In Confidence
“Whatever you call it,” Rachel said, “he’s definitely infatuated with Francine right now, so much so that he seems blind to what it ultimately means to his children.”
“Or to you.”
“That, too.”
“What are you going to do?”
She shrugged. “What can I do? I think I owe it to the kids not to do anything rash just yet.”
“You mean in case he changes his mind and decides to let you forgive him and y’all just pick up where you left off?”
“I guess I’d be a dope to do that. You certainly didn’t give Pete a second chance.”
“Ted’s the dope, not you,” Marta said. “And Pete didn’t ask for a second chance, not that I would have considered it for one minute.” She reached over and patted Rachel’s knee. “I know you’re hurt and in a state of shock right now, Ray, but for too many years Ted’s been a selfish, narcissistic bastard—pardon me, but it’s true. You’ve spoiled him rotten.”
“Now you sound like my mother.”
“An astute woman. At least she’s never looked at Ted through rose-colored glasses.”
“The feeling was mutual,” Rachel said, thinking of the tension that had existed between the two for years. It had been difficult, as she’d felt pulled in opposite directions. “Mom and Ted are almost always disagreeing over something.”
“The miracle is that Ted’s found someone else willing to put up with his ego. I give it six months, max.” Marta straddled a chair and folded her arms on the back. “Can we assume this is the first time he’s cheated?”
That thought had been on Rachel’s mind ever since the scene in the Dallas restaurant. “I’m not sure,” she murmured, recalling the sexy, young workout coach Ted had been very friendly with at their club a few years ago. Rachel, whose weight had crept up a bit, had talked Ted into enrolling as they both needed more exercise. Kendall had been entering preschool and Rachel had been run ragged trying to juggle her responsibilities managing Ted and Walt’s practice and caring for the kids. Ted had admired cute little Wendy from the start, and although Rachel did whittle down to a size eight, Ted had thrown himself into the fitness program a hundred and ten percent. After six months, he was as buff as a college boy. Without admitting to herself that he showed more interest in Wendy than was appropriate, Rachel had concentrated on giving him extra attention. She’d planned special outings, a five-day cruise, a surprise birthday party for him, an intimate candlelight dinner on their anniversary.
Then Wendy had moved to Denver.
But what if Wendy hadn’t moved? she wondered now. Had she failed to heed signs that he didn’t hold his vows to be as sacred as she did? Had she closed her eyes to Ted’s true character then? Had circumstances alone saved the day when Wendy left town?
Marta took a sip of cola. “If the kids know, there’s no way you can keep this from your mom,” she said, adding dryly, “I’d love to hear her take on the situation. Dinah’s gonna want to hang him by his cheatin’ balls.”
“I know.” Rachel sighed and glanced at her watch. “Kendall has a soccer game at two, then the whole team’s going somewhere for Amy Milton’s birthday. As soon as the game’s over, I’ll stop by and tell her. I need to check on her, anyway, but I’ll have to do it after Kendall’s game. No chance of Ted showing up for that. As for telling Mom, best just to get it over with. I can imagine her reaction and it won’t be pretty.” Lifting her hand, she studied the wedding ring on her finger somberly. “I wish there was some way to avoid having the world know what’s happened, Marta. It’s painful and humiliating for me, but it’s going to be worse for Nick and Kendall. I see kids at school coping with the breakup of their parents’ marriage. The reaction of their peers is not always sympathetic. I hate subjecting Nick and Kendall to that.”
“It’ll be rocky at first, sure. But they’re tough, Rachel, and your relationship with them is great. Plus, you’re strong, and you’ll need that strength now. You’ll come through this well, whether your marriage survives or not. As for the kids, there’ll be as much moral support from their friends as otherwise. Even more. For the others—” she finished her drink and stood up “—when shitty people speak, just consider the source. The worst thing is, it’s all Ted’s doing and he’ll be distanced from a lot of the fallout living at the lake, the rat. Not fair, but that’s the way real life works.” She grabbed her keys, leaned over and gave Rachel a kiss on the cheek. “Call me if you need me.”
Cam seldom took a break for lunch as it tended to break his concentration, but he’d been interrupted this morning by a call from his agent, Ben Eckstein, who was hot to start negotiations for a new contract. Nothing distracted Cam like contract negotiations. So, after firmly quelling Ben’s enthusiasm—and failing to pick up after Ben had interrupted—he remembered he hadn’t eaten the night before, so he wandered into the kitchen and made himself a sandwich. He was standing on his back porch eating it when he saw the kid leave Dinah Hunt’s patio and start across the lawn.
The boy was lean and lanky, in his mid-teens, Cam guessed, feeling a catch in his chest. Looked athletic, too, moving with an easy gait in spite of the fact that he hadn’t yet grown into those long limbs and big hands and feet. A lot like Jack. And just about Jack’s age when—
Dark memories instantly killed his appetite and he tossed the sandwich, food for the squirrels. Standing motionless, he watched the kid step around Dinah’s newly planted herb garden, then move through the thick growth of azaleas that separated the boundaries of her property and his own. Her grandson, Rachel’s boy? No sign of a car in the driveway, so apparently it took more for Rachel to find a moment for visiting her mother than a brief collapse in the garden.
As the kid drew closer, he tried to come up with a name. Dinah had mentioned it. Nick. Yeah, Nick. And no mistake about it, he thought with a scowl, the kid was heading straight for his porch.
“’Scuse me, sir.” He stood looking at Cam, hesitant and polite. But determined.
Shit. It was too late to turn on his heel and go inside. “Nick, right?”
“Yes, sir.” The boy ventured closer, stopped at the bottom step. Dark hair like his mother’s and those same odd gold eyes, Cam noted. “Dinah Hunt is my grandmother.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Nick glanced down at his feet, as if to gather his thoughts. Or courage. Then he looked back up at Cam. “My mom told me how you happened to see Gran when she fainted yesterday and that you took her to the hospital. I just wanted to come over and thank you for doing that.”
“No need.” Cam took a couple of steps down to bring himself more in line with the boy. While inside, the memory of Jack was as heavy as lead, only a robot would be unmoved by the appeal in the boy’s face. “It was sheer luck that I happened to be out when it happened. You would have done the same. Anyone would.”
“Maybe. But I just wanted to, you know, say thanks. I mean, I know my mom was grateful. And Gran, too, of course.” Fiddling with a smooth stone he’d picked up, he gazed at his grandmother’s house a moment before turning back to Cam. “And I need to ask you a favor.”
Ah, Jesus, what now? Warily, Cam braced himself. He was promising nothing. “A favor?”
“Yes, sir.” Nick tossed the stone. “My mom…she’s got a lot of things on her mind lately. She’s a guidance counselor at RHHS. I don’t know if you knew that, but—”
“I knew.”
“Well, a lot of kids sort of rely on her when they get in trouble or have personal problems and stuff.” He shrugged. “Not that she complains. She says it comes with the territory, but it can get so that she doesn’t have a lot of time left over for—”
“For her mother?”
He gave Cam a startled look. “No, sir. Well, not exactly. Gran’s pretty independent about that. Doesn’t want any advice most of the time.” He hesitated, then went on. “What I mean about my mom is she doesn’t have much time left over for anyone, not even herself. And if she did, she wouldn’t do much for herself, anyway. She’d be thinking of Kendy or me or…or Dad. Gran, too.” He paused, watching a squirrel eyeing the tossed sandwich. “And my dad, he’s…ah, kind of…I guess you could say…preoccupied right now.”
“Preoccupied.”
“It’s a long story.” Nick shifted so that he faced Cam squarely. “Anyway, Mom’s going to be really maxed out for some time because of this, uh, personal stuff that’s come up.” He paused and then went on in a rush, “And so the favor I had in mind was this. If you could just sort of keep an eye on Gran when Mom isn’t around—or me—it would mean a lot.”
“Does your Gran know about this?”
“You mean that I’m asking you to keep an eye on her? Jeez, no! She’d kill me. She’d come after me with my own bat. Mom, too. Anyway, Gran doesn’t think she needs any help, but where would she have been yesterday if you hadn’t just lucked out and happened to see her faint?”
She would have come around in a few minutes and fixed herself something to eat, Cam thought. And it would have taught her a lesson. But then again, if it had been the heart attack he’d feared at the time, then this boy’s concern was well placed. “It isn’t necessary to ask me to keep an eye on your grandmother, Nick,” he said. “After what happened, I was planning on it. Within reason. But just so you’ll know, I’m a writer and I often get caught up in what I’m doing and lose track of time. You can’t depend on me exclusively.”
“Yes, sir, I understand that. I’ll be checking on her myself. A lot.”
They both watched the squirrel scamper across the ground and up into a tree, carrying a piece of Cam’s sandwich. “Speaking of bats,” Cam said, “do you play sports?”
“Yes, sir, baseball.” He propped a foot on the bottom step. “I started with T-ball when I was six and I’ve been playing ever since.”
“What’s your position?”
“First base. For the B team, right now. I mean, I’m in the ninth grade and I won’t have a shot at varsity till next year. Maybe not even then, but by eleventh I should be in.” At ease now, Nick slid his hands into his hip pockets, comfortable talking about a subject he knew well. “Now, my buddy, Ward—Ward Rivers—he’s real good. He’s a pitcher. He might even get a shot at varsity this year, he’s so good. His brother Jimbo’s five years older and he got a scholarship to play for UT.”
He knew him. Jimbo Rivers had been a pallbearer at Jack’s funeral. “I’ve heard of him,” Cam said.
“Well, Coach told us he’ll probably be tapped by one of the majors at the end of this season. Is that cool or what?”
Yeah, cool. Cam clenched his jaw hard. His chest actually hurt, deep down where he kept a lock on everything that made him think of Jack. “The coach would be Monk Tyson,” he said.
“Yes, sir. You know him?”
“We’ve met.”
Nick nodded. “He’s put a lot of athletes into the majors. I mean, they play college sports and then move right on up to the big leagues.”
“Remarkable for a small town like Rose Hill,” Cam said.
“That’s what everybody says. Well…I need to get back. I didn’t tell Gran where I was headed and she’ll be breakin’ out the blueberry muffins any minute now.” He flashed a quick grin. “She likes to push food at me when I come and I’m sure not complaining. You should try her pecan pie. Man, it’s to die for!” He hesitated, then stepped forward and stuck out his hand. “Thanks, Mr. Ford.”
Drawing a deep breath, Cam took the boy’s hand. Bony, young, strong. Like Jack’s. “Cam, not Mr. Ford. And, like I said, don’t rely on me exclusively regarding your gran.”
“Yes, sir. I mean, no, sir, I won’t.” He started off, but then stopped and looked back. “If you notice anything that me or Mom should know about, will you let us know?”
“Yeah, I’ll do that.”
Five
Rachel had an eye out for Nick at Kendall’s soccer game, but he didn’t show, which was unusual. Since the beginning of the season, he’d made it a point to go to nearly every game because somehow Ted never could. Kendall always beamed after spotting Nick in the bleachers, and her teammates almost swooned with delight over her big brother. But today there was no sign of Nick.
The team won, anyway, and Rachel saw Kendall off in an SUV with Amy Milton’s mom driving, then headed over to see Dinah. As she got out of her car in her mother’s driveway, she glanced with new interest at the house next door, now that she knew it belonged to Cameron Ford. A rambling forties-style cottage, it was a soft shade of buttery yellow with elaborate gingerbread trim painted white. Clearly, it had been added on to more than once over the years and the result was charming, she had to admit. In the front yard, a huge oak with wide-spread limbs furnished deep shade and beauty that no amount of professional landscaping could match. Underneath the ancient tree was a white wrought-iron lawn set, a table and four chairs that would be the perfect place to enjoy morning coffee while reading the paper or to laze away a summer afternoon with a book and a glass of ice-cold lemonade.
She’d noticed the house a couple of years ago when she’d called on a student’s parents who lived nearby, never dreaming her mother would one day decide to move to the neighborhood. At the time, she seemed to recall this particular house showing dire signs of neglect. Cameron must have decided to restore it.
She saw movement of the lace curtain at the upstairs window and wondered if he was watching her now, probably thinking her visit to her mother was in response to his lecture about neglecting Dinah. Turning away, she hurried up the flagstone walk to her mother’s front door.
As soon as she got inside, Dinah called out from somewhere in the rear of the house. “I’m back here! Pour yourself some wine, Rachel. It’s six o’clock somewhere.”
Not a bad idea, Rachel thought. An opened bottle of a good cabernet sat breathing on the kitchen counter with one of Dinah’s unique wineglasses ready and waiting. She poured the wine and went in search of her mother.
“Hi,” she said, upon finding Dinah curled up on a chaise on her patio. Afternoon sun had taken the chill off the day, not unusual in this part of Texas in February. Rachel held up the wine. “Were you expecting someone?”
“You,” Dinah said. “Nick dropped by earlier.”
“Oh.”
“He’s mad as hell at Ted.”
“Well, that makes five of us, I guess.”
“Who’s the fifth?” Dinah ticked off on her fingers, “Me, Nick, Kendy, you and—”
“Marta.” Rachel sat down on the porch swing. “I should have guessed Nick would come straight to you. I hoped I would get over here before you heard it from one of the kids. And you’re right, he was very angry. It may be a long time before Ted can mend what was destroyed this morning. If ever.”
“Hmm.” Dinah took a sip of wine. “The only thing that surprised me was the fight with Walter. It’s hard to imagine Ted actually getting into a physical confrontation with anyone. Over anything. I wish I’d been there.”
“It wasn’t Ted’s doing, believe me.” Rachel rubbed her left temple and added in an unsteady voice, “And, trust me, Mom, you wouldn’t want to see it. I was already dreading having to tell the kids their father is having an affair and wants to move out, but to have them learn it that way made it even more traumatic. The whole thing still seems so unbelievable.” Tears started in her eyes and she abruptly leaned over and set her glass on a small wrought-iron table. “Ted with another woman,” she murmured, pressing her fingers to her lips. “I’m still in a state of shock.”
“Excuse me, ladies.”
Rachel looked around, startled to find Cameron Ford at the edge of the patio. She turned away, quickly swiping at both eyes as Dinah greeted him. How long had he been there, she wondered frantically. How much had he heard?
“Are you knocking off early today, Cam?” Dinah asked.
After a keen look at Rachel’s face, he replied to Dinah. “Just taking a break. I realized when I got home from the hospital that I had some personal items of yours. When they removed your watch and earrings, they gave them to me for safekeeping.” He handed her a small plastic bag.
“Thank you,” Dinah said, peeking into the bag. “I realized this morning that I’d left them at the hospital, so I would have wasted a trip going back for them.”
“I spotted you sitting out here from my kitchen window and didn’t realize that you weren’t alone. I can see my timing’s off.”
“Not at all,” Dinah spoke, stopping him as he turned to go. “There’s more wine. Rachel, go inside and pour a glass for Cam. Or there’s beer, if you’d prefer that.”
He looked directly at Rachel then. “No, thanks.” He seemed to hesitate, then he blew out a breath and squared his shoulders. “I suppose now’s as good a time as any to apologize.”
“Apologize?” Rachel knew traces of tears were still in her eyes and wished she had a tissue. Almost as the thought was born, he produced a neatly folded handkerchief.
“Here, looks like you’ve had some bad news.”
She hesitated briefly, then took the handkerchief, murmuring thanks before pressing it to her eyes. There was no hiding the fact that she’d been crying. “What are you apologizing for?”
“For being out of line at the hospital yesterday. It was the wrong time to jump you about something that’s none of my business.”
Dinah chuckled. “But you’ll reserve the right to jump her at another time, huh?”
A smile threatened before he bent down to pick up a leafy twig that had blown onto the flagstone surface. “Maybe if I count to ten, it’ll save me from sticking my foot in my mouth again,” he replied, settling his gaze again on Rachel.
“Just so you’ll know, Cam, Rachel makes more time for me than I deserve.” Dinah disregarded a murmured denial from Rachel. “And if I felt neglected, she knows I wouldn’t be shy about saying so.”
“Like I said, I was over the line.”
“Forget it,” Rachel said, wishing he’d go.
“One more thing,” Cam said, studying the twig in his hands before looking up into her eyes. “I’ve spit out the apology, so I might as well be in for a penny as in for a pound. I couldn’t help overhearing the reason you’re upset. For what it’s worth, if Ted has screwed around and messed up your life and his kids’, too, then he’s a bigger fool than I figured.”
Rachel stared, unsure how to respond to such a straight-on insult to Ted, even if she’d been in a mood to defend him. A more tactful person would have ignored what was clearly a personal conversation, wouldn’t he? While she was trying to think of a reply, he straightened, adding as he was half-turned to leave again, “Did it really come as a shock to you?”
“Yes. Of course.” And was instantly shocked that she’d answered. The subject was devastatingly personal and he was, after all, a virtual stranger. Frowning, she gave a confused shake of her head. “Do you know Ted? Have the two of you met?”
“It’s a small town. I’ve seen him on the golf course and…around here and there. He’s a jerk. Beats me what you saw in him to begin with, but with two kids and a pretty solid history together, he’s the loser in this, not you.”
“Why don’t you tell us what you really think?” Dinah put in dryly.
Rachel hardly noticed, she was so riveted by what he was telling her. Later, she’d probably figure out that he still felt so hostile toward her that it had been easy to speak with brutal honesty. Which gave her more information than she’d get from her friends, even if they’d known about Ted. “Since you’re into plain speaking about my husband,” she said stiffly, “I’d like to know if you were aware of other times when he…he…”
“Cheated?” Cam broke the twig in half and tossed it in the grass. “If I did, I wouldn’t tell you. What good would it do? You’d only feel worse than you do already.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Dinah said.
Again ignoring her mother, Rachel rose slowly from the swing. “Then you do know something?”
“What you need to do now,” he said, ignoring her question, “is to beat him to the punch in case my reading of his character holds. Go to the bank and make sure he doesn’t clean out your accounts, which would leave you in a financial bind just when you don’t need that kind of grief. And since he’s caused the upheaval in your life, you and your kids shouldn’t be forced to alter your lifestyle. Do you have a lawyer?”
“A lawyer?”
“Yeah, trust me. You need a lawyer.”
Her expression turned frosty. “I don’t see what concern—”
“It’s not my concern. I’m just telling you that your first step should be to call a lawyer. And not someone used to handling both your business affairs. Get someone new, and while you’re at it, get someone who’s good.”
“You should call Stephanie Roscoe, Rachel,” Dinah suggested.
“Wait—” Rachel pressed her fingers against both temples. “Enough, please. This is crazy. We—I—don’t know if any of this is necessary. Ted’s probably going through a midlife crisis. That’s usually a temporary thing. It’s common for men of his age.” She glanced at them and got only bland stares in return. “And even so, I don’t think Ted would take advantage that way. He—”
She was interrupted by her mother’s snort of disgust. “You just found out he’s been cheating on you for a year, honey. And until you saw it with your own eyes, you probably didn’t think he’d do something like that, did you?”
Rachel sat back down again. “This is insane,” she murmured.
Cam propped a foot on the edge of the patio. “It happens all the time.”
She looked up at that, hearing more than a trite cliché in his tone. “It happened to you?” It was a personal question, but he’d opened the door himself.
“Call it the voice of experience.” He shrugged, stepping back to leave. “And if I had it to do over again, I’d react differently. I wouldn’t waste time in denial. You sound as if you’re ready to defend Ted, but he’s not showing the same sensitivity to you or your kids, so forget him and think about the kids and…just in case…take some common-sense precautions, that’s all I’m saying.”
He brushed grit from his hands. “And since I’m so full of advice today, I’ll just make this one other suggestion. Don’t waste time wondering what you did or didn’t do that made him cheat. That’s mostly a road to nowhere when you need to be concentrating on what you and the kids’ll do with the rest of your life.” He then stepped off the patio and walked away as abruptly as he’d appeared.
“Whoa,” Dinah said softly as soon as he was out of earshot. “And here we thought he was surly and insensitive and had a deep-seated grudge against you.”
“I still think that,” Rachel said, watching him make his way across the lawn, setting a fast clip to cover the distance between her mother’s property and his. “Yesterday, he could barely be civil to me and today he’s doling out advice, but not in a very loving way. He’s probably getting some kind of sick satisfaction knowing my life is falling apart.” She gave a push on the swing with one foot and settled back while it swayed gently. “Whatever his motives, I don’t need his advice.”
“I wouldn’t dismiss it so lightly, hon. To hear him tell it, he’s been there, done that. Besides, it can’t hurt to call Stephanie and simply run the situation by her, just to hear what she might suggest.”
Rachel looked at her mother. “Mom, for Ted to do what Cameron said would be a betrayal as bad as his cheating in the first place. Do you really think he would be so…so low-down?”
“I’m hardly unbiased, but I’ve seen some pretty sneaky things done when couples begin talking divorce. You—”
“We haven’t decided to divorce! Ted’s moving to the lake cabin, but it’s more like a separation. He’ll come to his senses, I’m sure of it. The consequences of an affair with Francine are just too dire. For one thing—if we’re talking assets—Ted’s whole financial life is tied up in the practice and the affair jeopardizes his position there. He had a taste of Walter’s reaction this morning, for heaven’s sake. He can’t think Walter will simply stand aside while Ted steals his wife and yet expects to continue to work alongside him every day, can he?”