Wellesley Wives (New England Trilogy) (44 page)

“So, you think I should wear the jeans?” Popsy asked.

“No, I think you should wear the dress. It’s so pretty.”

“Oh darn. Okay.” Popsy groaned.

Sandra was just about to ask why Popsy was so worried about what she was going to wear, when she realized that Popsy cared. She actually cared. Was she starting to live again? Had a few days with Mrs. Miller put her back on the road to recovery? Maybe the old Popsy was coming back.

“Wear the dress,” she said with even more enthusiasm now. “We’re going to have a terrific night and that’s an order! Karaoke, here we come. What’re you gonna sing anyway?”

Popsy swung around. “I’m not singing,” she said, with a horrified look on her face. “I’ll just watch everybody else.”

“Now, Popsy, what if everybody said that?” Sandra argued, picking up her hairbrush and pretending to use at as a microphone. “You have to join in, too, you know. You can’t just be a spectator.”

Chapter 34 

Rosie Swims With the Big Fish

“You can’t spend the week just being a spectator. You’re gonna have to jump in some time, honey.” He was unhappy with her reluctance to try out the playroom.

    He’d told her on Tuesday afternoon when he first tried it that it was pretty wild because you could see what everyone else was doing. “You wouldn’t want to have a case of performance anxiety,” he’d said and laughed nervously.

Rosie was happy to stand her ground. She didn’t make a big deal about it, but now that she knew she wasn’t alone, it gave her a boost of confidence. “If that does it for you, go ahead, but personally I would like any and all of my encounters to be discreet.” Sam agreed it was a good idea to let Marcus believe she’d been with other men. He’d managed to navigate his way through this crazy situation already, so she figured the best thing to do was to follow his lead.

Tuesday passed much as Monday had. Rosie enjoyed the sun all day. Once or twice she saw men give her an appreciative stare, but she shook her head and they took the hint. Other than that, she read and enjoyed the glorious Caribbean sun. She was turning a nice nutmeg brown, and she loved getting through a book a day.

Marcus was up and down like a rabbit, and that’s not all he was doing like a rabbit. Strange as it was, it didn’t seem to bother her anymore. As the days progressed, Rosie came to understand she no longer cared what her husband was doing. What had bothered her prior to the vacation was the idea she might have to do the same thing. For Marcus, it really did seem to be just a physical act. He wanted to have sex with other women. Maybe it was a caveman thing. Airline pilots were notorious for cheating. Marcus, at least, had the decency to communicate his needs. As long as she wasn’t expected to get involved, she was happy.

Early Tuesday evening, they again retired to their room together after a few cocktails, and Marcus had slept with her. He consistently reminded her there were condoms everywhere and there was no chance of either of them catching anything if they were careful. She thought it was funny that he was trying to reassure her. How could he ever reassure her about anything while he was openly sleeping around? She slept with him willingly because she hoped it would bring him back to her. The more he was with her, the less he could be with others.

Tonight was toga night. Twice during the day she’d seen Sam, once at lunchtime and another in the middle of the afternoon. On both occasions, Marcus had been with her, so Sam didn’t make any indication that he knew her.

It was kind of amusing that she was the one having the clandestine affair. She was friends with a man she was actively
not
having sex with. Marcus would be scandalized.

The music had turned to a slow set and Marcus had gone to the bathroom, so Rosie left the restaurant, not wanting to get asked to dance by some other lecherous husband. She decided to go admire the sea view by night and sat down at the water’s edge. Just like the daytime, there were pleasure boats out on the water, but now it was pitch-black. All she could see were the lights on the boats as the calypso music skirted along the water’s surface.

“They look inviting, don’t they?” Sam said as he came up behind her.

Rosie swung around. “Oh, I didn’t hear you. Hi, Sam, it really is beautiful here, isn’t it?”

He sat down beside her. Like everyone else, Sam was wearing a white bed sheet wrapped around his body to look like a roman emperor. He’d also managed to get a crown of laurel leaves, which gave him the edge.

“How did you find a Roman crown?” she asked.

Sam felt the headpiece. “There’s been a toga party on every Broader Horizons vacation I’ve ever been on. At this stage, Cindy packs them as a matter of course.”

“I think I saw your wife tonight. Is she the one dressed as a Roman slave?”

Sam looked a little embarrassed. “That’s her. She brought her own costume.”

It was without doubt the most suggestive costume at the party. Cindy Sinnott had what could best be described as three very small bits of leather bound together by thin strips of leather and a few laces. She also wore thin, flat gladiator sandals, the straps of which wrapped up her legs as far as her knees, and she had a dog collar around her neck. There was no way she was going home alone.

“Does it bother you?” Rosie asked.

Sam looked resigned. “Hey, if it makes her happy, who am I to get in the way?”

Despite what he said, she could tell it bothered him.

“Rosie, I was thinking of heading out on the water tomorrow. I hear Playa del Carmen is a great spot. Loads to do. I was just going to go on one of those catamaran group rentals. I’m okay to do it alone, but would you like to get out of Broader Horizons for the day?”

Rosie didn’t need to think about it. “I’d love to. What time are you leaving?”

“Say we meet at the front door around ten a.m.?”

“Oh, Sam, that really sounds fantastic. Count me in. I’ll be there. Thanks.”

The first thing Rosie did when she woke on Wednesday was call her sister. They got all the news stations on the TV in her room, so she knew Europe was still trapped in a plume of volcanic ash, but Lily insisted she and Natasha were still fine. It was only when Rosie spoke to her daughter that she heard all about Matt. The big question for Rosie was: where was Jack? Didn’t he mind? Then again, who was she to talk? She was heading out on a catamaran with a man who wasn’t her husband, while Marcus got up to Lord knows what.

She didn’t need to make her excuses to Marcus before she left their hotel room, because he wasn’t there.

Rosie had chosen her navy bikini and a navy pair of cotton shorts for her sailing day, along with a blue-and-white striped T-shirt and her large dark sunglasses. She remembered a beach towel but decided against her wide-brimmed hat.

When she got to the lobby, Sam saw her and smiled.

“Wow, I’m a lucky guy,” he said. Then, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, she kissed him on the cheek. It just felt right. She really liked him—not in a physical way, but as a good friend. They caught a taxi into town, which was already buzzing with activity.

“Marcus didn’t even come home last night.”

“Neither did Cindy. I wouldn’t worry about it, though. They probably just fell asleep in some room or another,” he said. Rosie took strength from this and decided to put the whole thing out of her mind.

Be an ostrich, she reminded herself.

~
*~

It was a glorious day. She was going out on the water with a new friend. Life was good.

“Playa del Carmen is a lot bigger than I thought it would be,” she said as she watched the buildings whizz by.

“Yes, I read up on it. I think it has around one hundred fifty thousand people, and that’s without the tourists, but it’s the water that blows my mind. People know about the Caribbean islands, but this is just as beautiful. It’s still the Caribbean Sea.”

Rosie was embarrassed. They were down at the port and Sam paid the taxi driver. “I thought that was the Gulf of Mexico,” she said and pointed to the ocean.

Sam didn’t laugh. “You would be right if we were farther north. Most of the east coast of Mexico overlooks the Gulf of Mexico but from Cancun, where we flew into, looks out over the Caribbean Sea.”

“Well, what do you know? Who would have thought geography could be so much fun?” She laughed. “Now, which way do we go?”

Sam and Rosie walked along the port like any other couple on vacation. Some of the shops were only starting to open. For the most part, they sold souvenirs, “I love Mexico” T-shirts, or postcards. There were a lot of tequila glasses for sale and, of course, sombreros. Rosie knew they were in a big tourist spot, but it was just so good to get out of Broader Horizons.

“I have to admit, I’m so happy to be away from that place for a few hours,” she said.

“Is it still really upsetting you?”

“Well, yes. I mean, my guard is always up. I’m scared somebody is going to hit on me at every turn, and I’m just trying not to think about what Marcus is doing. I’ll just bury it deep inside me and never deal with it,” she said as they walked onto the next shop display.

Sam said nothing but looked at her intently. It was clear that he was listening to her and taking her seriously. She liked that.

“We have this thing we do.” She picked up a set of maracas that were on display. “It sounds crazy. Marcus and I pretend to be like an ostrich. When there’s something we don’t want to deal with, we just bury our heads and let it pass over us.”

Sam raised an eyebrow and nodded.

“You think I’m nuts?” She shook the maracas, but they were very loud so she dropped them back onto the display table.

He smiled. “No, not at all. Some problems are worth ignoring and they simply pass, but others, you really need to talk about. I guess time will tell which category this falls into. The ostrich, you say? I like it. Maybe that’s what I’m doing about Cindy’s wild ways,” he added with a smile.

They walked some more and then he spotted the boat rental sign. “Here we are. I saw the pamphlet for it in the hotel lobby and decided to investigate,” he said.

Then he put his arm around the small of her back as if to usher her in a gentle fashion. To Rosie, it was just a friendly gesture, but to any onlooker, they looked like the perfect couple.

She’d brought her money and had every intention of paying for her ticket, but Sam insisted on treating her. “It’s not a date. It’s just one friend taking another friend out.”

Rosie thought he was very gallant, and in the end, she accepted.

Carlos, who skippered the catamaran, took the money, gave Sam the tickets, and told them to come back at noon. They would be driven to the boat which was docked in Puerto Aventuras.

Since they had a little time to spare, Rosie suggested breakfast in a waterfront cafe. They were soon sitting down with strong coffees and a couple of pastries.

“So, I’m guessing your mother is back from Ireland.”

Rosie had forgotten how much she’d shared with him at their last lunch together. It was nice that he remembered.

“No, there’s a big volcano that’s stopped all air traffic in Ireland and most of northern Europe. Mom and her friend are stuck. My sister has taken over babysitting my little girl.”

“She’s five, right?”

Again, that nice feeling of being with someone who listened to her. “Yes. Her name’s Natasha. This is the first time I’ve been away from her in five years, and my mom is supposed to be babysitting along with a nanny, and she goes and gets stranded in Ireland. What are the chances of that, I ask you?”

Sam bit into the apple-filled pastry and crumbs fell everywhere. Rosie found him endearing.

“But you’re okay with your sister taking care of her?”

She bit into her strawberry-filled Danish and nodded.

“It’s great to have a sibling you can trust. I only have one brother and all he’s ever done is take from me. He’s borrowed thousands of dollars over the years, which I know I’ll never see again. He even made a pass at my first wife. He really is a waste of space.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Do you see him much?”

Sam shook his head. “As little as possible. But your sister seems to have your back. That’s how it should be. You’re lucky.”

Rosie thought about all the fights she and Lily had of late. “To be honest, we haven’t been getting along that well. I really disapprove of some of her life choices, and she went crazy when I told her about my coming here.”

“You told her?”

Rosie nodded guiltily. “Mistake?”

He gave her a sideways glance. “I’d say so. It’s not the sort of thing you tell folks. They would think you’re, well, crazy. And on top of that, they might believe you’d try to try to steal their partner.”

Rosie’s face fell. “Small chance of that in my sister’s case. She’s living with my godfather.”

“As in living with—romantically?”

“Yes. We’re not related to him by blood. He was Dad’s best friend and business partner, so it’s all kind of messy at home. He’s also about a hundred years older than she is, but for some reason, she loves him. He walked out on his wife, who happens to be Mom’s best friend. That’s who Mom is in Ireland with right now. We’re all so damn incestuous.”

Sam wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I’ll say. Sounds like you guys need to get some space between you. Why do you all live in each other’s pockets?”

Rosie shrugged. “I don’t know. Boston is a great town. Where we live, it’s really beautiful. None of us wanted to move. Lily moved away for college, but when the job came up near home, she was back like a shot.”

“I know Boston’s good. A lot of my neighbors are snowbirds. They come down to Florida during the New England winter, and then head back up north for your summers.”

“That’s what Mom and Dad used to do. I’m not sure what she’ll do now. I’m afraid Dad’s business went into Chapter 11 just before he died. I’m not sure what sort of financial position my mom will be in when the dust settles.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said.