The Spy Who Left Me (5 page)

She really hated imagining the what-else. “If I flirted here, there, and everywhere on the job like you do, the office would be buzzing with gossip and innuendo. Someone would have to report me to my supervisor. I’d be fired and never allowed to work in human resources again.” She gave him a challenging look.

To her surprise, his returning expression was sympathetic. “I was never unfaithful, Tref. Never.”

She hated when he sounded like that. She wanted to believe him so badly. “What’s being unfaithful? Doing the full-blown deed? Stopping just short? Sticking your tongue down another woman’s throat?”

Ty grabbed her hand and put it on his heart. “It’s straying from the heart. Feeling something for another woman that I’ve always felt only for you.”

Her eyes misted over. Ty could be so touchingly dramatic. He’d always been like that. That’s part of why she fell in love with him. She pulled her hand away and tucked it in her lap.

“Give me another chance, Tref.”

Feeling on the verge of tears, she shook her head. On top of everything else, after what she’d just seen him do, how could she ever consider staying with him?

“We’ve been over this before, Ty,” she said softly. “We aren’t good for each other. I need someone who’s around, physically present, there for me.”

He frowned and pressed his lips together. He wasn’t the kind of man to beg. She knew that.

He sighed and glanced at his watch. “We have a cruise to catch.” He pushed back in his chair, stood, and extended his hand to her.

“Sign the papers and I can be out of your hair instantly,” she said, lamely.

“When I get back home.”

Is he ever really coming home?

“Promise?”

“You have my word.”

How do you trust the word of a man who will say anything and has the poker face of a master?

*   *   *

The harbor was just a few blocks away. They walked to the dock in silence. What was there to say? Treflee was terrified that if she talked too much she’d give away what she’d seen. And, although seemingly calm, she knew he was angry at her for not jumping to give him another chance. She felt perfectly horrible.

Greg and the girls were waiting for them aboard the
Lahaina Dream,
a gleaming white sixty-five-foot glass-bottomed yacht with deep sky-blue trim. Treflee liked blue. She wasn’t big on boats.

Laci leaned over the rail, spilling her cleavage out for all, particularly Ty, to see, and waved at them with the tiny umbrellaed cocktail in her hand from the upper deck. “Up here. Grab a drink and join us. The view’s to die for!”

Uneasy with that visual, Treflee shot a look at Ty.

“Jumpy?” he said, and smiled.

“I need one of those tiny umbrellas,” she said as they boarded.

They joined the others at their reserved table for eight on the upper viewing deck. Treflee downed half her mai tai on the way up from the main deck. Two kinds of rum and orange curacao, gotta love it.

Laci, that redheaded floozy, patted a chair next to her and smiled at Ty. “I saved you a seat.”

He sat and she settled herself uncomfortably close to him, her bare arm brushing his. She shot Treflee a triumphant look with a diamond-clear message—Treflee may have snagged Ty for a walk in Lahaina, but she meant to shag him.

“Tref,” Carrie said, sounding obviously put out. “We went back to the gallery to find you, but you gave us the slip.”

“I went for ice cream,” she said.

Carrie rolled her eyes. “You could answer your cell, you know.”

Treflee shot Ty the evil eye. He looked totally unfazed.

“I must not have had service,” she muttered, peeved that she couldn’t explain. She gulped down the rest of her mai tai and flagged the waiter for another. “Where are Brandy and Faye?”

Carrie pointed across the deck to where the two had cornered a pair of handsome men.

Judging by the men’s expressions, they’d just been ambushed. The girls could use a lesson or two in seduction techniques to augment their brusque war room skills. She glanced at Ty and scowled.

Fortunately, Treflee’s rum kicked in about then. A pleasant calm settled over her jangled senses as she looked across the crowd. There were probably a hundred and twenty people aboard the boat. And not a child or family unit in sight. Suspicious, Treflee glanced around at left hands. There was a shocking lack of wedding rings.

If not for the calming effect of rum and curacao, she could have killed that Carrie! She’d booked them on a meat market cruise and not even bothered to warn her.

Worse yet, or maybe better yet, depending on your point of view, a tall, dark man ogled her from across the deck. If Treflee hadn’t just seen a dead man and had actually
been
single, she might have been flattered and taken up the invitation in his eyes. He had honey-colored skin and looked like an exotic mix between Hawaiian and mainlander. Not exactly handsome, but he had a face that would be hard to forget. Hoping to discourage him from making contact, she turned away.

Treflee’s gaze flitted to the door just as the engine roared to life and they pulled away from the dock.
Too late to jump ship.

*   *   *

Dinner passed in a blur of grilled mahimahi and pineapple salsa. Treflee was sorely tempted to get her last free drink, a third mai tai. But two was her limit. Alcohol loosened her tongue, and she needed her wits.

She stared at the magnificent deep-hued Hawaiian sunset, feeling melancholy with Ty, the man she’d loved, now the evidence of her failed marriage, sitting at her table. No romance in sight. Just broken pieces before her eyes.

She paid little attention to the conversation until Faye and Brandy returned unexpectedly before dessert.

“They ditched us.” Brandy scowled, referring to their two prisoners of love.

Treflee wondered how that was possible aboard a confined boat.

“The nerve,” Carrie said with more venom than one would expect. “Bastards.”

“Yeah,” Faye added.

And she’s the erudite one,
Treflee thought.

“Men! Don’t you just hate them?” Carrie said. “They’re all lying, scheming, cheating jerks.”

Obviously sensitive to the dangerous turn the conversation had taken, Greg suddenly excused himself. Ty looked like he wanted to bolt, too, but Laci had him by the arm in a death grip. He wasn’t going anywhere.

The alcohol and the creeping dusk messed with Treflee’s senses and made her sentimental. She sniffled. Just a little. “Amen,” she muttered, feeling totally drained.

Carrie set her wine glass down and shot her a surprisingly sympathetic look before turning to Ty. “Excuse her,” she said. “She’s going through a bad divorce. Asshole of a husband left her without signing the divorce papers. Just abandoned her.”

“Maybe he didn’t want a divorce,” Ty said. “Maybe he still loved her.”

Right,
Treflee thought, fighting a lump in her throat and refusing to look at him.

Carrie rolled her eyes. “Funny way of showing it. He took the coward’s way out. He didn’t stay around to fight for her, did he?” She shook her head. “Look at her. She’s like a lost kitten. I had to drag her on this vacation. We’d be two of a kind. Thank goodness I came to my senses and ditched the jerk just before the wedding. At least I’m free.”

There was just the slightest hint of pain in Carrie’s voice. You had to know her well to hear it, and Treflee had known her since birth. They were born three weeks apart.

“Oh, honey,” Carla said, using what Treflee supposed was her nurse’s bedside-manner voice. “I didn’t know.”

Treflee had just met them all on the flight over from the mainland. They weren’t in the confide-in-you stage yet.

Carla gave Carrie a look that said she understood now why Treflee wasn’t into partying. “He just abandoned you? Why did you want the divorce? What did the bastard do? Let it all out. You’re among friends.”

You know, sometimes life just hands you a gift. Treflee’s gaze flicked to Ty. Laci tightened her grip possessively. Treflee sighed heavily, as if she didn’t really want to talk, but in reality, she was dying to lash out.

“Oh, it was just, it was just
everything.
” Treflee threw her hands up and shook her head. “He traveled all the time for his job, like eighty percent of the time. Or more. He missed our anniversary, holidays, my birthday. He was gone so much, he never even
met
Carrie, my closest cousin, almost a sister to me.” Treflee sniffed, faking sentimentality.
Okay, I’m laying it on a little thick. Who can blame me?

“I was the little red hen. I had to do everything myself—manage the house, pay the bills, get the car fixed. A few sympathetic calls, texts, and e-mails did
not
make up for not being around to help out. I felt like I was single. With none of the fringe benefits. Online dating would have offered more companionship and support.”

“There must have been
some
benefits,” Ty said, and looked down at the dessert plate the waiter set before him.

“You mean the trinkets he brought home and the secrecy?” Treflee crossed her arms and ignored the coconut cream pie before her, wondering what had possessed her to think she could attack him without him firing back.

“Hey, give him a break. A guy gets home from a business trip, the last thing he wants to do is
talk
.” Ty winked at the girls, who nodded and smiled.

Damn his charming soul!

Treflee balled her fist in her lap. “Yeah? Well, I had a pretty good idea he wasn’t talking for other reasons. Code of the road, you know. The occasional trip to the titty bar … and more.”

“Titty bar! Men! Adolescents who never grow up.” Laci’s knuckles turned white as she dug bright pink fingernails into Ty’s arm, indignant with anger.

He winced. Served him right. For just a vengeful instant, Treflee hoped she drew blood.

She’d hit the right button with Carrie’s friends. Women who served their country side by side with their male counterparts evidently found strip clubs demeaning.

The other girls joined in, swearing and calling Ty, actually to his face though they thought it was behind his back, all kinds of names. Treflee had to give them credit. They’d picked up some colorful expletives in the army.

She was suddenly enjoying herself. Retribution is oh so fun when you have the upper hand.

She glanced at Ty to see just how good of a spy face he’d put on. Was he squirming? Seething? He looked calm. But inside, Treflee hoped he was roiling.

“Yes,
Ty,
” she said, emphasizing his name, “was full of secrets. He never talked to me.”

The girls all looked at Ty.

Carrie turned to him and apologized. “Her almost ex is ironically also named Ty.” She sighed and shrugged. “Sorry. No offense intended.”

Oh yes there was!

He smiled like, no problem, I understand. Okay, so he was doing a pretty good acting job.

“I wanted a baby,” Treflee said truthfully, letting her heart and disappointment sink into her tone. “And he didn’t. I loved Ty. I wanted to make a
family
with him. What’s so wrong with that? That’s what people who love each other do.”
And I needed a baby to fill the void left by the one I’d lost.

Ty looked down at the table, frowning.

Carla patted Treflee’s hand.

Faye’s eyes grew hard. “How long were you married?”

“Seven years.”

“Seven years! The honeymoon phase is long over by then,” Brandy said. “Why didn’t you just feed your pills to the plant?”

“Oh, I did. I even told him I was on the patch, and then I used a fake one. But he was careful,” Treflee said. “He always insisted on using protection.”

“Controlling SOB!” Faye shook her head.

Treflee nodded, keeping tabs on Ty with her peripheral vision. He was showing no signs of cracking. So she went in for the kill just as he lifted his mai tai to his lips. “Oh, it wasn’t
all
his fault.” She sounded so magnanimous. “So much traveling wore him out. He was just so tired. You know, he couldn’t always…” She trailed off delicately.

The girls’ eyes went wide. They leaned in toward her.

“He couldn’t always get it up,” Treflee said just loudly enough for them all, and the people at the table next to them, to hear. What a blatant liar she was. If there was anything Ty was good at, the sack was it. He never had any trouble keeping things up. Keeping them down, more like.

Ty sputtered. All the ladies looked at him as he choked on his drink.

“Sorry!” Carrie laughed. “Something about talking about impotence, even another guy’s, upsets men.”

So do lies about his own performance,
Treflee thought.

Treflee shook her head sadly. “Yeah, yeah. And all the tiredness and being off schedule affected his staying power, too.”