“I wish I could return the sentiment,” Elaine replied, shaking her head. “But I hope everything goes smoothly from here on out.”
“I think this is for the best,” Anna said, smiling so hard her cheeks hurt and hoping to death that she wasn’t making an absolutely enormous mistake.
“Where would you like to eat dinner?” Anna had asked Victoria on the phone.
“Anywhere except for an Italian restaurant,” had been the prompt reply. “I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of pasta in all its forms.”
Anna felt this also probably counted out any of the delicious Chinese, Japanese, and Thai noodle houses that she so adored. This was Los Angeles, however, so while her available options had been vastly reduced, that by no means left her with none.
The Indigo Lounge was a no go, of course. They would need to talk, and that was often impossible at night with the various parties and musical acts that often formed the evening entertainment there. Plus Anna had no desire to give Esme any chance to linger about and listen in on their conversation. She wouldn’t do it out of any sort of gossipy impulse, she’d just want to know more than Anna wanted her to know at this point.
Anna also didn’t want to eat anywhere near the hospital. She wanted very little chance that anyone they knew might see them. That meant driving far away from Beverly Hills. Was Catalina Islandtoofar? Well, probably.
In the end, she thought that given how much both of them liked French pastry, they couldn’t go wrong with a whole French meal. She found a small, intimate place in Santa Monica that served lots of French classics like bourguignon and bouillabaisse and had excellent ratings. That its website also made it look cozily dark and romantic was helpful as well, reducing their chances of being recognized even if they were spotted. She called the restaurant and booked a table for two, asking for something very, very private.
Very, very private was exactly what she got. The restaurant was full of separated dark little booths with high walls, and the maître d’ led her to one in a far back corner. As they approached, she saw no one could see into the booth unless they were practically on top of it. Once she was seated, she had to crane her neck out of the booth to see if anyone was coming. Perfect. Anna ordered a top-shelf dirty martini that arrived fairly expeditiously, and waited nervously for Victoria to arrive.
She didn’t have to wait long. As immaculately put together as always, Victoria swept in and sat down on the opposite booth bench, sliding her big designer tote back into the far corner. “Do you have Chateldon?” she asked the maître d’, who nodded. “A bottle of that to start, please, and the wine list.” Orders given, Victoria turned to Anna, a lovely smile on her face. “Hello, Anna.”
“Victoria.” Anna wanted to reach her hands across the table to grab Victoria’s, but didn’t know what the reaction to that would be. She kept her hands under the table, knotted firmly together in her lap, and her back was pressed against the booth wall.
Victoria, however, leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table, her hair falling over her shoulders. Anna had never seen her with her hair down, the heavy dark-gold waves tumbling down around her face in a beautiful waterfall of sunshine, gleaming in the low light of the restaurant. It was mesmerizing, and now Anna didn’t want to grab Victoria’s hands, she wanted to twine her fingers into that thick honey spill and use her grip to pull the woman forward for a wild kiss on her perfect rose-pink mouth.
Oh, God.
She must have sat there dumbstruck for a beat or two too long. Victoria cleared her throat. “Anna?”
“Yes! Sorry. Yes?” She tried desperately to turn off the erotic film projector in her mind that was suddenly going hog-wild with possibilities. To no avail. She’d seen as she walked up that Victoria was wearing a black pencil skirt and sheer black stockings. Anna wondered if they had seams up the back. If they led to a garter belt.Oh, God!
Victoria tapped a finger gently on the table to get her attention. “Anna. You promised that you’d explain everything. I’ve been beside myself for days now. What the hell is going on?”
That got her mind out of the gutter. “Right. Yes. Okay.” Her martini began to turn to acid in her stomach. She’d been a bit high-handed with this part of things, not actually discussing any of it with Victoria. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but I would like to transfer your care to one of my colleagues.”
In an instant, Victoria was a beautiful marble statue, still and silent. She sat back in her seat, folding her hands into her lap, and sat without moving for much too long a moment. At last, she breathed in deeply through her nose and focused her laser-blue stare on Anna. “Explain… further.”
“It’s the only way to get us even somewhat out of the ethical problem we’re in.” Anna fought to keep the words from tumbling out in a rush. “My colleague Cameron O’Shea is happy to take you on, and I actually think you two will work well together. You’re going to butt heads even harder than you and I did at first, but he’s got some incredible methodologies and approaches that you might appreciate a lot more than my ‘woo’ strategies.” Anna offered a lopsided little smile. “He’s far less hampered by politeness than I am.”
Victoria hadn’t moved. “I see.”
A waiter arrived with a bottle of sparkling water and a tulip glass. Deftly, he poured Victoria a glass that fizzed and bubbled, then handed her a small leather portfolio. “The wine list, madame.”
“Thank you.” She unfroze enough to sip at the water and open the wine list, but remained silent.
And remained, and remained, andremainedsilent, flipping through the pages of the wine list and not looking at Anna at all.
At a loss for what more to do, and not wanting to provoke Victoria into an explosion, Anna reached for the dinner menu and began to look through it. She barely took in any of the descriptions of the dishes. Had she made a mistake? Gone too far? But she’d thought Victoriawanteda way out of their ethical quandary. That she understood it was important to Anna that they do this right. She’d said herself she wanted this so much, didn’t she understand what would be needed to get it?
It took several excruciatingly long minutes for Victoria to set the wine list aside and fold her hands back into her lap. Her gaze, when it eventually landed on Anna, was steady. “I understand why you did it. I do not appreciate being left out of the decision-making process. I would never do that to any of my patients.”
That was fair. Anna looked down at her hands and rubbed a finger over her nails. “You have a point. I’m sorry. I only wanted to surprise you.”
The short, shocked snort of laughter she heard next surprisedher, and Anna looked up to see Victoria covering her mouth and actually, truly, for realgiggling. “No, you didn’t. Did you?”
“Well, I…” A flustered blush heated Anna’s face. “I mean, yes, I,…”
Victoria reached across the table and grabbed both of Anna’s hands, her smile still lighting up her whole face. “What you did was incredibly inconsiderate, and yet somehow, also, the most adorable thing anyone has ever done for me.”
At the touch of Victoria’s hands on hers, delicious thrills of need shot from Anna’s fingertips all the way down into herpanties, and she could only squirm in her seat, thoroughly distracted. “Um… was it?”
