Fool's Gold (Contemporary Romance), page 16
Beta dropped into his office chair and brought up his task list. Then his phone rang.
He scooped it off his desk and nearly dropped it when he saw Victoria’s name on the caller ID. At the same time he hit the button to answer it, Sol walked up and poked his head into the office.
Sol tapped on the glass. “Hey Beta, you got a sec-- Oh.”
“Hang on,” Beta said to Sol.
“What?” Victoria said through the phone. “Beta, are you there?”
“I’m here. How are you?”
“Is this a bad time?”
“Hang on a second, okay.” He turned to his boss. “Do you need me?”
“Who’s that?” Sol asked.
Beta covered the phone with his hand. “Victoria.”
“Your girl that’s the singer?”
“Yeah.”
Sol grinned, his eyebrows turning up on the ends and giving him an almost cartoonish, sinister look. “I want to meet her.”
“Uh, Sol, it’s a little complicated.”
Sol shrugged. “I already talked to Vidya. You’re in the clear. Hell, have her bring her boyfriend.”
The crack about the boyfriend stung a little. Beta held the phone up to his ear again. “Sorry, I’m back.”
Sol waited in the entryway. He really expected Beta to engineer a date.
“Beta, are you okay? What was that?”
“That was my boss. He, uh... I... Well, I told him you were a friend from Omaha, and... He wants to meet you.”
“He what?”
“He wants to meet you. It’s complicated. He’s not into girls, though. It’s not like that.”
“Beta, you’re not making sense.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” It was a terrible idea, and if anyone but Sol had put him up to it, he wouldn’t even consider it. God, rejection sucked. There was no way she’d want to meet him, never mind Sol. “Victoria, do you have plans--“ he glanced at Sol--“tonight?”
Sol flashed a thumbs up.
“Beta, are you asking me out on a date?”
Beta’s heart sank. Here came the rejection. “No, not exactly. I mean, you can bring Trent if you want, so it’s not really a date.”
It was quiet on the other end of the line. When she spoke, her voice so low he could barely hear it, and it had a dangerous edge to it. “Trent and I are no longer together.” Silence again, then, at a normal volume, she said, “I have to work until 10:00, but I could meet you after that.”
Beta nearly dropped the phone. “Really?”
“Yes. Where?”
Beta looked to Sol. “Where?”
“Biny.”
“Where’s that?”
“Thompson and Canal. Soho.”
Beta relayed the name of the bar and the address.
“She’s in?” Sol mouthed.
Beta nodded. Sol grinned again, eyebrows doing a little dance, then strolled out of sight back toward his office.
“So, uh, you called about something?” Beta asked, once Sol was out of earshot.
“I was just wondering if I could come see Chuckles sometime. Christine said you have a new place.”
He wasn’t sure if he could handle any more surprises. First Vidya leaving, and now Victoria coming back?
“Beta? Hello?”
“Sorry. Yeah, that’s fine. I have an apartment. It’s not permanent, but Chuckles is there. You can see him any time you like.”
“Okay, thank you. Maybe not tonight, not if we’re going to Biny, but would later in the week be okay?”
“Alright.”
Victoria wished him well and told him she had to go run some errands before work, then she was gone. Beta sat at his desk, stunned. It felt like being hit by a bus, then finding out you won the lottery.
***
The microphone on the sign should have given it away, but as soon as Beta made it through the front door he realized that Biny wasn’t just a Japanese place. It was a karaoke bar. Each table had its own screen, and a couple large displays hung from the walls. And it was dark. Everything was black, from the leather chairs to the plush carpets to the ceiling tiles. The kind of place that would make a biker feel at home, if he was into Japanese girls and pop music, anyway.
Sol talked to the hostess, a pert Japanese girl about five inches shorter than Beta, and told her that there would be four of them and asked for a private room. She bowed, her crimson and gold kimono swishing dangerously low.
“Uh, Victoria’s not bringing her boyfriend,” Beta said. “They broke up.”
“I know, Benjamin. But that doesn’t mean I can’t bring mine. Aaron should be here any time.”
Beta’s mouth formed a big O. Well, that would be interesting. The girl he wasn’t dating and his gay boss’s boyfriend. If someone in Omaha had told him six weeks ago he’d be standing there with Victoria and a gay couple, he would have assumed they were on bath salts.
When they reached the room, Sol ordered a pitcher of sake and a bowl of edamame, then looked across the table at Beta, a serious expression on his face. “Do you sing, Benjamin?”
“No.”
The table was big enough to hold a dozen people, but the hostess cleared it of all the mats save four.
“Not at all?”
“In the car, maybe. At least back when I had a car. That’s about it.”
“Well, you’ll just have to go first then.” Sol grinned like a Cheshire cat presented with a buffet of mice.
“Not happening, boss. Thanks for the offer, though.”
Sol cocked a massive eyebrow, but didn’t argue. Beta knew that look. It was the look his sister had when they were kids and she wanted him to do something. The look before she engineered a way to make him do whatever it was, no matter how much he wanted to avoid it. At least Sol wasn’t going to con him into cleaning the bathroom.
Aaron arrived first, shown in by the same hostess that had seated Beta and Sol. Aaron looked like he had just stepped off the set of a Western movie. Wranglers and cowboy boots, a turquoise vest with a skinny bolo tie, and a big, purple cowboy hat on top of his head. A Mel Brooks Western, maybe.
Sol stood up and gave him a hug and a peck on the lips. “Benjamin, this is Aaron.”
They were the very definition of an odd couple. A pale, florid guy in a neon green Fox Creek polo shirt with a yarmulke perched on his head, and his rail thin flamboyant cowboy boyfriend.
“How do you, do?” Aaron’s voice scratched and rumbled like an old motor, though he looked like he was maybe twenty-five, tops. He was absolutely the furthest thing from what Beta had expected.
Beta shook his hand. “Ben Tanner, pleased to meet you.”
“You the jazz singer?” Aaron asked as he sat down.
“Uh, no. That’s Victoria, whenever she gets here.” Beta checked his watch. “Which should be any time.”
Aaron, it turned out, was for many years of his life an actual cowboy. Now he was an actor, and from the hints Sol kept dropping, a successful one. They didn’t mention the names of any of the shows or commercials he was in, and when Beta started thinking about what kinds of films a flamboyant gay cowboy would be in, he decided that maybe he didn’t really need to know the details.
Victoria arrived around 10:30 and she was as stunning as ever. Her lips were as plump and red as strawberries, and her eyes were edged in a way that gave her a dark, almost haunted look. The skin-tight black pants and low cut silver blouse suggested every one of her curves, but did it in a way that was completely tasteful.
If Beta had been in love before, he was in full lust just watching her glide toward the table. He nearly knocked over the edamame in his haste to get up and pull out her chair.
“Sorry I was late, Beta.” She smiled at him, sending a shiver right down his spine.
“It’s okay.” Beta’s voice came out a croak. He sat back down and grabbed the closest beverage. The sake was in his mouth before realized that it wasn’t his water. He choked it down, feeling every drop of it burning all the way to his stomach.
Sol laughed at him. “While Benjamin tries to aspirate himself on our sake, please let me introduce myself. I am Solomon Hesse, and this my partner Aaron Walker.”
“Victoria Strauss, pleased to meet you.” Whatever warmth she had for Beta disappeared when she talked to Sol; it was replaced with a wariness Beta didn’t recognize.
“Well, my dear, I invited you here tonight because Benjamin tells me that you are a singer.”
“An aspiring singer, I guess.”
“Wonderful. This is, as I’m sure you noticed, a karaoke restaurant. Would you mind, perhaps later, singing a song or two for us?”
Victoria shifted in her seat and shot Beta a look that screamed, “What did you get me into?” She looked back to Sol and Aaron, finally meeting Sol’s gaze. “Maybe.”
“Don’t worry, my dear, we won’t make you perform first. But before we sing, can I interest you in sake?” He pointed to the pitcher.
Victoria poured herself a thimbleful of the liquid, but didn’t actually drink it. Come to think of it, Beta couldn’t remember ever seeing her drinking when she sang. She was always so serious when it came to music. He couldn’t program worth a damn when he was drunk, so maybe it worked the same way for her voice. He helped himself to another cup of sake. He couldn’t sing worth a damn sober or drunk, so there was no point in humiliating himself without a little liquid courage.
“Well, I reckon I can start us down the singing trail.” Aaron pointed to the words scrolling on the wall. A new song was coming up: “Before He Cheats.”
Aaron sounded like he had twenty years of whiskey and cigarettes weighing him down, and he wasn’t exactly on key the whole time, but it sounded like a legit cowboy ballad. Except for the fact that he was singing a Kelly Clarkson song.
When he finished, Beta wasn’t sure whether to clap or laugh or offer a toast. Sol decided for him: he gave Aaron hearty slap on the back and a sloppy kiss on the lips. “Wonderful job, dear.”
Aaron smiled wider than a Texas sunset.
“Alright Benjamin, you’re next.” Sol held up a keyboard. “Would you like to pick the song, or should I pick for you?”
“Uh, I don’t really know any songs.”
“Sure you do. Name something you sing in the shower when no one’s around. Or in your car.”
Beta scratched his head. “I really don’t know.”
Victoria pointed to the keyboard. “Can I see that?”
Sol passed it over, then watched as she typed on it. A curious smile crossed his face. Victoria leaned closer and whispered something to him, and he actually laughed. Sweat beaded on Beta’s palms. Whatever they were up to, it couldn’t be good.
When the song started to scroll, Beta flushed with shame. Christine must have told her about his secret obsession with Lana del Ray: she had picked “Cola.”
“Beta, if you don’t sing it, I’ll mock you unmercifully for weeks.” Victoria grinned at him.
Sol’s eyebrows danced with amusement. “Benjamin, you must sing this song.”
He tried. He really gave it his best shot, but he fell apart on the first chorus. Sol must have had some sliver of sympathy in his heart, because he stopped the song there.
“I would say well done, Benjamin, but that was an absolute travesty. Perhaps you were right about not singing.”
Aaron grinned. “Oh, I don’t know. Tell me something, though, Ben. Does your pussy really taste like cherry cola?”
Victoria started laughing and couldn’t stop. Beta flushed redder than her strawberry lips. Then he motioned for the keyboard.
“Alright, Vicks. You laugh at me, I’m picking your song.”
A moment later, “Rodeo” appeared on the screen.
“Oh come, Beta. You can’t make me sing Garth Brooks. I came halfway across the country to escape country.”
She still had tears in her eyes from laughing at him, so Beta didn’t feel the least bit of remorse.
The first line of the song hung on the middle of the screen, waiting on her to start. Finally, she sighed and took up the mic.
For a girl with a voice trained to do jazz, she sang like a Nashville pro, putting a little twang here, drawling a little there. Over the course of the song Sol and Aaron went from interested to stunned, and she wasn’t quite to the end when they huddled up and started whispering.
Victoria sucked in a deep breath when she finished, then looked at Sol and Aaron. “It’s rude to interrupt, boys.”
“We apologize,” Sol said. “You have a gorgeous voice.”
Victoria’s express softened. “It’s too bad no one else in New York thinks so.”
“What kind of gig are you looking for?” Aaron asked.
“Something that pays me to sing and isn’t just kids’ birthday parties. I’ve been to every jazz club in town, auditioned for half a dozen musicals, but it’s just rejection after rejection.” She knocked back her thimbleful of sake, then went back for more.
Beta’s heart ached for her. It was nearly as hard to see her in pain here as it had been at the hospital. In some ways it was worse. At the hospital she’d had a timeline for recovery and release. This was just an endless purgatory of rejection. He wanted to reach out, stroke her hand. Offer sympathy and a little comfort. Instead, he took a deep breath and kept his hands safely in his lap.
“Well, you were wonderful,” Sol said. “Now where’s our waitress? I’m hungry.”
The food turned out to be mediocre, though that was by New York standards. It would have been the best sushi place in Nebraska if it had been back home. Sol and Aaron each sang a couple more songs, and Victoria even covered an Etta James piece, but blessedly they left Beta alone. After another hour or so, Sol settled the check over Beta’s protests, and the whole group headed out to the front of the restaurant.
“Are you kids catching the train here?” Sol asked as they emerged onto the street. A train station was just across the street from them; Beta hadn’t even noticed it when they’d walked up.
“I’m going to walk a little first,” Victoria said. “Beta?”
“I was just going to walk home. It’s not far.”
Sol smiled knowingly. “Alright, you two be safe.”
Aaron slipped his arm around Sol, laughing. “Good night, folks.” They strode across the street and disappeared down the stairs.
“I know I said I wanted to see Chuckles later in the week, but would it be okay if I popped in tonight?” Victoria asked. “I can give you a little bit to pick up if you need.”
“Uh...” Beta’s mind raced. The living room was clean. His bed was made. There might be a bowl and a glass in the sink, and some clothes on the bathroom floor, but that was about it. “Okay.”
“Thank you, Beta. I’ve been missing the little furball.”
Chapter 36
Friends
CHUCKLES nearly leaped into Victoria’s arms as they entered the apartment. She caught him, laughing, and turned to Beta. “Thank you so much for keeping him all this time, Beta. I thought I’d have my own place by now.”
“It’s nothing.” It wasn’t. He’d actually grown attached to the little guy, and he was going to miss him when she finally got her own apartment.
Victoria sat on the leather sofa, cradling the cat in her arms. He purred at full motorboat levels.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” He went to the bar that separated the kitchen from the living area. The space wasn’t huge by any means, but it put Jerome’s apartment to shame. Beta still didn’t understand why the company--or Sol--kept a place so nice unrented.
“No, thanks.” She leaned back on the sofa, resting her head on the leather and stroking her fingers along Chuckles’ belly. “I don’t think I’ve properly thanked you, Beta.”
Part of him, the part that was still a fifteen year old boy and would never grow up, wondered what she had in mind. The part that actually was grown-up (it was only a minor shareholder, he was pretty sure) kept him from sticking his foot squarely in his mouth and saying something he’d regret. He settled on, “For what?” and sat beside her on the other end of the couch.
“For coming to New York when I was in the hospital. For taking care of Chuckles for the last six months. It’s meant a lot to me. More than I realized.” She had a look of sadness about her, a strain that Beta understood all too well.
Being on your own was hard. Not just the trials of being in a place by yourself, they both learned those lessons in college, but the trials of being in a new city without support. Knowing that if you caught a cold there wasn’t anyone else that could take care of you. Knowing that when you were tired and lonely and it was a Tuesday night, your friends and family back home were already in bed.
Beta considered all those things, and tried to work out how to put them into words. Eventually he just said, “You’re welcome.”
Victoria hummed something to herself, and they sat in a comfortable near silence broken only by the continuous hum of a happy cat.
It was close to 1:00 when Victoria finally set Chuckles beside her on the couch. “I need to head home, Beta. Thank you again.”
“Any time.” As much as he wanted to give her a hug, or even to just touch her shoulder, he kept himself in check. He opened the door and left it to her to make a move.
She smiled, and if the sadness had been in her eyes before, it was manifest in the shape of her mouth and the slump of her shoulders then. “Good night.”
Beta closed the door behind her, then collapsed directly onto the floor. Letting her leave might have been the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Chuckles came over, rubbing his head on Beta’s knee.
Beta scratched the cat behind the ears and leaned back against the door.
***
Victoria was still on his mind when the phone rang the next morning. Beta was already at his desk, and the building was otherwise silent but for the Star Wars theme playing and the phone itself threatening to vibrate off the desk. He scooped it up, hoping it was her, but instead the caller ID showed his mom’s number.
