Bet Me

  “He’d have made partner,” Jefferson said, all pretense of light conversation gone.

  “Third partner, maybe, after he’d followed you and Reynolds around,” Min said. “Plus there’d be your partner and his children to contend with. Within the family, he’s always going to be the baby. He had to get out. And then, of course, there’s the dyslexia.”

  The silence that settled over the table that time was so complete that Min was amazed there wasn’t hoarfrost on all of them. She picked up her knife and fork and cut into her filet again, wishing she could ask for a Styrofoam box and go home.

  “We prefer not to discuss Cal’s handicap,” Lynne said with finality.

  Min took her time with the filet, but when she’d swallowed, she said, “Why? It’s part of who he is, it helped shape him. It’s not shameful. Over ten percent of the population is dyslexic, so it’s not rare. And it’s a large part of why he started his own firm. Ninety-two percent of dyslexics go into business for themselves. They need to control the environment in which they work because the regular working environment isn’t sympathetic to their needs. And they generally do very well because they are generally intelligent, empathetic people.” She picked up her water glass. “You have a son who’s smart, hardworking, successful, popular, healthy, charming, and extremely pleasant to look at. I’m surprised you’re not passing his picture around to all your friends, bragging about him.” She turned to smile up at Cal and found him watching her, his face wooden. “I’d brag about him if he were mine and I had a picture.”

  “We are, of course, quite proud of Calvin,” Lynne said, her voice bleak.

  “Oh, good,” Min said, going back to her plate. “He’s right about the filet, too. It’s fabulous.”

  “Thank you,” Lynne said, and then she turned to Reynolds and asked him about work. Fifteen minutes later, dessert was served; Reynolds, Lynne, and Jefferson were discussing the firm; Cal was still silent; Bink had eaten three slivers of carrot and sucked down all her wine; and Min had had enough.

  She put her napkin down by her plate, and said, “You know, I’m really Harry’s date, so if you’ll excuse me, I’ll join him.” Then she got up and went out to the hall to find the kitchen.

  When she got there, Harry was finishing off his ice cream under the watchful eyes of the woman who’d served dinner.

  “Hey, fish guy,” she said. “Is there any more of that?”

  Harry nodded at the woman. “She’s the one, Sarah.”

  “Huh,” Sarah said, surveying Min from head to toe. “What would you like on your ice cream?”

  “Chocolate,” Min said, sitting down across from Harry. “Chocolate is always good.”

  Harry scraped the bottom of his bowl with his spoon, and then sat silently looking at Min, as owlish as his mother, until Sarah put Min’s ice cream in front of her. There was a lot of it.

  “Thank you,” Min said, taken aback. “I’m Min, by the way.” She held out her hand to the maid.

  “Sarah,” the woman said, shaking it. “Eat it before it melts.”

  Min nodded and scooped up a spoonful. The ice cream was heavenly, superfatted and smooth, and the chocolate exquisitely light and bittersweet. She had to hand it to Lynne Morrisey: The woman provided excellent food.

  Sarah leaned back against the sink. “So you talked back to the Snow Queen?”

  Min thought about pretending she didn’t understand and then shrugged. “I disagreed with her.”

  Sarah nodded. “You won’t be back.”

  “Lord, no,” Min said.

  Harry put down his spoon, alarmed. “Are you still coming to the park?”

  “Yes,” Min said. “Although I’m not sure your uncle Cal is still speaking to me.”

  “He seems like a nice guy,” Sarah said. “Quiet. We don’t see him much.”

  “I can imagine,” Min said, and then Cal came into the kitchen. “Hi, there,” she said, waving her spoon at him. “Turns our your mom has great taste in ice cream, too.” Which figured, come to think of it.

  Cal nodded, expressionless. “You ready to go?”

  Min looked at her full bowl of premium sugar and fat, and sighed. “Yes,” she said obediently and put her spoon down. If she were Cal, she’d be screaming to get out of here, too.

  Cal went out into the hall and Harry said, “Can I have your ice cream?”

  “Will you barf?” Min said.

  Harry shook his head. “Not ice cream.”

  Min pushed the bowl across to him. “Knock yourself out.” She stood up. “It was very nice meeting you, Sarah.”

  “Yeah,” Sarah said. “Good luck.”

  She met Cal in the hall, and he opened the door for her without speaking. They’d almost made it to the steps when Bink appeared in the doorway. “Well?” she said to Cal.

  Cal shook his head at her, and she smiled at Min and said, “It was so nice to see you again,” sounding as if she meant it. Cal turned and walked down the steps as Bink slipped away again, and Min followed him, fairly sure they were about to fight.

  Well, she had no regrets. She slid into the front seat of Cal’s car and settled into the leather seat. Okay, she’d miss the car. And the food, although she could still go to Emilio’s without him. And—

  Cal got in the car and slammed the door and then sat there for a moment, and Min looked at his rigid profile and thought, And you. I’m going to miss you.

  “What did Bink want?” she said, trying to stave off whatever was coming.

  Cal turned to her, and when he spoke, his voice was so strained it almost broke. “I am so sorry about that.”

  “What?” Min said, taken aback.

  “My family.” He closed his eyes, and then said viciously, “They usually behave very well in front of strangers.”

  “I don’t think I was their type,” Min said, keeping her voice light. “And then I was rude. But the good news is, I got great food and I never have to see them again. Do you know what kind of ice cream that was? Because it was phenomenal, although I’m guessing it wasn’t nonfat.”

  “You don’t care?” Cal said.

  “That your mother is a witch and your father is a bastard and your brother is a supercilious moron?” Min said. “No. Why should I? They’re not my family. Who are looking pretty damn good right about now, so I owe you for that. Now about the ice cream—”

  He leaned forward and kissed her, hard, and she put her hand on his cheek and kissed him back, falling into that same hot, glittery rush she got every time, so glad to be touching him, to have his hand laced through her curls, to be with him. When he broke the kiss, she stayed close to him, not ready to let him go. “Was that because I insulted your mother?” she said, a little dazed. “Because I have lots of other horrible things to say about her.”

  Cal grinned, and she relaxed because he looked like Cal again. “Nah, I just like kissing you.”

  “Oh, good,” Min said, recovering. “Except, stop that because we’re not doing that. I was just relieved because I thought you were never going to want to see me again. I’m positive your family doesn’t want to.”

  Cal put the key in the ignition and started the car. “Oh, some of them do.”

  “Harry.” Min leaned back in her seat, and tried to think about something else besides kissing him. “That’s just because I gave him my ice cream.”

  Cal slowed the car. “He had yours and his?”

  “Yes,” Min said. “He said he didn’t throw up ice cream.”

  “He lied.” Cal stopped the car. “It’s sugar in general that makes him sick.”

  “Do we have to go back?” Min said, alarmed.

  “Christ, no.” Cal pulled out his cell phone. When he’d warned Bink about the imminent vomiting, he started the car again.

  “Great, I poisoned her kid,” Min said. “Now she hates me, too.”

  “No. She knows Harry and the cons he pulls for sugar. She likes you.”

  “She didn’t look like it.”

  “N
o, she really likes you,” Cal said as he pulled out into the street. “She offered me a hundred thousand dollars to marry you.”

  “What?” Min laughed. “I didn’t think she had a sense of humor.”

  “She does, but she wasn’t joking. She can afford it.” Cal picked up speed as they left his parents’ street and sighed. “Thank God, we’re out of there.”

  “Wait a minute,” Min said, not laughing. “She honestly offered you—”

  “She’s been going to dinner there every Sunday for ten years,” Cal said. “That was the first one she enjoyed. When you figure that my parents are in their fifties and likely to be around for at least another thirty years, she’s looking at a minimum of sixteen hundred more miserable Sundays. That’s her estimate. Add in holiday dinners, and she says a hundred K would come out to about sixty dollars a dinner, which is a real bargain in her book.” He thought about it. “Actually, that’s a bargain in my book, too, although nothing on this earth could get me there every Sunday.”

  “My Lord,” Min said.

  “Plus Harry’s been singing ‘Hunka hunka burning love’ since we went to lunch yesterday. She said the expressions on my parents’ faces alone were worth a hundred grand.”

  There was a smile in his voice now, and Min said, “Well, that’s a mind-boggler.”

  “It wasn’t the only one this afternoon.” They drove on for a while and then he said, “How did you know I was dyslexic?”

  “Roger told Bonnie so I looked it up on the net. And then you wouldn’t write the recipe for chicken marsala down when I asked. You never say no to me, so I knew it had to be something you couldn’t do.” Min rolled her head on the back of her seat to look at him. “Are you upset?”

  “No,” Cal said. “Is that true, about dyslexics starting their own businesses?”

  “Yes,” Min said. “Everything I told them was true. How’d you know about my promotions?”

  “Bonnie told Roger,” Cal said, and turned into a parking lot.

  Min squinted at the storefront. It looked expensive and snotty. “Be right back,” he said, and went inside. Fifteen minutes later he came back with a glossy shopping bag embossed in gold, which he tossed in her lap as he got in the car.

  “What?” she said, catching it. It was heavy, so she peered inside at the square white cartons sealed with gold labels.

  “The ice cream my mother serves,” he said as he pulled out of the lot. “Eight flavors. I’ll send flowers, but you deserved this now.”

  “Oh.” Min clutched the bag tighter. He really wasn’t mad. Relief swept over her, and she realized just exactly how much she didn’t want him out of her life. It was not a good realization.

  “Everything okay?” Cal said, and she forced a smile at him.

  “Well, no,” she said, trying to sound exasperated. “Where’s the spoon?”

  Without taking his eyes from the road, he took a plastic spoon from his suit pocket and handed it to her.

  “I’m crazy about you,” she said without thinking.

  “Good,” he said. “I’m crazy about you, too.”

  “In a friendly kind of way,” she said, hastily.

  “Right,” Cal said, shaking his head.

  “Just so you know,” Min said, and opened the first carton.

  “He calls her Minnie,” Cynthie said when David picked up the phone that evening. “He gave her his ball cap.”

  “Well, if he gives her his class ring, let me know,” David said. “Could I have one Sunday in peace?”

  “I don’t know, David,” Cynthie said, her voice dangerous. “You want any of them in the future to be with Min?”

  “Yes,” David said. “But she hated lunch, and she won’t return my calls. Look, Cal always dumps his girlfriends after a couple of months. It seems to me the smartest thing to do is wait until he dumps her and then comfort her.”

  “And it doesn’t bother you that he’s going to be fucking her blind for those two months?” Cynthie said.

  “Hey.” David sat up. “That’s—”

  “You have no idea what that man can do to a woman in bed,” Cynthie said. “What makes you think you’re going to be able to please her once she’s slept with him?”

  “I do just fine in bed,” David said, outraged.

  “Cal does more than fine,” Cynthie said. “If I were you, I wouldn’t wait until she finds out how much more.”

  “Cynthie, this is distasteful.”

  “Fine,” Cynthie said. “Let him win.”

  Her voice was like a fingernail down a blackboard. “It’s not about winning,” David said and thought, The bastard’s going to win.

  And he’d lose Min. It was all her fault, really. She was the kind of woman who just asked to be taken for granted, and now that Cal Morrisey was showering attention on her to win a bet, she was flattered. He thought about how grateful Min would be if he went back to her and paid attention. She was such a simple woman. Which was why Cal could get to her. Which meant it was his duty to stop Cal. And save her.

  “David?” Cynthie said, prompting him. “You do want her back, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” David said.

  “Then go over to her apartment and dazzle her,” Cynthie said. “Tell her how important she is. Take her a gift, she likes snow globes, take her a snow globe. Give her joy, damn it.”

  “Snow globe,” David said, recalling there had been some on Min’s mantel.

  “And if she resists, leave something there so you can go back and get it and try again the next day,” Cynthie said. “Your tie or something.”

  “Why would I take off my tie?” David said.

  There was a short silence, and then Cynthie said, “Just do it, David. I don’t have time for remedial seduction lessons.”

  “All right,” David said. “I’ll go over after work. I’ll surprise her. We’ll talk about marriage.”

  “Talk?” Cynthie said, exasperated. “For once in your life, could you do more than talk?”

  “Well, I’m not going act like a caveman with her,” David said.

  “Ever tried that?” Cynthie said.

  “No, of course not.”

  “Then how do you know it doesn’t work?”

  “Well,” David said. “Oh, hell, all right. I’ll kiss her. She’s a good kisser.”

  “Good to know,” Cynthie said. “Don’t screw this up, David.”

  “I won’t,” David said, but she’d already hung up. “God, you’re a witch,” he said to the dial tone, and then he hung up, too.

  On Monday morning, Nanette called Min to find out how dinner at the Morriseys’ had gone. “Tell me everything,” she said.

  “Mother, I’m at work,” Min said.

  “Yes, but your father would never fire you,” Nanette said. “He’d never betray you.”

  “Mom?” Min said.

  “What was their house like?” Nanette said. “Did his mother like you?”

  “It was very beautiful,” Min said, “and his mother hated me.”

  “Min, if she’s going to be your mother-in-law—”

  “She’s not going to be my mother-in-law.”

  “—you’re going to need her. For when you hit the bad times. Not that your grandmother ever helped me in the slightest—”

  “When did you ever need help with Daddy?” Min said.

  “Well, now,” Nanette said, goaded.

  “Well, she’s dead now,” Min said. “She can’t help. What’s wrong?”

  There was a long silence, and then Nanette said, very dramatically, “He’s having an affair.”

  “Oh, he is not,” Min said. “Honestly, Mom, when would he? You know where he is every moment of the day.”

  “It’s those lunches,” Nanette said darkly.

  “He has lunch with Beverly,” Min said. “Beverly who adores her husband and would really like not to work through lunch. He is not having an affair with her.”

  “You’re so naïve, Min,” Nanette said.

  “You?
??re so paranoid, Mother,” Min said. “What’s going on that makes you think he’s cheating?”

  “It’s not the same. We never talk anymore.”

  “All you ever talk about is clothes and the wedding and my weight,” Min said. “He’s not interested. Take up golf. You’ll be chattering away in no time.”

  “I should have known you wouldn’t understand,” Nanette said. “You have your Calvin, after all.”

  “I do not have a Calvin,” Min said, fishing in her drawer for a paper clip. “I’m not seeing—ouch.” She pulled her hand out to see a staple stuck in the end of her finger.

  “You don’t have time to think about your mother,” Nanette said.

  “Oh, for crying out loud,” Min said. “Go back to worrying about the wedding and do not do anything dumb like leaving Dad, because there is nothing going on. As God is my witness, the man is innocent.”

  “The daughters are always the last to know,” Nanette said, and hung up.

  “Nuts,” Min said, and hung up the phone to blot her fingertip on a piece of scrap paper.

  The phone rang again, almost right away, and she answered it to hear Diana say, “Hi,” in a wavery little voice.

  “What’s wrong?” Min said, blotting more blood on the scrap paper.

  “I’m just a little . . . down,” Diana said. “Could we do something together?”

  “Absolutely,” Min said. “How about tonight?”

  “I can’t,” Di said. “I have to go to Greg’s parents’ house for dinner. How was it at Cal’s parents’?”

  “Very bad,” Min said. “How about tomorrow night?”

  “I can’t,” Di said. “Susie and Karen are throwing a sex toy shower for me.”

  “Sorry I’m going to miss that,” Min lied, trying not to think about Worse with a vibrator in her hand.

  “How about Wednesday?” Diana said. “I know you go out with Sweet and Tart that night, but can I come along?”