The Marriage of Inconvenience

by Nina Singh

  Angel watched him walk back out to the dining area carrying the serving dish. Still giggling, she was only vaguely aware that their little exchange had lessened her anxiety.

  Minutes later they were all seated around the table, the aroma of cream of asparagus wafting up from the plates.

  “Angel mentioned that you own a corporate security firm,” Mila directed to R.J., then blew on her spoonful of hot soup.

  “Yes, that’s my primary focus right now. Angel heads most of the operations for TeaLC.”

  He had managed to answer the question without one lie.

  “Such a dynamic field, network security,” Tavov said. “I imagine something as trivial as tea distribution isn’t very exciting to you.”

  Uh-oh. Angel swallowed. “More soup for anyone? R.J., I see you’re done already.” She started to stand.

  “No, Angel. I’ll hold off until the main course.” He braced his elbows on the table and leaned toward the other man. “On the contrary, Tavov. I find my wife’s side of the business fascinating. But I would never presume to understand as much about it as she does. She’s the brains behind TeaLC. She always has been. I can only be impressed by her tremendous success.”

  Angel blinked at R.J.’s answer. He was impressed with her as a businesswoman? She gave a mental shake of her head and spread her napkin back on her lap.

  R.J. was playing his part as the doting husband. And he was doing it quite well. It was no more than that. He might sound convincing, but she couldn’t forget how fictional all this was.

  Tavov seemed mollified.

  Angel let out the breath she was holding and pushed back her chair. “Excuse me, I’m just going to go get the entrée. We’re having grilled salmon with a parsley glaze. And pasta. I hope that’s okay with everyone.”

  “That sounds delicious, dear,” Mila answered.

  “Just be careful serving the glaze.” R.J. winked.

  She gave him what she hoped was an admonishing glare, then turned toward the kitchen. The smile she was trying to keep from forming on her face broke free as soon as she turned her back.

  * * *

  Forty-five minutes later, Angel rolled the serving tray with all the dishes into the kitchen. They could be rinsed in the morning.

  Rejoining her guests in the living room, she walked over to the stereo. “I think we could use some music.” She pressed the selection on her entertainment center. Moments later the mellowing notes of classic Armstrong filled the room.

  “Why, that’s a lovely tune you have playing, Angeline,” Mila commented.

  “I’m glad you like it. It’s one of my favorites.”

  “Just beautiful.” Mila smiled at Angeline. “I remember you telling us how much you and R.J. enjoy dancing together. Tavov and I don’t do much of it anymore.”

  “Was that a shameless way to get me to ask you to dance, my dear?” Tavov asked with humor, then stood up. He extended his hand to his wife. “Well, I’ll do it only if Angeline and R.J. join us.”

  Angel tried not to wince. R.J. was probably cursing the forces that had ever brought them together. Here he was being urged into dancing with an estranged wife he thought he’d been rid of years ago.

  “I—I’m not in a dancing mood tonight,” Angel hedged, trying to make things easy for him.

  “Please,” Mila insisted. “You don’t know what it takes to get this man to dance.”

  “I really don’t think it’s—”

  R.J. stood before she could finish. In disbelief, she watched him extend his hand to her.

  “What do you say, Princess? Shall we dance?”

  She looked up at him, at a loss for words. The first time he’d ever touched her, he had uttered those very same words. The double meaning in his invitation had been clear, then.

  Lost in memories, she stepped into his embrace. The older couple started to dance next to them.

  It felt so right. He felt so good. The way it had every time he’d touched her. Their bodies molded perfectly, their rhythms completely in tune. Apparently they still moved well together.

  Her feelings must have shown on her face, because he pulled her closer. Her chest molded tightly on his.

  She instinctively rested her cheek on his chest, his heartbeat rhythmically pounding up against her ear. She’d always loved dancing with him, swaying in his arms. Every weekend while in school, they would move together to the sounds of cool, slow jazz at one of the clubs around campus. She longed for those days when she’d really been his partner, on the dance floor and everywhere else.

  Their first dance had been nothing less than thrilling for her. After weeks of her trying futilely to get his attention, he’d finally talked to her. She’d kidded him about it that night.

  Oh, you had my attention, all right. Let’s just say I have this silly quirk about self-preservation.

  She shut her eyes against the memories. How could she have lost a man like this? How could she have been lucky enough to find him and foolish enough not to hold on to him? She sighed into his chest and felt his arms tighten around her.

  “We’d better be careful,” he whispered into her ear, his breath thick and hot against her skin. “We get in trouble when we dance together.”

  “If I recall,” she started in a low voice, “it wasn’t the dancing that got us into trouble.”

  He laughed softly. “Maybe not, but it didn’t help. Logic seemed to fly out the window whenever I had you in my arms.”

  “Like now?”

  He pulled his head back to look at her. She wet her lips when his gaze fell to them. She saw his expression harden, the arms around her suddenly becoming much more lax.

  “We’re different people now.”

  They certainly were. Now, rather than seeing desire in R.J.’s face, all she could see was self-condemnation. For what? For having to touch her? For allowing himself into such a position that he’d had to dance with her three years after separating?

  “People can’t change so much so quickly, can they?”

  “Maybe not. Maybe they just face tests that bring out their true priorities.”

  There was no bitterness in the statement. Just what sounded like pure acceptance. It made her realize how much distance there truly was between them. As far as R.J. was concerned, they had made their decisions years ago. Even though he really hadn’t given her much of a choice.

  The song came to an end. R.J.’s hands drifted slowly down her arms and rested gently on her waist. She moved her hands lower on his shoulders, and for a moment they both just stood still. Finally, R.J. stepped back, and she could have sworn her feet hadn’t touched the floor until then.

  “Well, little lady,” Tavov said to his wife, “we’ve had a long day. What do you say we make our way to our hotel and retire?”

  Mila sighed. “Yes, I suppose it’s getting late.”

  “That it is, dear.”

  Angeline forced herself to step away from R.J. and turned to her guests. “Then I guess I’ll see the two of you at our lunch meeting tomorrow.”

  The digital audio player behind them switched to the next track, “Fantastic, That’s You.” Angeline guided the other couple toward the door. She could only hope that they didn’t notice the moisture gleaming in her eyes.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  IT WAS OVER.

  Angeline moved to join R.J. where he stood in front of the window watching the fall of the rain.

  “I guess that went as well as we could have hoped,” she said, doing her best to sound casual.

  R.J. merely nodded.

  The jazzy melody sounding from the stereo momentarily succumbed to the thunder outside. The evening had gone off without any glitches. But Angeline didn’t feel much like celebrating.

  “Looks like a nasty storm.”
>
  As if on cue, the lights flickered, then resumed their full brightness.

  “Did you park far?” she asked.

  “Yeah. I did.” He moved to the bar and set his glass down. “I better start making my way back, come to think of it.”

  She could only wait silently as he grabbed his bag from the closet.

  He wasn’t looking at her when he came back into the room. “I think that’s everything,” he said. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

  Before the words were out of his mouth, another round of lightning pulsated through the dimly lit room. The lights gave one more flicker, then went out completely. Heavy rain pelted the glass windows.

  “It looks like you may be too late.”

  She heard a sigh of pure weariness. He didn’t say anything.

  “You don’t want to be walking out in that mess,” she spoke into the dark.

  “I don’t have a choice. It doesn’t look like it’s going to let up anytime soon.”

  Angeline knew he was close enough to touch. “You could wait it out.”

  He was quiet for a moment. She couldn’t decide whether she was fortunate or not in not being able to see him. “Here? I don’t think so,” he finally answered.

  “R.J., there really is no reason why you shouldn’t. We’re both adults. It’s silly to risk storm and cold when there’s plenty of room here. I might even be able to dig out one of your old pajamas.”

  “You held on to my pajamas?”

  A nervous laugh escaped her before she could stop it. “You know what a pack rat I can be.”

  “No, that’s okay. I have to leave, Angel. I should go right now.” But she knew he hadn’t moved. “Listen, it was great seeing you again. I hope this all works out for you.”

  “Wait! We’re not finished yet. I mean, I still have my part of the bargain.”

  “The bargain?”

  “I’m going to help you expand into Europe. Remember? Our deal.”

  He cleared his throat. “We can talk about that later. I’ll have my assistant call you or something.”

  She felt her legs start to weaken. He was going to walk out of her life again. And there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. He didn’t want to deal with her directly about the expansion. Hell, he wanted nothing more to do with her.

  While she still felt the burn on her skin from his touch.

  “At least let me walk you down. Just let me find a flashlight.”

  Just give me a few more moments.

  Distracted by his closeness and stumbling in the dark, she turned to make her way into the kitchen. A loud thump followed by a sharp pain told her she’d walked right into her coffee table.

  “Ow!”

  “What is it?”

  “My shin.”

  “Your shin?”

  “Yeah, it’s what I use to find things in the dark.”

  She heard his small laugh. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes,” she lied. “This is just all so awkward.”

  “Yeah, I know. Who would have thought that we’d ever be in such a strange predicament when we saw each other again?”

  She remembered a time when awkwardness hadn’t existed between them. They’d watched numerous storms together, holding each other.

  “Funny how things turned out in the end,” he added.

  The end. “Yes, well, let me go find that flashlight.”

  An agonizingly short time later, they were out in the front lobby of her building. A few emergency lamps and the streetlights outside afforded the only light.

  “Well, goodbye, Angel,” R.J. said suddenly. The next moment, she was watching him exit out the revolving door.

  Her heart took over before she could rationalize. She wrapped her suit jacket tighter around her and ran out after him. Thick pelts of cold rain shocked her the instant she stepped outside.

  “R.J., wait.”

  He stopped and slowly turned around. She moved closer, the cold starting to make her shiver. Now that she’d stopped him she didn’t know what she wanted to say.

  He spoke first. “Angel, get back inside. You’re getting soaked.”

  “It’s okay,” she insisted, though her chattering teeth said otherwise. “It just occurred to me that I never really thanked you, I mean tonight.”

  His eyes searched her face. What in the world must he be thinking? What exactly did she want him to say? You’re welcome?

  “Really,” she went on, feeling completely foolish. “You went above and beyond the norm.”

  Then she did the only thing she could think of—she extended her hand and waited for him to shake it.

  Somehow she’d ended up shivering in a cold, powerful storm, shaking hands with R. J. Davet. And chances were very good she’d never see him again.

  * * *

  He was gone. Angeline stepped inside her dark apartment and closed the door behind her. Her ceiling lights flickered, then came back on, once again illuminating the normally cheery decor. Except now the place looked empty, in a way it never had before.

  She should be elated that they were finally done with this insanity, that the Bays hadn’t suspected the truth. Instead she wanted to huddle in a dark corner. Forever. She couldn’t help but feel low for deceiving such warm people. Yes, technically she wasn’t lying, but she certainly wasn’t exactly telling them the whole truth.

  But none of this was really for her own benefit. She was doing it for all her employees. For all those deserving women who had no one else and nowhere else to turn to. When would she ever get another opportunity like this to secure her employees’ futures in such a long-term way?

  The reminder did little to lessen her misery. She felt downright unsettled. As if she’d forgotten something crucial after leaving for a trip but couldn’t remember what it might be. If only R.J. had stayed longer. It would be so helpful to be able to talk to him right now. To explain why she’d had to go through with tonight.

  She could call him. Just to talk. Explain her motivation, make things clearer.

  She had her phone in her hands before she stopped herself. With disgust, she threw it against the back cushion of her couch. What in the world was she doing? Her pride was all she had left. For heaven’s sake. She’d already run after the man in the middle of a lightning storm.

  She had to accept that it was over. Her business was all that mattered now, and it allowed her to help those less fortunate. There was absolutely no reason to doubt her life. It was exactly the way she wanted it. She’d worked very hard to get here and had no reason to feel guilty. Sometimes the end did justify the means.

  She forced herself to step away from the door and walked back toward her bedroom. Max lay snoring at the foot of her bed, and Angeline quietly tiptoed around him. At least R.J. had not fought for custody. How much loss could one girl take?

  She undressed quickly, too tired to do anything but throw her wet clothes on the floor. Pulling her thick flannel nightgown over her head, she crawled into bed.

  She wasn’t going to cry. Damn it, she wouldn’t. No matter what it took. Her marriage was over. She’d been through crying over it years ago. And she was going to stop tossing and turning this minute and get some sleep.

  A knock on the door stopped her midtoss.

  R.J. It had to be. She sucked in a gasp of air. He wasn’t going to leave after all! Possibilities started running through her head as she flung the covers away. She’d known it all along. He didn’t want to leave things this unsettled between them either.

  Struggling to maintain both a steady breath and her composure, she ran back into the other room. Every sense she possessed told her it was him knocking.

  She pulled the door open. “R.J., it’s you.”

  His eyes traveled over her, and he lifted an eyeb
row. “I see you’ve changed your sleeping attire over the years.”

  “You decided to come back.”

  He ran a hand through the soaking-wet hair now curling with dampness. “I had to, Angel. I couldn’t leave.”

  “You couldn’t?” Her breath caught, her chest hurt. He hadn’t been able to walk away after all. He was back to see things through this time.

  “Yeah, the damn roads are starting to flood already,” he said as he stepped inside. “They’ve blocked all traffic onto Storrow.” He shrugged out of his suit jacket and threw it onto the sofa with clear frustration.

  He was here only because the roads were blocked.

  “I see.” This time she really did see. She saw clearly her foolishness in pining for something she’d already lost. His reason for coming back had nothing to do with her.

  His next words only drove it home. “Listen, the whole street is dark. I’m not going to try to drive through the city tonight. I’ll call around to see which hotels have power. Where are the Bays staying? I’ll be sure to steer clear of that one.”

  She steeled herself as all last traces of hope fled. “Now you’re being silly. A hotel is hardly necessary.” Turning, she spoke with her back to him. “I have a guest room you’re welcome to use. You can leave in the morning.”

  “Don’t go out of your way, Angel. This isn’t a sleepover. As soon as the roads clear, I’ll be on my way.”

  She walked over to the hall closet and grabbed a large terry towel. “I expected nothing more, R.J. And believe me. I’m not going out of my way.” Not anymore, she thought and flung the towel toward him. He caught it with one hand.

  “The guest room’s down the hall,” she continued. “There’s a bathroom off of it. My bedroom is across the hall if you need anything. Have a good night. And if I don’t see you in the morning, thanks once again for your help.”

  By the time her head hit her pillow, the trail of tears on her face was completely dry. Closing her eyes, she waited for the painful, poignant memories to revisit her like spirits in the night.