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“I thought you already ate?” Giorgio counters boldly.
She narrows her eyes at him, flaring her nostrils.
“Well, don’t you know, I really worked up an appetite,” she says in a low, suggestive voice.
Ew. I have to suppress a shudder.
“Yeah, this one,” Rocco starts, “she just won’t quit! She talked about you guys constantly. I admit, I was really on the fence, really leaning toward a big fat no. But this Veronica just won’t let up. My Ronnie… when she talks, you better listen! She knows what she’s talking about!”
“She certainly does,” I agree, careful not to let any double entendres slip into my voice.
“Thing is, I don’t know why you didn’t tell me this, Cal. This place… It’s cutting-edge. You should have said something about that.”
Giorgio grabs a flute of champagne and downs half of it to keep from laughing. Should have said something? Was this guy paying any attention at all?
“Maybe Cal is just too modest,” she smirks knowingly.
“Somehow, I doubt that’s it,” comes a voice.
I twist to see Irving and Opal in the dining room, standing next to each other but not touching. Opal’s arms are crossed in front of her blouse and though she is trying to appear calm, there is a storm of emotions playing beneath her features.
“I am modest,” I counter playfully. “Possibly the best, most modest person there ever was.”
My joke falls flat as Veronica and Irving stare at each other.
Veronica clears her throat, standing up straight with her chin jutting at an imperious angle.
“We need to talk to Cal about investing,” she sniffs. “It took some convincing, but I think Rocco’s definitely on board now. We have to leave shortly, but we’ll be back soon after Rocco ties up a few loose ends. Still, I hope we can hammer out roles and duties, that sort of thing. Outline the framework for the partnership.”
“Fantastic,” Irving replies blandly.
I can almost feel the walls going up around him, brick by brick in quick succession. He is backing away from the project, backing away from me, backing away from Opal. Even though it is Veronica who stands there, even thoughsheis the one he wants to front off , everyone else is going to be collected in his strategy to retreat.
“Can I get a thank you?” Veronica shrugs.
“Why would I thank you?” Irving counters. “It’s not my deal. Do what you want. I’m heading back to Miami.”
Opal’s mouth pops open as she gasps almost inaudibly. Irving turns and stalks from the room as we all stand there, helpless. Left behind.
Chapter 20
OPAL
In the dining room, I feel like everybody can hear my heart racing. The sound of my blood pounding is so loud, I can barely think over it.
Knowing now that I am an “open book” is kind of terrible. I’m sure that my expression broadcasts exactly what I’m thinking to the whole room. Rocco is just gross. Veronica is mortifying. Cal is not exactly stepping up to intervene.
And Irving is, apparently, out of here.
My impulse is to follow him, to ask him what is going on, but Cal shoots me a meaningful look that says “you have to let him go.”
Let him go? What does that mean? As in, forever?
“All right, what do we need to do first?” Veronica huffs.
I glance at her in surprise. “Me? Are you asking me?”
“Very funny,” she scoffs. “I assume there’s no whiteboard wall here, so do you have your iPad with you? Pen and paper at least?”
