The Other Woman

She wasn’t sure. It was just something she’d focused on. Maybe it was easier not to find him appealing if she dwelled on the blunt, unfamiliar feel of his voice and language instead of his attractive features. “It’s pretty strong.”

“I heard he grew up in Brooklyn. What else would you expect?”

She didn’t answer. She was too busy trying out the new sink.

“What does he look like?” Keith called.

Satisfied that the sink worked, she came out of the bathroom. “Do we have to talk about Carter?”

“I’m curious,” he insisted.

“Okay, he’s tall.”

Keith flicked some plaster off his forearm and stood. “Taller than me?”

She quickly tried to compare the two. “Maybe by a couple of inches.”

“That would make him nearly six foot four,” he said, skeptically. “He’s not that tall, is he?”

Hearing the jealousy in Keith’s voice, Liz grabbed a broom and started sweeping up the dust and dirt left behind when they ripped out the old cabinets. She didn’t want to analyze Carter Hudson. Especially with her ex-husband. She had a lot to do if she hoped to open The Chocolaterie by Memorial Day. Although a candy shop had been Liz’s idea, when Mary Thornton, who’d recently opened a gift store next door, had heard about it, she’d decided to sell chocolate, too. Mary was busy building her business while Liz struggled to finish the improvements to her space.

“Is he?” Keith prompted.

“I don’t remember. He’s a big man, okay?”

“Big as in fat?”

With a sigh, she faced him. “No. Big, as in muscular. Big, as in he has broad shoulders, a well-defined chest and a flat stomach. Big, as in—”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” he grumbled, holding up a hand to stop her. “Jeez, I thought you couldn’t remember.”

“You wanted details,” she said, and could’ve given him a few more. She hadn’t mentioned that Carter had a soccer player’s build, with nice long legs and large, rugged hands. Or that, judging from the golden color of his skin, he spent a fair amount of time outdoors, which she definitely hadn’t expected from a political aide. But she’d said enough.

“Have you heard from Mica and Christopher?” she asked, changing the subject.

“No, was I supposed to check on the kids?” He wiped a bead of sweat from his temple.

“Not necessarily. I’m sure they’re fine. They love it at Reenie’s.”

“You’d know, since the two of you are such good friends,” he said flippantly.

The pique behind those words confirmed what Liz already knew. Keith resented the closeness between Liz and his other ex-wife. Liz supposed she could understand why. After having the love and attention of both women for so long, he was suddenly the odd man out, and that wasn’t likely to change. Not now that Reenie had married Liz’s brother. It probably didn’t make the situation any easier for Keith that Isaac was also the man who’d found him out and revealed his duplicity. Liz considered it ironic that, prior to Isaac’s spotting Keith at the airport catching a plane to Idaho when he was supposed to be in Arizona, Isaac hadn’t really been involved in their lives. He’d spent much of the previous eight years researching pygmy elephants in Africa. And when he was in the States, he’d lived in Chicago, where he taught biology at Chicago University. If not for that fateful visit to Liz and Keith’s home in L.A. following one of his research trips, Liz might still be married to Keith and living in California, believing it was only her husband’s job that took him away.

“Reenie and I are more than friends. She’s my sister-in-law, remember?” Liz said, using a dustpan to empty her sweeping into the wheelbarrow Keith had brought with him.

“I’m not likely to forget,” he mumbled. Dipping his trowel into a bucket of compound, he smeared more taping mixture on the wall. “Is this Carter guy planning on running for office someday?”

“I don’t know.” Liz’s mind had already shifted to what remained to be done at the shop. “I hope the other display case I ordered will be big enough.”

“You didn’t ask?” Keith said.

“About the display case?”

“Whether or not Carter Hudson is someday planning to run for office.”

Carter again. Liz propped the broom against the wall. “No, I didn’t ask. Thanks to you, we talked mostly about me.”

The hand holding the trowel stopped moving, then began to scrape along the mended Sheetrock. “What’d he want to know?”

She gathered up the ceiling tiles they’d torn down. “Like everyone else, he was curious to know how you managed to get away with having two families for so long. And how you and I could still be friends.”

“That’s none of his business,” Keith snapped.

Liz ignored his response. “But he’s not as generous as some people,” she continued. “He seems to think I’m a fool for not realizing I was being duped.”

“Then, it didn’t go well between you.”

That was all that registered from what she’d shared? Closing her eyes, Liz shook her head. “No,” she finally admitted. “It didn’t go well.”

“Good. Maybe, even though he’s big, as in muscular and well built, I won’t be as easy to replace as you thought.”

“Keith—”

He lifted his arms as if her pointed stare was a gun. “That’s all I’m saying.”

“You’ve said it before. As much as I wish it wasn’t so, it’s too late for us.”

“With a little forgiveness, it doesn’t have to be,” he murmured.

The look on his face might have stirred something inside her once. It had been a long time since he’d touched her—since any man had touched her. In a way, she wanted to turn back the days and months, to feel the old excitement. But as handsome as Keith was, she had so little feeling left for him.

“Thanks for fixing the wall,” she said. “I’d better go pick up the kids.”

Keith let her slip out without saying another word, for which she was grateful, relieved. But when she reached her brother and sister-in-law’s small farm, she found the porch light on and a note taped to the door.

Liz—We’re at my parents’. Stop by, okay?

“Great,” she grumbled, crushing the paper in her hand. She was going to have to give an account of her date to Senator Holbrook and his wife before she could take her children home.

CHAPTER TWO

WHEN LIZ REACHED the Holbrooks’, she saw a metallic-blue Jaguar parked next to Isaac and Reenie’s minivan. The Jag was a beautiful vehicle, and one that always garnered attention. Which was why she immediately recognized it.

She would have turned around on the spot and headed in the other direction, if not for her daughter, Mica, and Reenie’s middle daughter, Angela. They were playing in the hanging swing on the front porch and had already spotted her.

“Mom!” Mica called, running down to the sidewalk, waving. “We were wondering when you’d get here. Mr. Hudson came a long time ago.”

Evidently, Mr. Hudson had no shame. How could he drive directly to the Holbrooks’ after treating Liz so poorly at the restaurant? Or had he dropped by so he could blame her for their failure to get along?