Tuesday morning, there was no response. That was odd, she thought. She re-read the message she’d written. No, it was fine…beautifully crafted. She was a good writer. Maybe she should write a book, she thought spitefully. Hell, if Ducky could do it, anyone could.
Ronni wandered in and out of the room during the day, checking her messages. There was no response from Nick. Now what, she thought, as she soaked in the tub that afternoon. She and James were going out to dinner at his parents’ place tonight. Ronni had to be on her best behavior so she had only had one glass of wine so far. She had to have at least one, she thought. Miles and Jeannette were so bloody stingy with it. One bottle for four people at dinner. That was it. There was never any more offered. And Ronni had the feeling that Jeannette was keeping track of every sip that Ronni took.
Why hadn’t Nick answered her? Ronni checked the schedule she had hidden in the back of her address book. They‘d been on the bus overnight and had arrived in Pittsburgh Monday morning. Ronni knew that Nick would have had lots of time before the publicity crap started happening. He had access to his email anywhere and there was no reason that he was too busy to answer it. Maybe the message hadn’t gone through. Maybe he hadn’t received it. No, that didn’t make any sense, thought Ronni. She always received notification from her server if something bounced back.
So Nick had chosen not to answer it. It was the only conclusion she could draw. And she didn’t like it. She considered her next move. Should she send another message and ignore the fact that he hadn’t answered her? Should she hint at the fact that he hadn’t answered and see what he said? Or should she come right out and ask him?
She decided to be coy. She got dressed and refilled her wine glass. She opened her email. Damn! Still no reply. She hadn’t realized how much she was counting on one. Oh well. She sat down and composed another message, again light-hearted, again with a question about the concert, again a masterpiece of subtlety and innuendo. She sent it off and went out to dinner at the Fenton’s. When she got home, she didn’t bother to look. She’d get the reply in the morning.
Except that she didn’t. There was no reply. She was so angry that she didn’t write to him, but stormed out of the house and went shopping.
Ronni attended the committee meeting that day in high dudgeon. She snapped at everyone who directed a comment her way. Her mood was made even more foul by the fawning that went on over Ducky and her stupid book. Miles had a copy with him and tried to insist that Abby read it to everyone. Abby had blushed almost purple and demurred. This just brought more insistence from the group. Abby refused outright in a tone that told them she was not going to do it. Good, thought Ronni. Who wants to hear the stupid story anyway? Miles passed the book around the table and went on with the meeting.
As they leafed through the book and read the story, the committee members in turn tuned out of the meeting. They gave little chuckles and snorts as they read the story and then they passed it on to the next person. It was all very disruptive, thought Ronni. Ducky looked like she was going to explode she was so embarrassed. Ronni merely glanced at the cover when the book was handed to her. She passed it on to the next person without opening it.
“It’s wonderful, Abigail,” gushed Candace Walker during a break in the meeting. She turned to Ronni and said nastily, “You really should read it.”
“I already have,” lied Ronni. “You’re right. It’s wonderful. And to think, she’s giving all the proceeds to charity…” Ronni looked up the table. She could see that Abby was watching her out of the corner of her eye and listening intently.
“Oh, really, that’s tremendous,” said Candace. “I didn’t know that.”
“Not too many people do. They want to keep it quiet.”
“But James found out from the Fremonts, I guess.”
Ronni turned wide, innocent eyes on Mrs. Walker. “James?” she said, wonderingly. “I don’t think he even knows there is a book.” She stood up. “Excuse me,” she said, before Candace could ask any more questions. “I’m just going to get some coffee.”
While Ronni helped herself to cream and sugar, she glanced over at the table. Abby was sitting with her head down. She had her bottom lip pulled in between her teeth. She didn’t look happy. Good! thought Ronni. Phase two begins.
Phase one was, of course, to get Nick interested and to get him to commit some transgressions. Kissing Ronni after the concert and getting involved in the email correspondence could certainly fill that bill.
Phase two was to set Ducky on edge, to drop hints and make her suspicious, but not overly so.
Phase three would happen when Nick got to town. The final details of that had yet to be worked out in Ronni’s head.
Ronni went home to discover that Nick had still not answered her. She seethed for the rest of the day. Thursday, she sent a rather insistent email with pointed questions about the procedures and protocols for the concert. She already had the answers, but she was determined to goad him into a response. There wasn’t one.
Friday, she wrote and said that if Nick didn’t have the courtesy to answer her emails, could he please pass on Howie’s email address or if not his, then at least someone there who was interested in this concert being a success.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dear Ronni,
Ronni took a deep breath and a sip of wine before she clicked it open. She only had a moment before she and James were going out. She had thought about leaving the message until the next morning, but she knew that she would be wondering about it all night.
Dear Ronni,
I’m sure that all the details for the concert have been worked out fine. The committee has done a great job and I’m sure all the questions have been answered. If you have any more questions, you should probably contact Frank Bayliss. I’m sure he’s in contact with the head of the committee.
Thank you for all the work you have put in on behalf of the concert.
Nick
Ronni laughed to herself. Nick had obviously sweat bullets over that email. It was not his tone at all, except that it was. It was Nick trying to be business-like and sincere. Of course, that hadn’t stopped him from insisting that there were no more questions and then telling her what to do if there were… And he was sure…yes, he was sure all right…he’s said so three times!
Something had made Nick uncomfortable about the correspondence. Ronni wondered if Abby had found out about it somehow. She didn’t think Nick would have told. During the two weeks they’d been emailing, she had dropped hints and asked innocent questions and had definitely come away with the feeling that Nick hadn’t told Abby about it.
Ronni had a moment’s disquiet at the thought that maybe Nick had come to his senses. Maybe he realized that the correspondence was not innocent and all business, or even just two old friends reminiscing. She sighed. What could that mean? How could she work this out?
“Are you ready, Darling?” James’ voice startled her. She clicked out of her email and shut down the computer.
“Yes, Dear. I was checking to make sure there were no messages from the committee. Some of those people really need to get a life. They spend the day obsessing over every detail.”
Ronni rose to her feet and sailed out the door. She went out to dinner with James and smiled brightly at their dinner companions, two business associates of James and their boring wives. In the back of her head, though, she was calculating and scheming about what to do with Ducky and Nick. If Nick was no longer willing to co-operate in his own destruction…
Ronni was more determined than ever to destroy Nick. He had rejected her and she did not take rejection well. Not like Ducky, she thought. She must be a master at it by now. Over the course of the evening, the plan changed in Ronni’s head. She didn’t need to seduce Nick into leaving Abby, which had been her first idea. She merely had to make Abby think that that was happening. Or to make her think that it had already happened. She could make Abby leave Nick. It worked out either way. And she didn’t need Nick’s co-operation for it. She could remove him from the equation totally.
Ronni reached for her wineglass and turned to the man on her left. She beamed at him and pretended to be interested in what he was saying. Across the table, James breathed a sigh of relief that Ronni seemed to be back on this planet. He didn’t like the look on her face, though. He recognized it from high school. She was planning some kind of mischief. James hoped it didn’t involved his business associates or his parents.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ronni sat in the meeting room waiting for Abby to arrive so that she could ignore her. Phase two had been wildly successful, thought Ronni. Abby twitched every time Ronni looked at her. At each of the preceding meetings, Ronni had made a comment that intimated that she was in contact with Nick. It had sailed over the heads of most of the people in the room, but Ronni knew it had made an impact on Abby.
And Nick. What an idiot!
Ronni had replied to Nick’s businesslike rejection with a friendly message, thanking him for the Bayliss contact and expressing relief that he was alright. She had been concerned, she said, when he didn’t reply. She knew what good manners he had, and she had worried that something was wrong, that maybe he was ill. She had finished by saying that she was looking forward to seeing him and all the Boys in Chicago in a week. The concert was going to be truly outstanding.
Ronni felt smugly satisfied with the message. Jane Carter might be a vile bitch, but she had raised her son to be polite and it gave Ronni a deep sense of satisfaction to know that Nick would spend some guilty moments over his lapse in manners. She got more than that satisfaction, though. She got a reply.
Nick had thought the whole thing through a hundred more times and came to the conclusion that he was the one who was acting guilty, as if he had something to hide. Ronni had been completely upfront about the correspondence and had never made any overt suggestions. Nick thought she was coming onto him, but he could never admit that because it made him look worse. If he’d thought she was doing that, he should have stopped earlier. And he hadn’t. So that meant it had to be an innocent thing.
How could he tell Abby that it was an innocent correspondence, if he had abruptly cut it off? Didn’t that show that he had known he was doing something wrong, something he shouldn’t have been doing? Shouldn’t he just end it on a friendly note and then bring it up innocently to Abby? If she objected, he could play dumb, he was good at that, and pretend that he didn’t understand the ramifications. Then he could confess his undying love for his wife. Yeah, that worked.
Why Nick couldn’t see the dichotomy in his thinking that replying to Ronni’s email was necessary to his future happiness is anyone’s guess. But he was just a man, after all. He was Nick.
Dear Ronni,
Thanks again for all the trouble that you and the committee are taking on our behalf. We really appreciate it. We are looking forward to the show. See you next week.
Nick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Ronni looked down the table at Abby. This was her final chance to wreak a little havoc in Ducky’s brain before Nick got here. It was Friday. The Boys arrived on Sunday. Abby seemed a little twitchy today. Good!
The meeting was nearly over before Ronni got her chance. She waited and waited for an opportunity to mention that she had been in contact with Nick. Finally, she had to do it herself and dragged the discussion around to the backstage preparations.
“It has to be juice or water,” she insisted, even though no one was arguing with her. “No milk.”
“I wonder why,” asked Candace Walker. “No milk, I mean. Does it do something to their voice?”
“I don’t know,” shrugged Ronni. “But I know that Nick said it definitely…no milk.”
Abby turned her head at the sound of her husband’s name. She tuned out of the conversation she was in and looked at Ronni. Abby didn’t hear what Mrs. Walker said to Ronni, but she heard the response quite clearly. “…well, of course, I don’t print out all his emails, but I know that’s what he said.”
And then Ronni turned her eyes to Abby and smiled…a smug, triumphant, hate-filled smile that turned Abby’s heart to ice.
