Heels of Steel

by Barbara Kavovit

  He threw out his arms. “How could I? Oh, by the way, Bridget, I was such a lousy husband that my wife ran off with my best friend. Did I mention that he was my COO, too?”

  She laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Jesus, Jay.”

  He laughed, too, a little more bitterly than she did. “I know. I mean, if I had told you, you probably would have run the other way screaming, right? And hell—” he banged his head against the back of the couch “—after the performance I just put on, you’re probably going to run screaming, anyway.”

  She was quiet for a minute. “My ex-husband is an alcoholic, coke-addicted narcissist who cheated on me pretty much constantly.”

  He looked over at her, his eyes wide. “Okay, that actually makes me feel a little better.”

  “He tried to screw my cousin at our wedding, and everyone in my family knew about it but no one told me until after I divorced him.”

  “Keep it coming,” said Jay with a smile. “This is making me look great in comparison.”

  “He convinced me to invest a ton of money into his drywall business and then he took almost all of it and gambled it away on online poker.”

  Jay’s smile slid away. “Is that why you went bankrupt?”

  She shrugged. “Part of the reason. I mean, there were mistakes on my end, too.”

  “Your ex sounds like an amazing asshole,” he said.

  She bugged her eyes. “You think? Your ex doesn’t exactly sound like peaches and cream, either, though.”

  He frowned. “Actually, she’s all right. I mean, yeah, not the nicest move screwing my best friend and business partner, for sure, but I have to admit, I wasn’t the greatest husband.”

  Bridget bit her lip. “Did you screw around?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “No, no. Nothing like that. I was...not there much, I guess. My business came first, always. She just got tired of waiting around for me, I think, and Liam had wanted her for years. I should have known better. I basically drove her into his arms.”

  “Really? You knew that all along?”

  “That my best friend wanted my wife? Yeah. Hard to miss. I knew him really well. He wasn’t good at hiding anything from me. I mean, I’ll give the guy credit, he kept it tamped down for years. But I guess when the opportunity finally came his way, it was too good to miss.”

  “Wow,” said Bridget. “So obviously, we are both really bad at relationships and we both have terrible luck in love and we both really, really suck at picking out people to be with. Great to know we’re doomed from the start.”

  He laughed and brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “I don’t know. Should I feel doomed? I really don’t feel doomed at all.”

  She smiled and leaned her forehead against his. “I guess I don’t, either,” she whispered.

  * * *

  Later that night, after she had sobered up enough to drive herself back to Scarlett’s, Bridget went straight to her laptop, and before she could stop and let herself think, she clicked on her copy of Jay’s budget and dragged it into her trash. There, she thought, it’s gone. Completely out of her hands.

  She sat down with a little whomp as all the air left her lungs.

  Well. That’s that. I guess I’m playing fair now.

  She laughed to herself, wondering how tough, nasty Bridget Steele, the Bronx girl who was never afraid to fight dirty if she had to, had suddenly turned so damned soft.

  Chapter 47

  Try as he might, Liam never felt comfortable in a tuxedo.

  He was wearing the best, a bespoke suit from Gieves & Hawkes on Savile Row. It was the same place that had once made Winston Churchill’s famous three-piece suits, and now dressed half the royal family, for God’s sake. Hana had insisted he have one made last time they were in London, and it fit him like a proverbial glove, but he always felt foolish when he put it on, like a kid clomping around in his daddy’s oversize shoes. Except his daddy hadn’t stuck around long enough for Liam to even experience that particular pleasure, so what the hell did he know about that?

  But a gala at Scarlett Hawkins’s East Hampton estate called for a tux. And a gala where he was being auctioned for charity? Well, he could hardly expect to show up in his favorite hoodie and bring in the dough.

  “You look good,” said Hana when he emerged from the bedroom. For the first time he could remember, it had taken him longer to get dressed than it had her.

  He searched her face, trying to see if she was being polite or if she really meant it. For a moment he thought maybe he detected a real glimmer of attraction in her eyes, but then the moment passed and her face became unreadable to him again.

  “You look beautiful,” he said fervently. And she did. Of course she did. She was wearing a white silk Chanel jumpsuit with a halter top that fastened at the back of her neck and then swooped down daringly low, leaving her back completely bare. Her hair was unbound and hanging to her waist in a heavy curtain, moving this way and that and giving him excruciating little peeks of the soft, glowing skin of her shoulders, the elegant twist of her spine. She wore no jewelry except for Lorraine Schwartz gold and diamond bangles on her left arm, stacked all the way to her elbow, no makeup but a slash of vermilion red on her generous mouth and matching red nails—fingers and toes. Flat gold Christian Louboutin sandals completed her outfit. Looking at her made his mouth go dry. He felt the way he used to feel when she’d show up in his dorm room looking for Jay and then stick around waiting, giving Liam the brilliant shine of her attention without one speck of hope behind it.

  “Thank you,” she said, not looking at him as she placed her phone in her clutch and checked her reflection in the hallway mirror one last time before they went out the door.

  He put the radio on for the ride over so it wasn’t so obvious that they didn’t have anything to say to each other. He hummed along tunelessly to the music, not even caring what came on, relieved when they pulled into the private drive leading to Scarlett’s house. Ahead of them was a long line of cars waiting for valet parking, but even the driveway was dressed for the party. On either side of Lily Pond Road were dozens of perfectly spaced old oak trees, each one hung with large, cream-colored paper lanterns. The glowing orbs looked like they were just floating amidst the crooked branches, magical and strange and perfectly matched to the full moon that hovered over them.

  “It’s like she bought the moon,” said Hana, her voice dreamy in that way it got whenever she saw something she found particularly beautiful. “It’s like she just picked up her phone and ordered that tonight’s moon would be exactly right for this very moment and, of course, it worked.”

  He laughed but it came out dry and brittle. “What Scarlett Hawkins wants...”

  He was startled when someone knocked on his window. Outside, standing on the grass, were two men in evening suits, carrying silver trays filled with sparkling crystal glasses.

  Liam rolled down his window.

  “Ms. Hawkins regrets that you must endure this wait for the valet,” said the man. Both men looked like models, but this one was slightly better-looking than the other. “She wanted to offer refreshments and thank you for your patience.” He bent at the waist, swooping his tray full of drinks closer to Liam’s window. “We have a choice of Pimm’s, a sour cherry gin sling, a dry martini with a twist and a nonalcoholic sparkling punch.”

  Liam looked at Hana. “I’ll take the Pimm’s,” she said, and the waiter walked around to her side of the car and waited for her to roll down her window before he handed it over.

  “I’ll have the martini, I guess,” said Liam, waiting for the server to make his journey back around.

  “She thinks of everything, doesn’t she?” said Hana as she sipped her drink and gazed up at the paper lanterns. “Sometimes I actually quite miss living below her.”

  Liam shot her a look and resisted pointing out that living below Scarlett H
awkins would also mean that she still lived with Jay.

  He drained his martini. “Hey,” he said, “you’re going to bid on me tonight, right? You’re not going to leave me just hanging there?”

  Hana’s mouth thinned impatiently. “We already talked about this,” she said.

  He shook his head. “I mean, we did, but I don’t think you ever said whether you would or wouldn’t.”

  “This is just for fun, Liam. You don’t have to worry.”

  “Yes, but I just want to know if—”

  She cut him off. “I’m not going to let you be embarrassed, okay?” Her voice was sharp.

  He blinked. “Jesus, Hana—”

  But before he could finish the valet was, at last, knocking on his window, ready to take his keys.

  Chapter 48

  Jay was late getting dressed. In fact, he had vacillated all night, not sure that he felt okay about leaving the teens alone in the house for the evening. He considered calling in their housekeeper, asking if she wouldn’t mind doing a night shift and just keeping an eye on things for him, but then he figured that the woman probably wouldn’t appreciate being asked to perform something so far outside her regular job requirements.

  Maybe he should stay home. He slowly fastened his cuff links and slipped on his Ferragamo loafers, but then he thought of Bridget. There was no way he was leaving her without a date at the last moment.

  At last, he decided to take the bull by the horns and walked out onto the back porch to find his daughter.

  Alli had avoided speaking to him all day, loudly instructing her friends to go to the basement or the beach or call the driver and head into town so they could get some lunch at Serafina whenever he came within spitting distance. And now she was lounging out on the sand, wearing a bikini so small that it made Jay wince to look at her. Lying next to her, so close that they were practically sharing the same towel, was the girl with the glasses, Minerva. Alli’s girlfriend? he thought to himself. Is that what I should call her?

  “Alli,” he called down to the beach, not wanting to take off his shoes and socks nor fill them with sand. “Alli, can you come up here for a moment?”

  He could see the look on her face from where he was standing, and he knew that she had decided to pretend not to hear him.

  “Alli!” he yelled. This time he let his voice go where it wanted. “Get up here.”

  Sighing deeply, his daughter reluctantly stood up and then made an elaborate show of wrapping the towel around her waist before slowly making her way up the path. She got to the porch but refused to come up the steps. “What?” she snapped. He couldn’t see her eyes behind the gigantic bug-eyed sunglasses she was wearing.

  He picked his battle and walked down to meet her instead of insisting that she come up. “Listen, honey, I have to go out to this auction thing—”

  “I know, Dad,” she interrupted. “You already told me about it, remember?”

  He bit the inside of his cheek, trying not to let her draw him into a lecture about manners and respect, trying to remember what was really important.

  “I just wanted to say, before I go, that—” he took a deep breath “—I’m sorry for how I reacted last night. I was surprised, and honestly, I was a little uncomfortable when I stumbled in on you guys.”

  “Oh, you think?” sneered Alli.

  He charged on. “But mainly, I felt bad that I didn’t know that you...like girls, I guess, right? I mean, I just felt like I was kind of a bad father not to know something so important about you. I didn’t realize you’re gay.”

  The look she gave him was almost comic in its exasperation. “Dad. We really don’t have to talk about this, okay? You’re late for your party.”

  “Don’t worry about the party. This is important.”

  “Daaad.” She cut her eyes to her friends all lying on the sand. “I am asking you nicely. Can we please just talk about this some other time?”

  He sighed, frustrated. “Fine. But we are going to talk about it, okay?”

  “Okay. Whatever.”

  “And can I trust that tonight, while I’m gone, you guys will stay here and try to keep things to a dull roar?”

  She shook her head. “You’re so corny, Dad.”

  “Fine. I’m corny. Can I trust you?”

  “Yes. We will stay here. We won’t raid the liquor cabinet. No one’s going to get pregnant.”

  He held up his hand. “Yup. Don’t need to get the details of what you won’t do. I trust you. Have a good time. There’s a lasagna in the fridge that I made for you guys. You can warm it up at three-fifty for about forty-five minutes, okay?”

  She was already walking back to the beach. She waved her hand behind her, dismissing him. “We’re just going to order delivery. Thanks, anyway.”

  He frowned. Her rejecting his lasagna almost stung worse than her refusing to talk about her personal life. If he couldn’t count on her affection for red sauce, pasta and cheese, he wasn’t sure where to find any more common ground.

  Chapter 49

  “Oh, is that what you’re wearing tonight?” said Scarlett when Bridget slipped in through the back door to help prepare for the onslaught of guests. “Would you like to borrow something from me? I’m so sorry, I should have offered sooner.”

  Bridget gave Scarlett an annoyed look. “Yes. I am wearing this tonight, and no, I do not want anything of yours, thanks.”

  Despite Scarlett’s negative opinion, Bridget knew she looked good. Perhaps her dress wasn’t this season’s offering, but it was still Versace. And it was dark, dramatic violet. And it fit her like someone had poured it over her from a pitcher full of sexy.

  Scarlett paused a moment and looked at her. “I’m sorry, darlin’. You actually look perfectly ravishing. I’m just being an old bitch. You know I get like this before I have to pull off anything big.”

  Bridget smiled. “Thank you. Now, what can I do to help?”

  Scarlett shook her head. “Well, absolutely nothing, honestly. My staff has everything in place. It’s just a matter of opening up the doors and making everyone feel like I give a damn. So maybe a little liquid courage is what I need. Let’s go sit by the pool for a moment and do a couple of tequila shots.”

  Bridget laughed. She hadn’t wanted to admit it before, but God, she had missed this woman.

  “Marty!” called Scarlett. “Bring a bottle of the Dos Lunas and two shot glasses out to the pool, will you?”

  They sat at the table under an arbor twined with wisteria in bloom. The sweet smell was so strong that Bridget felt like it was turning the air around her purple.

  “Well,” said Scarlett, pouring them both out a glass of what Bridget knew to be a three-thousand-dollar bottle of tequila and lifting her cup to meet Bridget’s, “here’s to the party. Let’s hope it’s a smashing success.”

  Bridget clinked her glass against Scarlett’s, tipped back her drink and gulped it down. She felt a little bad, knowing that it was supposed to be a sipping tequila, but if Scarlett Hawkins wanted to shoot it, then who was she to say no?

  “One more?” Scarlett didn’t wait for Bridget’s answer. She just poured out another shot for each of them and raised her glass again. “And here’s to whatever you’ve been hiding up your sleeve lately, too, darlin’. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

  Bridget paused with her drink still in the air. “What do you mean?”

  Scarlett gulped her tequila and slammed the empty glass on the table, then reached over and took Bridget’s out of her hand. “If you’re not going to drink that, I will.” She finished it in one swig.

  “I’m not hiding anything up my sleeve, Scarlett. You know I have other work to do besides your job.”

  Scarlett smiled a soft, muzzy smile. “Oh. I feel so much more ready for this party now. God bless the blue agave and the little worm that loves me. I know you hav
e other work, darlin’, but I also know it’s not for those repugnant clowns you call your bosses. You’re up to something, Miss Bridget. Can’t hide it from a canny old bitch like me.”

  Bridget gave an exasperated laugh. “Yes. Fine. What the hell ever. I’m sure you’re going to find out, anyway. I’m up for a big project, building a skyscraper.”

  Scarlett raised her eyebrows. “Now, how in the world do you think you’re going to pull that off?”

  “I can do it.” Bridget raised her chin defiantly. “I have the core of my old team working for me already.”

  Scarlett giggled. “Oh, let me guess. You mean Ethan and that ancient woman who used to cook your books?”

  “Mrs. Hashemi is younger than you, Scarlett. And yes, them. Plus Danny Schwartz.”

  Scarlett let out a laugh in a hysterical hoot. “Oh, well, then. I guess you’ve got it all under control.” She laughed harder, her creamy cheeks turning a bright red. “Do you have any pros behind you yet? Seasoned engineers, project managers, field supers who can help you sell this project? Someone with an actual degree who you did not just Pied Piper out from the bowels of the Bronx?”

  “All I need to do now is get my budget in play,” said Bridget defensively. “One step at a time.”

  “You are deluding yourself if you think you can manage this step by step. Where is that smart girl I knew so long ago? You know very well that you have to be ten steps ahead of everyone else in this industry, darlin’. Because you’re already nine steps behind when you walk into a room sporting a pussy.”

  Bridget sighed. “I know. It’s just that I can’t get access to those guys yet. They won’t take me seriously. I’m hoping after I submit the budget and we’re invited to present—”

  “Steal ’em,” said Scarlett. “There will be some of those types here tonight. A bunch of gray-faced nerds who hate their bosses and feel vastly misunderstood. Hike up those magnificent tits, turn your tongue to molten sugar and poach ’em wherever you can find them.”