Love Is Pink!

David answered by picking up his silverware and cutting his giant steak right through the middle. He placed one half on my plate.

“What should I do with it?” I said.

“Eat,” David replied. He was just about to carve himself a large bite from his steak.

“Then you won’t have enough,” I said lamely.

“That’s why I just ordered another steak with potatoes. So relax. And eat.”

“But I might get too fat,” I protested.

“Nonsense. You can afford to eat this.” He lifted a juicy bite to his mouth and began chewing. I couldn’t resist any longer, so I armed myself with fork and knife and attacked my portion.





18


The Jacuzzi water bubbled and swirled around Emma and me, massaging all of the day’s stress out of my muscles. High-society lady that I was, I had a bikini with me for such occasions. Emma hopped around naked. She climbed over me, tried to dive, inspected the jets, and refilled my champagne. I countered by teaching her how to lie on her back with her eyes closed, while balancing her glass on her mouth and drinking out of it in a distinguished way.

A couple of times she spilled her red currant juice, but it didn’t matter. After all, we were sitting with water up to our necks.

We’d figured out the suite’s sound system. From the ceiling speakers, Eartha Kitt purred her way through “Santa Baby,” instructing her beau to trim her tree with decorations from Tiffany’s. She had been good all year, after all. I sighed and drank to the music. Eartha had her priorities straight.

There was a knock on the door, and David came inside. He was wearing a fluffy hotel bathrobe. It suited him as well as lemon suits oysters. The flip-flops on his feet were a touch too big. He stood in front of the whirlpool, looking indecisive.

“What’s wrong, Papa? Come in the water. It’s wonderful!”

“The bellhop brought me swim trunks and flip-flops from the hotel shop.” He didn’t move from his spot.

“That’s good,” I said.

“Papa, stop waiting around and get in here! It’s a really cool bathtub. And when I get bored, I climb on Michelle. Maybe you can do that, too!”

“Uhhh,” David stammered.

I’d just opened up my second bottle of champagne and was feeling totally laid-back. “Emma’s right. Get in here—in the water, I mean.”

David exhaled audibly, then opened his robe and let it slide off his shoulders.

Again I noticed that he didn’t look all that bad for a poor, uneducated type. Now I could examine him. And I liked what I saw. So much that I gasped for air. But maybe that was just because of the bubbles—I was on my second bottle of champagne.

David got into the tub. Emma bounced like a ball between us, jumping and splashing and spraying our faces and the bathroom with so much water that we’d probably be sitting in an empty tub soon.

Eventually, her batteries ran out, and she sat next to me with a rapt facial expression, staring blankly at the ceiling like the two adults in the room.

After she’d rested for a while, she climbed out of the tub.

“Where are you going?” David asked.

“I want to watch TV.”

“Put something on,” I said. “I don’t want you catching a cold.”

“I will, Michelle.” She grabbed her father’s bathrobe and slipped into it, then shuffled out like a little Jedi Knight toward the living room. At the doorway, she stopped and turned around.

“You know what, Michelle?”

“What?”

“Today has been the best day I’ve ever had!”

“You’re very welcome,” I said, waving good-bye to her with my champagne glass.

Soon after, we heard the muffled sounds of the living room TV.

“She’s a clever kid,” I said, largely to myself. “She already knows how to use a remote control.”

“What do you expect?” David replied sleepily. “She’s five years old. Every kid is an expert at using every type of electronic device.”

“Where’s her mother?” I asked.

David poured some champagne and took a gulp. “Her mother and I are separated. Our court date for the divorce is in three days.”

“That’s why you need to get back to Berlin so urgently.”

“You got it.”

“What will happen with Emma? Will she go with her mother?” That idea didn’t please me in the least.

David snorted. “No. Definitely not. She doesn’t want her. Emma will stay with me.”

His answer relieved me. But then a new concern popped in my mind. “You must know that Emma really needs a mother, though.”

“That may well be. But as I said, her last one has up and gone.” He laughed. Evidently he found his comment witty.

But I didn’t.

“How can you act amused about your wife leaving you? I’m sure it’s all your fault!” I grew agitated.

“How’s that?”