Chapter 15

 

The last thing Lacey had expected to see was the silver Mercedes pull into her driveway.

Sara.

The woman never came to her house unaccompanied by Hunter. In the years she’d been married to Hunter, she’d never dropped by alone. Not once.

Lacey wiped the sweat from her upper lip, the sweat pouring down in the unusually warm sub for the very end of October. Dressed in a snug black tank top and ratty cut-off jeans shorts, she wasn’t exactly prepared for company. But the leaves needed to be mowed.

She suppressed the urge to flee inside the house as the tinted driver’s side window slowly lowered.

“Hi, Lacey.”

She was dressed in a cream-colored suit, a slim gold necklace nestling in tastefully presented cleavage. Her over-sized dark sunglasses lent her an air of fashionable aloofness, the thin line of her ermine lips doing nothing to dispel the impression. Her hair and make-up were normally perfect, but the first thing Lacey noticed was the fact the woman’s tresses were loose, hanging limply along one shoulder where they’d been gathered into a messy braid. It was the only thing out of place.

“Hey, Sara. You… didn’t expect you. Hunter in there with you?”

“No.” There was a not quite submerged note of sourness in the word. “Just me this time. I… he left something here last time we dropped off Hayden and asked me to come pick it up after work.”

“Oh sure, that’s no problem.” Lacey stripped off her yellow leather work gloves, draping them over her shoulder. “What was it?”

“I… actually it’s not really important. There is something I want to ask you though.” Sara lowered her sunglasses slowly.

Something was wrong.

Sara’s eyes were slightly bloodshot, puffiness just below them. She’d either come off a recent bender — or she’d been crying.

“Sara… are you okay?” She walked to the car, leaning a hand against the pillar along the front of the window, silently hoping she didn’t stink. “What’s up?”

Sara’s gaze sharpened, the sunlight catching the hint of tears in the gray eyes.

“Do you dress up when Hunter stops by too?”

Lacey’s mouth fell open. “Um, I don’t think I know what you mean.”

But she did, Sara’s eyes dropping pointedly to the way the tank top fabric, soaked in sweat, displayed her prominent, hard nipples to perfection.

“Can we stop with the bullshit?”

“Gladly.” Lacey hated retreating so quickly into defensive mode, but a comment like that was the same as a slap across the face. And they both knew very well it was meant to be.

“I’m sure you know what’s happened. He tells you everything, doesn’t he?”

“I don’t know what you mean. We’re friends.”

“Why don’t you just take him?” Sara’s lips pulled back from her teeth as she spit the words. “Why go through this idiotic Kabuki dance? You’ve so obviously got a thing for him. You’ve been undermining things between he and I from the beginning. Admit it.”

Lacey had to suppress the urge to take a step backward. “I’m not admitting anything that isn’t true. I — we — have been here for you guys anytime you needed us. Nothing’s changed as far as we’re concerned, though I gotta admit, I’m not liking you pulling this shit. It’s a little out of left field, to be perfectly honest.”

“What shit? Speaking the truth for once?”

“Look, Sara, maybe we should just go inside and ta—”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” She hid her bright gray eyes behind the opaque lenses once more, but not in time to stop a tear sliding down her cheek. “I don’t know what it is you think you’re doing, but Hunter and I need friends — not fucking home wreckers. Leave him alone!”

Before Lacey could say a thing, the window was rolling back up, the Mercedes backing out of the driveway.

Lacey stood in her front yard, hands on her hips, watching Sara go, her heart in her throat even though at that moment she wanted to tear the woman’s eyes out.

Something between Sara and her husband had obviously gone sideways.

Yes, they both realize the fact she’s completely incompatible with Hunter.

The woman’s words stung, there was no denying that, and as the brisk breeze kicked up, Lacey stood silent in that yard for a long while, replaying them over and over again. They’d hit a little too close to home. Her defensiveness was simple reflex — and it was a shield against what might sounded uncomfortably close to the truth. What if she really had been undermining their relationship all along, subconsciously or not? What kind of woman did that make her?

If you had a brain in your fucking head, you’d start using it — and stay as far away from those two as you possibly can.

It would just play into Sara’s hands though, wouldn’t it? Confirm her suspicions?

The only rational thing was to just let it blow over, recognize that the two were having problems, and just be there — for either one of them — if they needed them. That really was what friends did, and at least she hadn’t let her little fixation blind her to that.

“You need to cool off, Lace,” she murmured, beginning to rake the leaves again, the task not coming close to distracting her from the doubts and fears crowding her mind. Whatever she’d done, whether intentional or not, Sara had picked up on it. Was the women seeing the truth of the situation — and seeing Lacey for what she really was?

How could Sara possibly know that deep down, the only woman Lacey thought was good enough for Hunter... was Lacey herself?