Текст книги "Lunch at the Club"

Автор книги: Kate Kane

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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 11 страниц)

Chapter 9

Cat and Mouse

Growing up in the restaurant business had made Ben a great cook.  In fact, all of the Bellini brothers knew their way around a kitchen.  But, Pauli was likely to set the house on fire for all of the attention he was paying to what he was doing.

Pauli had a hard time concentrating on the grill with Jess sunning herself 15 feet away. Pauli was in his second year of residency at University of St. Louis Medical.  He’d spent four years in medical school and knew human anatomy like he knew his own name.  He knew there was no reason that Jess’s anatomy should be so distracting.  Hell, he’d seen naked women, a lot of naked women in a professional capacity… his not theirs, and others in a personal capacity long before he’d gotten the MD tacked on his name.

Of course, now that he was a doctor, there were women coming out of the woodwork hoping to snag a doctor.  He didn’t have time.  That’s the excuse he always used.  He was far too busy with his residency to do anything more than just hook up.  Most women fell over themselves to get next to him.  He was a Bellini, all movie star good looks and Kennedy charisma, and he was a doctor.  What more did a woman need?  Hell, what more did that woman need?  She paid no attention to him at all.

Jess lay on her stomach on the chaise near the shallow end of the pool.  She had her head turned away from the Baby Bellini, but she could feel his eyes on her.  He was a good looking guy.  He was a doctor, so obviously he wasn’t an idiot, but he had an ego bigger than the state of Texas.  “Dr. Paolo Raffaele Bellini” like he couldn’t have just said, “I’m Paul Bellini” or, “I’m Ben’s brother Paul.”  As if the fact that he was a doctor was supposed to impress her. Besides, she’d seen the way he looked at her mother and Parrot Boy should be on his knees thanking God that Ben hadn’t seen it.  She could only imagine the new Italian words she could have learned.  Rosetta Stone isn’t big on curse words.  Maybe she could use this to her advantage.  A girl could always use a new pair of shoes, maybe Dr. Bellini would be willing to bribe her for her silence.

She rolled over onto her back and glanced toward the grill.  She smiled as she stood up and walked toward him.  Oh, this was going to be fun.  She stepped up so close to him that he could feel the heat from the sun coming off of her skin. “I like my steak medium rare, Pauli.”  She drug his name out.  “Time to turn it over.”

Jess was five feet four inches tall, a full foot shorter than Pauli’s six feet four inch height.  She lifted her sun glasses to her forehead and looked up into his eyes.  “Does Ben know you have a crush on my Mother” she asked, as she pushed her sun glasses back in place and turned to go into the house.

He hadn’t said a word.  It was like the cat had his tongue.  Jess laughed.  She did love a good game of cat and mouse.  She stepped into the kitchen and asked Ben if he wanted her to set the patio table.  He handed her the plates and silverware.  “By the way, you are going to put something on over that swim suit while we eat, aren’t you?”

She smiled as she pushed the door open with her butt.  “If you insist, but I do wonder where the fun would be in that?”

Ben laughed.  He was ten years older than his brother.  He’d gone away to college when Pauli was eight; and when Ben had come home, seven years later, Pauli had grown into a teenager.  But Pauli would always be the baby of the family and Ben would always feel the need to look out for him.

Jess was just a little bit of a thing, five feet four inches tall and maybe 110 pounds soaking wet.  She had big blue eyes and long blonde hair and for some reason, some men were just stupid enough to think that she should swoon all over them.  But Jessica Anne Parker didn’t swoon… ever.  Unless it was written that way in a script.  She had a tendency to play cat and mouse with unsuspecting guys.  Well… unsuspecting egomaniacal guys.  She seemed to have honed the skill since she’d been in L.A.  Ben had to admit that the men he’d seen play the role of the mouse in the little game had deserved everything they’d gotten.  And he was afraid that Dr. Paolo Raffaele Bellini just might be the next unsuspecting egomaniacal man in her sights, the poor guy.  If this played out, maybe Ben could get some relief on the shoe buying front.

Jess knew her mother would insist that she put a shirt on over her bikini anyway.  There had been a rule at the Parker table Jess’s whole life: shirts on, hats off.  No one dared to argue.  She walked back into the house and helped Ben carry out the baked potatoes, steamed asparagus and a bottle of wine.

Jake and Jamie had seen Jess set the table and had gone into the house to get their shirts. Lane had put on her gauzy cover-up.  Jess went in and got her own completely see through cover-up and brought out Pauli’s scrub shirt and handed it to him.  She leaned closer than she needed to and said, “Mom doesn’t allow bare chested men at her dining table.”  She smiled.  “Guess my Mom’s a lot like your Nonna.”

During dinner, Lane and Ben related the purpose of Lila’s search warrant. Pauli listened, open mouthed, as Ben told the Kids about Lane directing Hunter to the receipt in the console of the Escalade.

“Pauli, that’s not even the best part. The best part was when Lane told Lila that there’s photographic evidence because Jess had taken pictures of them making all of the purchases.  You should have seen the look on Lila’s face as Lane told her not to worry if the evidence had disappeared from her laptop because Jess had already put it on Facebook.”

Jake looked at Jess.  “You put Mom’s garage sale shopping on Facebook now?”

Jess pulled out her cell phone and after a few clicks she looked at him and said, “Yes, as a matter of fact, I did.”

After dinner, Jess orchestrated the movement of the golf clubs from Jake’s truck to the trunk of Dr. Bellini’s car.  She knew her mother was innocent, and that the golf clubs had been purchased well after the murder, but what if one of those clubs really was the murder weapon?  She wasn’t taking any chances.  So while Jamie was clearing the table, she got Pauli’s keys from the hook next to the garage and gave them to Jake.  Then she distracted Pauli while Jake made the switch and hung the keys back on the hook.

Chapter 10

Past Present and Future

Jake left shortly after that, saying he had some things to do.  Everyone knew that it was code meaning he wanted to get home and call Meg Kelly.  Meg was Lane’s administrative assistant, and Jake had met her a couple of months earlier at the surprise birthday party the siblings had thrown for their mom.  Jess, in normal Jess fashion, had sent Jake to occupy Meg because she thought Meg was “all up in the Parkers’ business.”  While Jake had done as his sister told him, he was surprised to have enjoyed the task so much.  He and Meg had really hit it off and had been seeing each other for the last month.

Meg, who was just a few months younger than Jake had a two year old daughter.  Meg had dated a guy when she was at college.  He had become abusive and they had broken up.  Then, after the break-up, she’d discovered she was pregnant.  She hadn’t even told him.  She’d moved back in with her parents, gotten the job as Lane’s assistant and quit the job she had at Dillard’s.  Mrs. Kelly helped Meg by providing very low cost day care for Abbey.

Jake who was the oldest of Lane’s three children had already grown pretty attached to Abbey who was a chubby little blonde haired, blue eyed cherub.  The night he’d met Meg, he’d asked Ben’s opinion about dating a woman with kids.  Ben had told him that until Lane, he’d avoided women with kids like the plague.  But with Lane he just didn’t care that kids were part of the package, even when he thought they were all still rug rats.  He told Jake the truth was it would have been his loss all the way around if he’d run the other way.  But Ben had said it was something Jake had to decide for himself.

Lane, Jess and Jamie rode home together and talked about their plans for tomorrow, which was Labor Day.  Jake had made plans with Meg and Abbey for Monday morning, so the rest of the Parkers were on their own.  Lane said she wanted to do some research on Carol Anne.  Maybe see if she could figure out why she’d come back to Kansas.

Jess looked at her mother.  “I met her once.  Did I ever tell you?” Lane shook her head.

“It was homecoming at Rockhurst.  Remember, just a few weeks after we moved?  I went to homecoming with two other couples.  One of the guys thought he made reservations at the Capitol Grill but he’d screwed up somehow and we couldn’t get in.  I suggested that we could go to Bellini’s and while they thought I was nuts, I guess they thought it was a way to put me in my place or something and they agreed to go.  It was a Friday night and when we got there, at first, they told us there wasn’t a table.  But then Enzo recognized me and took us all to the Board Room.  Ben was there with Carol Anne.  I waved at him.  Then Papa came to our table and talked to me.  The kids were all whispering to each other.  And then to top it all off, when it was time to leave, there was no check because Ben had taken care of it.  So I went over to his table to thank him and that’s when he introduced me to Carol Anne.  I thought she was kind of rude.  I think she said something to Ben like.  ‘Oh, so now it’s your responsibility to take care of Lane Parker’s kids’.  It was a little weird.” Jess shook her head.  “Anyway, back in the Limo the kids were still all whispers and stuff, and then they asked how I knew the Bellinis.  They told me everyone in town knows that Bellini’s is a mob hang out.  It got me some serious respect.”

Lane thought back to the year they’d moved to Kansas.  She remembered that the Homecoming dance was the weekend after she’d met Carol Anne at the fund raiser.  It was about then that Ben had broken it off with Carol Anne.  After hearing Jess’s story, she was fairly certain she knew the reason.

As was her habit, after she got home, she called Ben to let him know they were home.  Tonight, she made the call from her bedroom. She dialed his number and he answered on the first ring.

“Are you naked,” he asked.

She laughed.  “Ben.”  She admonished him.  “You’re lucky it wasn’t Jess on the phone.”

“You’re right, I never would have lived it down,” he said knowing that if he’d made the mistake it would have cost him a small fortune in shoes to keep her quiet.

“Speaking of Jess, she told me an interesting story on the way home.”

“Really what was that?”

“She told me about the night of the Rockhurst Homecoming dance, three years ago, when she and some friends ran into you and Carol Anne at Papa’s.”

“I seem to recall a conversation that you and I had a few hours ago during which you told me I didn’t need to make a blanket confession.  Are you about to retract that statement?”

“As I recall, I said something like ‘I don’t want or need to know about other women unless it has some impact on my life now.’ And this has some bearing on my life now. As I remember the events, you broke up with Carol Anne right after that. Did you break up with Carol Anne because of me and my family?”

Ben didn’t have to wrack his brain to remember that night.  After Jess left Papa’s that night, Carol Anne had gone round the bend accusing him of having a romantic relationship with Lane.  She was jealous, practically in a rage, because he’d paid for dinner for Jess and her friends.  As if what he did with his money was any of her business anyway.  Then she’d started in about all of the time he spent with Lane, and the time he spent talking to and about Lane. And how she’d been wasting her time thinking that he would ever propose to her, since he quite clearly already had a nice little family of his own.  It had been quite a wake-up call.  There was absolutely nothing going on between him and Lane then, and at the time all he thought was that a woman, any woman, but this woman in particular, had no business getting between a man and his friends.

He took a breath.  “In a way, yes.  She was furious that night, jealous of the relationship I had with you and with your kids.  She told me to choose, and so I did.  Red, I’m always going to choose you.  I was a fool for not knowing then that I love you.”

Lane had snuggled up on her bed as they talked.  She was now comfy and cozy and wishing that he was here for her to snuggle up with. Without thinking about it she said, “And, I love you.” And when she heard the words come out of her mouth, she realized she was no longer afraid of saying them.

“I can be there in ten minutes.  Faster if I drive.  I need to hear those words again.  Live and in person.  Am I coming there or are you coming here?”

“You have Paul there. You can’t leave him alone.”

“Pauli’s a big boy.  I repeat are you coming here or am I coming there?  Never mind.  I’m already out the door.”  He had carried the land line phone to his SUV and he continued to talk until he was out of range.

It was far less than ten minutes later when he entered the code and opened her garage.

Jamie met him in the hall near the kitchen. “Ben, what are you doing here?”

“Your mother loves me,” Ben replied as he attempted to make his way past.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t answer my question. And while we’re at it, why are you here dressed like that? You’re lucky the cops didn’t see you.”  Jamie eyed Ben suspiciously.  Ben was standing in the hallway in nothing but his boxers and an undershirt.

Jess who had stepped in front of her brother saw the Tiffany’s box Ben held in his hand.  “What the hell do you think you’re going to do with that?  You are not going in there to propose to my mother in your underwear.  That’s something some unemployed trailer trash loser would do. Come flying over in his underwear with a ring from a Cracker Jack box that the woman bought anyway.  You’re a Bellini for God’s sake.  You want to have to tell Nonno that you burst in here in your underwear?”  She glared at him.    “Besides, I think you’re forgetting something.  Like asking for her hand.”

She looked at Jamie.  “Has he asked you if he could marry our Mother?  Because he sure as hell hasn’t asked me.”

Jamie was still looking at Ben who seemed to have finally realized he was standing there talking with the two younger Parkers in nothing but his underwear. “He hasn’t asked me.”

Jamie hit speed dial and called Jake. “Has Ben asked you if he could marry Mom?”

God these kids were more Italian than some Italians Ben knew.  He ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

“All right.  I’d like your permission to ask your Mother to marry me.”

“Permission granted.” Jamie answered.

“It’s about time,” Jake said through the speaker.

Jess crossed her arms across her chest.  “Not so fast.  You need to go home and put some pants on before I even consider having this conversation.”  Jess shook her head.    “God, there are some things that can’t be unseen.”

Lane could hear the kids in the hall talking, but she had no idea what they were saying or to whom they were talking.

Ben looked down the hall toward Lane’s bedroom.

Jess tilted her head toward her Mother’s bedroom door.  “You’ll have to go through me to get in there dressed like that.”

Ben looked at her, calculating the options.  She was only five feet four inches tall and maybe 110 pounds, soaking wet after a big meal.  Of course, he had seen to it that she’d taken self-defense classes.  Still, he thought his odds were good until he realized that Jamie had moved to stand behind her.  He looked down at his boxers and held his hands up.  “All right, I’m going home to put on some pants. But I’m coming back.  Your mother knows I’m on my way over here. And, when I get back, nothing’s keeping me out of that room.”

There was only one stop light between his house and Lane’s and he hit it on green both ways.  He was back in under fifteen minutes.  Jess met him in the garage.  He held his hands out as if asking if his weekend uniform of khaki slacks, Polo shirt and Gucci loafers was acceptable.

Jess smiled.  “Okay.  Yes, you have my permission to ask my mother to marry you.  I just want you to think about whether this is the way you want to do it.  Full of urgency and no romance.  We both know she’ll say yes either way.  I’m just saying she might deserve something more romantic.”

He motioned for Jess to move away from the door. “Jess, I know you’ve been in L.A. for a long time, learning all about the world of film, but this is real life.  You can’t direct everything and everyone like we’re all actors on your stage.  But I’ll promise you this much, I’ll take your suggestion under advisement.  But I’m warning you, I’m playing this one by ear.  Now do I have to pick you up and move you or are you going to let me in?”

Jess was uncharacteristically quiet as she stepped away from the door leading into the house and waved her hand as if ushering him through.  He opened the door and turned to her. “Am I going to run into any interference from the Bambino?”

“I really don’t know.  If you do, why don’t you just play it by ear?”

All right, she was pissed, but that was too bad.  He hadn’t even offered to bribe her with shoes.  Sometimes fun and games were fine, but this wasn’t a game.  He walked into the mud room and through the kitchen to find Jamie sitting at the breakfast bar.

“Bambino, are we good,” he asked.  Ben had called Jamie Bambino since their first meeting when Jamie was a gangly 14 year old who seemed sort of lost and alone after the move to Kansas.

“Yeah, Ben, we’re okay as long as you don’t plan on spending the night.”

Ben shook his head.  At this moment, he wasn’t even sure he was going to make it all the way to the bedroom.  “We’ve had this talk before, Bambino.  If your mother and I were sleeping together, it would be none of your business.  But, I’ll tell you this.  I love your mother and I want to marry her. I promise you that I’ll love, honor, cherish and respect her.”

Ben shook his head.  Hell he’d waited this long and besides, the test results weren’t back yet.  There was no way Lane was going to have sex with him tonight.  And test results or no, the first time he made love to her, he didn’t want an anxious audience waiting outside the door.

“I’m not spending the night, Bambino.  You can relax.”

Ben proceeded down the hall. He knocked on the door.  “It’s me.  Can I come in,” he said as he opened the door.  Lane was sitting up reading and he closed the door behind him.  “Tell me again,” he said as he walked toward her.

She smiled at him.  “I love you.”

He crossed the room in three strides, picked her up and kissed her.  “I love you,” he said and he kissed her again.  He held her, each of them murmuring, “I Love you,” to the other over and over again between kisses until Ben sat her on the bed.

“Lane, you are my heart.  Spend the day with me tomorrow, just the two of us.  It’s late and I know you’ll want to sleep in.  I’ll come by and get you at nine o’clock in the morning.”  He bent and kissed her.  “I love you.”

Jess was right, Lane deserved the first class experience, not some love sick puppy in his boxers.  And he had all night to plan the perfect proposal.

Chapter 11

So much to do    

Labor Day morning dawned early for Ben. But he was usually up at 5:30 a.m. anyway, so he could run 5-10 miles before doing his weight training. Today he had a romantic proposal to plan.  There was always a romantic carriage ride through the Plaza, but that had been done so many times.  There was a champagne hot air balloon ride over the city at twilight.  There was dinner in the banquet room at Papa’s, strewn with rose petals.  Every scenario he thought of had been done to death on television or in the movies.  He could hire a private jet and fly her someplace, but Lila had told her not to leave town.  In Italy the groom would sing his proposal, but Ben wasn’t much of a singer.  Frank Sinatra was a singer, and Ben thought he could put together a CD of his personal favorite love songs.  He was back to dinner and dancing at Papa’s banquet room.

He called his father.  When the Bellinis talked to each other, it was almost always in Italian.  His Father had been born in America to parents who had emigrated from Sicily.  His paternal grandparents had arranged the marriage between his Father and his Mother.  Papa had gone to Sicily, married his bride and then brought her back to America.  Ben’s Uncles, Salvatore and Vincenzo Luciano, his mother’s brothers had helped arrange the marriage.  They were identical twin brothers and had come to America earlier to attend college and law school before landing in Kansas City.

“Papa, I need the banquet room today. All day.  Is it available?”

His father smiled.  His son was finally going to propose to the woman he knew was the love of his son’s life.  There was no other reason to call at eight in the morning and ask for the banquet room for the day.  Dante Bellini checked the calendar.  The room was available, which meant that he wouldn’t have to juggle people to make it available.  If his first born son needed the room, Dante would have made it available.

“Yes.  It’s yours,” he told his son. “Shall I bring things from storage to decorate?”

“No.” Then Ben remembered that he’d asked Lane to spend the day with him.  He wouldn’t be able to decorate himself. “Yes.  One table, gazebo setting, draped in cream and blush and strewn with rose petals that I’ll have delivered.”

Again his father smiled.  “Ah, finally you are going to propose to our Bella Bambina.  What time will you be here?  I’ll have the champagne on ice in the room.”

Ben thought only for a minute.  “We’ll be there at eleven o’clock.”  He’d told Lane he was going to pick her up at nine o’clock and he didn’t think he could wait all day to hear her answer.

Ben shook his head as he got off the phone.  Apparently everyone in his family knew years ago that he was in love with Lane.  His maternal grandfather had met Lane last Christmas, and had told Ben he would be a fool to let her go.  Papa and Nonno were way ahead of him.

He called his favorite florist. He’d had a standing order for two dozen roses, to be sent to Lane’s office every Tuesday, since he and Lane had become a couple.  The first delivery had been yellow roses tipped in red to signify their friendship that had turned romantic.  He’d slowly mixed those with red roses, until the bouquet now was only red roses.  He sent 24 to symbolize that she was always on his mind. Standing for the twenty-four hours of the day, and to say that he thought of her during every hour of the day. Today he was having red rose petals, along with nine dozen red roses, sent to the restaurant.  He wasn’t sure where his florist would get that many on such short notice, but he’d looked it up and he knew that 108 roses say “Will you marry me?” and he wasn’t going to settle for less.  He was only going to ask one woman to marry him, only do this once. Jess had been right, he wanted to do it right.

Pauli was asleep in the guest room and would be driving back to St. Louis later today, but Pauli was the least of his worries.  He left a note for Pauli to have a safe trip and he left for Lane’s.

Much to his surprise, Jess met him in the garage again today; and to his joy, she wasn’t on his case about his proposal.  But her tone might have been cool as she said, “Is Parrot Boy still at your place?”

“Yes.  He’s going back to St. Louis today, but he was still asleep when I left.”  Ben walked toward the door leading into the house.  “Go easy on him, he’s not even in your league, you know?”

He knew he needed to apologize to Jess for the scene in the garage last night, but that could wait.  Pauli might be his brother, but if things went according to plan, Jess would soon be his step-daughter and that meant she was his to protect.  Pauli had watched Ben and learned the way to play the field; working his way through a stable of women and moving on before anyone could sink her hooks in. While Ben knew Jess could handle herself, he didn’t want her to be another notch on Pauli’s stethoscope.

Jamie was in the kitchen.  He was a growing teenager and seemed to spend most of his time there.  “Bambino, what have you got going today?”

Jamie quit eating long enough to respond.  “Jake, Jess and I are going to see if we can figure out why Carol Anne came back to town.”

Jess had come in behind Ben. His comment to her last night had hurt her terribly, but Jess didn’t cry in front of anyone unless it was written in a script either, so no one had seen the tears.  She tried to keep the ice from her tone.  “You know any of her friends or family that we could talk to?”

“Her folks moved to Florida a long time ago, but she was pretty close to her producer at the radio station.  Her name was Beth Morgan and I think she’s still there.  They might have stayed in touch.  Other than that, I don’t have any idea.  Call Tanner if you need help.”  He wrote down the cell number for his investigator.  “You know the rules.  Stay together, pay attention and don’t take any risks,” he said, as he handed the number to Jess.  He’d been taking the Parker kids to the paint ball park since soon after their move to Kansas. It was one of those lies of omission that Lane had mentioned yesterday.  But now wasn’t the time to confess to that particular little transgression.

“Is your Mom in her room,” he asked, as he made his way toward the hall leading to the bedrooms.

He tapped twice on the door.  “You decent,” he said, as he opened the door. She was standing in her closet in nothing but a white lace bra and panties. The sight took his breath away. He closed the door and stood staring at her.  Dear God, he may not be able to keep the proposal to himself until he got out of this room.

She smiled at him and grabbed his shoulders saying, “Turn around.”  As she kissed the back of his neck she asked, “Where are we going, what are we doing? What shall I wear for this outing?”

“You look good to me now,” he said turning his head to look over his shoulder.

“I can’t go out like this.  Be serious.”

He turned and picked her up.  “Oh, I am serious,” he said, as he kissed his way from her shoulder to her lips.  “I’m very serious.”

She always moaned as their tongues mingled when they kissed, and it was always his undoing.  He backed her up until her back was against the wall.  She had her arms around his neck and she wrapped her legs around him. “Oh, God, how long did Pauli tell him it would take to get lab results back?” he thought.

She caught her breath and whispered to him. “You need to let me get down so I can get dressed.”

He backed away and let her stand.  “Wear a dress, something not too casual, not too dressy.”  And he turned back around.  He needed to get his hormones under control and he needed to get rid of this erection, so he could walk through the house without embarrassing himself. If he hadn’t been stupid for so long, they could have been married long ago.  He looked at the bed.  They could be lying in that bed right now, but instead he’d spent the last three years with every wrong woman he could find.  Lila Crane’s face popped into his head and he smiled, thinking, “Well, that’s one way to get rid of an erection.”  Then said aloud, “Are you dressed yet?”

She tapped him on the shoulder.  “Yes. Would you zip me?”

He turned around.  She stood with her back to him, holding her hair up in one hand, that white lace underwear peeking out from under a white sheath with small cherries embroidered on it. God, she was beautiful. He pulled up the zipper.

She turned.  “I forgot to tell you something this morning,” she said, as she placed her hands on either side of his face and looked him straight in the eyes. “I love you.”

He kissed her.  “I love you.  Now let’s get out of here, while I can still walk in front of the kids without embarrassing myself.”

She slipped into a pair of red and white sandals.  “I have to put a few things in a bag.  You go on out and talk to the kids.  I’ll be right out.”

She put her phone and wallet into a small envelope purse that was red with a white flap and walked out of her room.  Ben was standing in the kitchen waiting for her.

“I’ll be with Ben all day.  I have my cell, and you know Ben’s number too. I’ll see you later.  Have a good day and try to stay out of trouble.”

Ben held her hand as they walked to his Jaguar.  He opened her door and helped her in, before walking around and getting in himself.  The little blue Tiffany’s box was tucked into the pocket of his sport coat in the back seat.

He backed out of the driveway and headed north toward the Plaza.  He’d decided they could walk around the shops a bit before driving to Papa’s.  He turned to her and said, “I have an early lunch planned, so I hope you’re not too hungry yet.”  He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

He was tracing little circles on the palm of her hand making her tingle to her toes.  Last night she had finally spoken the words she’d been afraid to even think.  She looked at him.  Ben was unbelievably handsome and he loved her. They were listening to Pandora, and Frank Sinatra was singing lowly in the back ground.

“So what’s on the agenda until lunch?”  It was almost nine-thirty when they’d left her house.

“Just a leisurely drive through the city until we can stop at the Plaza.  You missed shopping and gossiping with your friends yesterday. I’m probably not as much fun to gossip with, but I thought we could stroll around a bit.”

For years, Lane had met friends on the Plaza for brunch, shopping and gossiping.  The search warrant the day before had preempted her outing. While she enjoyed the company of her female friends, she had always preferred Ben’s company.

“You may not be as much fun to gossip with, but I’d rather spend the day with you anyway.”  She lifted his hand and kissed his palm. “I love you.” She said it almost with surprise.

He’d planned a perfect proposal, but the Tiffany’s box was burning a hole in his pocket.  This was going to be a long hour and a half.