On Second Thought(60)

Well, meeting Madeleine had been a huge mistake. Hopefully, she wouldn't sue me.

I pulled my phone out of my backpack and called Eloise. "Hi, it's Kate," I said.

"Kate, deah, how are you?"

"I'm... Listen, I'd like to get rid of that bench in Bixby Park, okay? It's upsetting me."

"Of course. Let me make the call, deah. No need for you to do it. I agree. It was very inappropriate of her."         

     



 

We made plans for lunch, and this time, it didn't feel so awful. It felt, in fact, like I had an ally.

Speaking of allies, I called Ainsley. The call went to voice mail. Shit.  Wasn't it always the way? Just when I wanted to talk, she wasn't  around. "Hey, I'm down at the river walk in Tarrytown," I said. "I'll be  later than I thought." Because I got a little drunk with Nathan's  ex-wife and dumped food on her head.

I wandered over to a tree and sat down, leaning against the trunk. Took  my camera out of my bag and shot the bridge, the boats, some kids, a  dog. None of the shots were any good. Everything looked fake and staged.

Also, the tree trunk was grinding into my spine. So I lay down instead.  The grass prickled my arms. The sky was so fiercely blue I had to close  my eyes.

Are you up there, Nathan? Are you okay? Did you really love me, or was she right?

I didn't get an answer. Instead, I fell asleep.

I woke up sometime later with one of those sharp snore-snorts, then blinked. The sky wasn't quite as blue as before.

Daniel the Hot Firefighter was sitting next to me. "Hi," I said.

"Hi. Hope you don't mind, but we just had sex."

I snorted again-laughter this time. "Did we emotionally scar any children?"

He gave me a steamy look, sleepy eyes and raised eyebrow. "You were pretty dirty."

"What are you doing here? Other than molesting sleeping widows?"

"I was helping Jane with her horrible kids. Thought I'd get a beer and  called your landline. Had it mixed up with your cell phone, and your  sister told me you were down here."

"Yeah. Just taking it all in."

"I thought I saw you at the Re-Enter Center a couple weeks ago. At the fund-raiser?"

"I made an appearance."

"You left pretty early." He started picking blades of grass.

"I did. My sister and I had plans."

My cheeks felt hot, whether from the drinks, the sun, the nap or the fact that D the HF was sitting next to me, I wasn't sure.

It was also a little embarrassing to admit that I'd left a party because he'd shown up with a date.

"So how are things?" he asked.

"Good."

"You read those emails."

I nodded.

"And they made you feel like shit?"

"Yep."

"You should've listened to Uncle Dan." He stretched out next to me, all male beauty and muscle. "What did they say?"

I watched as a little girl ran after her older brother, which reminded  me-Sean hadn't called in a while. Too busy living his perfect life.

I cleared my throat. "His ex still loved him and wanted him to leave me,  but he was very content with me and didn't want to hurt me." My words  were careful.

"That's it?"

"I thought it was pretty earthshaking."

"Doesn't sound that bad to me." I cut him a look. "But then again, I'm a  guy, so I'm thick." We were quiet for a minute. "No, it's not so bad,"  he said. "Content is pretty great. You want what you have and have what  you want. Nothing wrong with content."

"She said he was going to leave me. He just felt guilty."

"So? What does she know? He didn't leave you. Let it go, Kate."

I sighed. "It's just that if I had known any of this was going on, I would never have married him."

"Why?"

"Because he was...torn."

"Was he? He married you. That seems pretty decisive."

"And then he died, Daniel. I'm a widow. If I'd known he'd been uncertain  or conflicted or whatever, I would've said no, let's wait. And  then...maybe he'd even be alive today."

He gave a huge sigh. "But he's not. It happened. You want some ice cream? I hear the truck."

"That's all you've got?"

"You need more than ice cream?" He stood up in one quick, athletic move. "Come on." He offered his hand, and I took it.

He didn't let go, either. For maybe twelve or thirteen paces, he kept  holding my hand, and it was only when a soccer ball rolled our way did  he let go, run up to the ball and kick it back to a kid.

I ordered a Good Humor vanilla nut cone and let him pay.

"Did you ask Paige to teach at the Re-Enter Center?" I asked as I wolfed  the thing down (my lunch having gone on Madeleine's head).

"No," he said, licking the side of his hand where ice cream was melting. "Somebody did, though. Why?"

"I was just surprised to see her there. I asked her to teach a dozen times back in the day."         

     



 

"Well, she's there now. Being quite a pain in the ass, from what I hear,  trying to run the place. You should come back. Everyone misses you." He  nudged my shoulder with his. "Especially me."

"Aw, thanks, you big lug."

He smiled around his cone. He was just pointlessly beautiful, Daniel was.

Even better, he was nice.

"Walk you back to your car?" he asked.

"Sure."

There was no hand-holding on the way back to the car. I was irritated that I even thought about it.

"Thanks for the ice cream, mister," I said when we got to my car.

"You're welcome." He gave me a hug, practically crushing me in his big  brawny arms, then messed up my hair. "Let's have dinner sometime, okay?"

"Okay."

With that, I got in the car and drove home, feeling a lot better than I had before.

Daniel Breton was a very nice man. A good friend.

Who would've guessed?





Chapter Twenty-Five

Ainsley

Stupid-Head didn't call on Sunday. I checked my phone maniacally all the  livelong day. Stayed home, even, in case he wanted to swing by.

He didn't.

So on Monday morning, feeling very pissy indeed, I stomped into work at 8:29.

He was on the phone in his office. I glared in his general direction.

"How was your weekend?" Rachelle asked.

"It was great!" I said-it was half-true. A quarter true, at least. I dropped the glare and smiled at her. "How about you?"

"So good. I met someone! He seemed straight, didn't have a doll  collection or long toenails and lives in a cute apartment, but his  grandmother is the landlord, so there's a red flag."

"Well, it could be legit," I said. "She's not living with him, is she?"

"I didn't see her," Rachelle said. "I thought I smelled old lady powder, but I didn't find hard evidence."

"Ainsley, can I see you for a moment?" Jonathan said.

"Sure, Jonathan!" I said, my voice hard. I whirled around and swept into his office.

He closed the door behind me, then sat at his desk.

"Thanks for the call yesterday." I folded my arms and resumed glaring.

"I didn't call you."

"I know."

He blinked. I don't understand this sarcasm you employ, human.

"What do you want, Jonathan? Are you firing me? Finally?"

"No. I need you to sign this."

He passed a sheaf of papers across the desk, then folded his hands. I glanced down.

Consensual Romance in the Workplace Agreement

We, the undersigned...voluntary and consensual...not have a negative impact...public displays of affection...

I tossed the papers back on his desk. "This your form of snuggling?"

"Excuse me?"

"This is the conversation we're going to have after-" I lowered my voice  "-sleeping together? Don't you want to say anything to me first?"

"Absolutely not. I need you to read that. If you wanted to sue me right now, you'd be well within your rights."

"Why? Because we did it?"

He flinched. Less than flattering. "Please keep your voice down, and yes."

"You are the least romantic person I've ever met."

"I'm simply trying to protect-"

"I know. I'm not stupid. Give me your pen." I grabbed it, scrawled my  signature on every page, initialed in four spots and tossed the pen back  at him. It bounced off the desk and hit him in the chest.

"This is necessary, Ainsley. Please make sure you read the paragraph on public-"

"Jonathan, enough. Okay?"

He stood up. "I'm sorry if this has insulted you somehow."

I threw up my hands. "It would've been nice if you called me. I was  feeling a little unsure on Saturday, since your first words to me upon  waking were ‘Get out.'"

"Actually, I believe I said-"

"I didn't even know you liked me on Friday, and the next thing I know,  we're doing the wild thing, and then you didn't call, even though you  said you would, which is breaking a commandment in the dating world, and  now you greet me with a form from your lawyer."

He took a slow breath. "Lydia was under the weather yesterday, so the  girls stayed over last night instead of going back to their mother's."

"Which you could've let me know."