Chapter 12
Serena couldn't help the small giggle that escaped her lips. After all, this was a pretty ridiculous situation. Here she was, flat on her back, a hideous pink goop on her face and a woman painting her toe-nails, facing a voluptuous red head covered in her own green version of the masque Serena was wearing.
"Something funny?" Ann's eyes narrowed. The dried masque cracked around them, giving her the appearance of some sort of monster. Green flakes fell onto the white terry-cloth robe she wore like weird dandruff.
Gathering her dignity –and her courage- around her, Serena sighed. "Ann, go away. I'm too busy enjoying myself right now to let you pick a fight with me." In the back of her mind, she was replaying her last encounter with Darien's ex. She had come out of that one the loser, and it was all too easy to see how Ann had played on Serena's own insecurities to send her running away in tears.
Well, not this time.
She closed her eyes again. In the soothingly quiet room, it was easy to hear Ann's angry breathing; her deliberate nonchalant attitude had apparently left the other woman quite taken aback.
It was, of course, too much to hope that Ann would accept this loss and leave, for she rallied and shot back with, "I suppose you think it's pretty nice, being able to use Darien's money for expensive trips to a spa. What was it this time? You gave him a blow job and he sent you here?" This was all Ann could come up with? Crude and pathetic.
"Darien has no need to pay for that sort of thing, although I'm sure that's what you might stoop to, Ann. I, however, just enjoyed a wonderfully successful gallery show, and decided to treat myself and my sister to something nice. On my own money. So tell me; whose credit card are you using today?" Serena opened her eyes again to check the accuracy of her barb. Sure enough, Ann's eyes were bulging and her fists were clenched. If she were a dog, she'd be foaming at the mouth. A quick glance toward her feet showed Serena that the pedicurist was watching the exchange avidly, trying not to be noticed by the two opposing women. "I'll ask one more time, Ann. Go away. I don't know why you seem to hate me so much, but I'm not about to let myself be bothered by a money-grubbing wanna-be with dyed hair."
Ann exploded. "Why you little tart! How dare you think you can get away with insulting me like that?! I'm gonna-"
At the first sound of raised voices, an elegant woman whom Serena remembered from the reception desk appeared at Ann's elbow. "Ms. Dernick, is there a problem? I'm sure there's no need to shout. It will only do naughty things to your blood pressure."
Ann pointed one blood-red nail -the same color as her hair, Serena noted absently- at her. "I insist that you have that bitch removed immediately!"
The woman glanced over at Serena, and raised an eyebrow. Ann's opponent was lying seemingly at her ease, gesturing for the therapist to finish her toes.
She looked back at Ann. "Ms. Dernick, I must ask that you refrain from such language here. This is a top-quality spa, and I would rather you not disturb our other guests. What has Miss Kyle done to anger you?" Serena was rather amazed that the woman could recognize her, much less remember her name.
"Do I actually need a reason?! That little whore has been nothing but a pain in the ass since I first saw her! Look, you; I'm a frequent guest here! If you don't do as I say right now, I'll never come back!"
The woman looked at the pedicurist, who shook her head minutely, and then turned back to Ann. "I'm very sorry, but I cannot ask Miss Kyle to leave when she has done nothing wrong. We'll be sorry to loose your patronage, but if you like, I can recommend another spa in New York with nearly as good a reputation as our own."
With a shriek of rage, Ann whirled and swept down the corridor. The woman smiled at Serena and said, "I apologize profusely that you were bothered, Miss Kyle. Please don't worry about your bill for today. This one's on the house."
"That's very kind…" What was her name again?
"Please call me Molly. I hope you've found everything else to your expectations?"
"Oh, yes. This has been wonderful. Even if you lost Ann as a customer, I'll gladly be replacing her here."
"I'm glad to hear that. I'll leave you to relax again." And with that, Molly left.
Serena took a deep breath, amazed at her own guts, and looked down at the pedicurist. "Man, wasn't that fun?"
The young woman grinned. "Between you and me, ma'am, no one likes Ms. Dernick. She's rude to everyone and never tips. And she really does dye her hair."
Serena made a note to herself to leave a large tip behind.
"Sere?" She looked toward the door again to see Mina staring in. Her sister was covered in blue gunk. How many different colors of face stuff did they have here, anyway? "Sere, what was that all about?"
"That, Mina, was Darien's last girlfriend. She's hated my guts since we bumped into each other. She just tried to ruin all the fun I'm having right now. I told her off, and then they kicked her out. Nice, huh?"
"Wow. What do you think she uses in her hair to get that color? Tomatoes, perhaps?"
Serena laughed and grinned back at her sister. "Beats me. It is ugly, isn't it? Why don't you go back and let them finish with you?"
"Great idea. I think I'm gonna hire my own private reflexologist to rub my tootsies when I get home from work every day. I've never felt anything so good!"
"I'll bet Malachite would learn if you asked him nicely and plied him with sexual favors."
"Sere, you're awful!" With a giggle, Mina ran back to her own room, leaving Serena to finally relax again. Boy, did she feel good.
* * *
Darien and Malachite stared at each other rather warily across the table as they waited for their dates to arrive. Their dates and new lovers, who just happened to be sisters. Darien couldn't help but feel a little odd. He sipped absently at the Glenfinnig by his elbow and tried not to tap his fingers impatiently. "I thought Mina was the punctual one."
That coaxed a small grin from his friend and employee. "To hear her tell it, she never has been. It was simply that Serena's tardiness made Mina's look almost non-existent." Darien was relieved to see that Malachite was unconsciously twiddling with the stem of his martini glass. At least they were both nervous…
He let out a breath and rubbed one hand over his smooth hair. "Hell, Malachite, this is ridiculous. We've been drunk together, even gone to nude bars together-"
"Only because I wasn't about to refuse my boss," Malachite interrupted.
"My point is that we are two wealthy, confident, sophisticated men, waiting for two lovely, intelligent women. So why do I feel the urge to tug my collar loose?"
"Perhaps Serena is not simply another lovely, intelligent woman. Perhaps she means more then that, and it makes you nervous, especially when I am madly and utterly in love with her sister."
"You know, tha- You're serious, Malachite? I mean, we all noticed how smitten you were last night, but-"
"As serious as I was about Susan."
At his words, Darien reached out and placed a hand on Malachite's back. He knew, better then anyone, how much his old college buddy had loved his wife. Malachite and Susan had met in college, and gotten married immediately after graduation. Never before had he seen two people so much in love, and the breast cancer that had taken her had nearly shattered Malachite. Her death had left him broken.
"I'm only going to say this once, and only because you know that everyone else will say it. Mina looks an awful lot like Susan."
"And if you weren't my friend, and I didn't know that you meant it, I would punch you for mentioning it." Malachite sipped his martini and stared at the polished marble of the bar counter. "I can honestly say that it never even occurred to me until I glanced at the picture of Susan on my desk this morning. Perhaps blue-eyed blonds are simply my type. But there's no comparison, old friend. Susan was a flame of life, always laughing and dancing, always happy. Mina is like a cool summer breeze. She blew in, and wrapped her airy self around my heart, and I never want her to let go."
At his words, Darien allowed his small worry to slip away and grinned. "Well, now I know it's love. You only talk poetry when you've got it bad."
"In any case, you had distracted me from my original topic of discussion. Your feelings for Serena."
Darien looked into the smooth depths of his scotch. "I love her. I intend to marry her." The words slipped out despite his intention, and they made him frown. Where had that come from? He sounded like a lovesick schoolboy.
But the words, he realized, were true.
Malachite's eyebrows rose. "I suppose I should now return your question. You are serious?" He waved the question away before Darien could retort. "Of course you are; I can see that. Does she know?"
Darien snorted. "I think that if she got one whiff of my intentions, she'd be running as fast as possible in the other direction. I don't think you'll have that sort of problem with Mina."
"No, but I'm in no hurry to take that step. There's nothing wrong with simply enjoying each other's company for a while. We'll marry when we feel the time is right. But Serena… Darien, I don't envy you the task you've got before you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" But he shook his head. "No, I know. Serena's fragile. And she's scared. And I'm not telling you anymore then that. But I don't intend to wait forever. I want Serena, and I want to make her happy. Even if she doesn't think it's right for her-"
"And I see two exquisite blonds heading in our direction."
It was a rather amusing scene, Darien could imagine. He knew that he and Malachite drew their share of female eyes, but every single male eye in the place was riveted on the two sisters who had just entered. Serena had her hair up in a rather sensible twist that made him want to pull out every pin, one by one, until that long shimmering mane of hair draped freely across her body. Mina's was down, and she wore a lovely soft blue pantsuit. Beautiful, and every man present had noticed the fact.
So, of course, he had to cross to Serena and kiss her quite solidly on the lips. As he fought to keep himself from drowning in her eyes, he noticed from the corner of his own that Mina had rushed into Malachite's arms. Amusing. And perfect.
"Have a nice day, darling?" he asked.
She smiled and nodded. "The spa was great. Lita's brilliant for suggesting it. I feel so relaxed and pampered and polished. Especially relaxed." There was a gleam to her eye that made him wonder just what had gone on at the spa, but it could wait until later.
He drew her around and under his arm, nodding to the waiter who hovered nearby, waiting to lead them to their table. "Then you'll have to make it a habitual enjoyment." At the table, he pulled out her chair and placed a soft kiss on her gleaming hair. "Since I didn't mention it earlier, you look quite lovely this evening."
"Thank you."
Darien took his own seat and smiled across at Mina. "I hope you enjoyed your day, Miss Kyle."
Mina laughed musically and grinned. "Stop that, Mr. Charming. Please call me Mina. I'm sorry that I didn't get much of a chance to speak with you last night."
"Think nothing of it." He smiled over at Malachite. "I noticed that you were rather occupied, so I couldn't possibly take offence."
"Darien!" Serena swatted lightly at him, and they all laughed.
"Ah, ah, ah." He cracked his briefcase and removed a slim folder, which he held just slightly out of reach of her. "Be nice, or I won't let you read your reviews."
"My reviews?" The momentary confusion cleared from Serena's eyes and Mina squealed and clapped her hands lightly. "You mean from the show?"
"But of course. What else could I possibly mean?" He handed her the file, and she and Mina leaned over it, Mina's face filled with a wonderfully expectant expression and Serena's with excitement and nerves.
"Oh, god. I can't look at them. What if they hated me? Mina, you read them first." Serena clapped the file shut and shoved it toward her sister. Darien smiled over at Malachite, for they had already read the wildly positive reviews. Serena, Darien mused, needed to deal with that little esteem problem. Well, no matter; it would come, he was quite sure, with time and fame.
Mina removed the first newspaper clipping and scanned it swiftly. "Oh, Serena! Just listen to these! 'The lovely Ms. Kyle, with her golden hair and exquisite face, is every bit as captivating and polished as her art. The New York art world has truly been graced with a fascinating new talent.' Serena, you've done it!" The two squealed again and hugged each other in excitement, then huddled over the rest of the clippings with gasps, oohs, and a few giggles.
Darien simply smiled and signaled for champagne.
* * *