Mrs. Perfect

Nathan arrives home at dinnertime. The girls and I fight the traffic heading south to the airport to pick him up and then stop at Rainforest Café at the South Center Mall for dinner. Tori loves the Rainforest Café. It’s her favorite restaurant on earth, and suddenly dinner with Nathan is a festive celebration with loud elephants, noisy gorillas, thunderstorms, and birdcalls.

The restaurant lights flash and the thunder booms, and Tori shrieks with anticipation. Nathan looks across the table, catches my eyes, and smiles.

“I feel good about tomorrow,” he says as the thunder and rain finally let up.

“That’s great,” I answer.

I want him to get a job here. I want him to be home with us. But I also know that he needs the right job and job offer, one that will build his confidence and not destroy it.

Friday, Nathan is up early to prepare a little more for his interviews. While he sits at the dining room table researching the companies on the computer, I get the girls up and out the door for school.

Nathan calls me while I’m driving Tori to preschool. “Luke Flynn,” he says so bluntly that I know he’s figured out the Marta connection. “Marta’s fiancé, right?”

“Yes.”

He’s silent a long time, and then he exhales hard. “Did you put this together?”

“No.”

“Did she?”

I’ve asked myself that a dozen times easily. “I don’t think so,” I finally answer. “Would you not want to interview with them if she did?”

“I don’t know.” At least it’s an honest answer. “I guess I just have to interview and see.”

Marta is in and out of the office all morning, and I can’t seem to find a quiet moment to ask her if she had a hand in Nathan’s job prospects. I’m not even sure I should ask. Would it be so awful if she did put in a positive word for Nathan? Would it be so awful if something good happened to us?

Just before I leave work at one, I get a call on my cell. Mrs. Slutsky, who had originally promised to stay and watch the kids tonight, is canceling. Apparently she’s needed somewhere else, and she has to do that instead of be at our house.

I’m disappointed that Nathan and I won’t have our special dinner out, but at the same time I’m a little relieved that we’re not spending money we don’t have to spend. On the way home I call Nathan to give him a heads-up, and he’s remarkably upbeat. “Sounds like it was a good day,” I say.

“Very good,” he agrees. “I actually ended up having a third interview today, meeting with the executives from Hal-Perrin Technology at lunch.”

“Aren’t they a rival of the McKees?” I ask.

“They are, and they’re doing a lot of international growth right now. Lots of exciting things happening with them.”

“Their office is in downtown Seattle?”

“Their headquarters, yes.”

“So what do you think? Any one interview stand out? Is there one job you’d want more than the others?”

He takes a moment to consider his answer. “You know, I think I could be happy working for any of them.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. They’re all great companies. They’d all be wonderful opportunities.”

I hang up as I’m almost home and want to hear the rest in person. Nathan decides to barbecue for us tonight, so despite the freezing temperature outside, he heads to the store, picks up some steaks, and then grills for us on the little charcoal Weber in our backyard.

I make twice-baked potatoes and a Caesar salad and set the table using a bunch of candles to make our minuscule dining room as pretty as possible.

Sitting at the table eating, the girls chatter a mile a minute, and I glance up to see Nathan smiling at Brooke. It’s his old smile, his real smile, the one that made me fall head over heels in love with him.

I know I told him in December we’d be okay, but now I know it.

We’re going to be okay. In fact, we’re going to be better than ever.

Sunday morning, Nathan gets an e-mail from Omaha that he has an early Monday meeting, so two hours later I’m driving him back to the airport. The girls are upset the entire drive, begging him not to leave. I keep it together until we pull up to the departure curb at the airport.

Fighting tears, I get out of the car and hug Nathan on the curb.

“It’s only a couple of weeks until I’m back for Marta’s wedding,” he says.

“Still.”

He hugs me harder, then lets me go. “I’ll call you when I land.”

“Please do.”

“Love you.”

“Good. I need it.”

Back at the house, I call around trying to find a baby-sitter so I can attend Marta’s shower.

Jemma hears me on the phone and comes to stand next to me at the dining room table. “I can baby-sit tonight, Mom.”

I cover the phone and look at her. “Honey, you’ve never baby-sat your sisters before.”

“Only because you’ve never let me. But I’m almost eleven, and lots of girls my age baby-sit. I can do it, too. Just keep your cell phone with you, and I’ll call you if there’s a problem.”

“You wouldn’t be scared?”

“Being with Mrs. Slutsky is scarier than being on our own.”

I laugh, hard, and wrapping Jemma in my arms, I give her a hug. “I guess we can try. I’m only down the street in downtown Bellevue.”

“Mom, knock it off. I’ll be a teenager soon.”

The surprise bridal shower starts at five-thirty p.m. at Daniel’s Broiler, which sits on top of the Bellevue Place Towers. Tiana’s managed to reserve one of Daniel’s small private dining rooms, and between Jon, the florist downstairs, and Oh Chocolates, they’ve transformed the restaurant’s private room into a lush bower of red roses. Elegant black-and-cream cards are at each plate, and on top is scripted “In Celebration of Marta & Luke,” with tonight’s special five-course menu printed below.

I’m curious to meet Tiana Tomlinson. I’ve watched her on television for years. She’s the news anchor for a show that’s on at the same time as Inside Edition, and she’s even more beautiful in person than on the TV screen. She’s small, maybe five feet three, and fine-boned, with a heart-shaped face, dark hair, deep dimples, and gold brown eyes. I’m stunned to learn she’s my age. She looks easily ten years younger.

Allie, Mel, and Susan all show for the shower, along with Lucy and Lori Johnson. Luke’s secretary arrives, too, as she’s become good friends with Marta over the past year and a half.

Marta arrives last. Luke actually walks her to the door, and when she sees everyone inside, she just stands there confused. “Tiana?” she says, frowning as she takes us in. “What are you all doing here?”

“Celebrating you,” Tiana answers, moving forward to give Marta a hug. “Now say good-bye to Luke, as this is a girls-only shower.”

Marta’s still stunned. “Shower?”

Tiana laughs at Marta’s expression. “Yes. You are getting married soon, aren’t you?”

Lucy sits next to me at the table. She, like the rest of us, is fairly star-struck by Tiana.

“She’s so normal,” Lucy whispers. “Well, for being a celebrity.”

I look across the table, see Marta and Tiana giggling like two sixteen-year-olds, and smile. “I guess th

ey’ve been best friends since high school.”

“That’s nice, isn’t it?” Lucy watches them for a few seconds, then turns back to me. “I just remembered. I found out why Monica and Doug are selling your house.”

“They’re not getting divorced, are they?”

Lucy shakes her head. “Doug’s sick. Prostate cancer. They decided to scale back while Doug goes through treatment.”

I’m sorry to hear that anyone’s ill, much less Doug, who is really a very nice guy. “That’s terrible.”

“Pete’s really upset, too. It’s made him realize we’re not going to live forever. As he said last night, maybe it’s better if we counted our blessings sooner rather than later.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Marta and Luke’s choice for a winter wedding at the Banff Springs Hotel is beyond romantic. I’ve never been there, but after poring over the Fairmont Hotel’s brochure, I can’t wait to go.

It’s a short flight from Seattle to Calgary, where we rent a car and drive an hour to Banff. Although it snowed heavily the last few days, the roads are clear and the majestic mountains glitter white and bright against the late morning’s clear blue sky.

If we kept driving instead of taking the Banff exit, we’d hit Lake Louise and then Jasper. Instead we head into Banff, where the downtown is just ten blocks long and five blocks wide. It’s bordered by mountains, mountains, a little river, and more mountains.

The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is even more magical than its setting. It’s a huge turn-of-the-century hotel, with so many turrets and towers that Nathan nicknames it Hogwarts.

Marta has arranged the schedule so everyone is free to ski during the day and then meet for evening activities. The first day, Nathan and I ski until I can’t go down the mountain one more time. After returning to the hotel, we change out of our ski stuff and into jeans and T-shirts, heading with our swimsuits for the hotel’s heated pool and spa.

Later tonight we’ll meet up with everyone for drinks and dinner, but now we soak in the bubbly hot tub, letting the jets work away the kinks and aches.

“That was so fun today,” I say, leaning against the rock wall. “The conditions were perfect.”