“You and Kendall…” What could she say? It was a relationship Fee didn’t understand, after weeks of witnessing it firsthand. Meggie seemed inordinately forgiving, even about Daphne. “I don’t know if I could forgive Kendall for conspiring with Daphne against my husband.”
“I’m furious with her. Make no mistake about that. How could she have Daphne corner Christopher on his way home and then forge that card? Kendall knew the trouble Daphne had been giving me for months.”
Oh shit. That’s why Meggie was understanding. She didn’t know Kendall had paid Daphne to taunt her. Meggie thought Kendall’s behavior had to do with her job.
“Um, how do you see Kendall?” she asked, the question leading to what she really wanted to know. “How do you think she sees you?”
“Kendall is a woman whose survival instincts are bar none.”
That was putting it nicely.
“Kendall is blunt and argumentative. She likes being the center of attention. But there’s a frightened little girl inside of her, and that makes her so very vulnerable. I have to remind myself of that when I reach my limit and swear I’m going to tell Christopher everything. I don’t want her dead. I just want her the way she was in the year after Rory’s birth.”
“And how does she see you?”
“I don’t know, Fee,” Meggie admitted after a moment, then wrinkled her nose. “I’d like to think she sees me as open and honest. I’d like to think that she has my best interests in mind. She does, in her reasonable frame of mind. When she’s like this, I’m the enemy. I’ve learned to see her the same way during these times.”
“But you saw her recently and she told you about me.”
“Kendall doesn’t want Johnnie to know she’s behaving badly again. I don’t want Christopher to know. He’d shoot her, Fee. He’s beyond fed up with her, and I’m so worried she’s going to push him too far. What would happen then? I do what I must to protect my husband. For both Kendall and me, that means talking amongst ourselves at the club as usual.”
“Oh, right, so you do talk about your sex life to her?”
“Um, yeah. You were there a couple of times. You know I don’t go into a lot of detail.”
Embarrassment heated Fee’s face. She’d believed Kendall’s words about what Meggie had to do to Christopher. For what? Simply because of Kendall dangling friendship to Fee. She’d been that starved for friendship. So starved she’d risked a lot to show Kendall how trustworthy and trusting she was.
“Perfect opening,” Meggie said, drawing Fee back to the conversation. “About you, Cash, and Stretch.”
Fee blinked stupidly. “You want to know about our sex life?”
“Omigod, no! I want to talk about your relationship.”
In that case, she almost preferred talking about what happened between the sheets. “I already know it isn’t a conventional relationship and I should know better.”
“It isn’t conventional,” Meggie agreed. “It is your business. If they make you happy, then everyone else should shut up.”
“Really?” She hadn’t opened up to Zoann about her relationship, but she was pretty sure her sister wouldn’t be so accepting. She’d call her stupid, just like Kendall had. “Are you just saying that?”
“Of course not. I’m serious. I’ll stand by your decision and find a way to get Christopher to accept it.”
“Do you think you can?”
“Yes, eventually. He wants you happy. I’m going to tell him not to kill Cash or Stretch for sleeping with you.”
Fee choked. “Will he listen?”
“It isn’t club business. Not really, anyway, so I think he will. Just tell Cash and Stretch to make themselves scarce until Christopher calms down.”
“What about my job? My lack of one, I mean.”
“I’m going to tell him you no longer work for Kendall, Fee. If that’s what you’re asking. He has to know.”
She couldn’t believe what she was about to ask. “Can you fudge the truth a little? Like you’re doing with Kendall?”
“I’m not fudging the truth with him. I’m outright lying. We both know what my pretense of getting along with Kendall really is. It’s to save her life.”
“You withholding this from Christopher about me is to save my relationship with him.”
“Your relationship is going to be fine,” Meggie promised. “But he has to know. I’ll tell him you two had a disagreement and she fired you. You didn’t know how to tell him.”