“Based on Calvin the Beast’s say-so,” Liza said.
“I have ways of telling,” Min said. “I know how to handle him.”
“Yeah, I saw you handling him,” Liza said. “You’re weak.”
“Oh, come on,” Min said, guilt making her exasperated. “I heard the bet. I know what’s going on. I’m not seeing him again. Especially since you yelled at him and called him names.” She thought about Cal leaning close, how hard his chest had been against her hand, how hot his mouth had been on hers, how good his hand had felt on her breast. “I found out how he gets all those women, though,” she said brightly. “Turns out it’s not just the charm.”
“Maybe you should see him again,” Bonnie said, sounding thoughtful. “I think sometimes you just have to believe.”
That might be good, Min thought.
“Bonnie,” Liza said. “Do you want her to get mutilated by the same guy who broke your cousin’s heart and made that bet with David?”
That would be bad, Min thought.
“No,” Bonnie said, doubt in her voice.
“Then no more pep talks about believing in toads,” Liza said.
“Don’t they turn into princes when you kiss them?” Bonnie said.
“That’s frogs,” Liza said. “Entirely different species.”
“Right,” Min said, trying to shove Cal out of her mind. “Toad not frog. Beast. Absolutely.” Then she sighed and said, “But he really had great doughnuts,” and lay back down on the seat again to recover her good sense.
David was settling down in front of the television on Sunday afternoon when the phone rang. He picked it up and heard Cynthie’s voice.
“Cal and Min were in the park today,” she said. “He kissed her. That’s joy, it’s a physiological cue, that could push them into—”
“Wait,” David said, and took a deep breath. It was that damn bet. Cal would do anything to win that bet. “He fed her doughnuts,” Cynthie said. “He took her on a picnic and—”
“Min ate doughnuts?” David went cold at the thought. “Min doesn’t eat doughnuts. Min doesn’t eat carbs. She never ate carbs with me.”
“And every time he fed her a piece, he kissed her.”
“Sonofabitch,” David said, viciously. “What do we do?”
“We have to work on their attraction triggers, create joy, make them remember why they wanted us,” Cynthie said. “Take her to lunch tomorrow. Make it perfect. Make her feel special and loved, give her joy, and get her back.”
“I don’t know,” David said, remembering Min’s face when he’d dumped her. The idea was for her to come crawling back to him, not for him to go to her.
“I’ll have lunch with Cal,” Cynthie said as if he hadn’t spoken. “I’ve been lying low, hoping he’d come back on his own, but there’s no time for that now. I’ll have him in bed before dessert, and that should finish the whole thing.”
“Min’s mad at me,” David said. “I think it’s too soon for a lunch.”
“Oh, that’s very aggressive.” There was a long silence and then Cynthie said, “Her family. Did you say she needs them to approve of her lovers?”
“Yes,” David said. “Her mother was crazy about me.”
“There you go,” Cynthie said. “Call her mother and tell her the truth about Cal and women.”
“No,” David said, remembering Nanette’s lack of focus on anything not involving calories or fashion. “Her sister’s fiancé. Greg. I’ll call him tonight.”
“How will that help?”
“He’ll tell Diana right away,” David said. “He sees her every night. And she lives with her parents, so she’ll tell her mother and father. Her father is very protective.”
“That’s good,” Cynthie said.
“He fed her doughnuts?” David said, wincing at the thought.
“One piece at a time,” Cynthie said.
Bastard. He was doing it for that damn bet. After all that big talk about being cheap but not slimy, he was going to seduce Min with doughnuts and then come back to collect his ten thousand bucks. The great Calvin Morrisey wins again.
Not if I have anything to do about it.
“David?” Cynthie said.
“Trust me,” David said, grimly. “Min just ate her last doughnut.”
On Monday, Roger came in late to work. Bonnie, Cal thought, which made him think of Min, which was ridiculous.
“What is this?” Tony said. “I’m the last one in to work. It’s tradition.”
“Bonnie.” Roger yawned as he sat down at his desk. “We talked pretty late last night.”
“Talked,” Tony said, sitting on the edge of the work table. “The least you could do is get laid.”
Roger narrowed his eyes.
“Okay, now that we’re all here—” Cal said.
“I’m going to marry Bonnie,” Roger told Tony. “You don’t talk like that about the woman you marry.”
“Sorry,” Tony said. “I’m never getting married so I wouldn’t know.”
“—we need to block out the Winston seminar—”
“You’ll know when you find the right woman,” Roger said.
“No such animal,” Tony said.
“—and get the packets done,” Cal said, raising his voice.
“She has a perfect kiss,” Roger said, looking out the window, probably in what he thought was Bonnie’s direction. “Did you ever kiss like that, where everything was exactly right and it just blew the top of your head off?”
“No,” Tony said, looking revolted.
“Yes,” Cal said, Min coming back to him in all her hot and yielding glory. They both turned to look at him, and he said, “Can we go to work now? Because we’re about a minute away from breaking out the ice cream and talking about our feelings, and I don’t think we can come back from that.”
“I’ll get on the invoices,” Roger said and went to his desk.
Cal leaned back in his desk chair, opened a computer file, and thought about Min. He’d had no intentions of kissing her and then he’d jumped her, some insane impulse shoving him into her lap. And she’d been no help. She should have slapped him silly and instead there she was, saying “More,” egging him on—
The phone rang and Tony picked it up. “Morrisey, Packard, Capa,” he said and then rolled his eyes at Cal. “Hey, Cynthie.”
Cal shook his head.
“He’s not here,” Tony said. “I think he’s gone for the morning.” He scowled at Cal, who sighed and leaned back in his chair to look at the ceiling.
“Lunch?” Tony said. “Sorry, he’s got a lunch date. At Emilio’s. With his new girlfriend.”
Cal sat up so fast that his feet hit the floor hard. No, he mouthed at Tony and made a slicing motion across his throat with his hand.
“So you don’t have to worry about him being depressed over losing you,” Tony said. “He got right back on the horse.”
Cal stood up, rage in his eyes, and Tony said, “Gotta go,” and hung up.
“Are you insane?” Cal said.
“Hey, it got rid of her, didn’t it?” Tony said. “I did you a favor.” He frowned. “I think. The whole thing sort of came to me in a flash.” He looked at Roger. “Was that a bad move?”
“I’m not sure,” Roger said. “You might want to stay away from flashes in the future.”
“I don’t want to see Min again,” Cal said, and thought about seeing Min again.
“So? Cynthie doesn’t need to know that,” Tony said.
“So now I have to take Min to Emilio’s because Cynthie will check,” Cal said.
“I don’t see why,” Roger said. “If Cynthie asks, you can say you went someplace else.”
“I try to tell as few lies as possible.” Cal sat down again, trying to feel exasperated about the whole mess. He picked up the phone and dialed Min’s company, tracking her down through the switchboard operator, but her phone was busy and voice mail was not an option. Nobody ever talked anybody into lunch on voice mail.
He hung up the phone and saw Roger and Tony watching him. “What?”
“Nothing,” Roger said.
“Nothing,” Tony said.
“Good,” Cal said and ignored them to go back to his computer screen.
When her office phone rang, Min thought Cal, and then kicked herself. The beast must have the power to cloud women’s minds if she was thinking about him at 9 A.M. on a Monday morning in the middle of a prelim report.
“Minerva Dobbs,” she said into the phone, tapping her red pen on the frosted glass top of her desk.
“Tell me about this man you’re dating,” her mother said.
“Oh, for crying out loud.” Min leaned back in her Aeron chair, exasperated.
“Greg says he has a horrible reputation with women,” Nanette said. “Greg says he uses them and leaves them. Greg says—”
“Mother, I don’t care what Greg says,” Min said over her mother’s panic. “And I’m not dating him. We went to dinner and had a picnic in the park and that’s it.” She wrote Cal’s name in block letters on the cover sheet of her report and then drew a heavy red line through it. Gone, gone, gone.
“Greg says—”
“Mother.”
“—that he’s a heartbreaker. He’s worried for you.”
Min started to say, Oh, please, and stopped. Greg probably was worried about her. Greg worried about everything.
Why was Greg worried about her?
“How does Greg even know this guy exists?” Min said as she wrote “Greg” in red block letters and drew two heavy lines through it. Then she wrote “Dweeb” below that and “Snitch” below that.
“I’m worried for you,” her mother was saying. “I know you’re being brave about losing David, but I just hate it. I can’t stand it if you’re hurt.”
Min felt her throat close. “Who are you and what did you do with my mother?”
“I just don’t want you hurt,” Nanette said, and Min thought she heard her voice shake. “I want you married to a good man who will appreciate you for how wonderful you are and not leave you because you’re overweight.”
Min shook her head. “You had me right up to the last line.” She wrote “Mother” in block letters, drew a heart around it, and then, while Nanette talked on, she drew four heavy lines across it.
“Marriage is hard, Min,” Nanette was saying. “There are a million reasons for them to cheat and leave, so you have to work at it all the time. You have to look good all the time. Men are very visual. If they see something better—”
“Mom?” Min said. “I don’t think—”
“No matter how hard you work, there’s always somebody younger, somebody better,” Nanette said, her voice trembling. “Even for Diana, for everybody. You can’t start with a handicap, you can’t—”
“What’s going on?” Min said. “Is Greg cheating on Diana?”
“No,” her mother said, sounding taken aback. “Of course not.”
Min tried to imagine Greg betraying Diana, but it was ridiculous. Greg didn’t have the gumption to cheat. Plus, he loved Diana.
“Why would you say that?” her mother said. “That’s a horrible thing to say.”
“You were the one who brought up cheating,” Min said. So if not Greg, then who? Dad? Min rejected that thought, too. Her father had three interests in life: insurance, statistics, and golf. “The only thing Dad would leave you for is the perfect four iron, so that’s not it. What’s going on?”
“I want you married and happy and this Cabot isn’t—”
“Calvin,” Min said.
“Bring him to dinner Saturday,” Nanette said. “Wear something black so you’ll look thinner.”
“I’m not seeing him, Mother,” Min said. “That’s going to make it doubtful that he’ll want to meet my parents.”
“Just be careful,” her mother said. “I don’t know how you find these men.”
“He looked down my sweater and saw that red lace bra,” Min said. “It’s all your fault.”
She spent a few more minutes reassuring Nanette, and then she hung up and went back to editing for another five minutes until the phone rang again. “Oh, great,” she said and answered it, prepared to argue with her mother again. “Minerva Dobbs.”
“Min, it’s Di,” her sister said.
“Hi, honey,” Min said. “If this is about Greg ratting out my picnic date, it’s okay, it’s over, I’m never going to see him again.” She drew another line through Greg’s name. As far as she was concerned, there couldn’t be too many lines through Greg’s name.
“Greg says David says he’s awful,” Diana said.
Min sat up a little straighter. “David said that, did he?” The rat fink didn’t even play fair on his bets. She wrote “David” in big block letters and then stabbed her pen into it.
“He told Greg not to tell me he’d told him,” Diana said.
“Right,” Min said, not bothering to follow that.
“He just doesn’t sound like part of your plan,” Di said.
Min stopped stabbing. “My plan? What plan?”
“You always have a plan,” Di said. “Like me. I’ve planned my wedding and my marriage very carefully and Greg fits perfectly. He’s perfect for me. We’re going to have a perfect life.”
“Right,” Min said, and drew another line through Greg’s name.
“So I know you must have a plan and this wolf—”
“Beast,” Min said.
“—frog, whatever, can’t fit your plan.”
“He’s not a frog,” Min said. “I kissed him and he did not turn into a prince.” He turned into a god. No, he didn’t. “Look, I’m never going to see him again, so everybody can relax.”
“Good,” Di said. “I’ll tell Mom you’re being sensible as usual and she won’t worry anymore.”
“Oh, good,” Min said. “Sensible as usual. Nobody mentioned this to Dad, did they?”
“Mom might have,” Diana said.
“Oh, hell, Di, why didn’t you stop her?” A vision of her overprotective father rose up before her like a big blond bear. “You know how he is.”
“I know,” Di said. “I’m still not sure he likes Greg.”
Are you sure you like Greg? Min wanted to say, but there wasn’t any point since Diana would insist it was True Love to the death. “Well, good news, I got you a cake—”
“You did?” Di’s voice went up a notch. “Oh, Min, thank you—”
“—but it won’t be decorated so Bonnie and I are going to do that with Mom’s pearls and a lot of fresh flowers.” Min began to draw a wedding cake.
“You’re going to decorate my cake?” Di said, her voice flat.
“People are going to love it when they taste it,” Min said, adding some doves to the top.
“Taste?” Di said. “What about when they look at it?”
“Are you kidding? Fresh flowers and real pearls? It’ll be a sensation.” Min drew in some pearls. They were easier than doves, and she was experiencing enough difficulty with her morning.
“What does Mom say?”
“Why don’t we ask her at the wedding?” Min said, keeping her voice chirpy.
“Okay,” Di said, taking a deep breath into the phone. “I really am grateful. And it’s good that it’ll taste good, too. For the cake boxes and everything.”
“Cake boxes?” Min said.
“The little boxes of cake that the guests take home for souvenirs,” Diana said. “To dream on.”
“Cake boxes,” Min said and began to draw little squares. “Two hundred. You bet.”
“You didn’t get cake boxes?”
“Yes,” Min said, drawing boxes faster. “I got cake boxes. Will you relax? You sound like you’re strung up on wires. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” Diana said, with too much emphasis.
“No trouble with Wet and Worse?” Min said and then winced. “I mean Susie and Karen?”
Diana laughed. “I can’t believe you sa
id that.”
“I’m sorry,” Min said. “It’s . . .”
“Min, we know about it. Karen overheard Liza say it back when we were in high school. She calls Bonnie and Liza Sweet and Tart.”
Min laughed in spite of herself.
“Don’t tell them,” Diana said. “I’ll go on pretending you don’t call Susie and Karen Wet and Worse if you’ll go on pretending we don’t call Bonnie and Liza Sweet and Tart.”
“Deal,” Min said. “God, we’re horrible people.”
“Not us,” Diana said cheerfully. “It’s our friends who make this stuff up. We’re those nice Dobbs girls.”
“I think that depends on who you ask,” Min said, thinking of Cal. She had to remember to be nicer to him. Except she wasn’t going to see him again so it didn’t matter. Also, when she was nice to him in the park, it went badly. “I’ve been really bitchy lately. . . .” Her voice trailed off as her father loomed in the doorway, looking like an anxious Viking. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Oh, no,” Diana said.
“I’ll talk to you later,” Min said to Diana and hung up. “So, what brings you down here?” she said to her dad. “Air get too thin on the fortieth floor?”
“About this man you’re seeing,” George Dobbs said, glowering at his daughter as he came into her office.
“Don’t even try it,” Min said. “I know you have junior account executives for breakfast, but that doesn’t work with me. I’m not seeing Cal anymore, but if I were, it would be my choice. Come on, Dad.” She smiled at him, but his face stayed worried. “Two and a half million people get married every year in this country. Why not me?”
“Marriage isn’t for everybody, Min,” he said.
“Daddy?” Min said, taken aback.
“This man is not a good man,” George said.
“Now wait just a minute,” Min said. “You don’t even know him. He was a perfect gentleman both times we went out—” Well, there were hands in the park. “—and since we’ve decided not to see each other again, it’s pretty much not a problem.”
“Good.” Her father’s face cleared. “Good for you. That’s smart. Why take chances with a man you know isn’t a good risk?”
“I’m not selling him insurance,” Min said.
“I know, Min,” he said. “But it’s the same principle. You’re not a gambler. You’re too sensible for that.”
Welcome to Temptation/Bet Me Page 48