Silver Linings

then he more or less fell into bed with me. I confess I gave him a small shove.”
    “What did you think you were going to accomplish?” Ariel demanded tightly. “Were you trying to prove you could seduce him?”
    “No. Not exactly.” Mattie fiddled with a pen on her desk. “I wanted him to take me with him when he left town on the flight to St. Gabriel the next morning.”
    Ariel stared at her sister in amazement. “You wanted to run off to the islands with him? You? I can't believe it.”
    “What can I say? I went a little crazy. Believe me, it won't happen again.”
    “But he claims he's engaged to you. He's staying with you at your apartment.”
    “He's the one talking about marriage. I'm thinking of our present arrangement as an affair.” Mattie smiled bleakly. “Don't worry, Ariel, it won't last. One of these days Hugh will get on another flight back to St. Gabriel.”
    “Poor Hugh.”
    Mattie scowled. “Poor Hugh?”
    But Ariel had already made one of her lightning-swift mood swings. “And poor Emery. You know, lately, I've begun to wonder why I always seem to attract losers. It's awkward, you know, because people think I'm the one who ruined them, but the truth is that they carry the seeds of their own destruction within them. I'm like a catalyst or something that speeds up the process.”
    “For Pete's sake, Ariel.”
    “I'm not responsible for Emery and Hugh ruining their lives.”
    “Of course you aren't. And their lives aren't exactly ruined. They've both got plenty of big plans for the future, I promise you.”
    But Ariel was off on a new dramatic tangent. “Last night I felt so guilty when I saw you with the three of them out there on the sidewalk.”
    “There's absolutely no need for you to feel guilty.” Mattie was used to this role, too. She had spent years soothing Ariel and everyone else in the household.
    “Maybe it is my fault, somehow. Maybe I do something to destroy them.”
    “Ariel, stop it. That's not true and you know it.” Mattie was getting alarmed now. Ariel's emotions could be unpredictable. “For heaven's sake, don't start wallowing in a lot of unearned guilt. It's not your style and it will take days for you to get back out of it so that you can paint.”
    “It doesn't matter. I haven't painted in weeks. I'm too frightened by what's happening between me and Flynn.”
    “Afraid of what?”
    “That I'll do to him whatever I did to Emery and Hugh.” With a sob, Ariel fled to the door.

CHAPTER

Eleven

    Mattie got off the elevator on the twenty-sixth floor of the downtown highrise and walked along a wide, carpeted hallway. She took several deep breaths to force back the familiar tension and realized she had a death grip on the paper bag she was holding as well as on her purse strap. It had been a long ride up and the elevator had been very crowded.
    Memories of the caves of Purgatory had started to nibble around the edges of her thoughts by the twelfth floor, when five more large specimens of corporate humanity had gotten on board. Real anxiety had set in by the twentieth, when the doors had stuck shut for a moment. She had literally leaped off the elevator when it had finally arrived at the twenty-sixth floor.
    She always had some problem in elevators, but this last experience had been especially difficult. The fact was, she was having more trouble than usual handling the normal stresses in her life these days. Perhaps that was because she was experiencing more than the usual amount, she reminded herself grimly. Living with Hugh Abbott under the same roof was not exactly conducive to serenity. It was like having a large beast underfoot, one who was just waiting for the day when he would go back to the wild. Dragging her with him, of course. She knew that was always in the back of his mind, no matter how often he reassured her that he was willing to stay in Seattle indefinitely.
    Indefinitely, hah . She knew Hugh Abbott better than that. The man was extremely low on patience.
    Perhaps she should start doubling up on her vitamin B and niacin tablets in the mornings, Mattie thought. They were good for stress.
    There were several excellent paintings hanging on the walls of the twenty-sixth floor of the Vailcourt building. It was one of the three management floors. Mattie had chosen the art for the offices at her aunt's request, and she was pleased to see that it still looked as good now as it had the day the pictures were hung. Some art did not wear well, even