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“I know. I’m sorry. But I have to go. I’ll call you soon,” I told him quickly before hanging up.
The loop of what I just saw played in my mind over and over again as I slowly got out of the car and walked into the grocery store in a daze. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I always suspected Chris was cheating on Claire. Why else would he be gone so much? And when he was home, he was only half there. His mind was always somewhere else. Not to mention the way he hit on me in the kitchen that one day. Claire tried to insist it was just a little harmless flirting, but I never did feel right about passing it all off as harmless.
After picking up the groceries, I sat and chewed on my lip and nervously tapped my foot on the tiled floor of the pharmacy while I waited for Claire’s prescription to be filled. Seeing Chris with that woman may have explained a lot, but this could have gotten Claire killed. I wanted to shake him, to scream in his face.
And worse, I had made a promise to tell Claire if I ever saw anything like that. The fact that she had to ask me to promise such a thing at all said a lot about how messed up their relationship was. I had every reason to tell her, but…I worried. Even after everything that happened that day, Claire was still acting like everything was fine between them. She didn’t even bother asking where her husband had run off to after the hospital. It was hard enough to watch her settle for so little with him, even when it put her life in danger. If I told her what I saw and she still didn’t leave him…I didn’t know if I could stand it.
24
KEITH
Claire peered over my shoulder from her wheelchair, trying her best to catch a glimpse of the spices I was tossing into the chili.
“I told you. A chef never reveals his secrets,” I reminded her.
“Fine. Don’t tell me,” she shrugged. “But I bet Derek knows the recipe.”
“He’d never tell you. He knows better.”
“Maybe not. But I bet Melody would,” she grinned.
“Go on and hear it from them. The recipe he knows isn’t the same. The way I make it is better.”
“We’ll see about that,” she teased.
I stirred the pot and glanced over at Lana. She leaned against the counter with her arms crossed, watching us in silence. I could tell she had a lot on her mind, but she offered a smile when my eyes met hers.
“Want to taste?” I asked her, scooping up a bit with the spoon.
She leaned in to slurp up the chili. I brushed her cheek as she did it, and wiped a trail of the sauce from the corner of her mouth.
Lana softened to my touch, but quickly tensed up as her eyes darted over to Claire, who was watching us closely. Lana cleared her throat and straightened, trying her best to play it off like nothing was going on between us.
“It’s good to see that you two are getting along so much better now,” Claire said. “I was a little worried about you two being business partners.”
“Nothing to worry about. This needs to simmer for about forty-five minutes,” I added, knowing Lana was desperate for a change in subject. “What should we do until then?”
“I vote we start a game of Monopoly,” Claire suggested.
“As much as I’d rather not…,” Lana replied. “You were the one who was in the hospital today.”
“That’s right. So I get whatever I want,” she joked. “I think I’m really onto something with all of this. Every time I get closer to recovery, I’ll just fall out of my chair again. Then I can stretch this whole thing out, and no one can ever tell me no, and I’ll have everyone waiting on me hand and foot.”
“If that’s what you’re playing at, does that mean you’ll stop being so stubborn about letting me take care of you?” Lana scolded.
“I’ll be on my best behavior.” Claire grabbed her phone and the lanyard it was attached to and put it around her neck. “See? I’m doing better already.”
We set the game up on the coffee table so the kitchen table would be clear and ready when the chili was done. I couldn’t remember the last time I played Monopoly, but I knew it had to be with Derek, Melody, and Em.
“My brother and I can’t play this without it blowing up into a big fight,” I warned them.
“Same with Lana,” Claire laughed.
“That’s not true,” she defended in mock disdain.
“Oh, yes, it is, and you know it. You try to become a real estate mogul, and if you’re not running the whole board by the end of it, you start insisting that everyone’s cheating.”
“You just get mad when you owe me money,” Lana smirked.
