She took a deep breath. “Edwin. I, uh, wasn’t expecting you.”
“That’s the best you can come up with, Marla?” The snap of anger in his words was out of character. He rarely displayed emotion, and it caught her off guard.
“No, I…I mean. When did you get back in town? You’ve been gone for weeks. I…”
“I got back yesterday. I left more than one message on your home phone and a text message on your cell.”
She glanced at the phone on the hall table and immediately saw the flashing red light. “I…um…didn’t notice. Sorry.”
“Obviously you were far too busy and distracted.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his perfectly pressed pants. “Am I allowed to ask who he is?”
“Um, his name is Dwayne Dempsey. He’s John Dempsey’s son. You’ve met John.” She swallowed. This wasn’t going well. “Uh, Dwayne’s the contractor, Big D Construction? I hired him to renovate my apartment building.” Was she making any sense? She had to pee. She wasn’t sure what to do or say.
Edwin sneered. “And were Big D’s after-hours activities part of the contract?” He took a step in her direction. “I find it hard to fathom your unfaithfulness. I’m very disappointed in you, Marla.”
“Unfaithfulness? Wait, wait just a minute.” She put up her hands and shook herself. “Unfaithful to you? Is that what you mean? Edwin, you never even touch me. Other than a handshake or a brief kiss, what was there for me to be unfaithful to?”
He pressed his lips together and slowly shook his head. A smirk of disgust filled his face. “I was merely following your lead. You’ve always been reserved, held yourself apart from me. It appears I’ve misread your true nature.”
What could she say to that? It was true, all of it. She had held herself apart from him. He was dull, uptight, dignified, and devoid of sexual appeal. Why had she hung on to him for the past two years? It wasn’t his fault. The blame lay with her.
“Edwin, I’m sorry. I haven’t meant to deliberately mislead you. You’re a fine man and have always behaved like a gentleman. I suppose we stayed together because of inertia. I don’t believe I ever thought our relationship would go beyond friendship. If you expected more from me, I wasn’t aware of it.”
He stood straight. “I’ll take my leave now. I feel I must warn you—that man, that laborer who just left here is beneath you. He’s unsuitable. You’re wasting yourself on him. I pray you’ll come to your senses.” He brushed past her on his way to the door.
“No…he’s…”
He pulled open the door and there stood Charlene with her key in her hand. Her eyes got big. “Oh, hello, Edwin. How nice to see you. Should I leave?”
He sniffed. “Not on my account.” Then brushed past her and stalked across the lawn.
Char eyed her. “Lordy, you’re one surprise after another, little sister. Anybody else in there I need to know about?”
“Bite me, Charlene. Come in and watch me hang myself. After yesterday and today I’ve come to the conclusion that real life isn’t for me.”
She retreated to the kitchen, poured herself a cup of Dwayne’s strong coffee, and plopped in a chair.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Charlene said. She poured herself a cup of coffee, dumped three spoonsful of sugar in it then sat across from Marla and stirred. “Good morning to you too.”
Marla smiled. “I did invite you for breakfast, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did. What are we having, besides drama pancakes and break-up sausages?”
There were times, and this was one of them, when Marla realized how much she truly loved her flighty, carefree sister. The sister who’d flitted through life enjoying every minute of it, while she’d had her nose pressed to a self-inflicted grindstone. “I love you, Char.”
“I know, me too…you I mean.” She took a sip of the coffee, grimaced, got up to add more sugar, and returned to the table. “Ugh. Dwayne made this? I won’t sleep for days.” She grinned. “So, what’s new?”
Cluny acted as his spotter while he pumped iron. His pectorals trembled under the massive weight. He grunted, “Eight!”
“You’re at the upper limit of what I can lift off you, Gunny.”
Dwayne panted. Sweat streamed down his neck. “Yeah, I’m done.” He pushed the weight up, dropped it in the cradle, and gasped for air.
Cluny gave him a hand up. “You planning on entering the Mr. Universe competition? Or just showing off?”
Dwayne laughed and scrubbed his face and neck with a towel. “Neither. I was imagining how much stronger I’d need to be to rip Luke Henry’s ugly head off. Let’s hit the steam room.”
“He’s stupider than a rock, going after the boss lady like that. I don’t know what he thought you’d do.”
“You’re assuming he’s capable of thinking.”
“He’s tough but a moron. What’re you going to do now?”
“My lawyer told me to back off. He said I was playing into their hands by chasing them down. He’s right. I shouldn’t have touched the skinny weasel.”
“Did you hurt him or just scare him?” Cluny pushed open the locker room door. They got out of their shorts and underwear and wrapped clean towels around their waists.
“Both. I imagine he had Francine take pictures of my fingerprints on his neck to use against me in court, if that’s where they’re going.”
He removed his prosthesis and took crutches from his locker. It was men-only on Saturday mornings, so they’d be able to remove the towels and stretch out in the steam room. They could even fart if they had to without raising eyebrows.
“I wish they’d go back to more men-only days. I hate co-ed gyms.”
“Hey, spoilsport! I’ve picked up a
