Before Gaia by Francine Pascal

Author:Francine Pascal
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2002-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

1983

It was all he could do to keep from fidgeting in nervous frustration and anger. He could almost smell Katia’s perfume all over his brother.

Sick Wave of Nothingness

IT WAS STRANGE, COMING BACK TO Chumley’s the next afternoon, but Oliver didn’t mind. Right then he wouldn’t have minded anything because Katia was meeting him. He still had a slight headache from the previous night—his second hangover in a row. It hurt just badly enough to convince him that he had been right to swear off drinking, as he had, late last night, while trying to ward off a bad case of the spins.

He sat by the fireplace with a glass of club soda, feeling happy—happier than he’d felt, well, in days. Since before that terrible moment when he turned his head and saw Tom joining him at the front table at the Bitter End.

The only problem was that he had been told to report to CIA headquarters for a meeting in the late afternoon—four hours from now. And he was a bit nervous about it—he suspected that Rodriguez was going to press him about his lack of progress with the Organization’s code.

Oliver shrugged that off. After a meeting with Katia, he would be happy to meet with five Rodriguezes.

While waiting, Oliver looked over at the bar and reconstructed his conversation with Nikolai from the previous night. He was glad he’d decided to leave before he became drunk enough to believe Nikolai’s stories about Katia.

Each time the door opened, Oliver squinted at the blinding rectangle of daylight, holding his breath, expecting Katia to walk in. But each time it was someone else. He was checking his watch and trying to decide whether to ask for another club soda when he looked up.

And there she was…

“Katia!” he called out, waving as he leapt to his feet. She saw him, and her face lit up—she beamed at him as she walked over.

“Hello, Oliver,” Katia said warmly. She let her hand rest on his arm as she leaned in to kiss him.

“So, where do you want to go?” Oliver asked excitedly. He had some ideas, actually. Since spending the past month with Katia, he had started noticing restaurants, nightclubs, galleries—all the places that couples went, that he had never paid attention to before.

“Actually, can we just sit here for now? I’ve been walking all morning.”

“Fine, fine,” Oliver said, pulling a chair nearer to the fireplace and beckoning the waiter. “I think of this as ‘our place,’ anyway.”

“Really? That’s sweet,” Katia said. “It’s good to see you, Oliver.”

“It’s great to see you,” Oliver said. The waitress had come over—Katia ordered a club soda herself. Which was odd, Oliver thought, since she usually drank white wine—but it was early in the afternoon.

“Listen—I wanted to talk to you,” Katia said. She was leaning forward in the chair, gazing at him from up close. “I want to have a conversation that’s a little more serious.”

“Okay.” Oliver was all ears.

“Oliver, I really like you,” Katia said. Her eyes told him that she meant it.

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