“And fries, too,” she defiantly told the waitress, and thought again as the Lindy-clone walked away that she felt a little guilty for letting this infatuation with Jake go so far as it had. But when she thought of why she felt guilty, it made her crazy. It all boiled down to one thing: She was not supposed to like a guy like Jake. It was not in the path she had loosely charted for herself. Her life was supposed to be one of acquisition and achievement, including men with pedigrees and buckets and buckets of money. She was following in the old man’s footsteps, wasn’t she? Jake was a great guy, but by the looks of things, he wasn’t going to be the one to provide her the lifestyle she was used to, and wow, that was shallow, wasn’t it?
“I think Peerless is a good operation,” Evan said, and as he began to talk, Robin was acutely aware of the fact that she was supposed to like a guy like Evan. He was accomplished, he was a self-made millionaire, he was handsome. He was the guy she was supposed to be head over heels for. And as Evan droned on about the pros and cons of Peerless, she could see why Dad was so in love with the guy. He was very good at what he did, and he had the rare ability to adapt, which was something she did not do very well (case in point: Minot). He was pleasant, he was considerate, and he’d been crazy about her once. As Evan checked out the Lindy-clone’s ass, she decided that there really was nothing wrong with him. He was the perfect man for a woman like her. She just couldn’t help wondering what that said about her.
But it didn’t really matter, because the sad truth was, Evan just did not float her boat. Robin did not feel the rush of blood when he walked into a room like she did with Jake, or think about him like she did Jake. Like today, with just a memory of his kiss to go on, she had thought constantly of Jake, wondered what he was doing, remembered the feel of his lips on hers, the rough texture of his hands on her skin, the warmth of his smile. The harsh words she had spoken, which made her wince. When she looked at Evan, she wondered if he still sorted the underwear in his drawer by color, or if he had ever mowed a lawn in his life.
“So what do you think?” Evan asked, interrupting her thoughts.
“Think?”
He frowned lightly. “About Peerless? The thing I’ve been going on and on about for the last fifteen minutes? What’s the matter, Robin? Why are you so distracted?” he asked, leaning across the table to grasp her hand.
Robin looked down at his hand, his perfectly manicured hand, and thought of Jake’s scarred one. “Evan . . .”
Slowly, he withdrew his hand. “Oh,” he said with a heavy sigh, reading her thoughts. “That again. Look, Robbie, I told you, I’m through. You’ve made your wishes perfectly clear. You don’t want a relationship in spite of your curious lack of judgment in sleeping with me—”
“Hey—”
“Uh-uh, no ‘heys’ this time,” he said. “It was a damn stupid thing to do. But okay, what’s done is done. I’m done. I’m not trying to get in your pants, I’m not trying to do anything but make you an executive in this company. A good executive. So you can quit reading something into everything I say or do. Let’s at least be adults about this for the sake of the company. Just . . . just get over yourself, will you?” he said and picked up the martini he had ordered and took a deep drink.
“Okay,” she said weakly, feeling his irritation. “I won’t mention it again.”
“Good,” he said gruffly. “Now, about Peerless. I want to hear what you think of their potential,” he said and stabbed his elbows onto the table, looking at her with gray eves so cold that she shivered in her linen jacket.
In spite of the wind and chill of the night’s hard freeze, the day dawned sunny and pleasant in Minot. Lou Harvey was at the motel at 8 A.M. sharp. He shook Evan’s hand (SLEEP ALL RIGHT? he boomed with a wink and a nudge), smiled at Robin’s breasts, and ushered them out into the Oldsmobile Cutlass. They sped across town to Bubble Wrap City, where they spent the morning until it was time to go to the Lion’s Club.
They careened to a halt in front of the municipal center and entered an open room where round tables had been set for lunch. Robin thought she had walked into a sea of Q-tips. A string of lady blue hairs and geezers—some actually too young to be geezers, but what the hell—advanced to introduce themselves. Lou Harvey was beside himself, practically bursting at his polyester seams with pride over his sophisticated guests.