Page 48 of Summer Weddings
“I was…just thinking,” Robin muttered.
“About what?”
“Nothing.”
“Come on, girl, you know better than that. You can’t fool me.” Angela leaned against the edge of Robin’s desk and crossed her arms,taking her usual aggressive stance. “I’ve known you far too long. From everything youhaven’tsaid, I’d guess your handsome neighbor’s involved. What’s he done now?”
“Cole? What makes you ask anything so ridiculous?”
Angela frowned, shaking her head. Then she stretched out her hands and made a come-hither motion. “Tell Mama everything,” she intoned. “You might as well get it over with and tell me now, because you know that sooner or later I’m going to drag it out of you. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t extract your deepest darkest secrets?”
“He took me to dinner,” Robin admitted, knowing that Angela was right. Sooner or later, she’d wheedle it out of her.
“Where’d he take you?”
She shrugged, wanting to keep that to herself. “It was outside the city.”
“Whereoutside the city?” Angela pressed.
“Heavens, I don’t know. Somewhere along the coast on Highway 101.”
Angela uncrossed her arms and started pacing. “It wasn’t the Cliffhouse, was it?”
“I… I think it might have been,” Robin murmured, concentrating on the task in front of her. The one she should’ve finished hours earlier. The one she couldn’t seem to focus on, even now.
“Aha!” Angela cried, pointing her index finger at the ceiling, like a detective in a comic spoof.
“What?” Robin cried.
“If Cole took you to the Cliffhouse, he did it for a reason.”
“Of course he did. The food was fabulous. By the way, you were right about Frank, he’s exceptionally nice,” Robin said in an effort to interrupt her friend’s line of thought.
“You already told me what you think of Frank, remember?”Angela said. “Cole took you to dinner at the Cliffhouse,” she repeated slowly, as though reviewing a vital clue in a murder mystery.
“To be honest, I think his choice of restaurant had something to do with Frank,” Robin inserted, tossing her sleuth friend a red herring.
“So Cole was jealous?”
“Not exactly,” Robin said, leaning back in her chair. “Well, maybe a little,” she amended, knowing Angela would never believe her if she denied it completely. “I mean, Cole did invite me to dinner as soon as he learned I was dining with Frank, so I guess you could say he was alittlejealous. But not much. Cole’s not the jealous type—he told me that himself.”
“I see.” Angela was frowning as she walked back to her desk. Her look remained thoughtful for the rest of the morning, although she didn’t question Robin again. But when they left for lunch, she showed a renewed interest in the subject of Cole.
“How’s Jeff?” she began as they stood in line in the employees’ cafeteria.
“Fine,” Robin said as she reached for a plastic tray.
“That’s all you’re going to say?”
“What more do you want to know?”
“I ask about Jeff once a week or so, then sit back and listen for the next fifteen minutes while you tell me about the latest craziness,” Angela said heatedly. “It never fails. You’ve told me about him running away with a frying pan and an atlas. You’ve bragged about what a fabulous pitcher he’s turning out to be, and you’ve given me a multitude of details about every game he’s played. After you tell me all about his athletic ability, you generally mention how good he is with animals and all the tricks he’s taught Blackie in the past week.”
Robin tried to respond but Angela ignored her and kept talking. “Today I innocently ask how Jeff is, and what do I get?Fine.All right,Robin, tell me what happened with Cole Camden before I go crazy trying to figure it out.”
“It’s something I need to figure out myself,” Robin said. She paused to study the salads before selecting a mound of cottage cheese and setting it on her tray.
“What are you doing now?” Angela cried, throwing her arms in the air. “You hate cottage cheese. You never eat it unless you’re upset and looking for ways to punish yourself.” She took the small bowl from Robin’s tray and replaced it with a fresh fruit salad, shaking her head the entire time.
