Guessing Games Gone Wrong
From Welcome to Keystone Novel 11: Pressure: Chapter 5, Scene 4
Over at the Citrus Grand Country Club, Lucifer was feeling almost as stressed as Kaitlin as he sat at one of the club’s round tables half listening as the other young men on his regatta team discussed topics such as their spring practice schedule and whether or not they should invest in new uniforms for the upcoming season. So Virginia told me to choose between her and Carmella, he thought as he fingered the glass of scotch that was sitting in front of him. But why? How did she suddenly go from happily celebrating our anniversary to becoming so angry with me when I didn’t do anything except keep Carmella company for a few hours while Virginia was home sleeping off her illness anyway? Shaking his head in bewilderment, he thought, Maybe it’s that champagne she drank after she got home last night and the hangover she got because of it. Because she probably shouldn’t have been drinking when she was feeling sick anyway.
As Lucifer decided that his final thoughts were probably the right answer to all of his questions, tilted back his head, and took a long sip of his scotch, Linden Banks, the captain of the Citrus Grand Country Club regatta team, rose from his seat and shuffled some papers together. “All right, gentlemen,” he said. “That’s a wrap for this meeting. So I’ll see everyone back here in a couple of weeks for our next one, okay?”
As the other men either nodded or expressed their agreement with the plan, stood up, and began to leave the table, Lucifer breathed a sigh of relief. Finally! he thought as he set his glass back down on the white tablecloth that covered the table. I can call Virginia and see if she’s in a better mood now. Then maybe I can get her to come here and join me for lunch in order to make up for the part of last night that got ruined.
Reaching into the pocket of his suit pants, Lucifer pulled out his cell phone, punched in his password, and then opened his contacts list so that he could begin scrolling for Virginia’s number. But just as he reached it and was preparing to initiate the call, a shadow suddenly fell over the table.
Then a flirtatious voice said, “I see that someone could use some company at the table again.”
Slowly looking up from his phone, Lucifer found that Carmella was now standing before him dressed in white heeled sandals and a short lavender short-sleeve dress that had a deep scoopneck neckline. “Carmella,” he said as he reached down and slipped his phone back into his pocket. “What are you doing here?”
Deftly stepping around to the front of one of the gold metal-framed chairs that now stood abandoned at Lucifer’s empty table, Carmella slid her white purse from her shoulder. “I was supposed to be meeting a friend for brunch,” she informed him as she turned to hang her bag on the back of her chair. “But she canceled on me at the last minute.”
“Mm,” said Lucifer as he reached for his scotch glass again. “Well, that’s too bad.”
“Yes,” Carmella agreed with a sigh as she turned to face him again. “It really is.” Shrugging as she reached up and tucked her loose curls behind her ears, she added, “But then again, maybe it was meant to be.”
Frowning, Lucifer, who had been downing his drink again, took his glass from his lips and looked up at her with a confused expression. “What do you mean?” he asked as he slowly set his glass back down on the table.
“Well,” began Carmella as she sat down on her chair’s white cushion, folded her hands in her lap, and enticingly crossed her legs, “if you take a look at our situation, it’s quite obvious what’s meant to happen. I mean, you’re alone, and I’m alone. So it makes sense that we’re meant to share lunch just like we shared dessert last night, doesn’t it?”
As Carmella fixed him with a hopeful look, Lucifer uncomfortably shrugged. “I don’t know,” he replied. “After last night, maybe it’s not such a good idea for us to eat alone together for a while.”
Carmella frowned. “Why do you say that?” she asked. “I mean, you enjoyed our time together, didn’t you?”
Folding his hands on the edge of the table, Lucifer looked down at his glass and nodded. “Yes,” he replied. “I did very much. But…”
“But what, Lucifer?” urged Carmella. “Come on. You can tell me.”
Taking a deep breath, Lucifer forced himself to look back up at the woman. “It’s just that,” he began, “well…Virginia wasn’t very happy when she found out how late I got home last night.”
Carmella’s frown deepened. “Why?” she asked. “I mean, if she was feeling as ill as she said, I would think that she would have liked to be left alone once she got home.”
Lucifer nodded. “I know,” he agreed as he went back to staring at his drink. “That’s what I thought too. Which is why I stayed out with you for as long as I did.” He shook his head. “But apparently, I was wrong. And now she’s really angry with me because I didn’t come home sooner.”
As Lucifer picked up his glass and lifted it to his lips again, a thoughtful look crossed Carmella’s face. “Hmm,” she said. “I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised by any of that. Because after all, Virginia always has been one who expects others to guess what she wants and then flies off the handle when they guess wrong.”
Frowning, Lucifer, who had been downing the rest of his drink, swallowed hard and confusedly narrowed his eyes at Carmella. “What do you mean?” he asked as he carefully set his glass down again.
Carmella innocently shrugged. “Oh,” she said, flippantly waving a hand at him. “Just that…you know. You’re not the first person to have this type of experience with her.” Folding her hands in her lap again, she added, “In fact, I think that pretty much everyone who knows her has gone through it at least once.”
“Including you?” Lucifer curiously asked as he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.
Carmella nodded. “Oh, yes,” she seriously replied as she leaned forward and plucked a leftover red grape from the fruit spread that Lucifer and his regatta team had ordered to share during their meeting. After taking a moment to pop the grape into her mouth and chew and swallow it, she continued with, “This one time when we were planning a family vacation, we decided to go to Switzerland in March because that’s when Virginia’s boarding school would be on spring break. Now when Virginia heard that that’s where we were going, she got really excited. But once we got there…”
“She wasn’t happy anymore?” Lucifer guessed.
“Exactly!” exclaimed Carmella. “And that was because when she heard Switzerland, she automatically assumed that we were going there to ski.” Shaking her head, she sat back, crossed her own arms, and continued with, “But little did she know that that was the last thing that we all had in mind. So when she found out that we weren’t going anywhere near the ski resorts, she got angry and was sullen about it for the entire trip.”
“Mm,” said Lucifer, thoughtfully nodding as Carmella finished her little anecdote. “I see what you’re saying. And that is rather similar to what happened last night. Because just like last night, she didn’t directly tell anyone what she wanted to happen. She just assumed that they already knew.” Letting out a frustrated sigh, he dropped his hands into his lap, looked down at them, and added, “And it’s one of the most frustrating things in the world when she plays that game because I want her to be happy. Only I can’t make her happy if she’s not one hundred percent clear about what she wants because, as can clearly be seen from last night, I’m not very good at guessing games.”
A small smile forming at the corners of her lips, Carmella observed, “So you prefer a woman who’s completely up front about what she wants from you. Is that what you’re saying?”
Sadly sighing, Lucifer nodded. “Yeah,” he replied. “That would be nice.”
Her smile widening, Carmella sat up and reached across the table. “Well, don’t worry, Lucifer,” she said. “There are plenty of women like that in the world. In fact, you just so happen to be sitting with one right now.”
Upon feeling the touch of Carmella’s fingers suddenly landing on his arm, Lucifer warily looked up to find her grinning at him with an eager and hopeful expression on her face.
But before Lucifer had a chance to open his mouth and say anything, an angry voice suddenly said, “Well, it looks like I just wasted my time coming down here to try to work things out with you. Because clearly you’ve made the choice I told you to make this morning.”
Immediately wrenching his arm free from Carmella’s grasp, Lucifer whirled around to find himself looking directly at Virginia who was now standing behind him with her arms crossed over her chest and an expression that was a mixture of fury and anguish on her face. “No,” he said, shaking his head as he slowly began to come out of his shock. “No, Virginia, listen to me. That’s not…”
But instead of sticking around to hear his explanation for the scene that she had walked into, Virginia simply shook her head in disgust. Then she turned, buried her face in her hands, and went rushing for the exit of the country club before she could give her aunt the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
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