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“Part of me is glad because any space from her is good. The other part of me wished she would have come in, so I could see her reaction to us actually having hot chocolate to hand out. Surely with that cocky attitude of hers, she wouldn’t have been able to control her facial expressions when she saw what we were able to pull off.”
Chris nodded his head in understanding, sinking further down into the pool until the water came up to his chin.
“I don’t know how a woman who has that much success and that much money can be so miserable,” he said after a while.
“I know,” Birgit replied. “I don’t know how poor Frank puts up with her.”
Chris said nothing, but Birgit quickly noticed a strange look come over his face.
“What is it?” she asked, inching closer.
Chris shook his head, looking guilty as he stared down into the water.
“I shouldn’t say,” he replied slowly, glancing at her.
Birgit felt the humor of the previous conversation start to dissipate, and she studied Chris’ face.
“What aren’t you telling me?” she asked.
Chris took a deep breath, as if preparing himself, then got out of the pool. As he did so, snow began to fall, melting instantly as it hit the uncovered hot spring pool.
“I didn’t want you to hear it from me,” he explained, wrapping a towel around his waist.
“Hear what?” Birgit asked, following him. The cold December air hit her harshly as she got out of the pool, making steam rise from her goose-pimpled skin.
“Chris, what do you know? And why aren’t you telling me? You tell me everything! Ever since we became friends.”
It was true. Ever since Chris had first visitedIced Vines Estatesto become a vendor twelve years ago, they’d gossiped and bonded over everything. There were no secrets at all until now. So what was he hiding?
“It’s about Anita,” he admitted begrudgingly, finally looking at her again.
“So?” she asked, confused.
He pressed his lips together tightly and he looked at her sympathetic eyes.
“AndJimmy,” he finally confessed.
Birgit suddenly went numb, and it had nothing to do with the dropping temperature or the snowfall.
“What?” she whispered.
“That night I saw Jim at theStube,”Chris continued, “Anita was there, too. And she was practically draped around him.”
ChapterFive
Birgit stared off into space, her brain still not fully wrapping around the idea. Chris had stayed with her for a long time after he told her what he saw, sitting close to her with an arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders. She hadn’t wanted him to go, but when he’d offered to stay over, she couldn’t bring herself to agree. Now that she was alone, though, she was deeply regretting her decision.
Anita? Why her?she mentally asked herself. Birgit had known that Jimmy was running around when he was with her, but all of the women she’d found out about were considerably younger. She knew it was strange, but it was a comfort somehow. Perhaps because it was such a cliché that she could laugh about it. But Anita? Anita was almost a decade older than Birgit.
Above her, the fluorescent lights of the kitchen flickered on. Startled, Birgit turned toward the door. Did the hot chocolate menace return?
“Sorry,” Frieda apologized, “I didn’t think anyone was in here yet.”
Birgit’s nerves calmed when she saw Frieda at the door, and she looked back down at her coffee.
“What are you doing here so early?” Birgit asked, embarrassed to be caught sulking.
“Early?” Frieda asked, sounding confused. “It’s five a.m., B.”
