Can't Get Enough

by Connie Briscoe

  “I’ll bet you did,” she snapped. You bastard. She wanted to scream, but too many people were around, and the last thing she wanted was to cause a scene.

  “Um, you remember Sabrina, don’t you, Barbara?”

  Remember her? How the hell could she forget the woman? Bradford had sworn that his affair with Sabrina was history and that he never wanted to see her again. And now here he was, having dinner with the woman at her favorite restaurant.

  Barbara was tempted to yank Sabrina’s drink off the table and throw it in her face. Instead, she coolly ignored the woman. Still, she had seen enough to notice that Sabrina had folded her shapely petite figure into an expensive-looking designer suit. Where on earth did a twenty-five-year-old secretary get the money for a suit like that? Why she was even younger than Noah. Way younger than Noah.

  “What are you doing here, Bradford?” Barbara hissed quietly. “With that.” Barbara jerked her head in Sabrina’s direction.

  Sabrina jumped up. “How dare you talk to me like that,” she yelled. A few nearby heads turned in their direction.

  “I wasn’t talking to you,” Barbara said calmly. “I was talking about you. So why don’t you mind your business?”

  Sabrina jabbed a finger in Barbara’s direction. “Bradford, you do something about her or—”

  “Do something about me?” Barbara said indignantly. She turned to face Sabrina head-on. “Why you little—”

  “Wait a minute,” Bradford said, holding his hands out to interrupt them. “Both of you calm down. Barbara, all we’re doing is talking over dinner.”

  “You expect me to believe that?” Barbara said as Sabrina sat back down and rearranged her napkin in her lap. “And even if it’s true, did you have to come here with her?” Barbara continued. “This is my favorite restaurant, Bradford. You know that. And in case you’ve forgotten, she pointed a knife at me at Rebecca’s—”

  “This happens to be my favorite restaurant, too,” Sabrina said smartly.

  Barbara glared at her. “You mean after KFC or—”

  Sabrina jumped up again. “I don’t have to take this.”

  “Barbara, stop it,” Bradford said. “Listen to me.”

  “No, you stop. I’m tired of this. This is why you were so interested in what I had planned for today. You wanted to know if I was coming into town because you wanted to be free and clear to come to my favorite restaurant and entertain your little tramp.”

  “That’s it,” Sabrina said. “I’ll wait for you at the bar, Brad.” With that, she turned on her heels and fled across the dining room.

  By now, everyone near the table was stealing glances and whispering loudly. Barbara caught a glimpse of Veronique’s honey blond hair three tables away, but she was past the point of caring what others thought.

  “Go ahead,” she yelled at Bradford. “Run and get her.”

  “Barbara, I’ll talk to you when we get home. People are staring. Someone might recognize us.”

  “Ha! Well, you should have thought about that before you came in here with your mistress, don’t you think? I’m sick of talking about it anyway. Nothing ever changes with you.” She fumbled with the clasp on her new diamond bracelet.

  “I should have wondered why you were buying me so many expensive presents for my birthday.”

  She yanked the bracelet off her wrist and threw it on the table. It landed in his champagne glass with a splash.

  “Barbara, you’ll ruin . . .”

  She ignored him and whirled around on her heels. Then she remembered the earrings and stopped. She removed them from her ears, stormed back to the table, and threw them at him. He ducked out of the way then stared at her with eyes wide open. She turned and flew.

  Barbara reached the table in the colonnade and grabbed her purse. “Come on, girls,” she said to Robin and Rebecca. “We’re leaving.” Barbara signaled the waiter, planning to pay and cancel the rest of their meal.

  “We’ve already done that,” Robin said quietly.

  They had known what was coming the minute she had jumped up out of her seat, Barbara realized, because they had seen this scene or others like it countless times over the years. Barbara felt a pang of shame as she marched out of the restaurant with her daughters in tow.

  JOLENE AND PATRICK dropped Juliette off at Monica’s house, then drove down to K Street for a night at Georgia Brown’s. Jolene couldn’t have asked for a more romantic setting. It was a perfectly clear evening with a deep blue sky, and this was one of her favorite restaurants. The food was low-country cuisine, with dishes such as fried green tomatoes served in an elegant dining area with high ceilings and sparkling chandeliers.

  After a dinner of crab soup and southern fried chicken salad, she and Patrick settled back with crème brûlée and brandy. By the time Jolene ordered a second round of drinks for them, Patrick seemed more relaxed with her than he’d been since they had split up. They talked freely about everything, their conversation drifting from Juliette’s teen behavior to Jolene’s lottery winnings and plans for the future. It was wonderful to have Patrick laughing and agreeing with her for a change instead of arguing.

  As Patrick chatted on about his job, Jolene smiled and nodded. Once in a while she leaned over just enough to give him a good look down her low-cut suit jacket. She pretended to sip her brandy but she really just let it grace her lips much of the time. She had ordered a second round to get Patrick loosened up, but she wanted to keep a clear head herself. She had big plans for the two of them later that night.

  She touched his leg gently under the table with the toe of her Manolo. It was a light touch, probably barely noticeable, but it let him know that she was available. He smiled at her. Maybe he was finally getting the message.

  If all went well, Patrick would wake up in her bed tomorrow morning and many mornings afterward. She would see how Pearl felt about that.

  Following brandy and dessert, they climbed into Patrick’s Nissan Maxima and chatted and laughed all the way home. When they pulled up in front of Jolene’s house, she gently put her hand on his thigh. “Why don’t you come in for a cup of coffee?”

  He nodded in agreement so quickly that it surprised Jolene. She had expected to have to do some persuading, especially since Pearl had called him on his cell phone as they were leaving the restaurant. Maybe things between Patrick and fatso weren’t going so well after all. Or maybe he still found his ex-wife too hard to resist.

  She poured them both glasses of sherry instead of coffee, as Patrick unbuttoned his jacket and settled on the couch in the family room. She wanted him to feel that they could get along again as a couple, and the looser Patrick was the easier that would be. She thought if she could just get him into her bed overnight, the rest would come easy.

  “Sometimes I wish we could go back,” she said as she sat down beside him.

  “Go back where?” he asked as he sipped his drink.

  She kicked off her heels and tucked her feet up under her. “To the way things were when we were first married.”

  Patrick sighed with nostalgia. “Remember when we brought Juliette home from the hospital?”

  Jolene nodded and smiled. “You held her almost all night while I got some rest. Wasn’t that special? What happened to us?”

  “Different goals, different needs. You were always more money and power hungry than I was. Although money’s obviously not a problem for you anymore.”

  “No it’s not, thank God. But lots of couples disagree about money. It doesn’t mean they have to break up.”

  “True. But it’s different if one of them is also screwing the other’s boss.”

  Jolene was silent for a moment. He’d said it in a lighthearted way, but still. He would have to bring that up. She hit him playfully in an attempt to break the sudden tension in the air. “Don’t go there. I know I screwed up. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  She wasn’t going to remind him that he had cheated on her during the early years of their marriage. He had even
fathered a child from the affair, a daughter he’d had nothing to do with until about a year ago. But she couldn’t fault him entirely for that. He hadn’t even known about Lee until she had shown up on their doorstep last summer.

  “Neither of us was exactly an angel,” she said. “Let’s leave it at that.”

  “If you’re talking about Lee, the affair with her mother was the only time I was unfaithful to you. You were so depressed about losing your first baby and your family rejecting you that I thought our marriage was doomed from the start. But then I decided that it was wrong to get involved with someone else and I broke it off after only a few weeks. I wanted to do everything I could to work things out with you.”

  He paused and shook his head. “I was crazy about you then. But nothing I did made you happy. You always wanted more—a bigger house, a fancier car. And that got to me eventually. I guess we’re just not right for each other.”

  She touched his arm. “Don’t say that. We were both so young when we got married. I was too immature and stubborn to see how good you were for me. But I’m older and wiser now and I really regret some of the things I did. Men don’t come any better than you, Patrick.” She slid closer to him on the couch until their shoulders touched.

  He smiled down at her in appreciation and they sat together silently for a moment. She noticed that his caramel complexion was flushed with alcohol. He didn’t appear to be intoxicated, just very relaxed. She touched his cheek gently. “We get along much better now. Notice?”

  “Yes. You know, I still find you very attractive.”

  A tingle traveled down her back. “Thank you.”

  She placed her glass on the coffee table, then took his glass and set it down. She swung a leg over his thighs and straddled him.

  “Jolene, I don’t know about this.”

  She ignored his protests and licked his ear with her tongue. He closed his eyes, moaned, and leaned his head back. She knew she had him.

  She smothered his face with kisses as she removed his jacket and tossed it onto the floor. She had just reached for the top button to his shirt when a phone rang, piercing the hot and heavy air like a dagger into flesh.

  Jolene jumped. “Where the hell is that coming from?”

  Patrick pushed her off his lap and back onto the couch and grabbed his jacket off the floor. He reached into the inside pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

  “Yeah,” he muttered into the receiver.

  Jolene exhaled with frustration as she straightened her suit jacket. She crossed her ankles and listened.

  “Hey,” Patrick said softly. “No. I shouldn’t be much longer. Will you still be there?”

  Jolene rolled her eyes to the ceiling. That was Pearl, no doubt. Who did she think she was, calling and checking up on him every fucking five minutes? Meddlesome cow.

  “Mm-hmm,” Patrick said glancing at his watch. “About ten minutes?”

  Dammit. What the hell was he talking about? Ten minutes? They needed way more time than that.

  Jolene crossed her legs at the knees and bounced her foot up and down. It was all she could do to keep from yelling at Patrick. She couldn’t stand being ignored, especially when she was horny.

  “OK. I’ll see you then, baby.”

  This was too much, Jolene thought as she hastily brushed imaginary lint off her jacket. Now he was calling Pearl “baby.” She ought to yank the goddamn phone out of his hand. How dare he carry on like that in front of her.

  Patrick said good-bye and hung up. He glanced at Jolene out of the corner of his eye. “Sorry about that.”

  “Pfft. Why does she have to call you all the time?”

  “She’s at the house with Lee. I told her I would be back by ten o’clock and it’s after eleven.”

  “So now she’s got you on curfew?” Jolene said sarcastically.

  “Don’t be silly. She’s just wondering how much longer I’ll be.”

  All damn night if I have my way, Jolene thought. “Let’s not talk about her now,” Jolene said. “I don’t want to argue. Where were we before we got interrupted?” She threw her leg back over him, but he grabbed her by the waist and sat her back firmly on the couch.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I really need to go.” He stood up, slipped his arms into his jacket, and placed his cell phone back in the pocket.

  Jolene stared at him. She was flabbergasted. “You’re leaving? Now?”

  He smiled down at her. “I’m afraid so.”

  Shit. He was leaving her to go to Pearl? Un-fucking-believable. But she had to stay calm. She had to strategize if she wanted to win Patrick back. She still believed there was a chance and she wasn’t going to give up yet. It was just going to take more work than she had thought.

  She stood and straightened her suit. “Well, I’m real disappointed that we were interrupted and now you have to run off. I mean, we were just getting started.”

  “I’m sorry. I . . . we should never have let things get as far as they did. I don’t know what came over me, or you, for that matter.”

  She grabbed the lapels of his jacket. “Well, I know what came over us. You wanted me, Patrick. I could feel it.”

  “I won’t deny that I still find you attractive, Jolene. I already said that. But I doubt things would ever work out between us. We’re too different.”

  “Differences are good for a relationship. They keep it exciting.”

  He chuckled uncomfortably and gently removed her hands from his lapels. “Sometimes maybe a little too exciting for me.”

  She grabbed his lapels again. “Patrick, please. Listen to me, honey. I’ve changed, and I really miss you. Juliette does, too, and I know you miss her.”

  A look of sadness came over Patrick’s face at the mention of Juliette. “That is my biggest regret about things not working out between us.”

  “Then come back to us, Patrick. Come home.”

  He sighed. “It’s not that simple, Jo.”

  “Isn’t it? We were a family before. We can be a family again. All you have to do is move back in with us. Only this time, things will be a lot better. We won’t have financial problems like before. Think of all the things we can do with the money I won. Think of Juliette.”

  He took her hands and cupped them in his own, and Jolene’s heart pumped faster.

  “I don’t know, Jo. And I don’t want you getting your hopes up and especially Juliette’s if things don’t work out.”

  If things don’t work out? That meant he was thinking about it and that maybe things could work out. She had to reassure him about Juliette. “I wouldn’t tell her about us unless it was a sure thing. You know I would never intentionally do anything to hurt her.”

  He nodded. “If there is one thing I’ve always admired about you, it’s that you’re a damn good mother to my daughter. The best.” He squeezed her hands.

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  “OK. Maybe I’ll come by in a couple of weeks, one day after work, and we can talk more. I’ll call to make sure Juliette will be around.”

  “I’ll do my best to make sure she is,” Jolene said sweetly. If anything, she was going to make sure Juliette was not around.

  “Good,” he said. “But no promises. Understood? We’re just talking at this point.”

  “Right. Just talking.” Jolene smiled sweetly as she walked him to the front door. With any luck, the end of the next date would turn out a lot better than this one. She didn’t care if she had to lie, connive, and cheat, she was going to get her man back from that bitch.

  PEARL TAPPED HER foot as she sat on the couch in Patrick’s house and flipped through the pages of Jet. She sighed deeply, closed the magazine, and dropped it on the glass coffee table. She placed her hands in her lap. She felt silly sitting in that position, so she picked up the magazine and flipped through it again.

  She looked up. She wasn’t seeing any of the pages, not really. She couldn’t stop worrying about Patrick and when he was going to get back. She glance
d at her watch. It had been ten minutes, no, more like fifteen, since she had called over to Jolene’s place and Patrick said he was on his way home. And Jolene lived less than half a mile away.

  Pearl dropped the magazine back on the coffee table. She was acting like a jealous fool. Patrick had every right to have dinner with his baby’s mama. So why was she behaving like this?

  Perhaps because his child’s mama was Jolene Brown, and Pearl didn’t trust that woman at all. They had never gotten along and never would.

  If all that wasn’t enough, Jolene was also a big flirt. She walked around looking and acting like an expensively dressed whore, always wearing low-cut tops with her boobs hanging out. Not to mention all that fake hair and makeup.

  Still, Pearl knew that she had to trust Patrick if this relationship was going to work. She did trust Patrick. She just had to remind herself of that every now and then. She picked up the remote control from the coffee table, turned the television on, and flipped through the channels. She soon realized she was doing the same thing with the television that she had been doing with the magazine—not paying attention. Was there any hope for her?

  She was placing the remote on the coffee table when she heard the front door open and shut. It was about time. She jumped up just as Patrick walked into the living room.

  “Sorry about that,” Patrick said as he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

  “That’s all right,” Pearl said, waving her hand in an effort to sound nonchalant. “So how was dinner?”

  “It was fine.”

  “Where did you go?”

  “Georgia Brown’s.”

  “Oh?” They had driven that far together? “Where is Juliette? I thought she was coming back home with you.”

  He moved toward the couch and unbuttoned his gray blazer. “Juliette didn’t go to dinner with us. She was invited to a sleepover at one of her girlfriend’s at the last minute.”

  “Oh,” Pearl said. Her heart began to pound a little faster. So he and Jolene had driven all the way into town for dinner alone. Pearl didn’t like the sound of that. “And, um, how is Jolene?”