As You Wish (The Summerhouse 3)

Oddly, Ray had suddenly started discouraging her visit. He’d said the house was “too small to move around in” and he disliked the grounds with an empty mansion and a wall around it. But she’d very much wanted a vacation, and he’d made the women sound fascinating.

She should have known it was too perfect to be real. Maybe these women were like so many others and had fallen for Ray. Maybe young Elise was after him. Was that why they were looking down their noses at his less-than-svelte wife?

By lunchtime, Kathy had decided to repack her bags and leave. She was used to women falling for her husband, but this was ridiculous!

“Is anyone hungry?” Olivia asked. “I am.” She was standing in the doorway, and unless Kathy missed her guess, there was pity on her face.

Kathy had had it! “Shall we order in three supersize pizzas? A slice for each of you and I’ll eat the rest of them? And let’s not forget the huge bottle of regular Coke and those cinnamon bars.” Skinny Elise was standing next to Olivia. “Better than delivery, I’ll go get them so you two won’t have to be seen with me.” She went to the stairs.

“What’s wrong?” Elise asked. “What did we do?”

It was Olivia who realized that they had unintentionally been too reserved with Kathy.

They’d not meant to, but they had excluded her. Olivia spoke loudly. “My stepson and his wife have camped out in my house at the far end of the estate. They’re planning to hit me up for money, so I don’t want them to know I’m back in town. And the police are probably after Elise, so she can’t be seen outside the grounds. That’s why we didn’t want to go into town with you.”

Kathy halted at the doorway but kept her back to them.

Olivia continued. “We were too embarrassed to tell you so we kept quiet. I apologize.”

“Me too!” Elise said. “I wanted to go shopping with you, but I’m afraid that if I use a credit card, my dad will send men after me and I’ll be put back in a loony bin.”

Kathy turned to face them.

“And if I go out,” Olivia said, “someone in town will tell my daughter-in-law, then she’ll be over here nagging me to death. And crying. I know I’ll eventually have to face up to it, but...” She shrugged.

Kathy was trying to understand what they were telling her. “You two are also patients of Dr. Hightower?”

“I am,” Elise said. “She broke me out of the mental institution where my husband, Kent, and my father had put me.”

“Jeanne got her out by hiding her in the trunk of her car,” Olivia said. “There may be legal repercussions. I’m not one of her patients but I think she arranged for me to be here.”

“Do you?” Elise asked. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“It’s just a theory I have and if I ever meet the woman I plan to find out.”

“She’s—” Elise began, but Kathy cut her off.

“You two haven’t been excluding me because of...” She motioned to her body.

“Of course not,” Olivia said. “What a dreadful thought.”

“But I ought to,” Elise said. “You look like a taller version of Carmen. But your face is prettier and what do you use on your hair? It looks great. Oh, and Carmen is the woman my husband dumped me for. They have a little girl. He didn’t want to start a family with me.”

As Kathy sat down on the couch, she named a salon shampoo. She was staring at Elise. “I’m not understanding this. Your husband...?”

“Had a second family,” Elise said.

“And so did mine,” Olivia added.

They looked at Kathy—and waited. They knew that her husband was on the verge of starting a new family, but they didn’t tell her that. And if Kathy knew, she gave no indication of it.

Elise broke the silence as she looked at Olivia. “Do you think Jeanne put us together because you and I have the same problem?”

“I have no idea, but it makes sense,” Olivia said. “I have come to believe that this is supposed to be a therapy weekend.”

“We spill our guts, that sort of thing?” Elise asked. “Actually, I’d love to tell my whole story. As long as no one even mentions suicide.”

The two women turned to Kathy, silently asking if she’d like to hear of Elise’s problems.