A Touch of Raspberry

Chapter Three

     Stasia coughed while drinking her wine. Beau patted her bare back without thinking, then he immediately regretted his brash action. They never had physical contact. Beau couldn't remember the last time he'd intentionally touched Stasia.

      As Stasia surfaced, her eyes watering, she glared suspiciously at Beau. "Why did you do that?"

     Alex watched them with wide eyes. Only Suki appeared vaguely clued in, from the way her eyes narrowed fractionally. 

     Beau cleared his throat, loosening his tie as his mind spun in circles. Then he suggested meaningfully to his wife, wondering if a nudge with his elbow would be too conspicuous, "Because I love you, sweetheart?"

     Stasia frowned, taking another sip of her wine. "Right." she replied in a clipped, forced manner. Her wine was disappearing in gallons by the minute. An exaggeration, but Beau wondered if this falsehood would slowly bleed into truth.

     Alex and Beau eyed each other nervously. Stasia sighed and put her wine glass down on the table, looking at the hanging lights surrounding their isolated table. Suki pursed her red lips, her dark jewelled eyes staring through the windows to her friend's soul.

     "Do you want to go to the bathroom?" Alex asked Beau awkwardly. Beau shrugged.

      Beau and Alex got up from their seats and strolled away, walking in search of amenities. They left two of the most powerful women in the world eyeing each other warily.

*

     Suki Waterhouse could be terrifying sometimes. 

     Stasia would know. She was Suki's prime target for intimidation. 

     Whenever Suki felt that Stasia was hiding something, her eyes would grow steely cold. The way they gleamed under the light now, like indestructible obsidian, told Stasia that she was in severe trouble.

     But Stasia never cowered to a simple glare. She was a conglomerate CEO, a businesswoman with words to supplement her claws. Stasia tossed her hair back lightly, raising an eyebrow as she shrugged at her best friend. "What's wrong, Suki?"

     The tall young woman raised an elegant eyebrow back, taking a sip of her cocktail. "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."

      Stasia was used to these politics. A restaurant with friends wasn't a common battleground, but Suki Waterhouse could make a sunny field into a weapon of destruction.

      What Stasia wasn't prepared for was Suki's hand tentatively reaching for hers, brushing her fingers over the back of Stasia's hand. Stasia looked up into Suki's eyes, which were brimming with sympathy.

      "What's going on, Stasia?" Suki asked, the concern tangible in her voice. "I know that Beau's putting on a show for Alex and I. But I've known you for too long to be fooled. Is your relationship on the rocks again?"

     Stasia chuckled bitterly, knowing the game was up. "Try for the last three years."

      Suki sucked in a breath. "I didn't know. When I last visited for more than a month, both of you were in love."

      Stasia allowed a pained, reminiscent smile to flutter over her mouth. "That feels like another lifetime, Suki. I barely remember what it was like when Beau loved me."

       Suki watched Stasia with the pain that only a close friend could feel, as she watched her struggle under the strain of a thousand memories washed away by time.

        Stasia's expression fragmented for a moment into shards, so that Suki could peek through the icy wall into her interior. Stasia was alone in this for years. That much was easy to tell. The rest of it was more complicated.