The Sweetest Revenge (13 page)

I sat with him for fifteen
minutes or so before I went back to the kitchen to finish our meal.
At two, I set a platter of chicken cut into pieces on the table, and
surrounded it with a bowl of gravy, mashed potatoes, squash, and
candied carrots. I looked at the full table. I had outdone myself.

“
I can’t believe this,”
Keith said when he sat down. “You’ve gone above and beyond the
call of duty for the university.”

That stung just a little. I felt
embarrassed. I had, after all, gone to the mountains on official
university business. I had ended up succumbing to Keith’s charms
and made him a full dinner. Was it just as my role with the
university to him? Did he get this kind of treatment when he donated
money? Did he expect it? I cringed. I suddenly felt so foolish.

Keith didn’t seem to notice. He
filled his plate and savored every item I had cooked. I barely
touched my food. I just needed to get out of there, I realized. Get
home to Midnight and my own home and hope I could get over my
embarrassment. Hope that no one at the university knew I had slept
with him and then cooked him a meal! Keith was right. It was above
and beyond the call of duty.

“
Amy?” Keith said.

I looked up into his eyes.

“
Is something wrong? You’re
hardly touching your food. I feel like I’ve said something wrong.”

I had been through too much in
the past year to be coy or deny my feelings.

“
It was when you said that
stuff about going above and beyond the call of duty for the
university. Do you think the university sent me here to sleep with
you and make you dinner?”

Keith stood up and came around to
my side of the table. He pulled me up with his hand and hugged me.

“
No, of course not!” he said.
“I’m sorry I said that. It was just a phrase. I didn’t think.”

I smelled his woodsy fragrance. I
wanted to believe in him.

He cupped my face in his hands
and looked into my eyes.

“
Of course I know this isn’t
for the university,” he said. “I hope it’s for me. And you.”

“
Why did you refuse to donate
to the university if they didn’t hire me back?” I asked bluntly.

“
Because, when I met you at my
mother’s funeral, I saw something in your eyes. Something
incredible. I can’t explain it, but I knew I wanted to see your
eyes again. Be with you again.”

“
But you donated millions of
dollars,” I said.

“
It was worth it,” Keith
said. “To be with you.”

“
Are you kidding me?” I
asked. But a warm feeling was spreading through me. I realized that
Keith had felt that way when I looked my very worst. When I was
insecure and hiding behind layers of fat.

“
No,” he said. “I learned
more from my mother than how to run a business.”

He leaned down and kissed me
gently then. I put my arms around him and pulled him closer as I
explored his mouth. I hadn’t been with anyone but Jim for eighteen
years, and now I had been with someone else. Someone who seemed to
care about me.

We left the food on the table and
Keith led me upstairs to his bedroom. We both undressed as quickly as
we could and fell onto the quilt-covered bed still holding onto each
other. He nuzzled my neck and kissed my breasts before moving to my
mouth. I eagerly accepted his tongue. His knee was between my legs
and I felt his hardness on my thigh. I pulled him into me then
because I couldn’t wait another second to feel him grinding into
me. And grind he did, until both of us were released.

Afterward, Keith held me in his
arms until we fell asleep.

***************

I woke up with a start. The room
was dark and the clock read 6:57. Keith stirred and opened his eyes.

“
I left my cat at home by
herself,” I said. “I’m worried about her. She’s used to me
being there.”

“
It’s dark now,” Keith
said. “You shouldn’t drive. Will your cat be okay until tomorrow?
You can leave first thing.”

“
I guess so,” I said. I
didn’t really want to leave and I knew Midnight had enough food.
But I was a little worried about her all alone in the house.

“
I’m going to order something
from the inn,” Keith said, getting up from the bed. I glanced at
his nudeness and wanted him all over again. I blushed at the thought.

Keith pulled on his pants and got
his cell phone out of his pocket.

“
Paul,” he said into the
phone. “Is there anyone there who can bring an order to my house?”

After a moment, Keith said, “I
think we’d like the beef tenderloin with mushrooms, orzo, and
asparagus. Could you throw in some of that bread pudding? Thanks.”

Keith turned to me. “They’re
closing the kitchen at eight tonight, so it’s no problem to get our
food. Paul said he’d bring it by personally on his way home.”

“
Must be nice to own an inn,”
I said.

He laughed. “It does have its
perks,” he said. “I was thinking we could take a bath while we
wait on our food, unless you’d rather have a bath by yourself.”

“
I’d like a bath,” I said.

He walked into the bathroom and I
heard the water start flowing into the tub. I wrapped the quilt
around me and walked in. The tub was huge with plenty of room for
two. Keith poured in some bubble bath. That made me wonder a little
bit. What man had bubble bath sitting by the tub?

“
Rosa keeps this here,” he
said as if reading my thoughts. “I’ve never used it. I guess she
thinks a bathtub should have bubble bath beside it.”

I slipped into the silky water on
one end and Keith slipped in on the other. We wrapped our legs around
each other. I was trying to turn my mind off to what I had done since
I’d been in the mountains, to what I was going to do again. Keith’s
legs rubbing against me made it easy to stop thinking about
consequences. I was only in the moment, yearning for him.

Keith got out of the tub first,
and I admired his body once again. He pulled me out and dried me off,
gently rubbing the towel over my breasts, then over my back and
between my legs. He kissed me and pulled me against his silky body.

The doorbell rang, and Keith
hurriedly pulled on his pants and a shirt. Paul had brought our food,
which Keith put on the coffee table in the great room. I was still
wrapped in a towel while we ate our tenderloin. I was starving since
I’d hardly eaten my Thanksgiving dinner. The fire crackled when
Keith put on a fresh log. We sipped red wine and ate and talked and
laughed. Afterward, Keith released my towel and made love to me on
the couch in front of the fire.

Chapter Fourteen

After a night of lusty sex two
more times in the bedroom, I woke up and put my work suit on again
for the third day in a row. I had to pull myself out of this fantasy
and get back to my own house, my cat. After I dressed, I stood over
the bed and looked down at Keith, who was still sleeping. Should I
leave him a note? That didn’t seem right. I shook his arm.

He opened his eyes and looked at
me. Then he sat up.

“
You’re ready to go, aren’t
you?” he said.

“
I need to get back,” I said.
“But you can come to my house if you want to.” I surprised myself
with that.

“
I think I do want to,” Keith
said, getting out of bed and revealing his morning wood. I glanced
away shyly. I watched him as he dressed in faded jeans and a flannel
shirt. He packed a small bag with clothing and things he got from the
bathroom. I wished I could have been so prepared when I came up to
the mountains so innocently without a change of clothes. And what was
I doing, inviting him to the house I had shared with Jim? I started
to feel a little uneasy about it.

“
I’m ready,” Keith said
picking up his bag.

He got into a black SUV that was
parked in his garage and followed me all the way back home. When I
opened the kitchen door, with Keith right behind me, Midnight circled
my ankles. I petted her and Keith petted her. I was surprised she
allowed that.

I thought it would be weird to
have a man in the house I had shared with Jim, but it wasn’t. I had
made it my own house and I welcomed Keith. We spent the next three
days together, watching TV, listening to music, cooking, and making
love. He left at nine on Sunday night.

I closed the door after he left
and leaned against it. I took several deep breaths. My life had
changed in a way that I had never expected and I needed to take it
in.

Keith called me when he got back
home and we made plans for the next weekend. I would visit him and we
would attend a crafts fair. That smacked of my former life with Jim,
but I put that out of my mind. This was a different life with someone
else.

When I walked into the office on
Monday, I floated down to my office.

Keith texted me that morning
saying he missed me. I texted him back that I missed him too. He
called me after I got home from work. We talked for two hours,
learning about each other. He discussed his mother and growing up on
the mountain. He talked about his brief marriage and the women he had
dated since then. His mother had hoped he would remarry, but he never
found anyone who was right. I gradually began to open up about my
marriage.

What distinguished my growing
relationship with Keith was that we laughed together. Jim and I had
never really laughed that much, we were so busy trying to get him
through law school, then working toward making partner, then trying
to have a baby. It had been a stressful time. We had not survived.

Over the next month and through
the holidays, I visited Keith or he visited me. We saw each other
every single weekend. I spent Christmas with him and we bought a tree
and decorated it together. He spent New Year’s at my house and I
cooked pork tenderloin, turnip greens, and black-eyed peas to bring
good luck for the following year. We watched the ball descend in
Times Square and toasted each other with champagne.

I heard my cell phone pinging
during that New Year’s holiday, but I ignored it. My parents were
on a Caribbean cruise so I wasn’t expecting to hear from them.
Finally, I started to worry that something had happened with my
parents, so I checked the phone while Keith was taking a shower.

It was Jim. Dammit! I didn’t
want to hear from him. So, I didn’t read his text or listen to his
voicemail. Why was he trying to get in touch with me now, when I had
a new life? What could he possibly want?

I kissed Keith goodbye at the
kitchen door on New Year’s Day, late in the afternoon. He had to
get back to his business and I had to return to work the next day.
Only then, after I saw Keith’s headlights back out the driveway and
go down the road, did I check my text messages.

“
Can we talk?” Jim had
texted. And “I really would like to talk to you,” on another
text. I listened to his voice mail.

“
Amy,” he said. He sounded
kind of despondent. “If our years of being together means anything
to you, would you please call me?” I couldn’t imagine what he
wanted. We had been divorced for months. And he was monthly paying
the price for his infidelity. What did he want?

A text or a phone call was too
immediate somehow, so I sent Jim an email.

“
I don’t know why you are
trying to contact me,” I wrote. “But I have no desire to talk to
you. If you feel you need to tell me something, then please send me
an email. I will not be calling you or texting you.”

It couldn’t be any plainer than
that. I was upfront about it, and I didn’t want a personal
interchange with him.

After I sent the email to Jim, I
took a long shower. As I bathed myself, I thought about Keith,
touching me all over. I missed him so much when he was gone. I wanted
him in my bed every single night and day.

Keith called me when I was in bed
and nearly asleep. He said he missed me.

“
I know we’re just starting
here,” he said. “But right now, I just want to feel you. I want
to kiss you. This really sucks.”

I agreed with him. It sucked. But
I think we were both afraid at that point to make a huge commitment
that would require me quitting my job and moving to the mountains.
Because that was really the only solution to our unrequited lust. He
couldn’t move to my house, away from his business. So we left it as
it was. Undiscussed. Yearning for each other during the weekdays.

When I got to work the next
morning, I checked my email. Jim had written me back.

“
I just wanted to wish you a
Happy New Year,” he wrote.

Was that all? After his desperate
attempts to get in touch with me, he just wanted to wish me a happy
holiday? Oh, well. I was glad that’s all he had to say. I didn’t
respond back.

When I drove to Keith’s house
the next weekend and walked to his door, I practically jumped into
his arms. And that’s how it was for us. His weekend with me, mine
with him. We had sex constantly, when we weren’t dining at the inn
or eating a meal I’d made. We went out sometimes, to movies or
crafts fairs in the mountains. But mostly we spent our time in bed.
We couldn’t get enough. When Friday at five rolled around, I was
ready for him. Oh, how I ached through the week for him.