California Girls(36)

Only she hadn’t. She and Nigel had a professional service that came in and decorated their place at Christmas with carefully coordinated trees and garland. Their house had been a showpiece at the holidays—not a place the carousel belonged at all.

She admired it now, stroking one of the horses and wishing it would come to life and take her far, far away. So far that her heart wouldn’t be broken anymore and she could think about what was going to happen without a growing sense of dread.

*

Saturday morning, after the nice young couple who had bought her bedroom set left, Ali dusted the baseboards and vacuumed the carpet. Once that was done, she carried in moving boxes that she would have to, at some point, fill. Maybe when she had a place to move to.

She couldn’t shake a sense of impending doom and knew that it had nothing to do with her situation. She was still trying to take in what had happened with Finola. How could Nigel have cheated with Treasure? Ali was as much a fan of the country-pop star as the next person, but jeez, not when you were married, and certainly not when you were married to Finola.

She was still trying to figure it all out when Daniel arrived. She opened the front door and said, “You can’t tell anyone. You have to totally promise not to say a word. Please, I need to talk about this and there’s no one else I can trust and just say you won’t repeat it or anything.”

As she spoke, he dropped the backpack he carried onto the floor, then closed the door behind himself and pulled her into a hug.

“Ali, what’s wrong? I won’t say anything. I swear. Just tell me.”

He felt so good, she thought, clinging to him, letting his warmth and strength seep into her. She didn’t care if he thought she was needy or weird or if he felt he totally got why Glen had dumped her. Right now she needed him.

She took his hand and led him to the sofa. When they were both seated, she stared into his dark eyes and said, “Nigel left Finola for another woman. He’s having an affair. I don’t know if it’s serious or he’s just playing around, but he left her!”

Daniel’s expression shifted from worried and confused to sympathetic. “I’m sorry to hear that. She’s got to be upset.”

“No, you don’t understand. This is Finola. She and Nigel love each other. They have a great marriage. They belong together. You just had to be around them for a few minutes to know they were the ones who were going to be together forever. And he cheated on her. If Finola can’t keep Nigel, then there’s no hope for the rest of us.”

“Slow down, Ali. You’re extrapolating way too much from what happened. You’re understandably upset. She’s your sister and you love her. Plus, you’re going through some crap of your own, so this is really hard. But the state of Finola’s marriage doesn’t affect anyone else’s relationship.”

His words probably made sense, but she wasn’t in the mood to listen. “What is wrong with your gender? Halle Berry’s husband cheated on her. And Beyoncé. Why would anyone cheat on Beyoncé? Men are stupid. I’m sorry to say it, but there it is.”

Daniel surprised her by smiling. “We are stupid. I’m really sorry about Finola and I won’t say anything to anyone. You have my word.”

“It’s because she’s on TV. There could be press.” There would be press when the whole Treasure thing came out, but while Ali was willing to spill some secrets, she couldn’t share them all—not even with Daniel.

They were still holding hands. She wasn’t sure how that had happened, but his hand was in hers or vice versa. He stroked his fingers against hers, as if offering comfort. At least she assumed that was what it was. Regardless, his touch was nice. Like him.

“You’re being so good to me,” she said softly. “Through all of this. I really appreciate it. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“I’m sorry for the circumstances, but I’m happy to be here. I mean that, Ali.”

She smiled. “I believe you, but it’s so strange. Until Glen dumped me, you were always so stern and it seemed as if you didn’t want to be in the same room as me. Remember the first time we met? We went to lunch.”

“At The Cheesecake Factory at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. I remember. It was a Sunday, last November. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving.”

She stared at him. “That’s either impressive or scary. How could you remember that? I knew it was last year, but that was about it.” She laughed. “Next you’ll be telling me I had on a blue dress.”

“You wore jeans and a white sweater.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. “Now you’re freaking me out.”

He started to say something only to drop her hand and stand. “Ali, what’s going on with your bedroom?”

She turned and followed his gaze. “What? The empty boxes? I have to get more serious about packing.”

“Where is your furniture?”

“Oh, that.” She drew in a breath. “I sold it.” She held up a hand before he could speak. “I sold it a few weeks ago. The people who bought it agreed to wait until today. I kind of forgot until they texted me yesterday, confirming everything.”

“Why did you let them take it?”

“They’d already rented a truck and they’d given me half the money. I didn’t know how to tell them no.”