Читать книгу Trouble Down The Road - Bettye Griffin - Страница 11

Suzanne surveyed the public areas of the house. Much to her annoyance, her regular housekeeper, Teresita, was off for the week. Not only did Teresita know the house better than anyone, but she did an excellent job. A local agency specializing in housekeepers had sent a temporary replacement, but the woman was slow moving and missed a lot of areas. She’d come in three times this week, and each time Suzanne had to point out to her that the tables were streaked and that there were still spots on the tiled floor. Unfortunately, this same woman would be on duty for tonight’s party.

Suzanne sighed wearily at the prospect. She’d offered to pay Teresita double time if she’d come in and work the night of the party, but her longtime housekeeper refused. Of all the lousy luck that Brad’s birthday fell on the same weekend as the double celebration Teresita and her husband were hosting for their two children, who had just graduated from high school and college, respectively. They had family members coming in from all over the state to join in the festivities. Suzanne supposed she couldn’t blame Teresita for turning her down. Two graduations was a big deal for any family. She just wished they were having their party some other weekend.

At least it looked like Teresita’s substitute finally got it right this time, Suzanne thought with satisfaction when she failed to notice anything amiss. Maybe she could relax a bit before starting to dress.

She turned to go to her bedroom, then made a last-minute detour into the kitchen, where her friend Paula Haines was busy with food preparation. “You okay in here?” she asked.

“Fine. I love working in your kitchen, girl. It’s a cook’s dream.”

Paula wore a tank top, sweatpants, and flip-flops. Her long hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her forehead was covered with a thin sheen of perspiration. Suzanne knew from other events Paula had catered for them that she would slip away after her staff arrived to change and apply makeup. She’d emerge looking like a guest. But it was warm in the kitchen, with numerous pots going on five burners and the oven on as well. The granite countertops were covered with bowls of chopped onion and peppers, spice jars, stoneware, different types of drinking glasses, and cookbooks.

“Good. Um…Paula, I’m sorry it didn’t work out with Kenya.” Paula had offered to pay Suzanne’s younger sister to help her with the prep work, but Kenya canceled at the last minute, claiming she didn’t feel well.

“No problem. Everything’s gotten done.”

Suzanne appreciated Paula’s cheerfulness, but she still felt bad about her sister’s behavior. Kenya would attend the party with her boyfriend in a few hours, showing no signs of illness, and Paula knew it. Sometimes she wondered if anyone was as lazy as her little sister. “Listen, it’s five-thirty. I’m going to go chill with Brad for a while. Holler if you need anything.”

“Will do.” Paula’s shoulders and hips swayed to the CD she had playing in a small boom box perched on the kitchen counter.

Suzanne wore a smile as she walked toward the master bedroom. It was pretty funny that she and Paula had become such good friends, considering all the intertwined relationships already in existence. Paula had been previously married to Suzanne’s next-door neighbor Darrell Canfield and was the mother of their daughter, Devon. Darrell was now married to Brad’s first wife, Lisa, and stepfather to Lisa’s daughter with Brad, Paige Betancourt.

Unlike Suzanne, Paula had no issues with Lisa. Lisa had helped Darrell raise Devon, who was just three months younger than Paige. Paula left Devon in the care of her father and stepmother while she embarked on an ultimately unsuccessful second marriage in Texas. She’d never said much about it, but Suzanne sensed that relations between mother and daughter had been strained ever since.

Even more ironic than Suzanne’s friendship with Paula was the genuine friendship that formed between Brad and Darrell. It seemed unheard of to Suzanne that two men who’d both been married to the same woman could go out fishing or watch sports on TV together. She wondered if Lisa found it as bizarre as she did.

Suzanne entered the bedroom to find Brad napping in the down-stuffed chair in their bedroom, his feet resting on the matching ottoman, the television tuned in to an NBA semifinal game. Even in repose he looked dashingly handsome, with streaks of gray mixed in the dark brown hair on his head, as well as in his mustache and neatly trimmed goatee.

She bent and gently brushed her lips against his cheek. He didn’t stir. She tried again, this time tracing his lips with her tongue.

His eyes slowly opened. “That you, Suzie Q?” he asked sleepily.

“It better be,” she replied with feigned indignation.

“What time is it?”

“Going on six.”

“Mmm. I really knocked out.”

“You don’t have to get up yet,” she said quickly. “Unless you want to move to the bed. You’re going to be fifty in a few hours. I was hoping to get one more chance to make love to you before that happens, just in case you lose it.”

He pulled her on top of him. “I’ll be just as good at fifty as I am at forty-nine.”

“Prove it,” she challenged.

Half an hour later they lay sweaty and satiated in bed. “Well, there’s no doubt that you’ve still got it,” she said. “Now I can’t wait for midnight.”

“At midnight we’ll have a house full of guests, so you can forget about that. But don’t worry. I’m not ready for Viagra yet.”

“I’m not worried,” Suzanne said confidently. “I’m going to take a catnap and refresh myself before I start getting ready. And, Brad—”

“Hmm?” He was already dozing off.

“I love you,” she whispered, so softly that he couldn’t hear her.

She truly did.

And no one—no one—would take him away from her.

Suzanne frowned as she looked through the peephole. Why did the most boring people always have to be the first to arrive? Even Brad’s family members from out of state, all of whom were staying at the same hotel, hadn’t gotten here yet. Flo and Ernie Hickman must have gotten in their car at the stroke of eight to drive over. And she’d be stuck entertaining them until someone else arrived and freed her. Brad flatly refused to have anything to do with them. He’d had it with Ernie’s endless comments about their possessions, always followed by something along the lines of, “Well, I’ve been looking for one of those myself. Do you mind if I ask how much you paid?”

The Hickmans lived in Villa St. John, the subdivision around the corner. Suzanne hadn’t seen much of them in the last few years. From Kenya, who dated their son Gregory off and on, she’d learned they’d had some hard times, although they tried hard to mask it. Brad encouraged her to leave well enough alone. Ernie could be awfully crude, and they were both nosy. Suzanne had spent a fair amount of time in Flo’s company before Flo’s spare time suddenly dried up—Suzanne believed she couldn’t afford to hang with her anymore. Suzanne had enjoyed Flo’s open admiration of their home, furnishings, and cars, and she also found Flo’s attempts to keep up with them amusing. The Hickmans didn’t want to keep up with the Joneses, they believed they were the Joneses and everyone had to scramble to keep up with them.

Because of Brad’s feelings and the Hickmans’ annoying ways, Suzanne had considered not even inviting them, but in the end didn’t see how she could make the exclusion. She’d invited friends of Lisa and Darrell’s who also lived in Villa St. John, couples whom they saw whenever the Canfields entertained. She hadn’t wanted to invite them—both the women were friends of Lisa’s, and Suzanne suspected they talked about her behind her back—but Brad asked her to and she had no choice. It wouldn’t be right to invite them and not the Hickmans. Then there was Kenya’s relationship with Gregory Hickman to consider as well—hardly a boyfriend / girlfriend setup, but a relationship all the same. The sporadic nature of their dating pattern suggested Gregory simply did not share Kenya’s devotion, and Suzanne knew from her mother that they were on the outs again. Kenya hadn’t even gone to Gregory’s recent graduation ceremony from the University of North Florida, but Suzanne felt that regardless, her sister would probably invite him to be her date.

Actually, Suzanne hoped she would, and that he would accept. Brad’s daughter Paige, as well as Paige’s stepsister and best friend Devon Canfield, were coming tonight. Both girls had crushes on Gregory when they were teenagers. Suzanne and her mother had both been thrilled when Gregory chose her sister over the other two.

The thought of both girls, now completing their junior year, showing up dateless while Kenya had Gregory at her side brought an unabashed smile to Suzanne’s face.

“Ernie, Flo, how nice to see you,” she said graciously. “It’s been much too long.” She gave herself credit for mastering the art of bullshit. Ernie looked fine in a high-collared light gray shirt and dark gray suit, but Flo looked like she was ready for New Year’s Eve in a gold sequined dress with a scoop neckline in both the front and back. She must have been wearing every piece of jewelry she owned, including a huge pair of gold earrings that had to be clip-ons; if they were pierced, her earlobes would be sagging like the jowls of a centenarian.

Flo glanced around at the empty family room and the large patio beyond, which connected to each other by the opening of a series of long panel patio doors. The six doors, set on a diagonal angle with three on each side, had been pulled back into the outer walls of the house. This feature made for a transition between the indoor family room and the screened-in patio with its outdoor kitchen, lagoon-style pool, and views of downtown Jacksonville across the St. Johns River that was both seamless and spectacular. “See, Ernie, I told you we were too early.” To Suzanne she said, “We’ll be all right here if you need to finish getting ready, Suzanne.”

She considered taking Flo up on her offer, but wanted to hold out until at least one other guest or couple arrived. She knew that if they were left alone, Ernie and Flo would proceed to go through every knickknack and piece of furniture they had, trying to determine what had been added since their last visit and, of course, how much it cost. Brad would have a fit if she left them to snoop around.

“Oh, I’m all ready. It’s Brad who’s running late. Why don’t we sit outside?” Suzanne led the way to the connected family room and patio at the rear of the house, the feature she loved the most and that always got them the most compliments.

Mother Nature had smiled on them tonight. The stars sparkled in the night sky, and the city’s skyline looked lovely in the darkness across the river.

“You’ve got some real fancy touches tonight,” Ernie said before they even had a chance to sit down. “I’m glad Flo remembered to bring the ticket, or else we wouldn’t have gotten in.”

Suzanne wished Flo had forgotten. They would have gone home to retrieve the admission pass, which would have given her a few more minutes of peace. She explained, “The man collecting invites has a list to check as a backup in case anyone forgets. He just would have asked for ID.” She’d asked Paula to let one of her wait staff man the door; the temporary maid from the agency simply didn’t move fast enough to do it efficiently.

“And the valet parking,” Ernie continued. “Pretty fancy.”

“Yes, well, we’re expecting a fair number of people. It seemed easier that way.” Suzanne had taken the unusual step of inviting everyone on the block to head off any resentment at having the block crammed with cars, but why was she explaining anything to this oaf?

“Your house looks great, Suzanne,” Flo said. “I love the floating candles in the pool.”

“Well, thank you.”

“And I see you got new patio furniture.”

“Yes, we replaced everything last year. We do a lot of entertaining out here.” Oops. Wrong thing to say. She’d practically invited Ernie to say something like, Be sure to invite us.

“Besides, the old stuff was going on five years old, so it was time to replace it,” she quickly added, then looked toward the door for the second time in a minute. She was desperate for someone else to show up, but who was silly enough to show up at five minutes after eight? No one would be here for another fifteen or twenty minutes, at least. And she was stuck here with people she’d invited simply to spare their feelings.

Paula, wearing a sleeveless pale green silk sheath, emerged from the kitchen with a bowl of fruit, which she placed strategically on a cloth-covered rectangular table that would eventually hold hot and cold hors d’oeuvres.

“Who’s that?” Ernie asked loudly, following Paula’s moves with his eyes.

Suzanne rolled her eyes. How did Flo stand being married to him?

The next ones to arrive were Frank Nelson, Brad’s new partner in the diagnostic center, and his wife Jean. The two business partners socialized fairly often in the three years since Frank bought out Brad’s original partner, and Suzanne looked at the Nelsons as a slightly older—they were both in their mid fifties—version of herself and Brad. Suzanne had thought the Nelsons had a perfect marriage when she’d first met them, the model for herself and Brad in the future. She’d been shocked when Brad casually mentioned that Frank had a girlfriend out on the west side of town. Ever since then Suzanne felt a little uncomfortable around Jean because of what she knew. Whenever they had a few minutes alone for girl talk, Jean usually said something about how happy and contented she was with her life. Suzanne would never forget her saying, “You know, Suzanne, all I ever wanted was a husband, children, and a house of my own. And I got all three. Sometimes I think I’m the luckiest woman on earth.”

Suzanne didn’t see how Jean could possibly be unaware of her husband’s multiple indiscretions; she’d heard other wives gossip about it with her own ears. Did an intact family unit and a large house in an exclusive neighborhood mean so much that she could gladly look the other way?

Like Suzanne, Jean didn’t work outside the home, and hadn’t for years. She and Frank had married while he was still in medical school, and she supported them by working as a secretary. Or, as she liked to put it, an executive assistant. She hadn’t worked in probably twenty-five years. Perhaps that was why she tolerated Frank’s behavior. If she got fed up and walked out on him, what would she do?

Suzanne liked Jean, but she regarded Jean’s attitude toward her husband’s cheating as pathetic. If Brad ever stepped out on her, she wouldn’t do like Jean did and carry on as usual. No way. She’d pack up and leave in a heartbeat. And she certainly wouldn’t move in with her mother. No, she’d go to the nicest hotel in town, and she’d charge her stay to him.

No way would she ever put up with infidelity.