7 Days and 7 Nights (29 page)

In a firm hand, with well-formed curves and crisply dotted
i
's, Tom had written: “Dear Miranda, By the time you find this I plan to be out of the country. Sorry things turned out this way. Have a nice life. Tom.”

Miranda balled up the note and threw it at the dresser mirror while the pressure built behind her eyelids. Soon tears were streaming down her cheeks, puffing up her eyes, wreaking all kinds of havoc on her face.

She and Tom had loved each other once, she was sure of it. Maybe not with the searing intensity you read about in romance novels, but enough—she had thought—to weather the ups and downs of a lifetime. And when the initial excitement had worn off, she'd told herself that it had been replaced by something mellower and longer lasting.

She'd thought they had mutual respect and a certain amount of caring. But in fact they had cheating, and cross-dressing, followed by a very definite running away.

The tears were freefalling now, and Miranda didn't bother to wipe them away. She pictured the horrified look on her mother's face, but for once she was too miserable to care how puffy her eyes got or whether every last stitch of makeup was washed away. With a sniff, she wondered if it was like the tree falling in the empty forest. If no one was here to see her cry, did that mean that she wasn't?

As if loosened by the thought, the tears fell faster. Miranda let the hot salty drops make tracks through her makeup, licking them away only when they reached the corners of her mouth.

She felt like a wounded animal, battered and bruised, with spears sticking out of its hide. But even in her misery she recognized that her heart, though it hurt, wasn't completely shattered. This realization made her cry even harder.

She lost track of how long she cried, but when she finally looked into the mirror a pitiful woman stared back. Miranda sat up straighter and squared her shoulders, but the woman still had tears streaming down her face.

Plucking a tissue from the nightstand, she blew her nose, loud, since there still wasn't anyone in her forest and might not ever be again.

At last she sniffled and hiccupped her way to a stop. Reaching for something to cling to, she grabbed on to the pageant instruction her mother had been drilling into her since her fifth birthday.

Okay, then. Sometimes you didn't win the crown. Sometimes, though she didn't have prior personal experience with this, you didn't even make the final five. You could still put on the smile, and you could still walk the walk. If there was anything she knew how to do, it was that.

Tom didn't want her? Fine. But he was going to have to tell her so in person. Right after he fixed whatever damage he'd done to Ballantyne. Then he could go off and dress up in some other company's lingerie to his heart's content.

All she had to do was find the lying, cheating, cross-dressing S.O.B. Yes, that would be her first step. She'd get started just as soon as the woman in the mirror stopped crying.

About the Author

Wendy clearly remembers her first encounter with Dick and Jane. She's still unsure why this otherwise hip twosome were so preoccupied with their dog, Spot, but two seconds after reading “See Spot Run” she was hooked on words—and books—for life.

Despite efforts to control this addiction, Wendy—who has been unable to find an appropriate 12-step program—remains incapable of putting down a book once she's begun reading it, and has faced many mornings bleary-eyed as a result.

It wasn't long after leaving broadcast production for motherhood that Wendy realized reading just wasn't enough anymore. Soon she was writing every bit as compulsively as she'd always read. Once again, her mornings were anything but bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

7 Days and 7 Nights
is the author's first romantic comedy, and she sincerely hopes you sit up all night reading it—just like she did writing it.

Wendy lives in Atlanta with her husband and their two sons. You can write to her at 1401 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 328/C-70, Marietta, GA 30062, or contact her on her website at
www.authorwendywax.com
.

7 DAYS AND 7 NIGHTS
A Bantam Book / July 2003

 

Published by Bantam Dell
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York, New York

 

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2003 by Wendy Wax

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eISBN: 978-0-307-41783-1

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