person on earth to defend a cheating spouse, and really I don’t know what Savannah is like now. But I do know Sergio, and I can’t believe he would cheat on you.”
“Well, he gave a fair imitation of it last night.”
“Maybe it really was just two old friends sitting at the same table, having a drink and laughing at an old memory.”
Her lips thinned. “Yeah, and I can guess which memory, too. I could have killed her, Abby. I really could have.”
All that anger made me ache inside. “Don’t do this to yourself, Karen. I’ll admit that Savannah’s just about the last person I’d want to see the man I loved with, but you didn’t actually see them doing anything wrong. They were just having a drink in a public place.”
“That’s how it starts.”
“Granted. Sometimes. But you’re acting as if you caught them in bed together or something.”
Karen’s expression froze, and her eyes narrowed. “Oh. I see. You think I’m overreacting.”
“It’s possible, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not.” Her voice was as cold as the air outside.
“It is possible, Karen, and I think you owe it to yourself to find out what was really going on.”
Karen stood unsteadily, knocking over a stack of toffee boxes. “So you find your husband with another woman and the whole world stops spinning. I find mine with one, and I’m making things up.”
Her reaction threw me. “That’s not what I meant!”
“Oh, no. Of course not.” Karen took a couple of jerky steps toward the door. “Maybe I didn’t run off to the city and make a big, important life for myself. Maybe Aunt Grace didn’t leave the store to me. Maybe I’m just a housewife with a part-time job, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be hurt just as badly as you were.”
“Karen, I didn’t—”
She slammed out the door before I could even figure out what I wanted to say. I heard her footsteps thundering up the stairs, and a second later, the door to my apartment banged shut hard enough to rattle the windows. I figured she’d gather up her things and take off before I could argue with her, and that was fine with me. I knew it was a bad idea for her to stay with me. Was I ever right.
I paced around the kitchen for a little while, rehearsing what I’d say when Karen came downstairs again. Ten minutes passed. Fifteen. After twenty, I got tired of waiting and decided to beard the lion in her own den . . . or at least in mine.
I pounded up the stairs, threw open the door, and launched into my speech so Karen couldn’t cut me off. “Look, I know you’re hurt, and I don’t blame you. But you couldn’t be more wrong about how I feel, and I resent the fact that you just jumped to conclusions—”
It took me a few seconds to realize that the only one listening was Max, but at least he had the good manners to stop chewing the toilet brush and pay attention. As for Karen, she lay sprawled facedown on the sofa bed, snoring loud enough to wake the dead.
Chapter 5
For the rest of the morning I did my best to forget Evie, Savannah, Karen, and the contest. I finished a large bouquet of cinnamon disk roses, scheduled for delivery that afternoon, filled a handful of smaller orders, and packaged three to go out in the mail. We do a pretty good mail-order business, mostly shipping candy to people who used to live in Paradise. I didn’t have any as loyal as the legendary Cole Porter who, back in the jazz age, had nine pounds of fudge shipped to him every month from his hometown confectionary, but I was hoping to get there someday.
With the mail ready, I loaded a batch of apple pie taffy onto the puller and rang up several more sales before I finally gave up waiting for Karen to show up and called in backup. It was Saturday, so I started with my A-list. That proved to be a waste of time. My twin nieces, Dana and Danielle, already had plans, my sister-in-law Elizabeth was in bed with a cold, and my mother would never make it up the mountain from Denver before
“Well, he gave a fair imitation of it last night.”
“Maybe it really was just two old friends sitting at the same table, having a drink and laughing at an old memory.”
Her lips thinned. “Yeah, and I can guess which memory, too. I could have killed her, Abby. I really could have.”
All that anger made me ache inside. “Don’t do this to yourself, Karen. I’ll admit that Savannah’s just about the last person I’d want to see the man I loved with, but you didn’t actually see them doing anything wrong. They were just having a drink in a public place.”
“That’s how it starts.”
“Granted. Sometimes. But you’re acting as if you caught them in bed together or something.”
Karen’s expression froze, and her eyes narrowed. “Oh. I see. You think I’m overreacting.”
“It’s possible, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not.” Her voice was as cold as the air outside.
“It is possible, Karen, and I think you owe it to yourself to find out what was really going on.”
Karen stood unsteadily, knocking over a stack of toffee boxes. “So you find your husband with another woman and the whole world stops spinning. I find mine with one, and I’m making things up.”
Her reaction threw me. “That’s not what I meant!”
“Oh, no. Of course not.” Karen took a couple of jerky steps toward the door. “Maybe I didn’t run off to the city and make a big, important life for myself. Maybe Aunt Grace didn’t leave the store to me. Maybe I’m just a housewife with a part-time job, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be hurt just as badly as you were.”
“Karen, I didn’t—”
She slammed out the door before I could even figure out what I wanted to say. I heard her footsteps thundering up the stairs, and a second later, the door to my apartment banged shut hard enough to rattle the windows. I figured she’d gather up her things and take off before I could argue with her, and that was fine with me. I knew it was a bad idea for her to stay with me. Was I ever right.
I paced around the kitchen for a little while, rehearsing what I’d say when Karen came downstairs again. Ten minutes passed. Fifteen. After twenty, I got tired of waiting and decided to beard the lion in her own den . . . or at least in mine.
I pounded up the stairs, threw open the door, and launched into my speech so Karen couldn’t cut me off. “Look, I know you’re hurt, and I don’t blame you. But you couldn’t be more wrong about how I feel, and I resent the fact that you just jumped to conclusions—”
It took me a few seconds to realize that the only one listening was Max, but at least he had the good manners to stop chewing the toilet brush and pay attention. As for Karen, she lay sprawled facedown on the sofa bed, snoring loud enough to wake the dead.
Chapter 5
For the rest of the morning I did my best to forget Evie, Savannah, Karen, and the contest. I finished a large bouquet of cinnamon disk roses, scheduled for delivery that afternoon, filled a handful of smaller orders, and packaged three to go out in the mail. We do a pretty good mail-order business, mostly shipping candy to people who used to live in Paradise. I didn’t have any as loyal as the legendary Cole Porter who, back in the jazz age, had nine pounds of fudge shipped to him every month from his hometown confectionary, but I was hoping to get there someday.
With the mail ready, I loaded a batch of apple pie taffy onto the puller and rang up several more sales before I finally gave up waiting for Karen to show up and called in backup. It was Saturday, so I started with my A-list. That proved to be a waste of time. My twin nieces, Dana and Danielle, already had plans, my sister-in-law Elizabeth was in bed with a cold, and my mother would never make it up the mountain from Denver before
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