A Stranger on the Beach(28)

Caroline watched him warily. He must look as stricken as he felt.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, as he buttoned his shirt with trembling fingers. “Where are you going? Don’t leave.”

“Did I hear you right? You just asked me to kill your husband.”

“Okay, no. You’re right. That’s crazy.”

“Is that what you meant?”

“I want him out of my life so badly. And I have to keep the money. We could be together, Aidan. You and me.”

He sat on the edge of the bed and took her hands.

“I want that, too. More than anything. But I can’t do what you asked. I’m not like that. I need you to understand. This one terrible thing that happened years ago—it wrecked me. I can’t go through that again.”

“Okay, I understand,” she said. “I’ve been so stressed with Jason leaving, I’m talking crazy. I got crazy there for a minute. That’s all. I apologize.”

He leaned in and kissed her. The sheet was draped across her body, but it couldn’t hide the beautiful curve of her breast, the elegant slant of her neck, the lustrous fall of her hair. She looked up into his eyes. He said he’d do anything, and she took him up on it. She’d placed her faith in him. What she’d asked was too much. But he forgave her. How could he not?

“Of course I forgive you.”

“You won’t tell anyone I said that?” she said, laughing nervously.

“I’m no snitch, and even if I was, I’d never tell on you.”

“I know.”

“But I want you to know, I’ll do anything else in my power to protect you. Other than that. I swear it. I’ll have your back, now and forever. You have to believe me.”

“I do believe you,” she said. And she melted into his arms.





20


The parking lot of Red Anchor was surprisingly full for three o’clock on a rainy Thursday afternoon. Just as I cruised in with Aidan in the passenger seat of my very recognizable white Escalade, a group of women spilled out of the restaurant and ran through the raindrops toward their cars. One of them looked directly at me, through my windshield. With a jolt, I recognized her. Julie owned a boutique in town that I frequented. I’d been there with Hannah a couple of weeks before, looking for a dress to wear to the housewarming party. Julie knew me, and worse, she knew my daughter.

“Get down,” I said to Aidan.

“What?”

“Ach, forget it. Too late.”

I sped past her, around the side of the building, stopping in the alley between the restaurant and the strip mall next door.

“What are you doing?” Aidan said.

The rain came down hard, and the wipers swished. I was so unnerved at being spotted by someone I knew that my heart was skittering. I looked in the rearview mirror, trying to see if Julie was still there. But from that angle, in the heavy rain, the parking lot was hidden from view. If I couldn’t see the parking lot, then people in the parking lot couldn’t see me.

“You should get out now.”

“Here? It’s pouring. Can you drop me at the front door?”

“Isn’t that the back entrance right there?” I said, nodding toward a blank-looking door across from a collection of trash bins.

“I don’t go in that way.”

“I’m sorry, but there’s a woman I know in the parking lot, and where there’s one, there’re others.”

“So?”

“So, people talk. If she sees me dropping you off, she’ll think we spent the night together. She could blab that all over town.”

“We did spend the night together.”

“I don’t need everybody knowing that. It could hurt me in the divorce case. Jason is supposed to be the bad guy. Not me.”

I could see him getting mad again. His eyes clouded over, and his jaw tensed. His hands clenched into fists, and I started to get nervous.

“I get it,” he said. “You took a walk on the wild side, and now you’re done. I get tossed aside. I’m expendable.”

“I don’t understand why you’re taking this so personally,” I said.

“It was personal. It sure seemed that way when you had your legs wrapped around my neck.”

“Please don’t talk like that.”

“Too rough for your dainty ears? Don’t lie to yourself, Caroline. You wanted it. You still want it.”

“All I mean is, keeping this on the down low for now is not a judgment on you, or my feelings for you. It’s about my own situation. I never lied to you, Aidan. You know I’m married.”

“You’re not married, not for long anyway. He left you for a Russian hooker. He took your money. You need to wake up and face the facts.”

I wanted to appease him, but anger flashed through me. Who the hell did this kid think he was, talking to me like that?

“Whether I’m married or not, and how I handle it, that’s my business. It has nothing to do with you.”

“Then, what is this?” he said, moving his hand back and forth in the space between us.

“What is what?”

“What do we have together? How do you feel about me?”

“I think we had a nice time.”