Fat Fridays (8 page)

Stunned by the venom in Tiffany’s voice, Sukie sat back in her chair. “Look, I know hormones go crazy when you’re pregnant but, Tiffany, I hate to hear you talk that way. Do you really mean it?”

“About the abortion?” Tears filled Tiffany’s eyes. “Probably not. I can’t even step on ants. How could I hurt my baby? It’s just that I have to get out all my anger before I burst. I’ve never felt this way before.”

“Have you been to a doctor yet?” Sukie studied the dark smudges under Tiffany’s eyes.

“No, because the minute I make an appointment, Beau will know. I’ve taken three pregnancy tests, wishing they were wrong.” Her eyes welled again. “I never dreamed I’d be feeling this way. I’ve always wanted a family, in my own good time and with a man I was sure I wanted to be with for the rest of my life. How could I have been so stupid as to marry Beau? I guess I was blinded by everything—the way he looked at me, his background, everything.” Tiffany’s sigh wavered in the air, a sad note from a song gone wrong.

“Perhaps you can talk to your minister,” Sukie said, searching for ideas.

Tiffany warded off her words with a raised palm. “You don’t understand. I can’t talk to anyone else about it. Once Beau’s mother finds out, any sense of freedom is gone.”

“Tiffany, you can’t hide this forever. Chances are she and Beau will find out you’re having his baby. Think about it. Then decide where you want to go from there. Maybe Beau will be so excited about fulfilling his parents’ wishes that things will be better between you.” Even as Sukie said the words, she doubted it would happen.

“What should I do, Sukie?” Tiffany’s eyes loomed large in her fine featured face. 

Sukie took a deep breath. “Well, I don’t think you should do anything rash. How would you feel if you did end the pregnancy?”

“Awful, just awful.” Tiffany’s cheeks drained of color. “Oh, God! I think I’m going to be sick.”

Tiffany dashed into the bathroom, leaving Sukie shivering at the table. Her insides felt as if a frigid winter wind had blown through her. 

Pale and silent, Tiffany emerged from the bathroom. Her hand cupped her stomach. Watching Tiffany’s hand move in gentle circles over the slightest bulge, Sukie felt the tension inside her ease. Whether Tiffany was aware of it or not, she’d already begun to comfort the baby.

Sukie dropped Tiffany off at work and headed back to the library. Her thoughts strayed to Ted and the baby he’d recently started with Emmy Lou. It seemed so wrong that he should be able to have a whole new family after ditching hers. Now that he was about to have a baby with a younger woman, he strutted around town like a glowing ad for Viagra.

###

D
arkening skies brought the afternoon to an end. Sukie headed home, grateful for her job. Weekends had become an agonizingly long period of time, but now she’d be busy. 

She pulled into her garage, parked the car and walked down to the mailbox. As she stood there, a white Lexus SUV pulled up beside her.

Cameron Taylor opened the front passenger’s window of his car and leaned toward her. “I heard about the Nighty Night bedtime story program you’ve started at the library. Is it too late to sign up Chloe?”

“No, it’s fine. The more the merrier.” Sukie leaned in the car window to talk to Chloe in her car seat. “It should be fun, honey. Come dressed in your jammies, all ready for bed.”

Cameron gave Sukie a dazzling smile. “Thanks. It’s a great idea. ‘Gives parents the chance to have time to themselves.”

Sukie nodded. “It’s nice for the kids, too.”

Cameron gave her a little salute and slowly pulled away.

Sukie watched the car travel down the road. The man did everything for his daughter. And he was hot. The way his leather jacket fit across his broad shoulders, the honey-colored hair, the slight cleft in his chin...

She let out a sigh. “Get real, Sukie.”

At the mailbox, she lifted out a bunch of envelopes. Bills, bills and more bills. A white sheet of paper floated to the ground. She leaned over and picked it up. Scrawled across it in bold, black letters was the single word
HELLO
.

A shiver did a spidery dance across Sukie’s shoulders. The friendly word didn’t seem friendly at all.

She looked around, but the street was empty and no one was in sight.

L
ynn wandered around her apartment admiring all the nice things she’d been able to gather together- items she’d bought at garage sales or at thrift shops. She picked up the small blue statue of the virgin mother from the end table by the couch and put it back down, uncertain what she believed anymore. The empty picture frame sitting nearby was a token of all she’d had and lost. She kept it out on display to remind her of the need to be careful.

Of all the places Lynn had lived in the past, this one had become most like a real home to her. She hoped to be able to stay in Williston for a long time, but she wasn’t sure if she could. It was always that way. She’d just start to feel settled then something would come up and she’d worry about staying too long in one place and being found.

Lynn’s heart shriveled at the idea of leaving. The ladies in the Fat Fridays group had become so dear. Their friendship was a real breakthrough for her. In the past, she’d never let anybody get so close to her. But each woman in the group was willing to accept her as she was—a woman all alone, restless and unsure of the future. Here, with them, she’d found something near contentment.

Sinking onto the couch, Lynn hugged a pillow to her, thinking of the little girl she’d once held close. She felt tired, so tired, from constantly running and living a nightmare few would imagine.

She wanted to stay in Williston. She really did. 

Only time would tell if she could.

S
ukie awoke with fresh purpose. She’d always loved books—delighted in tracing the words across a sentence, inhaling the smell of the ink on the pages, holding the weight of the pages in her hand. As a child growing up in a small town, reading had played a big part in her life. She’d found it a joy to share that love of the written word with her children, to let them witness the unraveling of a story. Now, she’d get to share that same joy with lots of other children.

She hurried through her daily routines and went to the library, where she took up a morning post behind the circulation desk, helping to check out books, sorting returned books and answering questions as simple as the location of the rest room. It felt good to be working...until Katy Hartmann walked in.

Sukie cringed and looked for a way to escape. Too late.

Katy waved and came right over to the desk. She’d casually thrown a pink sweater over a white tennis dress, which showed her long legs to good advantage, nicely honed from Emmy Lou’s Pilates class, no doubt. Her eyes gleamed like those of a lizard that’d just spotted a juicy, fat fly.

The memory of Katy’s’s smugness as she’d spread the news through town about Ted’s affair sabotaged any good intentions on Sukie’s part to be friendly.

Katy fluttered her eyelashes, and Sukie thought of bees, not butterflies. “Sukie, it’s true. You
are
working here. I heard the news at the last meeting of the women’s club.”

Sukie nodded and remained silent, desperate to avoid conversation with her.

“Say, I hear there’s a new guy in town. All the women are talking about him. And, Sukie, he’s right down the street from you. His name is Cameron Taylor. Does it ring a bell?”

“I’ve met him.” Sukie fought to control the heat that shot defiantly to her cheeks. “He seems real nice. He’s got an adorable little girl. I haven’t met his wife yet.”

Katy blinked, and her lips spread in a sly smile. “Sukie, he has no wife. He’s single. That’s why all the women, single or not, are going gaga over him.”

Single?
Sukie’s mouth went dry.
Why hadn’t he ever corrected her talk of a wife?
She felt like a fool.

“Well, I’ve got to go.” Katy wiggled her fingers at her. “Just thought I’d stop by and say hello on my way to pick up fresh flowers. We’re having a dinner party tonight. Catered, but still, I’ve got a lot to do.” 

Sukie feigned a smile. Once, she and Ted would have been included in Katy’s dinners.

“Have fun!” Sukie forced herself to say, but the words got stuck in her throat.

###

A
fter a quick supper, Sukie hurried to the library to greet the dozen or so children who’d signed up for the bedtime story hour. There, she arranged a number of pillows on the floor around the small stool she’d chosen for herself and paced the floor, awaiting the first arrival.

By seven o’clock, most of the children had appeared. Two overly excited boys began to hit each other with their pillows. Sukie pulled one of them aside, talked quietly to him, and placed the other boy close to her feet where she could watch him. 

“Shall we begin?” Sukie said to the restless children, and looked up to see Cameron approach, Chloe in hand.

“Hi, Chloe! Come join us.” Sukie smiled at her, trying her best not to stare at the jeans that perfectly outlined Cameron’s trim, masculine, unmarried body. 

Chloe ran over to Sukie and sat next to her, fitting into the curve of Sukie’s side. Her light pink granny gown set off her pale curls.

As she read a Dr. Seuss book, Sukie loved the sound of the words on her tongue. By the time Sukie ended the session with
Goodnight, Moon,
a number of children were all but asleep, their tousled hair a rainbow of colors and styles.

Chloe climbed into Sukie’s lap and nestled against her chest. Sukie held her close, inhaling the clean smell of her shampoo. She continued to hold Chloe even as parents came to pick up their children and departed. Cameron was the last to appear.

“Chloe? Ready to go?” He sounded out of breath, as if he’d been running.

Chloe clung to Sukie and shook her head. “I want to stay here with Miss Sukie.”

Sukie smiled at Cameron and rubbed Chloe’s back. “I think we both needed a hug tonight. I understand you two are alone.” Chloe’s eyelids fluttered sleepily, and closed.

He nodded. “It’s always been that way.” He trailed a finger down Chloe’s cheek. “Her mother took off right after she was born,” he explained quietly.

Sukie gently patted Chloe’s back. “That’s too bad. She’s such a beautiful child, and so sweet.”

“Yeah, she is.” Tenderness softened the angles and planes of his face. He held out his arms.

Sukie placed Chloe in them and felt a stab of emptiness.

Chloe whimpered and settled in his embrace.

Cameron’s blue gaze rested on Sukie. The yearning in his eyes sent a shiver of awareness dancing through her. Sukie looked away and back again, lost once more in his gaze. Damn! He was the sexiest man she’d ever met. 

Cameron cleared his throat, and stepped back, breaking the sexual tension between them. “Why don’t I wait for you to lock up so you don’t have to leave alone in the dark?”

“Yes, that would be nice.” Sukie turned to get her purse, mortified by the fantasies that had crept into her normal, practical thoughts. It was as if divorce had brought out a different side of her or maybe it was realizing how shallow her marriage to Ted had become.

Cameron followed her to her car and waited until she was safely inside it, before walking toward his SUV.

Sukie opened her window. “Thanks, Cameron!”

He turned back to her. “It’s Cam, and you’re welcome.” He paused and walked back to her. “I see how you are with Chloe. Is there a chance you could help me out occasionally? With babysitting?”

Sukie swallowed hard. While she’d been fantasizing about his body and what he could do with it, making dreams of nothing, he’d been assessing her as a babysitter! 

“Sure,” she said, her voice hollow. “Give me a call sometime.”

Sukie drove home, thinking she’d better pick up a romance novel. It was the only such excitement she was likely to experience in the coming months.

W
aiting for the other women of Fat Fridays to arrive, Sukie set glasses, soft drinks, bottled water, and white wine on the kitchen counter and slid a chicken casserole in the oven. They’d all been excited to get her invitation for a casual get-together, and she was eager for the opportunity to get to know them better. They were such a diverse group.

The women’s chatter outside her door signaled their arrival. 

Sukie ushered them inside. “Drinks are set up in the kitchen and the casserole is in the oven.”

Everyone fixed themselves something to drink, and they congregated in the living room.

Tiffany leaned back against the couch and let out a sigh. “I can’t stay long. Beau thinks I’m working late on a special project. Even though he’s out with his buddies, I shouldn’t push my luck.”

“Why are you letting a man control you like that?” Lynn growled.

Carol Ann shook her head. “Honestly, Lynn. Why are y’all so against men? Beau’s a doll!”

“You’ve got your head in the sand, Carol Ann. No man is good enough to call
all
the shots,” Lynn sputtered.

Tiffany said nothing, though her cheeks grew pink.

“I don’t understand. Why do you feel so strongly?” Sukie asked. There was more than normal frustration in Lynn’s voice.

Betsy winked. “It must be that mysterious past of hers.”

“C’mon, spill,” said Tiffany, giving Lynn a smile of encouragement. “You’ve never told us about yourself, yet all of you know more about me than my own in-laws.”

Lynn twitched uncomfortably in her seat. After a moment, she straightened with a look of resolve. “Okay. You want the truth?” She drew a quivering breath. Her eyes became pools of sadness. “I’m not Lynn Hodges. My real name is Grace Jamison.” 

“Wha-a-a-t!” Betsy’s shrill cry pierced the shocked silence.

Sukie’s jaw fell. “What are you saying? Why would you change your name unless...”   

“You’re not wanted by the cops or anything like that, are you?” Carol Ann fell back against the couch, looking as if she’d been punched in the stomach.