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No matter how slowly she walked, the rocky soil crunched beneath her feet, but she wasn’t too concerned about drawing attention. Not right now. The closer she got to Butch’s office, the more obvious it became that he and his wife were deeply immersed in an argument.
“I don’t want her calling here anymore.” That was Paris.
“You said whoever it was hung up,” Butch responded.
“They did.”
“Then how do you know it was her?” He sounded as if he was trying to come across as unconcerned, but Francesca wasn’t buying it. She wondered if Paris was.
“Because she always hangs up when I answer.”
“It doesn’t make sense for Kelly to call the house, Paris. If she wanted to talk to me, she’d call my cell or the business line. And I’m telling you I haven’t heard from her since I broke it off.”
“She’s not satisfied calling your cell. She wants to involve me. She’s hoping it’ll upset me, break us up. She thinks if we get divorced she’ll have you all to herself.”
“Come on. She knows we’ll never split up. I told her that from the beginning.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s willing to accept it!”
“She has a husband and children of her own.”
“A husband she doesn’t love. Matt’s leaving her. You know that. She’s only using her children to get as much financial support from him as possible. If it wasn’t for the money, she’d walk out on them in a heartbeat, especially if she thought she could have you.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Are you sure you broke it off, Butch?”
“That’s what I told you, isn’t it?”
“Then where did these come from?”
That question resulted in the loudest silence Francesca had ever heard.
“Where’d you get those?” Butch asked at length.
“After that call, I went out and searched your truck. They were in the jockey box.”
Francesca wished she could see Butch’s face, his body language. In an attempt to do just that, she edged closer to the window but he and Paris were standing next to the desk, out of sight.
“That’s bullshit,” Butch snapped. “I’d never be stupid enough to put another woman’s panties in such an obvious place.”
“Then how did they get there?” she asked, her voice rising.
“I have no clue. But I didn’t put them there.”
“Do you recognize them?”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe that? You collect them! You use them to relive your time with the women who owned them. You probably get off just touching them!”
He sidestepped the panties issue. “I haven’t been with Kelly!”
“Then who?”
“No one!”
Paris came into view. Head down, the panties balled in her right fist, she looked completely dejected. “I can’t take any more, Butch. After everything that’s happened, after the nightmare we’ve been through, a nightmare that’ll never end, you still can’t be faithful?”
