“Ariana, I don’t know what to say. I—”
“Come on. I’ll put the kettle on. I want to hear all about him. Where did you two meet? What does he look like?” Ariana laughed as they walked into the kitchen. “We haven’t had girl talk in some time.”
Maggie sank into a wicker-backed chair. ‘I don’t think now is good.”
Ariana filled the teapot with water, put it on the stove, and then turned around to face her friend. “Why not? Are you afraid I might be jealous because you’re in a relationship?
Perspiration lined her forehead. “No, of course not. That’s not it.”
Ariana crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, then, come on. Out with it. Can’t you see I want to live vicariously through you?”
Maggie’s skin turned chalky. “Ariana, I…I need to use your bathroom.” She shot out of the chair and hurried down the hall.
Wow! She must really like this mystery guy to be so nervous. While Ariana waited for her to return, she made them each a cup of tea, then settled into a chair at the kitchen table and wondered if there might be more to her friend’s odd behavior than just nerves.
However, when Maggie returned a few minutes later, her emotions were now under control, leaving Ariana unable to read her. “Here’s your tea.”
“Thanks.” Maggie sat down across from her. She poured some milk into her cup and stirred her tea while keeping her eyes lowered.
Maybe she’d pushed too hard. If Maggie didn’t want to talk about her new man, that was her choice. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. I was just hoping you’d want to share your good news with me.”
Maggie stopped stirring and looked up at her. “Don’t be sorry. Normally, I would’ve been banging on your door just bursting to tell you all about him.”
“So why haven’t you?”
Her baby-blue eyes darkened to indigo, and her voice broke slightly. “I don’t know what to say… I don’t know where to begin.”
Oh no! Had Maggie gotten into a toxic relationship and didn’t want to tell her because of what Ariana had gone through with Phil? “Where’d you meet him?”
Maggie took a sip of tea before answering. “Here.”
Ariana’s brows drew together into a frown. “I don’t understand. You mean here at my house?”
“At your housewarming,” Maggie muttered.
Her fingers tensed in her lap. The only other people she’d had over that day were Katie and Jake, and Zoe and Dan. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the torrid picture that was forming in her mind of Maggie making love to either Jake or Dan.
It couldn’t be Jake. He was engaged, and besides, even if he wasn’t, there was no way he’d ever cheat…so it had to be Dan. Katie had been right about him all along.
When Ariana opened her eyes, she glared at Maggie, and her mounting anger was hard to control. “How could you do that to Zoe? What kind of a person are you?”
She looked away hastily, then began twisting her napkin. “It wasn’t intentional. I…didn’t mean for it to happen.”
“But it did, and you let it, knowing full well that Dan was involved with my best friend. I’m not surprised that he would stoop that low, but you… I never thought you were that kind of person.” Ariana spat out the words.
Maggie swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt anyone.”
“What did you think was going to happen?” she replied sharply. “Did you think you could keep it a secret forever?” Something flickered far back in Maggie’s eyes. Could it be guilt?
“Of course not. I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t know what to say.”
Ariana’s mind was awhirl. “I have to tell Zoe,” she said, thinking aloud. “But how am I going to do that knowing it’ll break her heart?”
“She knows.” Maggie’s voice was a hushed whisper.
“What did you say?” Even though Ariana had heard her, she couldn’t quite wrap her head around Maggie’s words.
“She found out earlier this evening.”
Ariana narrowed her eyes to slits as she stared at the woman she thought she knew so well. “How? How did she find out?”
Stains of scarlet appeared on her cheeks. “I was at Dan’s, and she um…well, she, um, she walked in on us.”
Ariana covered her ears with her hands. “That’s enough. I don’t want to hear anymore.”
Maggie’s eyes filled with tears. “I never wanted to hurt anyone, most of all you.”
Ariana took her hands off her ears. “You need to leave. Now.” A sudden thin chill hung in the air.
Maggie got up and walked with shoulders hunched toward the door, and then a moment later, without another word, she was gone.
Numb with rage and shock, Ariana had to grip the chair and push herself up in order to stand. She slugged over to her phone and started to dial Zoe’s number but quickly hung up. What if she didn’t want to talk to anyone right now? Ariana sure didn’t want to cause her more pain, so she called Katie instead. She answered on the second ring, and Ariana didn’t waste any time getting to the point. “Have you heard from Zoe tonight?”
Katie hesitated slightly before answering. “She sent me a text. Why?”
“I know what happened. Maggie told me.”
Katie let out a long sigh. “I had a feeling Dan was a dirty dog. But Maggie?”
The blood began to pound in her temples. “I know. I don’t know what to say. I’m shocked.”
Katie’s tone softened. “How are you? Are you doing okay?”
She swallowed the despair in her throat. “I lost a friend, but Zoe lost her would-be husband. How’s she coping?”
“I’m not sure. She doesn’t want to talk. Said she was going to bed. I don’t think it’s really hit her yet, but come tomorrow, she’s going to need all the support we can give.”
A dull ache settled in Ariana’s chest. “I feel partly to blame. Maggie and Dan met at my house.”
Katie’s voice rose sharply. “Ari, nothing about their affair is your fault. Please know that.”
“I’m feeling so many emotions right now that my head is spinning. I need to go to bed. I’ll see you at the shop in the morning.”
“Don’t worry,” Katie reassured her. “Zoe’s tough. She’ll get through this. It might take a while, but we’ll be there to help.”
“You’re right. Good night.” As Ariana hung up the phone, she remembered all the times Katie and Zoe had been there for her, and she was so thankful that they were such a big part of her life.
Before getting into bed, she checked on Tabby and the kittens. They were all fast asleep. It would be nice if she could sleep that soundly. Unfortunately, though, that wasn’t the case. She wound up tossing and turning all night. At one point, she even shot up in bed after dreaming that Phil was standing over her. That nightmare had seemed so real that it was nearly dawn before she was able to fall back to sleep. If this kept up, she might have to ask Dr. Michaels to prescribe something, even though she was hesitant to do that after her terrible experience with diet pills.
As she got ready for work, her thoughts shifted to Zoe. She had a pretty good idea how she must be feeling. Not that she’d ever walked in on Phil with another woman, but she didn’t need to. The writing had been on the wall. She was suddenly assailed by such bitterness that if she didn’t shift her thoughts away from the past, she could sink into another round of depression.
Ariana went into the front hall, grabbed her handbag that was hanging from the back of a chair, and slipped it over her shoulder, then she grabbed her keys from the hall table.
She was about to unlock the dead bolt on the front door when her fingers froze on the knob. The door wasn’t locked. She checked the bottom lock. That wasn’t locked either. How could that be? She never left her door unlocked. Could she have been so shaken up by last night’s events that it slipped her mind?
The hair on the back of her neck prickled as she recalled the horrible dream she’d had. Could it have been real? Could Dan have really been watching her sleep? Was it possible that he’d gotten into her house?
She raced around, checking for anything that might be out of place, but everything looked as it should, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, last night had been nothing more than a dream. Exhaustion must be clouding her judgment. She would make sure she called Dr. Michaels today. No more putting it off.
Zoe looked up from the newspaper she’d been trying to read, when her mom walked into the kitchen. She hadn’t gotten past the headline because a picture of Dan and Maggie in bed was burned into her mind, and she couldn’t focus on anything else.
“Good morning, dear.” Her mom kissed her cheek. “You look exhausted. Didn’t you sleep last night?”
“Not much.” Zoe noticed her mother had dark rings too. “You look pretty tired yourself. Are you feeling okay?”
Mary had high blood pressure and a few other problems that were a worry. Especially, since her mom had a habit of acting like everything was okay when it wasn’t. And Zoe had inherited that unfortunate trait from her.
She took one last sip of coffee, then pushed her chair back from the table. “I’ll see you later, Mom. Don’t try to do too much today. The house looks fine. I don’t want to come home from work and find that you’d gone crazy cleaning.”
Mary rolled her eyes. “Yes, dear.”
Zoe doubted she’d listen but felt better for having said it. She quickly left the house before her mom could start bombarding her with questions as to why she hadn’t slept. She didn’t want to lie, but she didn’t want to saddle her with problems that weren’t hers and that she could do nothing about either. Zoe would have to tell her about Dan eventually, but the longer she put it off, the better it would be for both of them.
The first thing she did when she got in the car was to turn up the radio, hoping the noise would keep her from dwelling on things as she drove to the Rosebud. It did work, but it was only a temporary fix, because as soon as she reached the shop and turned off the ignition, the horrible image of Dan and Maggie returned.
Luckily, both Katie’s and Ariana’s cars were in the parking lot. Her friends were already at work, so Zoe would only have to tell her story once, and then after they talked about it, she didn’t plan on doing so again.
When she entered the shop, Katie was unpacking a shipment that had just come in of Fire and Ice roses. She closed the cooler door, and as she turned to face Zoe, Ariana came out from the back.
Her face was ashen, and there were tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea what was going on between them.”
Zoe rushed over to wrap her arms around Ari. “I know that. But how did you find out?” She looked over at Katie. “I thought you had your phone turned off.”
“I did. Maggie told me.”
Zoe let out a gasp.
“Tabby had kittens.” Ariana gave a choked, desperate laugh. “In my closet, so I called Maggie for help, and while she was at my house, the truth came out. She wouldn’t have told me, though, if I hadn’t pushed her. I saw her come home earlier with a Victoria’s Secret bag and knew she’d spent the night somewhere. I just didn’t know where and with whom.” Her gorgeous blue-gray eyes darkened with pain. “I thought she was my friend. How could she have done this?”
Zoe’s stomach knotted, and she tried to hide her inner misery from her friend. “I know you’re angry with Maggie, and so am I, but I blame Dan more. He was my boyfriend. He was the one who cheated, and he was the one who gave me the key to his apartment. Without that, I might not have discovered what was going on. A part of me can’t help but wonder if he didn’t subconsciously want this to happen—want me to find out about Maggie.”
Katie stared at her in bewilderment. “Why would he want that?”
Zoe dropped her arms to her sides and shrugged. “Apparently, I couldn’t give him what he wanted, and she could.”
“Meaning sex,” Ariana added bitterly.
She pressed her back up against the wall with her stomach still clenched tight. “I thought he was okay with waiting, but once he started bugging me to move in with him, I knew things were going in the wrong direction. There was that moment, though, at our party, when I thought he was going to propose. Instead, he gave me the key. Deep down, I knew then there was no hope for us. It was evident. He didn’t want to get married, but I wasn’t ready to accept that yet.”
Zoe drew in a deep cleansing breath, and when she let it out, her anger was replaced with sorrow. “Maybe what happened was for the best.” There was no mistaking Katie’s and Ari’s startled looks. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really hurt, but he wasn’t the right guy for me. At least now, I’m not wasting any more time on him.” She forced a smile. “After all, I’m not getting any younger.”
“None of us are.” Ariana’s gaze settled on the engagement ring on Katie’s finger. “Looks like you’re the only one who’ll be married by twenty-five.”
Katie twirled the gleaming diamond ring. “Nonsense. You guys still have time to get one of these.”
Zoe groaned. “At this point, I can’t even think about dating, let alone marriage.”
“Me either,” Ariana chimed in.
“That’s understandable. You two have been through a lot. You need time to heal, but I guarantee in a month or so, if Mr. Right walks into your life, you’ll feel differently. Mark my words.”