Stolen Skye (Book One, The Skye Trilogy) (22 page)

We visited over dinner, talking about my trip to London
, and I rehashed the same stories for them. The friends I had made and my few recollections. They thought it all sounded very intriguing. It sparked a lot of talk about their various trips to Europe when they were young and how they wanted to go back before they couldn’t get around as well. Either they sensed I didn’t really want to talk about it or my stories weren’t very interesting, but they shifted the conversation quickly to the plan for Christmas and all they needed to get done before the 24th.

“Evelyn, Steve and I have his office party.
Ellis will be there and some other people we’d like you to meet. It’s tomorrow night. Then, we have to go to Copley Place and finish the Christmas shopping. After that, there’s the gingerbread recreation of the museum that I need to help with, and then all the cooking. Violet, of course, will help with the grocery shopping, but she is going off to see relatives in Maine after that. I am so glad you are here. Then, we must all go to the country club for New Year’s Eve, we already have reservations.” My mother went on with her list of things to accomplish as Steve nodded absently, occasionally leaning to the left to get a look at the football score on the flat screen in the library.

Nothing my mother shared excited me and one or two things sounded just plain painful.
Ellis, my high school boyfriend? No, I didn’t care to see him, and “other people we want you to meet” I suspected was code for “single lawyers”. New Year’s Eve and her plan for it bothered me in particular. I hadn’t fully decided where I was going to spend it, but when she announced the plans she had made, I felt genuine disappointment. A part of me was already looking forward to Paris, and the thought of being at the country club instead made me sick to my stomach.

After watching football, I excused myself, and Brutus and I went off to bed.
My room, done in hues of blue with small flowers, remained the same. The mattress still sloped to the center and the sheets still smelled of lavender from the linen closet. I lay in bed and thought about kissing Finn, the boxing match, the birthday dinner in Paris, and my growing concern over my alleged punch out by Raven. What if I had been mugged in London? Surely I would have told someone. What if Ari hit me and kept the money? I couldn’t even believe I was thinking it, but I had to consider all the options. What if I simply fell down and made up a story to explain the bruising out of embarrassment? That sounded the most like me, but all the options kept me from falling asleep for a long time.

The next couple
of days passed quickly. I agreed to be my mother’s shadow, running errands, finding recipes, delivering tins of cookies to the neighbors, etc. There were more than several awkward conversations where I found myself explaining what I was doing with my life. After telling people about being laid off and then having to listen to their well-meaning, pick-me-up speeches, I decided that I was “taking time off and traveling”. That made people much more pleasant to be around. They loved to share their own travel stories, and I could just drink my cocktail and nod politely.

The office party was tolerable.
Ellis was down about his recent divorce and I found myself feeling genuinely sorry for him. A couple of other gentlemen were introduced to me. Peter Slovoff was a promising new lawyer at the firm who was the clear forerunner, judging by my mother’s reaction to him. He was handsome, in a collegiate way, and full of himself. Peter found me a couple times, as I hit the punch bowl hard, and asked me about my career goals, my religious views and who I last voted for. I considered pulling the fire alarm, though I was very cordial, giving my mother the completely wrong idea.

Copley Place, the upscale mall my mother favored in downtown Boston, was ridiculously crowded so close to Christmas.
The economy was still bad, but you wouldn’t know it from the throngs of frenzied people. Last minute shopping was in full swing. After hours of picking out gifts for people I didn’t know well, we decided to get something to eat on Newbury Street. My mother was not a fan of ‘messy mall food’, as she described it. After circling for a parking place, we dined on a heavy French meal at Chez Americana. When we were done, we did more walking down Newbury, which resulted in more packages. The streets were still crowded, even as the light faded from the sky.

My mother stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and bent to examine her coat closer.
“Evelyn, have I been walking around with ketchup all over me this afternoon? I bet it was that damn food court we passed through for coffee at the mall.” She put her bags down and started trying to find something to wipe off her coat and bag. Thick trails of red were falling down the sides, like she had been squirted by a ketchup bottle.

“Mom, pick up your bags and follow me.
Keep your purse close to you. Come on, trust me.” I scanned the crowd and saw two suspicious people eyeing us from close by. The fact that they were remaining close to us and not continuing on made the hairs on my arms stand on end. My mother looked at me with some confusion, but did what I said. I pulled her into Ben and Jerry’s ice cream parlor and got her a towel so she could clean off her things in the bathroom. After a few moments, she came back out, curious as to why I had been so insistent. “Just something I learned in Europe. I’ve seen that type of scam before. Someone squirts you with a bottle of something and they follow you, waiting for you to notice and put down your bags, distracted.” I gave her the easy answer.

The real one was that when I saw the ketchup, I instantly remembered Ari telling me about that particular ploy and what I needed to look for if it happened to me.
We were sitting at Dura Vita having coffee. He looked younger in my memory, softer around his eyes. I had just told him how ridiculously simple it sounded and that it couldn’t possibly work. He was laughing, telling me I’d be surprised. He was right. It would have worked. Had I not been with her, my poor mother would have been robbed of her things in a heartbeat. The second we got home, I ran up to my room to call him before it got too late.

“Ari, I’m sorry.
Did I wake you?” He answered after the third ring and his voice sounded gravelly.

“Evelyn, no
. Well… I was dozing. Are you okay?” He came to attention quickly once he realized it was me.

“I’m fine.
I had another flash. You were in it. I just wanted to tell you.”

“What was it?”
He sounded more apprehensive than pleased.

“My mother almost got taken in by muggers today using a ketchup bottle.
I remembered you and I having coffee and talking about that particular scam. Luckily, I recalled it in time and got her and her bags off the street.” I laughed and waited for his response.

“Well done on saving your mother.”
He laughed as well. It sounded like he sat up in the bed, more awake as he shifted the phone. “How are you doing, being home?”

“It’s boring
, with very little palace dining. It’s good to see my mother, but the endless attempts at setting me up are getting tedious.”

“Oh, nothing to tempt you?
Finn will be glad to hear it.” His tone turned more serious. “Evelyn, have you remembered anything else? Anything about Scotland or the money?”

“No, nothing about Scotland.”
I wanted so badly to tell him what Kelly told me since Ari was the last person I had seen back then. However, despite all the evidence I had that we were close friends once and becoming friends again, there was much I didn’t know. Not to mention the fear his eyes had caused me that first night. I wouldn’t believe he would hurt me, not after everything I had heard about him, but I simply couldn’t be 100% sure of anything.

“What is it?
Evelyn, I can hear there’s something wrong. If I don’t have the answers, I’ll find them, I promise. At the restaurant, it was like you had more to say to me.”

“No, it’s nothing.
Listen, I have to go. I don’t know about Paris, my mother is talking about the family being together for New Year’s Eve. I don’t think I can get out of it, though I would like to. Sorry for waking you. I’ll talk to you soon. Good night.” I waited to see if he believed me.

“Good
night, Evelyn. Please don’t worry about anything. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.” He didn’t buy it, but he wasn’t going to push either. I could hear the worry in his voice, despite his assurance. I shouldn’t have called him, but I’d been excited to share my discovery.

The rest of the evening and the next two days were filled with neighborhood cocktail parties, club dinners
, and cooking for Christmas Eve. My mother was going all out, probably because Steve’s kids, Gary and Bridget, were coming. They usually went to their mother’s for Christmas Eve and Steve got Thanksgivings. Perhaps me being home had something to do with it too, which was why I was enjoying being with her, despite some of the more tedious assignments.

Christmas Eve was when my family had our big dinner
, and then we’d reheat it for lunch on Christmas Day. I’d spoken with Bounce, who had now shifted into begging as a way to get me to agree to Paris. Finn had also called to wish me a Merry Christmas. They were going to Raven’s house for dinner. I wanted to be there, but was happy being home, too. I laughed at how extraordinary it would be to have my London friends and my family together under one roof. That would definitely be a Christmas to remember. Of course, Raven would more than likely take my mother’s silver and hit on Steve.

I left my hair down and put on my red jewel neck sweater and black wide-leg trousers.
I sighed as I realized my pants would be covered in Jackson’s hair before too long. My mother was beside herself in the kitchen, and I was not much of a cook, but I grabbed an apron and started to help. We had made the same meal every year, so I knew the basics. Violet had done most of the preparation, so we were just struggling with the final stages of cooking and the plating. The table was set with the fine china, crystal, and a beautiful poinsettia arrangement as the centerpiece. I counted the place settings.

“Mom, who else is coming tonight?”

“Gary and his wife. Bridget, of course, and two other friends who had nowhere else to go. Do you mind stirring the gravy? I have to go get ready. There’s wine chilled in the fridge.” She yanked off her apron and was gone before I could say anything else. I wasn’t entirely surprised, but a Christmas set-up felt even more humiliating. It was a night you shared with people who were special to you and it was like saying I didn’t have anyone. I had several actually, but they were far away.

Gary owned a sandwich shop in Needham, where he and his wife, Valerie, worked every day of their lives.
I had enjoyed being around both of them in the past. I liked Bridget less, but we really didn’t know each other well. She had moved to Los Angeles to get into show business, but was back home with her mother while she decided on a new path.

Steve appeared and got himself a beer.
“It’s good having you here, Evy. Thanks for helping her, I wouldn’t have done as well. This is a bigger crowd than we usually have.” He took a swig as he leaned against the stove where I was hard at work.

“I’m glad to do it.
Hey, can you give me a heads up? Who are the ‘special guests’? It’s best I’m prepared.” I smiled at him, encouraging him to be my informant.

“Peter you met at the firm party.
The other guy is someone from the museum. You’ll be okay, Kid.” He winked at me and went and got the cheeses out of the refrigerator. I decided, after turning the oven down low on the sweet potatoes and green beans, that it was definitely time for a glass of wine. Steve threw more logs on the fire and my mother emerged, lovely as ever. She was a beautiful lady in her mid-sixties, with big brown eyes and curly dark blonde hair she usually pulled back in some type of clip or headband. Many people thought we favored each other.

The doorbell rang and I heard Steve welcoming his children.
It was sleeting outside, so there was a good bit of stomping before they came into the house. I played bartender and took everyone’s drink orders. The three of them looked good, healthy. Bridget was wearing a strapless, black cocktail dress which seemed a touch formal, but she looked pretty and smiled politely. Gary and Valerie, in their festive holiday sweaters, put some presents under the tree. Peter from the firm arrived as I was handing out the drinks. He looked like he came from work, in a gray suit and red tie. My mother and Steve welcomed him warmly, introducing Peter to the family.

“Peter, you remember Evelyn,” Steve winked at me as he presented my first suitor.

Peter took my hand, “Yes, hello. Merry Christmas, Evelyn.” I wished him one as well and took his drink order. I spent some time, making it just right, and I took the long way back toward the living room. Jackson and Brutus had been put in the library for the night. I wanted badly to hide out with them for the rest of the evening. The doorbell rang and I rolled my eyes in anticipation. I heard my mother welcome our new guest with delight.

“Everyone, this is Ari Cameron.
He’s a collector from London and arrived yesterday, wanting to donate a series of sketches to our Italian Renaissance collection.” I froze in the hallway behind the staircase. I had to be hallucinating. How could he be here? What did it mean if Ari was in my house? I considered all the possibilities. None of them made any sense. I heard his voice and became incredibly excited. I had just been wishing I could have my friends around me. Ari, appearing out of nowhere, was amazing, to say the least. I heard my mother call for me. Since he hadn’t told me he was coming, I sensed we weren’t supposed to know each other. I downed Peter’s drink, smoothed my hair, and went into the living room.