the shadowed expression in Douglas’s eyes before he’d left, Neely struggled against a wince. It was tough to share the news of your engagement with someone whose own marriage had collapsed. Still, she knew Leah would be thrilled for her. It should help that her friend already knew about Robert and that she’d been divorced considerably longer than Neely’s brother.
“I’m telling her tomorrow. I asked her this morning if we could meet for lunch.”
“Well, then. That will take care of the most important people, except…”
“Your parents.” She’d never met them, but since they were the people who’d raised Robert, she assumed they were wonderful.
“They’ll be back from their cruise by next weekend. Not nervous, are you?”
“No.” Sure, she’d experienced the odd apprehensive moment over informing the future in-laws that their only child was taking a bride, but it had to be easier than dealing with her family today. “Your family’s normal, right?”
He grinned. “Normal is such a relative term.”
CHAPTER 3
Neely strode through the Lenox Square Mall, which was pretty crowded for a Monday. Leah worked as a cosmetics consultant in one of the upscale department stores, so they were meeting in one of the restaurants inside the mall. Declining a sample of teriyaki chicken as she passed the food court and zigzagging around two women oohing and ahhing over some Kenneth Cole shoes outside a store window, Neely recalled how Leah had sounded on the phone yesterday morning. Distracted, sniffly. Her friend had claimed seasonal allergies and the disorienting effects of antihistamine, which was certainly plausible in Georgia this time of year. If it had been twelve months ago, or even six, Neely would have assumed that Leah was crying over her rat bastard ex-husband, but her friend seemed adjusted to her single life lately.
She looks terrific, anyway. Neely watched Leah step off the escalator. With her wave of red-gold hair and slimming uniform of black turtleneck and slacks, she was easy to spot among browsing housewives in pastel spring fashions. Whereas Neely had put on a few pounds after lingering over meals with Robert, Leah had lost at least fifteen since her divorce, largely because she took out her aggression in workouts at a women’s gym. Her body was in the best shape it had been since Neely had known her.
But as the two women came to a stop within a few feet of each other beneath the emerald awning of the agreed-upon bar and grill, Neely could see Leah’s pretty face sported more makeup than usual. Still not enough to disguise her red and slightly swollen eyes.
Antihistamines, my ass. “You’ve been crying.” At times like this, she wished she had Savannah’s diplomatic knack of knowing what to say.
“Not in the last five minutes,” Leah said, trying to make a joke of it with her wobbly smile.
“Well, let’s get you to a table, I’ll buy you lunch and you can tell me what’s wrong.”
“Okay, but I don’t actually have much of an appetite and margaritas are a no-no since I have to go back to work right after this. Don’t want unsteady hands while I’m wielding a mascara wand near a customer’s eye.”
An impossibly skinny hostess with towering heels and a fall of straight, glossy hair showed them to a booth. Neely hoped for the pretty young woman’s sake that she had someone to rub her feet at the end of her shift—standing all day in those shoes couldn’t be comfortable.
Even though Leah had said she wasn’t hungry and Neely’s blood pressure didn’t need the salt, they ordered tortilla chips with the restaurant’s signature spinach dip. Placing drink orders and waiting for the appetizer to come gave Leah a little time to regain her composure.
Once her friend looked less fragile, Neely hazarded a guess. “Did something happen with Phillip to upset you?”
“You could say that.” Leah’s soft brown eyes brimmed with tears.
“We don’t have to talk about it, I just—”
“No, you’ll find out soon enough anyway. I imagine news will work itself through the office.”
Phillip was an employee of Becker Southern Media. Neely didn’t work closely with him, but had come to know Leah through accumulated company picnics, Christmas parties and other social gatherings.
“He’s getting married,” Leah blurted. “He called me Saturday afternoon, oozing his newfound happiness. He said he wanted to tell me because he didn’t want me to find out accidentally from you or another mutual acquaintance. A plausible excuse, but I can’t help thinking he wanted to gloat a little. The worst part…” A sob welled up, choking off the rest of her sentence.
Neely snapped a chip in half, imagining it was Phillip’s neck.
“The worst part is, it’s not Kate.”
Six years younger and two cup sizes larger than Leah, Kate was the woman Phillip had been sleeping with when his wife dissolved the marriage.
“You wish it was?”
“I keep thinking I’d feel better if he’d ended up with her, if he’d cheated on me because he really loved her. Knowing that he threw our marriage away over a meaningless fling… He proposed to Tiffany, a more recent girlfriend and even younger than Kate. Not quite half his age, but close enough. Tiffany and Phillip? Why doesn’t he just send out wedding announcements that say ‘You’re invited to my midlife crisis’? He told me he’d be honored if I can come to the ceremony, but that he would understand if it was too painful.” She sneered the last words in a parody of concern.
“Bastard,” Neely muttered. “Serve him right if you showed up looking hot as all hell, with a twenty-five-year-old stud on your arm.”
Leah managed a smile. “That idea has merit. Or would, if I knew any twenty-five-year-old studs who wouldn’t call me ma’am.”
“This is Georgia, women of all ages get called ma’am.”
“Still. I don’t really want to go to the wedding, except that I’m sure if I don’t, he’ll assume it’s because I’m not over his sorry ass.”
Are you?
Reading the unasked question in Neely’s expression, Leah continued. “I thought I was, but this wedding news hit me hard. I mean, I got weepy this morning when a woman bought an assortment of lipsticks and told me they were party favors for a bridal shower. Am I pathetic enough to still be in love with a man who thought to have and to hold meant just until something curvier sauntered along?”
“You’re not pathetic! He sandbagged you with this announcement, and you’re having a normal reaction. Whether you go or not, what he thinks doesn’t matter.” And if there was justice in the world, he’d be struck impotent on his wedding night.
“Well, I have plenty of time to decide.” Leah fiddled with the straw in her soft drink. “They haven’t even set a date yet. Not that I needed to know this, apparently little Tiffany has always dreamed of a June wedding, but says this summer doesn’t give her enough time to plan and next summer is much too far away for her to wait. A June wedding—how cliché is that?”
Neely swallowed. More of a gulp actually. She’d
