Page 43 of Love Everlasting

Yeah, best woman. She swiped at the tears springing to her eyes.

Wrong girl.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Never thought I’d say this, but thank you, God, for that stupid hedge.

Dabbing a tissue to her swollen eyes, Tess rose from the chair she’d tucked in the shadows behind her patio, her hiding place for the last hour while she’d waited for Ben to go to bed. He’d banged on all her doors and phoned and texted nonstop, but she’d ignored it all. Including the last call and text over forty minutes ago, right before his backyard light went out, turning the stupid hedge into an insurmountable black wall.

Like my heart.

She’d been so upset, she’d driven home and gone straight to bed, feigning sleep when both Shannon and Cat had peeked in, never more grateful Davey had spent the night with Spence. She didn’t want to talk to anybody right now, least of all the man who had just shattered her heart into a million pieces.

“We had some pretty long days in Libya as I recall, but we always managed to eat.” Tess’s eyelids weighted closed as she swayed on her feet. “Among other things.”

Other things.

The stupid leak in her eyes started up again and she blew her nose hard, the earlier click of his slider lock indicating Ben was safely in bed and long gone.

“Just like me tomorrow morning,” she muttered, her bags packed and stowed in her car while a note to the twins lay on the kitchen table.

Cat and Shan, I left early to spend a few days with Lynne Feuerstein at her Hilton Head beach house, probably till Tuesday. Spoke with her last night, and she needs a good friend right now—lots of heartache going on.

Tess fought the rise of more tears as she fisted the envelope that contained Ben’s ring. And it’s all mine.

I already called Davey to let him know, so if you could just pick him up from his overnight at Spence’s and keep an eye on him for a few days, I’d really appreciate it. You can reach me on my cell. I promise it’s charged. Love, Mom.

Releasing a shuddering sigh, she swiped at her eyes and marched down the driveway with purpose. She needed to get away to think and pray, and as a recent widow, Lynne had been begging her to come, so the timing was perfect.

Unlike Tess’s love life.

With a quick glance at her watch, she peeked around the hedge, satisfied to see that Ben’s Range Rover was obviously in the garage and all lights were out. One o’clock. She’d never gone over to his house this late because Ben was usually in bed early, even before he and Tess had gotten together. An image of the leggy Dr. Andreyuk standing in Ben’s kitchen a year ago in a barely-there bikini suddenly surfaced, taunting her with a whole new take on being “in bed,” and the waterworks started all over again.

“No!” She strode toward the wooden gate with shoulders back and head high. “I will not allow Ben Carmichael to do this to me,” she hissed, resolve coursing through her veins as she unlatched the gate that was, thankfully, on the other side of the house from where Dr. Doom and everyone slept.

Dr. Doom. Tess unloaded another grunt. Now there was a nickname that certainly nailed it to the wall. “Just like I plan to do to you once I get my hands on you … you …middle-aged Romeo,” she muttered, relieved that anger was finally chasing the tears away. But nails and walls would have to wait because she was in no frame of mind to confront Dr. Doom right now, not unless she was fond of manslaughter.

Which was a distinct possibility at the moment.

Tiptoeing to the corner of the house, she paused, surveying Ben’s darkened backyard. Satisfied all was quiet, Tess inched her way to the slider door where Ben had installed an oversized mailbox last year. Right after Lacey left a bag of homemade cookies tied to the handle when Ben wasn’t home. Poor, sweet Beau had snarfed the entire bag of cookies down before Ben could even stop him, puking them all over Ben’s bed. Tess opened the mailbox with painstaking care, an evil smile sprouting on her lips at the memory.

Poor Ben.

Her mouth took a slant. She was tempted to go home and bake cookies just to do it all over again. The slant curved into a deliciously slow smile.

Laced with MiraLAX and ipecac.

“I thought you didn’t like sneaking around?”

With a throat-cramping squeal, Tess vaulted at least three inches in the air while the envelope flew even higher, pretty darn sure she was going into cardiac arrest. “Are you deranged?” she shrieked, gaping at Ben as he nonchalantly rose from a lawn chair hidden in the bushes at the back of his yard. She slammed a palm to her chest, rib cage heaving so hard, she thought she might puke. Which could come in handy if he came close enough ... “Oh my gosh, what kind of crazy lunatic sits in the bushes in the middle of the night?”

“The same kind that stalks into a neighbor’s yard at one in the morning, I guess,” he said in a casual tone, strolling forward with hands in the pockets of his Gap pajama bottoms. If she wasn’t so ticked, she would have rolled her eyes at the T-shirt Lacey gave him for Christmas that said, “When Hearts Break, I Fix ‘Em.”

Yeah? Well not this time, Doc.

He nodded to the envelope at her feet, a faint smile on his lips as he slowly approached. “What’d you bring me? Restraining order, lawsuit, or cyanide?”

She jutted her chin, shoulders squared for battle. “I guess you’ll just have to find out after I leave.” Spinning on her heel, she tossed a squinty-eyed glare over her shoulder as she strode toward the gate. “I’d say ‘good night, Doc,’ but I wouldn’t mean it. And unlike some people I know, I don’t lie.”