“Us. You and me, not him and me.” She stammered but didn’t lie. “The weekend. Your proposal. My rash. Oh, and my ring. He loved it.”
“That’s it?”
“Well, remember I wondered what happened here this past weekend? I was right. It was a whopper. Sarah and Charlie, Bill and Nancy, and Karen and Mike had dinner together Friday night. Sounds like it all went downhill from there.”
“How so?” Chris asked as they arrived at the apartment.
“I’ll tell you later. I need a nap.”
Kassie skirted any further discussion about Mike, except for his health issues. She didn’t avoid divulging the scandal because she was a coward, as Annie accused her of being when it took her years to tell Mike she wanted a divorce. Not a coward, just at a loss for words. She’d seen the toll Karen’s betrayal took on Mike; she could only imagine how Chris would take a double whammy—or a triple, if you included Sarah in the mix.
Apparently, Chris wasn’t as wiped out as Kassie as he left her alone in the bedroom to rest. Her pheromones must’ve been on hiatus too, as he didn’t nuzzle up to her for an afternoon delight. For once, she was glad. She was in no mood. And age had nothing to do with it.
Nestled under the covers in her undies and a pink Red Sox T-shirt she’d pulled out of her suitcase, Kassie closed her eyes, took the deepest cleansing breath she could muster, and let her mind sort out the whole stinkin’ state of affairs. When she was ready to tell Chris, should she mimic Mike’s storyline—start with Friday and work her way up to his heart attack? Or just blurt it out: “Karen and Charlie are a thing.” On second thought, maybe she was a coward. Maybe she’d need a little moral support from her friends—Topher, pinot grigio, and Annie.
By the time she woke up, Chris had unpacked his bags from the trip and had all but her carry-on zipped up and waiting by the door.
“Looks like you’re kicking me out already.”
“Thought you might want to stay at Annie’s for a couple of nights before you move over here. There’s Topher to consider.”
“Aren’t you paying for him to live here? You added him to the lease way back when, as I recall.”
“Um. When we split, I stopped that charge. I’ll call the office tomorrow and add him back on. Then both you and he are welcome to move in here anytime. I’ll have an instant family.” Chris stood with his arms folded across his body, looking like Mr. Clean with a full head of gorgeous brown hair graying a bit here and there.
Kassie looked around the apartment with a different eye than she had a year ago in April. At that time, she’d considered it temporary housing, so its smallness wasn’t an issue. That was then; this was now.
“How long is your lease?”
“Up in September. Like your marriage.” Chris slammed his eyelids shut. “Oops. That was low. I’m sorry.”
“No, no. That’s okay.” Kassie’s head bobbed up and down. “We can manage here until then. But we should start looking for another place. Even though I’ll be in Paris part-time, we need a bigger apartment, maybe a condo like Annie’s. Topher takes up a lot of space. Find something more convenient to Ricci and Son.”
“And away from Karen,” Chris said.
Kassie pursed her lips, not ready to go there quite yet.
“Let’s go. Someone’s waiting for a tummy rub.”
“Me too, mommy,” Chris teased as he patted her on her rear.
Good grief. Like adoptive father, like son. If he only knew.
37
Who’s Who
As soon as she stepped through Annie’s front door, she could tell Topher was as happy to see her as she was him. Thump, thump from above. A loud chorus of meows echoed down the center hall stairway; an orange tail with a white tip swung to his beat. Kassie knelt down to greet the other love of her life. “I missed you, babycakes.”
“He spent most of the time curled up on your bed while you were gone. He’s sure glad to see you, though I’m not.” Annie greeted them, dish towel in hand.
“That’s a fine how-do-ya-do.” When Kassie stood to squeeze Annie, Topher rubbed up against the pant leg of his namesake.
“Guess he still remembers me.” Chris leaned down and massaged Topher’s chin.
“Me too. Come here, Chris, give me a hug,” Annie reached out her arms to him.
“So . . . why aren’t you glad to see us?” Kassie’s eyes bounced from Annie to Chris and back again.
“Duh. Because you should still be in Paris doing whatever French people do. Not back here dealing with all this Michael Ricci crap.” Annie waved them toward the kitchen. “His timing sucked. Do you think it was deliberate?”
“Whoa. Now you’re sounding even more cynical than I usually am. When did that happen?”
“Probably when we were sixteen, but you were too busy surviving your dysfunctional family to notice.”
Annie handed Chris a beer as she and Kassie took their wine glasses and the 1.5 liter of pinot grigio into the living room. Chris and Topher followed close behind. The girls plunked down on the sofa, while the guys—Chris and Topher—sat on an opposite chair.
“So, how’s the patient? Chris said you went to see him today.”
“He’ll live, I think,” Kassie said.
“Now who’s the cynic?” Annie huffed.
“He looks like hell, though. Don’t you think, Chris? Worse than Easter weekend.”
“I wouldn’t know. Remember I was squirreled away in a hotel then? But he does look like he’s been through a lot.”
“I’m still trying to piece together what happened. Over the weekend. And Monday.” Kassie sprinkled breadcrumbs, hoping Annie would take the bait.
“All I know is what Bill told me when he called looking for you. Oh, and when I saw Mike at the concert.”
“The concert. Saturday night? Why don’t you start there?” Kassie jumped at the chance to have Annie start the narrative, getting her off the hook.
And she did. Annie began by saying there wasn’t much to tell. It was an oldies concert they would’ve—well, at least Kassie would’ve—enjoyed. “Chris, you’re still too young for oldies music.”
“Not.”
“I rest my case. Who responds not except people too young for oldies concerts?”
Kassie gave Annie a quick shot in the arm. “That’s my fiancé you’re badgering.”
“Oh, yeah. Congratulations. Tell me—”
“Oh, no, you don’t. Stick to one story at a time.”
“Where was I? Oh, yeah, the concert.” Annie was right, there wasn’t much to tell. She was there with her friend Jack, and they ran into Mike near the porta potties. “Shitty place to have a conversation.”
After a communal guffaw, Annie said she’d sensed Mike was surprised to see her and was about to ask about Kassie. Not wanting to go down that path, not wanting to lie to Mike’s face, she hustled Jack away. “See you later, alligator. Well, didn’t say that, but should’ve given the concert.”
“Makes sense Mike was surprised to see you. I’d told him we were planning a trip to Venice. When he saw you, he probably thought I was back.”
“Well, that was that, until Bill called me Tuesday morning. Around five thirty. You know I was up, but who calls someone at that ungodly hour? Only bad news arrives then. I freaked. Thought something happened to you guys.”
Kassie calculated the time difference between there and Paris. She would’ve been meeting with Mimi at that time, almost lunchtime. With that thought, her stomach gurgled loudly enough for Topher to raise his head off Chris’s lap.
“Anyone else hungry? Should we order in?” Kassie asked, rubbing her middle.
Annie looked at her phone. “Grubhub should arrive any minute now. Let’s get some plates.”
Once they’d settled in at the dining table, Annie finished telling them about her call with Bill. Of course, his first priority was getting word to Kassie that Mike was in the hospital, but he blabbered on about Karen, which she thought was odd because he had to
know Annie wasn’t a big fan of hers and, by the way, his complaining only served to reinforce Annie’s opinion. Since she wanted to be careful not to spill the beans about the two of them being in Paris, she listened to Bill with only one ear, but it was clear his anxiety about Mike extended beyond a possible heart attack.
“What did he say that made you think that?” Chris said.
“Something about Karen shredding Red Sox tickets, and Bill worried that’s what caused Mike’s heart attack.”
“That’s just the half of it,” Kassie mumbled the words, regretting them as soon as they tripped out of her mouth. Whereas all eyes had been on Annie, now Kassie became the center of attention.
“What did you say?” Annie and Chris asked in unison.
Kassie clanked her fork across her plate and bowed her head. She’d gone and done it. The proverbial cat was out of the bag with no pathway to return. Didn’t matter whether she was ready to show all her cards; there was no way for her to deny she knew the rest of the story.
She lifted her gaze at Chris and reached to caress his hand.
“You know when Mike asked you to leave the room today? Oh, sure, he was interested in us, in Paris, in my ring. I think he was being polite.”
“Polite? Well, that’d be a first,” Annie said.
Kassie shot her a just-stop-it glance. “His real intent, I believe, was to tell me what happened Monday, and over the weekend.”
Tap-tapping her fork on her plate, Kassie continued, “It’s logical Bill would’ve thought Karen shredding the tickets was devastating enough to cause Mike to collapse. It would’ve killed me dead as a doornail right on the spot.”
She massaged the underside of her engaged-to-be-engaged ring and took a larger than usual swig of her wine, trying to delay the inevitable.
She returned her gaze to Chris, gulped so hard both ears popped, and plowed ahead the only way she knew how.
“It appears Karen’s desire to marry Mike was not based on true love.”
“How would you know that?” Annie said.
“There appears to be someone else in Karen’s life.”
“Who might that be?” Chris’s eyebrows furrowed, seeming more curious than taken aback by the notion.
“I’m sorry to tell you this, Chris. Mike saw Karen kissing Charlie.”
“You make it sound like ‘I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus.’” Chris chuckled.
Was he brushing her off? Not taking her seriously was not on the list of reactions Kassie expected from him.
“It wasn’t just a kiss or a peck on the cheek, hon. It was more than that. Touching. Her ass. In public. On the street alongside your apartment, her apartment—I don’t know the name of it—in Charlestown. Do you know the name of it?” Kassie directed the question to Annie.
“How the hell should I know?” Annie glared at Chris, whose mouth was closed, but his eyes narrowed, as if he were envisioning the scene.
“Whatever. Doesn’t matter,” Kassie said. “Mike saw Karen and Charlie leave the building arm in arm. They didn’t see him.” She paused, letting that sink in.
She noticed Chris’s breathing getting heavier.
“When did he say this happened?” Chris asked.
“Monday afternoon. Apparently, Mike proposed to Karen—officially, by the way—on Sunday when they were in Provincetown. On the dunes.”
“Poor Mike. To find out your partner is having an affair is one thing. To see it right in front of you is quite another,” Chris said. “No wonder—”
“But she gave him her kidney,” Annie piped in. “Why would she do that if she didn’t love him?”
“Look what it got her,” Chris said.
“Welcome to the Cynics Club,” Annie said.
Kassie’s head swiveled as Annie and Chris sorted through the pieces, trying to put the puzzle together. For Kassie, it was déjà vu; there’d been other dinners during which the two of them had their own private conversations, leaving her a bystander, or worse, an eavesdropper. Maybe it was best this way; took the pressure off her.
“A job,” Kassie said, trying not to be ignored.
“More like a cushy life—a house, security, money, a future,” Annie said in Chris’s direction.
“Me,” Chris said, flinging his napkin on the table.
“There is that. But that’s only half the puzzle. What’s the connection with Charlie?” Annie asked.
“They knew each other in college,” Chris said.
“Wonder how well?” Neither Kassie nor Chris picked up on Annie’s question, shifting instead to the innocent party.
“Does my mother—I mean, Sarah . . . does she know? Did Mike say?” Chris stood in such a huff, Kassie and Annie pushed back their chairs as if to follow his lead. “Don’t get up.”
Sounds of Elton John floated into the dining room until Kassie broke an unusual silence between her and Annie. “Not sure who to feel sorry for, Mike or Chris?”
The few minutes Chris was in the loo allowed them to digest the situation. In a whisper, they agreed Mike had a tough decision to make. If Karen came clean, would he forgive her and marry her? Should he confront Charlie, find out what his intentions were? How should Chris deal with Karen? Should he even? Or was it really any of his concern that his parents, at least three of them, had screwed up their lives?
Chris returned with a beer. “That bastard.”
“Which one?” Annie said, still not a big Mike fan, despite his heart attack.
“Charlie. How could he do that to Sarah? They’ve been married forever.” Chris raised his voice in a way Kassie rarely witnessed.
“Maybe that’s why?” Annie glanced at Kassie. “Mike and Kassie were married forever. Look what happened to them.”
“Perhaps,” Chris said, shaking his head.
“All right. Let’s consider this. Karen made herself available to Charlie for old times’ sake. A one night—um, one-day—stand, if you will. Most men wouldn’t turn down free nookie,” Annie said, always the pseudo-psychologist, trying to place the blame on Karen.
They were doing it again. Excluding her. She’d fix that. She had to. Chris had taken to rubbing various body parts—his forehead, his arms, his hands.
“Wait. Before we go too far, why don’t we give Karen—and Charlie, for that matter—the benefit of the doubt? Maybe it wasn’t a tryst, just a friendly goodbye, a thank-you-for-the-weekend visit. Everyone deserves their day in court, don’t they?” Kassie offered a scenario she didn’t totally buy into herself. She just wanted to cool Chris down.
Two pairs of eyes stared at her. She turned her head, expecting to see someone hovering behind.
“What? I just think before we start waving fingers, making accusations, we should take a step back. Maybe Mike misinterpreted what he saw. He was upset when he drove to Charlestown on Monday.”
Two heads were shaking.
“You’re unbelievable. Where’s Bad Kassie when we need her?” Annie said.
Someone’s phone rang. The three amigos pulled their phones out of their pockets and placed them on the table. Chris lifted his.
He looked at Kassie. “It’s Lexi. I’ll call her back.” He twitched his nose and started to shut down his phone.
“No, Chris. Take it.” Kassie nodded toward the family room.
“Hello. What’s up? Just got back . . .” Chris’s voice faded.
“Who the fuck is Lexi?”
38
Home Sweet Home
And then there were two. Chris didn’t stick around long after the call from Lexi. He offered no explanation for his departure, and Kassie didn’t ask. Giving her a gentle kiss goodbye, he encouraged her to stay at Annie’s that night. Since she had the rest of the week off, Chris reminded her she’d have more than enough time over the next few days to gather her essentials and Topher’s paraphernalia and move them both to Charlestown. He gave Annie a sweet hug and pat on the head, and he was off.
Chris’s headlights had barely faded when Kassie grabbed the wi
ne bottle by its neck and made tracks to the living room.
“I’ll get clean glasses and meet you there,” Annie said.
Kassie changed the music. Nat King Cole was more in tune with her melancholy mood.
“You let him leave? Are you nuts? It’s been five nights, and you let Chris walk out the door?”
“Just for tonight. His idea. You heard him. If you ask me, I think it’s jet lag. I took a nap this afternoon, so I’m good. It’s obvious he’s not.”
“Jet lag, my ass.”
“Whatever you want to call it, I think he needs a break, we need a break. Too much happening in way too short a time.” Kassie placed her hand around her throat, making both a choking gesture and gasping noise.
“Kassie, you know better. You can’t play the martyr with me. I gather there’s more going on besides Mike. Fill me in. Starting with Lexi.”
Kassie shrugged her shoulders and poured the wine. “Cookies. I’m feeling the need for something sweet.” That was true, but what she really wanted was time to recall the details about Lexi, which were few and far between. And where to begin? If she started with the journal, she’d be distracted by the Mimi meeting and the Paris offer, which she was super antsy to tell Annie about, and she’d never get around to answering her immediate question.
Annie surprised Kassie with a platter of homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. “Nervous energy. I hated calling you guys about Mike, screwing up everything I worked so hard to pull off. So I baked. Some people clean. I bake.”
“And I eat. As usual, you’re taking good care of me.”
Kassie sipped her wine, ate a cookie, and decided she’d put off the inevitable long enough. She’d honor Annie’s request and start with Lexi. It was the least she could do for a friend. Her best friend. Though there wasn’t much she could tell her. From what she gleaned from his journal and the brief conversation they’d had, Lexi was a gal he’d dated occasionally in San Francisco. He’d met her at work, but she’d joined another firm along the way. They’d stayed friends.
“Did he see her all those years he was seeing you? Friends with benefits?”
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