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She lifted her legs off the chaise and stood up.
“Wow, you look incredible,” he said, sounding like a horny teenager. “Your breasts are about ready to fall out of that suit.”
“They’re ready to nurse a baby,” she said, squirting some of the lotion in her hand.
The skin on his back was dry and bumpy with random wiry hairs. What had been so remarkable about Terry that she’d give up her baby to be with him? Was it only the money? Love didn’t even seem to play into the equation any longer. They’d broken up in the first place because she discovered he was cheating on her with a nurse at the hospital where he practiced.
Ashlie had just picked up Terry’s phone when the screen lit up while he was in the shower. It was a text from a woman named Cindy.I have to cancel! I’m so sorry. My husband came home a day early from his business trip. Let’s try to have lunch tomorrow. Love you.
She didn’t waste a second.Cindy, this is Terry’s fiancée. I’ll give him your message. I’m sure he’d love to lunch with you.
“Could you have done anything more pedestrian?” she’d cried. “A nurse? Why am I not even shocked?”
Immediately repentant, Terry had begged her to forgive him, but she was already in Adam Spencer’s bed.
In the hot Caribbean sun, as she rubbed suntan lotion onto Terry’s back, she wondered what Adam and baby Adelaide were doing in Louisiana. When Terry had persistently begged Ashlie to take him back after a separation, but she’d become smitten with Adam, she had to make a pro and con list for both men in order to decide who to go with.
For having such an analytical mind, Adam was all about the senses. Although she hated it, his shack in the middle of the bayou said it all. He’d restored the cypress structure until it shined. Even the wild yard had evidence of landscaping that would make a botanist jealous.
His playlist was breathtaking. He’d handed his phone over so she could copy the songs and after the baby was born, when Terry wasn’t around, she still played it, tears streaming down her face.
Adam was a sensitive artist in every definition of the word.
Terry, on the other hand, was a sarcastic hedonist.
But Terry’s house was six thousand square feet of extravagance. The master bedroom had two bathrooms and Terry handed over the larger of the two for Ashlie, who would take long, luxurious baths. It even had a steam bath.
Complimenting her hypersexuality, Terry was all about aggressive love;I want you now and I won’t take no for an answer.Adam let her be the aggressor, as wonderful as it was between them, but he’d waited too long to show her he cared, and then it was too late. She wanted to be back in Terry’s world with his expensive cars and luxury vacations, his chef and his multimillion-dollar house.
After trying to tone his behavior down for her sake, the real Terry showed up, the one who wanted Ashlie to be as aggressive as he was in every aspect of life, where her being an English teacher would not be enough for him. He’d bought a small art gallery in Saint John’s Parish and when she lost her job because of the moral clause that she refused to fight, he decided she would take over and run the place whether or not she wanted to. But she maintained her ground and got the job in the public school, infuriating him.
It came down to what one man offered over the other. Even after she found out she was pregnant with Adam’s baby, Terry still won. She chose a life of excitement, means, and luxury.
“You’re covered,” she said, ready to try for amicable. After all, they were in one of the most beautiful places in the world, being pampered by the staff of a luxury resort. “Maybe you should get under the umbrella for a while.”
“Okay,” he said, signaling for a staff member who pulled an umbrella over. “I’m sorry about everything.”
Closing her eyes, she just nodded. “It’s okay, Terry. It’s over. I’ll try to move on from it.”
“When we get home, I’ll see if Jack can do damage control.”
Ashlie sat up, taking her sunglasses off. “You mean, get in touch with Adam?”
“Yes. He seems like a reasonable guy. We can try to work something out with him.”
She lay back down again, feeling miserable. “I signed the final papers long before she was born, Terry. I don’t have the energy for a fight.”
“You don’t have to do anything,” Terry said. “Allow me to make amends.”
She looked at him out of one eye. “Why?”
“I feel guilty,” he said. “I acted like an asshole. Paul said I’d regret it and he was right.”
“Terry, get over it. It’s too late. I’m serious when I say I’m not up for it.”
She closed her eyes, tuning his yammering out. A wave of exhaustion so powerful that she was afraid she’d pass out washed over her. Terry would do whatever Terry wanted and she’d have to go along with it. It was the life she chose.
At the end of the week, Katy returned to San Diego. After spending six days together, leaving was difficult, but she’d come home as soon as she had a long weekend. Family leave started for Adam and Adelaide. Twelve weeks with a tiny baby who slept most of the time left him with a lot of time on his hands and several options. He didn’t want to get on a ladder, or use any smelly paints or shellacs around her, so that left working in the yard. He ordered plants online and had them delivered to the grocery where he’d make a pickup run. It gave the family a chance to see the baby, too, without driving down his dirt road and having to get their cars washed afterward.
