Stephanie sighed. “Actually, I’ve given our prior meeting some thought since my house is still on the market.”
Betsy arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Yes. The gentleman who was interested--well he’s changed his mind.” Now that was odd. Betsy could’ve sworn she saw her blush just before she referred to her lost buyer as a gentleman. “Anyway, Skylar seems to think I should re-list the house with you.”
“Skylar?”
“We talked about it again late last night.” She smiled wickedly. “Actually, it must’ve been early this morning. Anyway, I’ve decided to give you a second go at it.”
Dead silence.
“You can drop by the house tomorrow with a new contract,” she said as she stood. “Tomorrow’s okay, isn’t it?”
Betsy couldn’t believe her ears. It wasn’t that Stephanie finally asked instead of giving an order that temporarily knocked the wind out of Betsy. It was the way she rubbed it in about being with Skylar.
God only knew how she ever managed to speak when she said, “I’ll check my schedule and call you.”
“Good girl.”
I’m not a girl. I’m the same age as you and a woman. Betsy wanted to scream.
She glared at the picture perfect woman posed in the doorway and positively beaming. “Is there something else, Steph?”
When Stephanie first held out her hand and flashed the huge sparkling rock, it didn’t mean anything. After all, the woman was always wearing diamonds. Around her neck, wrists--wait a minute.
“You’re engaged?”
Stephanie beamed. “He gave it to me last night. We haven’t made an official announcement so I’d appreciate you keeping it to yourself until we do.” She turned to leave and stopped. “You might want to check your calendar. We are tentatively planning the big day for New Year’s Eve.”
Chapter Seven
Betsy managed to remain in one piece until she heard the front office door close behind Stephanie. Time to fall apart. Scream. Cry. Trash the room. But she did none of it.
She was too broken to budge from her seat. The slightest twitch of a muscle would be too unbearably painful to tolerate. If her mind had not temporarily shut down as well, Betsy would’ve thought she’d gone into shock.
The sound of the front door opening and closing triggered some mechanism inside that returned her motor skills. The pain of returning to life was like none she had ever known before. Her heart felt like it was being stabbed over and over again with the shiny point of a dagger. This brutal attack on her heart was quickly draining the blood and oxygen from her and Betsy feared she might be dying.
“You’re in early,” Mary greeted from the doorway. Her pleasant smile vanished the second Betsy looked up at her. “My God, what’s wrong? You’re as white as a ghost.”
Betsy had no way of knowing if anything would come out if she tried to speak. But she made the effort anyway. “I don’t feel good, Mary.” She heard her voice and sensed Mary did too.
Panic sprung from Mary’s face and eyes. “Should I call a doctor?”
“No. But I think I need to go home.” As Betsy said the words she attempted to stand. First attempt failed. Second time she willed there to be feeling in her legs there was.
“Do you want me to drive you?” Without waiting for a response, “I’ll just lock up the office--”
“No. I can manage,” Betsy insisted as she started down the stairs.
“Don’t worry about your appointments. I’ll handle them. And be sure and call if you need anything.”
Betsy listened to Mary’s nervous chatter as she walked her to the door. But she didn’t remember a word of what she’d said after stepping out beneath the suddenly overcast sky.
The drive home was a blur. But she was there, sitting behind the steering wheel staring at the large raindrops beginning to splatter against the windshield.
By the time she opened the car door to go inside, it was pouring. Maybe it was the way the rain began belting her face that awakened a new set of emotions inside her. By the time she stepped inside her apartment her face was soaked with more tears than rain.
She headed straight for her bedroom. Without bothering to kick off her heels, she threw herself face down on the bed. A thousand tears poured from her eyes before easing to a few trickles and she rolled to her side. Sobbing, her vision blurred, she listened to the thunderstorm raging outside. The rumble of thunder was followed by rain slashing against the two bedroom windows.
Betsy continued to listen and blink to clear her vision as she rolled onto her back. The slight movement sent another excruciatingly painful stabbing sensation through the center of her heart. As she lay motionless, there was pain everywhere, especially in her big toe she thought had healed from the picnic basket landing.
“Check your calendar. Tentatively the big day is scheduled for New Year’s Eve.” Stephanie’s words swirled inside her head.
“I’ll check my calendar all right. And I’ll be sure to fill it so full I won’t have time to think straight.” Certainly too full to attend a wedding, she said in silence.
No way could she listen to Skylar pledge his love to another.
“Oh, God, how could I have been so naïve?” Betsy demanded of herself.
She’d been badly hurt by a man twice before. Third time’s the charm, Miss Sensible reminded sarcastically.
“Oh shut up,” Betsy snapped.
Charm was hardly the word Betsy would use to describe her third betrayal by a man. Burned, humiliated, and shattered into a million little pieces. And still, she doubted all of them combined described the pain ripping through her.
“To tell you the truth, I didn’t sleep a wink last night.” Skylar’s words from earlier filled her head.
“Of course you didn’t. You were too busy proposing marriage to Stephanie.”
Betsy drew her knees to her chest thinking it might relieve her upset stomach. She believed the relief that came was a result of the anger beginning to burn through her, bringing back a steady increase in her strength.
“I might need the proceeds to cover the expenses of the New Year’s Eve celebration I’m giving.”
Betsy knew they weren’t Skylar’s exact words at the donut shop earlier, but that’s how they were coming to her now.
“Skylar Blakewood, the sly one,” Betsy quipped in a mocking manner.
You wanted me to feel like you couldn’t live without me. His way of getting me to work at peak performance selling his house so he can pay for the wedding reception. Throw in one last fling before fully committing to Stephanie.
Betsy’s anger grew in leaps and bounds, restoring her with more strength than she had ever known. She was a mountain of solid rock. A blockade so sturdy that she felt confident not even Skylar Blakewood could penetrate.
By eleven o’clock she returned to work assuring Mary she was fully recovered from whatever she’d been stricken with earlier. Fully recovered and prepared to tackle the remainder of the day and the rest of her life head on. Beginning with the luncheon date she had promised Skylar.
At eleven fifty five Betsy watched Mary leave the office to go to lunch. There was no need for Miss Sensible to insert her two cents while Betsy mentally prepared for Skylar’s arrival. She was determined to stand on her own two feet and have the encounter with the courage of a decorated war hero. After all, she had escaped the torturous battle of pain that had taken her body prisoner. In Betsy’s eyes making her a veteran of war. A war against the heart.
The sound of the front office door creaking open sent a chill racing up Betsy’s spine. She managed to shrug it off, then willed her stomach to settle down when he appeared in the doorway to her office.
“I missed you.” His voice was thick and inviting as he stood gazing at Betsy with longing in his eyes.
Longing hell, she thought. It was nothing more than lust kicking in thinking he was getting close to relieving the throbbing hardness beginning to bulge in the front of his jeans.
“Are we alone?” he whispered as he moved closer.
“Skylar, I can’t have lunch with you.” There, she’d said it. And she was extremely proud of the firmness in her tone.
The color drained from him as swiftly as his strides toward her stopped. “You can’t?”
“I won’t.” Two very difficult words to get over her lips. But once they passed, Betsy knew she’d be able to proceed without wilting beneath those spellbinding blue eyes of his.
Skylar stood taller. “I thought we were--well you know--”
Betsy cleared her throat out loud. “I had some time to think about us this morning.”
“Dare I ask what this thought process left you with?”
“I’ve decided we should hold to our earlier agreement not to mix business with pleasure.”
“You decided?” His voice broke over hers like a roar of thunder. “Need I remind you that in order for an agreement to be binding you need both parties’ consent?”
Betsy remained rock solid in spite of the powerful vibrations from his voice. “But you did agree.”
A moment of silence before he spoke. “I have the solution.”
Betsy was giving it her all to fight the urge to feel the burst of excitement Skylar suddenly portrayed.
He was smiling when he shrugged his broad shoulders. “It’s simple. You’re fired. Now can we go to lunch? There’s this little place I found--”
“You can’t fire me,” Betsy protested once she fully absorbed what he said. “We have a binding contract. And I full well intend to live up to my end of the agreement. I have six months to produce a buyer and--”
“Not quite. I told you this morning I want that house sold by the end of the year, remember?”
The way he had jumped right in wasn’t what threw Betsy a curve. It was being reminded of his betrayal. Well, she refused to cave in even though his words had struck a powerful blow.
“The written contract giving me six months is binding. But your house will be sold by the New Year,” Betsy assured in one biting breath.
She focused on the paperwork scattered about her desk and pulled a contract out of the mess and pretended to be studying it because she couldn’t bear looking at him.
Her words had been spoken softly. But it became apparent they were loud enough for him to hear. He only hesitated a few seconds before storming down the steps and finalizing his departure with the sound of the front door slamming behind him.
The telephone rang before Betsy had time to give what happened a moment’s thought.
“Alexander and Gold Real Estate Agency, Betsy speaking…. Yes, I’m familiar with that property…. Eighty-two five….”
The line went dead just as Betsy had predicted. She recognized the voice. The woman had called several times over the last week checking house prices from the For Sale signs she’d seen posted in yards. Betsy gave up trying to get her name.
She put the receiver back in its cradle and prayed it would ring again. At least then she wouldn’t have time to think about him. To wonder what he was thinking. Where would he go after storming out of her office? Did he think her ridiculous to enforce the agreement they had made after that first kiss?
It was the only excuse she could come up with. She certainly couldn’t tell him the truth. She refused to let him see her humiliation if she were to tell him she knew about his engagement to Stephanie. She didn’t dare let him know how severely that fact hurt her. Surely it would only boost his ego knowing he had broken her heart.
Betsy was confident hers was not anywhere near being the first. He was probably putting notches on his belt for each heart he successfully broke. Well he wasn’t going to add a notch for hers. He was never going to know the truth. No one would.
When Mary returned from lunch she came up to Betsy’s office to let her know she was back. Betsy saw her do a double take after glancing at her desk.
“First you’ve seen the wood in a while, isn’t it?” Betsy said, pleased with herself for finally putting some order into the clutter.
“Your lunch hour appointment didn’t show?” Mary asked continuing to stare wide-eyed at the neat desk top.
“He was here. But we cleared away business quickly.”
“And you got bored?”
The truth is I needed to do something to get my mind off the man I fell head-over-heels in love with, Betsy wanted to tell her. But she couldn’t. Or tell her their affair was nothing more than a little fling for him before he married Stephanie Rogers.
Loyalty to a client had nothing to do with Betsy not confiding in Mary. She didn’t feel she owed Stephanie a thing. Especially not her loyalty after she had privately arranged the sale of her house while under contract with the agency. But Betsy would keep the secret Stephanie had shared with her early that morning. Not a soul would hear it from Betsy’s mouth. Besides, everyone would know about the engagement soon enough, Betsy decided, confident it would make front page headlines in the local newspaper when Stephanie was ready to make it public.
Betsy saw the way Mary shifted her gaze to her. The way she seemed to be examining her, Betsy expected an onslaught of questions. Precisely why she picked up her purse and clipboard and started for the door.
“I have to do that appraisal at the corner of Saint Paul Street. Then I have several showings. I doubt I’ll be back before you leave at five,” Betsy rattled off before pulling the front door closed behind her.
Betsy never made it back to the office at all. She got tied up with her last house showing until almost eight. A quick stop at the fast food drive-thru and she headed home.
She knew it was hazardous to eat and drive. But she hadn’t eaten all day, so couldn’t resist the steaming aroma floating up from the seat next to her where she’d placed the take-out bag.
She gobbled down the last bite of her sandwich as she walked in the door. She saw nothing of importance as she flipped through her mail and tossed the envelopes to the coffee table on her way to the bedroom.
I’ll just stretch out on the bed for a couple of minutes, she told herself. Just long enough to recharge my batteries so I can shower and maybe catch up on my reading….
The pleasant sound of birds singing reached into her subconscious and dragged her into semi-consciousness. With a smile on her face, she rolled to her back, moaning pleasurably as she stretched her arms in front of her. She blinked several times before finally focusing straight ahead. The smile disappeared.
It took a few seconds for Betsy to comprehend where she was or what day it was. She slowly lowered her eyes and saw she was still wearing her lucky dress. It wasn’t until she glanced over at the digital clock on the night stand that she realized what she’d done.
“Eight o’clock!” she shrieked and shot out of bed and into the adjoining bathroom.
She showered, brushed her teeth and combed her hair. No time to dry it or apply makeup, except for a quick swipe across her lips with lipstick. When she opened her closet door the real panic set in. The only thing hanging was the royal blue short sleeved sweater dress she hadn’t worn since last fall. And for no other reason than she thought it jinxed. Anything that could go wrong that last day she wore it had.
“To hell with superstition.” She yanked it off the hanger and pulled it over her head.
She didn’t have time to root through the dryer for something else. She had promised the young couple she showed the Miller house the night before she’d be at her office promptly by eight-thirty to type up the offer they wanted her to present to the seller today.
Barely a minute late Betsy still found a pair of disgruntled customers waiting on the office doorstep. Typing up the sales agreement and going over it with the pair was anything but a treat either. If this was an indication of how the day ahead would be, the dress was indeed jinxed and would be tossed instead of laun
dered.
It was after ten before she concluded business with the difficult pair. Next up she went over the day’s schedule with Mary. Then she placed the call. Hopefully, the beauty queen would be up and willing to see her at ten-thirty. The only spare hour Betsy saw all day after a quick glance at her appointment book.
* * *
A giddy sort of sick feeling washed over Betsy when she stepped up to the front door of the corner Victorian about to ring the doorbell. As her finger poked the gold button the door swung open.
“Betsy dear, come in.” Stephanie smiled that brilliant way she did to reveal those perfect front teeth.
There was no doubt in Betsy’s mind that with her looks she could make any man’s mouth water. Especially if she greeted all her callers dressed in the revealing black negligee she was wearing now. And Skylar Blakewood certainly was no exception. But Betsy still couldn’t understand why he planned to marry her. She thought him intelligent enough to see through her. So why hadn’t he? The woman was cunning, she’d give her that much. But Betsy never figured Skylar to fall for someone so manipulative and self-centered.
For as long as Betsy had known Stephanie, which was too long, she always had to have things her way. No matter who got trampled on along the way.
“This shouldn’t take long,” Betsy mentioned as she followed Stephanie’s lead to the large eat-in kitchen.
Betsy watched her gather two cups and saucers from one of the cherry cupboards that wound around the room. She filled each cup with coffee, while Betsy opened her briefcase on the table and pulled out a partially completed listing agreement.
As Stephanie placed their drinks on the table Betsy couldn’t help but notice her twisted smile.
“I hope you can keep a secret, Betsy, because I’m absolutely going to burst if I don’t tell somebody.”
“You already told me about your engagement,” Betsy reminded drearily and pulled out a chair and sat.
Stephanie slithered into the chair next to her, beaming. ”This is something even better than that.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Skylar has agreed to resign his position on the bank board. Isn’t that wonderful of him? Actually, with everything he has going right now, he’s just too busy to devote the necessary time required anyway.”
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