Return to You

a wench," Olivia said
good-naturedly. "Here I am, in my time of need, and all you can do
is harangue me. If I wanted harassment, I would've stayed at
Gran's."
    "Gran wouldn't let you drink out your
sorrows."
    "I've got no sorrows. Just two
back-stabbing, evil bastards who won't leave me alone." She glanced
at Treat, who came opening a bottle with another tucked under his
arm. "You wouldn't happen to know any hitmen with reasonable rates,
would you?" she asked him as he filled their glasses.
    "I'll have to check my Rolodex." He leaned
over and gave Eve a long and lingering kiss. "I'll be in my office,
baby."
    Eve smiled at him, her eyes dreamy and warm.
"Okay."
    He tucked her hair behind her ear and, with
a wink to Olivia, left them to talk.
    Olivia took a sip. Sexy,
rich, and he picked
excellent wine. "I'm jealous."
    "Of?"
    "You." At Eve's startled look, Olivia rolled
her eyes. "You can't seriously be surprised."
    "Of course I am."
    "Aside from the fact that you have a
terrific man, you have a classic style I could never pull off, your
hair is always sheveled, and you have perfect breasts."
    "Sheveled?"
    "The opposite of disheveled, like my
untamable fro." She shook her head exaggeratedly to prove her
point. A lock flew into her mouth. She had to blow several times to
get it out.
    "You have beautiful hair, and I'd kill to
have your body—"
    "Big boobs are overrated," Olivia
injected.
    "—And you could have any man you wanted.
I've seen men drop to their knees and beg for you."
    Olivia shrugged as she drank a little,
relaxing into the nice, numbing buzz. "Also overrated."
    "Are you going to tell me what all this is
about or do I have to flog it out of you?"
    "You get kinky after a couple glasses of
wine."
    "Thanks to you I've barely had an ounce. My
glass was full when you stole it."
    Olivia tried to remember but there was only
gray fuzz, kind of like a TV that wasn't getting reception. "Nope,
can't recall."
    "Tell me about this business with your one
true love and your father before I strangle you."
    Olivia sighed. "I haven't talked about this
for eleven years. It's not easy suddenly opening up."
    "Then it'll be good to get it out of your
system." Eve topped off both their glasses and settled back,
wiggling to get comfortable. "Okay, I'm ready. No—wait." She handed
Olivia a couple crackers. "Nibble on these as you talk."
    Olivia wrinkled her nose at the saltines,
set them down, and drank more wine instead. "Michael was my best
friend from the time we were six, the first day of first grade. We
hung out all the time. I guess it was natural that we'd fall in
love."
    "When did you know?"
    "Freshmen year in high school. We went to
the Scandia course to race cars." She smiled nostalgically, caught
up in the memory. "Michael was too impatient to play miniature
golf. After some video games we went for pizza before going to a
movie."
    She leaned back and closed her eyes, still
able to feel the zap when their fingers touched in the box of
popcorn. She'd looked up at Michael. In the dark, his eyes had been
luminous. He'd leaned over and kissed her. It'd been soft, a salty
fluttering against her lips, and it'd stirred her heart. She'd
pulled him close and kissed him harder.
    Her fingers reached for the locket Michael
gave her on her sixteenth birthday, the first time they'd made
love. She used to grip it in her palm and think about their future
and how happy they'd be.
    But she didn't have it anymore. She threw it
back at him that night he'd broken up with her.
    She opened her eyes. She hadn't thought of the
locket in ages.
    "Well?" Eve prompted.
    She looked up to find Eve waiting
expectantly. She shrugged. "We kissed for the first time that
night. No, that's not true. It was the second time. The first time
we kissed was on the playground in first grade." His eyes had been
the same blue of the sky as he gazed at her and touched his lips to
hers.
    Damn it. Why did she have to have such a
good memory?
    She drank some more, wondering how much wine
she'd have to consume before she couldn't remember.
    "Eat this." Eve passed her another
saltine.
    Sighing, Olivia dutifully nibbled on it and
continued. "Everything was great until my father came back."
    "What did he do that made you so angry?
You've never said."
    "My father, the movie bigwig, offered
Michael a job." She winced at the wine. Suddenly it tasted
bitter.
    "And that was bad?"
    "Yes. All Michael ever wanted was to direct
movies. It was his dream. Parker knew this and