You've Been Warned

“Are you okay?” I ask. “Michael? I’m sorry you had to see this.”

“I could kill the bitch” is his answer.

Chapter 83

MY MIND IS SPINNING a little, but Michael’s seems completely focused, locked in. For the first time I can see how he is at his job. “Where does she think you are right now?” he asks.

I barely hear him. “Huh?”

“Penley—does she think you’re at the apartment?”

I nod, and he immediately whips out his cell phone.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Would you ever disappear from work this long without leaving a note?”

He’s right. I didn’t think that far ahead. “No,” I say. “In fact, I’m supposed to be getting the patio cleaned up for summer.”

Michael hits his speed dial. “So we need to buy you some time,” he says.

The next moment borders on surreal. So what’s new? I watch across the street as Penley breaks her lip-lock with Stephen and reaches into her purse. She checks her cell phone and immediately looks uneasily at Stephen, raising a finger to her mouth. Shhh.

She answers the phone, and I see her lips moving. This is weird but also exciting.

“Hi, honey, how are you?” says Michael, standing about a foot away from me. “You still at the gym?”

His voice is completely normal, even chipper, not a hint of stress.

This is so bizarre, I’m thinking. Of course, this is also so Michael, the same guy who threw his arm around my shoulder and introduced me to everyone at his business dinner. One cool cucumber.

I’ve got my eyes trained on Penley as my ears pick up her voice through Michael’s phone. It’s sort of like watching a foreign movie with subtitles.

“I’m leaving the gym now,” I hear her answer. “What do you want? I’m kind of busy at the moment.”

“You must be exhausted,” says Michael. He shoots me a grin. She’s not the only one with King Kong balls.

I strain to hear what Penley says next, something about why Michael is on his cell and not in his office.

“Oh, I’m just out grabbing a cup of coffee,” he replies. “You know how I hate the crap they brew at the office; it’s weak as shit. Actually, that’s why I’m calling. I need a favor.”

Penley tells him to hold on for a second.

Michael and I watch through the window as she puts her hand over the phone and says something to Stephen, who appears to be losing his patience. Poor guy. Clearly she’s explaining that she can’t ditch Michael’s call easily. A few seconds later, a frustrated Stephen marches back into the hotel.

What, does he live there?

Penley gets back on. “So what’s the favor?”

“Is everything okay?” asks Michael.

“Yeah. For a second I thought I left my keys at the gym. I found them, though.”

Pretty clever, Penley.

“So, about that favor,” says Michael. “We’ve got a client coming in from Tokyo tomorrow morning, and someone told me that store in Midtown, Takashimaya, sells this amazing Japanese coffee. I was wondering if you could pick some up for me on your way home.”

Penley sighs so annoyingly loud through the phone that a few people sitting nearby turn their heads. They probably can’t believe what a bitch she is.

“You can’t send your secretary to do this?” she whines. “I have to go buy coffee for you?”

“Honey, it would take Amanda over an hour to get there and back. I figured you were only a few blocks away. Please, Pen. Could you?”

Another sigh, even louder. “So what’s this supposedly amazing coffee called?”

“I’m not sure, but I’ll recognize the name. Call me on my cell when you get there, okay?”

“Fine.”

Penley gives her phone the finger as she flips it closed. All Michael can do is laugh.

“I’m going to miss the little woman,” he jokes as Penley disappears from our view.

I smile, but only because I’m glad he can joke at all. I’ve never seen him as dark as he was a few minutes ago.

I shoot him a look. “Japanese coffee?”

“God is in the details, remember?”

I nod. “So, what now?”

Michael takes my hand. “You love me, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

“And you trust me, right?”

“Yes.” What’s this about? Why do I need to trust Michael right now?

“What you do,” he says, “is go back to work, get that patio in order, and pretend that everything’s fine and dandy on the home front.”

“That’s it?”

“For the time being, that’s it.”

“What about you?”

He doesn’t answer. He lets go of my hand and walks toward the door.

“Michael, what are you going to do?”

He glances back, flashes me his best smile. Then he winks. It’s my wink.

“You’ll see.”

PART 12

Chapter 84

GO AFTER HIM! Find out what he’s up to. Now, Kristin.

But my feet won’t move.

I remain there in the Starbucks window. I watch Michael leave, hop into a cab, ride off. Gone.

“You’ll see,” he said.

Two little words that paralyze me and start me shaking again. Somehow I know that this is it: where everything has been going from the beginning. But how exactly will it end?

Or do I already know that too?