Silver Linings

something. He's becoming a bit obnoxious. I don't want him upsetting any of the clients. I swear, I'll be forever in your debt if you'll get him out of here for me.”
    Mattie groaned, glancing across the crowded room to where Emery Blackwell was in serious danger of dumping the contents of his glass into the cleavage of a Wagnerian lady of middling years. “All right, Liz. But, remember, you owe me.”
    “Thank you, dear.” She smiled as she turned away, her hard eyes straying once more toward Hugh. “You always did have a way of picking up the bits and pieces Ariel leaves behind in her wake, didn't you, Mattie?”
    Mattie gritted her teeth and went toward Emery. She was vaguely aware that Hugh was following her through the throng.
    “There you are, Emery,” she said when she reached his side. “I've been looking for you.” Mattie deftly removed the glass from his hand. “There's someone just dying to meet you.” She flashed the large woman a placating smile. “Will you excuse us? Emery is always in such demand.”
    “Of course,” the woman said, looking vaguely disappointed.
    “Mattie, my love, you arrived just in the nick of time,” Emery murmured as she led him away. “I do believe I was about to make a descent down an extremely treacherous precipice without benefit of proper climbing apparatus. Haven't seen a woman built along those lines in a good ten or fifteen years.” Emery cast a last, wistful glance at the massive bosom he was forsaking. “They just don't make them like that anymore.”
    “Oh, I don't know about that,” Hugh said easily. “I've got some calendars back in my office that have pictures of females built like that.”
    “You would,” Emery agreed.
    Mattie sighed. “Emery, you're getting drunk and you always get obnoxious when you drink.”
    “Kind of you to notice. I do try. Where are we going?”
    “You're going home in a cab,” Mattie said as she steered him toward the door.
    “I've got a better idea. Why don't we go get a bite to eat? Just you and me, of course. Leave the Elemental creature behind.”
    Hugh crowded close as he followed the pair out the door. “Forget it, Blackwell. Mattie and I already have plans.”
    “Pity,” Emery said.
    “Hey, Mattie,” Flynn called, hurrying toward the three, who were halfway through the door. “Leaving already?”
    “Afraid so,” Mattie said.
    “Don't think it hasn't been fun,” Hugh growled.
    “Look, I'll get those canvases to you as soon as possible, Mattie.” Flynn followed them all out onto the sidewalk and stood waiting with them until a cruising cab pulled into the passenger loading zone.
    “That'll be great, Flynn. But, like I said, Ariel is not going to approve.”
    “Don't worry about it.” Flynn opened the cab door and ushered Blackwell inside.
    Mattie slid in beside Emery.
    “Where the hell are you going?” Hugh demanded as he watched Mattie get into the cab.
    “Home. I think I've had enough champagne and soggy canapés tonight. Want to come along? We're on Emery's way.”
    Hugh glared at her in frustration and then got into the backseat of the cab beside her.
    “You three have a nice evening,” Flynn said casually, bending down to say good-bye.
    “Shit,” said Hugh.
    “My sentiments exactly,” Emery Blackwell intoned as the cab pulled away from the curb.
    “You shouldn't have been there tonight, Emery,” Mattie admonished. “You promised me you would stay up at your place on Whidbey Island until you got the second book of the Byron St. Cyr series completed.”
    “Now, don't scold, Mattie, my love. I deserve a break. I swear on my honor as an aging scholar who has sold his soul to the devil of commercial fiction, I will head straight back to Whidbey tomorrow. I just couldn't resist attending that opening tonight.” He looked across Mattie at Hugh, who was filling up a large chunk of the cab. “What about you, Abbott?”
    “What about me?”
    “Don't you feel a certain perverse pleasure in seeing your influence in Ariel's work? A little claim to artistic immortality, eh?”
    “Bull.”
    “Succinctly put. A man of few words. Well, as for myself, all I can say is, I'll take my moments of fame when and where I can. All glory is fleeting. Do you know I actually had to explain to a couple of people in that gallery just who I was, Mattie? A humbling experience.”
    “Don't worry, there will be a whole new level of fame waiting for you when you emerge as the mysterious author of the