Newton Neighbors (New England Trilogy) (21 page)

Thanksgiving was looming, and they didn’t have plans to go anywhere. They usually celebrated with Cathi and Michael. Cathi was the organizer and said she preferred to host the big dinner, but this year she hadn’t invited them. Maria was pretty sure it was because her friend was focused on keeping the house in pristine condition, so she hadn’t mentioned it.
 

Now, with only three days to go, she had nothing planned. She hadn’t even bought a turkey. She considered inviting Cathi, Michael, and the girls to her house. That would have been the nice thing to do, but she didn’t feel like being nice. The truth was Maria was fed up with Cathi, too.

Her friend had become a real pain in the ass about her big plans to trade up. She’d told Maria she was convinced she had a buyer for the house, and she was all fired up about converting their upstairs study into a nursery in order to make the house more appealing. All that—and she hadn’t even told Michael what she was up to.
 

Maria was tempted to blow the whistle on Cathi, but she wouldn’t. What sort of friend would that make her? Not a very nice one. She was already proving to be a less than perfect wife—or so Rick seemed to think. The last thing she needed to do was risk losing her friend, too.

She blew her nose again. She had just put the kids to bed. Alice was sleeping much better these days thanks to all the stimulation she was getting from that psychology major. Jessie was a mixed blessing. She was a huge help with the baby and a terrific sitter. Even Cody loved her. Then again, it was when Jessie had arrived that Maria’s problems with Rick had started.
 

Maria knew she couldn’t blame the girl for the issues in her marriage, but it was the first time she had seen her husband look at another woman. Jessie wasn’t even a woman, she was a girl. She just happened to be a very beautiful one, and oblivious to all the commotion she caused in the Sanchez household.
 

Rick was an alpha male. He had his brood with Maria, and now he was looking for another, younger mate. She started to cry again.

Here she was, trying to get her figure back, trying to fight the hands of time, while her husband’s hands were quite possibly moving all over his next conquest. What would she do? What could she do?

“Mami,” she said almost to herself and looked at her watch. Seven o’clock in Boston meant six in Puerto Rico. She would call home. Maria didn’t call enough. There was no real reason for it. She’d just fallen out of the habit.
 

Her mother’s life was full with Maria’s three younger sisters, all of whom had stayed on the island and married local men. They thought Maria was crazy to live in New England with all the snow. There had been no big fights—it was just life that had made them drift apart over time. Maria tried to remember the last time she’d spoken to her mom. Too long.

“Fool,” she chastised herself and pulled out her cell to dial her mother.
 

“Maria?” Her mother, Leticia, must have recognized the incoming number and answered on the first ring.

“Mami.” Maria didn’t mean for it to happen, but when she heard her mother’s familiar, soft loving voice on the other end of the line, she burst out crying—again.

“
Cariño
, what’s the matter? Are you ill? Is it the babies?”

“No, no.” She tried to compose herself. “Everybody is well. I just miss you.”

Maria knew Leticia Garcia was a wise old woman, having reared four girls and buried one husband. So Maria also knew her mom would see right through her.
 

“Maria, you are a red-blooded and passionate Puerto Rican woman. You do not phone me in tears often. In fact, you never have.”

Hearing that made Maria cry even more. “Oh, Mami.”

“The last time I heard you cry was when you called to announce the arrival of Alice. Before that it was for Cody’s birth, and the only other time you cried was when you called to say Rick had proposed.
Chica
, is it Rick? Maybe you are pregnant again?”

Maria let out a miserable laugh. “That’s impossible, trust me.”

And with those four words Maria knew her mom would understand.
 

“Come home,
cariño
. Come home to me and we can talk.”

Leticia made it sound so simple. She could just catch a flight into San Juan. One of her sisters, or maybe a brother-in-law, would come get her and she would be back home in no time. But life wasn’t that simple anymore.

“Mami, I have the children. I can’t just drop everything and come home to you.”

“Why not?”

“Well, there’s school for Cody, and Alice has a routine now. She’s even beginning to sleep better.”

“Bah.” Her mother gave a small sound of exasperation. “What? You don’t have Thanksgiving in America anymore? I am sure Cody has a school vacation soon.”

That hadn’t even occurred to Maria. Of course her son would be out of school. Maybe Rick would even come with them. Would that be a way back to her husband? If he felt the warm sun and the golden sand between his toes, maybe, and maybe he would see Maria the way he used to. It had been years since they’d been to Puerto Rico. Time had whizzed by, and life in Newton just swept her along. Without realizing it, she’d grown steadily apart from her family. How dumb was that?

“You’re a genius. I would love to come home, but I’ll have to ask Ricky. Can I call you tomorrow after I’ve spoken to him?”

“Call me anytime you like,
cariño
. I’d love to see all of you for Thanksgiving. You can fly down tomorrow or Wednesday. You know we have the room.” She laughed.
 

Maria thought about the house she grew up in. She had been very involved in discussions over the years, when she and her sisters urged Leticia to downsize, but her mother always refused. She was determined to stay in the house she had raised her family in until her own death. It was the house her husband had built for her when they had been married only a few years, and it was in that house that she had married off her four girls. Sadly, it was also the house where she had held her husband's funeral, but Leticia was determined she would one day die in it, too. She told her daughters she didn’t want to leave the big house because, if it were ever necessary, they could return—even with their children. Maria hadn’t understood until that moment just how wise her mom was.

One little phone call, just a five minute chat with her mother, and Maria was feeling better. Why hadn’t she thought of it herself? All she and Ricky needed was a little time away from Crystal Lake.
 

Naturally the kids would come with them, but even that was good. They would love the sun, the sea, and getting to know all of their cousins. Things were getting much colder in Newton. Maria shivered at the thought of another long winter. No matter how many years she lived in New England, she would never get used to the cold.
 

Her mind floated to the aquamarine waters of her beloved home. How she wanted to walk barefoot on the alabaster sand with Ricky by her side. He would love it. How could he not?
 

Maria looked at her phone. It had been so easy to call her mom, but she couldn’t quite get up the nerve to dial her husband. E-mail was so much easier, although impersonal, but at least she would be making an effort. She needed to end this stupid fight.

Maria clicked open her e-mail on her cell. He said he’d be home late, but he didn’t mentioned the gym. Was it possible he was still at the office? Maria forced herself to be positive. He was not with another woman. He was working late, and that was all. There was no other woman.

Would you like to go to Puerto Rico for Thanksgiving? Mami has invited us to stay with her.

She typed the message into her phone, hit send, and waited.

“Please answer, please answer.” E-mail and texting had been their only means of communication for ten days now. The waiting was killing her, so she started looking at flights to pass the time. It didn’t take Maria long to discover that even though flights were still available, they were the price of a small private plane. How could airlines justify such prices?
 

Finally, she found a few flights out of Boston. She could still put Alice on her lap, so that cut the cost a little. Maria worried when she saw there were only three seats left at the lowest price. If she didn’t book them soon, they would be gone. It was an anxious time, waiting for Rick to reply.

Then she heard the welcome ping and minimized her flights page.

I told you about the Fidelity account. You know how much work that is. I can’t take off now for a vacation.

Her heart sank.

I’ll probably have to work right through Thanksgiving.

This last bit made her angry. What was she supposed to do while he played big business politics? Everybody took Thanksgiving off—everybody. That was when it hit her. Was he even telling the truth? Was he with somebody else?
 

The thought made her nauseous. How could she ignore what her gut was telling her? Only a fool did that. She had heard of women who let themselves ignore all the signs. Working late, growing apart, fighting more—that was what she and Ricky were doing.

Are you really at the office?
 

She clicked send before she could stop herself.

The silence was deafening. He was ignoring her on purpose—the shit.

Maria went back to her flights page. She changed the details to see the cost if she were flying out the very next day.
 

“Half price? That’s nuts,” she said and adjusted the flight details so it was just her, Cody, and the baby—no Ricky. Again the price dropped. She could do it so easily. All she had to do was hit the
book flights
button and she would be on her way.
 

It was a direct flight that left the next afternoon. That would give her enough time to do some last-minute errands when Jessie had Alice, and then she would pack for the kids. If Rick was going to play around, she was leaving. Even if he wasn’t playing around, Maria knew she couldn’t live with this constant state of tension.
 

She had to get away to think straight. Where better than home? Who better than her mother to help her through this? Maria barely believed it herself that she and Ricky had reached this point. She thought they were together for the long haul, but heartbreaking though it was, it appeared not. Distance and time would give her a clearer perspective.

Even as she inputted her credit card number, Maria couldn’t believe what she was doing. She was running away with her babies. “Let’s see how he feels about this.” She hit the return button on her phone with more force than was necessary.

Her e-mail pinged with a new message.
 

Of course I’m in the office. What sort of a stupid question is that?

She read the next e-mail aloud. “Purchase complete.”
 

Maria was giddy with excitement. She was going home. That she was doing it behind Ricky’s back was insane. She’d never done anything like this before, but then again, Ricky had never looked at another woman before. Crazy times called for drastic measures.
 

Even though it felt surreal, Maria knew it was time to shake things up. She was leaving him, and he could damn well chase her like he used to. That would get them back to basics. It was the oldest game in the world.
 

Maria went to get ready for bed. As she stripped out of her clothes, she couldn’t help but notice her baby fat. “So much for my Operation: Transformation,” she said to her reflection, but then she made herself stop. So what if she was a little softer around the middle? That’s what came of getting older and having kids. With a little Puerto Rican sun, she would look pretty darn good for a mother of two.

If Ricky Sanchez had any plans to have an affair or take a lover, Maria intended to change his mind and his plans entirely.

Chapter Fifteen

Maybe Baby

“There’s been a change of plan,” Ely announced when Jessie walked back into their room after another long day.

“I didn’t even know there was a plan to begin with.” Jessie dropped her bag of books to the floor.

It was late Monday evening, and she was shattered. She had spent the morning minding Alice and the rest of the day studying. Passing the entire weekend with Dan had done wonders for her libido, but it hadn’t been great for studying. She knew Ely wouldn’t be happy about it, but Jessie was planning to do homework over Thanksgiving in South Carolina. It was a shame, but what choice did she have? She had to make up for her playtime with Dan.

The man was insatiable. Thankfully, so was she. Another blessing was how understanding Ely was being. She all but moved in with Josh to give the new lovebirds space. Dan lived with his parents, so he couldn’t do the things he wanted to do to her there. It made Jessie shiver with delight, because the man was gifted in bed. She convinced herself she would catch up on lost study time.

“What’s on your mind?” Jessie asked Ely.

“Well, I’d planned on spending tomorrow night—our last night before we fly home—with Josh, but then I had a better idea. We should throw a party.” Ely looked self-satisfied.