Hidden Summit (Virgin River #17)(71)

Leslie approached warily. “Allison?” she said softly.

Her eyes opened lazily. “Oh. It’s you.”

“I brought you something,” Leslie said, holding out the bag.

“You can put it right there,” she said, pointing to the floor. “Right beside my purse and shoes.”

Leslie put down the gift bag and looked around uncomfortably. “I was hoping we could talk. Maybe privately.”

“Unfortunately I don’t have time for a private meeting today, Leslie. You can pull up a chair and state your business or forget about it. This is just about the only time I have for myself all week. This is it. Take it or leave it.”

“It’s personal,” Leslie tried.

“Then speak a bit softly if you like. I assume it has to do with Greg.”

Leslie tilted her head. This wasn’t like Allison. She was usually much more pleasant. Not warm, certainly, but at least polite. Leslie looked around for a chair; there were only little ones on rollers, the kind the manicurist used to be seated at the client’s feet. She shrugged and pulled one over to the pedi tub, sitting at Allison’s feet. Like one of her subjects.

“Well,” she began. “I’m tired of telling your husband I don’t want to be friends. We’ve been divorced for two years and—”

“Not my husband much longer,” Allison said coolly. “I filed for divorce a month ago.”

Leslie’s mouth fell open, and she stared at Allison in shock; Allison returned the stare with cold eyes. “But you’re having a baby!” Leslie said.

Allison rolled her eyes. Right at that moment a young Vietnamese woman pushed a low chair on wheels over to the pedi tub and pulled on her latex gloves. She gently lifted one of Allison’s feet out of the tub and began to remove the polish.

“Please,” Allison said, not in the least intimidated by their audience. “I don’t need Greg to have a baby. He’s pretty useless anyway. What does he do? He does nothing but schmooze and network and try to impress people. Sometimes I wonder if he even has an office—it seems all his work is done on the golf course or at lunch and dinner meetings. It didn’t take me too long to get bored with playing on the Greg Adams team.”

“But, Allison, you haven’t been married all that long!” Leslie said.

“Long enough, in my estimation. I have a very busy practice. I don’t have time for more than one baby.”

“But, Allison,” she said, lowering her voice. “I thought the two of you were madly in love.”

Allison just shrugged. “I thought we wanted the same things. When I first met him, he was all about forming a power couple. His ambition was tantalizing. He put a very good face on it. I admit, I got a little hooked.”

“When did the two of you meet?” Les asked. “I don’t think I ever heard that story....”

Allison sought the answer in the ceiling tiles. “Hmm. I think it was at an investment seminar. He was talking with a couple of my partners about tax shelters and limited partnerships, and I asked him if I could buy him a drink to learn more about it. He was more than willing. And willing and willing. I thought he had a lot of money. I thought we were headed in the same direction. He said you were holding him back.”

“Me?”

“Uh-huh. It took me a while to figure out—he wanted me to play second chair. He wasn’t really interested in playing Bill and Hillary. He wanted to play George and Laura.” She made a little face. “I could go along with that as long as we were perfectly clear—I’m George. Greg just isn’t smart enough to take the lead.”

“And his money?”

Allison laughed. “Leslie, he doesn’t have any money. He spends money, he doesn’t save or invest, not exactly a big earner, either. Big talker, though. Thank God I kept our finances separate and wrote us a pre-nup.”

Leslie started to wonder if she’d ever be able to close her mouth again. “I’m not really hearing this.”

“You can have him back,” Allison said.

“I don’t want him back! But don’t you love him?”

“I suppose I did. For a while. He does seem to know how to treat a woman. Most of the time.”

Leslie frowned. “Most of the time?”

“He’s chivalrous. Amusing. He does things like bring flowers. Loved the engagement ring—I think I’ll go ahead and have the stone reset.” Then she leaned closer and whispered. “He does have that little bedroom issue.”

“Bedroom issue?” Leslie asked.

Allison leaned back again and ran her hand over her big belly. “Not exactly reliable in the erection department. You know what I mean?”

Leslie tilted her head and affected a perplexed expression. “I have no idea what you mean. Of all Greg’s shortcomings, that certainly wasn’t one of them. At least with me. In any case, it seems to have worked well for you—” she nodded toward Allison’s belly “—at least once.” She stopped herself just short of claiming Greg was a stallion. Leslie stood up from her little chair. Now she could look down at Allison. “So—what tipped you over the edge?”

“I decided to run for City Council. He informed me, in that extremely polite and superior way of his, that he would run first, and then, if I was still interested, I could file the paperwork for my own campaign. I told him to go to hell. It pretty much deteriorated from there.”