Sarah felt rejuvenated after the bath. She hadn’t realized how much tension she’d been holding all day or how in need of some alone time she’d been. She felt grateful, yet again, to Kate for coming to her rescue. Lizzy would have been so wound up from the party. She wouldn’t have gotten a moment’s peace. And she needed to be calm to call Robert. Fears that he would be angry about the pregnancy lingered just under the surface, but she pushed them away. She knew what she needed to do. Be positive. Upbeat. Excited. Then Robert would be excited too.
She came out of the bathroom in a towel and went into the walk-in closet to look for her cozy flannel nightgown that Robert hated so much. It was just what she wanted to wear tonight, and he wouldn’t be here to complain about it. When she pulled open the dresser drawer, her black dress and the plastic cleaner’s bag were still where she’d stuffed them the night of her birthday dinner. She’d forgotten all about that. She took them out, threw the bag in the trash, and started to shake out the dress. She stopped and hesitated. She wasn’t going to be wearing this for a while. Sorry, Robert. She wondered if it could be fixed. Or if she’d ever fit into it again. She started to hang the dress on a hanger, but as she did her inner dialogue intensified. Why would you want to? You’re not nineteen anymore. It’s embarrassing how ridiculously short it is. What were you thinking even then? You should be ashamed of yourself.
Sarah thought about the dress and Robert and felt conflicted. It was true: she did feel embarrassed wearing it. Robert had picked it out and always wanted her to wear it, but truth be told, she’d never felt comfortable in it. It really wasn’t her. She never would have chosen it for herself. She should just get rid of it. But what would Robert say? Maybe she should just save it for now. She reached for a hanger—and then Maggie’s comment about Robert not being the king of her jumped into her mind. She smiled. Maggie was right. Why did she always do what he wanted? She needed to stand up for herself for a change. She took hold of the dress on either side of the broken zipper, firmly ripped it in half, and tossed it into the trash can.
“Good riddance!” she said. She pulled her nightgown out of the drawer and pulled it over her head.
In the bathroom, she stopped to look at her reflection in the mirror. She hadn’t noticed before, but her face was looking slightly fuller. She touched her belly and smiled. She really couldn’t wait much longer to tell him. The changes in her body were already starting to show. She reached for her toothbrush, feeling a new resolve. No time like the present. She would brush her teeth and then go call him.
Sarah glanced at the clock after crawling into bed. Eleven sixteen. He should still be awake. She paused briefly, then excitedly picked up the phone and hit the speed dial.
“Hello. This is Robert Jenkins . . .” Robert’s voice recording started immediately. Sarah hung up the phone and held it in her lap, feeling frustrated. Why did he have his phone turned off? He couldn’t possibly be asleep already. He never went to sleep this early.
She closed her eyes and let her head sink back into the pillow for a few moments, feeling the depth of her exhaustion. She was so tired she could fall asleep sitting up.
She forced her eyes open and dialed Robert another time, but again the phone went to voicemail. She started to feel anxious. She really needed to talk to him tonight. She was ready. Tomorrow wouldn’t be good. He’d be working, and he’d made it very clear she shouldn’t call when he was at work unless it was an emergency.
The urgency she felt was overwhelming. She made a decision. She’d call the landline. He had told her to only use it in emergencies, but surely this was a good enough reason. She got out of bed to get the number from her address book and then crawled back in bed and dialed.
“Stephanie McAllister, you were amazing tonight,” Robert said as he unlocked the door to his beach house. “Have I ever told you how smoking hot you are when you are wheeling and dealing?”
Stephanie smiled. “You might have mentioned it.”
“Well it’s true. You go in for the kill in a way that leaves them thinking you’ve just given them a wonderful gift!”
“Yeah, I got skills.”
“Yes, you do,” he said. “And I’ve got champagne. This definitely calls for a celebration. It’s in the fridge. Go ahead and pull it out. I need to get the remnants of my steak out of my teeth!”
He took off his suit coat and headed to the bathroom. Stephanie kicked off her heels, took off the crimson print wrap hanging loosely around her shoulders, and draped it over the back of the leather sofa. Her sleeveless black dress hugged her shapely body.
“That was a delicious dinner,” she called out to Robert as she opened the refrigerator. “And nice atmosphere. We should make that a regular client restaurant.” She lifted the bottle of champagne—and then almost dropped it when the kitchen wall phone next to her rang.
“Steph, can you grab that?” Robert called from the bathroom. “It might be Sam calling to see how tonight went.”
Stephanie closed the refrigerator, champagne in hand, and picked up the phone with the other hand.
“Hello,” she answered.
“Oh. I’m sorry,” Sarah stammered. “I must have dialed the wrong number.”
“No problem,” Stephanie said pleasantly and put the phone back in the cradle on the wall. “Just a wrong number,” she called to Robert as she began twisting the cap off the champagne.
Sarah felt her stomach tighten, but she pushed the fear away. You stupid klutz. You must have dialed it wrong. Try to be more careful. Sarah slowly re-dialed the number, saying each one aloud as she pressed the corresponding button. She listened as the phone began to ring.
“Hello,” a woman answered.
Sarah felt flustered at hearing the same woman’s voice again. “I’m sorry,” she managed to spit out. “Is this 310-555-3258?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Who were you trying to reach?”
“I’m sorry. I was trying to reach a Robert Jenkins. I thought this was his number.”
“Yeah, it is. He’s right here . . . Robbie, it’s for you.”
Sarah’s mind raced. Robbie? Who called him Robbie? She’d never heard anyone call him that before. Who was this, anyway? And what was she doing at his place so late?
“Hello?” Robert’s voice said.
“Robert?”
“Sarah. Why did you call this number? I told you to always call me on my cell phone.”
“I tried, but it went straight to your voicemail.” Sarah could hear the irritation in Robert’s voice. She didn’t want to upset him, but she wanted to know who had answered the phone. She felt confused. She couldn’t think.
“My battery died. Why are you calling so late anyway? Is Lizzy okay?”
“Yeah . . . she’s fine.” Sarah hesitated. “Who . . . who answered the phone?”
“Sarah, why are you calling?”
“I . . . I wanted to talk to you about something,” Sarah said, feeling suddenly small and scared.
“At this hour? Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”
“Uh . . . yeah . . . okay,” she managed to say.
“Good. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Good night.”
Robert hung up the phone and began loosening his tie. He’d been having such a great evening. Why did Sarah have to call and ruin it all? And why was she calling? Whatever it was about, he wasn’t looking forward to the conversation.
“Everything okay?” Stephanie asked.
“Fuck no,” Robert said as he pulled off his tie. “You shouldn’t have answered the phone.”
“Don’t get pissed at me,” Stephanie shot back. “In case you don’t recall, you asked me to answer it.”
Robert sighed and dropped his shoulders. He didn’t want to take this out on Stephanie. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just tired of having to lie and come up with more stories and excuses.”
“Maybe it’s time to just tell her the truth.”
Robert shook his head. “It’s complicated.”
“I know you think it is.”
Robert knew Stephanie’s opinion. He should come clean with Sarah. But that would also mean coming clean with his parents. And he wasn’t sure he was ready for that. Not yet.
“Right now, I don’t want to think about it at all.” Robert reached for the champagne bottle. “What I do want to think about is the big deal we closed tonight. We are an awesome team!” He poured two glasses and lifted one up. “To us,” he toasted.
Stephanie picked up the other glass and gently tapped the rim of Robert’s glass. “To us!”
Maggie sat up in bed with a start when her phone rang. She automatically reached for it, her eyes still closed.
“Hello?” she said, her voice groggy.
“Maggie,” a tremulous voice said. “I’m sorry to wake you.”
“Sarah.” Her eyes flew open. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I called Robert a while ago and a woman answered.”
“Shit . . .”
“I don’t know what to do,” Sarah said between sobs. “I don’t know who it was. It’s so late. Why would she be there?”
Maggie shook her head, trying to wake up. She was having a hard time understanding what Sarah was saying. She wasn’t making any sense. “Did you talk to Robert?”
“Briefly,” Sarah said, her voice wavering. “He thought something had happened to Lizzy and then was mad that I called him on his home phone.”
“Why the hell would he be mad about you calling on his home phone?” Maggie wondered aloud, feeling more confused by the second. This all seemed so convoluted. Was Sarah having a bad dream or something? Then she remembered what Kate had said about Robert’s control tactics. Was this an example of what she meant?
“I don’t know,” Sarah said, her voice steadier. “He told me that I should call his cell because he always has it with him. To only use the landline in an emergency. But tonight, I guess his battery died. It kept going straight to voicemail. And I really needed to talk to him about the baby. So I called the home phone.”
“What did he say when you told him?”
“I didn’t get a chance,” Sarah said, and she began crying again. “He said it was late. That it could wait. That we would talk tomorrow.”
Maggie was waking up and her mind was slowly kicking into action. She didn’t know what to think or what to say. There might be a logical reason that a woman would be there, but she had to admit that it did look suspicious. Was Robert having an affair? It didn’t seem possible. He was always so romantic with Sarah. But maybe that was a guilt thing. Like that episode of Friends when Joey’s dad was being extra nice and loving with Joey’s mom because he was having an affair.
“And she called him Robbie,” Sarah continued through her sobs, pulling Maggie back from her mental meanderings.
“What?” Maggie asked, trying to catch up.
“The woman who answered the phone. She called him Robbie. I’ve never heard anyone call him Robbie before.”
Maggie didn’t know what to say. Why on earth had Sarah called her? She should have called Kate. Kate was good at this kind of thing. She’d probably say something reassuring. What would be reassuring right now? She didn’t have a clue.
“Are you still there?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah. I’m here. Just still waking up.”
“I’m sorry.” Sarah sounded like she was hyperventilating. “I shouldn’t have called. I know it’s late. I just didn’t know what to do. I feel really shaky and scared, like I’m going crazy or something.”
Maggie continued to feel at a loss for words. She didn’t understand why Sarah was having such a strange reaction to this. Maybe this was some of the pregnancy hormone stuff Kate had talked about. She could call her in the morning and ask—but what should she do now? She felt totally out of her element. Maybe she should just go over there. It might help Sarah to have someone with her.
“Why don’t I come over?”
“No. I can’t ask you to do that.”
“Sure you can,” Maggie said as she crawled out of bed. “I’ll take a quick shower to wake up and then I’ll be right over.”
“Okay,” Sarah choked out. “Thanks.”
Maggie poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table with a heavy sigh. She felt incredibly weary, not just from the lack of sleep but also from the emotional drain of supporting Sarah, who had been beside herself the previous night. It had taken her a long time to finally fall asleep. Maggie had dozed after that, but never fully slept. She would give anything to be home in her own bed right about now.
She took a long swig of coffee, closed her eyes, and swallowed slowly, willing her body to relax into the chair. She was sitting quietly with her eyes still closed when she heard a short knock and the sound of the front door opening.
“Hello,” Kate called out from the front hall.
“Hey Kate,” Maggie called back. “I’m in the kitchen.” Relief flooded her body. She was ready to pass the baton.
Kate came in and put her purse down on the counter. “How’s she doing?”
“She’s in the shower. She didn’t go to sleep until about three thirty. She was pretty wiped out.”
“I imagine. Any idea who the woman was?”
Maggie shook her head. “She wasn’t very coherent last night. I was hoping she might be a bit clearer after some sleep.” She lifted up her cup in the direction of the pot on the counter. “Coffee?”
“Sure,” Kate said and helped herself to a cup.
Maggie thought of Lizzy. “Where are the girls?”
“Will took them out for breakfast. He’ll come by when they’re done.”
“That was nice of him.”
“Nice of who?” Sarah asked as she dragged herself into the room.
“Hey, kiddo,” Kate said as she moved to give Sarah a hug. “We were talking about Will. He took the girls out for breakfast.”
Sarah dropped down into a chair at the table. “Oh. That was nice.”
“How ’bout a cup o’ joe?” Maggie asked.
“Okay. That would be good.”
Maggie got up and poured Sarah a cup, then watched as Sarah absentmindedly added cream. She stared into the cup, slowly stirring it with a spoon. Maggie glanced at Kate, but neither of them spoke.
Sarah finally broke the silence. “I feel like I’m in the middle of some horrible nightmare that can’t possibly be happening and at the same time I feel like a complete idiot for not realizing how obvious it all was. All those weekends working. All the reasons why Lizzy and I shouldn’t visit.”
“Sarah, don’t beat yourself up,” Kate said. “You trusted him. You weren’t looking for something like this. Whatever this is.”
Sarah looked up. “Exactly! What is it? Is it a fling? A one-night stand? Or something more? Maybe he’s living a whole separate life like in the movies or something?”
“I say we string him up by his balls,” Maggie said.
“Whoa,” Kate said, shooting Maggie a stern look. “Let’s slow down. It’s probably better to talk to Robert before jumping to any conclusions.” She turned to Sarah. “What exactly did he say last night?”
Sarah frowned. “That’s what’s been bugging me. I was totally caught off guard, but I did manage to ask him who had answered the phone. But he completely ignored the question. As if I hadn’t even asked it.”
“Well, hell, then you just ask him again!” Maggie said. The coffee was kicking in and she felt her sense of outrage swelling.
Kate nodded. “Exactly. You need to get some answers from him before you jump to any conclusions.”
“Right now, I have no desire to talk to him at all,” Sarah said. “Maybe I’ll just wait until he comes home.”
“Are you nuts?!” Maggie shouted—and immediately regretted it.
“Yes,” Sarah said, turning abruptly to Maggie. “I’m completely fucking nuts! Can’t you tell?!”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just, if I were you, I couldn’t stand to wait. I’d want some answers right away.”
“Well you’re not me, are you?”
“No, I’m not.” Maggie felt a little sheepish. She knew she needed to be more sympathetic. Sarah was really stressed and sleep-deprived. Time to keep her mouth shut.
Sarah stared into her coffee. Maggie glanced over at Kate with a guilty look. Kate shrugged and mouthed, “It’s okay.”
After several minutes, Sarah spoke again. “I had another dream about Matt last night,” she said without looking up.
“The college boyfriend?” Maggie asked. “I didn’t know you had a first dream about him.”
Sarah didn’t react; she just kept talking, as if to herself. “This dream was different. In the first one we were married and he was really excited about the baby. This dream was more like reliving all the things we did together.”
“Like what?” Kate asked.
“Just having fun. It was comfortable and easy. Not that we didn’t have disagreements, but we always worked things out pretty well. We were a team. And we had fun.”
“Sounds like a nice relationship,” Maggie said.
“Yeah.” Sarah got up without saying more and went out into the garage.
Kate frowned and looked at Maggie. “Where’s she going?”
“I’m not sure,” Maggie said, “but I think I might have an idea.” She got up and followed Sarah.
“What . . .” Kate said, shaking her head. She had no idea what was going on, so she shut her mouth and headed for the garage. When she walked in, Sarah was up on the counter, moving boxes around on the top shelf.
Kate tilted her head and looked up at Sarah. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for something.”
“That’s kind of obvious,” Maggie said. “Mind cluing us in?”
“Remember me telling you about the letter that I never opened?”
Maggie shook her head. “Yeah. I thought that might be it.”
“I’m a little lost here, guys,” Kate said, but neither Sarah nor Maggie acknowledged her.
Sarah pulled a large box labeled “COLLEGE” out from behind several other boxes. “Here. Help me,” she said to Maggie.
Maggie scooted up onto the counter and helped her pull the box down from the shelf and onto the workbench.
Kate couldn’t figure out what had gotten into Sarah. Or Maggie, for that matter. “Would someone mind telling me what is going on?”
Sarah began opening the box. “When Matt broke up with me I was really hurt and I wrote him a crazy dramatic letter. He was in Africa, so by the time I heard back from him I was already dating Robert. And still pretty pissed at Matt. So I didn’t read it. I just threw it in this box without opening it.”
“And you’re choosing now to read it? When you suspect your husband is cheating on you?” Kate shook her head. None of this was making sense. What was Sarah thinking?
“He’s showing up in my dreams for some reason. Maybe I’m supposed to read it now.”
“But—”
The doorbell rang—and rang again, and again, cutting Kate off. She heard the sound of the front door slamming, and the patter of feet.
“Mommy! I’m ho-ome!” Lizzy yelled.
“I’ll look for it later,” Sarah said. She quickly closed the box and turned to go back into the house. Kate made it into the kitchen just as Lizzy and Emma ran in. Will sauntered in after them.
Lizzy barreled directly over to Sarah, who knelt down and wrapped her arms around her. “Hi, sweetie. Did you have a good sleepover?”
“Yeah! And we just had waffles!” Lizzy said.
“With whipped cream!” Emma said.
“And strawberries!”
“Sounds very yummy,” Sarah said. “Thanks for taking her to breakfast, Will.”
“My pleasure,” Will said. “We had fun. And I got to hear all about the party. Sounds like a good time was had by all!”
“Thanks to Kate and Maggie. I couldn’t have done it without them!”
Robert glanced out the wall-length sliding glass doors at the sunny beach and gentle waves. He was on his third beer and halfway through the game, but he still couldn’t shake the feelings that had haunted him since Sarah’s call last night. He knew he should call her but couldn’t bring himself to do it. He rationalized that it would be good to give her some time. Maybe she would let it go.
He watched Stephanie walking up from the beach, her tanned body moving gracefully toward him. She hadn’t pushed him more last night about coming clean with Sarah, but he knew where she stood. He appreciated that about her. She was direct. She stated her opinion and then let it go. Nagging was not in her repertoire.
He smiled as she came through the door, beach bag in hand. “How was it?”
“You’re missing some great beach time staying cooped up in here,” she said. “It’s gorgeous out there.”
“Who are you kidding?” Robert muted the TV and waved his beer toward the beach. “I’ve got the best of both worlds. Great views of the beach and the Lakers on TV.”
“You are such a total basketball bum!”
“Look who’s talking, Little Miss Beach Bum.”
“Guilty as charged. It’s my happy place! There’s nothing more relaxing than feeling the sun on my skin and listening to the waves.” She tossed her beach bag on a chair and pulled the scrunchy off her ponytail, letting her dark hair cascade down over her shoulders. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Sounds good. I just checked Sam’s flight status. He’s due in on time at five thirty.”
“Perfect,” she said as she started toward the bathroom. “We can stop and get fish tacos on the way home. If I know my big brother, he will be craving Mexican food after two weeks in China!”
“Or we could actually go to a Mexican restaurant and have a real meal!” Robert said. He would push for that. He wasn’t a big fan of the taco truck.
“Whatever,” Stephanie said over her shoulder. “I say we let Sam decide. It is his welcome home dinner, after all.”
“Sounds good to me. But he might surprise you and want a nice steak. You better dress accordingly.”
“So, what you’re saying is that I should dress for anything from a taco truck to a five-star restaurant?” she called from the bathroom.
“Exactly.”
“You realize that’s an impossible task, don’t you?”
“Oh, come on. You’re the fashion goddess. I have complete faith in you.”
“Well, I guess that kills the flip-flops idea,” Stephanie said as she closed the bathroom door.
Robert smiled and unmuted the TV.