The invitation was unexpected and Beth was exhausted, but turning down this chance to get a better sense of the man she’d all but handed her heart to was too good to pass up. Besides, Melanie was exactly right. She was in desperate need of company. Once again she had the sense that Melanie was going to be a good friend.
“Tell me where and when,” she said.
“I’ll come to you. There’s a place in Georgetown Richard and I love.” She named a restaurant within a few blocks of Beth’s town house. “I could meet you there around six. Would that work?”
“It’s perfect.”
“And, Beth, just so you know, I won’t pry,” Melanie said. “Of course, if there’s anything you do want to tell me about you and Mack, I’ll be happy to listen.”
Beth laughed at Melanie’s feeble attempt to bank her obvious curiosity. “I’ll hold you to that.”
“Well, hell,” Melanie said. “I’ll just have to ply you with alcohol till you forget my promise.”
“I knew it wasn’t going to last, anyway,” Beth told her.
“And yet you’ve still agreed to meet me,” Melanie retorted. “Brave woman.”
“Not so brave. Just confident I can handle you. Destiny might be another story.”
“Then I won’t suggest we include her,” Melanie teased. “Besides, just for once, it will feel good to know something that’s going on in this family before she does. I swear the woman has eyes and ears everywhere.”
“Speaking of that, remind me to ask you about Pete Forsythe,” Beth said.
“Oh, that one’s so easy, I can tell you right now. You can blame Destiny for that item,” Melanie said confidently. “I’d stake my firstborn baby on that—something I don’t say lightly in my current condition.”
“Mack was equally sure it was Destiny. We tried to find her today, but she was cleverly absent every place we looked.”
Melanie chuckled. “I doubt that. I imagine she bribed the help to say she was out. Everyone who works for her adores her. They’ll all protect her with their dying breath—even from her own family. I wonder what it’s like to instill that kind of loyalty in people.”
“She’s obviously a remarkable woman.”
“Remarkable and sneaky,” Melanie confirmed. “You’re definitely no match for her, especially not when you’re in this vulnerable condition. We’ll work on toughening you up over dinner. I’ll see you soon.”
Feeling better than she had all day, Beth hung up and headed back to Tony’s room for one last check. She always liked to make sure that Maria Vitale was there before she left the hospital for the night.
She cracked open the door to the room and saw that Maria and Tony were playing a quiet game of Scrabble. They didn’t see her, so she closed the door gently and leaned against it, relieved that she could escape without another harrowing confrontation.
Tomorrow, with all of its uncertainties, would come soon enough.
The minute he heard from Richard, Mack suspected that Beth was behind it. Richard never called out of the blue to suggest a guys’ night out, not since he’d gotten married, and rarely enough before that. As for Ben, it took a crisis of major proportions or a command from Destiny to get him away from the isolated farm in Middleburg where he was living these days.
Because Richard presented the evening’s plans as a fait accompli, Mack accepted grudgingly and drove to the crowded chain restaurant that was partway between Alexandria and Middleburg, smack in the middle of what had once been the region’s wildly successful high-tech corridor.
“Why are we here?” he asked, wincing at the noise level as he found his older brother at a table in the back. Ben hadn’t yet arrived.
“Because Ben wanted Chinese and I figured he deserved some consideration for agreeing to drive in on short notice,” Richard explained. “Besides, it’s impossible to have a heavy conversation in a place like this. We’ll be reduced to idle chitchat.” He gave Mack an intense look. “I thought you might prefer that.”
Mack nodded. “The more mundane, the better,” he agreed, relieved that his brother knew him so well.
“Sure you don’t want to tell me what’s going on in your life before Ben gets here?”
“Nope,” Mack said firmly. “What I want is a drink.”
Richard immediately beckoned for their waitress. “Scotch?” he asked Mack.
“A double,” Mack confirmed.
When the waitress had gone, Richard opened his mouth, probably to deliver a lecture about the dangers of overindulgence, but Ben arrived just then.