Thy Neighbor's Wife (14 page)

child’s godmother and could see her any time she wished, it never

felt like enough. She knew that kids grew fast, that if she blinked,

she could miss it. People are always saying that and you never

believe it when you’re a kid yourself, but it’s true, she thought. One

minute, she’s two and I’m the coolest person she knows aside from

her mommies. The next, she’s ten and I’m not allowed to hug her in

front of her friends. Alex promised herself that she’d spend every

second with Hannah that she could while she was still cool enough

to be seen with. She was positively dreading the day when Hannah

would choose her friends over her.

Jackie and Rita had a modest but beautiful home in Victor,

which was between Canandaigua and Rochester. It only took Alex

Thy Neighbor’s Wife 73

about fifteen minutes to get there, as opposed to the forty-five min-

utes it took to get to the city, so having dinner with them on a week-

night was feasible. She pulled into the driveway, noting with

approval—and a little jealousy—that Rita had been hard at work on

her landscaping already. It was barely June, but her perennials

shown in a wide variety of bright colors, making their homey living

quarters that much more inviting.

“Feed me,” Alex commanded as she entered the home of her

dear friends. The kitchen smelled divine, the mouth-watering aroma

of garlic floating in the air.

“Not to worry, my sweet. Feed you I will.” Rita kissed Alex’s

lips while deftly removing the bottle of merlot from her hands. “Hi,

love.”

“Hello, gorgeous.” Alex meant it. Jackie had done incredibly

well for herself and Alex liked to remind her every chance she

could. Rita was stunning, and if Alex hadn’t thought of her as a sis-

ter, she might very well have entertained a fantasy or two about her.

Her classic Hispanic looks and dark eyes were seductive and sexy.

Her natural dark curls had been past her shoulder blades at one

time, but with the birth of Hannah, she had found she didn’t have

the time to fuss with it and it had been easier to cut off some of the

length. Still, it was thick and wavy, and skimmed along her shoul-

ders in an alluring cascade of rich, cocoa brown. She had a wonder-

fully feminine figure and hadn’t lost any of her appeal since Hannah

had come along. Even during her pregnancy, she’d been beautiful

and sexy.

“Hey, what did I tell you about ogling my wife?” Jackie asked

from the doorway.

“Sorry. I can’t help it. I’ve tried. She’s impossible to not ogle. If

you get hit by a bus tomorrow, she’s mine.”

Rita shook her head and rolled her eyes, smiling with just the

slightest hint of embarrassment. “Take this and go sit down. I need

another half hour or so. Go. Out.” She shooed them out of the

kitchen, handing Alex back the wine bottle she had taken from her

not three minutes before.

Jackie snatched a corkscrew and two glasses off the counter

and the two friends headed for the living room where Hannah sat

on the floor absorbed in a video. Alex handed the bottle to Jackie,

then crawled up behind the toddler and wrapped her arms around

her, making the child giggle adorably.

“What are we watching?” Alex asked, sitting Indian-style next

to her.

“Boo’s Koos,” Hannah responded, her blue eyes riveted to the

screen. The guy on the show was wearing a striped green rugby

shirt that clashed horrifically with the bright blue background on

74 Georgia Beers

the screen, but he didn’t seem to notice and neither did Hannah. He

launched cheerfully into song, inviting Hannah to help the ani-

mated blue dog find the item he was hinting at. Hannah joined him

without missing a beat, singing slightly off-key, just like her mother.

Jackie handed Alex a glass of wine. “What’s new?”

“Not much, really. Jennifer helped me put up a pen for Kinsey

today.”

“A pen?”

“Yeah, sort of a kennel. Like a big playpen off the garage.

Should keep him out of trouble.”

“Does he like it?”

“Hates it.”

Jackie laughed. “That dog is worse than a kid.”

Alex stroked Hannah’s silky blonde hair. “Yeah, but he’s

almost as soft.”

“How ’bout the writing thing?”

“It’s a book, Jackie.” Alex grinned. “Say it. Say ‘book.’”

Jackie rolled her eyes. “Book. Okay? How’s the book thing?”

She knew how important writing was to Alex and she liked to check

in on her progress every so often to make sure she wasn’t getting

discouraged.

“It’s good. It’s moving along. I’m really not sure where it’s

going yet, but I had a session last week where I was totally

immersed. I felt so great. I was lost for over four hours. Amazing.”

“Well, Rita’s chomping at the bit to see it, so get a move on,

would you?”

“Soon.” Alex smiled. Rita had proven to be a terrific proof-

reader for her in the past. She was intelligent, loved a good story,

was great with spelling and punctuation, and wasn’t afraid to point

out when something wasn’t working or didn’t flow smoothly. Alex

had asked her earlier in the year if she’d proof the book for her. Rita

had been incredibly gracious and flattered, and Alex felt very confi-

dent with her writing in Rita’s hands. “So, what’s new with you

guys?”

Jackie sipped her wine and Alex was sure she saw something

resembling a shadow pass across her friend’s face. “Not much.

Same old same old.” It was just a flicker, but Alex caught it and fur-

rowed her eyebrows.

“Want to try again?”

“What?”

“What’s bothering you?”

“What do you mean?”

So, we’re going to play this game, are we? Jackie hated when

Alex played the I-can’t-just-tell-you-you’re-going-to-have-to-drag-it-

out-of-me game, but she thought nothing of turning the tables.

Thy Neighbor’s Wife 75

“Jackie. Do you think I don’t know you like a book?” At her

friend’s sudden expression of nervousness, Alex glanced toward the

kitchen and lowered her voice. “What’s the matter?”

Jackie sighed, studied the contents of her wine glass with

clouded blue eyes, and pushed an errant lock of blonde hair behind

her ear. Throwing a glance at her daughter to make sure she was

sufficiently absorbed in her program, her gaze finally met Alex’s.

“Rita’s ready for another baby,” she said quietly.

“That’s great!” Alex smiled with enthusiasm. At the complete

lack of such enthusiasm on the face of her best friend, she corrected

herself. “That’s not great?”

Jackie sighed again, throwing one hand in the air. “I don’t

know, Alex. I mean, I love being a mom. I do. And I want to have

more kids. But…” She lowered her voice even more, very aware of

her proximity to Hannah. Alex scooted away from the toddler and

closer to Jackie. “I hardly have Rita to myself any more and that’s only going to get worse if we have another baby. Hannah’s finally

big enough where we can toss in a video and keep her occupied for

a little while so that we can actually talk to one another like adults.

I’ve missed that so much and now that we have a little bit back, she

wants to throw it all away and go back to square one.”

“Jackie…”

“I know. I know I’m being totally selfish here. I’m aware of

that. I can’t seem to help it.” She dropped into the recliner in the

corner. “We hardly have sex any more, Alex. God, we used to have

it a couple times a week. Now, if we’ve got enough energy for once

a month, we’re lucky.”

She looked miserable and her best friend smiled warmly at her.

Alex was one of the only people who knew that Jackie’s biggest fear

was the legendary Lesbian Bed Death. The idea of it scared the hell

out of her and she looked it.

“Have you talked to Rita about this?” Alex asked gently.

“The sex thing?”

Alex bit back a chuckle. “Well, yeah, that. But I meant all of it.

How you feel about another baby.”

“Another baby right now,” Jackie corrected. “We’ve touched on

it a little.”

Alex cocked an eyebrow at her and she looked away in defeat.

“A very little.”

“I think you need to touch on it again. And soon.”

Jackie nodded knowingly and grimaced. “I’m bad at that,

Stretch.”

“I know you are. But, honey, Rita’s in her late thirties. She’s

not going to want to wait much longer for another child. You need

to talk about this. Now. If you don’t, it’s going to fester and turn

76 Georgia Beers

into resentment. And you don’t want resentment in this relation-

ship. You and I both know that. Talk to her.”

Jackie rested her head on the back of the chair and took a large

gulp of her wine. “You’re right. I’ll talk to her.”

“Good.”

“Oh Wise One.”

Alex snorted. “Yeah, that’s me. You can tell by the love of my

life standing here by my side.”

“It’ll happen, sweetie. She’ll show up sooner or later.”

“Well she’d better hurry the hell up. I ain’t gettin’ any younger,

you know.” She sipped her wine and they watched Blue’s Clues for

several minutes, both of them smiling as Hannah sang along.

Jackie got up to refill their glasses. “So, you made a playpen for

Kinsey today.”

“Yup.”

“And Jennifer helped.”

“Yup. She came over when I was just starting to put things

together and offered her services, so I took her up on it. We worked

very, very well together. Hey, what’s that look for?”

“Offered her services, huh?” Jackie waggled her eyebrows teas-

ingly.

“Unfortunately, not those services.”

“Maybe Ms. Right is closer than you think, hmm? Like, right

next door? You got a little crush thing going on, do you?”

Alex snorted. “Yeah, right. You’re obviously forgetting that

extra little thing she has. What’s the word again? Let me

think…Oh, yeah. A husband.”

“Too bad.”

“Tell me about it. Although a weird thing did happen today

while we were at the store.” She relayed the story of running into

Sarah and how oddly Jennifer had behaved. “Sarah had one of

those faces I sort of recognized, like we play volleyball or softball

against her or something. I’m sure I’ve seen her before.”

“Family?”

“Definitely. Her girlfriend came looking for her right after Jen-

nifer ran away.”

“Did she say anything afterward?”

“Jennifer? No. She just got really quiet. I poked and prodded a

little, trying to get her to open up, but she wasn’t talking. Whatever

the situation, seeing Sarah totally freaked her out.”

“Huh. That is odd.” They were quiet for a minute before Jackie

grinned. “Having her next door must beat the hell out of Old Lady

Cavanaugh, huh?”

Alex laughed. “Damn right.”

“And she’s more fun to look at.”

Thy Neighbor’s Wife 77

“Much. Much more fun to look at.”

“She’s got a great ass.”

“God, yes.”

They were silent for another minute, but when they met each

other’s gaze, they dissolved into raucous laughter as their college-

age selves reared their heads in an unexpected bit of regression.

Then Rita announced that dinner was ready and the two friends had

to grow up all over again.

Chapter

Ten

It was cool and cloudy the evening of the first volleyball game.

Jennifer arrived at the beach very early, knowing she’d need to do a

lot of stretching. Though she’d practiced with the team, she still

considered herself quite rusty. A severely pulled muscle was not out

of the realm of possibility. Plus, she’d need as much time as possible

to calm the fluttering butterflies in her stomach; she was terribly

nervous.

Three courts were set up right on the beach, each with a

wooden tower on which the official would perch to make the calls.

The sand was smooth, all three courts having been raked and sifted.

They looked neat and inviting. Jennifer remembered Alex’s warn-

ings, though, not to get too lax. Despite the raking, they were still

on the beach and there were always foreign objects buried some-

where.

“Dear God,” Jennifer mumbled in mock-prayer. “If it’s all the

same to you, I’d really rather not step on broken glass today.”

As she sat in the sand stretching her hamstrings, she noticed

several other players who seemed to be as early as she was and she

wondered whom they’d be playing. There were a couple women

bumping a ball back and forth between them with enough compe-

tence to look like they knew what they were doing, but not so much

as to seem threatening. The two young men on the middle court

were another story. One was setting for the other, who snarled with

anger as he clobbered the ball into the ground.

Yikes. Let’s not play him today, she thought with trepidation.

Or ever.

Alex had reassured her that the league was strictly recreational

and that they were there to have fun. That, of course, was no guar-

antee of the intentions of their competitors.

She tore her eyes away from the Snarling Man and concen-

trated on stretching her quads and her lower back. Both could be

problem areas for her—they had been in the past—and the last