His Best Friend's Wife

by Lee McKenzie

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  TWO WEEKS AFTER Jack and Emily’s wedding, Paul’s life settled into an easy routine. He was out of bed early every morning to fix breakfast and spend some time with his father before he left for the clinic. Several mornings a week, he timed his departure so he could spend an hour at Annie’s having coffee and some of her delectable baked goods before his shift started.

  Now that Jack’s parents had set off on their travels and he and his new wife were settled into his parents’ home across the street, life was even a little easier. Emily frequently worked at home, and she had somehow managed to forge a relationship with Paul’s father. The old man actually seemed quite smitten. Paul knew Emily visited Libby’s mother as well, and Mable was also completely taken with her.

  “Hello-o,” Emily called out as she let herself in the side door and made her way into the kitchen.

  “Good morning,” Paul said, setting a cup of coffee in front of his father. “Look who’s here, Dad.”

  “Good morning, Geoff,” she said. His father insisted she call him by his first name rather than Doc Woodward, which was the way almost everyone had ever addressed him. “You’re looking very handsome this morning.”

  His father preened, running a hand over his head, his neatly groomed hair now silver-gray but still thick and abundant. There weren’t many things about his father Paul wanted to emulate, but he sure hoped he had inherited the man’s hair genes.

  This morning was Paul’s early Monday shift at the health center, followed by lunch with Annie. Emily had offered to come over and see that his father had his breakfast, get him settled with his TV remote and anything else he needed, and then she would return at noon to see he ate his lunch. His father liked to have breakfast in his pajamas and bathrobe but this morning Paul had wanted him dressed for the day before Emily arrived. He had balked, of course, but the indignation was forgotten now that Emily was here and being charming. And if Emily knew he was meeting her sister for lunch, she didn’t let on.

  By the time Paul poured her cup of decaf, she was already at the kitchen counter and starting on breakfast.

  “How do you like your eggs, Geoff?”

  “Soft-boiled,” he said.

  “Me, too,” she said brightly, but with her back to his father she made a face and stuck out her tongue as though she was gagging.

  “Thank you for this,” Paul said.

  “Hey, you and Jack are practically like brothers. This is what families are for.”

  The way things had been going with him and Annie, he was beginning to have hope that someday the family connection might even be real.

  “The numbers for my cell and for the clinic are on the notepad by the phone. Call me if anything comes up.”

  “I will.”

  “His lunch is in the fridge. There’s soup to heat up and a tuna salad sandwich.”

  “Go, have a good morning. Everything will be fine.” She gently pushed him toward the door. “And say hi to my sister for me,” she said with a knowing smile.

  So she did know about their Monday lunch dates. At least he thought of them as dates, although he was sure Annie thought of them as just lunch. He hadn’t had another chance to kiss her since the wedding, aside from a chaste goodbye on the lips after morning coffee. He had given up hoping an opportunity would present itself. No such luck. If he wanted such an occasion to arise, he would have to create one. And that’s exactly what he intended to do. Saturday was his day off and he was going to invite Annie to drive to the city with him. He would bring it up over lunch and hope for the best. Annie disliked crowds and shopping malls and excessive traffic, but thanks to a suggestion from Emily, he had found the perfect place to take her. All he could do now was keep his fingers crossed and hope she would be interested enough to say yes.

  * * *

  PAUL HAD ASKED Annie to spend the day in the city with him. It was a real date, no question about that. She wanted it to feel right, but something wasn’t quite...right. She felt confused and conflicted and she wasn’t sure why. The truth was...

  The truth was that before Eric’s death, their marriage had been starting to feel flat. One-sided. It’s not that he had been a bad husband. In many ways he had been the perfect husband. He had kissed her goodbye every morning when he left for school. He had kissed her again when he came home and asked what was for dinner.

  Eric had loved her cooking, that much she had known. He raved about the roast chickens and gravy, the omelets, the strudels. Paul seemed to like it, too, but there was a subtle difference in the way he talked about it. The other morning when he’d stopped by for coffee, she had offered him a slice of her apple-cinnamon coffee cake with the crumble topping and brown-sugar glaze. He had taken a forkful and set down the fork and then he looked directly into her eyes. “You are incredible,” he’d said.

  That had startled her. “Why do you say that?”

  “You don’t just cook. You’re like an artist in her studio, creating one masterpiece after another.”

  The compliment had left her feeling flattered and oddly elated, a little light-headed even. “It’s just coffee cake.”

  With his gaze still locked with hers, he had covered her hand with his. “It’s never just coffee cake when you’ve made it.” He had leaned in then and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Trust me. It’s a work of art.”

  Even now, thinking about how Paul had looked at her left her breathless.

  She tried to remember a time when Eric had looked at her that way—really, truly looked into her eyes as though she was the only person in the world. Sadly, she couldn’t. He had always been getting ready to rush out the door or getting ready to watch a football game on television or checking baseball stats online or planning a field trip for his students at Riverton High.

  “Stop,” she said to herself. “Stop it right now.”

  What was wrong with her? She had never had these thoughts while Eric was alive. Now that Paul was in her life, she was becoming critical of someone who was no longer here to account for the way he had treated her. She was developing feelings for Paul. She couldn’t deny them. A psychologist would probably tell her that having these thoughts about her deceased husband was her way of assuaging the guilt about falling for her husband’s best friend.

  “Penny for your thoughts.”

  She whirled around to find her father behind her. “Dad, I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “I’m riding my stealth mobile today.”

  She laughed. He had always made up the corniest names for his wheelchairs.

  “You looked like you were a million miles away just now,” he said. “With the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

  “Oh, Dad. Life would be so much easier if...”

  “If it was easy?”

  She nodded.

  “It never is, though.”

  “It used to be. I thought I had it all. A great husband, an amazing family, this wonderful home...” She waved her hand. “I thought everything would stay this way forever.”

  “These things you’re feeling are a natural part of grief. Trust me,” he said. “I hate to sound glib but, been there, done that.”

  “I’m sorry, Dad. You’re the last person I should be whining to about this.”

  “For starters, you’re not whining. Second, I am your father, which makes me the first person you should be talking to when life gives you a backhand. And you also know better than to deal me the sympathy card. Yes, I lost the use of my legs. Yes, my wife walked out on me. And I made up my mind a long time ago those things were not going to define me. Now, when I look around, I see how lucky I am.”

  Annie slid off the stool and looped her arms around his shoulders. “You’ve always been the man we looked up to, me and Emily and CJ. Our knight in shining armor and a superhero cape.”


  “Now there’s a picture for you.” He gave her one of his deep, genuine laughs that always set the world right. “How about you pour your old dad a cup of coffee and tell me what’s going on.”

  Annie did as he asked, refilled her own and carried both cups to the kitchen table. “It’s Paul,” she said. “He asked me to drive into the city with him on Saturday.”

  “Are you taking Isaac?”

  “No, it’s just the two of us. Isaac will have to stay at home.”

  Her father picked up his mug and studied her over the rim while he took a long drink. Then he set it down and leaned his forearms on the table. “I won’t be here,” he said. “I’m going out with Libby on Saturday.”

  “Oh.” Not the response she was expecting, but she went with it. “That’s nice. Where are you taking her?”

  “To the veterans’ retirement home.”

  “Seriously? Way to sweep a girl off her feet, Dad.”

  He laughed. “Believe it or not, this was her idea. We were there a couple of weeks ago and she had such an interesting time, she decided she’d like to go back. We just had to wait until Emily had a free day to stay with Libby’s mother.”

  Annie realized her child-care options were rapidly diminishing. “I’ll ask CJ to keep an eye on Isaac then.”

  “Now that you’ve sorted that out, why don’t you tell me what’s really on your mind?”

  She brushed aside the temptation to deny that anything was bothering her. Her father would never believe her anyway.

  “This thing with Paul feels like a date and that makes me uncomfortable.”

  “And you don’t want to go on a date with him? I’ve been under the impression you liked him. A lot.”

  “I do, but it feels too...soon.”

  “Too soon to have a life? Too soon to have friends, good friends who you enjoy spending time with?”

  “Not when you put it like that but—”

  “Annie, it’s your nature to overthink things, always has been. But sometimes you need to turn off those thoughts and just go with your heart.”

  “That’s such a cliché.”

  “Maybe, but it’s a cliché for a good reason. So tell me, all thinking aside, what’s your heart telling you to do?”

  She sighed. “Everyone tells me I work too much, that I need to give myself a break and have some fun. I guess my heart is telling me they’re right.”

  “And what is your heart telling you about Paul.”

  “He’s a good person, a good friend.” He was the kind of man she might be able to fall in love with if she let herself, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to say those things out loud, especially not to her father.

  “He is all of those things,” her father said. “The way he’s looking after his dad shows he cares about family. He’s great with kids.”

  “That’s true. Isaac loves him.”

  “And I see the way he looks at you.” Her father’s steely blue gaze was unrelenting. “If a guy like Paul is in a relationship...” Thomas said. “Seems to me he’d be the kind of guy who’d be all in.”

  Annie’s nose was getting warm and it was no doubt turning red. Hearing her father talk about Paul was unexpected. He had never spoken about Eric this way and she felt compelled to defend him.

  “Eric was a good man, too,” she said softly. “A good husband and father.”

  “Of course he was, honey.” He patted her hand. “There was never any question about that, and he was way too young when we lost him. The thing is, though...you’re still here. You need to keep on living.”

  Another cliché. She let this one slide. “What about you? You didn’t move on after my mother left.”

  Thomas chuckled. “Nice try, but that was different. Your mother and I were still married. I was recovering from a serious injury and getting used to life in a wheelchair.”

  “I’m sorry, Dad. I shouldn’t have brought it up. I can’t imagine how tough things must have been for you. Lonely, too.”

  “No, I’m glad you brought it up.” He stared out the window but didn’t appear to be looking at anything. “Memories are funny things. I don’t remember it being so hard—I just did what I had to do to get from one day to the next—but I won’t lie to you. There were times when it was lonely.”

  “And now?”

  Her father looked at her and grinned. “And now, not so much.”

  “Libby is amazing. I’m so glad the two of you are...”

  Thomas arched his brows, waited for her to finish.

  “A couple?” she asked. She honestly wasn’t sure.

  “Me, too. I’ve been hoping it’s not too weird for you and your sisters.”

  “Why would it be weird?”

  He responded with an expansive shrug. “We’re not exactly spring chickens, are we? We haven’t known one another for long, and we both have some baggage.”

  Annie laughed at the image of two not-so-young chickens with too many suitcases. “Everyone has a past,” she said. “It’s what makes us who we are today, but we don’t have to let our past set the course for our future.”

  “Wise words from a wise young woman.” Her father’s praise was warm and genuine. “So now the question is whether or not she’ll listen to her own advice.”

  Good question. “So you think I should go into the city with Paul on Saturday?”

  “It doesn’t matter what I think. It’s what you want that’s important.”

  And what did she want? A year ago she would have wanted everything—including her marriage—to stay the same forever. The universe or fate or whatever had a different plan. Now she was on her own. Now a man she thought she had known forever had come back into her life, and it turned out she hadn’t really known him at all. Paul encouraged her to explore new ways of looking at her everyday world. He made her believe her thoughts and ideas had value. The truth was that when she was with him, she felt vibrant and alive.

  “And I want to spend the day with him.” There, she’d said it.

  “Go,” her father said. “Call him.”

  “I should check with CJ first, find out if she can watch Isaac for me.”

  “Call him. Everything else will work itself out. Have a little faith.”

  She liked to have everything under control before she made a commitment, but her father was probably right. For once she would throw caution to the wind and follow her heart.

  “Thanks, Dad.” She gave him a hug, and then she went in search of her phone before she talked herself out of it.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  WITH HER PHONE in hand, Annie closed her bedroom door and settled into one of the two ivory wingback chairs that had been a splurge when she had redecorated five years ago. She had imagined herself and Eric sitting here in the evening, sharing some quiet time, perhaps reading or sharing details about their day. Or spending some intimate time over coffee on a Sunday morning, planning the week ahead.

  Why hadn’t those things ever happened?

  Instead, she had come to bed dog-tired after a long day in the kitchen, the garden, the laundry room, and the hours spent taking care of her husband and her son, her extended family, her bed-and-breakfast guests. Eric had loved teaching and he’d been up and out the door early every morning, staying late after school to coach various sports teams, and would then come home with an armload of lesson plans and papers to grade.

  And so the chairs had languished, mostly unused, except for when Eric had sat to lace up his shoes or had turned one of them into a catchall for a jacket or a gym bag.

  Annie chased away the ghostly regrets as she kicked off her shoes and swung her feet onto the single ottoman shared by the two chairs. Before she chickened out, she sent Paul a text.

  Would love to spend Saturday in the city. Th
anks for suggesting it. Annie

  Next she sent a message to CJ.

  Hey, sis. I have a date on Saturday. Can you look after Isaac for me? We’ll be back by dinner time. Please? Pretty please? A.

  PS: Yes, it’s a real date. Not a big deal.

  Not a big deal. Who was she kidding? It was a huge deal. After she hit Send, her phone promptly played a tone to indicate she had an incoming message. It was from Paul.

  You’ve made me one happy man. Pick you up Saturday at 9:30. FYI, now that you’ve said yes, there’s no changing your mind. Paul

  He must have been on a break or at least between patients to have responded so quickly. His quip about not changing her mind made her laugh. She was in the process of formulating a witty response about a woman’s prerogative when her phone jingled with another incoming message. This one was from CJ.

  No can do, big sis. I teach therapeutic riding on Saturday morning and I’ve been asked to give a 4H workshop on halter and bridle training in the afternoon. CJ

  Well, this was not working out as she had hoped. Her father and CJ both had plans. Emily had another commitment. Unless...

  She tapped out a message to Emily.

  Dad says you’re spending Saturday with Libby’s mom. Any chance you can keep an eye on Isaac, too? A.

  As always, Emily responded right away.

  Promised to take Mable to a whist tournament at the seniors’ center. Good times! But no fun for a little boy. Sorry! E.

  Okay, this was not going well at all. Annie had never expected, let alone asked, her family to put their lives on hold so she could live hers, and there was the problem. Until now, she hadn’t asked. Ever. But now that she had agreed to spend the day with Paul, she wanted to do it and she didn’t want to disappoint either of them by changing her mind.

  Who else could she ask? If Isaac had been invited to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon, she could have CJ drop him off on her way to the 4H thing. But this weekend was remarkably commitment-free. Maybe Stacey McGregor? Isaac was friends with her daughter, Melissa, at school. No, that wouldn’t work, either. They had chatted at the PTA meeting a few evenings ago and Stacey had said they were going to Madison for the weekend to celebrate her husband’s parents’ fortieth anniversary.