Sunday, 5 April
Easter
Had Nathaniel not thrown up on the cute little infant suit Eleanor had bought him for Easter, Bettina would not have been late to the Pacific Moms and Tots Club’s annual Easter Egg Hunt at Lafayette Park.
Matthew and Lorna had stopped by to pick them up. Bettina waved them on. “Tell everyone I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“All the children will be anxious,” Lorna reminded her. She nodded in Lily’s direction.
The little girl swung her Easter basket impatiently. She was decked out in a pale pink sleeveless brocade frock that tied at the waist with a silk ribbon. The skirt’s top layer was a cloud of chiffon.
Bettina sighed, but waved them on. “If that’s your way of saying that you’d like to start without me, then go ahead. But please take Lily with you.”
Her daughter didn’t need to be asked twice. She leapt into one of the car seats in the backseat of Lorna’s new van.
By the time Bettina got to the park, all the car spaces on the sides closest to the playground and the grassy knoll had already been taken, so she had to park on the busiest side: Gough Street. At least it accessed a concrete path. Although it meandered up a hill through the park, eventually it reached the tot lot—
Not before, however, passing the tennis courts.
And that’s how she ran into Andy.
He’d just completed a match. His damp shirt clung to his taut torso. His auburn hair hung in damp ringlets to the collar of his tennis shirt. At first, she didn’t see him because he had his back to her. After wiping the sweat from his hair and the back of his neck, he turned around—
And they were face to face.
Eventually his eyes fell on Nathaniel’s baby carriage. Noting that the infant’s hair was the same russet color as his own, Andy’s jaw dropped open.
At that moment, the infant’s eyes opened. Instinctively, Andy stooped to get a better look.
Yes, the eyes were just like his, they were the same ice-blue color.
Andy touched the infant’s cheek tenderly.
At that moment, there was so much Bettina felt she should say:
That she’d once loved him with all her heart;
That she’d felt betrayed by him, what with all the liaisons he’d had, even when he was seeing her;
That she wished things had ended differently for them;
And that she felt sorry for him.
But when he gazed back at her, all her words fell away.
Finally, he murmured, “You have a handsome son.”
“Thank you,” she stuttered.
He nodded. And then he turned to leave.
It shouldn’t end this way, she realized, so she blurted out, “Andy, I’m sorry that—that I had to let you go. You know, at the club.”
He actually chuckled at that. “You did what you had to do.” He looked her straight in the eye. “And so did I. You women know what you want—and you want it despite the consequences. Everything was by mutual consent.” He nodded in Kimberley’s direction. “I see you allowed her to stay in the club.”
Bettina shrugged. “For the time being, anyway. But I’ve got her on a very short leash.”
He laughed heartily at that. “Some punishment. She likes it that way.”
Bettina blushed hotly. “Yes, I guess you’d know that best.” She tucked Nathaniel’s blanket so that it was tighter around him. “But you’re right. At this point, we should let bygones be bygones.” She held out her hand. “Friends, then?”
He stared down at it. When he took it, he put it over his heart. “Yes. Friends.”
Embarrassed, Bettina pulled her hand away. She glanced around. Assured that no one had seen them, she murmured, “I’m sure we’ll be running into each other.”
As she made her way down the walk, she didn’t look back to see if he was still looking at her.
Not really her, but Nathaniel.
She prayed they’d never run into him again.
Why, that son of a bitch, raged Kelly. He’s been avoiding me—because of her?
She would not have seen Bettina with Andy if she weren’t so determined that Wills would be the first of the Twosies to be potty-trained. He’d been a good boy to warn her with a scream of, “Poopie!’ To do so prior to the start of the Easter Egg Hunt would earn him an extra chocolate egg when the candy in his Easter basket was divvied out.
Because the public restroom was not far from the tennis courts, Kelly had a bird’s eye view of the reunion between her nemesis and her lover. She saw Andy’s shock and awe with Bettina, and his tenderness with her child. What really turned her stomach was the way in which he placed Bettina’s hand over his heart.
More so than ever, she wanted to kill Bettina. For that matter, she wanted to kill Andy, too.
She knew of one person who resented Andy’s defection even more than her:
Kimberley.
She’d be the perfect foil for Kelly’s revenge.
The perfect stooge.
With Wills in hand, she headed off to find her prey.
Kimberley’s eyes widened when Kelly came her way.
Of course, they would. Kimberley had done her best to avoid Kelly since the debacle at the auction for Bettina’s damned horse.
She blanched when Kelly proffered her three-year-old daughter, Hailey, a chocolate egg. “You missed this one, sweetie,” Kelly cooed. She then looked up at Kimberley and murmured, “And I miss you. Why have you been avoiding me?”
Kimberley waited until Hailey ran off after the other children before stammering, “I’ve—I’ve done nothing of the kind! I’ve just been busy with the children.”
Kelly winked. “Then we should set up a play date.”
Kimberley shrugged. “Sure, okay. Why don’t we get Hailey and Wills together after meet-up next Wednesday?”
Kelly laughed. “I didn’t mean the children, silly. I meant you and me.”
Kimberley frowned. “I don’t play your sort of games anymore.”
“A reformed woman, eh?” Kelly clapped ecstatically. “I’m impressed. In fact, you’ll be surprised to know that I’ve also turned over a new leaf.”
Kimberley’s eyes narrowed with doubt. “What exactly does that mean?”
“If you must know, Andy and I are no longer seeing each other. He’s found more fertile fields to plow.” She shrugged indifferently.
Kimberley winced. “Do you—do you have any idea who he may be seeing?”
“Just be grateful it’s not you,” Kelly chuckled. “I hear he’s gotten into some really kinky stuff.”
Kimberley’s smile quivered. “Of course it’s not me! Jerry and I are…we’re working things out.”
“Congratulations! Well, if we’ve got anything to thank Andy Hepburn for, it’s that we’re much better in the sack than we used to be. I’m sure Jerry appreciates that as much as Peter.” Kelly gazed down the hill, where Peter was talking to Matthew and Lorna Connaught. As she waved to them, she murmured, “As for me, I’ve picked up a new hobby that has nothing to do with men, but it’s just as big of a turn-on.” She pointed her index finger at Kimberley and went, “Pow!” Then she pretended to blow on it. “I now go to the shooting range every week. It’s a blast. Do you know what it’s like to hold a hot hard object between your hands?” She raised a brow. “And I don’t mean your vibrator.”
Kimberley laughed nervously. “To be honest, I’ve never shot a gun.”
“A virgin! Good! Trust me, this will be fun.” Kelly put an arm around her. “We’ll leave after meet-up one day and go to the firing range.”
“But—I’ll have to line up a babysitter—”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. You can share mine. She won’t mind—if she wants to keep her job.”
Kelly tightened her grip on Kimberley. She knew she’d get what she wanted out of her frenemy when Kimberley asked, “What kind of guns will we be using?”
Friday, 17 April
2:55 p.m.
“Signed, sealed, and delivered,” Brady hooted.
However, his attempt to high-five Bettina was met with a frigid scowl.
“Yeah, okay,” he muttered. “I take it that something is still bothering you.”
Bettina shrugged. “You could say that. Why the hell did it take so long?”
“You know, Bettina, we aren’t living in Dickensian times,” he reminded her. “Tracking indigents in this century isn’t considered politically correct. AOZ wanted to cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s, especially when it came to public opinion. Heck, AOZ conducted three different surveys in order to address the bleeding-heart concerns of our key demographic.” He threw up his hands. “This past few weeks, while you were wooing back the members of your mommy club, I’ve kept the plates spinning all on my own. Do you know how many times I went back to the drawing board in order to accommodate AOZ’s concerns? Not to mention the number of hours it took Frick and Frack to zap the app’s bugs—”
Bettina snapped her fingers in his face. “You’re blathering, Brady. Cut to the chase. I’ve bitten my nails to the quick—not that it matters, since I can’t afford to go to a nail salon anymore.” She held up her hands as proof. “So, how much are we getting, and when do we get it?”
“We’ve got a pretty large runway. The initial funding is a hundred million. The first third is being wired into our corporate account as we speak.”
She nodded nonchalantly. “And how much of that is mine?”
“Besides a pretty large chunk of preferred stock, we’ll pay ourselves modest salaries at first—say, a million each—”
Her ecstatic squeal was so loud that it woke Oliver and Zoe, who had been napping in their rooms upstairs.
Their cries, in stereo, drowned out Bettina’s cackle. Exasperated, she exclaimed, “Why doesn’t Ally see to the children?”
“Because Ally isn’t here,” Brady retorted. “She’s working out of her townhouse today with…her new venture partner.”
He yelled up the staircase, “Hey! You two—back to sleep, or we won’t walk to the park to see the turtles!”
Silence.
Not Bettina. Her interest piqued, she persisted, “Oh? And who is this mystery man?”
“His name is Garrett Hartley. And if your next question is how much he’s in for, it’s not a penny more than you’ve gotten.” Brady shrugged. “Frankly, she should have held out for twice that.”
“Ally accepted the offer? I thought you were brokering the deal.”
“I was…sort of. She took over at the VC’s request.”
Bettina snickered. “I never had you pegged as the jealous type.”
“If I’m competing with Garrett, I’ll lose.” Brady winced. “He’s…her father.”
Bettina shrugged. “Well, you’re right there.”
His lip curled into a grimace. “Your confidence in me is underwhelming.”
“My remark wasn’t a reflection of that. Most women have daddy issues, especially someone with her drive and track record.” Bettina winked. “Not to worry. She may have him on a pedestal now, but even fathers have clay feet.”
She grabbed her coat with one hand, and Nathaniel’s carrier with the other.
“Where are you going?” Brady asked.
“Now that I’m back on top of the world, I’m off to check out a penthouse apartment! A mil will make a decent down payment.”
Despite his tepid smile, his eyes were sad.
She patted his arm sympathetically. “Hang in there Brady. Money is the greatest aphrodisiac.”
He knew there was a compliment in there somewhere. But with the kids rustling, he was too busy to find it.
7:44 p.m.
“So, what do you think, Brady? Is Ally a chip off the old block?” Leaning back in his chair, Garrett took a sip from his brandy snifter.
Zelda broke into a fit of giggles. “Talk about fishing for compliments!” She motioned their waiter for yet another vodka rocks.
Ally resisted the urge to glance over at Brady. If Garrett’s question made him wince or frown, it would dismay her. What she hadn’t counted on was her ability to read the nuance in his voice as if it were some sort of emotional Braille.
His response—“She never fails to amaze me”— was pleasant enough. And yet, each word pricked at her conscience. He had aptly avoided answering Garrett head-on. And while it was an obvious compliment, he said it with such fervent sincerity that she almost wanted to cry out, You amaze me, too! So why are you letting this man stand in our way?
Had she asked, she knew how Brady would answer her: Who are you kidding? You’re the one who is letting him.
She was now drunk enough to admit to herself he was right. She’d done it for all the right reasons: one hundred million of them.
The moment that she, Jillian, and Brady had signed on the dotted line, it seemed that Garrett had done everything he could to convince her that they’d done the right thing. It was his suggestion that she and he schedule a daily conference call to discuss the fine details that came with expanding from one store to a national chain. Invariably, he’d compliment her marketing vision, or suggest a tweak that opened her eyes to new possibilities.
Soon, their talks became the highlight of her day.
And she had to admit: having someone so respected in the financial arena at her beck and call was exhilarating.
She used to feel the same thrill when she and Brady worked this closely.
Nowadays, Brady and she barely talked at all. And whenever she mentioned Garrett, his eyes glazed over.
It hurt that he still refused to discuss his top-secret project with her.
Ally found it easier to work at her townhouse, where Brady couldn’t hear her when she laughed at Garrett’s jokes.
And where she couldn’t see the sadness in his eyes when they passed each other in the hall.
When she was home, Brady seemed to watch her closely—
With his sad, sad eyes.
Needless to say, she was the first to glance away.
Is he looking at me now?
If so, she didn’t want to acknowledge it. It would hurt too much.
No better time to make small talk with Zelda, she thought.
But when she looked across the table, she found the younger woman looking at Brady.
Zelda’s plump lips were parted by the tip of her tongue. When she winked seductively at Brady, Ally followed her gaze.
Yes, she’d caught Brady’s eye. Would he wink back?
He didn’t—but he smiled.
Garrett had noticed too.
Brady did nothing to deflect Garrett’s scowl. If anything, he egged it on when he said, “I hear Zelda likes tennis. Maybe we should arrange a foursome.”
Zelda laughed uproariously.
She was the only one.
“A foursome? Really, Brady?” Ally contained her anger until they were in the car and halfway home.
Brady shrugged. “I was just trying to make conversation.”
“No, you weren’t! You were trying to get under Garrett’s skin!”
“It seems as if I got under yours too,” he retorted.
“Of course you did! You’re playing footsie with the wife of our investor!”
He grinned. “Oh—you saw that?”
“What? You mean, she had her feet all over you under the table?” Ally shook with fury.
“Don’t be silly,” he replied. “Remember Garrett is her meal ticket too.”
“I think Garrett was right to suggest you bow out. The two of you are like oil and water.”
“And the two of you are like…well, I can’t say father and daughter. But deep down inside, it’s what you’d want. Admit it, Ally.”
“I told you what I wanted from him: an investment in us. And I got it! Why can’t you admit I was right?” She choked on her words.
“Why? Because he hasn’t yet proven me wrong!” Brady stopped the car.
As he opened his door, Ally looked around. She was surprised to find them parked in front of their home. Somehow, they made it home in one piece.
The only thing broken was her heart.