Snow Job Read online

  She thought she should strive to become that better person she pretended to be around Andrew, that person who threw her body and soul into the fight to save the planet and had no time for any lesser, frivolous concerns. Still, going out for burgers or pizza or catching a Giants game on one of their almost-dates would have been a nice change.

  The candlelight from the hurricane lamp on the table gleamed, reflecting a distracting pattern across the lenses of Andrew’s steel-rimmed glasses. He was stabbing his grilled salmon skeptically, looking for hints of dryness. His standards were high, and though he never sent the food back, Elyce had known him to leave the plate virtually untouched if the meal didn’t meet his expectations. It was another thing she admired about him, that sort of determination. If the food wasn’t horrible, Elyce knew she would probably eat it once it was in front of her, even if she had hoped for better.

  “How’s yours?” he asked, glancing across the table at Elyce’s seafood en brochette. She was nearly finished.

  “Delicious,” she said, meaning it. “The scallops are especially good.” She took another bite, relishing the taste and texture. Savory and juicy, just firm enough to provide a little resistance to bite into…heavenly. The salmon and prawns were equally delectable.

  “This isn’t bad,” he admitted, taking a cautious bite of the salmon. “I’m thinking about cutting out even fish though. Really, it would be better.”

  While she might try to emulate other areas of Andrew’s commitment, Elyce knew vegetarianism would never be a path she would voluntarily choose. She liked meat too much, but she hadn’t yet mentioned her weakness for steak to Andrew. Instead of commenting on his diet plans, she smiled and asked him how his recent trip home to Illinois for Thanksgiving had gone.

  “Same as ever,” he shrugged, smiling wryly. “Nobody got too drunk this time, which was nice. Mom pitched a fit because I once again refused to eat the turkey. I mean, come on, it was a big factory-name bird, probably pumped full of antibiotics while it was alive and preservatives once it was dead. I wasn’t going near that thing. And my Dad told me again how, since I was wasting my MBA anyway on all this hippie bullshit, I should just come home and get into the construction business like a real man.”

  “Perish the thought. Are you sure you’re related to these people? Maybe you were switched at birth, and your real parents are living somewhere within a ten-mile radius of this restaurant,” she teased.

  “Exactly. That is usually how I feel. At least after a few days there. At first it’s never too bad. Well, it must not be that bad…I mean, I keep going back. But…I don’t know. This has always felt more like home to me than Illinois.”

  Elyce swiped the last of her rice through the last of her sauce, using the side of her fork to scoop it up neatly. “This really was good. I ate too much though, as usual.”

  Andrew smiled, just the corners of his mouth quirking up as he glanced at her a little longer than casually. “You could stand to eat a few heavy meals. I mean…um, that didn’t come out like a compliment, did it? It was supposed to. I mean, you’re thin. In a good way. Um. Damn.”

  Elyce giggled, feeling suddenly giddy with the possibility of being with someone again, of getting compliments, of doing things together for the first time.

  “That’s okay. I’ll take it as a compliment. You should quit while you’re ahead, Andrew.”

  “I think that’s a good idea. I could try to tell you that you look gorgeous tonight and end up saying you look very neat and clean. That wouldn’t go down too well.”

  “How almost-sweet,” she replied dryly.

  “I don’t do sweet well, I admit. But I’m willing to make the effort.” Andrew chuckled, sipping at his wine with a crooked smile. “Oh, the other big family revelation, which sort of ties in with my being clearly inept at dating, is that my older brother evidently assumes I must be gay, since I’m not married and I live in San Francisco.”

  “And you do love show tunes,” Elyce pointed out, trying not to snicker.

  “The final nail in my lavender-satin-lined coffin,” Andrew agreed. “Or no, I guess the final nail was the fact that I got a cat.”

  “You got a cat? When?”

  “Yeah. Didn’t I tell you? She was my birthday present to myself last month. Well, actually I had to plan it about a year in advance, because the waiting list is pretty long. I hated having to leave her at the pet boarding place over Thanksgiving. I think I may try to bring her with me over Christmas.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, flipping to a picture of a small calico kitten sitting on a red velvet pet bed. “See? She’s hypoallergenic. Cost a fortune, but I always wanted one and she doesn’t trigger my asthma.”

  Elyce looked dutifully at the kitten picture but thought longingly of “her” dog, Astro, who was most likely curled in front of the fireplace at home. Or rather, at the house in Russian Hill that she and Karl had shared when they were married. No longer her home.

  And not where Karl was currently located either, she realized with a start when she lifted her eyes from the photo.

  Instead, Karl was at the entrance to the restaurant, frowning in her direction even as his sister Emily raised her hand in a delighted wave.

  Elyce supposed, as she waved back and smiled, that she should just be grateful his entire family wasn’t there. Only Emily and her husband Scott, and Karl’s younger brother Will with his wife Kelly. Roughly half the family. A grownups’ night out, evidently, as her nieces and nephew were nowhere to be seen.

  The Nashes looked striking, as always, standing there together like a group of modern-day Vikings. All of them took after their Norwegian forbears, tall and broad-shouldered with golden skin and golden-bronze hair and cheekbones to die for. Scott was a bit darker in coloring but other than that, he could have been a Nash too, he looked so true to the type. And Kelly was, if anything, even more Nordic-looking than the Nash kin, with a shimmering fall of platinum-blonde hair that remained straight even in the worst humidity. It was only their personalities that saved them all from being universally despised. They looked like movie stars but they were all too likeable to hate for it.

  With the exception of Karl, of course, she amended to herself.

  “It’s been ages!” Emily squealed, meeting Elyce halfway between the door and their table. “And you promised to come to lunch with us around Thanksgiving.”

  There were hugs and air-kisses all around, many exclamations of surprise over the coincidence of it all—and a wall of tension that seemed to spring into being between Karl and Andrew as introductions were made and they shook hands.

  Karl clearly assumed she and Andrew were there on a date, rather than on business, and Elyce found herself slightly defensive and resentful about the assumption. She couldn’t quite pin down why she should feel that way when, after all, she was separated from Karl and she was in fact there on a date. Elyce perversely moved closer to Andrew, laying a possessive hand on his arm and smiling sweetly at the assembled Nashes as she replied to Emily.

  “I know, but I really did get stuck in court that day you called. Believe me, I’d have rather been doing lunch. We’re still going to do something before the holidays, right? Maybe a movie. Andrew never wants to go to movies and I haven’t been to one in forever.”

  She thought she could hear Karl’s teeth grinding, the muscles in his jaw were flexing so firmly. Andrew’s smile seemed a little nervous, and for a moment Elyce felt a twinge of conscience for pulling him into the middle of things. It only lasted until Andrew spoke.

  “Wow. It’s an entire generation of the Nash dynasty in one place. Drop a bomb on this spot right now and the local environment would be about ten percent safer for future generations.”

  To Elyce’s surprise and tremendous relief, neither Karl nor Will took the bait. Karl raised his eyebrows and then looked graciously away, and Will just smirked at Andrew.

  “But the explosion would ruin the seafood,” Emily said jauntily. “Okay, kids, that’s e
nough meeting and greeting. I think our table is ready over there. Elyce, my dear, we will see you in a week or two.”

  A few minutes later, without needing to talk about it, Andrew paid the check and he and Elyce vacated the restaurant hurriedly. The damp night air off the bay seemed to seep into Elyce’s bones on the walk to the car, and she was shivering by the time Andrew started the engine and pulled silently and a bit sullenly onto the road.

  “Well, that was awkward,” Elyce attempted after about five minutes of increasingly painful silence. Andrew murmured a careless assent. Risking a peek at him, Elyce saw a look of intense concentration marring his even features. He looked a bit less controlled than usual, though she couldn’t put a finger on why, exactly. Every trimmed, chocolate-brown hair on his head was as neatly groomed into place as at the start of the evening. His suit trousers and jacket sleeves were pressed into knife-sharp creases, as they always were. Even during fieldwork, in hiking gear, Andrew always looked exceedingly tidy. But at the moment there was a wildness about him, and the muscle in his jaw was working in the same way Karl’s had earlier.

  Elyce felt a flicker of excitement, of warmth, despite the chill. What was he thinking? And what would he do, she wondered, with this new emotion?

  As it turned out, he did less than she might have hoped. When she turned at her door, key already secured in the lock, Andrew gripped her by the shoulders and kissed her firmly, no polite buss on the cheek this time. But just when Elyce had started to relax into the embrace, enjoying the novel sensation of this new set of lips, this unfamiliar tongue exploring hers, he released her and stepped back.

  “I’ll see you Monday,” he said with a smug grin. And then he was back in his car and out of sight down the driveway, leaving Elyce alone on her doorstep, mildly frustrated and extremely cold under the new winter moon.

  Chapter Three

  Elyce had planned to spend Saturday sleeping in, lounging around the house, reading a mystery novel over several cups of hot tea or possibly cocoa, and perhaps taking a steamy bath with bubbles after breakfast.

  Instead she awoke just before dawn, heart pounding at the unexpected sound of a car pulling up and stopping outside the little house. She usually enjoyed the isolation of the tiny little place in the woods because it was so quiet at night, but a sudden fear gripped her at the thought that any cries for help would certainly go unheard. Her nearest neighbors were over half a mile away, and a hilly ridge rose between her house and theirs.

  She bolted the few steps from her bed down the tiny hall to the living room, and headed straight for the row of hooks next to the door. Reaching for her purse, glad it was already almost daylight, Elyce grabbed her cell phone with relief and dialed her parents’ number. She knew they would certainly be home at that hour to pick up the phone if it rang.

  Home, already wide awake and into the second cup of coffee, from the sound of it. Her mother’s voice, comfortingly safe, greeted Elyce just as a firm hand knocked on her door.

  “Honey? What are you doing up this early on a Saturday, is something wrong?”

  “I don’t know,” Elyce admitted in a hoarse whisper, looking out her front window but not recognizing the silver SUV she saw there. She regretfully recalled her intention to have a peephole installed in the front door one day.

  The knock sounded again, a bit more insistent, and she glimpsed a flash of white just at the edge of her line of sight where the doorstep began. “There’s somebody outside, but I wasn’t expecting anybody. If I get cut off or anything, could you just… I know it’s silly. I’m sure it’s just a neighbor.”

  “It’s not silly, Elyce, it was the right thing to call someone, but…” Her mother’s voice, tight with concern, trailed off as Elyce called out to her visitor with a strength she didn’t feel.

  “Who is it?”

  “Karl. And Astro. Are you going to let us in? It’s cold out here.” His voice was muffled but unmistakable, and Elyce suddenly realized that the flash of white had been the dog’s tail, wagging with excitement. No doubt he could smell her, even from outside the door, and he knew the house well enough now to recognize it as hers. She felt a huge surge of relief, followed hard by suspicion. Why was Karl here, and at this time?

  “Mom, it’s just Karl. He brought Astro for a visit. I’ll call you later, okay?”

  “Oh.” Elyce could hear all the things her mother was struggling not to say. “That’s good. I didn’t realize you two were still getting together. Is there anything I should know?”

  “No, Mom.” She was snapping the deadbolt open with trembling fingers, taking a final deep breath before reaching for the doorknob.

  “Well, tell him I said hello, all right?”

  “Okay, I will.” And there he was on the doorstep, although her immediate attention was captured by Astro, who leapt at her in a flurry of fur, all licking tongue and wagging hindquarters. “Mom says hello,” she mumbled obediently through clenched lips to Karl as she tried to avoid the dog’s adoring assault on her face. “‘Bye, Mom. Love you,” she said, clicking the phone shut and slipping it into the pocket of the fluffy white bathrobe she’d thrown on over her pajamas when she’d anticipated doing battle with intruders. “Sit, Astro! Off! Sit!”

  The shaggy mongrel sat for the briefest of instants, then hopped up again and dashed off around the house to reacquaint himself with all its smells. Karl had closed the door but still stood next to it, seeming reluctant to venture any farther, just taking in the room with his eyes.

  Elyce found herself looking around as well for a second, trying to see the space as if for the first time. She wondered what he saw, what he thought. There was no entry hall. The front door opened directly into a small living room, ten by twelve at the most, with a small wood-burning potbellied stove in the corner. The stove was functional and, in the very coldest weather, a very welcome addition as the house had no central heating. A battered leather loveseat with a few paisley brocade pillows, an unpainted pine bookcase that was already filled to capacity, with extra books slipped in on their sides to lie on top of the others.

  Slightly out of keeping with the rustic theme was the flat-panel television mounted to the wall opposite the couch. It had been Elyce’s one extravagance when she’d moved out, and her choice had been driven primarily by space concerns. The room was far too small to allow for an entertainment center or even a television stand. But the house had been a bargain, too small and rundown even by California standards to command anything like the exorbitant rents that were the norm in the neighborhood. She was more than willing to put up with the cramped and rough conditions in order to live surrounded by redwoods.

  “So. What are you doing here?” Elyce finally thought to ask, turning back around to confront Karl.

  “Astro wanted to visit,” he said with a shrug. On his broad shoulders, the gesture looked less than casual. “Nice robe.”

  Elyce looked down, following his gaze to where the nubbly terry fabric gaped open over the low-cut pajama top. Tugging the robe closed over her chest, she gestured to the couch. “Since you’re here, have a seat. I haven’t had tea yet, and I’m not having whatever conversation this is without any caffeine in my system.”

  Karl smirked. “I thought about bringing you a latté, but the last coffee place I saw was pretty far away. I thought it would be cold by the time I got here. Are you going to give me the grand tour?”

  “You’re right, it would have been cold. I’ll be back in a minute,” Elyce called over her shoulder as she left the room, deliberately ignoring his question. One doorway down the narrow hall with its peeling wallpaper and curiously slanting floor was the miniscule kitchen, where she lit the gas burner beneath the kettle. She took a minute to measure the tea into a hinged infuser, adding a level teaspoon of sugar to her favorite mug with much more care than was really necessary.

  “Anything I can do to help?”

  With a squeak, she jumped and whirled around to see Karl standing in the narrow doorway, filling the frame
. “No thank you. I’ve got it.” And then, because she felt a little desperate, trapped there in her utterly inadequate kitchen, “Please just go sit down. I’ll be back out in a minute.” Astro chose that moment to dash by, carrying the squeaky bone that he had left under her bed on his last visit, and Elyce was relieved when Karl followed the boisterous dog back down the hall.

  After the short reprieve, with her teacup firmly in hand, she squared her shoulders and prepared to face her nearly ex-husband again. She had planned to march in boldly but paused at the entrance to the living room, where Karl was now engaged in a mortal battle with Astro over the squeaky bone. Wresting it away from the dog at last with a cry of triumph, he flung it toward the hallway, looking up only too late to realize Elyce was in the line of fire.

  She caught the toy deftly, holding her tea safely in the clear with the other hand as she sidestepped Astro’s lunge and flipped the squeaky down the hallway. The dog chased it in delight, tucking his tail and running low to the ground in the manner of his evident Border Collie ancestors, and Elyce turned back to see Karl smiling. It unsettled her to see a smiling and happy Karl here, in the house where she’d moved when she left him.

  “Why are you here, Karl?”

  He met her stare frankly, the smile fading from his lips to be replaced with something grimmer. Standing up, brushing the dog hair from his jeans, he sat back down on the couch, looking suddenly like a grownup again, like the high-powered business executive he was. And in a businesslike way, he stated his reason for being there.

  “I’m here because I have a proposition for you. Something that might be to our mutual advantage.”

  Elyce put her cup and saucer down on the coffee table and sat on the couch at the farthest possible distance from Karl. It wasn’t far. It was a small couch. “A proposition? Is this about us or about the development thing?”

  “Both,” he admitted. “About my family, anyway, and the development thing.”

  “Okay,” she said hesitantly. “I guess if it’s important enough to bring you here this early on a Saturday, I can hear you out. Although why you couldn’t have just phoned me…”