A Nantucket Affair (Nantucket Beach Plum Cove #4)(23)

The question took Sue by surprise.

“Yes, things are fine. Totally fine.” She’d never had to worry about Curt before.

“I’m sure it’s nothing.” Paige smiled as the waitress came over and she ordered a second drink, and a platter of loaded nachos and side of guacamole and chips for the table.

“What’s nothing?” Sue was confused by Paige’s tone.

“Remember what I mentioned to you on the phone?” Lisa asked.

Paige leaned in and lowered her voice. “Lisa and I saw Curt and Brandi and a few others at the Club Car. Brandi was very friendly and kind of touchy feely with Curt, hand on his arm, that kind of thing. But it really probably is nothing. Don’t give it another thought.”

Sue thought about that, and also knew that Paige was extra sensitive to this kind of thing, as two long-term relationships had ended when she’d caught her partner cheating. She suspected she was seeing something that wasn’t really there.

“I won’t. So, what else is new with you two?”

“Miriam Carlton just filed for divorce. I ran into her at the market yesterday,” Lisa said.

Sue’s jaw dropped. “Miriam, really? I thought she and Ryan had the perfect marriage. What happened?”

Lisa hesitated for a moment. “We went for coffee and she told me everything. I think she needed to talk. He cheated with his secretary.”

“Such a cliche.” Paige shook her head in disgust.

“They always looked so happy,” Sue said. “And they have kids, too? Twins?”

“Yeah. Melissa and Cody are juniors in high school now. Miriam blamed him, of course, but she also said that they’d grown apart. She was a stay-at-home mother while he mostly worked all week in Boston or New York and flew home on the weekends. He worked most weekends, too, and they stopped doing things together as much as they used to. It still took her by surprise, though.”

“That’s too bad. How did she find out?”

“He was in the shower and his phone went nuts. Kept buzzing with text messages. It was so urgent that she glanced at the phone to see if it was some kind of emergency. That’s when she saw that it was Karli, his secretary, but the messages were not at all work related.”

“What did she do?” Paige smiled as the waitress set down her margarita.

“She said she sat there in shock, but when her husband came out of the bathroom, she handed him his phone and asked him what was going on. There was no way he could explain the messages, so he confessed. He begged her to stay, said it was a momentary lapse that didn’t mean anything, but she wasn’t having any of it.”

“Did she consider staying with him?” Sue asked.

“She said she did for about two seconds. But the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that Karli wasn’t his first. Other things that she’d dismissed before took on new meaning. But, more than anything, she said she simply could never trust him again,” Lisa said.

“The first time is the hardest. Once they open that door and get away with it, the temptation can be hard to resist. Remember when I gave Bob a second chance? That didn’t last long.” Paige said.

Sue did remember. Paige and Bob were engaged and had been together for almost eight years. A few months before the wedding, she discovered he’d been unfaithful. He swore it was just a one-off, that it didn’t mean anything. And she loved him, so she took him at his word. But things were never the same again. She ended it and learned that it hadn’t actually been the first time he cheated. It was just the first time he got caught.

So now, after Lisa’s conversation with Miriam, Sue understood why they’d asked about Curt and Brandi. But, she knew Curt and trusted him implicitly. Still, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to be more social with everyone in the office. Next time they all went out, she’d join them, even if it was just for one drink. Curt could stay out all night and Sue just didn’t enjoy that anymore, being the last ones left at the bar. No, she’d make an appearance, then head home, get comfy in her pajamas and curl up in front of the TV or with a good book.





Chapter 14





Chase did most of the work on the flip house on weekends, so that it wouldn’t cut too much into his other contracted work. Since they’d met with Rick, he’d taken care of the plumbing issues and had moved on to the renovation work. Beth knew Chase was worried about the overall costs, though, and she was, too. Neither of them could afford to take a loss on the project.

She’d told Chase she’d stop in mid-day once she had all the samples and they could look at them together in the house and decide which tiles, backsplash and flooring to go with. She had a good selection of options, but she had her favorites that she thought could make the most impact—now she just had to persuade Chase that the slightly more expensive options might be the most cost-effective in the long run, when it resulted in a higher price.

She gathered up all the samples in a big cardboard box, put them in the back seat of her Honda Civic, and drove out to the house. She could hear the sound of a power saw as she opened the front door. Chase didn’t even turn until she got closer and set her box on the kitchen counter. He turned off the saw and stood, brushing wood dust off his work jeans.

“Hey, there. Are these all the samples?”