Page 62 of Deadly Conflicts

17

Seventeen

“Mandy?”

James poked his head into the bedroom an hour later, pausing by the door and listening for telltale signs of his wife. He hadn’t heard a peep from her since she disappeared from the garage. He knew she was embarrassed and angry with herself and he wanted to give her a little time to decompress.

The bedroom was empty, Mandy’s shoes on the floor next to the bed and her skirt and top hanging off the edge of the mattress. James pursed his lips as he shuffled toward the bathroom. He wasn’t exactly happy with her attitude – and still couldn’t figure out why she was so worked up – but he didn’t want her wasting the entire night pouting.

“Baby?” James lightly rapped his knuckles against the bathroom door. They were married, but she still valued her privacy. “It’s going to be okay. I talked to Mom and she swears she won’t tell Ally. Jake is calmer now and I think he’ll listen to your apology. He wasn’t really angry with you. He’s just nervous.”

Mandy didn’t answer, which grated James.

“Baby, I’m not going to coddle you all night,” Jams said. “I love you and I know you’re sorry. We’ll fix it. Just … stop being a pain.”

He knew it was a gamble to push her in that manner. When she didn’t respond yet again James lost any semblance of patience. “I am not messing around, Mandy. You need to stop being a baby.” He pushed open the door, ready for a fight. He frowned when he found it empty.

“Mandy?”

Guilt coursed through him when he realized he’d been thinking bad thoughts and she wasn’t even in the room. He would have to apologize for that later, even though she had no idea what he said. The guilt would gnaw at him otherwise.

James trudged back to the bedroom and glanced around. Her work clothes were haphazardly strewn about the room. She didn’t like the pencil skirts nearly as much as he did and he was going to be sad when she stopped wearing them. That was the only thing he didn’t like about her leaving the job at the courthouse.

James moved to the window and glanced out, staring at the guesthouse to see if he could see a hint of movement through the window. She probably went to her studio, he internally mused. She felt guilty and sad so painting would be her emotional outlet once she calmed down. James made up his mind on the spot. He knew she was upset, but he refused to be separated from her all night. He was almost to the bedroom door, the intention to join her in the guesthouse at the forefront of his brain, when he noticed a sheet of paper on the nightstand.

James corrected his course and snagged the note, furrowing his brow as he read it. It seemed his wife wasn’t in the guesthouse after all. She wasn’t even on the property. To deal with her transgression she decided to drown her sorrows another way. And she wasn’t going to the bar alone.

“Son of a … !”

“MEN ARE stupid.” Ally sipped her grapefruit martini and wiped her cocktail napkin over the condensation left behind before shifting her eyes to Mandy. “Don’t you think men are stupid?”

“I don’t want to talk about men.” Mandy was two drinks into their margarita pitcher, but she was still mindful of keeping her mouth shut about her fight with Jake. When she called Ally to go to the bar she merely said she had a long day. Ally was eager to drink for some reason, too – although Mandy had yet to hear why – so the duo met at a lakefront bar with a shuttle service so they wouldn’t have to worry about driving – or calling the men in their lives to pick them up, for that matter. “Let’s talk about something else.”

Ally made a face that was downright comical, and it wasn’t simply because of the margaritas. “If we don’t talk about the men in our lives, what are we going to talk about?”

Mandy shrugged. “We’re adults. We’re not supposed to let our lives revolve around men.”

“Yes, that’s lovely in theory,” Ally said. “I’m a pathetic person, though. My life does revolve around Jake.”

“You’re not pathetic,” Mandy countered. “You’re … awesome.”

“No, you’re awesome,” Ally said, taking another sip. “These are good. We should make them at your house one day.”

“I like those blueberry ones we made the other day,” Mandy said. “These are good. Those were better, though.”

Ally snorted. “You just like the blueberry ones because they turn your tongue blue,” she said. “James told Jake that you liked kissing him with your blue tongue, too. He said you reminded him of a horny smurf.”

Mandy frowned. “That’s not very nice.”

“The smurf part or the horny reference?”

Mandy shrugged. “I’m not particularly fond of either of them.”

“Yeah. I get that. Wait … what were we saying?”

Mandy giggled, love for her friend washing over her. Ally was the one person who always managed to make her laugh. Sure, it was dangerous getting drunk with a person when you’re hiding something from them, but Mandy needed a break from James – and especially his parents – and Ally was the only person she thought about when the realization that she needed to get away hit.

“You know I love your mom and dad, right?”