A Winter Wedding(64)

As he paced on the back patio, waiting for her to pick up the phone, some of their worst arguments paraded through his mind. She’d often lost her temper and thrown things, broken things or come at him as if she was going to strike him. That was part of the reason he’d refused to buy her the big house and expensive jewelry, trips and clothes she’d demanded. He wasn’t going to be that foolish with his money. Just because business was good didn’t mean it would always be good. He had to prepare for the worst. But he also wasn’t interested in rewarding her behavior.

Fortunately, she’d never caught him at enough of a disadvantage that she’d seriously hurt him. Although there’d been times when he should’ve called the police, he’d had too much pride. He didn’t want his parents and friends—the whole town—to hear how terrible his marriage had turned out to be. So when she got confrontational, he’d hold her down, making it impossible for her to hit, kick or scratch. Or, more often, he’d leave. He’d spent many a night at his office, which Morgan knew; that was, no doubt, partly why she hated Noelle. Morgan was the one who’d arrive the next morning and find him on the air mattress he stored in the closet of his office. She’d probably told other people he wasn’t happy with Noelle, so it wasn’t as if he’d been able to keep his difficulties a secret. But at least no one knew his situation was quite as bad as it had been.

Noelle didn’t answer. So he called again. She always had her phone close by, and if she was asleep, he meant to wake her.

Noelle seemed to be worse now than when he was married to her, he mused as the ringing started again. More reckless. More spiteful. Willing to go even further than before. And he’d been shocked by her behavior then. That was what had him so concerned. It was the reason he intended to make it very clear that she’d better not do anything to destroy Lourdes’s image or hurt her in any other way. Because he would not let that slide.

“Now you call me?” Noelle snapped when she picked up.

She didn’t sound as though she’d been sleeping. Not only was her voice strident, she acted as if he owed it to her to keep in touch, and she’d won some sort of victory in finally getting a call from him.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said.

“You caused me to lose my job. That’s what I’m talking about!”

After speaking to Olivia earlier, he’d been somewhat prepared for this accusation. He knew Noelle tied that incident to him, although it made sense only in her own mind. “That’s ridiculous. Surely even you can see I had nothing to do with it. I’m sorry it happened, but from what I hear, you have no one to blame but yourself. You started the fight, didn’t you?”

“No, I didn’t start it! She provoked me!”

He was too focused on making his point to ask who “she” was. “But I’m guessing you’re the one who got physical.”

“I wouldn’t have gone after her if I hadn’t been so upset by how shitty you’ve been treating me.”

There was the connection, presented with her classic, twisted logic. But this time Kyle’s curiosity about the identity of her victim overcame the need to direct the blame where it belonged. “Who’s she?”

“Genevieve Salter.”

“Your friend? You like her! I’ve seen you with her on several occasions.”

“She was my friend. She’s not anymore.”

“Because...”

“Because she...” There was a pause as she tried to come up with an answer, but she must not have been able to devise one she liked. “Oh, never mind. You won’t believe me, anyway. I know how you are.”

“I’m honest, Noelle, while you’d rather lie to yourself.”

“Shut up! What happened doesn’t matter. Genevieve’s not worth feeling bad about.”

“And your job?”

“I didn’t want to work at Sexy Sadie’s anymore, anyway. That place is a dump. I deserve better.”

“You were already struggling to get by.” From her own admission, she had only $250 in savings—the money she’d told him she could put toward a new water heater—which, come to think of it, she still needed, since she’d foolishly torn out the one he’d given her. But, according to Olivia, Noelle had manipulated their parents into helping her, so maybe she still had a small financial cushion.

“I’m a good server,” she said. “I’ll get on somewhere else.”

He doubted it would be in Whiskey Creek. There weren’t a lot of jobs, and her reputation would precede her. Which meant driving to a different town or maybe the Indian casino that wasn’t too far away...

But why get into that? What she did was her problem. “In the meantime, my spousal maintenance is going to be pretty important...”

There was another pause, this one longer than the last. When she finally responded, he heard a heavy dose of suspicion in her voice. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’ll need money to get by, no matter what you do. And you’ll be relying on me to provide it.”

“You make it sound like you’re doing me a favor, as if you have some choice in the matter,” she said. “You have to pay me. It’s court-mandated. They’ll take it out of your bank account if you don’t.”