Eliza Starts a Rumor(57)
“Conor and I are gonna head over to the Karma Sutra for matchachinos,” Jana said.
Jackie switched back into parenting mode. He wanted to say, “If you have caffeine now you’ll have trouble sleeping tonight,” but he refrained. His head was running in ten different directions. He went with, “Get a rain forest muffin. They’re wicked good,” and hammered the last nail in his coffin.
They smiled and went off. Jackie took a deep, cleansing breath to prepare his thoughts. Alison just stood there, waiting.
“I was just about to tell you.”
“Really? You expect me to believe that?”
She felt foolish for the feelings she’d had just a few seconds before, foolish for subscribing to the fairy-tale scenario that she had been eternally warned to reject. She even felt a little bit frightened and exposed—especially having exposed her baby to him. She adjusted Zach’s stroller and quickly walked away. He chased after her, careful not to make a scene but desperate to fix the situation.
“Alison, you have to believe me. I was just about to tell you the truth when they walked up!”
“I have to believe you?”
She was furious, and hurt. Oddly hurt, actually. She thought she’d found a prince and he was really a troll. She picked up her pace while she vowed to never go down this quixotic road again. He followed. She stopped in her tracks and asked, “Is this a thing you do regularly? Catfish women online?”
“Cat-what?” He looked horrified. “No, let me explain! I didn’t know what to do when Jana got her first period. I was really lost, and my buddies from the train—you met them—they suggested I post on that ladies’ bulletin board. I really go by Jackie. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
Alison kept her face free of expression—a technique she used in court to get people on the stand to further incriminate themselves—and continued toward home. He kept in pace with her.
“I would have told you right away, but it was never the right time. I’m not used to lying.”
“Well, you seem to have gotten the hang of it pretty quickly.”
“Come on, Alison, I stopped talking to you as Jackie as soon as we went out for dinner.”
She stopped again and thought. Did he?
And then she remembered his follow your heart advice and her fury rebounded.
“Seems like you can’t even keep your lies straight.” Alison the attorney’s shoulders squared.
Jackie was confused, and he should have countered, but he was more concerned with making things right.
“I should have told you on the train—or maybe when we were messaging. I don’t even know how I got in this deep. I’m so sorry. It’s just, I liked talking to you and then we met, and I really liked you and I was worried I’d blow it, that you would be angry and not want to see me again.”
Alison ran through what else she remembered of her Jackie conversations in her mind. She was instantly embarrassed and doubly pissed. She stopped and looked at him, and the corners of her mouth turned up into the smile that her opponents in court knew meant their defeat.
“Well, Mr. Campbell, you got two things right.”
He hadn’t known her long, but he could already see she’d closed herself off.
“I’m angry, and I never want to see you again.”
CHAPTER 32
Olivia & Spencer
It had been a week or so since Olivia had solved the mystery of the second phone. It was back in Spencer’s possession and everything had been seemingly fine. If anything, she thought that Spencer must think her a bit crazy, with her frequent fluctuations: She loves me, she loves me not. Right now, she loved him.
It was Saturday night and they actually had dinner plans with Steven Beck and his wife, Lauren. As she applied the finishing touches to her makeup, she wondered whether Spencer and Steven would talk about running together. She hated the thought of having to pretend she didn’t know about their morning ritual if it came up in conversation. She had since attributed Spencer’s secrecy about it to not wanting to hurt her feelings—his desire to run with his faster, stronger friend as opposed to his slower and out-of-shape wife. She thought about coming clean regarding the phone, but remembered what Andie Rand had said about snooping being a betrayal as well. She decided to keep her mouth shut.
Things were finally normal between Olivia and Spencer and that feeling of contentment was trickling down to encompass her whole being. She had been devouring a book on the landscape painters of the Hudson River School and even had a selection of watercolors and brushes in her Amazon cart, just waiting for her to push the button so she could set up her old easel on their back deck. She hadn’t painted in years, and though just a hobby, it relaxed her like nothing else.
What good would telling him do? she thought again, while dabbing one last coat of powder on her cheeks.
Spencer liked to take his Porsche out on the weekends instead of the family car. It was red and a bit showy for Olivia’s taste. And he definitely drove it too fast, but tonight she didn’t mind as much. When they stopped at a red light, Spencer rested his hand on Olivia’s bare knee. “You really look beautiful tonight.”
A couple of good nights’ sleep and the utter relief she’d been feeling had Olivia glowing with new energy. She even fit back into her favorite dress, a little black number by Max Hammer that she’d only had the chance to wear once before becoming pregnant. She ignored the fact that her weight loss had been stress and worry induced. When she looked in the mirror, she really did feel beautiful.