Fresh Tracks (10 page)

in one of the closets upstairs and there are several decks of cards."

"There's also lots of wine and beer in the basement," Amy said. "Please help yourselves to all the food and drink you want. Mi casa es su casa."

"And, of course, there's always the sit-on-your-ass option, which many of us choose on

vacation," Jo finished up.

There were nods and murmurs all around the table. Darby began wiggling her thumbs in

midair. "I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm feeling a game of Resident Evil

coming on. Anybody want to help me shoot some zombies?"

"I'll take you up on that," Sophie responded.

"Can I play after I go snowshoeing?" Molly asked. "One of you will have to teach me."

"You got it." Darby smiled at her.

"What time will Kristin be here?" Jo asked.

"She said she was going to head out sometime this morning,"

Molly said, leaving out the part about how she'd turned her cell phone completely off last

night and left it upstairs on the nightstand next to the bed she'd occupied alone. Because

ignoring the problem will make it go away, she thought with disdain, knowing she'd run

upstairs and check the voicemail at some point during the day. Sometimes the worst part

of being passive-aggressive is actually knowing that you are.

KRISTIN

"Hi, this is Molly and you 've reached my voicemail. Please leave me your name, number, and a brief message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks. "

"God damn it."

Kristin Collins was exhausted. She pushed the end button and tossed the Blackberry into

the passenger seat with great annoyance, yanking the earpiece from her ear and sending it

in the same direction.

As it was, she had to drive with the stereo blasting and the back windows cracked enough

to let an uncomfortable amount of cold air blast through the interior of the Lexus SUV. It

was the only way to keep herself from drifting off at the wheel. She honestly didn't know

how much longer she could keep up this pace before she'd simply keel over from fatigue,

irritation, stress, or all three combined.

She wished she could drive faster, but the snow had been falling steadily all afternoon and

apparently, this particular road wasn't high on the list of priorities for the snowplow

drivers. She forced herself to drive smartly, even though she wanted to blink her eyes like

in I Dream ofjeannie and be at the cabin. She should have been there about six hours ago,

but damn Jack Reeves had happily heaped more work on her and she'd been stuck in the

office. It never seemed to be the right opportunity to mention to Jack that she was

actually supposed to be on her third day of vacation. She was sure he knew. She was also

suddenly sure that he didn't care.

She let her mind drift fully to the subject of her boss. Jack Reeves had been her mentor,

her one-time role model. He was a large and handsome African American man with graying

temples and a deep,

booming voice that commanded attention. When she joined his team many years ago, she'd

come in at the bottom rung, and on the ground floor. His company was small, but he was a

smart man with a hell of a business sense and Kristin knew he was going nowhere but up.

She'd listened to everything he said with rapt fascination, taken notes, asked questions,

followed him around like a puppy. A puppy who wanted to learn.

It didn't take long for him to notice. He began tossing small responsibilities her way—

making her part of the brainstorming team for one project, putting her in charge of

gathering quotes for another, and finally letting her deal face-to-face with a client. That

had been her crowning moment. The client loved Kristin because Kristin had actually

listened. She had the uncanny ability not only to understand what her customers wanted,

but more importantly, what they didn't. Reeves saw that right away and it wasn't long

before clients were requesting Kristin. She became his most sought-after and successful

account executive in a matter of months. She was a VP by the time she was thirty-five.

She'd never forget that promotion. Molly was so proud of her. They'd gone out to a very

fancy dinner and had checked into a five-star hotel for the weekend, ordering room service

and making love for two days straight. She could still see the glittering delight in Molly's

green eyes, shining on her, making her feel like she was capable of anything just because

Molly believed in her.

It had gone steadily downhill from there.

She glanced at her own eyes in the rearview mirror, noting the dark circles and the

appearance of some fairly new crow's feet. She'd always gotten compliments on her looks

and she'd learned to use them. During her career, her Ail-American, blond-haired, blue-

eyed appearance, she had to admit, had gotten her through more than one door that was

otherwise shut tightly. Now, she hardly recognized the tired, haggard-looking woman

gazing back at her.

I'm aging way too fast, she thought, depressed. / look ten years older than I am.

Shaking her head, she mentally replayed her telephone conversation with Molly the day

before, when she'd called to tel her she was going to arrive later than she'd thought.

"You promised," Molly had said, the low volume and tone

conveying two crystal-clear facts to Kristin: she was trying to keep her voice down so the

others didn't hear her, and she was pissed. "You promised you'd be here today."

"I know, baby. I know. I'm really sorry. I can get there tomorrow morning."

Molly's silence might as well have been her shrieking in anger; it meant the same thing.

"Look, Mol, I know you're upset. I don't blame you. There just isn't a lot I can do about it, so I need to accept the fact that I've got to stay one more day and finish this stuff that

Jack needs done. It's a huge project and it's going to bring in a bunch of money and five

new accounts for us. And I'll get a bonus for my time. We'll go someplace fun with it, okay?

Maybe take a long weekend in New York? See a show? What do you say?"

"I say, why don't you take Jack to a show?"

The line had gone dead after that and Molly had either turned the phone off altogether or

just wasn't answering. Kristin had called ten times since then and had connected only with

Molly's voicemail.

Now, not only had she not been able to get a hold of her partner, but she was also half a

day later than she was supposed to be. If Molly was pissed already, things were only going

to get worse.

"Like that's anything new," she muttered aloud. It seemed like Molly was mad at her more often than not these days. Suddenly annoyed at the harsh volume of the stereo, she hit

the off button. Silence closed around her.

She pumped the brakes of the Lexus gently, coasting to a stop at a stop sign. Visibility was

getting worse as the sunlight faded into dusk. God, she hated winter. Dark at four thirty,

gray, sunless days. She should have been born in Arizona or New Mexico or Southern

California. Someplace warm and sunny. She wanted to retire to the Southwest, but pulling

Molly away from her family would be a Herculean feat, one she wasn't sure she had the

energy for anymore. Pushing smoothly on the gas pedal, she urged the vehicle forward

again, clicking on her high beams. They only made her attempts to see worse. She'd just

have to take it slow and hope no deer decided to leap out in front of her car. That was the

last thing she needed.

She peered at the directions she'd scrawled on the back of a takeout menu and tried to

come up with a good opening line for when she saw

Molly. For about the seventeenth time in the last couple of hours, she reached across for

the Blackberry and looked at the screen, hoping the little telephone icon that indicated

voicemail was just late in showing up. She was stung that Molly hadn't even called her to

make sure she hadn't driven into a ditch somewhere. Of course, if Molly had been checking

her voicemail, she would have gotten Kristin's pathetically cheerful message letting her

know that she'd lost track of time, but was heading out and would be there before Molly

knew it.

Kristin rolled her eyes at herself. That was dumb. She shouldn't have been cheerful, she

should have been angry. Pissed off that Jack had held her up yet again. Molly might have

related to that a little better.

What the hel happened to us?

She pressed a hand to her forehead as she felt tears spring into her eyes. "God damn it,"

she said to the quiet inside the car. This had been happening more and more often lately.

She wanted to blame it on PMS, on her emotions being too close to the surface because of

her period, but it was happening at all times of the month. She'd get to thinking about

Molly and her home and her life and the issues and frustrations would close in on her until

she felt like she was going to have yet another panic attack.

And then she'd cry.

She missed Molly.

It was a vicious cycle that had begun about a year ago and had proceeded to rotate ever

more quickly as time went on. She'd become stressed at work, she'd get home late—again—

and try to be cheerful about how well work was going. Molly would get quiet, Kristin would

feel guilty and throw herself further into her work, come home later and more cheerful,

buy Molly something expensive. Molly would get quieter. Kristin could see the cycle very

clearly, like it was painted as a giant mural in the sky for her, but she had no idea how to

slow it down, let alone how to stop it.

"A little more support from my wife wouldn't be a bad thing," she said aloud, wishing somebody—anybody—was listening and at least attempting to understand. "Is that so much

to ask? I'm working my ass off here. Why is it so hard for her to understand that I'm

doing all of this for us? So we can have a better life? A worry-free retirement? Why can't

she try, just once, to see things from my side? Why is that so difficult for her?"

The Blackberry buzzed from its place on the seat and Kristin jumped at the sound,

snatching it up before it stopped vibrating, hoping it was a message from Molly. She

frowned when she looked at the screen and saw there was an e-mail from the client she'd

just sent a project outline to before she left.

"Jesus Christ, can't you people leave me alone for five seconds?" she muttered at the apparatus through clenched teeth. She punched a couple of buttons and read, her eyes

ping-ponging from the electronic device to the windshield and back.

Hi, Kristin—

Just a couple of small inquiries regarding the proposed outline. Jacksaidyou 're away from

the office, but you 'd have your Blackberry and would call ASAP. I'll wait to hear.

Thanks so much! Howard

"Great. Thanks a lot, Jack, you prick." Damn him. Sometimes she really thought he was useless. He dumped so much stuff in her lap, she might as well be running the joint. No, she

was running the joint. Just without the fancy title and the larger paycheck. The entire

firm would fall apart if it weren't for her holding it together.

She flung the Blackberry back to its nest on the passenger seat once again and heaved a

huge sigh.

She was just so goddamn tired.

Twenty minutes later, she made the right-hand turn that took her down the slightly snow-

covered driveway of Amy and Jo's place. The flakes were beginning to thicken, falling

steadily, and Kristin was grateful she had arrived in one piece, happy to stop driving for

the time being. Throwing her Blackberry and its attachments into her soft-sided leather

briefcase, she hauled it and the Pullman suitcase Molly had packed for her out of the SUV

and tromped up the driveway toward the cabin. She could smell the fire burning in the air,

and the light spilling

out of the front windows gave off a warm, inviting glow. Knowing Molly was inside both

excited her and terrified her—a combination of feelings she was almost used to at this

point.

Her breath was visible in the chilly evening air, mingling with the falling snow, leaving no

doubt that she was in the Northeast. A part of her smiled inside, feeling at home in this

weather she always claimed to despise, knowing it was in her blood regardless of how much

she loved the sun.

Her leather boots protected the bottoms of her pants from the wet snow and for that,

she was grateful. She hadn't taken the time to change out of her stupidly expensive

pantsuit, wanting to simply get in the car and escape, but now she wished she'd been

dressed a bit more casually, especially when the door was opened by Amy, who stood there

in her sweats looking adorable and the slightest bit relieved to see she had finally arrived.

Kristin found herself immediately enveloped in a huge hug, which she tried to return

despite her full hands.

"You made it." Amy's tone was unsuccessful in hiding the fact that she was actually surprised.

Kristin felt immediate guilt set upon her shoulders like a wet, cold blanket. "I did. It's good to see you."

They moved indoors and Jo took Kristin's bags and coat. The interior was just as warm and

cozy as the outside glow had suggested and Kristin felt herself relax ever so slightly. She

took in the faces of the four other women—well, the faces of three and the back of

Molly's head as she concentrated on the video game she was playing on the television.