“Look, I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I need more. I want a woman.”
“I am a woman!”
“Barely.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I want a woman who cares. Who makes an effort to look, you know . . . sexy.”
And even though he says he doesn’t want to hurt her, Natalie is hurt. Deeply. It’s like a knife through her heart. She knows she isn’t sexy or a great beauty, but Peter knew that when he married her. “So you finally decided I’m not good enough for you, is that it?”
“We’ve simply outgrown each other.”
Natalie is silent as the pain sinks in. Her family is going to pieces and there isn’t anything she can do to stop it. “What have you told Chloe about all this?”
“Nothing.”
“Why not?”
“Actually,” Peter looks sheepish, “since you’re so much better at these things, I was kind of hoping you would explain it to Chloe. But in a way that’s fair,” he adds.
Natalie is incredulous and then realizes nothing has changed. Peter might be leaving her, but he still wants her to handle the messy details of his life. She thinks of Chloe and figures at least this way she’ll have control over how Chloe learns about their family falling apart.
“Fine. I’ll handle it. I always take care of everything, so why should this be any different?”
Peter looks like he’s going to argue, but then stops. “Call me after you talk to her.” He pushes away from the counter. “Also you should know that I hired a divorce lawyer. In fact, after seeing the state of this house, I’m glad I did. I don’t know what you were thinking, throwing a wild party like that. I’m glad Chloe wasn’t here.”
“Stop exaggerating. There was no wild party. It was just Lindsay and me.” She crosses her arms. “And you’re not touching my house.”
“It’s half mine.”
A flicker of worry passes through her. Could he really force me out? “When did you hire a lawyer?”
“Recently.” He takes a step closer to her and she recognizes his ‘dentist voice,’ the reasonable one he uses when he’s trying to convince a patient to follow his advice. “There’s no reason things have to get ugly between us, Natalie. Lena thought it was a good idea after that voicemail you left me, and I agree with her. It turns out if we keep things amicable we can be divorced in as little as ninety days.”
Ninety days!
Natalie tries to catch her breath. So Blair was right. She wants to make sense of everything, but it’s all happening so fast. She feels as if she’s been thrown into the deep end of the pool without any idea how to swim. One thing’s for sure, though. No one is stealing her husband without answering for it.
It’s time to pay Lena a visit.
TURNS OUT DECIDING to confront Lena and actually doing it are two different things. Natalie doesn’t know anything about her. She doesn’t even know Lena’s last name.
“We can follow Peter after he leaves work.” Lindsay snaps her fingers. “I bet he leads us right to her.”
“How? I think he’ll notice if we’re following him.”
Her sister considers this. “We’ll borrow Oliver’s van. He’s out of town on a photo shoot and he’ll get a kick out of us using it.” Oliver is Lindsay’s current boyfriend whom she lives with.
Natalie tries to picture them following Peter without being seen. “Do you really think it’ll work?”
“Trust me.” Lindsay grins. “It’s Operation Ass Clown.”
And so that’s how the two of them wind up sitting in a beat-up van outside of Peter’s dental practice like a couple of undercover cops on a stakeout. They get there a half hour before Peter’s last patient, just in case he’s done early.
“I feel silly,” Natalie says, glancing around the near empty parking lot. In the interest of staying incognito, she’s wearing sunglasses and a straw hat with a big red flower on the side that Lindsay loaned her.
Lindsay is dressed in a similar get-up, though on her it looks glamorous.
“I look like a hillbilly,” Natalie complains.
“You look fine.” Lindsay studies her, then reaches behind and pulls out the black band holding Natalie’s ponytail in place. Her hair falls down around her shoulders. “I don’t know why you always wear it pulled back.”
“Because it’s mousy brown and ugly. Not to mention the grays.”
“So color it. I color mine.”
“I tried that once, remember? It turned orange.”
“That henna you did back in high school? You just need to go to a salon and have it done. ”
Natalie shifts in her seat. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. I need to keep my hair out of the way when I’m baking.”
“Yeah, but you’re not baking every second. You should dress up more. Show off your assets.”
“What assets?” Natalie mumbles.
“You got to work it, sister.”
“Yeah, well, not all of us are lucky enough to be born beautiful.”
Lindsay sighs and reaches for her latte. Natalie brought coffee and pastries for them to eat on their stakeout. “I don’t know why you’re always so down on yourself.”
“I’m not. I’m just realistic.”
“That’s a bunch of crap. You decided to give up, but I don’t understand why. There’s so much you could do.”
“Let’s not get into all this right now. I’ve got enough on my mind.” In truth, Natalie is kind of queasy. The thought of seeing Lena is causing her stomach to do flip flops.
“I can’t believe my axe is still hanging from your front door. What’s it been, over a week now?”
“No one can pull it out. Peter tried again when he came over to get Chloe, but it won’t budge.”
“Guess I know how to throw an axe, huh? It usually impresses the high school set when I show them how to sculpt with it.”
“You use it for that class?” Lindsay participates in a program that teaches school kids about art.
“Yeah, I do an instant sculpture demo with it.” Lindsay smiles apologetically. “There may have been some resin glue still on the axe. I thought I cleaned it off, but maybe I didn’t get it all. Do you want me to find someone who can help? Oliver might be able to remove it when he gets back.”
“Don’t worry, at least Chloe’s enjoying it.” In truth, the axe has grown on Natalie too. There is something about it she likes. Probably the fact that it’s annoying Peter so much. “She even decorated it with flowers.”
“There he is!” Lindsay suddenly points across the street, where they can see Peter talking on his cell phone as he walks to his car. “The eagle has landed at six o’clock!”
Natalie smiles. This whole thing seems kind of pathetic, but leave it to Lindsay to make it fun.
“I don’t think he noticed us,” Lindsay says, still watching him, which is something of an understatement since Peter isn’t even facing them as he blabs away on his phone.
Natalie watches him and her heart sinks. It’s hard to believe he isn’t her husband anymore, not in any real way. He’s like a familiar stranger.
After he gets into his car, Lindsay starts up the van. It’s louder than Natalie’s van, but despite its beat-up exterior, seems to run just fine. The back isn’t empty and has rolls of canvas material along with a couple of large tripods that Oliver must use for work. The materials shift around as Lindsay pulls out of the parking lot.
Natalie has to admit, she does a good job keeping pace with Peter. She’s staying a couple of cars back, but they can still see him easily.
“I wonder where he’s going?” Natalie murmurs.
“We’re about to find out. Hopefully, it’s to meet Lena.”
Natalie sighs. “Yeah, hopefully.”
Lindsay looks at Natalie with sympathy and then reaches out to squeeze her hand. “It’s okay, don’t worry.” Her expression changes into something determined. “We’re going to nail that bitch to the wall.”
Natalie isn’
t sure how to respond to this, but squeezes Lindsay’s hand in return.
They follow Peter as he gets onto I-5 heading south. He takes the exit for the U-District, which surprises Natalie, since it looks like he’s driving to La Dolce Vita. But instead of going east, he goes west and drives to the Wallingford area. It’s an artsy part of town with hippies and granola types.
At one point they wind up directly behind Peter at a stop light, and Natalie slouches in her seat, worried that he’ll notice the two of them. Apparently, their disguise is solid, because he doesn’t notice a thing.
“He’s so oblivious. I wonder if he’d notice if I rammed him with this van and dented that Lexus,” Lindsay says, clearly relishing the thought.
It isn’t long before Peter slows down and turns into a small parking lot.
“I think he’s going to that yoga studio.” Natalie points across the street.
“I see it.”
Lindsay circles back around the block and manages to maneuver the van into a spot that gives them a clear view.
“Peter’s not into yoga,” Natalie says, watching the studio, wondering what he could be doing in there. “Do you think he’s picking up Lena?”
“Could be.”
Natalie’s stomach is doing flip flops again. She shifts around uncomfortably as they wait for any sign of them. Obviously, she wants to confront Lena, but she’s not sure if she’s up to the task.
And then she sees them. Her heart nearly stops. Peter walks out with a woman next to him. She has long blonde hair and a trim, athletic body. Natalie can’t take her eyes off them. Even from this distance, she can see how Peter has his hand on her lower back, can see the goofy grin on his face as they’re talking to each other.
“Oh, my God.” Natalie’s whole body breaks out in a cold sweat and for the first time in her life she thinks she’s going to faint.
“Are you all right?” Lindsay looks at her with concern. “Put your head between your knees.”
Natalie closes her eyes and puts her head down, trying to regain her equilibrium.
“Do you want to go?”
“Yes. Please.”
Lindsay shoves the van in gear and tears out from their parking space.
Natalie keeps her head down for a while, taking deep steady breaths. Finally, she sits up and leans back against the seat.
Lindsay is calling someone on her phone, but Natalie doesn’t pay attention until she hears her ask for Lena.
“All right, thank you,” Lindsay says. She looks at Natalie. “Bingo! Lena works there. It sounds like she’s the owner. They told me she just left for the day.”
Natalie nods. “Okay. We learned something, at least.” She swallows, still feeling ill. “I can’t believe I fell apart like that.”
Lindsay is incredulous. “Jeez, cut yourself some slack. That was intense. It’s not every day you see your husband with his mistress.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Natalie thinks about Lena. She’s not at all what she imagined her to be. In her mind she was just this hazy figure. As odd as it sounds, she always figured Lena looked a bit more ordinary, more like herself. Not a sexy athletic blonde, that’s for sure. How can I compete with that?
The next morning, Chloe is sitting at the kitchen table, peeling a banana for breakfast, when Natalie joins her. It’s been over a week since Natalie explained things. She expected the tears, but didn’t expect Chloe to blame herself for Peter leaving. All Natalie can do is reassure her that none of this is her fault. After Natalie told Chloe that Peter had moved out, Chloe insisted on calling him and asking him to come home.
Natalie couldn’t hear his response, but Chloe was quiet the rest of the night, so she assumed he told her no. Peter and Chloe had always been close, and it’s difficult for a child to find out their family is breaking up.
“I’ve been thinking about it. I’ll be just like everyone else now. Most of my friends’ parents are divorced.” Chloe slowly chews a bite of banana.
“I hadn’t thought of that, but I guess that’s one way of looking at it.”
“Daddy says I’m going to like his girlfriend, Lena, but I don’t want to meet her. I don’t have to, do I?”
Natalie had asked Peter not to mention anything to Chloe about Lena yet, that they should wait and tell Chloe together, but he’d gone ahead and told her anyway. It infuriated Natalie.
“You don’t have to meet her if you don’t want to. I’ll talk to him.”
Chloe picks at her banana and sighs. “I wish Daddy would come home.”
Natalie doesn’t say anything. The image of Peter and Lena yesterday is still fresh in her mind—burned there forever. While the shock of it is still strong, a deep anger is taking hold. Natalie was awake all night.
Her daughter’s pale-blue eyes meet her own and Natalie can see all the hurt in them. She reaches out and takes Chloe’s hand. “I know how hard this is, sweetheart. Everything is going to be okay and you still have two parents who love you.”
Chloe nods. “Aunt Lindsay told me your dad left when you were little, too. Is that true?”
“When did she tell you that?”
“She called last night, but you were already asleep.”
Natalie lets out a deep breath. “My dad left Grandma when Lindsay and I were kids.” What she doesn’t tell Chloe is that her dad left and came back over and over.
“Aunt Lindsay said that he wasn’t reliable and that’s why you guys are so close.”
Natalie lifts the cake dome on the counter and reaches for a chocolate croissant, but then stops herself. An image of Lena’s trim body suddenly comes to mind. She puts the lid back down. Instead, she pulls off a banana like Chloe.
“It’s true. He wasn’t the best father, and Grandma had her problems, too.” Natalie thinks back to her childhood and it’s like another lifetime ago. Her mother was flighty with artistic aspirations that never panned out, and her father was only around when he was winning poker tournaments. It was up to her to be the responsible one, the one to make sure there were clean clothes to wear and hot meals to eat.
Chloe sighs. “I wish I had a sister.”
Natalie gazes at her beautiful daughter. Chloe looks just like Peter. She has his same willowy build and his blue eyes, but her personality is all her own. Peter used to say that she and Chloe were the center of his life, that he couldn’t live without them. When did all that change? She tries to picture a time when this heartbreak will end and she’ll feel normal again. It’s hard to imagine. “What else did Lindsay say?”
“She called Daddy an ass clown.”
“That wasn’t very nice. You have to understand that Lindsay and your dad have never gotten along with each other.”
“I know.”
Natalie peels her banana. “You may hear some things while this is happening. Just remember that despite everything, your dad and I both love you.”
Chloe is quiet. “I don’t know why he wants to go live with someone else. How could anyone be better than you?”
She’s touched by her daughter’s words. “I wish I had an answer that made sense. We’re going to figure this all out though—okay?”
“Okay.”
Natalie finishes up her banana. It was sweet and surprisingly delicious. She gets up to make herself some coffee as Chloe leaves the kitchen to go take her shower before school.
She thinks about everything that’s happened, all the hell she’s been going through, and decides today is definitely the day she’s paying Lena a visit. Lena needs to be told face-to-face about the damage she’s done.
“I’m going with you,” Blair says, untying her apron. “I’ll work late tonight if I have to.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Natalie says. “I can handle it.”
Lindsay, who has just arrived at the bakery, is standing next to Blair. The two of them are a united front.
“There is no way we’re going to let you confront Lena without us. You know that,” Blair continues.
; Lindsay nods in approval. “That’s right. We got your back.”
Natalie shakes her head and smiles at them. “All right. I guess you guys can come.” Even though she was planning to confront Lena alone, it’ll be good to have the support. The truth is, she’s nervous.
Of course, Blair insists they take Isadora. Natalie rides shotgun while Lindsay goes for the back seat.
“Wow, this is a sweet ride,” Lindsay says, settling herself in. “I didn’t know this was your car. And you call her Isadora? That’s so cool.”
“Thanks.” Blair smiles. She then turns to Natalie. “I didn’t want to take her just because it’s sunny, though. Riding in style to confront Lena will help get you in the right frame of mind. It’s like wearing new clothes. You feel different about yourself. You’ll see.”
Natalie looks around. “Hey, I’m not arguing. I feel different already.”
Blair motions at both of them. “All right, ladies, sunglasses please.”
The three of them immediately put on their sunglasses. Natalie feels like she’s being initiated into some sort of club.
Blair turns and inspects everyone. “Hmm, luckily there’s some red lipstick in my purse.” She directs Lindsay to the purse on the floor behind the driver’s seat. “Why don’t you get some out for Natalie? In fact, we could all use some.”
“But I don’t wear lipstick,” Natalie complains.
“You do today. And don’t argue. Lipstick and Isadora go together like cupcakes and butter cream frosting. Good lipstick is armor, and from what I’ve heard, you’re going to need all the armor you can get.”
Lindsay finds the tube in Blair’s bag and puts some on. She passes it up to Natalie.
“You don’t need a mirror?” Natalie asks her.
“Nope.”
Natalie turns to look at her and, of course, her sister’s lipstick is perfect.
Lindsay kisses the air and then grins. “Years of training. My specialty is putting on makeup in a moving car while getting dressed.”
Blair laughs while Natalie rolls her eyes. “I’m not sure if I want to know how you acquired that specialty.”
Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) Page 4
