Worst Fears Realized

want to go back to your house?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Why don’t you stay with me?”
    “In Brooklyn?”
    “Of course not; I live in the East Sixties.”
    “Sure you’ve got room?”
    “Sure; you don’t take up much space.”
    “Maybe I’ll come into the city tonight; that okay?”
    “Sure.” She wrote down her address. “Call me on your car phone when you’re in the block, and I’ll open the garage door for you.”
    “You and I must be the only people in the city with a garage.”
    “Could be.” Dolce got up, threw her things in a bag, kissed him, and left the house.
    A moment later, he heard the Ferrari’s high-pitched roar. A moment after that, he was asleep again, exhausted.

48
    STONE WAS JERKED AWAKE BY A LOUDringing. For a moment, he thought it had been a dream, then it rang again. It wasn’t the phone; could it be the door? He had never heard his own doorbell. He got up, got into a cotton robe, and padded downstairs.
    Arrington was standing on the porch.
    “Good morning,” he said sleepily. “Come in.” She was wearing faded jeans, a chambray shirt knotted under her breasts, and no makeup. He thought she had never looked more beautiful.
    She put her arms around his waist and leaned into his shoulder. “Good morning,” she said.
    “Would you like some coffee?”
    “Yes, all right.”
    He moved away from her and into the kitchen, where he busied himself making coffee.
    Arrington came and sat on a stool at the counterthat separated the kitchen from the living room. “I take it I just missed Ms. Bianchi?”
    “Yes.”
    “I saw her drive away.”
    Stone turned. “Did she see you?”
    “No.”
    He breathed a sigh of relief.
    “I like the cottage; it suits you.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Did you choose it with Ms. Bianchi?”
    “No.” He didn’t elaborate on that.
    “I like it even better, then.”
    “I’m glad; you’ll have to bring Vance and Peter over.”
    She said nothing.
    “What brings you out on a Sunday morning?”
    “I thought I might go to a country auction, then I found myself driving by the green and thought I would rather see you.”
    “Oh.” He poured them both a cup of coffee. “Have you had breakfast?”
    “Yes. When you live with Vance Calder, there’s always a servant at hand to grant your every wish.” She didn’t sound very happy about it.
    “So, how’s life in LA? Do you like it out there?”
    “It’s all right, when I’m not being kidnapped.”
    “I hope you haven’t made a habit of it,” he said.
    “No; you were kind enough to put an end to that. I’ll always be grateful.” She put her hand on his.
    “You’re welcome,” he said.
    “I know you’re not very comfortable with gratitude; but I had to say it, anyway. Vance feels the sameway. He likes you very much, you know.”
    “And I like him.”
    “Let’s sit in the living room,” she said, taking her coffee and making her way to a sofa.
    Stone followed and sat down next to her, leaving a respectable distance between them.
    “How have you spent the time since we last saw each other?” Arrington asked.
    The memory of their last time together flooded back. They had been in the bedroom of a Bel-Air Hotel suite, and Arrington had been naked. “Oh, the usual”, he said. “A little work, a little play.”
    “How is Dino?” she asked.
    “Very angry; he doesn’t like his family being in danger.”
    She nodded. “And Elaine?”
    “Exactly the same.”
    “Give them both my love, will you?”
    “I will.”
    There was a long silence; Stone struggled to find something to say. “Are you writing?” he asked, finally.
    “I started a novel, but after a couple of chapters I sort of gave up on it.”
    “Don’t give up. You’d write a very fine novel; you have all the skills.”
    “I don’t know that I’m cut out to be a novelist,” she said.
    “Why not?”
    “I think that, in order to write a good novel, you have to be able to face reality, and I’m not very good at that.”
    “What is it about reality that you find so hard to face?”

    “The reality is that I want to be with you.”
    That sucked the wind right out of Stone; he was unable to respond.
    “I think about you all the time; about having dinner with you and Dino and Elaine; about living in your house; about making love to you; I think about that a lot.”
    Stone put down his coffee and massaged his temples. This was pretty much all he had thought about, until recently. Now she was here. What was he going to do