Stone Cold Fox (76)

“Nothing,” I said, actually believing him. Not ideal. That would mean Gale found out another way, just as I suspected. But from whom? And what did she know exactly? I was supremely alarmed and wanted to leave. What if she was having me followed now?

“But you knew about it?” Dave asked me, in a way that made me uncomfortable. Okay, yes, it was officially time to go.

“I’m going to be late. You’re not going to tell anyone about this?”

“No,” he said without a second thought. “But I’m around if you ever want to—”

“I won’t,” I interrupted him, meaning it. Too much on the line and he would be too much of a distraction. I needed to focus on getting ahead of Gale and whatever her plan was. I shut Dave’s door behind me, proud of myself for leaving.

It’s what Bea Case would do.

And that’s exactly who I was now.



* * *



? ? ?

I DECIDED TO leave the office a little early that day. I was still feeling the effects of my scintillating, albeit chaste, lunch hour and wanted to luxuriate in the tub with the faucet in the late afternoon to take the edge off. I knew no one would miss me at the office. I was anxious, after Dave’s seemingly honest revelation, so imagine my surprise when I was faced with none other than Gale Wallace-Leicester in my home. I hadn’t seen her since the wedding and the sight of her took my breath away. Her jeans were too tight and her hair was a mess and she was standing in my kitchen, pulling a Perrier out of my refrigerator, looking very pleased with herself.

“Bea. Nice to see you. How are you?”

“Gale. I didn’t know we were having a guest for dinner.”

“Oh, I’m not staying. We were just wrapping up.” She grinned at me.

Collin appeared, exiting the restroom, stunned by my presence. “You’re home early,” he said like an absolute buffoon.

“So are you,” I replied, maintaining rational behavior as best I could. I wouldn’t let Gale get my goat unannounced like that.

“He’s been taking afternoons off a few days a week,” Gale said to me, the foul wench.

“Gale is who I talk to about things,” Collin explained. “It’s always been that way. She helps.”

“She helps?”

“I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t know how you’d take it. Gale doesn’t make me feel weird or bad about it. Not saying that you do!” he added, recovering. “She’s just always felt safe when I was an annoyance or embarrassment to my parents. Gale makes me feel normal. It’s just our history. It’s nothing else.”

There was nothing normal about this dynamic and I was well within my rights to make such a declaration, but I had to go slowly with the barracuda present. Any sudden moves without thinking them through and she could bite.

“You are normal, Collin,” Gale said to him, taking on the voice of a therapist, when she had absolutely zero credentials except as an absolutely conniving little cunt. I had to make a big move, but I couldn’t predict the outcome. My least favorite type of situation. What to do?

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you it was Gale. I just know that it’s been kind of tense between you two,” Collin said. Gale and I stayed silent, perhaps both calculating how this would all play out.

“It was my idea to keep it a secret, Bea.” Gale shifted her focus to me, playing the martyr for Collin. Well played; he enjoyed being coddled. “I know you don’t like me very much, but this is what’s best for Collin.”

“Is it? Because to put it quite plainly I haven’t seen much improvement. Are you feeling better, babe?” I asked Collin pointedly, staking claim to him as my husband, another feeling he thoroughly enjoyed.

“It’s taking longer this time, but Gale says that’s because we’re getting older and—”

Put the blame on Gale, I thought to myself. Not on Collin. He can’t handle any criticism.

“Gale isn’t a doctor, Collin. A doctor would have proper therapy sessions with you and perhaps write you a different prescription—”

“But drugs make me a different person, Bea. I don’t want to rely on them for the rest of my life.”

Make him feel normal. This was normal. Drugs are normal.

“It’s perfectly normal to take prescription medication responsibly when needed, sweetheart.”

“But an all-natural approach is best,” Gale said. “Don’t worry, I consult with a holistic pract—”

“That’s enough!” I barked, taking my own all-natural approach, a big swing. But truly, how dare Gale sink so low? Toying with Collin’s health to further her own perceived gains? She had weaseled her way into his psyche as a support system when in reality she was chipping away at his very foundation!

“Bea, take it easy—” Gale began to say.

“I am talking now.” I cut her off. “Collin, what do you tell Gale that you won’t tell me?”

“Collin, you don’t have to—”

“Yes. He. Does,” I growled at her. If Collin needed a woman to take charge, it was going to be me. He liked a firm hand from the women in his life, that much was clear. Or at the very least, he responded well to it, from me.

Collin cleared his throat. “I talk to Gale about dark stuff. Like the stuff I don’t want anyone else to know, especially my wife. She suggested that instead of blindly switching meds again with some doctor who doesn’t even know me, I could work through it naturally. Together. Because she understands me. That I could get there. That if anyone could, I could.”