As You Wish (The Summerhouse 3)

“Too busy with his other family,” Olivia said. “Been there, done that—except I certainly never begged Alan to spend more time with me.”

“And I never asked Ray to go away with me.” Kathy shuddered at the thought. “He needs lots of action, lots of people. Go on. What happened?”

For a moment, Elise and Olivia stared at her. This wasn’t the impression that Ray had given them. He had insinuated that Kathy wanted to be near her husband every minute of every day.

“What happened?” Kathy repeated.

“I blew up,” Elise said. “Maybe it was because I knew that in a few days Alejandro was returning to Mexico. Diego didn’t need him in the winter, so Alejandro was going home.”

“You might never see him again,” Olivia said.

“That’s what was bothering me. I may have met a man I could love, but he might leave my life forever.”

“Could love?” Kathy said. “Sounds to me like you were heart and soul gone to him.”

“Maybe,” Elise said, “but nothing had changed. I thought about jumping in bed with him, but if I did that, I was afraid that later, after he left, I’d be in even more pain.”

“Some pain is bearable,” Olivia said. “And I think you could have lived with that one.”

Elise nodded. “After all that’s happened and what I know now, I deeply and truly wish I’d sat on his face.”

Kathy’s and Olivia’s laughs deepened and it cleared the air of misery. “So what did you do?” Kathy asked.

“I got angry at Kent and said that he’d spent the whole summer working and I never saw him.”

“And his reply?” Olivia asked.

“He gave me a very hard look and asked me what had happened to make me so needy.”

“Yeow! A bit too close to home,” Kathy said.

“It was. I wanted to scream at him that I’d given up the love of my life for him and he was accusing me of being ‘needy’?”

“And you were,” Olivia said.

“Deeply so, but Kent did nothing to help me. He went off to work that day in anger. And that afternoon, he sent me a text. He said he was bringing home a dozen people for dinner and I was to serve something ‘special.’”

“Punishment,” Olivia said. “Plain, old-fashioned punishment. He’s the grown-up and you’re the little girl and you’re not to make demands on him.”

“You’re right. Yet all I wanted was his arms around me...and comfort. I think that if he’d given me that, then things could have healed between us. But he did nothing.” Elise took a breath. “I went outside, sat down on my little patio, and started crying. I think I was realizing how bad my marriage really was. I don’t think I was loud, but Alejandro heard me.”

Olivia and Kathy were smiling. “The arms you needed.”

“He didn’t touch me. He sat down on the end of the chaise and listened. When he heard about the dinner, he said, ‘Will you let Diego and me fix this?’ All I could do was nod.”

“They made dinner, didn’t they?” Kathy said.

“Yes. All the men who worked for Diego were his relatives and they’d all helped his mother. They took ove

r my kitchen like they were professional chefs.”

“What did they make?” Kathy asked.

“Chicken cordon bleu.”

“I’ve made that,” Olivia said. “Flattened chicken fillets rolled around ham and cheese.”

“I had the chicken breasts in my freezer and while Alejandro thawed them in the microwave, Diego gave a grocery order to the men. We were soon chopping and stirring and tasting.”