"Next week."

"That doesn't give me much time. How about this? Why don't I set up a few appointments with old clients if I can and you fly up and have lunch or drinks or dinner somewhere cool and see what comes out of it?"

"I think it's the only way. Meanwhile, that five hundred dollars we spent for you to join the Frick may have been the best money we've spent in a while. Who knows where it might lead?"

"You're right. There's a lot of new money in the city now. They need our tasteful direction." Roni laughed.

Roni arranged three days of lunches, c.o.c.ktails, and dinners for Olivia. Nick wasn't thrilled about her going away, but Olivia left for New York on Sunday. Olivia felt like a few days apart might soothe his grumpiness.

"I'll meet you at Teterboro on Thursday," she said. "The information for your flight is on your desk."

"Okay," Nick said. "Thanks."

"What's wrong? You've got funny look on your face."

"I don't know. It's just, well, does Maritza have any idea how canceling the job with you impacts us?"

"Not a clue. She's only upset about losing the house for herself."

"Of course."

"That's just how it is. Interior design is a tough business. I'll call you when I land."

Olivia's delight to be back in Manhattan far outweighed the success of her meetings, which ranged from lukewarm to just fair. Her old clients for the most part agreed to a meal or a drink just to see what was going on with her or to tell her what was going on with them. Two seemed to have some potential, and she promised to follow up with them when she returned from Spain. Thursday morning she went to Tiffany's and bought a crystal bowl for Daniel and Kitty's wedding gift and took a cab to Teterboro. She hated leaving the city.

The three nights she spent alone in her office on East 58th Street were fraught with worry-worry about Nick and how disappointed he seemed to be in her and worry about acquiring new work. Somewhere along the line, her worry about Nick turned into annoyance. Where was his commitment to solving this financial black hole? Did he offer to go back to work? No, he didn't, did he? Maybe if he put down his fishing rod for a while, he could ask the College of Charleston or the Citadel for some part-time work. Why not? She was certainly doing her part. Had she not humiliated herself enough by resurrecting her old clients and hinting around as subtly as she could that she had some time on her hands? But then, she thought, maybe this was what happened when you were too arrogant, too proud. Maybe the universe was trying to teach her the lesson that she never should have taken her success for granted for a single minute. Maybe moving out of New York was the gigantic mistake she thought it would be. And-Nick had said it, really-maybe she should never have had all of her proverbial eggs in one basket. It made her so mad that he was so right. And now they were to spend the next five days with Maritza and Bob and conduct themselves as though everything was all right between them.

Her taxi pulled into the entrance area in front of the terminal at Teterboro Airport. She paid the driver and got out. Nick was standing right inside the gla.s.s vestibule, waiting for her. When she looked at him and saw the loving expression on his face, her anger toward him melted. He opened the door for her to enter.

"Hey, gorgeous. I missed you."

"Oh, Nick!" She threw her arms around him and kissed him all over his face. "I missed you too, baby. I'm so sorry."

"Me too, sweetheart. Let's go have some fun in Spain, and to the devil with our worries for a few days."

"You're right. Our worries will be there waiting for us when we come home."

They greeted everyone, and it was almost a repeat performance of their last initial greeting except that Anne Fritz and Lola were absent. In their place to even out the dirty dozen were Kitty's mother Betty, a retiring stocky woman of obviously humble means, and her uncle Ernest, wearing a clerical collar and a thin black suit, an ordained minister who was along to witness and conduct the ceremony. Their discomfort and suspicion of everyone and everything were clear.

Of course, Buddy and Sam were discussing golf with each other, Dorothy and Mich.e.l.le were ignoring everyone, Gladdie was tearing around the waiting area, and Ellen was posing, giving coy looks in Bob's direction whenever she thought he was looking. Daniel and Kitty were off to one side, quietly talking to each other, smiling and holding hands.

"Welcome!" Maritza said. "I'm so glad y'all are here!"

"So are we! Where're Anne and Lola?" Olivia asked Maritza.

Bob answered, "Look, Olivia. You know me for how long? I don't mind taking all my friends on a little getaway now and then. In fact, I love to share what I have. But that dumb b.i.t.c.h? She treated me like a bug under gla.s.s when she was a guest at my party on Necker, and then she sent me a bill for eighteen thousand dollars!"

"Good grief! That's terrible!" Olivia said.

"Outrageous," Nick said. "Hourly rate times hours spent with us. Unreal."

"She wasn't that helpful anyway," Maritza said. "So we decided it was time to go our separate ways."

"Separate ways? I fired her myself and it felt good!" Bob said.

"Well, at least you got some satisfaction out of it," Olivia said with a big smile.

"Ha-ha! See? Olivia knows me! Every now and then it feels good to take a little bite out of somebody," Bob said. "Just a little chomp!"

"Please. Robert Vasile," Olivia said, "in all these years, the only time I've ever seen you bite someone is when they're taking advantage of you."

"I wish you did my PR," Bob said to her, and then he spoke to everyone else, "Okay, folks, we've got wheels-up in ten minutes! Let's look alive!"

"What's in all those boxes?" Olivia asked Maritza.

There was a tower of pink boxes waiting by the ma.s.sive pile of luggage and golf clubs. They were labeled Fragile! on all sides.

"Oh, honey, that's Kitty's wedding cake. She's going to put it together on the boat."

"Oh, right! She's a pastry chef."

"Yep, and she brought her flowers too!"

"Well, that's nice. When's the ceremony?"

"The night after we arrive. G.o.d, don't you just love weddings? You know, I did ask her if she wanted to go get a dress with me. I would've bought it for her."

"Well, what did she say?"

"Well, believe it or not, she's wearing her momma's wedding dress."

"You know what? I think that's very sweet! Makes you look at her in a whole new light, doesn't it?"

"Maybe for you," Maritza said. "But she's still an odd duck to me."

The seven-hour flight to Palma was completely serene, the best kind of flight to have. This time Bob shuffled the seating arrangement. Bob placed Kitty's mother and uncle across the aisle from him and Maritza. Olivia had to say that Bob and Maritza were doing everything they could to put the prospective in-laws at ease. Having them along minimized the usual bawdy and catty chitchat, and it caused extraordinary fits of eye rolling from Ellen, from Mich.e.l.le, and heaven knows, from Dorothy whenever Betty or Ernest spoke.

After considering the demeanor of Kitty's mother and uncle, it did not seem to Olivia or to Nick that this was a particularly good match-Kitty and Daniel, that is-if Kitty's ultraconservative background would play a big role in their future. Or maybe it was an excellent match, and that conservatism would bring reality to Daniel for the first time in his life. In their back-row seats they whispered to each other.

"Not to be catty, she's like Aunt Bee from Mayberry," Nick said.

"Shhh!" Olivia said. "I loved Aunt Bee. She's probably in shock, bless her heart."

"That's a southern expression used exclusively by belles, you know."

"Oh," Olivia said. "Well, excuuuuuse me!" And she laughed, so happy that Nick wasn't provoked with her any longer.

What would've been the point of staying angry? If he wanted transparency in their marriage, she would give it to him. They were in the hole together and would get out of the hole together. And after a lot of thought, she had to say she would not have liked it if he had withheld a truth of that magnitude from her.

After they were airborne, Maritza began pa.s.sing a tray and Betty helped her. Olivia thought, Well, that's nice. Maritza had arranged for platters of sandwiches, baguettes, and individual chef salads to be brought on board for all of them to share. Mich.e.l.le brought some bottles of wine. In honor of the bride and groom, a nice bottle of champagne-Veuve Clicquot, of course-was opened and consumed along with small tributes for their happy life together. As comfortable as it was on Bob's jet, when all twelve seats were filled, it wasn't so easy to navigate the aisle and it didn't feel as s.p.a.cious. The tight quarters made for some ironic first-world rich-people remarks. When is the last time you played Twister while you were drinking champagne at forty-one thousand feet? Excuse me, I'm just trying to reach the beluga! Eventually they had eaten enough, drunk enough, and twisted around one another enough and everyone finally wanted a nap, even Gladdie, who was the first to succ.u.mb on Bob's lap.

It was another remarkable landing, this time in Palma on Majorca, coming in almost silently, and they could barely feel the wheels touch down. It was very early in the morning. This time they had to go through actual customs in the TAG terminal, which was basically two men in military-looking uniforms who glanced at their pa.s.sports as they walked through a metal detector single file. Betty and Ernest's pa.s.sports were brand-new, leading Olivia to suspect they had never been out of the country. She was developing a soft spot for them.

All of their luggage was brought around to a waiting van and loaded while they climbed onto a small bus. The minibus would take them to the port, where they would be met by the launch that would take them to Le Bateau de l'Amour. All these transfers were completed in the time it usually took most people to drive to the nearest Starbucks. Everything Bob did went off without a hiccup, like a well-oiled machine.

When Betty and Uncle Ernest saw Le Bateau de l'Amour floating in the harbor and realized that was where they were headed, they actually gasped.

Maritza heard them and saw their shock and said, "It looks big from here, but once you're on board it starts to shrink."

Nick laughed and said, "That's exactly what Olivia tells me about our new house!"

"Because it's true," Olivia said.

"Can you believe those awful people decided not to sell us their house on Nantucket? I'm still so mad!" Maritza said, ignoring the fact then that Betty and Ernest were practically catatonic.

Bob turned to face Olivia to hear her response.

"It came as a surprise to me too," Olivia said.

Bob paused and then said, "And I imagine you had cleared the decks to take this on. Am I right, Olivia?"

"Yes, but it's not a problem," Olivia said.

It was really hard for Olivia not to show any emotion and she tried to appear unruffled. Yet she knew her disappointment was plain to see, even from behind her sungla.s.ses.

Bob reached over and patted the back of her hand. Olivia took the gesture to mean something like Hang in there, which was nice but wouldn't pay the mortgage. She swallowed hard. Her reality was so far removed from Bob's reality that she was certain he had no idea how much trouble she was in, but she would never let him hear it from her lips. She still had her pride, and she still believed that you never let anyone see you sweat.

Somewhat sleep deprived, the group motored out to the enormous yacht in a state of respectful awe, saving their energy for what might happen next. Pretty much the same thoughts were rolling around in all their minds, and if they could've issued a collective opinion of the moment in one word, they would've said, "Cool."

Getting off the launch posed a challenge as the water was extremely choppy and it was windy. But there were a half-dozen or so of Bob's crew waiting, so as the boat bobbed down, Olivia prepared herself. As the boat bobbed up, the two men took her by her upper arms and swung her onto Bob's yacht, which was as steady as though it rested in dry dock. Bob, needing no help, simply stepped off the launch, as did Maritza, Ellen, and Gladdie.

"Let's go watch Cinderella! I wanna watch Cinderella! Come on, Ellen!"

Ellen was immediately whisked away to the viewing room belowdecks that had thousands of movies on demand.

"I'll see you later!" Ellen called over her shoulder to Bob.

"You guys are just a pack of old sea dogs!" Sam said, wobbling as he tried to balance himself on the deck.

Buddy grabbed his arm to help him. "Whoa there, pal! Hang on!"

"I've got this," Dorothy said, her wide-legged gauze pants whipping all around her like Old Glory on a flagpole.

"Thanks!" said Mich.e.l.le. She stepped off the ladder and Buddy held her arm firmly.

Betty was next. "Oh, my goodness!" she said, laughing and smoothing her sensible dress, as she found her footing in her sensible shoes. "They should see this back in Omaha! Who'd believe it? Come on, Ernest! You can do it!"

Ernest was hanging back, the last one to leave the launch. He seemed very uncertain as to how he would get off the smaller boat gracefully and maintain his dignity. He was a long drink of water, weighing in at under a hundred and fifty pounds, all angles and k.n.o.bs. In addition, Uncle Ernest looked green around the gills.

"Hold this, young man! Thank you!"

One of the crew took Ernest's well-worn Bible and two of the st.u.r.diest-looking male crew members stepped forward and hopped on the boat to lift him up onto the deck of Bob's yacht. Ernest continued to hang on to the ladder with clenched fists.

"Betty? Remember when I told you I was a landlubber? I wasn't kidding!"

"Come on, Uncle Ern! You've made it this far!" Kitty said. "I can't get married without you!"

"Just close your eyes and let go of the ladder, Reverend!" Bob said. "Come on, now . . ."

"One, two, three! Oh, G.o.d save me!"

The reverend was lifted into the air by the crew on the bobbing launch, handed right into the arms of two others, and placed squarely on his feet. He opened his eyes.

"Praise G.o.d!" he said and began to laugh.

Everyone laughed with him, even Dorothy and Mich.e.l.le.

They ascended the long, wide stairwell, and at the top was a scene from a modern-day nautical episode of Upstairs Downstairs. The majority of the crew was a.s.sembled to welcome them. Two female shipmates offered them rolled wet towels from a silver platter garnished with an orchid to wipe the salt spray from their hands, and two others offered small gla.s.ses of a mixed fruit drink.

"Welcome aboard!" they said and, "Welcome back!"

"Is there any alcohol in this?" Betty asked.

"No, ma'am, just ginger ale and guava juice."

Betty nodded her head and said, "Guava juice? My word! This is a beautiful boat, Bob! Don't you think so, Ernest?"

"Thank you," Bob said. "Whenever you're ready, we'd be happy to give you a tour, if you'd like."

"This is like something right out of a Hollywood movie!" Ernest said, draining his gla.s.s. "I believe I'll have another, if you have it to spare."

"Ernest?" Maritza said. "Welcome to the land of plenty! We've got all the guava you want!"

"Isn't that something?" Ernest said.

"My word!" Betty said again and shook her head in disbelief.

The deck on which they stood had a large round teak dining table bolted to the floor.

"Watch this, Ernest! You'll love it," Bob said. "Hand me the remote, Sam."

Sam removed a remote control wand from a drawer in the buffet and handed it to Bob.

"Okay, everyone stand back a bit," Bob said. "I love doing this!"

Bob pressed a b.u.t.ton and the top of the table lifted up, separated into wedges like the slices of a pie, and turned to the left; other wedges were raised from beneath them and turned to fit into the gaps like puzzle pieces; and then it was all lowered into place. It went from being a table for six or eight to a table that could easily seat twelve or fourteen people. The new leaves were of a different color, stained to resemble burled walnut and mahogany, and when they were settled into place, they created a radiant star in the center of the table.

"Well, how do you like that?" Ernest said. "I am amazed! Where in the world did you find something like this?"