Compromising Positions(14)

Chapter Four

“What do you mean he’s in the car waiting?” Giovanni’s voice rose to a volume that Mina had never heard from him. Red edged his cheekbones, and his hands clenched and unclenched in what appeared to be an effort not to shake the woman in front of him.

Ivy wasn’t impressed. She stood ramrod straight, barely reaching Giovanni’s chin as he towered over her, and refused to let him intimidate her. Their dark heads were almost identical in color--one curly, on straight--but that was where the similarity ended.

“I convinced him it would be better if I came in first. I was afraid he would not receive a very warm welcome, and if your reaction is anything to go by, I was right.”

Ivy’s tone was perfectly even, but Mina could hear the “screw with me and I’ll rip your face off--politely” note that she reserved for the absolute lowest of her acquaintances. Like Ethan.

Giovanni opened his mouth to yell some more, but Mina held up a finger to stop him. When Ivy got like this yelling never got you anywhere.

“Ivy,” she said, digging deep to find a shred of calm to hold onto, “it isn’t that I’m not happy to see you, I am.” She leaned forward and tried to meet Ivy’s eyes through her protective sheet of hair. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you, Ive, really.” Her earnest tone soothed some of Ivy’s ruffled feathers, but she couldn’t stop there. “The thing is, I talked to you two days ago, and you were in Miami. And now, you’re here. With Marco.” Mina’s throat closed around his name and she had to clear it to continue. “It’s a little hard to follow.”

“And even harder to understand,” Giovanni stuck in mulishly, unwilling to be relegated to the sidelines. “I thought you were her friend!”

Ivy’s posture became even more rigid, if possible.

“How dare you! I travel halfway across the world to try to save her from making the stupidest mistake she’s ever made,” she turned to glare at Mina, “and you’ve made some doozies, let me tell you,” and then snapped back to Giovanni, “and you, you testosterone drowned asshat, have the nerve to question whether I’m her friend?” Ivy rarely lost her temper, but it had slipped its lead and was long gone. Her chest was heaving with indignation, and bright pink spots colored her cheeks under exhaustion induced dark circles. Giovanni turned to Mina and mouthed “asshat?”, but she wasn’t paying any attention to him.



“The stupidest mistake I ever made was signing on with Mr. High and Mighty in the first place.” She set her lips in a stubborn line. “If you’re here to stop that, you’re a little late.”

Ivy rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration.

“Of all the hard-headed, narrow-minded, short-sighted…” she stopped exercising her vocabulary of insults and took a deep breath.

“First, think about this: how did I get here?” When Giovanni opened his mouth to answer she shushed him. “No, I don’t mean by car or plane or boat, I mean… how did I get here?” She waved her hand to indicate the apartment.

Mina looked at her and shook her head. “I’m not sure. I’m assuming Marco told you where I was.”

Ivy gave a satisfied nod, and Mina felt like a kindergartener who’d just gotten a gold star for coloring Clifford the Big Red Dog.

“Now, since I was in Miami, how did Marco tell me this?” She raised her eyebrows in anticipation and Mina frowned at her.

“I don’t know--telephone? Skype? E-mail?”

Ivy made a show of looking disappointed. “Try again.”

Mina thought about it--how Cinzia hadn’t seen him for two days, how Giovanni hadn’t talked to him, how he hadn’t been at the offices for the final museum arrangements.

“He flew to Miami?” She looked at Ivy and got a nod in return.

“Good! I’m glad to see that brain hasn’t completely melted in the Italian sun.” Ivy leaned forward. “He arrived on my doorstep Saturday afternoon.”

Saturday afternoon?

“But that means he left first thing Saturday morning!” Wheels within wheels began turning in her head. “Why would he have done that?”

Ivy pulled the throw pillow off the chair behind her and threw it at Mina.

“Because he loves you, you moron!”

Ivy was yelling. Ivy never yelled. Ivy was always calm and cool and collected--the voice of reason in a world of idiots.

“But he was kissing someone else!” The words came out in a cry, her pain almost palpable. “I saw them, Ivy--with my own two eyes! They were in his office, up against his desk. She was practically in his lap!”