Michael couldn’t think of the words to show a measure of what he was feeling right now, so he simply stated, “Thank you.”
“Have either of you seen my cell phone?” Leigh asked as soon as she entered the kitchen where her mother and sister were having breakfast. “I can’t find it anywhere.”
“Good morning to you too,” Janet said as she wiped the edges of her mouth with her napkin.
“Sorry.” Leigh stood in the middle of the large kitchen, looking around. “Morning. I’m just going nuts. I called it and I didn’t hear anything. I have to get to the clinic. I was in the kitchen last night and thought maybe I left it here.”
“Here.” Sitting at the table across from her mother, Haley tossed the phone at her sister.
Leigh jumped forward and grabbed it after juggling it a bit. “Why do you have my phone?”
“I’m trying to help you out,” Haley said. “You have to play hard to get. You go on one jaunt to Africa with this man and you’re all his.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Leigh scrolled the call history to check the calls she missed.
“I was in your bedroom this morning and…”
“Why?” Leigh asked.
“I was stopping by to borrow your laptop, ’cause I broke mine throwing it at my stupid husband yesterday.”
“Why did you do that?” Janet asked.
“Anyway,” Haley continued, ignoring her mother. “You were in the shower, and your phone was ringing. I noticed that you’ve already put him on your contact list, because his name came up.”
Leigh stuffed the phone in the back pocket of her pants. “He did that.”
“That was quite bold,” Janet interjected. “Putting his number in your cell. Was it with your consent?”
Leigh hadn’t said no when he took her phone and input his private number. She was flattered that he initiated such a gesture, even though it was pretty presumptuous. “It’s no big deal. We just don’t want people talking about us, so it’s better if I not call the office.”
“So you are still seeing each other?” Janet asked, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.
“I guess.” Leigh turned to Haley. “And stay away from my phone and out of my room.”
“He’s called you twice already today,” Haley said, ignoring her sister’s warning. “If you had the phone, you would have picked up. I just know it. You have to play these powerful men right. I can teach you.”
“I don’t think I want to hear this,” Janet said.
“You can’t be nice to them,” Haley continued. “They can’t stand that.”
Leigh grabbed a half of a bagel from her sister’s plate. “I’m not taking romantic advice from Mrs. Marry for Money.”
“I’m just looking out for you,” Haley said. “Have you been on the Net? The gossip blogs are all about you two. They’re talking about how lucky he is to marry a Chase and how that will be his on-ramp to the White House.”
Leigh grumbled.
“That’s foolishness,” Janet said. She knew how much it upset Leigh to be gossiped about because of her last name, but there was no avoiding it, not this time. “And it’s insulting to your sister.”
“How is it insulting?” Haley asked. “They’re saying he’s lucky, which is a compliment to her. They’re saying you could be First Lady.”
“That’s enough, Haley.” Leigh headed for the fridge to get some juice. She really didn’t want to hear this.
“You deserve that,” Haley continued.
Leigh’s head shot up from the fridge. She and Janet looked stunned at Haley before turning to each other. Neither was sure they heard right.
“Did you just give me a compliment?” Leigh asked.
“Don’t jinx it by asking,” Janet urged.
Haley smirked. “Ha. Ha. Ha. You’re both so funny. I was just saying that you would make a good First Lady. You care about people and crap like that. Also, you’ve had sex with like, what, five guys your entire life, and at least one of them was gay so—”
“At least one of them?” Leigh asked.
“Can you be so sure about the others?” Haley asked. “I think every guy you’ve dated has been suspect. Until now, of course.”
Leigh took a sip of orange juice before saying, “Well, I’d prefer you say I would make a good president, but I’ll accept First Lady, since I know how hard it is for you to say something nice about anyone.”
“It’s Evan!” Janet said joyfully. “He’s got everyone in a good mood. Even Haley is acting human.”
“Hey!” Haley was not amused.
“You know what I mean, dear.” Janet turned to Leigh. “And, Leigh, I hope your good mood won’t be broken by my confession.”
“What have you done?” Leigh felt her stomach tightening. Her mother’s involvement in her private life always led to disaster.
“I called his office and invited him to dinner tomorrow night.” Janet cringed at the astonished look on her daughter’s face.
“How could you do that?” Leigh asked incredulously. “Without asking me first?”
“I thought you would say no.”
“Mom,” Haley chimed in. “You’re ruining everything. This is not in my plan. Now he’s going to run away from her.”
Leigh wondered what the damage the mixed message would cause. She was telling him to take things slow and not go public while Janet was inviting him to a family dinner. “I would have said no. It isn’t like that between us, Mother.”
“What is it like?” Janet stood up.
Leigh shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I’m focused on getting the clinic back on track, and he has to put together a big report for the president. We’re both focused on work. I haven’t really allowed myself to think about a real relationship.”
“Well, I have,” Janet said. She patted Leigh on the arm as she passed her on her way out of the kitchen. “Don’t worry. We’ll lock Haley in the guest house.”
“You can try!” Haley yelled out. “Nothing is keeping me from this dinner.”
“There isn’t going to be a dinner,” Leigh said. “I’m calling to cancel.”
“You shouldn’t,” Haley warned.
“More advice from Mrs. Marry for Money?”
“The sad thing,” Haley said, “is that you think that name bothers me. All I’m saying is that this family is bat-shit crazy, and maybe his reaction to the crazy will tell you whether or not you want to allow yourself to think about it, whatever that means.”
Leigh couldn’t believe she was thinking it, but Haley was right. Africa had been like a fantasy, and both Leigh and Max knew that. It was probably why they had little more than texted each other since coming back. They wanted to keep the fantasy. But the real world wouldn’t wait, and there was nothing more real than a dinner with the Chases.
There would be no point in thinking of seeing Max again if he couldn’t handle the Chase clan. If it turned out he could handle them just fine, well…
10
Leigh handed a glass of red wine to Max as he leaned against the standing bar in the backyard.
“I didn’t ask for any wine,” Max said, taking the glass anyway.
“Trust me,” Leigh said. “You’ll need it. Dinner is starting any minute now.”
Looking at the lights reflecting from the pool, he said, “This must be nice for throwing parties.”
“You would be surprised how many fake people with lots of money you can fit into this backyard.”
Max turned to her. “Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Make assumptions about people with money,” he answered. “You know you’re talking about yourself, and you’re talking about the people who keep your clinic going.”
“What happened to your sense of humor?”
“It’s a little distracted by that sexy dress you have on.” He slowly looked her up and down. “That is not a meet-my-daddy dress. It’s a take-me-home-right-now dress.”
&nb
sp; Leigh laughed, blushing. She had gone over in her mind what to wear and decided that since this was the first time they had seen each other since Africa, she would kick it up a notch. For that, she had to raid Haley’s closet, but it was worth it. What she came up with was a black spaghetti-strap sheath dress, just at the edge of classy and sexy, with Miu Miu platforms that made her legs look a mile long.
“You’ll have to watch that dirty smile of yours,” she said. “I like it, but Daddy won’t.”
“Don’t tease me,” he said with a wink. “I’ve met your dad, and he seems to not want to kick me out yet. I bet your mom likes me more than you do. That was the hard part, wasn’t it?”
“Oh, you poor baby.” Leigh placed her hand on his arm and rubbed it, feeling his muscles. She wasn’t wearing a take-me-home-right-now dress for nothing. “Just think about the most painful political dinner you’ve been to and take it up a few notches. That’s what this will be like if you’re lucky.”
“Let’s make a deal.” Max stood up straight as Janet made her way toward them. “If I survive this, you have to—”
Leigh pressed her index finger to his lips. “Let’s see you survive, and then we’ll talk about deals.”
“Maya is bringing dinner in,” Janet said as she stood with an excessively approving smile.
Standing in the hallway, Avery took a deep breath and tried to brace herself for what was to come. She had gone for a long walk with Connor in her stroller. She spent it crying and talking to herself. She wanted to call her mother but couldn’t. She had to handle this herself and deal with whatever came out of it. She had to stop avoiding the truth and making other people open her eyes for her. She couldn’t be afraid to be alone. She had practically been alone for months now.
When she finally turned and walked into the dining room, the sight of Anthony sitting at the table eating leftovers made her angry. He was sitting there eating as if he didn’t have a care in the world. She reminded herself she had to keep this civilized. Her baby was sleeping down the hallway, and although the bedroom door was closed, Connor seemed able to hear anything. No screaming.
Then she saw it. On the table next to him was a prescription bottle of medications he took. He had to take it with dinner every night, and it looked like he had.
“Hi, baby.” Anthony looked up for only a second as Avery walked to the other end of the table and gripped the chair with her hands.
“Anthony, we have to—”
“Have you been crying?” Anthony asked as he looked back up with a frown. “Your eyes are all red.”
“I see you found the pills,” she said, pointing to the bottle.
Anthony looked at it for a second, before taking another bite of his Greek chicken.
“You were looking for them earlier today,” she said. “Where did you find them?”
He didn’t look up as he answered. “I don’t know. In the kitchen I think.”
“I looked everywhere in the kitchen.” Avery tried to keep her voice from giving her anger away too soon. “Where were they?”
He stopped eating but didn’t look up. He shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t remember.”
“Are you sure you didn’t find them here?” she asked. “In the dining room?”
This time Anthony looked up, and Avery could see he was trying to look nonchalant, but the anxiety in his eyes gave him away. “Um…probably. I’m not sure. I was preoccupied and I just saw them.”
“I saw them here too,” she said. “Just before I left. I saw them on the edge of the curio right next to the window. Then I placed them on top of the curio, so I’m curious—how did you get them?”
Anthony’s fake smile went flat as he realized what she was doing. “I…I just reached up and got it.”
“You can’t reach that high on your own.” Avery felt if he was going to insist on continuing his lie, she could play this game too. “You would have had to stand up to get that.”
Anthony swallowed hard. “What are you saying?”
Avery placed both hands on her hips. “I just said what I’m saying. You would have had to stand up to get that, so how did you get it?”
Anthony seemed speechless for several seconds before adding, “I had to push the curio a little and it fell off.”
“I put it in the middle, Anthony.” She pointed sharply at the curio. “You would have had to tip the curio over to get it to fall off, but all the china would’ve fallen off too. How did you avoid that?”
Anthony sighed, looking down at his food. “Avery…”
“You stood up, didn’t you?”
“You must have been mistaken as to where you left it. It was on the edge.”
“I wasn’t mistaken at all,” she said calmly. “You see, I specifically put it there, because I knew you would have to stand up to get it. In other words, I set you up.”
Anthony’s face held an injured expression as if she had wronged him. “Since when did you become so devious? Oh, yes, that’s right. Probably back when you started cheating on—”
“Give it up,” she said in a controlled tone, trying to hold back her outrage enough to keep her composure. The truth was, up until this moment, she believed—wanted to believe—that it was all a lie. She wanted to be proven wrong. There was no going back now. “I know you can walk, you asshole.”
“I admit that sometimes I get sensations in my legs, but—”
“I have pictures,” she lied. If he asked to see them, she would tell him they were hidden somewhere.
“Pictures?” He was clearly astonished.
“You look as if you couldn’t believe I would ever do such a thing,” Avery said as she took a few more steps into the room. “As if you thought you could fool me forever.”
“Where did you get pictures?” he asked. “Carter? Was it Carter who did this?”
“Stop it!” She was glad to see him startled by how loud she yelled. He had to stop the bullshitting now. “I just want you to get out.”
“Fine.” Anthony slowly stood up. He seemed wobbly but clearly was on both feet. “But it’s not as if I’m fully—”
“Did I ask you to explain this to me?” Avery asked. “I just told you to leave.”
“It’s still hard for me to walk!” Anthony yelled as she left and went into the kitchen. “I’m not completely faking it. I wanted to be able to fully walk before I—”
“This would have been effective if you hadn’t already showed me how much of a fool you think I am.” She kept her back to him. “You want to confess? Go ahead and confess. If that’s what you need to make you leave.”
Anthony needed the counter to keep upright. “When I started feeling sensations, I—”
“This is why you didn’t want me to come to your doctor’s appointments?”
His voice was shaky and uncertain. “No, I didn’t want you…to come to the doctor’s because…I got sick and tired of seeing that look of pity on your face. You looked so fucking pressed to even be there.”
“That was all in your mind.” Avery turned to look at him. It was odd to see him standing, even though he didn’t look strong. “You created this scenario where I…I’m not going to do this. You were trying to deceive me, lie to me.”
“Don’t you want to know why?” he asked.
“I just want you to leave.”
“It was to keep you!”
Avery stared impatiently and was disgusted by the self-pitying look on his face. “Save me the sob story, Anthony. You lied to control me.”
“I knew if I told you, you would leave. We both know the only reason why you’re with me is because of my legs.”
“I tried, Anthony.” Avery leaned back against the sink, her hands gripping the edges. “I was wrong to cheat on you. I felt guilty, but I stayed because I wanted to be a good wife. I believe you get married once, and I wanted us to make this work.”
“If that isn’t a load of bullshit, I don’t know what is,” Anthony said. “You were waiting for me to walk again. The onl
y time you acted even remotely interested in my care was when the doctor talked about possible recovery.”
Her laugh was filled with derision. “I wanted you to get healthy again for all of us! I wanted us to be a family again.”
“We were never a family,” Anthony said. “I was the filler for the void Carter left.”
“Stop talking about him!” Enraged, Avery grabbed a plate and threw it across the room. “I don’t want to hear his name come from your lips ever again!”
“I don’t deserve to lose you!”
Avery was utterly confused. “What in the hell does that mean?”
“I’ve earned the right to have you, Avery!” Anthony slammed his fist on the counter. “Out of all of this—”
“You could at least have me? That’s what you’re going to say, right? I should be your going-away or thank-you-for-playing gift.”
“You should be my wife,” Anthony said. “You should have been my wife and you never were.”
Avery’s guilt made her calm down a little. “You’re right. I should have been your wife, and I never really was. I hurt you and I betrayed you. I was a horrible wife to you, and maybe I deserve to be deceived, but I’m done taking the blame for all of this.”
Shit happens, she thought to herself. She screwed up, tried to fix it, but the game was over. She had lost her marriage and the man she loved, and she would not be anyone’s consolation prize.
“What you’ve done here,” she said, “has only made it clear to me that this is over and that it never should have been!”
“Because I can walk?”
“No,” she answered. “Because I was the coward who ran from my own heart, and you’re a liar who feeds off of other people’s guilt.”
“Avery, please.” He walked gingerly toward her with his hand out in a plea for sympathy.
Avery held up her hand to stop him. “You and I both know what insurance fraud is, but I’m going to give you a chance to leave and never come back.”
“What about Connor?” he asked. “She’s my—”
“She’s your nothing! You are never going anywhere near her again.”
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