Lila … I needed Lila.
“Oh, hey!”
I closed my eyes. Someone was out to get me. Really … I should have died as a child. That slow death crap and torturing of my family had to stop. Opening my eyes, I turned to the cheery voice. “Adrianne, hey. We’re kinda in the middle of a private conversation.” Rude? Yes. Desperate? Hell yes.
Evelyn’s icy demeanor intensified. She eyed Adrianne but said nothing. The look on her face said it all—she hated her.
“I won’t keep you. I have to get going too. I just wanted to see how Bella’s doing. I know it’s presumptuous of me to assume you named her Bella. Either way, do Franz and Anya love her?”
Kill me. Just fucking kill me now!
“Yes. They do. See ya around.” I tried so hard to keep the tower of lies from crashing to the ground.
Evelyn narrowed her eyes at Adrianne and then at me. She didn’t know, but realization raced to the finish line while I choked on my words.
Adrianne, however, had no problem articulating her words, which sounded like she wanted to ruin my marriage.
“Bernese Mountain Dogs are just the best. Ronin told me you two were thinking of getting a dog. I couldn’t help myself. Ronin has done so much for me.”
Those three sentences translated to: I just stopped by your table to completely fuck up your marriage. Have a nice day.
Evelyn pushed her chair back and stood, slinging her purse over her shoulder.
Not one look in my direction.
Not one word.
“Oops … did I do something wrong?”
I ignored Adrianne as I chased after Evelyn. She took a sharp right after exiting the cafe, cutting through an alley toward Clean Art.
“Stop!” I grabbed her arm and she jerked it out of my grip, jaw set, hands clenched, and eyes brimming with tears.
“She gave you that dog? You brought home a dog from a whore. What the fuck is wrong with you?” With one blink, tears covered her face. “What exactly have you done for her—with her—that’s made her feel so indebted?”
“You know the answer to that.” My words came out a little harsher than I intended. We were cracked in many places from the heavy strain of life always bearing down on us, but we weren’t broken. Suggesting I was having an affair meant she thought we were broken.
Evelyn shook her head. “I don’t know anything anymore.”
“I didn’t ask her to get the dog. She just showed up and shoved it in my face. It’s a dog.”
“No. It’s a lie. And since when are you so weak that you can’t resist when someone shoves something in your face? What else has she shoved in your face that you can’t resist?”
“This!” I grabbed her shoulders and made her look at me. “This is how she ruined so many marriages. You said it yourself. She didn’t even have to fuck the men she pursued; she just had to make it look bad, cast doubt, drive wedges. We’re better than this and you know it.”
“But she did …” Evelyn whispered. “She slept with a lot of those men. Good men. Family men. Men who no one thought would ever cheat on their wives. They just couldn’t say no.” She wriggled out of my grip and took long strides down the ally.
I followed her, grasping for what emotional energy I could muster. “I am not having an affair. And if you believe that, then the last six years have meant nothing. Would you just stop and look at me?”
“No!” She jerked away again when I reached for her hand. “You don’t get to force this. You don’t get to shove yourself in my face. I can say no. And right now the answer is no. I don’t want to hear what you have to say. You had a chance to say it the day you brought Mrs. Humphrey home. You’ve had weeks to say it since then. Honesty after you get caught means nothing.”
I let her go. Temporarily … I let her go. But instead of calling my doctor to beg for some drug I didn’t need, I called Lila.
“Hey, Ronin.”
“I need to see you.”
“Oh. I have a lot—”
“Jesus, Lila …” I ran a hand over my head. “I wouldn’t ask if I weren’t really fucking desperate.”
“Are you and Evelyn okay?”
“No.” I leaned against the side of the building.
“Do you think it’s a good idea to do this if you and Evelyn are having issues?”
I didn’t answer.
“Ronin?”
“Lila …” Her name broke from my aching chest.
“Tomorrow. But you’ll have to be here early. I have an appointment in the afternoon.”
Lila
“I have to cancel my trip. Please take me back home,” I asked my driver after talking with Ronin. My three-day trip to meet with a potential client from Chicago could wait. Ronin couldn’t. And I owed him my life. If he needed me for a few hours, it was a price I could pay.