“I didn’t want to,” she said simply. “It wasn’t the life I wanted to lead anymore.”
“So you wanted to come to this little hick town and be a country girl?”
“Well, it’s hardly a country-girl life I live. I’m here in a town, not raising chickens on a farm.”
“Well, that’ll probably be next,” he said, with a wave of his hand. “I think I even passed cows on one of the roads. Like somewhere off Benvoulin or some such thing. Cows,” he said, pointedly looking at her. “Did you hear me? Like they actually have cows here.”
She burst out laughing. “Well, you’ll probably order a steak for dinner,” she said, “so it does make sense that they have cows here.”
“That’s just wrong though,” he said. “Steak belongs on your table, but cows do not belong in a field beside me.”
“Everybody wants the food lot to be in somebody else’s backyard,” she said simply.
“Of course and thankfully it’s here because then it’s not my backyard,” he muttered.
She chuckled. “I don’t mind seeing the cows, and the horses are a joy, as is all the other wildlife. I’ve seen quite a few things since I’ve been here.” That was to put it mildly.
“I’m sure you have,” he said, with the shake of his head. “I mean, it’s not as if you stayed in the same social circles, the same level of lifestyle.”
“Yeah, how would I do that?” she said. “I didn’t have any money. Remember? All our friends dropped me, when they heard that.”
He smirked. “Well, you could have it again though.”
She didn’t answer him. Why would he even dangle something like that, when it’s obvious he didn’t care about her? What was this all about? The maître d’ came around and brought a drink menu and a regular menu for them. Doreen looked quickly and decided that one of the things she hadn’t had in a very long time was fresh tuna. So she ordered a glass of white wine, and, when the waitress came, Doreen placed her order, and her husband approved.
“That’s always a good dish, isn’t it?”
“Well, I haven’t eaten things like that recently,” she said, “so I will enjoy it.”
“Good,” he said. “Anything that reminds you of the lifestyle that we had together is helpful.”
Again she said nothing. When everything was delivered, and the staff left them in relative peace, he said, “So what’s going on between you and the detective?”
“Nothing,” she said in surprise. “We’re friends.”
“Yeah, friends,” he said sarcastically.
“It is possible to be friends.”
“Not really,” he said, “he wants something from you.”
She stared at him. “Well, I’m sure he’d probably say that about you too.”
At that, his eyebrows rose. “I told you that I wanted something,” he said. “I want you back home, where you belong.”
“Robin’s hardly even dead,” Doreen murmured. “Isn’t that a little fast?”
“We’d already split up,” he said. “Thankfully. Otherwise the cops would be looking at me a little more intently.”
“Well, I don’t think Mack wants anything from me,” she said. “I’m more of a pain in the butt to him instead.”
He laughed. “Well, that’s the thing about relationships, you know? Either it goes the way you want or it’s the opposite, so that you don’t want anything to do with it.”
She frowned. “That’s a pretty rough assessment.”
“I know people,” he said, “and I definitely know men. And I know what he wants.”
“I think you’re wrong.”
“That’s because you always were naive. He obviously wants a relationship with you.”
“Well, being friends is a relationship.”
“And now that’s being naive again,” he said, “and foolish. You’ve never been foolish.”
She narrowed her gaze.
“You used to do foolish things,” he said, “but I could always trust your judgment of people.”
“And that’s why I’m telling you that Mack is a good guy.”
“He might be a good guy, and that just probably makes him a good cop,” he said, with a sneer. “People who deal with criminals are not the kind of people we associate with.”
She winced at that. She’d been associated with them, with Mack and his team quite a bit. Not to mention Mathew was hardly an angel.
“That little old house of yours is quite the run-down shack too, isn’t it?”
She bristled. “It’s Nan’s house,” she said, “and I really love it.”
“Well, I mean, if you dropped it and built something new maybe,” he said, with a shudder. “But, other than that, it’s just this hokey piece of crap that should have been demolished a long time ago.”
“Well, thankfully it hasn’t,” she snapped, glaring at him.
He held up a hand. “I forgot how defensive you are about that old lady.”
“She is my grandmother, and she’s special to me,” she said, as she sat here, feeling this growing wish to reach across the table and just smack him one. She’d probably be charged with assault. Or maybe the police would be too busy cheering on the sideline, when they heard what she’d done, to charge her. But, at the same time, she didn’t dare do anything to cause a commotion.
He was here for one reason, and she was well past the point of believing that it was because he wanted her back. He wanted something from her, but he had yet to play his hand and to let her know exactly what it was.
Chapter 16
By the time they finished eating dinner, Doreen was none the wiser of what Mathew was up to. Finally, when she ordered coffee and a piece of pie—something that she rarely afforded herself—she asked, “So why are you really here?”
He leaned forward and said, “You don’t believe I’m here for you?”
“Remember that part of being a good judge of character and understanding people?” she said. “No, I don’t believe anything yet.”
He shrugged. “It was worth a try.”
“Not really,” she said. “So what’s this about?”
“You have something of mine.”
She stopped and stared at him in surprise. “Seriously what? And why didn’t you just ask for it, instead of this elaborate ruse?”
“Because I figured that you wouldn’t give it to me.”
“Well, I don’t even know what it is,” she said, turning her hands, palms up.
“I’m missing a USB key.”
“A USB key?” In her mind, she was like, Just one? But, if it was just one, that was perfect. “I have only one key,” she said. “When I realized you were divorcing me, I collected information and spiritual affirmations on how to survive it.”
“Oh my, that must have been pretty rough,” he said, giving her a small smile that almost looked like quashed delight to think of her suffering. The longer she stared at him, the more she could see the facade cracking. She didn’t have a clue how she had even fallen for this guy in the first place or why she’d stayed. But that was one of those mysteries that would take a lifetime to sort out.