“If this is going work, Trey warned, “you’re going to have to put some time in with this person. You can’t just set it up and move on, like its business as usual.”
“You’re right, I have to make this look good or Mamma Lou will see right through it and she’ll have me in her sights for wedded bliss in no time.”
“What’s the first step?”
“In any good plan, the first step is simple, know the enemy. I need some information on someone.”
“On who?”
“Lena Palmer.”
“Lena Palmer, Mitchell,” Trey muttered recalling the name.
“She’s a dancer.”
“No, actually I believe she’s a choreographer now.”
“Whatever,” J.T. tossed out nonchalantly. “Do you know her?”
“Yes, indirectly, I know of her. She and Aunt Taylor are on the Arts Commission together and they’re interested in purchasing a property here in town.”
“Yeah, I just heard. That’s what got me curious in the first place. Mamma Lou is the third partner and when she’s involved with anything, matchmaking can’t be far behind.”
“Wait, you think Lena Palmer is the lucky lady she’s going try and match you up with?”
J.T. nodded affirmatively.
“No way, I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
Trey grinned. “Well, first of all I think Lena Palmer spends half her time in New York City. Then there’s the fact that that you have nothing in common with her. And of course there’s the obvious. She’s about fifty or sixty years old.” Trey’s laughter instantly erupted. “You’re starting to get a little paranoid my man,” he said as the laughter continued.
“So this thing Mom’s doing is real. She’s serious about the property and the money?”
“She’s serious,” Trey confirmed.
J.T. shook his head. Still, his gut feeling told him there was more to his mother’s sudden interest in setting up a place for the arts than met the eye. His thoughts raced to the one intersecting point of all three women, ballet.
“Tell me about this property.”
Trey reached over to his computer and brought up the details, architectural floor plans, construction records and schematics. He listed the pros and cons of the area, including the fact that the neighborhood was just beginning to see a new wave of commercial interest. Then, to be fair he outlined the risks involved. “I can email you a copy of all this, but the project has been in the works for months.”
J.T. nodded his appreciation. “Tell me about the Arts Commission.”
Trey shook his head. “You have been out of touch a while. About two and half years ago Aunt Taylor and several artist friends of hers in different fields developed the Arts Commission as a way to generate a more interest in D.C.’s arts and culture. They hold workshops and classes and also endow scholarships.”
J.T. asked several questions about the Arts Commission, Lena Palmer and the proposed community center, and art and dance studios.
“Where was I when all this was happening?”
“New York, London, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Tokyo shall I continue?”
“No, I get the point. So basically Mom got bored with painting and decided to create something a bit more substantial.”
“No. I don’t think so. Aunt Taylor is a brilliant artist and an extremely astute business woman. You’re not giving her enough credit. Don’t underestimate her. For example, the Arts Commission Foundation she established a few years ago is a tremendous asset. It’s not just a tax deduction, she’s raised and enormous amount of money each year for the arts.”
“She’s giving Lena Palmer a million dollars to open a dance studio.”
Trey’s brow arched with interest, “…she’s purchasing property, there’s a difference.”
“I don’t care what it is. I will not stand by and have my Mom taken advantage of.”
“I don’t think Aunt Taylor is being taken advantage of. This is her heart. She loves art, she loves ballet. It’s a natural thing for her.”
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. She loves the arts so much that taking advantage of her would be easy.
“There’s nothing you can do.”
“Yes there is.”
“What?”
“Stop it before it goes any further.”
“That might not be your best idea. Aunt Taylor really wants this.”
He ignored Trey’s warning completely. “One more thing, Juliet Bridges, have you ever heard of her?”
“Sure. What about her?”
“You know her?”
“Yes, I know her. An acquaintance introduced us a while back.” Trey smiled openly as a memory drifted by. J.T., noting his expression frowned then raised his brow with questioning interest. “By that smile I assume you know Ms. Bridges well.”
“Well enough.”
“Are you two, together?”
“No.”
“Have you dated her?”
“No.”
“Tell me about her.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything you know.”
Trey folded his fingers under his chin and smiled. “Juliet Bridges, she’s the principal dancer with the Capitol Ballet company. She’s danced most of her life and received numerous accolades for her performances. She’s ambitious, determined, driven, shrewd, smart and extremely good at what she does. She’s beautiful and has a wry sense of humor. And, she can be extremely dangerous with her tongue.”
“What does that mean?” J.T. asked.
“Rumor has it that she’s broken more than a few hearts and crushed a hell of a lot more,” Trey said, noting J.T.’s growing interest. “One would have to be beyond exceptional to get and keep her attention.”
“Sounds like a listing for a dating service.”
“You tell me, am I?” Trey asked.
J.T. mulled over the question, but decided to let the answer sit for the moment. He still wasn’t convinced of Mamma Lou’s motives when it came to his marital status. And any woman associated with Mamma Lou might be a target for matchmaking.
If it wasn’t Lena, then maybe it was someone else, maybe even Juliet. Juliet, the idea had merit but suddenly he wasn’t exactly sure if he was annoyed by the prospect of the target being Juliet or pleased. “Does Juliet have a connection with my Mamma Lou or my Mom?”
“I doubt there’s a personal connection. I’m sure they know of each other. Obviously, Juliet is the principal dancer at CBC. Both Mamma Lou and Aunt Taylor are on the board, but that’s it. Other than ballet I can’t see them traveling in the same circles. Besides Juliet has a small circle of close friends, she pretty much keeps to herself outside of the theater.”
“Any other interests?” J.T. continued.
“Oh, she does have a small children’s dance studio. I heard that’s like her second home when she’s not performing.”
“Where is it?”
“In D.C. someplace,” Trey said.
J.T. nodded. “What about her personal life?”
“She drinks coffee.”
J.T. looked at Trey’s bemused expression. He knew exactly what type of information he wanted to know.
“More personal than that,” J.T. requested.
Trey smiled his understanding. “I’ve heard she’s supposedly been connected with Senator Randolph Kingsley.”
“Supposedly,” J.T. repeated.
“I can’t see the connection.”
“Who is he?”
“I know him, he’s a good guy. We sometimes travel in the same circles. A newly elected Senator from California, apparently they’re both originally from the San Francisco area, but didn’t connect again until he moved to DC a few months ago when his term started.”
“What’s his angle?”
“He’s ambitious, with a squeaky clean reputation.”
“What about his connection to Juliet?”
“They’re seen
out a lot together and she attends most of his major political functions. If you ask me, they seem more platonic than anything else.” Trey shrugged reiterating the obvious. “But then again, he’s a red-blooded male, she’s gorgeous, you make the call.”
“What about you?”
Trey smiled. “With Juliet?”
J.T. nodded.
“We never really clicked that way. Plus I was seeing someone when met, so we began as friends and as I said earlier, one would have to be beyond exceptional to get and keep Juliet’s attention. She is very selective with her time. Not just anyone walks into her life and stays for a while.” Trey observed his cousin closely, seeing J.T. process the information. He knew his cousin well. This was more than the usual show and tell session they’d done from time to time. For one thing this wasn’t business, it was most definitely personal. “Your turn to show and tell.”
J.T. stood and walked over to the window. He looked out at the hub of traffic traveling down Pennsylvania Avenue. The rush of the financial district was constant. Surrounded by the most powerful financial institutions in the world, K Street was the power center of the district and Trey’s office was right in the center of it all.
Tucked between the offices of The World Bank and The International Monetary Fund headquarters, Evans International Finance, Trey’s investment firm, was right in the middle of the financial section of town. J.T. looked up at the Department of Treasury building across the street. Stoic in its power and prestige, the view from the window was ideal.
As a financier and investor, Trey Evans was brilliant and was well off from his financial savvy. He’d learned very young that money and power in Washington D.C. were inextricably linked. So as a teenager he began his love affair with the stock market and found that he was more than just lucky after making a quarter of a million dollars in ten months.
Quiet and reserved, Trey sat in silence at his desk and waited attentively for J.T. to speak.
“Last summer, I give a speech at a conference in New York. It was only supposed to be there one night.”
“But something happened I’m presuming,” Trey added.
“Yeah, there was a blackout.”
“New York, end of August, right,” Trey said.
J.T. nodded.
Trey smiled. “Let me guess, in a city of millions, you and an as yet unnamed lucky lady connected.”
J.T. nodded again. “Traffic was crazy. I couldn’t get back uptown to the appointment, so I decided to check in at a nearby hotel. She was in line in front of me. The hotel was cash only and neither one of us had enough, so we made a deal and pooled our funds and got the last room.”
“You shared a room together?”
“Yeah, we did.”
“Okay,” he said with a sly smile. “I get the picture, cut to the next morning, which one of you left first, you or her?”
“I had to go move the car and take care of a few things. I needed to know if the blackout affected E-Corp. When I came back to the room, she was gone.” J.T. paused.
“So what happened then?” Trey asked watching J.T. closely.
“I looked for her when I returned to the hotel. She’d already left the room.” J.T. cleared his throat then hesitated. “I wanted to make sure that she would be okay.”
“Of course,” Trey said not at all fooled.
“She’d said that she was a dancer, so I went to a few Broadway and off-Broadway productions.”
“You,” Trey asked, astonished by J.T.’s effort to find the mystery woman, “A Broadway show?”
“Yes, me, taking in a Broadway musical,” J.T. said, with a trace of annoyance.
“Wait a minute, is that the occurrence you mentioned?”
“What occurrence?”
“That’s what you called it. Apparently something happened in New York a few months back and you asked me to refer you to a local investigator.”
J.T. instantly remembered the situation and his overly vague request. “Yeah, that’s right, she was the occurrence.”
“Did you ever find her or see her again?” Trey asked.
“Yeah, earlier today, right here in D.C. I found out that she’s dancing with the Capitol Dance Company in a production of Carmen.” He tossed the playbill onto Trey’s desk.
Trey picked it up read the cover then laughed out loud at the irony. “You and Juliet Bridges shared a hotel room in the New City blackout. That must have been a hell of an occurrence.”
J.T. sat down and sipped his coffee while eyeing his cousin sternly but the laughter continued. “Okay, you found Juliet, now what?” Trey asked when he finally stopped laughing.
“That’s a good question.” J.T. paused for a moment as the idea dawned on him. “She’d be perfect.”
“What do you mean?”
“I could use this.”
“Use what?”
“Bear with me,” J.T. said as he paused, stood, turned and laughed. He turned back to see Trey’s confused expression. “What if Juliet and I pooled our resources again? What if I offered her money in exchange for services rendered.”
“Last I heard that kind of thing was illegal, even inside the Beltway?”
“It says in there that she’s retiring from the stage soon. Ballet dancers can’t make but so much, surely she could use a part-time job.”
“You’re talking about Juliet as the pawn, aren’t you?”
J.T. nodded. “Exactly, but what would her incentive be?”
“She could use a backer?” Trey initiated.
“A backer?”
“Yeah,” Trey said, “It’s widely known that Juliet is interested in starting a new dance company when she retires at the end of the season.”
“That’s right. So if Mom can help finance a community center, surely I can do the same for Juliet’s dance company, right?” J.T. said.
“So Juliet’s the pawn. She gets backing to help fund her dance company. You already have a working relationship with her, so to speak. You’ve joined forces for the greater good, no emotional ties no romantic baggage. It might just work.”
J.T. frowned searching for a flaw in the plan. He sat down and looked across the desk at his cousin. “It’s too easy, too obvious.”
“Not necessarily, sometimes simple is best,” Trey said.
“How long are we supposed to have been involved?”
“Not long enough to be serious, but not too short to make it sound frivolous.”
J.T. smiled then chuckled. “Ten months.”
Trey nodded in agreement. “Perfect.”
It was perfect, simple, and direct and was guaranteed to get Mamma Lou off his back before she even got started. “Okay, I’ll do it. I’m supposed to go to the ballet tonight to meet Mom and Lena Palmer. And I’ll also talk to Juliet while I’m there. Hopefully I can settle everything tonight.”
J.T. stood to leave as Trey opened his top drawer and pulled a small round packet from the desk. “Hey,” he called out to get J.T.’s attention. J.T. turned around just as Trey tossed the packet to him. He caught it easily then turned it in his hand to read the contents.
“Thanks, it just might come in handy.”
“In that case,” Trey reached into the draw and tossed two more. “Enjoy.”
Chapter Three
Thunderous applause silenced all critics of her performance. Tonight, age, was apparently just a number, because she was sheer perfection. Juliet Bridges held the smug smile as she arched her back straighter and pointed her toe. She stood in forth position, her right foot slightly in front of her left, toes pointed in opposite directions, back straight and neck and head held high and confident. She knew without a doubt that she had danced brilliantly.
The heavy curtain rose slowly and two perfectly paired dancers skipped from center to front stage at the centerline as the remaining corps de ballet took a modest step forward and nodded appreciatively. The audience leaped to their feet having thoroughly enjoyed the performance.
The performance was taken
from several classical and modern ballets, with vignettes narrated by the company’s artistic director, Peter Flemings. Juliet performed the dual roles of Odette and Odile in Swan Lake, Terpsichore in Apollo and Kitri in Don Quixote, then as a soloist in Stars and Stripes. But it was her signature role of Carmen that ended the program and she was brilliant. Not since Dorothy Dandridge had the role been performed so perfectly. The brash, brazen, hussy she played seemed to draw from her inner soul. She smiled brightly and curtsied low, gracefully extending her arm, bending it just enough for effect.
A plump round child hurried on stage from the left wing carrying two dozen roses in her chubby hands. With golden Shirley Temple ringlets, wearing a dress a size too small and carelessly clicking her patent leather tap heels she glanced at the audience then froze midway. Her rose colored cheeks brightened and reddened to full bloom. Her perfectly paired lips formed a deliberate O as her baby blue eyes filled and were about to burst. Then she caught sight of her grandmother waving to her from the wing prompting her to continue to the pair waiting at center stage.
She hurried to Juliet and clumsily she handed her the bouquets then backed away slowly. She turned, smiled at the sea of smiling faces in the audience then ran into her grandmother’s open arms. Everyone laughed at the less than precocious cherub.
“Where do they get these kids?” Richard Griffin asked, breathing hard, his British accent more pronounced than usual. He tilted his head slightly and bowed thankfully to the audience as his expression froze in a perpetual stage smile.
“Be nice,” Juliet said, still smiling graciously to the audience. Still poised with an aura of celebrity surrounding her, she curtsied gracefully.
“Yes, yes, I know,” Richard said, holding her hand firmly then letting go to allow her to take two steps forward and bow solo. “I heard her grandmother is one of D.C’s largest patrons. They say she’s got about two hundred, fifty million dollars and loves the ballet.”
“Exactly,” Juliet confirmed.
Irresistible You Page 4