cookie." Romance, she thought after she'd given Duncan a final kiss good night. That was more complicated than an affair, no question about it. But it was foolish to pretend a romance wasn't what she was having. And enjoying.
So she wasn't going to pick it apart or second-guess it. She was just going to keep enjoying it for as long as it lasted.
She undressed, thinking how wonderful a shower would feel after a day on the water. When her phone rang, she half-expected it would be Duncan, calling her minutes after he left to tell her something to make her laugh.
The display on the Caller ID had her stomach sinking. "Hello, Roy." Less than ten minutes later she was stalking downstairs and grabbing a half gallon of cookie dough ice cream from the freezer.
Essie walked in as Phoebe scooped it straight out of the carton and into her mouth. "Oh! You had a fight with Duncan."
"I didn't have a fight with Duncan. I didn't have a fight with anyone. I wanted some damn ice cream."
"Mind that tone," Essie warned with steel in her voice. "You only eat ice cream that way when you're upset. Duncan's barely out the door, so-"
"I said I didn't have a fight with Duncan. Duncan's not the center of my universe. I don't make men the center of my universe and I'm not about to…" She heard herself, could nearly see the nasty edge to the words slicing out like little shards of broken glass.
"I'm sorry. I am upset." She dropped down at the table, dug out more ice cream. "I haven't got enough of this in me yet to calm down or get good and sick, and not take it out on someone else."
Essie walked to the drawer, got out another spoon. She sat, spooned some ice cream out of the carton for herself. "What happened?"
"Roy called. He's getting married again."
"Oh." Essie took a second, bigger spoonful. "To anyone we know? So we know where to send our condolences?"
"Thanks, Mama. He's getting married to someone named Mizzy. Can you believe that? She's twenty-four."
"A bimbo, no doubt about it. Poor thing."
"The bimbo comes from money, and they're moving to Cannes, or maybe it was Marseilles. My ears started ringing by that point. Her family has interests there he's going to help run. And he tells me all this as he doesn't want my panties in a twist if the next couple child support checks are a bit late. Due to changing his location and banking and so on."
"He's always been timely with that anyway."
"Yes, because it's an automatic withdrawal from his account, so he doesn't even have to think of it. Of her." It wasn't rage anymore in her voice, on her face. It was grief. "He never even asked about her, Mama. He never asked how she was, never thought to suggest he might tell his daughter himself, or invite her to the wedding."
"She wouldn't go. And, baby girl, you wouldn't like it if she did."
"That's beside the point. It is. And I know I'm getting upset over something that isn't any different than it was, really. Except the son of a bitch is marrying someone almost ten years younger than me, named Mizzy, and his daughter isn't even an afterthought."
"What was it my grandmother used to say? A skunk doesn't change its stink. It's a little crude, but it fits. His life's about as deep as a puddle of spit-and that's crude, too. She won't care, Phoebe. Roy isn't so much as a bump against Carly's heart. You shouldn't let him be one against yours."
"You're right. I know you're right. She never had enough of him to miss any of it."
"But you did."
"I had the illusion." Phoebe scraped more ice cream from carton to spoon, studied it. Ate it. "Maybe that's worse. He can't help being what he is. Even if what he is is a goddamn skunk. Thanks."
Roy wasn't worth even her anger, Phoebe told herself as she went upstairs to shower. But the phone call had reminded her why romance was a slippery slope. Better, much better, to keep it all up front, keep it all simple. So no one got hurt.
It might be time to slow things down just a little with Duncan.
She'd already made another date with him while the dream of the day had been on her. But that was fine. She'd just explain to him that she wasn't looking for anything more than friendship, companionship and sex.