Tell Me Lies (22 page)

“Do you have the box from the office?” Treva whispered to her in the hall.

“Yes, and I got it open,” Maddie said in equally low tones. “You’re not going to believe what was in there.”

“Oh?” Treva spilled her Coke and bent to mop it up with a napkin. “Good stuff?”

“Love letters. Dozens. The ones from Beth are really sad.”

Treva looked up at her. “You’re taking this awfully well.”

“Well, I still loathe Beth for sleeping with my husband, but I don’t like my husband much and she does. It’s very confusing.” Maddie bit into her pizza, feeling her teeth sink through the chewy cheese.

“What else was in there?” Treva asked, but then Phoebe gobbled her fortieth piece of pepperoni and threw up and there was general chaos until the kids took Phoebe outside.

“Wait,
”Maddie said as Em got up to go, but Three said, “I’m on it, Aunt Maddie, it’s cool,” and stayed close to Em as they went outside.

Maddie moved to sit by the window so she could watch them. Three stuck to Em like glue, keeping an eye on the driveway.

“He’s a good kid,” Treva said next to her. “She’ll be fine.”

“He is a good kid,” Maddie said. “Thanks.”

“Maddie, what is going on here?” her mother asked, and Treva said, “Hey, you tell us. What’s new? Is Gloria really getting that divorce?”

Gloria’s divorce was good for ten minutes, and Maddie took it all in while she watched C.L. He sat on the floor, his broad shoulders leaning against her couch, his long legs stretched across her family room rug, and she felt herself go warm just watching him move, a thick glow that moved out from her solar plexus and settled anywhere there were nerve endings. She couldn’t have him tonight—there was no way with Em there—but she could enjoy looking at him, listening to his low voice and laughter.
I could listen to him forever,
she thought, and then jerked her mind back to the conversation before she had any other dumb thoughts.

The talk turned to Mrs. Crosby’s daughter, who was on a liquid diet, and Margaret Erlenmeyer, who was pregnant again, and Harold White-head, who had taken Candace Lowery to dinner even though his wife had only been dead two months. “Said it was a business dinner,” Maddie’s mother said, and sniffed. “I don’t think so.”

The kids came back in, Mel talking loudly about dessert, and Maddie’s mother stood and said, “It’s late, I must be going.”

Maddie followed her mother to the front door, casting one glance back at C.L., who grinned at her and made her breath go.

“How was Gran?” her mother asked when they reached the porch. “Do you think she’s happy?”

That woman’s never had a happy day in her life and she likes it like that,
Maddie wanted to tell her, but instead she said, “She’s in clover. Mickey Whosis is flashing again, and somebody in the next room has terrible skin.” Maddie watched her mother’s face. “I didn’t know she’d been married before Grandpa.”

Her mother turned away and crossed the porch. “It was a long, long time ago. It doesn’t matter now. That was very nice of that Sturgis boy to buy Em such a nice little dog.”

Counterattack,
Maddie thought.
Nice job, Mom.
“Yes, wasn’t it? Drive carefully on your way home.”

“It’s nice that you have such nice friends,” her mother went on, not going down the steps.

“I’m a lucky woman,” Maddie said. “Make sure you put your lights on.”

“Well, Maddie, of course I’ll put my lights on. It’s pitch dark.” Her mother frowned at her. “Madeline, is there anything going on with that man that I should know about?”

Maddie thought about everything that had gone on with that man. There wasn’t nearly enough of it, and the tension and need that had been simmering all night became more insistent. “No, Mother.”

Her mother turned to go down the steps. “Well, don’t do anything foolish just because you think you might be divorcing Brent. Where is Brent tonight? Em is worried.”

Maddie leaned in the doorway. “I have no idea. I assume with the woman he’s been having the affair with.”

Her mother stood motionless in the porch light. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t know,” Maddie said. “You really hadn’t heard anything?”

“No more than usual.” Her mother slumped a little. “I guess it really is over then, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Mother.” Maddie felt sorrier for her mother than she did for herself. She was going to be free and make love with C.L.—
quiet,
she told her libido—and Em would be safe, but her mother would have a divorce in the family.

“Whatever you need, Maddie, you call me. Anything.”

Maddie bit her lip. Just when she got to feeling superior, her mother would pull something like this and make Maddie realize how much she loved her. “Thank you, Mom. I will.”

“I wish it wasn’t happening.” Her mother’s voice broke a little, and Maddie went down the steps to comfort her.

“We’re going to be better,” she said, putting her arms around her mother. “I haven’t been happy in a long time, but I wasn’t unhappy, either, so there wasn’t a reason to leave. Now I can figure out how to be happy.”

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” her mother said. “For you to be happy.” She straightened. “The town’s going to have a field day, that’s for sure.”

“Well, it was about our turn,” Maddie said. “They haven’t had a go at our family since Gran was married to Buck.”

Her mother scowled at her. “Don’t listen to that woman. She makes things up to make herself interesting.”

“Gran doesn’t need to make things up to be interesting,” Maddie said. “She’s a one-woman show just sitting there with her mouth closed.”

“Oh, dear. I know.”

“Go home, Mom,” Maddie said. “Things will be fine tomorrow. I’ll file for divorce, the town will discuss it and decide that since Brent cheated he deserves it, everybody will be sorry for us for a couple of weeks because we’re so nice, and then somebody else will do something stupid and they’ll all talk about that. We’re the good guys in this one. We’ll be okay.”

“All right.” Her mother patted her arm. “I love you. Take care of Em. It’s going to be so hard for her.”

“I know.” Maddie was about at her limit. “I know. I’m watching out for her.”

“All right.” Her mother patted her again and started down the walk to the car. Then she stopped and turned back. “Madeline, you shouldn’t be seeing so much of that Sturgis man right now. It’s going to look very bad.”

That Sturgis man. C.L.‘s hot eyes and hot hands in the backseat, in her hall, her kitchen, her living room, on her, sliding under her T-shirt, under her skirt, everywhere—

She had to stop thinking about it. “I know, Mom.” She was going to have to stay away from C.L. Thank God he was going back to Columbus.

Her body shivered at the thought. She wanted him near her, holding her, keeping her warm. The way he had in the backseat. Maddie swallowed and wrapped her arms around herself. She wanted him naked and wrapped around her, keeping her hot. Maddie told herself not to think about C.L. naked, but her mind betrayed her and her skin prickled. She shouldn’t be having thoughts like this in front of her mother, but now that the idea was there, it was all she could think of.

Maybe she could start going to the city on shopping trips. Three or four times a week. She pictured C.L.‘s apartment, furnished with a huge bed, and C.L., naked and hard, on top of her, inside her.

Her mother was still talking. “Wait for a while. Wait a year at least.”

Maddie blinked. A year? She wasn’t sure she could make it through the next fifteen minutes, and her mother wanted her to wait a year?

“You know people,” her mother finished.

“Yes, Mother,” Maddie said, and escaped back into the house as soon as her mother’s car pulled away. A year. She was definitely going to be doing a lot of shopping in Columbus.

When she went back to the family room, the other three were sitting on the floor with beers, discussing Bailey. C.L. still leaned back against the couch, his shirtsleeves rolled to his elbows over his strong, tanned arms, his jeans-clad legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed. He had great thighs, something she hadn’t noticed before. If she was to the point where she was ogling thighs, she was in big trouble.

C.L. looked up at her and grinned, and then he must have seen the heat in her eyes because his grin faded just a little, and his eyes narrowed.

Yes, thank you, I would like to,
Maddie thought, and wondered how long it would be before she could have him again. With Em there, and Brent in the offing, it could be days, weeks. She sat down across from him, stretching her legs out beside his, and he put his beer down on the floor so that the back of his hand grazed her calf.

The heat shot through her, and she shuddered.

C.L.‘s lips parted, and his eyes were hot on hers. She deliberately looked away to concentrate on what Howie was saying. If she and C.L. didn’t knock it off, they’d be rolling on the carpet, which sounded so wonderful, she closed her eyes.

C.L. shifted until his leg touched hers, rough denim against her calf, and her mind slid into corners it shouldn’t have, urging her to stretch against him, too, to climb across his legs, straddle him hard, press him into the carpet, take his mouth with hers—

Knock it off,
she told herself, and tried to concentrate on Howie and Treva.

“After he got fired from the bank, he took payoffs from the casino in the back of the Roadhouse,” Howie was saying. “That’s why Henry couldn’t recommend him as a rent-a-cop anymore.”

Treva shook her head. “What I’ve never understood is why he did a dumb thing like that.”

“Because he’s a little hazy about the fine points of the law,” Howie said. “Bailey’s just a nice, dumb good ol‘ boy. He figured nobody was getting hurt by the gambling, so why not take the money?”

C.L.‘s little finger tickled her ankle. Maddie closed her eyes for a moment. Never had a tickle been so cataclysmic. If he kept it up for another minute or so, she might even come. She’d definitely come if he put his hands on her. Anywhere.

“And so now he’s a security guard for the company,” Treva said. “Sounds like Bailey’s not the only dumb good ol‘ boy around here.”

Howie shrugged. “That was Brent’s idea, not mine.” His voice was cool, and Treva shut up and sat back, and Maddie was jolted out of her heat wave by Treva’s obvious unhappiness and the mention of Brent’s name.

“Why did Brent want him?” Maddie said.

Howie shoved the pizza box away. “He came in about a month ago and said there were kids up at the Point again in spite of the barricade and we were going to get sued if one of them got hurt. So he hired Bailey.” He took a sip of beer while Maddie and Treva exchanged glances. “Hey, it wasn’t a bad idea. Now we’ve got somebody to look after things at night.”

Treva said, “This is the guy you just said was a little hazy about the law, right?”

Howie shook his head. “He won’t steal from the company. Bailey’s loyal.”

“He is,” C.L. said. He shifted again, closer to her, putting his beer down on the outside of her legs this time, trapping her ankles between his wrist and his hip, talking the whole time to distract Howie and Treva. “He was always getting the crap beat out of him in high school because he wouldn’t rat on his friends.” He frowned. “Actually, he was always getting the crap beat out of him, period. He was such a beatable little guy.”

“Are you speaking from experience?” Maddie asked, pressing her ankle into his hip.
Make love to me.

Howie laughed. “Hell, half the fights C.L. got into in high school were paybacks to somebody for roughing up Bailey. Bailey thinks C.L. is God.”

“They were always people I wanted to hit anyway,” C.L. said, smiling his Satan smile at Maddie.
Anytime.

Howie leveled his eyes at C.L. “Like Brent.”

Maddie sat up a little.

“You’re the only person Brent ever backed down from,” Howie went on. “And that was over Bailey.”

“Brent beat up Bailey?” Maddie asked.
C.L. beat up Brent?

“Only once,” Howie said. “And Brent didn’t really beat Bailey. He just pushed him around a little. And then C.L. told him to stop, and he did.”

Maddie looked at C.L. “Just like that.”

C.L. shook his head. “As I recall, I was holding a baseball bat at the time. I wasn’t all that tough.”

“Did you go armed often in high school?” Maddie asked.

“No, we were playing baseball,” C.L. said. “Brent and me were teammates. Buddies.”

“Oh, yeah.” Howie laughed. “You were buddies.”

“We shared some experiences,” C.L. said, and let his hand fall carelessly over Maddie’s calf.

Higher,
she thought, and tried to look bright and interested in the conversation.

“Heard about that,” Howie said, and Treva kicked him.