Autumn Getaway (Seasons of Love) (16 page)

Sam raked his hands through his wavy hair and took a deep breath, trying hard to keep his annoyance from turning into anger. “For the record, when I walked Lydia back to her room last night, we sat and talked. And that was it. But even if I’d had wild sex with her all night long, it’s still absolutely none of your damn business—or your wife’s. Did Paige also tell you that Lydia has a child? A little boy, three and a half.”

“Don’t bring Paige into this,” Alec said coolly, his gaze frosting.

“The hell I won’t,” Sam snapped. “That’s who put this bee in your bonnet. Apparently while you and I were playing pool last night, Paige took it upon herself to give Lydia a quick cross examination. I thought
you
were the attorney in the family, not her.”

Alec sighed, seeming to pay no heed to anything Sam had said about him or his wife. His mind was stuck on a fresh detail. “A kid too? Newly divorced, and she has a kid. Sammy, what are you
doing
? This is screaming 'complications'. A one night stand doesn't have to be complicated, and shouldn't be. Maybe she's not the right one to fool around with this weekend. You can find someone else to screw tonight and leave tomorrow with no strings, I guarantee it.”

Sam leaned in, his angry gaze secured intently to Alec’s, and said in a quiet, firm voice, “For the last time. What I do, and who I do it with, is nobody’s damn business but my own. So tell Paige to back off, and you better too. I can take care of myself, thank you very much.”

“Oh my God,” Alec said disdainfully, his eyes wide with surprise. He pulled back in mild horror. “Wait a minute. Wait a goddamn minute. This isn't just about getting laid—you think you actually really
like
this woman. Oh no, no,
no
.”

“Watch yourself,” Sam murmured, his jaw setting in irritation.

“C'mon Sammy! Jesus,” Alec said, ignoring the steely resolve in his brother’s tone. “She's a newly single mom—I'm
telling
you, she could be a bit of a head case right now, you know? No piece of ass is worth that, and you don't
have
to go down that road. I mean, I know you've always loved a challenge—well hell, now that I think about it, maybe that's part of her appeal to you.” Alec nodded to himself as he went on, “She looked up at you with those big, bottomless eyes, shook those big tits at you, and you felt the need to sweep in and rescue her, pull your white knight thing, as you always do. Maybe you even want to try and fix her, like you do with everyone you see who's somewhat broken. But come
on
, Sammy—for a little weekend fling, you couldn’t just keep it simple?”

“For Christ's sake, Alec.” Sam expelled a sharp hiss of held breath and stood up. His eyes flashed with anger. He was mad enough at his brother that his hands were curled into fists. “I’m leaving, right now, before I say or do something I regret. But let me make this
very
clear. You and I? Are not going to talk about this again. Just leave it alone. Leave
her
alone—hell, leave
me
alone. I don't want to hear another word out of your mouth about this; the subject is closed. Got it?”

“Whatever you say, little brother,” Alec said, raising his hands as if in surrender. He watched Sam stalk away from him and shook his head in resignation.

* * *

Lydia had just finished applying her makeup when her cell phone started ringing. With a grunt, she went to her phone where it lay on the desk and checked the caller ID. It was Matt. Her mouth went dry instantly from dread as she answered it. “Matt? What is it? Is Andy alright?”

“He’s fine,” Matt said, sounding annoyed with her, as usual. “He’s fine, calm down.”

Lydia slumped onto the couch nestled in the corner under the window. She closed her eyes and took a deep, cleansing breath. “Then what’s up? I’m getting ready, I have to be downstairs in ten minutes, the wedding's going to start soon.” She looked down at herself, only in her black bra and matching panties, and realized with a grimace that she still needed to finish getting dressed.

“I took Andy to the park all day,” Matt began, “and we had a great time. He was playing nonstop, all over the place, we had lunch there, he was very happy. Then he got tired after a few hours, so we started to go back to the car to go home. He tripped in the parking lot and scraped his knee up. He was crying, all that—”

“Oh, poor baby,” she gasped. “Is he okay?”

“Lydia,” Matt said, quickly moving past annoyed into livid. “He scraped his knee. It bled a little. I have Band-Aids. He cried a bit. He’s fine. It’s just that… he kept asking for you.” Matt’s voice had gotten lower, slightly sullen. “So I told him I’d call you so he could say hello.”

“I thought we agreed this morning that we weren’t going to do that again this weekend,” she said, her tone turning icy.

“I know we did, but he kept asking for you. I thought it’d make him feel better to hear your voice. He was obviously missing you. What was I supposed to do?” Matt snapped defensively.

Lydia sighed. “Put him on, put him on.”

There was a pause while she heard Matt cross his living room to get to their son. “Andy,” she could hear Matt say, in a much nicer tone of voice. “Andy. Hey buddy. Here, Mama’s on the phone. Yeah! Mama. She’s on the phone, here.”

“Andy, sweetheart, it’s Mama,” Lydia cooed. “Hi baby. It’s Mama.”

“Mama,” Andy said. He sounded happy at first, then his tone quickly turned sad. “Mama? Won Mama. Won Mama.” His little voice trembled, and he started sniffling as if he were about to cry. Won Mama—
Want Mama
.

Lydia’s heart sank to her stomach, and her eyes automatically brimmed with unwanted tears. “Andy,” she said calmly. “Andy, sweetheart. Listen to me. Don’t cry. It’s okay. Daddy is gonna take good, good care of you. I’ll be home tomorrow, and I’m gonna kiss your booboo, and give you a million hugs. Okay? You’re alright, baby. You’re alright.” She tipped her head back to keep the threatening tears from spilling over and ruining the makeup she'd just put on. “I love you, sweetheart. I’ll be home tomorrow, just in time for dinner. I promise. Okay?”

“Mama?” Andy said. He sounded a tiny bit better. “Mama? Booboo.”

Lydia’s heart soared. He’d never uttered that word before. “I know,” she said excitedly. “I know, you fell and got a booboo, that’s right. Daddy’s gonna make it all better. Okay? Good talking, baby! You told me you got a booboo, I understand.”

“Mama,” Andy said happily, almost sounding like he was smiling.

“I love you, baby. I love you,” Lydia said. She stood and crossed the room to get back to the bathroom, found the tissues, and grabbed one. She dabbed at her eyes carefully.

Matt was back on the phone. “I thought he was gonna start crying,” he said. “But whatever you said calmed him down.”

“Matt, he said ‘booboo’, did you hear him?” she said brightly. “That’s new! He’s never said that before.”

“Huh. Really? That’s great, then,” Matt said.

“Yeah. It is. Just wish he didn’t have to get hurt to say a new word,” she said with an edge.

“Well, sometimes pain brings out unexpected things,” Matt muttered. “Good and bad.”

Lydia didn’t answer him. She knew he was talking as much about them as about their son, and didn’t want to get into it any further.

“What time are you getting back tomorrow?” Matt asked. “Just so I know.”

“Probably around five, six at the latest. You don't have to give him dinner, I will.” Lydia looked in the mirror to check her eye makeup. She sighed in relief to see it was still intact. “Look, I really have to get going. The wedding starts at five, I’m supposed to meet Donna and Kathryn—”

“Go, go, that’s fine,” he said impatiently. “We’re going to my parents’ house soon anyway. We’re having dinner there.”

“He’ll get to see Grandma and Grandpa. How nice,” she said dryly.

Matt released a caustic snicker. “They hate you too, Lydia. So at least it’s mutual.”

She swallowed hard. She’d always suspected it, but to hear Matt say it so flatly made her slightly nauseous. “Wow. So that’s where we are now, huh?”

“Come on, Lydia,” Matt scoffed. “You and I are
officially
divorced now. We don’t have to pretend anymore about lots of things.”

“Wonderful. I’m overjoyed. Tell them I said hello,” she said, her tone as acidic as his.

“I’ll be sure to do that,” Matt said. “Have fun at the wedding.” He hung up abruptly.

Lydia turned off her cell phone and stood very still for a minute, trying to compose herself. As was always the case when she got upset, her hands felt like blocks of ice. She could feel her blood rushing through her veins, throughout her whole body, like cold glitter was being pumped into her fingers.

She hated Matt’s parents. They hadn’t treated her nicely even before Andy had been born; but once the speech delay became noticeable when he was a toddler, and then became a full blown issue, she knew they blamed her for it, that they thought it was somehow
her
fault. Their ignorance and arrogance made her insides burn with rage whenever she thought of them. And now her child, her precious baby, would be exposed to them all night long. She hoped they would treat him nicely. She was sure they would badmouth her in front of Andy. Who knew what snide remarks would pass their lips, not realizing how sensitive and intuitive a child Andy truly was. Because he was speech impaired, to them, he may as well have been completely mentally disabled, and they gave him no credit for having any actual intelligence or aptitude. To them, he was like a very cute, but broken, little rag doll.

“Stop it,” she said aloud to her reflection in the mirror. Matt and his horrible parents would not ruin her night. She was far away from them, at a beautiful wedding with cherished friends, and was there to enjoy herself. She would not give them any more power over her.
At least not tonight,
she swore.

She took three deep breaths, released them slowly, and looked at herself in the mirror again. Her hair was done, her makeup had survived the emotional phone call, it was as good as it was going to get. Then she realized she was standing there in her underwear. “Ah, crap!” she cried, turning quickly to leave the bathroom, realizing she might actually be late. She flew to the closet and quickly shimmied into the dress she’d purchased especially for the wedding, then went to examine herself in the full length mirror in the bathroom.

“Hmm,” she said. “Not bad.” The dress was elegant and feminine, and possibly the most beautiful dress she’d ever bought for herself. She couldn’t believe she’d found it at Nordstrom for just under two hundred dollars, but there it had been, and she’d taken it. The color was what had drawn her to the dress in the first place. Although the tag called it “currant”, she would have just said burgundy, a deep shade of it that flattered her skin, her eyes, her hair, all of it. It was a silk chiffon dress with an inset waist, above a twirly A-line skirt that went down to her ankle. The softly gathered sleeveless bodice had ruchéd shoulders, like the waist, and a flattering V-neck that dipped enough to display her pale, creamy skin. It hinted at her ample breasts beneath, but without exposing too much cleavage and seeming vulgar. It was cut perfectly for her figure.

She slipped into the low, strappy black heels that her best friend had insisted were a perfect match for the dress, and turned to the mirror again for the final overall result. A small, delighted smile of surprise touched her mouth. She had to admit it: she looked pretty good.

She quickly applied a sheer coat of gloss across her lipsticked lips, fixed her hair with her fingers one last time, and went to get the small black handbag she’d used the night before. She opened it to check that she’d put her peppermints in there, and dug one out to chew on as she quickly put on her delicate, dangly diamond earrings. One spray of perfume. With that, she turned out the lights and quickly made her way to the lobby.

She only made it midway down the main staircase when she heard Donna’s voice boom, “There you are! Come on, move it, woman!”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry,” Lydia apologized as she hurried across the lobby to meet her friends.

“Oh my God,” Kathryn said, looking Lydia over. “You look gorgeous!”

“Thanks,” Lydia said absently, her mind still unfocused from the phone call.

Donna smirked. “Honey, wait ‘til Sam sees you. He’s gonna pass out.”

Lydia made a face, a cross between a scowl and plain disbelief. “Yeah, right.”

Donna shook her head. “Well, that much hasn’t changed since college. You never knew how pretty you were, and you still don’t. What a shame.”

“Now you sound like my sister,” Lydia cracked, uncomfortable with the compliments. “Come on, let’s go, we have five minutes thanks to me. Or,” she added as the three of them began to walk towards the back doors of the lobby, “should I say, thanks to my asshat ex-husband.”

“Oh no,” Kathryn said, concern crossing her face. “What happened?”

“I was getting ready and he called,” Lydia said, following her friends through the dining room to the patio beyond. “Stirred me up a little.”

“That asshat,” Donna cursed. “Nice timing. What’d he want?”

“Is Andy okay?” Kathryn immediately asked.

“See? That was my first thought too,” Lydia said. They exited through huge French doors and made their way across the veranda to the staircase that led down to the garden. “Andy was okay, and he wasn’t. He fell, he was tired, so he was missing me. And Asshole decides to call and put me on the phone with him right when I had to leave.”

“Of course he did,” Donna snarled.

“Andy heard my voice and almost started crying, so of course I almost started crying,” Lydia said. “Then Matt got back on and had a few choice parting shots before he hung up on me. It was wonderful.”

Donna stopped short, which made the other two women stop short. “Okay,” she said in a commanding voice, her gaze stern. “We are about to watch our dear, beloved friend get married. We are here for a happy occasion. We are now officially putting Matt out of our heads for the next few hours so we can enjoy the festivities. We are now in an asshat free zone, got it?”