TWO
Three hoursafter leaving the gym, hours that had been possibly the longest of her life, Lisa turned onto Hearth Stone Road. After talking to Maddie in the locker room, rather than jump on a treadmill and run two miles before doing her upper-body workout, as she’d planned to do tonight, Lisa had wanted to drive to 14 Artemis Way and wait for Keith to come home. Or rather, wait for Keith and see whether he spent the night alone or not. But just because you wanted to do something didn’t mean you should.
So instead, she forced herself upstairs to the cardio section of the gym and hoped some exercise would improve her mood and prevent her from doing something stupid. To date, all Lisa’s encounters with the dumb bitch had left her madder than a wet hen, as her grandmother loved to say, and tonight’s hadn’t been any different—a fact she found somewhat unfortunate, because if they’d met under other circumstances, they might have eventually become close friends, something Lisa believed you could never have too many of in your life. Unfortunately, they hadn’t.
Although Maddie didn’t know it, she stood between Lisa and her soul mate.
About two months ago, when she first spotted Maddie and Keith together in the parking lot at his apartment building, she assured herself it wouldn’t last. Long before Keith ever said hello to her, Lisa had seen Keith come into Murphy’s Tavern with a string of different women. And when they’d first started spending time together, he’d told her upfront he wasn’t interested in anything long-term.
Despite his words, she’d known better.
Two people couldn’t be as connected as they were and not realize it. But, like many people, Keith just wasn’t ready to admit it. He’d ended things back in the spring for that reason rather than the excuse he’d given her. But eventually, Keith would realize he’d made a mistake and come knocking on her door. When he did, she’d take him back, no questions asked, because everyone made mistakes. And at the end of the day, they belonged together.
Soul mate or not, Lisa’s patience had taken a hit about a week later when she saw the same chick enter Keith’s building. Since the woman was alone, she gave Keith the benefit of the doubt and assumed the woman also lived in the building and was coming home, not visiting Keith. But not long after the woman entered the complex, Keith and who she now knew was Maddie Dempsey appeared on his balcony. Unable to do anything else, she’d spent the night in her car watching the complex’s front door. Thankfully, the complex contained more than a hundred units, so an additional vehicle in the lot had gone unnoticed. And when the bitch didn’t leave until the following morning, Lisa knew it was time to take control of the situation. Somehow, she had to come between them and help Keith reach the conclusion they belonged together, sooner rather than later.
Lisa’s first instinct had been to knock on Keith’s door and announce she was pregnant, ideally while his newest friend was there. However, she’d dismissed the idea almost immediately, because while it might temporarily strain his and the brunette’s relationship, she’d be back to square one as soon as Keith learned the truth.
Once the knee-jerk reaction passed, Lisa realized the best way to get the woman out of the picture was to either make it appear as if Keith was cheating on her, get him actually to do it, or, as an absolute last resort, have the unknown woman permanently disappear.
Her first task had been determining the brunette’s identity. On her first attempt to get more information, she’d spent almost three hours sitting outside Keith’s apartment building, waiting for him to leave and lead her to the unknown woman’s home. When he finally headed out, she’d discovered it was far more difficult to follow someone without making it look like you were following them than she’d anticipated. Once during the ride, she’d even lost him and had to guess whether he’d gone left or right at the intersection. Even worse, though, the bowling alley turned out to be his destination. While he’d possibly agreed to meet the brunette there, the location provided no clues to the woman’s identity. Afraid of being seen by Keith, Lisa hadn’t stuck around to see if he went anywhere else later.
She’d gone into attempt number two with the same plan, to wait for Keith to leave home and follow him to hopefully his girlfriend’s house this time. An hour into her wait, the very woman she wanted more information about left the complex instead. Unlike during her previous attempt, Lisa managed to keep the vehicle in sight until the driver pulled into the garage at a single-family house on Hearth Stone Road. A quick search on the town assessor’s database brought up the current owner’s name, when she’d purchased the home, and even how much she’d paid for it.
Since Maddie lived on a street full of single-family homes rather than in a large apartment complex, Lisa couldn’t wait outside for long periods and then follow her when she left. But, at the same time, she needed a way to meet and hopefully develop a friendship with her. So, at a loss of how to learn Maddie’s daily routine without being seen, Lisa called a private investigating firm, the same one her cousin had used to gather all the proof she needed when her husband was cheating on her.
Carla Holmes, the investigator she met with, hadn’t batted an eye when Lisa provided her with a similar story her cousin used when she’d hired the firm. The firm also hadn’t questioned why she wanted to pay them in cash rather than via a credit card. But, more importantly, within ten days, Carla had a report and photos detailing not only the places Maddie visited but also how often per week and around what times she went and if she was alone.
Once she had the info, she’d joined Maddie’s gym and stopped there around the exact times the investigator had seen her there. She spotted Maddie using a treadmill in the cardio section during her third visit and jumped on the one next to her. Outgoing by nature, she could strike up a conversation with anyone. So when Maddie finished her run, she’d done the same and commented to her about how she preferred running outside but it was too damn hot out as they walked back to the locker room. She’d been slowly cultivating their friendship ever since. And while Keith had come up during their conversations, Lisa avoided mentioning him.
Tonight, when she saw Maddie, it seemed like the right time to put a little bug in her ear by sharing the story of Ralph and his administrative assistant… with one slight change. Ralph had been her cousin’s two-timing husband, not hers.
While she’d love it if a single story convinced Maddie Keith was doing something other than working, she knew better. And that was why she’d started sending text messages to Keith this week. After all, she didn’t know any women who didn’t check their boyfriend’s text messages whenever they got the chance. She certainly always did. Some women went even further than that. Rachel, her sister, hacked into the email accounts of her boyfriends and read what they wrote.
“Please don’t be together,” Lisa said as she slowly made her way down the street toward Maddie’s house.
She’d made the same statement when she drove by Keith’s apartment after initially leaving the gym. At least at the time, neither his truck nor Maddie’s car had been in the parking lot, which meant Keith could be anywhere, including at work. Maddie had said he was working late, and she had no reason to lie about that. Still, she’d taken a drive over to Murphy’s Tavern, an Irish pub close to her house and where they’d met. Unfortunately, there was no sign of him there or at Shooter’s, another place he liked to visit. But if he had been at either and without any of his usual friends, guys that must be friendly with Maddie because she’d seen them all together at the sports pub, she would’ve done everything she could to get him back to her place. And after they spent the night together, Keith would realize the mistake he’d made and again be hers.
Lisa jerked the steering wheel to the right and slammed on the brakes three-quarters of the way down the street. “Fuck.”
Keith’s dark green truck sat in Maddie’s driveway, silently taunting her, reminding her he was at another woman’s house. Maybe even right this minute he was bringing another woman to orgasm.
He shouldn’t be in that house. They should be together, and he should be pleasuring her until she turned the tables and he called out her name.
Clenching her jaw, Lisa envisioned pulling in behind Keith’s truck, ringing the doorbell, and then when Maddie opened the door, beating her until she could no longer stand. Once finished, she and Keith would have sex on the bitch’s living room floor while she watched, unable to do anything about it. As satisfying as that might be, it would only accomplish one thing: a trip before a judge while wearing handcuffs. And the only handcuffs she wanted anyone placing on her wrists were the fuzzy black ones in her nightstand drawer.
“Stick to the plan.”
She’d learned the importance of making a plan from her grandmother. It didn’t matter if your end goal was to lose ten pounds, get the lead role in the school play, or save enough to buy a new house. According to her grandmother, as long as you created a plan, followed it, and modified it if and when necessary, you could achieve anything. And she’d taken the next step in it tonight when she’d asked the bitch if she had been at Murphy’s earlier this week.
Since Maddie had never shown her a picture of Keith, it’d be impossible for Lisa to claim she’d seen him with another woman. But a solution to the problem fell into her lap Monday night. She’d stopped in Murphy’s Tavern after driving by Keith’s apartment complex and not seeing his car in the parking lot. Then, as if she’d conjured him up, he’d entered the tavern with another guy and walked right past her while she sat at the bar nursing a margarita. Fifteen minutes later, Maddie joined them.
With that minor obstacle out of the way, Lisa could claim she’d seen Keith with another woman and hopefully plant other seeds of doubt in Maddie’s mind. Fingers crossed, she could do even more than that. As the old saying went, a picture was worth a thousand words. She even had the perfect woman in mind. Her cousin was always up for anything.
No matter if this current strategy worked, though, in the end, Lisa would get what she wanted, no matter how much she needed to change her plan.