“I don’t know.” Penny looked confused. “I feel just awful about this. I’ve never cheated on Allan before.”
“Well, maybe that’s because you’ve never loved anyone before,” Kate said, trying not to sound like the dating-advice column in Seventeen. “Why don’t you spend some time with Mark and see how things work out. Maybe the feeling will wear off.”
“Do you think so?” Penny asked.
“I hope so,” Kate said, thinking of Jake. “We’re in a real mess if it doesn’t.” She patted Penny on the leg.
“Come on. Let’s have lunch and play tennis and forget about men for a while.”
Kate played tennis with Penny for most of the afternoon because she wanted to move. She’d never felt so alive, so conscious of every part of her body. She and Penny swatted the ball back and forth without keeping score, laughing at each other and enjoying the afternoon sun and the sweat and their friendship. Several men stopped to stare, and Kate waited for Penny to drift over to them, but Penny stuck her tongue between her teeth and concentrated on returning the ball, oblivious to her admirers.
“I’m having so much fun,” she told Kate when they stopped to towel off.
“Me, too,” Kate said. “I think we’re getting better.”
“We couldn’t get much worse,” Penny said and laughed.
They went back to the court, and Kate grinned when she saw the men lined up at the chain-link fence to watch Penny serve. It never occurred to her that they were watching her, too.
At three, they walked to the bar in the hotel dining room for cold drinks, laughing and talking and swinging their rackets at nothing.
“This was a good day,” Penny said as they went into the cool dimness.
“That it was,” Kate said. She waved to Mark behind the bar. “Two colas. Non-diet. The hard stuff. Penny and I live on the edge.”
Mark grinned at both of them as he poured the colas and Penny blushed. When he saw her turn pink, he blushed, too.
“We’ll sit over here at a table,” Kate said, trying to hide her grin. “We’re too tired to balance on barstools.”
Penny found a table in the corner and waited until Kate had joined her. “What am I going to do?”
“Do you have a choice?” Kate said. “Are you really going to be able to go back and marry Allan, feeling this way about Mark?”
“Maybe it’s just a crush,” Penny said.
“Maybe,” Kate said. “But-”
“Hi, can I join you?” Valerie sank down in the chair next to them. “I’m just about at my wits’ end.”
“Oh?” Kate said, annoyed at the interruption. She looked over at Penny and saw that even she was frowning. It took someone with extremely bad social skills to annoy Penny. Valerie was hitting on all cylinders today.
“What’s wrong?” Penny asked politely.
“What else? Men!” Valerie gave a short laugh. “Mark!” she called, without looking around. “Gin and tonic!”
Penny glared at her.
“Any man in particular?” Kate asked hastily, checking Penny for weapons. There didn’t seem to be much she could do with a drinking glass unless she broke it on the edge of the table and used the jagged edge to go for Valerie’s jugular. Kate pulled the glass out of Penny’s reach just in case.
“Will!” Valerie said with real venom. “I can’t believe he’s so stupid.”
“Will never struck me as stupid,” Kate said.
“Well, he is. He refuses to talk about the new bar, and the longer we sit on that idea, the more money we’re losing. And I’ve done everything but flat-out tell him that another hotel is trying to hire me away, and he just ignores me.” She ended her tirade on a wail. “It’s like he doesn’t care.”
“Maybe he doesn’t,” Penny said.
“Of course he does,” Valerie snapped. “Damn it, I have a plan here!”
“Don’t say that!” Kate said, wincing.
Mark brought Valerie her gin and tonic and winked at Penny before he went back to the bar.
“Yeah, plans are for the birds,” Penny said morosely.
“What are you two talking about?” Valerie asked.
“Well, I have this friend, see?” Penny said, shooting a look at Kate that said “Shut up.”
“And she had a plan to marry a really steady wealthy guy so she could stay home and be a housewife and mother and have a lot of kids because that’s what she really wanted. You know?”
“No,” Valerie said. “But if that’s what she wants, what the hell.”
“And she found the perfect guy,” Penny said gloomily. “And then she went and fell in love with a poor guy who’s never going to have much money and won’t be able to have kids with her for years.”
“So what’s the problem?” Valerie asked.
“What?” Kate said.
Valerie shrugged. “She stays with the rich guy. Love doesn’t last. Money does if you know how to manage it.” She looked at Penny. “Tell your friend to dump the poor guy, marry the rich guy, and take night courses in investing. That’s what I’d do.”
“I’m sure you would,” Kate said. “Don’t you love Will?”
“Well, of course I love Will,” Valerie said.
“What if he didn’t have the hotel?” Kate asked. “What if he ran the hardware store?”
Valerie thought about it. “Depends on the size of the hardware store, I guess. And what I could do with it.”
Kate tilted her head and looked at Valerie appraisingly. “This isn’t about money, is it?”
“What?” Valerie asked, confused.
“It’s not the money, although you want that, too. It’s the hotel and the wheeling and dealing and making plans. That’s what hooks you.”
“I guess,” Valerie said. “What are you talking about?”
“Because that’s what hooks me, too,” Kate said. “I need the challenge. I can’t just sit out on a lake and watch the fish for the rest of my life. I need to play the game.” She bit her lip. “I hate it, but that’s me.”
“Why hate it?” Valerie looked at her like she was crazy. “You’re terrific at what you do.”
“Yes, but now it’s getting in the way of what I want,” Kate said.
“I can’t believe you ever let anything get in the way of what you want,” Valerie said. “I really admire that in you.”
“Thank you, Valerie,” Kate said, standing. “Excuse me a minute. I need another cola. This one with rum, I think.”
That night at Nancy ’s was a madhouse, and Kate served drinks until she was dizzy. Three days ago, she’d been a customer. Tonight she was a pro.
She took a beer and a wine cooler to Brad and his date, and he grinned at her and said, “Thanks, Kate.”
Three days ago he’d been groping her. Now it was “Thanks, Kate.” He’d better leave a big tip.
She poured colas with rum and without. She plopped olives into martinis and dipped tequila glasses in salt. She filled the pretzel bowls on the bar over and over again. She carried drinks all over the bar, neatly dodging hands that came up to pat her rear end, telling drunks their next drink was coffee, taking several orders at once and delivering them without a mistake.
I’m pretty good at this, she thought. It was a nice thought, and as she was feeling particularly happy anyway, and as she happened to be passing Jake as he bent over the pool table, she patted him on the rear end to celebrate.
He miscued.
“God, I hope you stay forever,” Ben told her, and she laughed and went on to serve drink after drink after drink.
Jake watched her as she threaded her way through the crowd, smiling at everyone, leaving a trail of grins behind her. She looked like she belonged there. She did belong there. With him.
Then, like an evil curse, the thought intruded: What would she do here? There’s nothing for her here. And you remember what happened the last time you fell for a smart blonde with a great body? It didn’t last. What makes you think you’re any smarter this time?
“Are you going to play pool?” Ben asked.
“Yeah,” Jake said shortly, and shoved his thoughts about the future away. He’d think about that later. Much later. After all, he wasn’t even sure how he felt about her.