The bikini revealed more than it hid. She cringed a little when she posed in front of the full-length mirror in the abbreviated bikini bottoms and the little triangle-shaped top. What the heck, there was no one to see her. Towel and sarong over her shoulder, she headed out to the pool.
After throwing an inflated sun-bed in the pool, she bent down and held it against the side of the pool and tried to climb on. The first attempt ended up with her head-first in the cool water. Laughter bubbled up out of her as she flicked the wet hair back from her face. Her eyes opened wide as she realized it was the first time she’d laughed all day. The pain of Jake’s abrupt departure had wiped all the joy from her heart.
Once balanced on the sun-bed, she bobbed up and down on the surface of the water as she replayed last night in her mind. She could have sworn Jake had enjoyed the interlude as much as she had. That he was beginning to feel something for her, more than just normal concern of a teacher for his student in the game of life. So what had gone wrong? What had she done wrong?
All her old insecurities rose to the fore. She knew she wasn’t frigid. Jake had taught her that. Maybe she didn’t have what it took to keep a man interested in her.
“Hey, come out of there and talk to your old ma.”
Her mother’s voice cut through the pain of her thoughts. She jerked upright, forgetting for the moment she was floating on a fragile, air-filled layer in the centre of the pool. The sun-bed immediately tilted and she tipped over into the water. She spluttered as she surfaced, swimming to the side of the pool to haul herself out. “Mother, you almost drowned me.”
Rosa didn’t respond. She just allowed her gaze to run up and down Madison’s semi-clad body. “When you decided to change your image, you sure did a good job. I’m not even certain I’d let my Bart see you in that itty bitty bikini.”
Madison posed, hands on hips to emphasize the swell of her new feminine curves. “Not bad for an old broad close to thirty,” she said with a grin.
“Your stud must have had his eyes knocked out when he saw you in that.”
The grin disappeared from her face. “My so-called stud hasn’t, and won’t ever, see me in this swimsuit, let alone anything else.” She grabbed up her towel and wrapped it about herself. Then she led her mother inside to the kitchen where she poured two glasses of iced apple juice.
“Sit,” Rosa commanded. She pulled herself up onto the barstool and pointed at the one on the other side of the breakfast bar. When Madison had taken her seat, she said, “Now, tell me what this is all about.”
Madison avoided her mother’s eyes, running the tip of her finger up and down the condensation on the side of the glass. “I don’t think I’ll be seeing him any more,” she said.
“He didn’t do anything he shouldn’t, did he?”
“He did everything he should do, and then some.” Madison smiled, but it was an effort.
“Ah, so you got down and dirty.” Rosa beamed. “And?”
“And you’re right. No way am I frigid.”
“Told you so. Was it all you expected?”
Now Madison did raise her eyes to her mother. “Oh, yes. It was…amazing. I took your advice and seduced him. Set the scene. Candles, soft music, the works. And I didn’t have to work hard to convince him to play.” She shrugged. “This morning something went wrong.”
Her mother opened her mouth to speak, but Madison cut her off with a wave of her hand. “He just upped and left. No reason given. His face looked like it was carved in stone. He said he might ring, but I don’t expect him too. I get the feeling maybe he thinks he’s finished the job now.”
“Well, he is a paid stud.”
“No, it wasn’t like that. He gave me the impression it was more, that he was beginning to care for me as a person, not as a client.” The tears came before she could stop them, trickling down her face and blurring her vision. “I wanted it to be so much more. Mom, I think I love him. I can’t imagine not seeing him again.”
Rosa reached across the bench and grasped her hands. “Oh, baby girl, I’m so sorry. I don’t want to say I told you so, but I warned you not to read too much into it.” She jumped down from her stool and rounded the breakfast bar, taking her daughter in her arms. “I’m so sorry you’ve been hurt. You want I should track down this bozo and give him a piece of my mind?”
Madison dashed the tears from her face and started to chuckle. Her tiny mother, all of five foot two, ready to do battle for her. A veritable dragon. “I’ll get over it. Don’t have much choice. After all, I got over Clifton’s betrayal.” She dragged in a shaky breath. “And talking about Clifton, guess who’s been in touch with me?”
“Not Clifton the Crud? How could he have the balls to contact you after what he did?”
“Motheeer, your turn of phrase astounds me.”
“So what did the chinless wonder want?” Rosa asked in a fierce tone.
“He managed to track me down and wanted to see me. Said he’s grown up now, told his mother to back off and let him run his own life.”
“After all this time, he decides he’s made a mistake and wants you back? Bullshit.”
Madison burst out laughing. Oh, her mother was good for her. She could always rely on Mom to drag her out of the doldrums.
“I hope you told him to take a hike, that you’re not interested.”
“Actually, he’s up here on the Coast. He won’t go home until he sees me. I don’t want him coming out to the house so I’ve arranged to meet him for dinner tonight.”
“Hmm, I’m not certain that’s wise, sweetie.” Rosa frowned, drummed her red-painted nails on the breakfast bar. “Surely you don’t still harbor any tender feelings for him after what he did to you?”
“No, I don’t. At least I don’t think I do and this is one way to make certain.” She grinned as a purely evil thought popped into her mind. “Of course, it could be that I want to show him what he’s missed out on.”
“Revenge.” Rosa chuckled. “Now that I understand. Wear the black dress with the split and go in there and knock his eyes out.”
“Knowing Clifton, he probably has some other agenda in mind,” Madison said as she cleared the empty glasses. “If he thinks he’s going to find the same dumpy, introverted, stick-in-the-mud woman he was married to, he’s in for a shock.”
“That wasn’t you. It was just the mold he pushed you into.”
“No, it was me at the time.” She shook her head. “I’m the one responsible. I allowed him to do it to me. But things have changed now and it will be fun to ram it down his throat.”
“Go get ‘em, baby girl.” Rosa glanced at her watch. “I have to go. I’m meeting Bart for a coffee. He’s got something secret to do later on. I suspect it’s to do with Saturday night. Oh, did I tell you it’s not just a family dinner? Bart has decided it’s also our engagement party.”
“Well, good for Bart. You deserve all the happiness in the world. Now get out of here. I have to start making myself beautiful so I can knock the socks off Clifton the Crud.”
CHAPTER 15
Madison smoothed her dress down as she stepped out of the cab in front of the restaurant. She’d decided not to take her own vehicle. She fully intended to have a few drinks tonight and she didn’t want to run the risk of being picked up for drunk driving. Clifton had never allowed her to drink when she was married to him. He’d never allowed her to do a lot of things, but he was about to see the new Madison Paxton.
It was a little after eight so Clifton should already be seated. He hated tardiness. She flicked a quick glance at the name Napoleon’s blazoned across the large plate-glass window before she dragged in a deep breath and approached the entrance. Her mother’s voice echoed inside her head. Say after me, Madison, you’re a warm, vibrant woman. Well, Clifton was about to learn the same.
The inside of the restaurant was decorated in a French Provincial theme. The walls were done in off-white wallpaper covered in flocked, gold fleur-de-lis motifs. Deep burgundy drapes were
tied back with gold cord to give the diners an unrestricted view of the busy street outside.
The same rich burgundy, interspersed with gold flowers, graced the floor, highlighted by the glow of numerous gold and crystal chandeliers. The antique chairs were covered in embossed tapestry and snowy white table linen was laid with silver flatware and twinkling crystal glasses. Here and there, earthen pots of glossy green fernery softened the whole scene.
She approached the maître d’hôtel and asked for the Rossi party. Knowing Clifton, he would have taken the time to book a table. The social rules his mother had drummed into him from childhood would have demanded it. A smile fixed on her face, she glided over and stood before the table situated right in front of the windows and waited.
Clifton looked up at her and then turned his head to stare at the entrance to the restaurant. The frown on his face and the glance at his watch showed his impatience with her lateness. He hadn’t changed that much.
His blue eyes flashed with annoyance. He was as stylish and debonair as he’d ever been, although perhaps he had put on a bit of weight. His face had a bloated look, probably the result of too many fancy dinners at even fancier restaurants, all paid for with Daddy’s money.
“Aren’t you going to welcome me, Clifton?” she said in a husky tone. She almost laughed out loud at his start of surprise, at the absolute shock that streaked across his face. He stood up so fast he bumped the table and one of the wine glasses tilted precariously. Madison grabbed it and stood it upright.
“Maddy? Madison Rossi?”
She moved a fraction so the slit in her dress opened a bit wider, offered a clear view of her silk-clad thigh. “It’s Madison Paxton again. I gave up your name when you gave up on our marriage.”
Clifton took Madison’s hands and held them out. “My God, look at you. I didn’t recognize you. You’re even more beautiful than the day I married you. I can’t believe how much you’ve changed.”
“It was definitely time to change the image a little, don’t you think?” She allowed Clifton to seat her. He moved his chair closer to her before he sat down. A frown settled on his face as his gaze slid down to the exposed length of her leg.
He grasped her hand and held it tight, his palm slightly sweaty. “We made a mistake, Maddy. We—”
Madison cut him off. “We didn’t do anything, Clifton. You broke the marriage vows, not me.” She held her hand up as he opened his mouth to speak. “Although I have to shoulder my share of the blame. I should never have allowed my own standards to slip so much. If I hadn’t, you might have remained interested.”
She pulled her hand from his and stared at him. Hang on a minute here, why was she taking the blame? She hadn’t been the one who’d been out gallivanting around.
“Are you ready to order, Monsieur?”
The waiter’s accented voice broke into Madison’s introspection. She shook her head and reached for the menu, but before she could make her selection, Clifton started to speak.
“I’ll have the soup of the day, followed by the chicken in champagne. The lady will have the same.”
“I’m perfectly capable of ordering for myself, Clifton,” Madison said before the waiter could leave.
“You always liked me to order for you.”
“No, that was something you took upon yourself and I was too much of a little rabbit to correct you.” She glanced down the menu. “The lady would like Coquilles St Jacques au gratin. And for the main course… Hmm, Langouste au Xérès.” She handed the menu back to the waiter.
Clifton frowned. “What the heck are Coquilles and Lango…whatever it was?”
“Scallops in cheese sauce as an entree and then crayfish tails in sherry.” Madison grinned. She knew she had made Clifton uncomfortable. He didn’t speak French and he didn’t like being corrected, certainly not in public.
“I didn’t know you liked seafood, Maddy.”
“Ah, there’s a lot you don’t know about me, Clifton.” She waved the waiter back before he could walk away. “Could I see the wine list, s’il vous plaît?”
The waiter handed her the leather-bound folder and waited patiently for her to make her selection.
“Merci,” she murmured as she perused the contents.
“Madison, put that list down. You don’t drink,” Clifton said in a scandalized voice, his eyebrows almost reaching his hairline.
“I do now.” Damn him, he’s still trying to tell me what to do. It’s time he realized that period of my life is over.
There was only one way to get at Clifton, and that was to hit him in his pocket book. That would make him sit up and notice.
“I think we’ll have a bottle of Moet & Chandon Vintage 1995 Rose.” She closed the wine list and placed it on the edge of the table. “Hmm, I do like pink champagne,” she murmured as the waiter left to fill the order.
Clifton sat there for five minutes staring at her, then reached across and grabbed the wine list. When he spied the price, his eyes bulged. “Madison, that champagne is a hundred and thirty bucks a bottle.”
She patted his hand. “It’s all right, Clifton. You’re good for it.” She raised her eyebrows. “Unless Mommy has cut you off again?”
“Of course Mommy…ah, Mother hasn’t cut me off from the family. She has finally realized I’m a grown man and can make my own decisions as regards my life. And my wife.”
Madison let Clifton ramble on about the changes he’d made in his life until the waiter returned with the wine. She cringed as he went through the business of tasting the champagne and quizzing the waiter about the merits of it. He was such a poser. He didn’t know the first thing about what constituted a good wine.
After the waiter had moved away, Madison sipped at the champagne. “Hmm, lovely. Oh and by the way, you don’t have a wife.”
“I made a mistake, Maddy.” He gulped at his wine. “It wasn’t until you’d gone that I knew how much I missed you.”
“And it took you a year to find that out? As my mother would say, bullshit.”
“I told you I’ve grown up. It took your leaving to wake me up.”
“I didn’t leave, Clifton. You tossed me out and, before that, you enjoyed your little flings with every society debutante your mother introduced you to.”
“I couldn’t help it. Mother badgered me to go out with them. She’d constantly compare them to you, showing me how much better they would fit into the family lifestyle.”
Madison burst into laughter. Clifton sounded like a sulky little boy trying to justify himself and his behavior. “What are you? A man or a mouse? If you’d valued our relationship, you wouldn’t have been out tomcatting around.”
They both fell silent as the waiter placed the first course in front of them. It was only then Madison remembered she hated scallops. She had ordered them to score points off her ex-husband, but no way was she about to let him know. She gamely picked up the little fork on the side of the plate and attacked the entrée.
She’d just swallowed the last mouthful, albeit with a hefty swig of champagne, when she happened to glance over at the adjacent table. Four men, all dressed in dark suits, were staring at her. The nearest one gave her a lascivious wink.
For a moment, she was taken aback. Then she smiled at him before she leaned back to allow the waiter to clear the first course. Every so often as the meal progressed, she flicked a glance at the men, her ego boosted when they eyed her legs. It was even more of an ego-boost when she realized how much it annoyed the heck out of her ex-husband.
“Maddy, fix your dress up,” he said with a frown. “Those men are trying to flirt with you.”
“Oh, don’t be such a stuffed shirt, Cliff.” She deliberately shortened his name. “No one’s being harmed by it.”
Clifton shook his head. “You’ve changed, Maddy. You’re not the girl I married.”
In that moment, Madison acknowledged just how much she had changed. The attention of the men at the next table made her feel like the vibrant woman of her moth
er’s refrain, but another thought occurred to her. She didn’t need a man in her life to validate who she was. She liked the new Madison Paxton, the grown-up one who was self-assured and confident.
Just how grown-up is it to try to take revenge on Clifton?
The question burned a hole in her brain and it took a few minutes for her to process the answer. It was petty and childish and would serve no useful purpose. Bitterness and recriminations were destructive emotions and she wanted none of it.
She turned her attention back to her ex-husband. “Okay, Clifton, come clean. Our marriage was a mess almost from the first. I certainly wasn’t happy after the first year or so and you can’t have been either, otherwise you wouldn’t have been running around with other women.”
A cheeky grin curved her lips. “Why don’t you tell me the real reason you’ve tracked me down?”
Clifton’s face blanched, the color fading until only two brilliant splotches of red high on his cheekbones remained. Madison sipped at her champagne, her gaze steady as she watched him struggle for an answer.
“I told you, I’ve realized we made a mistake,” he said. “I love you. I’m begging you to take me back, to give me another chance.”
Madison raised an eyebrow, a slight smile curving her lips as she stared at him.
“Please forgive me, Maddy. Let me try and make it up to you, and I promise, there won’t be any more playing around.”
“Come on, Clifton, we’ve come too far not to have the truth between us now.”
A sheepish look crossed his face. He hung his head for a minute before grinning at her with a little-boy-lost look. She suddenly saw the young university student she’d fallen in love with all those years ago. She shook her head and returned his grin. “Won’t work this time, Clifton. I know that look.”
“Used to work once so I thought it was worth another shot.” He rested his arms on the edge of the table and stared at her. “I can’t believe how much you’ve changed.”
“You did me a favor. But for our marriage break-up, I’d still be the same fat little housewife, a mouse scared by its own shadow.”
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