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28
“You know, with everything that happened this weekend, you never told me about Monday Night Madness. You said something happened with Lydia and you’d tell me when you saw me.”
It was Monday, and Will was seated in his home office, talking to Elizabeth while she was on her lunch break. His desk was littered with paperwork he’d just finished reviewing with Richard via telephone, and he sat back, fighting off a looming headache.
“Oh. Ugh. Well, it seems Lydia took a liking to Charlotte's boyfriend, and sadly, he took a liking to her too. I got to break the news to Charlotte when I had lunch with her on Friday.”
“Say no more. I hope Charlotte dumped him.”
“She did. I tried to talk to Lydia about it, but we ended up arguing. She feels like she has nothing to be sorry about, so our conversation ended pretty abruptly. I just want to shake her sometimes! She's so self-absorbed. It makes me crazy.”
“How's Charlotte?”
“She’s okay. She insists she wasn't in love, so she's moving on.”
“Good.”
“Did you talk to Richard this morning?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Well, he didn't swear at me this time, so that’s a good sign. I told him we’d talk more when I’m in California. Maybe I'll get to know Lauren better while I’m out there.”
“When do you think you'll be going?”
“I was thinking of arranging it so that I'm there while you're in South Carolina. Do you have your dates?”
“Bill is firming things up as we speak. It looks like sooner rather than later.”
“How soon is sooner?”
“Possibly the end of next week.”
“Damn. I can't believe I won't see you for two weeks.”
“It will actually be closer to two and a half. But I'll have the middle weekend to myself; maybe you could come visit?”
He smiled. “I think that can be arranged.”
* * *
Elizabeth finally hadthe dates for her trip: she'd be leaving on the twenty-eighth of July, and returning the fourteenth of August. She was somewhat acquainted with Marie Turner, the marine research associate who would be representing the oceanographic group, but didn’t know her well, and didn’t know the scientist from NOAA at all. They would all stay in a house owned by the ACE Basin Reserve.
She sent Marie a quick email asking if they could get together sometime before they left to talk about the trip, and just as she’d sent it, Bill called and asked to see her again. She rose from her desk and went down the hall, and was surprised when he shut his office door behind her and sat on the edge of his desk.
“Elizabeth, I need to ask you about something. George said his situation with Charlotte has changed, and he's been seeing your sister Lydia. Did you know that?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. Okay. Um, they went away somewhere this past weekend… He said Charlotte cheated on him with some rich doctor fellow at the hospital.”
She rolled her eyes. “Nope. Not true. He actually cheated on Charlotte. With Lydia.”
“Oh. He made it seem as though Char—”
“Why are we talking about this?”
