Sasha McCandless 03 - Irretrievably Broken by Melissa F. Miller
Authors: Melissa F. Miller
Ads: Link
time?”
“I think it was more money, but, you know, they could afford it. I guess he was just taking the money out of their accounts, trying to take care of it behind her back.”
The last time had been when the three of them were still junior associates. 1998. Ellen and Greg were engaged, and the wedding had been just four months away, when she’d broken down crying at a happy hour. Greg had been betting on football and owed his bookie thirty thousand dollars. To them, back then, that was a lot of money. Today, any one of them would have written a check for that amount without bothering to confirm the balance in the account, but they didn’t have that kind of money in 1998.
Ellen had sold her engagement ring and emptied out the fund she’d set aside for the wedding and honeymoon; perhaps presciently, her parents hadn’t been wild about Greg and had no intention of footing the bill for the reception. So, she’d been saving a chunk of her salary every month. But, they came up eight thousand dollars short on the gambling debt.
Greg’s attempt to negotiate the debt had earned him two cracked ribs and a busted nose, and Ellen was terrified he was going to be killed. Clarissa and Martine had each lent Clarissa four grand. They told themselves they would have spent that much on shower and wedding gifts, bridesmaid dresses, and other wedding-related hoopla if Ellen and Greg hadn’t canceled the wedding in favor of a quiet civil ceremony at the courthouse.
As a condition of going through with the wedding, Ellen had made Greg join Gamblers Anonymous. Grateful to her for saving his hide and afraid of losing her, he had thrown himself into the program. As he’d worked through his steps to recovery, he’d eventually made amends to both Clarissa and Martine and had repaid them the money they’d given Ellen.
And, as far as Clarissa knew, in the fourteen years that followed, Greg had never once broken his promise to Ellen that he wouldn’t gamble. Until those pictures showed up.
Funny how she and Ellen had both gotten their pictures on the same day.
Unlike Ellen, though, she hadn’t flown into a rage and confronted her husband with them immediately. Instead, Clarissa had deliberated, planned. She’d taken patient steps, beginning with retaining Andy Pulaski to ruin Nick’s life.
Martine broke into her thoughts again. “I thought they were really a solid couple. You know? Like you and Nick or Tanner and me.”
Clarissa swallowed her laugh, or maybe it was a sob. She couldn’t tell anymore. Martine still believed she and Nick were solid. If she only knew. Clarissa had a sudden urge to confide in her, now that Ellen was gone.
“Can you get away for a drink tomorrow night? In honor of Ellen?” she asked.
Clarissa could almost hear her ticking through a mental schedule of carpools, soccer practice, dinner, homework, and baths.
Finally, Martine said, “Sure. Let’s do it late. Maybe nine-thirty? If I don’t help the kids with their homework and get lunches packed before I leave, I’ll have to do it when I get back. Tanner just gets so overwhelmed.”
“Sure, nine-thirty’s great. The bar at the William Penn?” It had been their hangout, way back when they were three single girls with a lifetime of glamour and excitement ahead of them.
“Where else?”
WEDNESDAY
CHAPTER 10
Sasha woke with a headache, a furry mouth, and an empty bed.
From behind her closed bathroom door, she heard the shower running. She sat up and the room started to spin. She laid her head back down on the pillow as if her skull were made of blown glass and replayed the previous evening.
After Connelly’s bombshell, they’d shared a joyless meal and then had decided to go for a nightcap. They’d started at a hip martini bar, stopped in a neighborhood saloon, worked their way down the food chain to a dive bar frequented by hard-core drunks and twenty-somethings looking to stretch their drinking
“I think it was more money, but, you know, they could afford it. I guess he was just taking the money out of their accounts, trying to take care of it behind her back.”
The last time had been when the three of them were still junior associates. 1998. Ellen and Greg were engaged, and the wedding had been just four months away, when she’d broken down crying at a happy hour. Greg had been betting on football and owed his bookie thirty thousand dollars. To them, back then, that was a lot of money. Today, any one of them would have written a check for that amount without bothering to confirm the balance in the account, but they didn’t have that kind of money in 1998.
Ellen had sold her engagement ring and emptied out the fund she’d set aside for the wedding and honeymoon; perhaps presciently, her parents hadn’t been wild about Greg and had no intention of footing the bill for the reception. So, she’d been saving a chunk of her salary every month. But, they came up eight thousand dollars short on the gambling debt.
Greg’s attempt to negotiate the debt had earned him two cracked ribs and a busted nose, and Ellen was terrified he was going to be killed. Clarissa and Martine had each lent Clarissa four grand. They told themselves they would have spent that much on shower and wedding gifts, bridesmaid dresses, and other wedding-related hoopla if Ellen and Greg hadn’t canceled the wedding in favor of a quiet civil ceremony at the courthouse.
As a condition of going through with the wedding, Ellen had made Greg join Gamblers Anonymous. Grateful to her for saving his hide and afraid of losing her, he had thrown himself into the program. As he’d worked through his steps to recovery, he’d eventually made amends to both Clarissa and Martine and had repaid them the money they’d given Ellen.
And, as far as Clarissa knew, in the fourteen years that followed, Greg had never once broken his promise to Ellen that he wouldn’t gamble. Until those pictures showed up.
Funny how she and Ellen had both gotten their pictures on the same day.
Unlike Ellen, though, she hadn’t flown into a rage and confronted her husband with them immediately. Instead, Clarissa had deliberated, planned. She’d taken patient steps, beginning with retaining Andy Pulaski to ruin Nick’s life.
Martine broke into her thoughts again. “I thought they were really a solid couple. You know? Like you and Nick or Tanner and me.”
Clarissa swallowed her laugh, or maybe it was a sob. She couldn’t tell anymore. Martine still believed she and Nick were solid. If she only knew. Clarissa had a sudden urge to confide in her, now that Ellen was gone.
“Can you get away for a drink tomorrow night? In honor of Ellen?” she asked.
Clarissa could almost hear her ticking through a mental schedule of carpools, soccer practice, dinner, homework, and baths.
Finally, Martine said, “Sure. Let’s do it late. Maybe nine-thirty? If I don’t help the kids with their homework and get lunches packed before I leave, I’ll have to do it when I get back. Tanner just gets so overwhelmed.”
“Sure, nine-thirty’s great. The bar at the William Penn?” It had been their hangout, way back when they were three single girls with a lifetime of glamour and excitement ahead of them.
“Where else?”
WEDNESDAY
CHAPTER 10
Sasha woke with a headache, a furry mouth, and an empty bed.
From behind her closed bathroom door, she heard the shower running. She sat up and the room started to spin. She laid her head back down on the pillow as if her skull were made of blown glass and replayed the previous evening.
After Connelly’s bombshell, they’d shared a joyless meal and then had decided to go for a nightcap. They’d started at a hip martini bar, stopped in a neighborhood saloon, worked their way down the food chain to a dive bar frequented by hard-core drunks and twenty-somethings looking to stretch their drinking
Similar Books
