The Barefoot Summer(23)

“It’s five,” Kate said.

“I’d expect someone as old as you to know,” Amanda said.

Jamie cocked her head to one side. “Age can knock the socks off youth any day of the week, so be careful. There are two of us older than you.” Jamie shook her head. “Back to the stages of grief. Tell us what happened to make you leave that bed. You whined for that room like a two-year-old wanting a cookie. So what changed your mind?”

Amanda swallowed and took a sip of coffee. “I talked to my friend Bailey, who was my maid of honor when I got married. Let’s just say she started to open my eyes, and then I went into that room and I could see all those women who’d been there before and after me. It was not a pretty sight. I went from denial and shock straight to anger.”

“Pain and guilt is step two,” Kate said.

“I tied that up with denial.” Amanda laid a hand on her stomach. “He’s kicking. I wish he’d been a girl now, because I don’t want him to grow up like Conrad.”

“You really did do a turnaround, didn’t you?” Jamie laughed.

“I honestly did. Now tell me what to expect on the rest of this grief crap. Have y’all hit the second stage yet?”

“Oh, honey, I started with anger in the cemetery,” Jamie said.

“I finished the whole process thirteen years ago when Conrad asked for a divorce the first time,” Kate said. “How did y’all meet Conrad?”

“I’m not sure I want to talk about personal things with either of you,” Amanda said with a sniff.

Jamie rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “Get over it, Amanda.”

“Don’t tell me what or what not to do,” she smarted off. “How’d you meet him, anyway?”

“I was at a beginning-of-school pool party at the principal’s house. He was the superintendent’s date but spent most of the night flirting with me. He left with my phone number, called, and asked me out the next week. We were married the last day of the year, and I got pregnant soon after. But when Gracie was born, there were complications, so we knew she’d be an only child.”

“Makes sense. I had a miscarriage, and the doctor said I couldn’t have children,” Kate said.

“Why does that make sense?” Amanda asked and then clapped a hand over her mouth when she realized what it meant. “He wanted a son, so he married me to get one, right? He only married me because I’m young and he might have a son with me.”

Kate shrugged. “He was a con artist, so who knows, but that would be my guess.”

“He was a jobber who came into our store to see if we wanted to buy from him,” Amanda said. “We set up an account and he flirted like crazy, asked me out that next weekend, and we went on a picnic to the park. Very romantic, under the stars. That was late summer, and like y’all, we were married on the last day of the year. I was about four weeks pregnant at that time, and we were both ecstatic that he’d have someone to carry on his family name.”

“If that is his name,” Kate said.

“He did marry all of us with the same name, Conrad Jonathan Steele, right?” Jamie asked.

Kate and Amanda both nodded.

“And you?” Amanda asked.

“I was at the cemetery putting flowers on my father’s grave, and he was there putting flowers on his mother’s grave. Her name was May Smith, and she died in 1995. She’s buried pretty close to my father. For the first year of our marriage, I kept flowers on her grave as well as my dad’s,” Kate said.

Jamie chuckled. “He told me his mother’s name was Julie Smith and she was buried in Louisiana where he was raised. He had that southern drawl, so I never doubted him. I bet May Smith’s family thought she had a secret admirer that whole year.”

Amanda slapped the table. “He told me that you were his sister and your mother was also his mama. And that you had control of the money. What a mess!”

“Julie Smith is probably the name of one of those women that he conned,” Kate said. “He bragged about how stupid women were. In his mind, with a wink and a few compliments, he could have any woman in the world falling into bed with him.”

Amanda’s hands went up to cup her face as her eyes bugged out. “He talked to you about his women—about us?”

“Not about you two specifically, but yes, about his other women. He was trying to make me mad enough to divorce him so he could have a lot of money.”

“Well, we were all duped by the same rascal,” Jamie said. “The next thing is what are we going to do about it?”

“Step number five is an upward turn,” Kate said. “You’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel and start to realize that you can have a normal life.”

“Do I have to get over the anger before I can go to that one?” Amanda asked.

Kate picked up her coffee and sipped it. “Yes, you do, and also the depression.”

Amanda sighed.

“Do you really hate Conrad?” Kate looked across the table at Jamie.

“Right now I do, and that’s not healthy. So when I leave here at the end of summer, I want to be indifferent and ready to move on. How could he do this to Gracie? He could have divorced me. There was no prenup between us,” Jamie answered.