by Robyn Roze
“How so?”
“I have an old friend who owns the top security firm in the city. I had him install an upgraded system last night, cameras, that kind of thing. When that sonofabitch comes back, I’ll catch him with his hand out, or planting evidence.” Sean continued to assess Shayna. “Don’t even think about it, Shay,” he remarked ominously, clearly suspicious who she was crediting with this problem.
Her eyes flicked up to meet his hard stare and she felt herself shrink a bit. “What’re you talking about?” she muttered.
“I know what you’re thinking. It’s written all over your face. Don’t even think about talking to him. You promised me you wouldn’t see him. I’m holding you to that, Shay.” Her eyes squeezed and she huffed, shaking her head. Sean purposefully marched around the black island counter and swiveled her seat to face him. He gripped her face in his hands and forced her to look directly at him. “Stay out of it, Shay. You don’t know that he had anything to do with it, any more than I do. Just leave it alone. I will handle it.”
She could see it in his eyes. He knew. He knew Frank had set him up.
Shayna relented, reluctantly. “Fine, but we have—”
Sean silenced her with his finger pressed to her lips, shaking his head. “I know you two have a daughter together. You really think he won’t use her to get to you, to find a way to spend time with you, find a way to create doubts about your split—about me?”
Now her stomach began to bubble with worry.
“Just a few days ago you said I should think about hearing him out, for my benefit. What happened to that?”
“I said I changed my mind. It’s a bad idea,” he warned with growing agitation.
“Jesus, Sean. Just tell me what’s going on.”
He seemed to be considering it. Then he sighed resignedly. “I told you things might get rocky for a while, but they’ll smooth out, I promise. Just hang in there with me. Just do this one thing I ask.” He rubbed his nose softly against hers. “And then we’ll have all kinds of time to plan for the future—our future. Okay?”
His tone and expression softened considerably and he gently stroked her cheek. She could’ve sworn she heard the echo of her heart beat in his expansive loft. She breathed out and nodded. In a hushed voice, she answered, “Okay, I won’t confront him about this.” For now, she thought.
The tension written on his face eased and he bent down, kissing her hungrily.
Pulling up to look at her with a satisfied smile, he said, “Now, let’s eat up. Then we need to make up for missing last night,” he growled against her lips.
She smiled and smoothed her hand along his jaw line, nodding softly, then turned back to her food. Sean was already across from her, heaping generous helpings of the breakfast smorgasbord onto his plate.
“I saw Dani yesterday,” she commented, while sorting through her food.
Sean’s brows raised and he nodded while chewing. He swallowed and asked, “So, is everything okay between the two of you? No more set-ups?” He eyed her expectantly.
She glanced up at him nodded. “She understands. She won’t let him put her in the middle again like that. We’re good.”
Sean continued shoveling in food, watching Shayna carefully. His eyes tightened in a suspicious squint. “What else, Shay?”
Her brows pinched and she looked up at him quizzically. “Excuse me?” she said, as if pulled from a fog.
“There’s something else. I can tell. What is it?”
His eyes locked onto hers, and she sighed quietly, placing her fork on the plate and laying her napkin on the counter next to it. She had already lost her appetite earlier.
“My brother’s having a get-together in a few weeks. I’m invited.”
“Jack?”
She nodded.
“Well, that’s great. Isn’t it?” he asked hesitantly.
Shayna bit her lip, her eyes drifting to the raindrops lazily sliding down the panes of the kitchen windows.
“Shay?” he questioned tentatively.
Her eyes skipped back to his. “Abigail’s going to be there,” she said solemnly. Sean’s face dropped in understanding and then tightened in concern. “I had Jack give me her number. I’m going to call her ahead of time.”
Sean breathed out slowly, assessing her demeanor. “Hearing her out?” he asked apprehensively.
“No,” she said coolly. “She’s going to hear me out.”
Sean placed his plate on the counter and pressed a napkin to his lips. He watched as Shayna stood, grabbed her purse, and moved to leave.
“Hey, Shay, wait. What’re you doing? Where’re you going?” he asked impatiently, striding out of the kitchen to catch her at the elevator. She pushed the button and waited for the doors to open. “I didn’t even get to see you yesterday. I thought we could stay in—here for a while, today.” He gestured around the loft.
She glanced up at him, then shook her head. “I need to go. I have things to do today. I’m meeting some friends for lunch and I have several stops to make before that. So, I really need to get going.”
Sean’s hands firmly circled her upper arms and he turned her to face him.
“What stops, Shay?” he asked pointedly.
She read his expression and huffed in perturbation, yanking away from his grip. “Honestly, Sean, I’m a grown woman. I don’t need to have my daily schedule approved by you or anyone.” Just then, the doors slid open and she stepped inside. “If you and Frank want to play a game of who has the bigger dick, then go right ahead. I have no interest in it,” she said angrily as the doors closed on his crestfallen face.
****
This proved it. She really needed new friends. Listening to the mindless gossip and one-upmanship had nearly left her comatose. In truth, they weren’t even really her friends. They were the wives of the men that kissed Frank Chastain’s ass. Shayna had once voluntarily played the part of Frank’s socially connected wife, just as these women were doing for their husbands. Volunteering at the right charities, chairing the appropriate committees, hosting fabulous parties and representing their husbands’ businesses as if they were wearing giant placards, shilling up and down Main Street.
Shayna sighed apathetically, as Mona droned on about the young wife of a local attorney that’d had the audacity to wear the same dress to a recent benefit and not even act apologetic about the heinous social breach. Claire chimed in that she had heard this same unpolished woman even had the nerve to work full-time and leave her children in daycare, with strangers no less!
A distant voice remarked, “Maybe she has her own career aspirations, or can’t afford live-in nannies to raise her children like the rest of you.”
When all the jaws at the table dropped and focused with stupefied stares at Shayna, she suddenly realized she had uttered the words aloud. She smiled sweetly as the group glanced nervously back and forth at one another.
Shayna simply didn’t care anymore what these women thought about her, or much of anything else, for that matter.
When she told Danielle that the last three years had been good for her, it was no exaggeration. She felt as if a fog had lifted and she had clarity again, leaving everything brighter. Her dreams and goals were now at the forefront. Oh, there were no recriminations due Frank. He had been a good husband until the end, and she had willingly participated in his dreams, pushing hers off to the side to collect dust on a forgotten shelf.
Now, though, she was acting on them. As part of the divorce settlement, Frank had parceled out and deeded almost ten-thousand acres to her that sat adjacent to her home. She knew Frank wouldn’t question it because of the location—he didn’t see any immediate benefit to his bottom line. The land was situated too far away from the Mt. Pleasant Bridge and was hilly and mountainous in parts. But Shayna knew better.
She had hiked the area many times, and had gone to the courthouse, having the aerial maps pulled. It wasn’t easy to see, but there was access to the yet-untainted wilderness from the eas
tern side of Mt. Pleasant. Her lips curled up softly at one corner. Even though she hadn’t used her civil engineering degree when she was younger, it had definitely come in handy.
Then she frowned a bit. It had also caused fights over the years with Frank. They simply didn’t agree on the direction of development in Mt. Pleasant. So, she had eventually removed herself from the day-to-day operations and focused on her social obligations to Frank and the business.
One of her stops before the monotonous luncheon she now found herself a prisoner at had been to an attorney in Engle, a nearby town. She wanted to transform her acreage into a park or preserve, with campgrounds, beaches, and hiking and biking trails. Karol Simpson had agreed to help her with the long list of legalities, and Shayna felt a growing excitement and resolve in her belly, as her vision mapped itself in her mind.
CCL Properties wasn’t going to bulldoze everything. She would see to it. The residents of Mt. Pleasant would have a beautiful, natural habitat that they could enjoy anytime they wanted relief from the cold, hard steel of the city.
Shayna felt a tap at her arm, and heard a throat clearing. Caroline Beckwith was attempting to get her attention.
“I’m sorry, what did you say, Caroline?” Shayna asked, as she reluctantly pulled out of her musings.
Caroline looked furtively around the table for support. Then she refocused on Shayna. “I said that I—well, we,” she motioned around the table with her meticulously styled, blonde-dyed bob, “heard about what happened at Kincaid’s,” Caroline said softly with a look of pity on her perfectly made-up face.
She must’ve gone to a professional stylist and make-up artist just for this dumbass luncheon, Shayna snorted to herself. She continued to stare unblinkingly at the woman, who now seemed to be growing uncomfortable at Shayna’s lack of response. Then Shayna shifted her focus to each of the other women seated at the table, and one by one, they glanced away and at one another. A throaty laugh slowly made its way up and out of Shayna. The group looked at her as if she had lost her mind. She reached for her glass, took a slow drink of her sparkling water, and set it back down, smoothing out the tablecloth before her.
“Oh, I knew you would. I’ve no doubt provided countless hours of trivial discussions and meaningless gossip among my—friends.” She paused and assessed the nervous bunch. “I’m well aware that many of you think I was foolish to divorce Frank, and that now that he’s made such a public display of his undying devotion to me I should reconsider my decision.” She saw Jana Stevens, Harper’s mother, purse her lips and nod faintly while looking down into her lap.
“A man like Frank Chastain doesn’t just drop to his knees for no good reason, Shayna,” Sara Jordan chided discretely.
“Then maybe you should marry him, Sara,” Shayna retorted. “You could certainly live with him banging a twenty-something, couldn’t you? After all, that’s just what men do, isn’t that what you told me? I shouldn’t make more out of it, just let him get it out of his system. He’s a powerful man. That’s what powerful men do, right?” Sara’s face shaded red. Shayna’s unrestrained, all too public remarks had begun to draw attention from nearby tables.
“Lower your voice, Shayna,” Charlotte whispered next to her.
“Why? Is Frank the only one allowed to make a scene?” Shayna spat back.
“You have to know this has been hard on him, Shayna. The last few years have been tough on a lot of businesses, and when half your money has been tied up and then is just gone, well, it makes things a bit more difficult,” Charlotte said in a pompous professorial tone.
Shayna looked around the table, making eye contact with each woman. She snorted loudly and started laughing, causing palpable discomfort in the group.
“So, let me get this straight, ladies. The fact that I took half of Frank’s money has meant that he can’t pull as many strings for your husbands—right? Can’t oil the wheels; can’t pay the kickbacks that keep you all in your Jimmy Choos, Prada, and Chanel?”
Sharp inhales and exhales blustered indignantly around the table. Shayna slammed her hand on the table to the resounding clatter of cutlery and fine china. It was as if all the air sucked out of the room at that moment. Shayna continued in a low throaty tone.
“Allow me to set the record straight. I didn’t take anything. I earned every cent. Think of it as a return on my investment, beginning with my initial investment that started Frank’s business in the first place, not to mention my investment in a twenty-two-year marriage that ended when my ungrateful husband chose to humiliate me by banging his twenty-year-old receptionist. A situation I’ve no doubt everyone at this table but me knew about. You didn’t think enough of me to clue me in. Don’t worry, though. I understand why you didn’t. You simply wanted to maintain the status quo, not to mention we were never really friends anyway—more like business associates.”
Shayna sat back in her chair and drummed her fingers methodically on the table as the stunned group gaped at her. “I have participated in and perpetuated this charade long enough. I don’t want to play anymore.” Shayna stood and gathered her purse. Looking around at the women she added, “By the way, you all owe me, so I’m sure you won’t mind divvying up my bill.”
With that, Shayna turned and cut through the high-end restaurant booked with Mt. Pleasant’s movers and shakers. She could already hear the whispers and feel the stares, but she simply smiled, unperturbed, and strolled out as confidently as if she owned the place—because if she wanted to, she could.
CHAPTER 17
This was a wonderful way to end what had been a frustrating day. She had come home and changed into her hiking gear, packed a small tent and some supplies, and set off into the forest that she had become so familiar with over the last three years. Now she sat in a small clearing with a warm contained fire next to her. This would be a perfect area for future campsites, she thought, smiling to herself.
Shayna fell back onto her sleeping bag and let the starry sky swallow her. It was something she could be proud of when it was completed. An image of Wes ghosted out of her memories. He would’ve been proud, too. If he had lived, this was just the kind of thing they would’ve dreamed of doing together.
They had planned for so many adventures in the future, often times on evenings just like this, under a twinkling sky. It was common for them to take off for a night or two and sleep under the stars. They didn’t have a lot of money, so it fit their tight budget. But she knew they would’ve done it whether they’d had money or not. She and Wes had loved being outdoors. When she’d been a young girl, she and her brothers had spent many nights camping in the back yard.
She giggled at the ancient memories, and then felt a rush of melancholy followed by a chill. So many things had changed, but then that was the one constant in life, wasn’t it?
For the space of a breath, she felt as if Wes was with her. She did her utmost not to let him go, but then he vanished. She exhaled the breath she’d been holding and opened her eyes. How could she still miss him after all these years? They had known each other for such a short period measured against the whole of her life that it seemed impossible he could still have a hold on her, but he did. Simple as that.
Wesley Edwards had been her first everything, leaving his indelible imprint forever branded on her soul. They had loved each other unconditionally and with that all-consuming intensity so easily afforded to the young and naive. The what-ifs still bothered her the most. What if he had left his parents home ten minutes earlier or ten minutes later that day? What if he had stayed with her as he had wanted, and they had just gone another weekend?
She felt the stony lump forming in her chest. Inhaling deeply, she shook her head and sat up.
The moonlight skipped across mist hanging above Lake Indigo, carrying her gaze across to the cityscape spread before her. Sighing wistfully, her thoughts drifted to Frank. She had loved him, but it was so different from her first experience with that powerful emotion. How could it not have been? Her heart had bee
n shattered, leaving her feeling empty and desperately alone. Frank had shined his light into that suffocating, bottomless pit, filling it with his energy and charisma, pulling her out of the darkness.
He had waited for her after one of the settlement hearings at the law firm, asking if she would like to get a coffee. After that came lunches, and then dinners followed by movies, dancing, and the rest was history. Frank had filled her days and nights as much as possible, making certain she had little free time after her studies and his work schedule to dwell on the past, or to meet other men. He had definitely wanted her all to himself, and he was a hard man to resist. Not to mention, she liked being needed again.
Frank had taken his time with her, not pushing or making demands, just getting to know her, easing her from the cold crushing grief back into the warm land of the living. He had introduced her to his world of formal affairs—high-end cuisine, haute couture shopping, private jets, and destination vacations—and she’d willingly left her world, and dreams, behind.
It was less painful that way.
To this day, she still found it incomprehensible that the same man would willfully hurt her so deeply. That he had been cheating on her for almost two years. No matter what he said, she didn’t believe for a second, and never would, that he had only been with one girl.
That was the insurmountable problem. She could never believe him again. Everything he said was suspect now. Everything was tainted and stained.
Now, after the mutterings at the luncheon earlier today, Shayna wondered if Frank’s new resolve to put their marriage back together had more to do with business and financial concerns than any personal commitment or remorse.
She exhaled and rested her chin on her crossed arms and tented knees. Rubbing her chin along her sleeved forearm, Shayna recalled her morning with Sean. He and Frank were clearly in a pissing match. She would respect Sean’s wishes for the time being and stay out of it. She didn’t really want to be involved anyway, but at some point there might not be a choice.