Warming Trend (23 page)

She banged pots around until she felt physically somewhat calmer. The clamor in her head hadn’t abated one bit.

When she couldn’t put it off any longer, she took off her apron, shook the wrinkles out of her blouse and checked her reflection one last time. Not one iota of her makeup from this morning was left and she’d learned from experience that a quick touch-up after cooking food all day turned into blotches.

As she emerged through the swinging kitchen door, she called, “Can I get anyone something to drink?” She poured herself a large glass of iced tea.

There were various assertions that everyone was fine, so Eve carried her glass to the booth.

Ani immediately made introductions. “Eve, this is my friend Lisa.”

Eve sat down opposite Tan, which was next to Ani, after an exchange of pleasantries. Lisa was even more gorgeous up close. She was also older than Eve had thought, maybe even older than Ani, but it wasn’t as if it detracted from an overall very nice package. She was still younger than Eve by probably a couple of years, and way, way sexier.

“We were just talking about where to hike this weekend,” Lisa explained.

“There’s a choice besides the Naomi?” Eve gave Ani a half-amused look. She realized with Tan and Lisa around, she couldn’t say any of the things she wanted. Maybe that was for the best. Lisa was real and maybe pretending there was ease between them all would be enough.

Enough for what? Well, that wasn’t a question she felt like dwelling on at the moment.

“No,” Ani said firmly. “We’re going up the Naomi to the Bradford access, then back around by the south buckle.”

“Don’t bother renting gear,” Tan said. “If I go with you, I can sign it out and the fees are a fraction of the outfitters.”

“Great.” Lisa leaned in so as to catch what Tan was saying. “I could tell you’d be an asset.”

A crease formed between Eve’s eyebrows. Lisa was quite the flirt. Ani didn’t seem to mind, so Eve tried not to mind on her behalf. It was no business of hers. She was not responsible for protecting Ani, and certainly Ani had shown that she didn’t think protecting Eve was important. “I hope you both enjoy your time here. It’s been a pretty and mild summer so far.”

“It was a complete fluke that we made the trip,” Lisa said. “The bar had to redo itself, inside and out.”

Lisa chattered about work while Eve fought a rising sense of tension. Ani’s leg was not quite brushing against her own, and she had only to stretch out her little finger to touch the denim she knew would be warm and soft. She knew every muscle, had so loved resting her head on Ani’s thigh after lovemaking. They were sweet and fevered, the memories she had tried to avoid for the last three years. Memories of talking a little, laughing about something, seeing if perhaps more was wanted in the easy way they’d always had…

She snapped back to the conversation as Ani said, “So I could take that opportunity. It was really great of her to arrange an introduction.”

Tan grinned. “I’ve seen photos of that part of Norway and it’s practically a banana belt compared to here, but it’s really remote. You could probably get a visa to cross the border into Russia, too. The town is just about as close as you can get, and it’s not that far to St. Petersburg.”

Ani smiled as she shrugged. “It’s possible someone whose surname is shared with the largest lake in Russia might get a visa, but I’m almost afraid to inquire. My father never talked about his affiliations, but he left for some reason, and in a hurry.”

“He probably spoke his mind about something back in the days when you just didn’t do that.” Tan leaned back in her seat. “You know, I could use some water. Don’t get up, Eve. I can figure it out.”

“It was really great of Monica to work that out for me. I was very foolish not getting in touch with her.”

Eve wanted to demand, “What about getting in touch with me?” She stared at her iced tea.

Lisa seemed determined to be cheerful. “Well, you’re at the North Pole now, and it only took three planes and eighteen hours in the air.”

“I’m glad I was here,” Eve said. She thought it might do Ani good to realize that she hadn’t been sitting around waiting for her. “I nearly left on a cruise this morning.”

“What cruise?” Tan reclaimed her seat.

“The one that Monica’s friend couldn’t go on at the last minute. She called me yesterday afternoon to ask if I wanted to go. It wouldn’t have cost much at all, but there was no way I could get away from work, not with my chef getting married.”

Tan looked confused. “She called you about a cruise?”

“She didn’t mention it to you?” Eve found that very odd, and was sorry she’d brought it up. “It was a lesbian cruise, leaving from Seattle.”

“She didn’t say anything, no.”

“It’s possible someone else grabbed it. I had to decide then and there.”

“And if you’d accepted,” Lisa asked carefully, “you’d have been long gone this afternoon?”

“Sure. On the high seas for a week.”

“What a shame you missed out.” Ani’s voice was low and guarded.

Lisa seemed stuck on the finer points of the matter. “She called yesterday afternoon? That was before we even got into town.”

“What’s that got to do with it?”

“You told her we were coming, right?” Lisa gave Tan an uncomplicated, but curious look.

“Sure, right after Ani called in the morning.”

Lisa turned her gaze to Ani. “When we ran into Monica last night, she didn’t seem surprised. It seemed as if she was working late, and realized we were out on the glacier, didn’t it?”

Great, Eve thought, she’s already taken Lisa dancing on the glacier. She’ll probably take her on the riverboat, too. Eve tried to rise above the desire to hope it was Ani who got food poisoning this time.

“I’m sure she didn’t—”

Lisa shushed her. “Let me think.”

Ani gave Tan an apologetic look. “Monica reminds Lisa of her ex. Therefore, she’s been trying to hang all her ex’s faults on Monica.”

“The way I see it,” Lisa said defensively, “is that the moment she found out you were in town, she tried to hustle Eve out of the way. Why is that?”

Ani shrugged. “Maybe she was protecting Eve. Didn’t want her to get upset about the past, now that they’re together.”

Eve’s jaw dropped. “Where did you get that idea?”

“It said so in the paper.”

“It said no such thing!”

“It said you were partners.”

Eve let out an exasperated sigh. “This is
Alaska
. Up here
partner
means
in business together
.” Eve almost added something more scathing but Ani was already pale. “Down in Florida maybe it means something different, but not here.”

“But she didn’t deny it,” Ani blurted out.

“TBE,” Lisa said, which made no sense to Eve. “TBE, I’m telling you.” To Tan’s inquiring look, she said, “The Bitch Ex. Took me forever to figure out she would always put herself first and tell anyone anything to stay first.”

Tan frowned. “Monica’s a savvy politician, but she’s not sociopathic.”

“Tell me this.” Lisa spread her hands out on the table. “When did Ani take the notes?”

Ani spluttered, “That’s not—”

“Shut up. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong.” She turned an inquiring look on Eve. “When did Ani take the notes?”

“I know exactly what everybody else knows. She took them right after the accident.” Eve couldn’t keep an edge of bitterness out of her voice. “If there’s something else to know, nobody was talking to me.”

“I know,” Lisa said. “She’s an idiot, but that’s not the point.”

Ani made an incoherent noise.

Tan said carefully, “The notes went missing out on the glacier, and Ani was suspected because everyone else had been searched. When they were discovered, and completely ruined, Ani was thought to have done it to hide her original theft. Nobody has ever suggested an alternative theory.” She fixed her gaze on Ani. “And I thought it strange then, that while other people were saying you took them right after the accident, you denied it, yet it was obvious you were involved. But Monica never said anything about the notebook at the accident site, either. She only said that you had taken them, and now they were destroyed. I have always found her to be very precise in her choice of words.”

Eve slowly turned her head to give Ani a long look. “You didn’t tell me the whole truth.”

Ani, with a flash of anger over her clear distress, answered back, “I was going to, but you didn’t let me. You ran away.”

Lisa held up a hand. “Truce—you two work that out on your own time. I think it’s time Eve and Tan heard the truth, Ani, don’t you? Because I think it’s going to be very interesting comparing notes.”

Ani felt as if her heart had lodged somewhere in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t want to relive it all again, not after spending the entire journey telling Lisa. But really, she had no choice. It was such a cliché, but the only way out was through, and if she chickened out again, she deserved her fate. She’d already been stupidly wrong about Monica and Eve, and she ought to be happy she was wrong, but she couldn’t be until she’d told Eve the truth, finally.

Lisa was obviously relishing her role as the next star of
Law & Order
with Eve and Tan as her witnesses. “Monica never gave either of you any reason to think there might be another story?” To Eve she added, “You, the woman Ani was in love with, you who were suffering in this horrible vacuum of silence and didn’t know what to think?”

Eve shook her head. “No, I asked for details and you’re right, I didn’t get anything that wasn’t common knowledge. Like Tan said, it was always ‘Ani took them, now they’re destroyed’ and that was the end of the story.”

Ani spoke through a throat that felt as if it was full of sand. “They were planted in her office. I took them and left them where I thought they’d be found, but they got destroyed instead.” She didn’t dare look at Eve.

“Are you serious?” Tan reached across the table to grab one of Ani’s hands. “Why didn’t you tell anyone that?”

“You know what they would have said. I was the only one who didn’t get searched right away. I got caught, so I ditched them in a panic. Or Professor Tyndell took them and put them there. She was covering for me, I was covering for her. People were saying I’d done it because I wanted to sleep with her, or I already was. Queers, you know, no morality,” she added bitterly. “Nobody was rational, especially me. And the dean, who I really think doesn’t like our kind, by the way, was very scary.”

“You’re right about that. His diversity speeches are lip service.” Tan leaned back against the cushion again.

There was a long silence and Ani realized she was holding her breath. She felt naked and under a spotlight, that a single harsh word from Eve would peel her to the bone.

Eve moved fitfully in her seat, and finally said, “I’m very confused. I don’t know why I’m only now hearing this.”

Ani said again, aware of Eve’s bitter tone and matching it with her own, “You didn’t give me a chance.”

“Monica told me she blamed herself.” Eve was staring at a spot on the table somewhere between her glass and Tan’s. “You said that you did it for her.”

“I did.” Ani coughed to hide a quaver in her voice. “Her work was and is important. She’s part of saving us from ourselves. Those notes being found in her office would have damaged her influence, possibly irreparably. I’d already been half framed. I thought if I arranged for someone else to find them maybe I could get us both out of it. If it didn’t work, it would still be blamed on me. I didn’t know they’d land in water.”

Tan made an
aha
sort of sound. “Did Monica know about your plan?”

“No. I mean, I asked her why putting them somewhere else to be found would hurt. She said not to touch them, then went to find the dean. I thought I knew better, and took them. And got them destroyed. I was devastated, I mean—it was
research
.”

Eve sipped from her iced tea, the ice clinking against the glass as she set it down again. “I’m sorry, my brain isn’t tracking. They were planted in Monica’s office? Why wouldn’t she at least tell
me
that?”

Lisa examined her nails. “Your guess is as good as mine. I find it so very fortuitous that she went to get the dean and yet didn’t tell him she’d found the notebook. Wouldn’t you have said that, very first thing? I think Ani did exactly what Monica wanted. Once Monica thought Ani had taken the bait and burned up the notes, she let everyone think Ani was guilty of the original theft.”

Ani realized she’d never thought about what Monica might have told Eve. “She was protecting herself. Can you blame her? I’d already drawn all the blame onto me by being an idiot and getting the notes destroyed. Why should she tell anyone otherwise?”

The other three women all looked at her with varying degrees of disbelief. Tan finally said, “There’s the issue of her being your advisor, and you being in her care and her obligation to give you basic guidance, which she didn’t do. But I know why she wouldn’t tell me, even privately. I’m an administrator, so I don’t technically work for the dean of the school, but I’ve signed contracts that require me to report academic frauds, like plagiarism, and falsified
vitaes
to the dean. She tells me, I have to report or risk losing my job if it comes out that I knew. But I haven’t a clue why she wouldn’t have told Eve. Eve was the one person who could have used some comfort. Eve probably doesn’t know they were threatening to make Ani pay back her scholarship. I thought Ani was a kid who’d made a mistake, and would have happily advised her of her rights—been her ombudsman, so to speak. That’s one of the other roles I play.”

Ani ducked her head from the I-tried-to-tell-you-but-you-wouldn’t-listen look that Tan gave her.

“I didn’t know.” Eve turned her glass on the table, apparently studying the droplets on its exterior.

Ani was momentarily lost in the study of Eve’s hands, the strong, agile fingers. Like there always had been, a few tiny burns dotted the backs of Eve’s hands. One of their nightly rituals had been Ani noting and kissing the boo-boos. She abruptly missed it fiercely, though it was such a little thing.

“Even so,” Eve said, “I’m not sure there’s much point to this. What does it matter now?”