AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He feels a lot of things very deeply. Injustice. Loyalty. Responsibility. Your son is one of the smartest and most morally upright people I’ve ever met. But he’s totally practical about emotional relationships.” The more she spoke, the more depressed she got. “That’s what women don’t pick up on. They want to sweep him off his feet, but he’s not sweepable. Lucy’s decision traumatized you more than him.”
Francesca shot around the side of the desk. “This is what you want to believe. You couldn’t be more wrong.”
“I’m not a threat, Mrs. Beaudine,” she said more quietly. “I’m not going to break his heart or try to trick him into marriage. I’m not going to hang on to him. I’m a safe place to stash your son until a more appropriate woman comes along.” That hurt a lot more than she wanted it to, but she somehow managed a carefree shrug. “I’m your dream girl. And I want my job back.”
Francesca had herself under control again. “You can’t really see a future in doing menial work at a small-town country club.”
“I like it. Who knew, right?”
Francesca picked up a notepad from her desk. “I’ll get you a job in L.A. New York. San Francisco. Wherever you want. A good job. What you do with it is up to you.”
“Thanks, but I’ve gotten used to getting things for myself.”
Francesca set down the notepad and twisted her wedding ring, finally looking uncomfortable. Several more seconds ticked by. “Why didn’t you take your grievance against me straight to Ted?”
“I like to fight my own battles.”
Francesca’s brief moment of vulnerability vanished, and steel took over her spine. “He’s been through enough. I don’t want him hurt again.”
“Trust me when I tell you that I’m not important enough for that ever to happen.” Another painful pang. “I’m his rebound girl. I’m also the only woman, other than Torie, that he can be bad-tempered with. It’s restful for him. As for me . . . He’s a nice break from the losers I generally hook up with.”
“You’re certainly pragmatic.”
“Like I said. I’m your dream girl.” Somehow she managed a cocky smile, but as she left the office and headed back across the courtyard her bravado faded. She was sick of feeling unworthy.
When she showed up for work the next day, no one seemed to remember that she’d been fired. Ted stopped by her drink cart. True to her word, she didn’t mention what had happened or his mother’s part in it.
The day turned blistering hot, and by the time she got home that evening, she was a sweaty, sodden mess. She couldn’t wait to get to the swimming hole. She pulled her polo over her head as she walked past the battered old table that held her jewelry supplies. One of the ecology books she’d borrowed from Ted lay open on the worn couch. In the kitchen, a stack of dirty dishes waited for her in the sink. She kicked off her sneakers and opened the bathroom door.
All the blood drained from her head as she saw what was scrawled across the mirror in a vicious smear of crimson lipstick.
GO AWAY
Chapter Fifteen
Her hands shook as she tried to scrub the words away, and queer little sounds escaped from her throat.
GO AWAY
Leaving lipstick messages on mirrors was the biggest cliché in the world, something that only a person with no imagination would do. She needed to get a grip. But knowing an intruder had sneaked into her house when she was gone and touched her things made her nauseated. She didn’t stop shaking until she’d erased the awful words and searched the church for other signs of invasion. She found nothing.
As her panic faded, she tried to imagine who had done this, but there were so many potential candidates she couldn’t sort through them all. The front door had been locked. The back door was locked now, but she hadn’t checked it before she’d left. For all she knew, the intruder had gotten in that way, then locked it afterward. She pulled her damp polo back on, went outside, and walked around the church but found nothing unusual.
She finally took her shower, darting nervous glances at the open door as she washed. She hated being frightened. Hated it even more when Ted loomed without warning in the open doorway, and she screamed.
“Jesus!” he said. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
“I knocked.”
“
How was I supposed to hear?” She jerked off the faucet.
“When did you get so skittish?”
“You took me by surprise, that’s all.” She couldn’t tell him. She knew that right away. His status as a certified superhero meant he’d refuse to let her live here alone any longer. She couldn’t afford to live anywhere else, and she wasn’t letting him pay rent on another place. Besides, she loved her church. Maybe not at this precise moment, but she would again, as soon as she got over being creeped out.
