Wait for Me in Vienna (15 page)

17

Thomas had just gotten off the phone with Clarissa when his uncle came into his office.

“I’d like to speak with you, Thomas,” Mr. Lehmann said.

“Sure, what’s going on? Wait a second, I just need to save a document . . .”

His uncle sat on Thomas’s luxurious couch, prominently placed in his office. The brown velvet couch was very comfortable and stood out in the otherwise modest office. Thomas had spotted it while on vacation in Italy and had it shipped back. He found that Italian designs, both in clothing and in furniture, almost always suited his sophisticated tastes.

“Okay, all set,” Thomas said, and sat down on the upholstered chair across from his uncle.

“The company’s doing really well these days . . .”

Thomas nodded; he knew that.

“And in order to stay competitive, we must expand.” He paused briefly, touched his designer horn-rimmed glasses, and went on. “As we’ve already talked about, I would like to open a branch office in New York.”

This wasn’t a surprise to Thomas. It had been a hot topic around the company for a while now.

“I would like you to open the new office, Thomas, and stay there for a while until everything’s running smoothly. Of course, you could stay permanently if you’d like, but this is your decision. I believe your mother would take exception if I forced you to stay abroad, and I would prefer not to tangle with her.”

Thomas nodded pensively.

“Tomorrow we’re having a presentation about suitable office sites. I can show you the market-research results; they are unambiguous. It’s time for us to expand; we can significantly increase our annual gross revenue. And if we don’t do it within the next six months, our competitors will. Sooner or later, we’ll start to lose market share.”

“Yes, I understand completely.”

“Isn’t Clarissa already in New York?”

“Well, she’s in Barcelona right now, but I believe she’s got work lined up in New York after that.”

“Wonderful. I’m sure she can be persuaded to stay a while longer.”

Thomas knew what that meant. He had a bad feeling about all this; his stomach started to ache.

The afternoon before her concert date, Johanna was so excited she could barely sit still. She rode her bike through the city center. The leaves on the street were wet and soggy. After a long absence, the sun hung low in the autumn sky. It had been a long, energy-sapping haul without sunshine. Most mornings started out shrouded in fog, then the mist would partially dissipate around ten o’clock, leaving Vienna looking quite gloomy—like the perfect backdrop for a thriller. Johanna hoped that the mild weather would continue for a while. She often became quite depressed during the winter, and late November could be terrible, too, with fog hanging over the landscape and endless days without a ray of sunlight. A doctor had written her a prescription for antidepressants, but she just couldn’t bring herself to take them. She could manage without them, and at that time of year, survival was the best she could hope for. She simply endured the cold, dark winters. Christmas was the hardest part.

Johanna finished up her shopping for the cooking school and took everything over to Paolo’s place. He would take the supplies to work with him later.

“Chef Geyer said she wants to give you more hours!” he blurted out; he’d been dying to tell her.

“Really?” Johanna was thrilled, especially since she needed the money right now. Her savings were being rapidly depleted, she had plenty of free time, and she really liked working at the cooking school.

“Yes! She’s going to talk to you about it tomorrow. Of course, I immediately told her I was in favor of it,” Paolo said as he took the second shopping bag Johanna handed him. “Do you want to come in?”

She’d never been to his place before; she ventured inside. The apartment was far more normal than she had expected. She’d envisioned unusual pieces of furniture: glittery décor, silk fabrics, and ultramodern, shiny metal alloys.

“Welcome to my modest little kingdom,” he said and showed her around. “This is my pride and joy,” he said as he pointed to a dark-brown wooden table in the middle of the dining room. It could seat six easily.

“Of course, my kitchen is nothing to sneeze at. I call it my Porsche kitchen,” he exclaimed proudly. “Everything’s laid out just right.” He showed off his organized kitchen by opening cabinet doors and drawers.

Johanna nodded as she admired his splendidly equipped kitchen.

“Would you like some coffee?”

She nodded and sat down on one of the comfortably padded wooden chairs. Paolo offered her some cookies, too.

“Sorry, not homemade. How was your date?” he asked as he stirred two teaspoons of sugar into his small orange ceramic cup.

Johanna smiled. “Good.”

“Don’t make me drag it out of you. Did you see Daniel again?”

“No, somebody else. Daniel is out of the picture.”

“What? Really? So fast? So you went out with a new guy? Oh, I wish things like that would happen to me once in a while; I can only dream about them these days.”

Paolo felt depressed as he took a sip of his hot coffee, burning his tongue. He made this mistake on a regular basis; he just couldn’t bring himself to wait until his coffee cooled off a bit. Maybe he should check the settings on his coffee machine; the water did seem abnormally hot.

“Take a cookie, it won’t hurt you.”

Johanna took one.

“You know, I’m currently watching my weight. I’ve gained about five pounds that I’d like to lose,” Paolo said, his face darkening as he pushed away the enemy—the plate of cookies. “That always happens to me when I’m single . . . oh well. So what’s up with this new guy?”

“I don’t know yet,” Johanna said as she took a second cookie. “But we’re going to a concert tonight,” she squealed, unable to hide her excitement any longer.

Thomas furrowed his brow as he spun around again in his office chair. New York, a chance that he’d been waiting for all his life. He imagined himself working on exciting projects there. He had an entrepreneurial spirit; practically everything he touched turned to gold. Mr. Lehmann didn’t believe in nepotism. He offered jobs and promotions based on his employees’ abilities and nothing else. He’d offered his nephew the New York position because he knew about his aptitude for business.

Right now, though, living with Clarissa in New York seemed like a terrible plan. But Thomas didn’t know Johanna very well, either. Should he give up a once-in-a-lifetime career opportunity for a new woman? Maybe he should break up with Clarissa, then get a fresh start in New York, which would also mean that he shouldn’t start anything with Johanna. It was a sensible plan, but for some reason, it didn’t make him happy.

“We should make sure to leave at a decent hour tomorrow morning,” Johanna said to Martin. He had promised her that they would take a trip to the cemetery for the holiday.

“Okay. Linda’s not coming; she’s going home to see her folks. But we’ll have a nice day together. Sound good?”

“Yes, sounds good,” she trilled nervously.

“Why are you so nervous?”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Okay, maybe a little.”

“Why?”

“I have a date with someone this evening.”

“Who?”

“A very nice man.”

“Daniel?”

Johanna shook her head emphatically.

“Somebody else?”

“Yes.”

Martin was getting on her nerves.
My brother should have become a detective
, she thought, ducking out of the room to escape further interrogation.

“Okay, okay. You can tell me tomorrow how your evening went.”

Martin was glad there was someone new in his sister’s life. He’d never seen her in such high spirits. He’d been worried, because Linda had expressed her concerns to him about Johanna and Daniel’s last evening together, but maybe things were looking up.

Outside the concert hall, a long, colorfully coiffed line of people formed, reflecting the kaleidoscope of hues on L’Oreal’s hair color chart. At the front of the line, young teenage couples were entwined like live bait on a hook, gazing at each other or kissing like there was no tomorrow. Their worried parents looked on disapprovingly, hoping they wouldn’t become grandparents too soon and unsure if they should purchase expensive last-minute concert tickets for themselves so they could chaperone. Behind them were slightly older concertgoers: older teenagers, young adults, and double-income-no-kids couples. Those couples acted in a more civilized, if less passionate, manner. Thomas stood inconspicuously amid the old and young crowds.

“Wow, you look so pretty,” he said as Johanna approached.

“Oh, please don’t look at me like that. It’s embarrassing,” she admitted, and Thomas turned his gaze from her even though it was difficult.

“Are you ready for the concert of the century?” he asked her, exaggerating a bit.

“Yeah, otherwise I wouldn’t be here, now would I?” Johanna smiled.

Thomas took her hand in his. She felt light and happy; that he warmed her heart was written all over her face. Johanna wasn’t familiar with this band. In fact, she was entirely clueless when it came to music. She didn’t even know who the Rolling Stones were, which had become embarrassingly evident when she took part in a little pub quiz with Martin and Linda. Johanna wasn’t dumb, but she didn’t know much about sports, music, or history. She probably didn’t know enough to master the first five-hundred-dollar level on a kid’s quiz show.

The amphitheater was full of people, young and old, men and women. It was impossible to lump them together. It was a mixed crowd, from different backgrounds; people with different hobbies and tastes, especially when it came to hairstyles. But they all had one thing in common. They wanted to hear Travis. Resounding applause, shouting, and whistling filled the air as the band took to the stage after a short delay. A delay was normal; fifteen minutes late was fashionable in the music industry. Thomas and Johanna sat in the middle. He took care of drinks beforehand; during concerts, the bar got too packed.

The band started up, and Johanna liked what she heard, especially the latest hit, “Where You Stand.” And she wasn’t just impressed by the band, but by Thomas, too. He wrapped his arm around her, first gently, then more boldly, swaying with the music. Johanna willingly let him lead her. She felt safe with Thomas close to her. A torrent of happiness ran through Thomas’s body; if someone had asked him at this very moment, he would have definitely decided against moving to New York. They continued to sway in unison to all of Travis’s songs. The musical atmosphere captivated her. Thomas and Johanna moved together like ripples in the ocean. They flowed together, into and out of each another, finally culminating in a joyful, all-encompassing wave.