Wine, Tarts & Sex

Thirty-seven

Janie had been staring at the clock on the car dash so long, her eyes were hurting. “God, I’m seeing stars,” she groaned.

“Five more minutes,” Roman murmured, not looking up, his gaze trained on the screen of his laptop balanced on his knees. “It’s almost over, baby. Almost over,” he said under his breath, his fingers poised over the keys. “Get ready. Rudy should be calling soon. Four minutes, twenty seconds and counting.”

Amy was watching Matt at the lake, and Janie and Roman were parked outside Coffee Talk using their Wi-Fi connection, waiting for their two o’clock Wednesday deadline.

“Here we go! He’s early!” Roman rapped out. “Where the hell’s Rudy?”

Just then the phone in Janie’s hand rang, and she put it to her ear.

“Him?” Roman snapped.

“Yes.” Her heart was beating like a drum. Rudy had said, “Go,” and hung up.

“This is it, babe.” Roman’s voice was calm now, his fingers were flying over the keys, keeping time with the string of numbers dancing across his screen. “Come on, come on,” he whispered, as though urging on the person keying in the bank routing numbers on the other side of his computer screen. “Come on, asshole, I’m in a hurry. There, there-yes! A few more digits now, dude, and it’s hel-lo Switzerland,” he muttered, keystroking like a fiend. “Now… now… almost finally… finally… yes, it’s in!” he crowed, hitting the power button hard and snapping the lid shut on his laptop.

He didn’t want anyone to have even an extra nanosecond to pick up their trail.

“Buckle up.” His voice was all business. “We’ll pick up Matt and your luggage and head for the airport,” he added, tossing the laptop into the backseat.

“Is it over? Did it go through?” Janie clamored, dropping the phone. “Tell me this instant!”

“You’re a very rich woman, baby,” Roman said, pulling out onto Main Street. “You have fifty million in your Swiss bank account.”

“I didn’t even have a Swiss bank account before I met you.”

“I’m a man of many talents,” he said with his usual restraint. Then he turned and gave her a playful smile. “Happy?”

“Have you ever lived in a trailer?”

“Close-an apartment in a bad part of town.”

“Then you’ll understand when I say I’m over the moon in every possible way! I adore you, absolutely, positively, forever and ever. And I’m taking you on a long vacation to Europe right this very minute!”

“We’ll see.”

She punched him hard. “Don’t you dare say that!”

“Okay, I can be away for a couple weeks anyway.”

“Puur-fect.” Janie had every confidence she could keep him interested longer than two weeks. “Two weeks is just perfect.”