Grace snatched up the phone and tapped the icon beside Wyatt’s name. She wouldn’t give herself any more time to think, wouldn’t have second thoughts. This time around, she would just go with her heart.
“Grace?” Wyatt answered on the first ring.
“Don’t talk,” Grace said hurriedly. “Just tell me where you want to meet.”
“Anywhere you want,” Wyatt said. “Can it wait ’til I close up the park at five? Bo is at Scout’s house. Dad can stay with him after I bring him back here. Are we all still meeting at the Sandbox tonight?”
“Yes, and yes,” Grace said. “I’ll be at Mitzi’s condo.”
65
Grace paced back and forth in the small living room, stopping every five minutes to look out the window at the parking lot, to adjust the drapes, fluff a pillow, or check her makeup in the mirror. She hadn’t been this nervous about meeting a man since her first real car date at the age of fifteen. Her palms were actually sweaty.
She’d taken pains with her makeup and had actually changed outfits three times—not that she had that many changes of clothes to begin with—before settling on a pair of blue seersucker capris and a sleeveless white blouse. God help her—she’d even painted her toenails a vivid crimson shade called Sassy Lassie.
Sweetie lay on a throw pillow on the sofa, looking perplexed by Grace’s nervous energy.
Grace was midway through her third circuit of the condo when her phone rang. She leapt to grab it, but paused when she saw the caller ID.
Ashleigh Hartounian. Probably, Grace thought, she was calling to ask about that night’s get-together at the bar.
“Hi, Ashleigh,” she said.
“Graaaace.” Ashleigh was sobbing.
“Are you all right?”
“Nooooo,” Ashleigh wailed. “I’m not okay. I’ll never be okay.”
“What is it?” Grace asked. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s … it’s … Boyce.”
Now Grace remembered: today was the day Ashleigh’s ex-husband had invited her out to lunch. This was the day Ashleigh expected to win him back and return to her fairy-tale existence as the doctor’s wife. Obviously, things hadn’t gone as Ashleigh had anticipated.
“Do you want to talk?” Grace asked, hoping she didn’t. She was standing in front of the window, craning her neck to see out to the parking lot, watching for Wyatt’s car. It was after five.
“No! I’m so upset, I feel like my head is gonna explode.”
“Well…” Grace started.
“That bitch Suchita!” Ashleigh said. “I should have expected she’d pull a stunt like this. That’s all it is, a stunt, to try to trap Boyce.”
“Suchita?” Grace was drawing a blank. A truck pulled into the complex’s parking lot, but it wasn’t Wyatt’s.
“You know, Suchita. That little slut drug rep he’s been sleeping with. She’s the one who got me in trouble with Stackpole in the first place.”
“Ohhh,” Grace said. “The woman whose house you painted. Now I remember. What’s she done to trap Boyce?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Grace had a sinking feeling she knew just what Suchita had done.
“She got herself knocked up! Or so she says. It’s the oldest trick in the book, but Boyce is such a dummy he never saw it coming. Do you believe this shit?”
“Does this mean he didn’t take you to lunch to get back with you?”
Dumb question,
Grace thought.
“He says they’re getting married!” Ashleigh screeched. “As soon as our divorce is final. He only took me to lunch because he said he wanted to tell me himself, before one of the girls in the office spilled the beans. Do you believe that?”
Ashleigh was crying again, her wails so loud that Grace had to hold the phone a couple inches from her ear.
“That bitch!” Ashleigh said. “She’s five months pregnant. That explains why she looked so fat when I saw her leaving his office last week. And it’s a boy! Boyce is ecstatic. It was all he could talk about, the bastard. I wanted to slug him—I was so upset.”
“I’m so sorry,” Grace said.
“She’s the one who’s going to be sorry,” Ashleigh said. “I’m not gonna let that bitch ruin my life.”
“Ashleigh!” Grace said. “Get a grip. If she’s pregnant and Boyce intends to marry her, there’s nothing you can do.”
“That’s what you think. There’s plenty I can do. And I will.”
“Leave it alone, Ashleigh,” Grace warned. “Do not do anything you’ll regret. I know you’re upset right now, but it’s probably for the best.”
“You don’t know a damned thing, Grace,” Ashleigh said, her voice suddenly harsh. “Just because you walked away from your marriage doesn’t mean I’m ready to walk away from mine. I should have known better than to expect you to understand what I’m going through. I have no intention of letting that little home wrecker steal my husband.”
Grace felt a chill go down her spine.
“Ashleigh, where are you right now?” she asked quietly. “I don’t think you should be alone. Let’s talk this through. I’ve been there, too, remember.”
“Thanks anyway, but I’m not really in the mood for a chat right now,” Ashleigh said.
“You’re coming to the Sandbox tonight, right?”
“What’s the point?” Ashleigh asked. “I told you last week I wasn’t coming back to group sessions.”
“Didn’t you see the news the other night?” Grace asked. “Stackpole’s wife caught him with another woman and raised a ruckus in a restaurant in Sarasota.”
“Was the other woman Paula?” Ashleigh asked.
“No, that’s what makes it all so deliciously sleazy. He was with a twenty-three-year-old woman who is one of the bailiffs in his courtroom. Highly unethical, of course.”
“Does Paula know?” Ashleigh asked.
“Yup,” Grace said. “I had a long talk with her this morning. I think she’s this close to helping us file a formal complaint against Stackpole with the Judicial Qualifications Committee.”
“And why would she do that?” Ashleigh asked.
“I think she knows he’s been using her by referring all these divorcing women to her for therapy group and then forcing her to pay him kickbacks.”
“Hah! Can you prove it?”
“Not yet,” Grace admitted. “Just come hang out with us tonight at the Sandbox. I’ll tell you the whole story then.”
“I don’t care about any of that,” Ashleigh said abruptly. “That’s somebody else’s problem. Look, Grace, I gotta go now.”
“Go where?” Grace asked. “Ashleigh, where are you? Are you at home? Is there somebody you could call to come over and stay with you for a while?”
“I’m in the car,” Ashleigh said. “I’ve been driving around for hours. And I don’t need a babysitter. I just wanted to talk to somebody. But I’ve made up my mind what I need to do.”
“Ashleigh?”
The line went dead.
Grace cursed and tapped the redial button.
The phone rang twice.
“Leave me alone, Grace,” Ashleigh said. “This is between me and her.”
“Her?”
“You know exactly who I mean. Suchita. I’m gonna take care of business. Do what I should have done months ago, before things got out of hand.”
“Ashleigh, stay away from that girl. You’re angry and upset, but stalking her is not the answer. You’ll only get yourself in more trouble.”
“I don’t care,” Ashleigh insisted. “I don’t care about anything. Except Boyce. He’s all I have. He’s the only thing in this world I give a damn about.”
“Come on,” Grace said. “That’s not really true. You have family; you have friends…”
“What friends? You mean all those losers in group? Get real. None of y’all give a damn about me.”
“We do,” Grace said. “We all care about you. I care. You must know that, or you wouldn’t have called me.”
Silence.
“Ashleigh? Are you still there?”
“I’m here,” Ashleigh said. She was crying again. “That’s sweet, Grace. Really sweet. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to call you a loser. You’re not like the others.”
“You’re upset,” Grace said soothingly. She was looking out the window again, wondering what time it was.
“You said you’re in the car. Where are you? Do you want to meet? We could get a cup of coffee and talk.”
“I’m … oh, hell. I’ve just been driving around. I guess I’m at Bradenton Beach. But I don’t want any coffee. A drink, maybe. Yeah, another margarita.”
“Another? You’ve already had a margarita, and you’re driving?”
“Just a couple. But they were little ones, and mostly ice. If you’re gonna lecture me about drinking and driving, I’ll hang up right now.”
“No lecture,” Grace said quickly. “Look, why don’t you pull into the next gas station you see and call me back. I’m not far away at all. I’ll come and meet you. How does that sound?”
“If you want to,” Ashleigh said. “But I’m warning you. It won’t change my mind.”
“Call me right back,” Grace said. “I’ll meet you, wherever you are.”
* * *
She left Sweetie napping in the condo and called Wyatt on the fly.
“Grace, hi,” he said, sounding out of breath. “I know I’m late, but I had to go through the drive-through at Wendy’s to get dinner for Bo. I’ll only be another thirty minutes. Promise.”
“Actually, that’ll be fine,” Grace said. “Ashleigh just called me. Today was the day her ex invited her to go to lunch. But instead of asking her to come back to him, he announced that his girlfriend is five months pregnant, and he’s going to marry her as soon as their divorce is final.”
“Oh, wow,” Wyatt said. “And she was so sure he was going to get back with her. How’d she take the news?”
“About like you’d expect,” Grace said. “She’s obsessed with getting Boyce back, or at least keeping that girl from marrying him. She’s been driving around, drinking margaritas, plotting some kind of revenge. I’m really worried she’ll do something drastic. I’m going to go meet her and try and talk some sense into her.”
“Is that a good idea?” Wyatt asked. “If she’s been drinking?”
“I don’t know what else to do,” Grace said. “She’s talking crazy. I’m afraid she might hurt herself—or somebody else.”
“Please don’t go meet her by yourself,” Wyatt said. “Just wait thirty minutes, okay? I’ll take Bo straight home, and then come by and pick you up. We can go together. She might listen if we both ganged up on her.”
“Maybe,” Grace said reluctantly. “But I promised I’d come right away, as soon as she pulls into a gas station. I’ll try and stall her. But hurry, can you?”
“I’m ten minutes from home and another fifteen from the condo,” Wyatt said. “Stay right there.”
66
“Okay, I’m here,” Ashleigh said, without bothering with a greeting. “So, are you coming, or what?”
“Here, where?” Grace asked.
“Um, it’s a Hess station on Manatee, but you better get here fast, because I do not like the looks of this place. It’s definitely in the hood. The bathroom was so nasty I had to pee standing up.”
“I’m trying to think where that is,” Grace said slowly. “Like, what block of Manatee is that?”
“How should I know?” Ashleigh snapped. “I don’t even know why I agreed to meet you. You can’t change my mind, you know. That bitch Suchita is history. She’s toast.”
“Please don’t talk like that,” Grace begged. She hesitated, wondering if she should mention that Wyatt would be joining them. Stall her, he’d suggested. But that was no easy feat.
She gazed around the room and spotted Sweetie, who’d hopped off the sofa and was now sitting in front of the sliding glass doors facing the gulf.
“Look, Ashleigh, I just need to let Sweetie out for a potty break before I leave her alone,” Grace said.
“Who’s Sweetie?”
“My dog. She’s a rescue, and I’ve got her over at a client’s condo, but I don’t dare leave her alone unless I take her out. Just give me fifteen minutes, okay?”
“You want me to hang around here for fifteen minutes? No way! You said you’d meet me right away. Hell, if I hang around here for another fifteen minutes, I could be carjacked. Shiiiiit,” Ashleigh swore softly. “I knew this was a bad idea. Thanks anyway, Grace, but I gotta be moving on.”
“No, don’t leave there,” Grace said hastily. “I’ll come right now. You said you’re at Manatee, but what’s close by? What’s the intersection and which corner? Give me a landmark, Ashleigh. I’m not really familiar with that part of town.”
“For God’s sake. I don’t know. Let’s see … um, yeah, there’s a strip shopping center with a Bealls outlet right across from the Hess station.”
“If you’re worried about the gas station, drive over there,” Grace suggested. “You can just go inside and wait until I pull up. Nobody’s going to carjack you at a Bealls.”
“Maybe.” The other woman sounded unconvinced. “Or maybe I’ll stay here and get a wine cooler while I wait.”
“I really don’t think you should have anything else to drink,” Grace said.
“And I don’t give a flying fuck what you think,” Ashleigh retorted. “It’s five forty-five right now. If you’re not here by six, I’m history.”
“I’m coming,” Grace said hurriedly. “Stay right there.”
* * *
Grace called Wyatt from her car. “Sorry, but I can’t wait for you,” she told him. “I’m meeting Ashleigh at the Hess station on Manatee. She’s so antsy, I really couldn’t stall her any longer. She’s already talking about buying a wine cooler. I’ll keep her there as long as I can, and hopefully you can meet us there.”
Wyatt sighed loudly. “I don’t like this Grace. If she’s been drinking like you say she has, I don’t think you’re going to be able to reason with her. I think maybe you should call the cops and let them handle it.”
“Ashleigh respects me. She’ll listen to me,” Grace said. “Don’t worry. I’m just going to talk to her, calm her down, and persuade her to leave her car there and let me drive her home. She’s not a maniac, Wyatt. She’s upset, and she’s talking smack, but I honestly don’t think she’s capable of really harming somebody—other than herself.”
“I hope you’re right,” Wyatt said. “I just dropped Bo off with my dad. I’ll be there in ten minutes. Okay?”
“Hurry,” Grace said. And she disconnected.
* * *
She spotted the red BMW as soon as she pulled into the gas station. Ashleigh tooted her horn and waved. Grace parked in one of the slots in front of the convenience store and trotted over to Ashleigh’s car.
The BMW’s engine was running, and when the electric window slid down noiselessly and Grace bent down to talk to her friend, a blast of cold air hit her face. Grace’s heart sank when she saw two empty wine-cooler bottles tossed in the passenger seat.