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"Don’t you dare deny it." Batting her eyelashes, she lifted the pitch in her voice to mimic his words from a few days ago. "I think I’m in love." As soon as she spoke, though, her face pinched tight. She sent him a testy look. "What a bunch of bull. You don’t even know her. And worse yet, she’d probably just got done kissing my husband right before she flirted with you."
Drew sighed. "She didn’t—" Realizing he was only digging himself deeper, he abruptly stopped trying and lifted his palms in surrender. "Look, I’m sorry for saying that, okay. It was … it was stupid, insensitive, and … and stupid." Ignoring his sister’s snort of agreement, he continued. "But honestly, nothing’s been proven yet. I mean, what did Jeff have to say about it?" He paused when she became interested in one of his portraits on the wall. "You did talk to Jeff like you said you would, didn’t you?" He hadn’t had a moment to discuss the situation with her to her since she’d come to pick up her children last night.
Mandy swallowed. "Yes."
He frowned, not liking the lump in his gut. "And?"
She avoided his gaze.
"Mandy? You asked him about the flowers, right?"
"Not yet," she mumbled.
"What!? Why not?"
She sighed. "I’m waiting until the credit card bill comes in."
"The credit—" He shook his head. "Okay, you totally lost me."
"Fine. Here’s the plan," she started, looking very reluctant to explain. "Jeffrey and I switch every other month to pay the bills. I didn’t want to hear him complain when he saw how much I had to spend on Natalie’s uniforms for this summer’s dance camp. So I went online to make sure my purchase would show up on the month I pay bills. That way he’d never even see how much they cost. But then I saw fifty dollars had been spent at Thornback’s Posey Shop, and I almost flipped. I was ready to call the credit card company and report identity theft."
"Fifty bucks for six roses?" Drew echoed in disbelief.
Good Lord. Last time he’d bought anyone a bouquet, it’d been Mandy’s birthday and he’d gotten the six ninety-nine special from the grocery store, which consisted of a couple dozen yellow, half-wilted daisies.
Shaking his head, he returned to reality. "So why didn’t you contact the credit card company?"
"Because I wanted to find out who’d been using my card more. I went to the flower shop and bugged the owner until she finally pulled the receipt. And right there, with my very own eyes, I saw my husband’s signature for the delivery."
Drew winced. That didn’t sound good. But it didn’t explain everything. "I still don’t understand why you think you have to wait until the credit card bill comes in to ask him about it?"
She looked uncomfortable as she answered, "I don’t want him to think I was being nosey and purposely checking up on him. I don’t want him to think I don’t trust him."
Shaking his head, Drew argued, "But you don’t trust him, Mandy. And you found out about the flowers by accident. Why does it matter anyway?"
"Drew, I have this all planned out. Okay? Just back off. As soon as the bill comes, I’m going to open it in front of him. Then, as I’m already glancing through it, I’ll be like, ‘Oh, it’s you’re month to pay the bills, isn’t it?’ And right before I hand it over, I’m going to pause and frown at the itemized list. ‘Hmm,’ I’ll say, looking confused. ‘There’s a bill here from Thornback’s. Then, I’ll innocently glance at him and ask, ‘Did you buy anything from Thornback’s?’ If he says no, then bam, I have him in a lie. If he says yes and the answer is anything different than having six roses delivered to 410 South Elm, then—"
"Yeah, yeah. Bam, you have him in a lie. I got it."
"But if he has some kind of explanation and it meshes with what I already know, then I’ll have my answer and he’ll never suspect I thought he might be cheating. I don’t want him to be mad at me, and knowing I d
on’t trust him would hurt him, Drew. He’d be so upset."
Drew blew out a long sigh, knowing there was no way to talk his sister out of her idea. "So, what did you talk to Jeff about if it wasn’t the roses? You said you talked to him."
"Oh, I asked him about … you know, his lack of—"
"Whoa. Sorry I asked. I don’t need to hear anymore."
"And he said he’d been really busy at work, dealing with a lot of stress," Amanda continued anyway. "Which kind of clears him, but doesn’t completely. He’s had stress before. And it’s only made him want more intimate—"
"Mandy," Drew bit out. "No more. Please."
His sister rolled her eyes. "I figure the only way I can tell for sure if stress is really making him distant is if you talk to him. Which brings me around to the reason I came over." Looking up at him with pleading eyes, she said, "Will you talk to Jeffrey?"
"Me?" Drew shifted a nervous step back, not liking the turn this conversation had taken. "Why?"
"You’re a guy. Guys talk about that stuff."
