Emerald Fire (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) (24 page)

“Wonderful,” Maxine said with a grin as she scooped up the key. “I assume that anything that was hers I can dispose of?” She held up the key hanging from the bejeweled key chain. “Aside from this, of course.”

He offered a stiff nod just as the cell phone on the counter started vibrating. Without speaking to her, he picked it up and pressed a series of buttons, read either a text or an e-mail, then put it back on the counter. “I need to run.”

After he left the kitchen, Maxine clasped her hands together in glee and gave a little spin. Then she rushed out of the kitchen and back through the large front room. No sign of Barry led her to believe he’d gone upstairs to get ready for work. She rushed outside, careful not to slip on the patches of ice that lined the driveway, and retrieved a tote bag from the backseat of her car.

She brought it back to the kitchen and unpacked the coffee maker and bag of coffee. She found the appliance a temporary home near the sink and determined that the first order of business for the day would be to scrub the kitchen. She wanted to learn where everything was and rearrange as needed to accommodate her left handed cooking methods.

BARRY
stood staring at his reflection until the hot water pouring out of the shower caused the mirror to fog up and obscure his view. Finally, he stripped and stepped under the hot spray and closed his eyes, letting the water beat down on his head.

When had he lost complete control of this situation with Maxine?

The crux of it was that he felt a small thrill at the thought of her living here, of her being here when he got home from work tonight. Another part of him could only see her fingers in the gentle embrace of that man in her office, and her face got replaced over and over again in his memory with the face of his dead adulterous wife.

Maxine was right, though. If he truly didn’t want to be married to her anymore, he would have moved mountains to get those annulment papers signed and filed. So what had held him up? What kept him from doing it?

A skitter in his mind suggested that he pray about it, but he dismissed the thought. He prayed no more. Not since the answer to his prayer had been his wife’s death had he gone to God about anything. He certainly wouldn’t risk Maxine that way.

Robotically, he slapped shampoo onto his palm and scrubbed at his scalp, then went through the motions to finish showering. The e-mail he’d received from Tony took an hour away from his morning. He wondered if his best friend beckoning him to the top floor of the Viscolli hotel and to his corporate offices had to do with business or Maxine.

As he stepped out of the shower and dried off, Barry realized that he’d have to take this opportunity of an unplanned meeting to confess to Tony what he’d done. Maybe he wouldn’t have to worry about how he’d handle coming home to Maxine. Maybe Tony would just kill him and all of his earthly problems would be over.

With a sigh, he moved into his bedroom and kicked a stack of dirty laundry farther into the corner and out of his path to the closet. He walked into the closet and moved toward the blue suits, mechanically matching shirt to tie to socks to belt to shoes. There would be no easy death to get him out of this. No. Tony would make him suffer.

He slipped a tie around his neck, tied his shoes, and headed back downstairs. No sign of Maxine in the living room meant that she either left – not likely – or was still in the kitchen. He pushed open the door with his shoulder while he tied his tie, and immediately smelled the rich brew of her coffee. For some reason, the smell soothed him. He found her at the kitchen table writing in a notebook, the snowy back yard at her back, a steaming cup of coffee at her elbow.

“I have a meeting with Tony in a few minutes,” he said, retrieving his phone and keys from the countertop.

Maxine smiled. “You might want to talk to him. About us, I mean.”

Barry sighed. “Have you talked to Tony about this?”

She smiled and shrugged. “No, but Robin knows we’re married, so count on Tony knowing it too.”

“Great.” The knot complete, he tightened his tie and buttoned his jacket. “That’s just great.”

“It all had to come out, eventually.” She rose from the table and approached him. He simultaneously wanted to run away and pull her close to him. So he did neither. She put a hand on either shoulder and stood on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I’ll see you tonight. Please give me a call and let me know what time to expect you so that I can plan dinner accordingly.”

She turned her back on him and went back to her list. Barry stared at her for a few seconds before leaving the kitchen and wondering, again, how he’d lost control of this situation.

WAITING
in Tony’s outer office, Barry checked his watch a second time. So far, Tony had kept him cooling his heels for fifteen minutes. He could not remember the last time Tony had kept him waiting. Barry had a feeling that the meeting this morning was not going to be about zoning problems for a Christian school gymnasium project.

When the phone issued a soft electronic tone, Tony’s secretary, Margaret, nodded at Barry. He picked up his briefcase and walked through the double doors behind her desk.

Typically, at seven-thirty in the morning, Tony would have a breakfast spread laid out on his conference table. It would include such Barry-friendly items as yogurt, fresh fruit, his favorite brand of tea, perfectly brewed. And, typically, Tony would meet him at the door with a handshake and a “bro-hug” and the two would make their way over to the table as they chitchatted about life since last they saw each other.

Not this morning, though. This morning Tony sat behind his monstrous desk, signing papers. He gestured toward the chairs adjacent to him but did not speak, did not stand and offer his hand, and did not give any kind of verbal or nonverbal salutation.

As much as Barry knew this moment would eventually come, he would have much preferred it had been on his terms. He’d had time in the last few weeks to talk to Tony about it, so the fact that he was on Tony’s playing field was his own fault, but that didn’t make it any easier to bear. Since this would be a fight, though, he could certainly throw the first punch.

“Maxine moved in this morning.” He set his briefcase down at his feet as he loosened his tie and kicked back informally in the chair. “She’s at the house making lists as we speak.”

Tony’s hand stopped scribbling the pen. For a moment he sat completely frozen, then he tossed the pen aside and made eye contact with Barry. “We obviously have some catching up to do.”

Barry shrugged. “I’d intended to save her the embarrassment and seek a silent annulment. Things just didn’t happen that way.”

“You shrug?” Tony leaned forward and pointed at Barry. “You mistreat my sister this way and then shrug at me? As if it were nothing?” Barry could barely understand Tony between the suddenly thick Italian accent and rich South Boston dialects. Tony’s elocution abandoned him, and all of the years spent shedding the outward evidence of growing up on the streets vanished. In that glimpse Barry caught sight of a tough kid who would do whatever he needed to do in order to survive.

“Mistreat?” Despite knowing that on some level Tony’s antagonism had some merit, Barry felt the anger bubble up inside of him. “I have not, nor would I ever, mistreat Maxi.”

“You take her to Vegas on your little annual excursion, then you –”

Barry stood and slapped his hands on Tony’s desk. “Then. I. Married. Her.” He spoke each word as if it were a sentence of its own. “I didn’t seduce her. I didn’t take advantage of her. I asked her to marry me and she – willingly – said yes.”

Tony picked up his previous train as if he’d never stopped speaking. “And then you discard her and leave her brokenhearted and lost for weeks.”

Barry shook his head. “Is your problem with the getting married or the problem with the not intending to stay married?”

Tony leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face with his hands. Barry slowly resumed his seat. Tony sighed, reached forward, and spun the pen that sat on his desk. “Maxine has been in love with you forever. I doubt she has fully realized it yet, but it’s what spurred her friendship with you; the late night Sunday football, the golf outings, the funeral getaway. I think those feelings for you are what kept her from really seeking out God. Because she knew that you were married and finding ways to spend time with you, however she could, was quite sinful. But now she’s come to Him. She has dedicated her life to Him, and is carving out a relationship with Him and it’s beautiful to see. Yet all of this…” Tony’s voice softened. “All of this is at a time when you have apparently turned your back on Him.”

Barry gave a small shake of his head, very confused about the conversation. “I’m not understanding what you’re upset about.”

“She isn’t strong enough in her faith yet to carry you both. If you can’t find a way back to God, you’re going to do nothing but hurt her in the end.”

Barry felt a tug on his heart at Tony’s words. However, he pushed it aside and stood. “My relationship with God is my own business. Maxine’s feelings for me are her business. My marriage to her is our business. I don’t need your counsel or your concern.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “And what about your feelings for her?”

The tug on his heart became quite painful. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, how do you feel about her, Bartholomew? Do you like her? Do you get a kick out of hanging out with her? Or do you
love
her? Do you love her with every molecule in your body and every waking thought? Do you put her needs ahead of your own? Ask yourself, would you die for her?”

The verse from Ephesians raced into Barry’s memory, commanding husbands to love their wives even as Christ loved the church. It was a commandment without compromise, that husbands must love their wives sacrificially and more than their very own flesh. Emotion welled in Barry’s throat, effectively cutting off anything he might have wanted to say or even could have said. He felt rebuked and suddenly ashamed. Instead of answering any of his best friend’s questions, he glared at Tony, pivoted on his heel, and left the room, slamming the office door behind him.