“Well, I think you were too busy looking at Robin’s booty,” she said, with a little tartness to her tone. “You two didn’t even wait till the ink was dry on the paperwork before she was in my bed.”
“No, that’s quite true. She worked her way in there very quickly,” he muttered. “But it’s over between us.”
“Nice,” she said, with a shrug, wondering at his wording. Did he not know she was dead? “And I care about that, why?”
“Because your bed is empty again,” he said. He looked at her with a manufactured, boyishly appealing expression. “And I’d like you to come back and to give us another chance.”
At that, she stared at him, truly shocked. “What?”
“You heard me,” he said. “I’d like you to come back. I’d like us to try us again.”
“Why would you want that?” she asked, stunned. Was he just throwing out ideas to confuse her? Why would he mention a settlement and her returning, unless the return idea was just to get out of paying her settlement money. She looked at him, and, although she could see that he’d gotten a little seedier, a little chunky, and a little older, she didn’t see that he was any more truthful, any more open, or the slightest bit honest, which is what she would much prefer at this point in time. “I mean, let’s face it. You dumped me for her, so you’ll just do it again with some other broad.”
“Of course not,” he said. “What being around Robin showed me was that she wasn’t you.”
“Well, she would never be me,” she muttered. “And you made it very clear that you were looking for a much younger bride.”
He winced. “Well, let’s just say, I had it, and it wasn’t as good as the old comfortable one I owned.”
At that, she glared at him. “Owned?”
“Okay, that’s not the right way to put it,” he backtracked, holding up his hand, “and I certainly don’t want to upset you. Can we maybe go for a coffee somewhere?”
She hesitated because the last thing she wanted to do was spend any time with him. But what wasn’t coming across with his coffee offer was anything fake or put on about him. So what was he up to? “And yet you just said you wanted me to come back. I’m still really confused. Not to mention your talk of a settlement.”
“Well, I thought maybe, if we spent a little more time together, it would help both of us realize we want to get back together again.”
She shook her head. “Like I said on the phone, why would I want to get back together again with you? As soon as I thought I was secure again, you would dump me.” Then she stopped, looked at him, and said, “You do know that Robin is dead, right?”
His face turned somber. “I did hear that,” he said softly. “Such a great waste.”
“In what way?”
He looked at her in surprise. “Well, she was awfully young, you know?”
“Right,” she said, “she was all of what? Five years younger than me?”
“Less, I think,” he said apologetically. “And you have held up for your age.”
“Wow, this is getting better and better,” she muttered to herself, knowing it was five years. “I don’t understand what your comment means about her.”
“Well, she was the kind to get into trouble. She liked to live dangerously.”
“Yes, I know that. I mean, she cheated me out of my divorce settlement and my husband and apparently would be investigated by the bar.”
He looked at her with surprise, but she couldn’t tell if it was a true reaction or not. “What?”
“Oh, you didn’t know that?” she asked. “My understanding is that her, uh, lawyership or whatever you want to call it had been called into question, due to her unscrupulous practices.”
“Oh dear,” he said, with a heavy sigh. “In that case, I wonder if it wasn’t suicide.”
“I believe she was stabbed,” she said, looking at him closer. “Hard to do that to yourself.”
“So,” he said, “rumors have found their way to your doorstep.”
“Yeah, that stuff generally does,” she said cheerfully, and again she hesitated as she looked at the animals. “Well, Mugs is definitely happy to see you.”
“And I’m sure you are too,” he said. “It’s just the shock. And, of course, you’ve had several of them lately. With Robin’s death and all.”
“Not to mention the fact that she came here screaming at me, before she was killed.”
“Oh, that’s so Robin,” he said, with a shudder. “The things that you don’t know about a person, until you live with them. She was definitely into drama.”
“Well, that she was,” Doreen said, “but then you were tired of the old gray mare.”
“Well, you have let yourself go a little bit,” he said, “and gray hair is coming through.”
“And here just a few minutes ago you said I was fresh and natural-looking,” she said, with a roll of her eyes.
“Well, you are that too,” he said, “but there’s no doubt that you’re getting a little older.”
She chuckled. “Yep, and I’m coming by it honestly.”
He reached up and tugged at her hand. “Still, let’s go for coffee,” he said. “Let’s get away from this. Leave the animals behind, and let’s go out for a bit, even if we just go to the park for a walk.”
She hesitated, but curiosity drove her. Finally she nodded and said, “Well, a walk in the park would be nice, but I want to bring the animals.” He glared, as she shrugged. “Me and the animals or not at all.”
He raised his hands in surrender. “Fine,” he said. “I can’t imagine taking the cat for a walk though.”
“You might be surprised,” she said cheerfully. She went inside and grabbed a leash for Mugs and said, as she rejoined Mathew, “Why don’t we walk from here?”
He looked at her in surprise and then shrugged.
She headed down the driveway with the animals, and he hadn’t even seen that she’d picked up Mugs. She’d also picked up Thaddeus and waited for Mathew to notice, but he didn’t seem to see the bird on her shoulder. That just blew her away, but it was obvious that he was seriously focused on something else. Finally, when they walked around the cul-de-sac, she automatically headed toward Nan and asked, “Did you want to see my grandmother?”
“Lord no,” he said. “That old bat never did like me.”
She winced at his wording but had to give him credit for his perspective in noting that Nan never did like him. “Well, maybe she has gotten softer with age.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head, “not at all. Chances are she wouldn’t hold back now either.”
“Well, you did leave me high and dry for a younger woman and without any means to support myself,” she said.
“No, I know that,” he said, and she wondered if that was meant to be some sort of an apology.
“You mean, you didn’t do it on purpose?”
“Well, of course I did,” he said, “but it probably wasn’t fair.”