THE GREAT BETRAYAL (29 page)

Hot!

Kathryn clicked on a seductive JPEG image of herself with a subtitle that read,
Kit-Kat’s ready to be a grown up! Click here for Kitty action!!

Clicking her picture, she was taken to a video clip that was meant to be a teaser, leaving the viewer so badly in need of more they’d be willing to plunk down $29.95 per month to get it.

But what Kate saw turned her stomach.

There she was, lying with her legs spread apart and her eyes half-closed—clearly under the influence of
something
—with paunch-belly Ajay doing unmentionables to her!

Ajay
?!
Gross
!

And what was worse—she was enjoying it! Loving it, even! Giving the exact type of response they wanted, no doubt.

Embarrassed by the vulgar images, Kate clicked off the site and cleared out her Internet cache. Just in case.

Leaving her bedroom, she went downstairs to find something to eat.
I was a fool to ever trust Lauren Samson
.

It was over. She was out. She was never doing that crap again.

Chapter 49

Leslie knew it was wrong to even consider doing it. But she had.

That morning when she arrived at C&C and made it in to her office, she immediately called Dawn’s extension and left a message. “Won’t make lunch today. I’ve got a lunch meeting with risk management. I’ll call you later.”

Then she had checked her e-mail to see if she’d gotten a response from Grace. And she had.

To:
L. Cavanaugh [
[email protected]
]

From:
Grace C. [
mailto:[email protected]
]

Subject:
Re: Invitation

Message:
I’m dumbfounded. I have no clue what to tell you on that one. There could be trouble just waiting for you there…but then again, I also know how lonely you’ve been lately. Hmm…well, if it’s just lunch, why not? Caution loves the wind. Go for it.

Good luck,

Grace

P.S. Don’t you
dare
keep me in suspense! I want details!

L. Cavanaugh wrote:

===============

It was a beautiful summer afternoon in the Palm Beaches. A nice summer breeze was blowing in the air.

Naturally, Florida was gearing up for a good old-fashioned June heat wave, but for now people were taking advantage of the moderately warm and pleasant pre-summer afternoons.

They lunched in the little park across the street from Crystal Clear. Paul suggested they grab sandwiches from the C&C deli and take a stroll since the weather was nice.

From the outset, Leslie realized that it had been a mistake.

Parks.

She had trouble being in parks. Even when Kathryn was a little girl, Leslie had avoided the park, preferring to find some reason, whenever feasible, to send her with a neighbor’s children or with Luke’s family.

Now, as Paul went on and on about the trouble he was having in his department, Leslie realized what a fool she’d been. What an enormous card-carrying fool. This had nothing to do with their history as a couple. He had not wanted to go on a lunch date.

He was simply a director wanting to talk business—off the record, of course—with the head of human resources.

Was she becoming desperate or something?

Oh, God
.
How embarrassing
! Wait until she told Grace.

Chapter 50

Dawn had just stepped from the shower and was examining her body in the full-length mirror hanging from the bathroom door. She turned this way and that, exploring her curvy reflection. She shivered. It felt as if someone was watching her.

And, of course, as always, someone was.

For a woman over forty, she still looked pretty good. Pretty damn good. She had kept up her visits to the gym and had even begun doing Pilates, when the loneliness of the evenings had become more than she could bear.

Loneliness. It could be a bitch of an existence. Being alone was one thing, but being lonely…that was entirely another. For Dawn it was a personal prison. How could one break out?

“
You need to get a life!” Brenda always said. Well, she’d had a life! A life with Michael. A life and a future out of which she would always feel cheated.

And now she was getting married again, so she supposed everyone believed she was finally “over” losing Michael. But she could never allow herself to get over him.

So it seemed remarrying would be the only way to pacify everyone. She would remarry, give them what they wanted. But she’d never let go of Michael. Never.

Why didn’t they get it? Only another woman who’d lost a husband so young could possibly understand; and Dawn knew it was fate that brought Leslie into her life all those years ago. They had needed each other.

As she gazed at her body, she knew Michael would’ve been proud. Even now, she still had it.

As her imagination kicked in, Dawn sauntered over to her closet and pulled out her special toys. No one could ever take Michael away from her. His memory was too precious, and Dawn wouldn’t allow it to fade into the background with time. She had to keep him alive, because even at her loneliest, she always had Michael.

She glanced at the clock. She had to get dressed for dinner. Lyle was taking her out, but for now…Michael came first.

Upon her return to the office that day, Leslie had been swamped with impromptu meetings dealing with various issues that required her immediate attention. She hadn’t been able to spare a minute to e-mail Grace about her lunch “date.” When she finally left the office and drove home that evening, she was overcome by melancholy, by the decisions that needed to be made.

Two blocks from the house, Leslie turned around and drove to Bloomingdale’s. She had foreboding energy to burn.

Two Martinez Valero evening sandals and three Kate Spade open-toe sling-backs later, Leslie walked over to the jewelry department and bought a $300 Sheila Fajl coin bracelet.
Gosh, I wish I could get one for Grace
, she thought.
You know what
?
I will
.
I’ll save it for the next time she comes to town
.

Leslie sighed. When would that be?

Next, she hit the beauty and cosmetics department and picked up three $115 bottles of Freeze 24/7 Anti-Wrinkle Cream. Well, although everyone said she looked superbly for forty—forty, yikes!—she wasn’t exactly getting any younger.

Leaving Bloomingdale’s, Leslie tossed her comforts into the trunk and slid into the seat of her luxury SUV. She took a deep, calming breath. She still didn’t feel like going home. She looked at her watch. 7:17. It was still early.

Grabbing her purse, she left the car again, this time going to the mall’s entrance. Checking the directory she located Sam Goody and started walking toward it. Leslie couldn’t remember when last she’d been inside of a music store, but five minutes later there she was. And she knew exactly what she had come for.

When Leslie finally turned up at the house, Luke was fuming. He knew he had no right to be, but it didn’t matter. He was good and pissed.

He was brooding in his office when he heard the alarm beep and knew it had to be her. He glanced at the time on his laptop. 11:37. Where the fuck had she been? Certainly not with Dawn.

He met her as she stepped into the hallway, coming in from the garage. It was clear she hadn’t been expecting to see him first thing. And she did not look good. It was obvious she’d been crying. A lot.

The anger left him, as much as he hated himself for it. The rage simply left him. But he could not bring himself to show her.

They stood there for what seemed like an eternity, staring at each other.

Finally, without saying a word, Luke turned and went back into his office.

Those tears aren’t for me
, he thought, staring into the garden out back.
They’ll never be for me
.

It was well after midnight when Leslie descended the stairs and went into the kitchen. She needed a cup of chamomile to cap off the night. She was exhausted. Drained.

She needed to write to Grace. Tell her about what she’d done.

To:
Grace C.
[email protected]

From:
L. Cavanaugh [
mailto:[email protected]
]

Subject:
Call me stupid…

Message:
because I deserve it. Guess what? Paul spent our “lunch date” giving me an earful about staffing issues he’s having in his department. Oh, for shame! You can imagine how stupid I felt for reading
so
much more into it. Well, that’s that.

In other news, I was inspired to do something today that surprised me. After I did some minor damage in Bloomingdale’s, which Luke would chew me out about if he found my shopping bags, I went to the music store and bought an album.
Elvis 30 #1 Hits
. Don’t ask me why because I
cannot
explain. I just did it. I drove around for what must’ve been several hours. It broke my heart. I can’t express how painful it
still
is to hear an Elvis Presley song, not to mention the ones your father played over and over again. As difficult as it was for me (and believe me when I tell you that it was very painful), it was equally therapeutic. I suppose since Jeff’s been gone as long as you’ve been alive—longer, in fact, over twenty-one years—it may sound strange that something as simple as that would still be this hard. But all I can tell you is…it’s not strange to me. Not at all.

I think Luke was waiting for me when I got home, but when he took a look at me I guess he decided he didn’t want to be bothered. I don’t know what he wanted…but I sure wish he had told me anyway. Why don’t I just ask him, you wonder? I don’t know. I’m too angry with him, I suppose. There’s too much going on. And too much
not
going on. Too complicated to explain. Now I sound stupid…and, of course, I’m rambling, so here’s a good spot to sign off. I hope your day was a good one. Keep your nose in the books!

Ciao,

Leslie

The following day when Leslie reached the office and signed on to her computer, the first thing she did was check her personal e-mail account. Grace had not yet replied.

There was no response the entire day, so when Leslie returned home, she called up the e-mail from her sent-items folder and reread it. Was it possible she had said too much? Said something that had upset Grace?

Perhaps she was tired of hearing about Jeffrey? Was that it?
Oh, no
.