Maybe at the place where Sara died.
“Do you know a Jennifer Stamos?”
“No.”
“Okay. Chilton said you were family friends. Since I know his family dates to the Mayflower and his blue-blood family comes from money, I guessed you did, too. But then you mentioned staying in a student hostel in Italy.”
“We’re not blue bloods and my family’s not rich. My father worked on the Chiltons’ Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, and my mother cleaned their house and took care of their kids. I was the wild and fun daughter of the hired help who lived on the premises.”
“Interesting. You have any siblings?”
“Two sisters. One younger and in college and thriving, and one older and married. To a doctor. And very happily.”
“Good for them. Do they look like you?”
“I think my younger sister is better-looking than I am.”
“Not what I meant, but that’s hard to believe.”
“Believe it. My older sister, Beth, is the one with the brains.”
He thought back to the disparaging remarks Cowl had made about her. “I don’t think you’re too shabby in that department, Michelle.”
“I couldn’t even make it through college.”
“You probably didn’t want to be bored with all the cookie-cutter courses in return for a boatload of student debt. And you wanted to see the world, like you said. And look where it landed you.”
She fingered her beer. “Yeah, I get paid to hang on the arm of a wealthy man and look wonderful. I like to think of it as living by my wits, but it’s not really that.” She looked down at herself. “I need this. Brad is not interested in my brain, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Use what you have. Guys do it, why not girls?”
She glanced at him. “Guys do it in a very different way. And I like you more when you’re less agreeable.” She stared off. “My mother wanted me to be a model. Pushed me from an early age. All the auditions, shooting local commercials when I was six, this pageant, that pageant, teeth fixed, lessons on how to walk a certain way and talk a certain way. I never got to have a normal childhood. She got mad when I tried to do my schoolwork. She told me my strength, unlike my older sister’s, was not my mind, but somewhat lower on my body. She was pissed off when I finally walked away from it all. Said I had betrayed her. Yeah, like it wasn’t my life, but her little vicarious fantasy.”
“My father rode me all the time, too. I was never good enough. Not like my brother and sister.”
She said suddenly, “How about giving me a foot rub?” She put her feet up in his lap. A little surprised by this, he put his beer down and started rubbing her feet.
“You have very strong hands. And I can feel the calluses.”
“What every guy wants to hear.”
“I am saving up,” she said abruptly. “Brad pays me and invests it for me. My portfolio is going gangbusters.”
“Good for you. I’ve got like ten bucks in my account.”
She took a sip of beer. “My goal is to retire when I’m thirty.”
He started grinding away at her heels, applying lots of pressure.
“Oh my God, this is like heaven. You should charge for that.”
“I just might, Miss Portfolio,” he said. “And then what would you do after you retire?”
“Maybe go back to college. Learn something that doesn’t require me to wear a bikini.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“It has to be. When my looks go, it’s over.”
“Come on, don’t sell yourself short. You seem damn astute to me, more than a lot of the so-called brainiacs I work with who can barely pack a lunch or cross the street safely.”
“You’re lying to make me feel better.”
“I don’t lie to make anyone feel better, including myself.”
She put a hand on his arm. “But you want to have sex with me, right? I am the fantasy train girl, right?”
The further they went in this direction, the less he liked it. Was Cowl paying her to do this, as some sort of chess move in the battle between them?
“I’m not on the train now. I’m rubbing your incredibly tense feet and enjoying the four-inch Hudson River view. And you’re flesh and blood, not a fantasy. And we’re having a nice conversation that is heading to pretty deep waters for some reason I’m not sure about.” He looked over at her. “And why would you want to have sex with me?”