Delia’s eyes narrowed, though a tight smile curled her lips. “Yes. He does have that habit. ”
Keiley almost winced. She hadn’t meant to prick at the past, but obviously she had. Mac hadn’t informed Delia when he left town all those years ago. He had just packed up and left, and Delia Staten had never forgiven him.
Keiley reminded herself mockingly to have a talk with him about not informing the world next time he decided to make a personal decision.
At that point, Max broke in. “Keiley, I saw the updates you did to the charity Web site. They’re gorgeous,” she stated. “Didn’t she do a wonderful job, Delia?”
“I haven’t checked. ” Delia’s lips were pinched with distaste at this point. “If you’ll excuse me now, it’s nearly time to call the meeting to session. Good day, ladies. ”
Delia turned and swept across the stone-lined patio in a cloud of flowery perfume and acrid disapproval.
“That is one mean old bitch,” Max muttered. “What the hell is going on, Kei? I’m almost afraid to let Joey’s brother come stay the summer now. He’s divorced, ya know?
Keiley breathed out roughly. “Maybe it’s that ‘outsider’ thing again?” She turned to Max and rolled her eyes. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll toss me off the charity committee. You could run my booth and yours. ”
Max narrowed her eyes in promised retaliation. “Don’t even consider it, girlfriend. I’d hate to have to hurt you bad. ”
Keiley snickered. “I could always tell Delia about your toy chest. ”
Max’s eyes widened as mock horror swept over her face. “She would have a stroke. And Joey would certainly have a meltdown. He can barely say the word vibrator. ”
“Knows how to use it, though, doesn’t he?” Kei snickered as she linked her arm with her friend’s and headed to the house. “That’s all that matters. Right?”
“Oh hell, yeah,” Max sighed in remembered bliss. “Who cares if he can say the word as long as that bad boy can do the deed?”
They were laughing as they entered the sunroom, but inside Keiley could feel the worry beginning to build. She didn’t believe in coincidence. Coincidence didn’t account for the rumor that Mac and his friend were now sharing her bed. Somehow, someone knew something.
Perhaps one of the farmhands? Keiley wondered. Had someone overheard something?
They couldn’t have. The farmhands lived off the farm, they came in the morning and left in the evening. They couldn’t have seen or overheard anything.
But what else?
She was aware of the interested looks she received through the meeting as well as a general air of speculation. She hated it. But even as she hated it, feared it, it began to piss her off. She wasn’t a child anymore. And by God, these people had no control over her life now.
Jethro had been at the house one night. One damned night. They had no right to begin gossiping so soon. To want to see her ostracized so easily.
These women whom she had laughed with for the past three years, whom she had helped at various times. She had babysat for several of them. She had helped out in Lissa Ryker’s store when she had been sick last year. She had helped Beulah Paddington the month before in her florist shop. At one time or the other, Keiley had lent a hand to each of these women, and yet they were whispering about her.
Max was one of the few whom Keiley doubted was joining in the gossipfest. Max generally waved gossip to the side and treated it like an amusing little joke.
By the time the meeting came to an end and Keiley had received her receipt for the booth she had rented in the charity’s name, she was more than ready to head home. Paranoia was beginning to get the best of her. She was feeling so paranoid that as she headed for the doors she came to an abrupt stop, certain she had heard something she couldn’t have heard.
Ménages. The insidiously muttered word had her freezing before she whirled around, searching the small group of women behind her.
They appeared innocent, chatting among themselves, though she couldn’t hear what they were saying.
Shaking her head, Keiley moved quickly from the house and to her car, certain that her own imagination at this point was making her hear things that hadn’t been said.
Grimacing at her own overactive imagination, she strode quickly to her car, unlocked the door, and moved into the stifling interior before turning the key and lowering the windows.
As she drove from the Staten mansion, she was pensive. The ringing of the cell phone at her side dragged her out of her thoughts as she flipped it open and brought it to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Kei, let’s take lunch in town. ” Max’s cheerful voice came over the connection. “Joey’s mother has the kids and I can bum around all day if I want to. ”
Keiley grinned. “I’m game. Where do you want to meet?”