As You Wish (The Summerhouse 3)

“Ah, I see. Two mystery writers.”

“Yes.” Kit lowered his voice. “Has something happened? You sound...well, distant.”

“I just ran into a couple of very interesting problems, that’s all.”

“You’re going to stay with Jeanne’s patients and help out, aren’t you?”

Olivia gave a sound that was half groan, half laugh. “I’m not sure I like someone knowing me so well.”

“I may have missed out on a few years, but I remember everything. So tell me what’s going on.”

“Ray is a big guy, midthirties, who probably grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, but it looks like he’s pulled himself up in the world of sales. Now he wears Bond Street clothes, but I’d bet that he has a gang tattoo somewhere on his perfectly toned body.”

“I hope you don’t go searching to find out,” Kit said. “And the girl?”

“Money and manners. She dresses like a street kid but she probably went to Miss Porter’s and Bryn Mawr. I haven’t heard the whole story yet, but I think she tried to buck the system and she got locked up for it.”

“As in jail?”

“No. As in being held in a mental institution under lock and key. But it seems that Jeanne broke her out, hid her in the trunk of her car, and drove her across the country.”

Kit was quiet for a moment. “I thought what I was doing was exciting, but you have me beat. My concern is whether you’re going to miss me at all.”

“I don’t want to see our house until you’re with me,” she blurted out.

“Good! I like that. It’s you who was the practical one and wanted to stay there alone.”

“Are you saying you’re the romantic one?”

“Peacocks, well house, moonlight parties in the nude. They were all from me. Yeah, I think I’m the Emperor of Romance.”

Olivia smiled at the images of long ago that he brought up. “I’m not so sure. When you get back, you need to prove it to me.”

“I look forward to doing just that.”

They were silent for a moment, just breathing. “I better go,” Olivia said. “The warrior and the fairy princess have stopped talking. Ray might start trying to sell her a mountain that may or may not be full of gold.”

“What’s his problem?”

“He’s trying to get the courage to tell his wife that he wants a divorce. Poor thing. My heart goes out to her. He’s her entire life but he’s going to drop her.”

“You think it’s another woman?”

“Probably. You know the saying. Men divorce because they have someone else. Women leave because they’re fed up.”

“No, I hadn’t heard that one.” He paused. “Did you get fed up with me?”

“You know I didn’t. What happened between us was an accident. Just fate.”

“And two bratty kids and a peacock and...and Gaddafi.”

Olivia laughed. “Good idea. Let’s blame him. I do have to go. Ray is looking at his watch, and Elise looks like she might drift away into a fairyland of her own making.”

“Ah, my wife the brilliant people observer. How I could have used your expertise when I was working in Morocco. We

could have—”

“Don’t,” she whispered. They had agreed not to dwell on what they’d missed in not being together all those years. At least not out loud.