I shouldn’t have told her, Tandy.” Claire strode along-side her friend. “It was way too much information for Jenna.”
“What’s done is done.” The redhead pumped her elbows and blew out a breath. “Let’s pick up the speed a bit, shall we? There’s a reason they call this power walking. You’re going to feel the power, Claire. You’re going to feel the burn. It’s going to tell you that Claire Beaumont is a woman! A woman who knows her own mind and isn’t afraid to speak it! Ooh-rah!”
Claire’s legs were longer than Tandy’s, but she had never been able to keep pace with her. They’d met ages ago, when Erik and Jenna were in elementary school with Tandy’s son and daughter. Since then they’d powered through thousands of miles together.
“I appreciate the pep talk.” Claire spoke between huffs as they zipped along block after block, past one identical condominium building after another, the same six palm trees in front of each.
“Pep talk, schmep talk. It’s the truth.”
“Jenna will tell the others.”
“So? Somebody’s got to. No reason for you to blubber through three more phone calls with your kids.”
“But they don’t really need to know. There really isn’t anything to know at this point. I mean, Max and I had an argument. Granted, that’s not a common occurrence, but, really. What’s the big deal? I packed and—” She stopped midsentence. “I didn’t really move out, did I?”
“The sooner you admit it, the sooner you can deal with it.”
“But I’m a Christian. Christian wives don’t move out.”
“What am I, chopped liver?”
“It was different for you. Trevor was cheating on you and refused to end it and was mean to you.”
“Maybe—in another sense—Max is cheating on you.”
Claire shook her head. “No. He’s not. And I don’t think I’ve literally moved out. Physically, yes, for now. I just want some space.”
“Anyway, sweetie, don’t worry about tomorrow. Take it one day at a time. Trust me. You will get through this.”
She glanced sideways at her old friend. Tandy echoed the exact words Claire had preached to her on more than one occasion. The first was seven years ago, the night Tandy had kicked her husband out of the house. Another time was right after she’d signed the divorce papers. Then there was the day they’d locked up her house and followed the moving van to her new home, a condo forty minutes away. And her daughter’s wedding, when Tandy was forced to share every special moment with her ex-husband’s new wife.
“Hey.” Tandy reached over and lightly punched her shoulder. “Max may be a putz, but he’s no Trevor the Toad. Okay? He’s no babe mag-net. He has no Big-Hair Bimbo from Bishop waiting in the wings.”
Claire nodded. Max would never expect her to pose for a family photo with his second wife. Would he?
She raised her elbows higher and tried to pump away all such crazy notions. It didn’t work. Something inside her vibrated with a sense of dread she hadn’t felt in a long time. True, Max was not a babe magnet. But he was winsome. He was personable to a fault. He hugged freely and frequently. People liked him. Women adored him. Why wouldn’t he have someone waiting in the wings?
With the intensity of an eighteen-wheeler rumbling over her entire body, the sense of dread gave way to the full-on assault of an old fear.
That woman in the wings would be Neva.