Husband by Choice - Page 67
“You’re a citizen of Santa Raquel—one he’s sworn to protect. As is Meri. You’ve expressed suspicions. With your wife’s sudden choice to leave you, and your inability to accept that she really just wants out of the marriage, he feels it’s his duty to check things out.”
She was playing this down. But he didn’t need or want to be coddled.
“Diane’s convinced Meri could be in trouble, isn’t she?”
“Diane has a dead woman on her mind.”
“And witnesses that make that woman’s death look like a murder that was covered up.”
God, Meri, what are we into here? Why didn’t you tell me everything?
Did I ever give you cause not to trust me?
They were questions he couldn’t answer.
So he thanked Chantel, once again, for having his back. And sipped his beer.
And just before he drifted off into a restless sleep later that night, he sent a message into the air, hoping that by some miracle it would find its way to his wife.
Please stay safe, my love.
* * *
JENNA DIDN’T HAVE a conscious plan to end up at the door to Lila’s private suite after leaving her bungalow Monday night. The managing director might not be there, since she had her own place a few miles from the Stand. But Jenna had seen her heading to her on-campus apartment late in the evening, off in the distance, when she’d been coming back from the laundry room.
She knocked softly on Lila’s door, intending to leave as soon as her knock went unanswered. But the door opened before she could think about turning around.
“Jenna!” Lila, dressed in black fleece pajama pants and a T-shirt that said, “Best Mom Ever”, pulled the door opened wide. “Come on in.”
“I’m sorry,” Jenna said, backing away instead. “You’re ready for bed. I should have called.”
She was still in the jeans she’d worn to pick weeds that afternoon.
Seemed like a lifetime ago.
“It’ll be hours before I attempt sleep,” Lila said. “I was just curled up with a book,” she said, smiling and looking gracious and capable and welcoming. “It’s a guilty pleasure when I’m here overnight. At home there’s so much to do, so many responsibilities. Laundry, cleaning, bills to pay...but here—” she shrugged, smiling again “—I don’t have to do any of those things. Please, come in.”
She’d disturbed the woman. She couldn’t also disappoint her.
“I’m not in trouble or anything,” she said, almost stammering. Wasn’t that rich, for a speech pathologist to stumble over her own tongue?
Lila had told her to find her if she was in trouble. Not to bother her because she didn’t want to go back to her own room and face the voices in her own mind.
“I’m fairly certain you wouldn’t tell me if you were,” the older woman said, leading Jenna into her small sitting area.
“Can I get you some tea?”
“Can I have some without milk?”
She moved slowly around the room as Lila disappeared into the kitchen. There were pictures on the walls, but none had people in them.
“Are these places you’ve visited?” she called out, recognizing Monte Carlo and the Mediterranean Sea.
“No. Just places I’ve always thought I’d like to go,” Lila said, coming back into the room.
“You hang pictures on your walls, but don’t take a vacation and go?”
“I know.” The woman smiled again, looking around the room. “I’ve got too much else to do right now. But maybe someday.” She left the room again and Jenna heard china rattling. A refrigerator opening and closing.
Source: readsnovelonline.net