“I’ve always felt that way. Remember Colin Camp in high school? Jack Carroll in college? Watching you with them was torture.”
“Yet you slept with Sandy Baker junior year. And a teacher, for God’s sake, in college. More after that. You’re a serial adulterer.”
“I thought you had to be married to commit adultery.”
The joke fell flat.
She scraped back her chair. “You know exactly what I mean. Tell your mother that I’ll come back tomorrow.” Setting down her coffee with a thump, she stood and headed for the garage door.
Seth caught up with her in the mudroom. “Wait.”
Her back to him, she shook her head. But she’d stopped.
He moved in close so his body nearly aligned with hers. “Can’t we try again?”
She whirled on him then. Her face flushed and her eyes glittered. But not because she was turned on. Anger burned in her from head to toe. “You have to be kidding me! I finally got out from under my love for you. Do you honestly think I’d ever take you back?”
Stung, he leaned against the wall, insolently. “You have before.”
The slap came hard on his face. “Go to hell, Seth.” And she stormed out.
He rubbed his cheek. Everybody in his family thought he was the nice one, the giving and forgiving one. But they were wrong. At least where Julianne Ford was concerned.
With her, he’d been a real bastard.
* * *
Julianne strode into the house she’d lived in all her life. Two years ago, she’d bought it from her mother when Celia went to Florida to move in with her sister.
Jules didn’t slam the door, though. She didn’t stomp her feet. But above all, she didn’t cry. Years ago, she’d promised herself she would never cry over Seth Casella again. Three months ago, she’d even made up a steady boyfriend, Jordan, so Seth would leave her alone. The ruse made her feel foolish but she had to protect herself.
She was dating, though. She picked up her cell phone from the counter, checked her texts and punched in a number.
He answered. “Hey, there, Julianne. You said you couldn’t get together tonight.”
“Yeah, my plans got aborted.” She’d hope to spend time with Carmella, without Seth hovering around them.
“Then are you free to meet?”
“Yes. How about The Hidden Cove Inn for cocktails at six?”
“Great. See you then. I’ll be the one with the big smile.”
She disconnected and looked out at the back lawn, not as big as the Casella’s but beautifully landscaped with bushes and trees. She and her mother had planted flowers which bloomed all summer, and now, at the very end of August, the geraniums and impatiens were even bigger and fuller than before. And on the deck, she’d put multi-colored ones in pots. The view soothed her.
But with the calm came sadness. As if in a trance, she climbed up the stairs, crossed into the closet and pulled out an album. Sat the big square brown leather book on her bed. The insert on the front read, Happily Ever After.
As if.
The first page depicted her and Seth as babies, with both their moms. Then preschool, entering the building holding hands.
The next was a play, where she was Cinderella and he was the Prince. He was the always the good guy. She leafed through the elementary grades and junior high, and finally the prom pictures for eleventh grade.
She’d been so happy that night. They’d talked about sleeping together afterward so she’d put on her best underwear, used some of her mother’s perfume and smoothed down the as-sexy-a-dress as her parents would allow. She and Seth had danced the night away, totally in love. Or so she thought. At the end of the prom, he’d gone to get the car, and when he didn’t show up by the time he should have, she went to look for him.
And found him kissing the daylights out of Sandy Baker, who’d attended with a group of girls…
Suddenly, Julianne came out of the Seth-spell and said, “What the hell am I doing?”
Damn, damn, damn. It was what she did when memories of them got to her. When he got to her. She rolled to her feet, spread the album on the bed, and proceeded to viciously rip out the pages. Then she tore each of them into pieces.
She’d wouldn’t wallow like this again. After disposing of the mess, she crossed to her closet and picked out a dress to wear tonight. Thinking about someone else was just what she needed.
* * *
Seth waited for his supervisor from work to arrive. He hated having to put her out, but his doctor forbade him to drive for another week and she offered to come here to talk to him in person.
He was going stir crazy.
The doorbell rang at four. He crossed to the foyer and let Ellen Danner in. They weren’t close friends but he liked her. About forty-five, married with two kids, she was tall and attractive. “Hey, Seth. You look better than I expected you to.”
“Thanks. Following doctor’s orders.”
“As if you’d ever do any harm to yourself or others.”
Having been hurt by Julianne’s remarks, he enjoyed Ellen’s view of him. They took seats on the sofa in the adjacent living room and made small talk for a few minutes. Then, Ellen gestured to the bag she placed in front of her. “So, we’ve got a backlog,”
“What else is new?”
“This time it’s serious.”
He frowned. “Because I’ve been out?”
“Partly, but in any case, we need more counselors and we still can’t get the funding for them.” The plight of social organizations that helped the poor.
“Can I do anything from home?”
“Yes, if it won’t tax your recovery.”
“Please, I’m going nuts.”
“That’s what you said on the phone. You’ve been with us a long time so I trust you with this. I brought a stack of case files. I was thinking you could go through them and prioritize them.”
“You mean rank the applicants’ misery.”
“I see it that way, too. If you don’t want this distasteful job, it’s okay.”
“No, I’ll try to be objective.” Not his strong suit, though.
“You’ll have to set up phone interviews. You’re still getting paid because your…injury happened at Legal Aid.” Her eyes clouded. “I’m so sorry for that. I know I told you that before, but I am.”
He squeezed her arm. “Ellen, I’m doing fine. It was no one’s fault but Malone’s.” The guy who stabbed him. “Did you get an alarm system put in?”
“Yeah. Of all things. We received an anonymous donation for it.”
“Where from?”
“New York City. I have no idea why. We got a cashier’s check and a note telling us to use it for security.”
That seemed like Hayley’s hand. He’d ask her point blank.
“So, you’ll do this, Seth?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Let me know when you’ve decided on the first five we’ll take. That’s all we can handle now. And thanks. I’m glad you didn’t quit.”
“What for?” His hand went to his stomach. “A little cut like this?”
“Your injury was a lot more than that. You’re a good guy, not bitter about what happened to you.”