Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [64]
“Sure I do. Nice meeting you, Stella. By the way,” she called over her shoulder, “it’s a real Chanel, not a knockoff.”
“Jeez. Thanks. Wait till I show this to Joe. These babies cost thousands. ”
Annie smiled all the way to her room.
The first thing she did when she entered the room was check the phone’s red message light. It didn’t glow. “Damn.”
Annie showered, washed her hair, mixed herself a drink from the portable bar, and carried it to the small balcony along with the phone. At one o’clock she would call Tom since he always got up at six. Elmo and the dogs were probably halfway home by now.
The minute the hands on her watch pointed out the hour, Annie placed the call to her brother. She half expected to hear a sleepy, groggy voice. Instead she heard concern when she announced herself. “Annie, where in hell have you been all day and night? I’ve been calling you every fifteen minutes?”
“I guess I blew it, Tom. I came on to Miss Kiki like a pile driver. She was and is going to raise the price. I gave her an ultimatum. Who gives a good rat’s ass anyway. She said she had to talk to her brother. Ask me if I care. By the way, Elmo and the dogs are headed home. He said at his age he wants to be around his stuff. The first condo had a flood, and they moved us out. Somebody I met, Stella, just told me this place is a dump, so I guess I’m going to leave tomorrow. I’ll call you when I decide where I’m going. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m a big girl. Elmo wants to work on the bins for the coffee we’re going to sell, providing we find someone who will sell it to us. Now, tell me, why are you so worried? Why were you calling me every fifteen minutes?”
“If you’d just shut up, I’d tell you.”
“By the way, how are you?”
“I’m fine. I’m really fine. I walked around the house three times today. Yesterday, I mean. Kiki Aellia has been calling here every fifteen minutes. She’s been calling all over the island trying to find you.”
“I don’t think she tried very hard. I called the Whaler several times, and they said there were no calls for me. None were forwarded. There were no calls here at the Monarch either. Did you believe her?”
“She was certainly agitated with your deadline of five o’clock. She wanted me to intervene because she couldn’t get hold of her brother. It seems his old housekeeper retired along with her husband, and now Mr. Grayson just has someone to come in and clean one day a week. Kiki says he goes fishing and snorkeling on his days off, which seem to be four days out of every week. Don’t quote me on that. Maybe you should call her in the morning.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t, Tom. How hard could it have been for her to send someone to the Whaler or here to tell me whatever it was she wanted to tell me?”
“Listen to me, Annie. I think Kiki Aellia’s situation with her brother is just like ours but in reverse. I would never make the kind of decision you asked her to make without consulting you. This is just a guess on my part, but I don’t think she has the authority to make such an important decision. She’ll probably lose her job, sibling or not, if you pull our business from them. It isn’t her fault she couldn’t reach her brother. She did call me thirty-three times. That alone shows she values our business. You’re pissed, and I can’t say I blame you.”
“She knew I was coming here, Tom. She said, get this, she carved thirty minutes from her schedule to meet with me. Thirty whole minutes. No one picked me up. I had to take a taxi both ways, and no one gave me a lei. That really pissed me off. I hate people who are so full of themselves. If I ever get like that, slap me good.”
“Give me the phone number where you’re staying before we hang up. What are you going to do today?”
Annie rattled off the phone number. “When I hang up I’m going to go to bed while you eat your breakfast. Then I might meet Stella and check out this island. On the other hand, I might move to a better location. Then again, I might head for one of the other islands. Don’t call me, I’ll call you. Night, Tom.”
“Wait a minute,