“Ahh!” she shrieked as Nina stood to greet her, grateful she wore a very loose-fitting sundress. “It is you! The girls didn’t think you would be back until July at least. Maddie was convinced you’d spend the summer on the continent, but here you are!”
They traded air kisses, and then Caitlyn joined the table without an invitation.
“You look wonderful, Cait,” Nina said honestly. “Your hair, your—”
“Nose?” Caitlyn snickered. “Florian Hendricks actually paid for me to have it done—can you believe that? Men will do anything.”
Nina’s brow wrinkled. Ah. Any questions about how Caitlyn could afford to stay in New York’s wealthiest neighborhood vanished. “Florian Hendricks? Isn’t he…”
“Older than the earth? Balder than a golf ball?”
Beside them, Calvin’s face blackened, and he touched his thinning hairline self-consciously.
Nina hid a smile. “I was going to say a bit older than you, but I suppose that works.”
Caitlyn shrugged and flipped her hair over one shoulder, appearing not to notice the other person at the table. “Age is nothing but a number, and the man is crazy about me. Paid for this, this, and these on top of the nose.” As she spoke, she pointed at her lips, hair, and then her breasts, which yes, did look a little bigger and…higher…than before underneath her fitted summer dress. “Of course, you can’t say a word. You won’t, my love, will you?”
Some people were overwhelmed by Caitlyn’s somewhat manic energy, but Nina had always enjoyed it. Like Calvin, she was a social climber, but Nina found her honesty about it refreshing in a world of veiled references. Caitlyn knew what she had to offer the world, and what she didn’t. And somehow, someway, she managed to make it charming. Almost as if she saw herself with the same tongue in cheek that everyone else did.
“No,” Nina assured her with a smile. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“Good.” She grinned. “Because I’m aiming for some jewelry out of this too, before the old coot gets bored with me. Can’t have a reputation, if you know what I mean. And this all goes for you too, whoever you are.” She turned to Calvin. “Who are you, anyway?”
They turned to find Calvin eyeing Caitlyn with an expression Nina couldn’t quite understand. Irritation? Greed? Admiration? Everything?
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Caitlyn chattered on. “How rude of Nina not to introduce us. I’m Caitlyn Calvert, her oldest friend.”
She offered her hand, dangling a bright diamond tennis bracelet as she looked Calvin over, taking in everything from his ill-fitted suit to his stained overshirt to his cheap shoes. Calvin took a large gulp of beer, leaving a thin line of moisture on his top lip, then accepted her hand.
“Calvin Gardner.” He glanced at Nina. “I need to use the john. I’ll leave you to reacquaint. And I know you’ll make the right decision, princess. You did before.”
He stood up, causing his chair to screech on the deck and a cascade of crumbs to fall to the ground. As he left, another wave of nausea swept through Nina. Midday “morning” sickness. Or maybe just the idea of committing herself to a sham marriage. Or perhaps the prospect of telling Grandmother that she was pregnant with her professor’s illegitimate child.
It could have been any of them. Nina had no way of knowing.
“So what’s his story?” Caitlyn asked as she watched Calvin go. “Obviously, I wouldn’t blame you for an affair with an older man, but you don’t have the same needs I do. A few more years and your trust will pay for any new body parts you want. But that man? Those Macy’s shoes and the Men’s Wearhouse special tell me he’s not worth more than five figures, even—and he’s not packing much anywhere else either.”
Nina snorted lightly. “That’s ridiculous, Cait.”
“Hey, in my experience, what they say about a man’s foot size definitely applies to the rest of his extremities. That guy’s feet are no bigger than a size eight. Nine, tops.”
Ironically, Grandmother had said something similar after meeting Calvin. Well, not about foot size, but about his financial prospects. Nina had actually considered offering to take him for a fitting at Armani, if only to help him make a better impression with the people whose assistance he wanted. His potato-shaped physique probably wouldn’t fit the Italian lines anyway.
Nina kept quiet when a waiter returned and took Caitlyn’s order for a dry Chardonnay. Like most restaurants in the city, he did not request identification.
“And for you, miss?” he asked Nina. “Anything else?”
“Some sparkling water, please,” she said absently. “And maybe ginger tea if you have it?” Anything to wash the taste of minty animal flesh from her mouth.
“Right away, ma’am. Would you like me to box that up for you?”
Nina pushed her plate away. “No, thank you. Just remove it, please.”
Caitlyn’s sharp blue gaze flickered back and forth between Nina, the plate full of food, and the waiter as he left. Then she leaned close.
“Be honest. You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
Nina had just sipped her ice water and nearly coughed it across the table. “What?”
Caitlyn grinned. “No wine? No eating? Plus, it’s not just the lake, love—you look green in the face. And you’re hanging out with that.” She wrinkled her surgically enhanced nose in the direction Calvin had gone. “Why don’t you just take care of it? Then you wouldn’t be stuck with him. We all get Prosecco goggles from time to time, but there’s no reason to martyr yourself to a one-night stand. Especially when it looks like that.”
Nina swallowed as the pit in her stomach tightened again. “I—it just wasn’t right. Not for me.”
“So it is his?” Caitlyn pressed.
“Hmm? Whose?”
“Whose do you think, silly? Calvin’s, of course. I’m just asking, N. We don’t really know what you were up to in the last year. For all I know, you had some delicious love affair with a hot Italian rogue.” She chuckled, as if the idea was absolutely hilarious. “Don’t worry,” she said with a conspiratorial wink. “I won’t tell a soul.”
Caitlyn had no idea how right she was, Nina thought. For a moment, she considered confiding in her. She thought about saying that’s exactly what had happened. And more than that, she had fallen so desperately in love with the most wonderful and unavailable man in the world that she couldn’t bear to give up any other piece of him, including his baby.
But if she did that, she might as well call Page Six and have them run a spread.
The photographers would find Peppe. They would destroy his family. His entire life. And that, despite everything, Nina would never ever do.
So, she let the assumption of Calvin’s paternity stand.
“Caitlyn, really,” she said quietly. “You can’t say anything until I speak to Celeste. At least for a few days.”
Immediately, Caitlyn sobered. She reached out to clutch Nina’s hand, and for a moment, Nina felt her heart rate calm.
“Oh, N,” she said with a soft squeeze. “Of course. You don’t even have to ask.”