Midnight Promises (14 page)

Elliott smiled. “I’m definitely a dolt, but I don’t think you deserve a share of the blame.”

Cal draped a friendly arm over his shoulders. “I told you, Sweet Magnolias stick together. They may love us to pieces individually, but collectively, they can turn on us in a heartbeat if they think one of us is out of line. You, my friend, have made things tough on all of us. Once the word spreads about tonight—and believe me, it will—most of the wives won’t be speaking to their husbands out of solidarity with Karen.”

“And yet you’re still speaking to me,” Elliott said.

“Because I’ve been there, done that,” Cal said sympathetically. “So have all the others. We’ve become very good at commiserating. This is going to work out, Elliott. We’ll find a way.”

“Short of figuring out how to hit a delete button on Karen’s memory of her first marriage, I don’t know how,” he said bleakly.

“Let the women work their wiles,” Cal suggested. “They’re behind this idea, too, after all. We might have to sit back a bit and wait, but I think reason will eventually kick in.”

“You’re an optimistic man,” Elliott said with a disbelieving shake of his head.

“I won Maddie despite very long odds, didn’t I?” Cal said. “She was against marrying me. The entire school system opposed our relationship because she was the mother of one of the kids I coached and ten years older than me to boot. The whole town was in an uproar.” He grinned. “Look at us now, married and the parents of two kids of our own, plus her three. How could I be anything other than optimistic about things always working out the way they’re meant to?”

It would have been nice, Elliott thought, if that optimism had been contagious. Instead, he went back into Rosalina’s wondering if anyone there would even be speaking to him.

* * *

Karen had been startled when Maddie slid into the booth opposite her just after Elliott had walked out. She’d been even more surprised by her first words.

“Men can be utterly insensitive, can’t they?” Maddie had asked.

Karen regarded her with surprise. “You heard us?”

Maddie shook her head at once. “Not the words, but I could guess at the content. Cal told me about the gym’s projected budget being higher than anticipated. I imagine Elliott brought you here tonight to fill you in, hoping you wouldn’t kill him in a public place.”

Despite her very sour mood, Karen couldn’t help laughing. “I imagine that was exactly his strategy.”

“He seemed to be in one piece when he walked out of here,” Maddie commented.

“Probably because I was too stunned to figure out what weapon I could use to pound some sense into his thick skull.”

“Too bad these restaurants are all nonsmoking now,” Maddie said. “Ashtrays are usually heavy enough to work.”

Karen gave her an odd look. “Why have I never noticed before that you have a slightly bloodthirsty streak?”

Maddie looked oddly pleased by the comment. “I know. Isn’t it great? I think it’s a reaction to all those years I was way too passive in my first marriage. Cal seems to encourage the feisty side of my nature.”

“Elliott usually does the same with me,” Karen confided. “I think he’s regretting that tonight. He’s very unhappy that I put my foot down about risking our house to get more money to invest in the gym.” She gave Maddie a plaintive look. “I’m not being unreasonable, am I?”

“I certainly don’t think so, but this isn’t my marriage or my house.”

“Would you have agreed?”

“Have you seen that giant mausoleum I live in? It was the Townsend family home, which I joyfully received on loan in the divorce settlement. If I could put that place at risk, I’d do it in a heartbeat, but that’s revenge, not practicality talking. It would make my ex a little crazy if he saw the family jewel on the auction block. I’d actually be far happier in one of those new developments where you are, someplace where everything’s new and doesn’t break down if you happen to look at it cockeyed.”

“You could sell it and move,” Karen suggested.

“Not without an okay from my ex. It’s basically only on loan to me till our kids are grown. Thank Helen for that deal. She’s quite a negotiator when she’s fighting for a friend.” She sighed. “Only a couple of more years till Katie, the youngest of my kids from my first marriage, is off to college, and then the Townsend house and I can part ways forever. Both Cal and I will be happy to see the last of it, but it’s been good that Ty, Kyle and Katie were able to stay there, especially when the divorce was tearing them apart. Staying in the home they’d always known gave them a sense of stability.”

The pizza Karen and Elliott had ordered came then, and she and Maddie dove into it. All but a single slice was gone by the time Cal returned with Elliott in tow. Elliott glanced at the nearly empty pizza pan. “Dinner?”

“It was delicious,” Maddie said. “I have no idea why I never thought of adding jalapeños before.”

Elliott shook his head and glanced at Cal. “I think we’re on our own.” He eyed Karen cautiously. “May we at least sit with you?”

“Sure,” she said, calmer now that she’d had a conversation with someone sane who wasn’t trying to badger her into going against her convictions.

Just as the two men were about to sit, though, Maddie held up a hand. “This is a gym-free discussion zone for the time being,” she announced. “Agreed?”

Cal and Elliott exchanged a look, then nodded.

“Good,” Maddie said. “Because indigestion is not on the menu. The jalapeños are about as much stress as my system can handle. Besides, date nights are supposed to be about fun and relaxation.”

Karen regarded her with surprise. “You all plan date nights?”

“Of course,” Cal said. “If we didn’t, I’d never see my wife.”

“How many times a week?” Elliott asked, even as he turned his gaze to Karen.

“I aim for seven,” Cal said, grinning. “With that many I figure I’m bound to get lucky at the end of the night at least once.”

Maddie nudged him with an elbow. “Stop it. We try for two and are thankful if we pull off one.”

“We’ve just started trying to work them into our schedule,” Karen admitted. “We had our first one a couple of weeks ago. Tonight’s the second one.”

“And here we are intruding,” Maddie said, as if they’d turned up at the table uninvited and interrupted some private moment, rather than intervening in what had obviously been a fight.

“We were in need of friendly referees,” Elliott said. “I’m grateful you were around.”

“Me, too,” Karen said, glancing at her husband. There was no mistaking the concern in his eyes. He was obviously still worried about their disagreement, though whether it was because they’d fought or because she’d differed with him, she had no way of knowing.

* * *

Already lying in bed, Elliott watched Karen as she undressed and slipped on a silky negligee that she wouldn’t be wearing fifteen minutes from now, if he had his way. She’d been quiet on the way home, but he was hopeful that they could maintain the truce Maddie had insisted on at the restaurant.

When she’d finished in the bathroom and crawled into bed beside him, he reached for her.

She pulled away. “We need to talk,” she protested.

“Not tonight,” he replied just as firmly. “We both said a lot of things earlier. Now it would be best if we just slept on them and talked again in the morning when our minds are clear.”

“My mind is clear right now,” she argued. “And I haven’t changed it.” She turned her back to him and moved as close to the edge of the bed as she could to keep distance between them.

He sighed at that. Obviously make-up sex wasn’t in the cards. He stared up at the ceiling and tried to figure out what to do next. How could he possibly get through to her how important this gym was to his identity as a man and, equally important, to their future?

“Elliott?”

The whisper sounded half asleep and, if he was hearing correctly, a little scared.

“What,
querida?
”

“You won’t go behind my back and get the money, anyway, will you?”

He hated that she thought so little of him. “No, I will never go behind your back. You should know me better than that.”

“It’s what your father would have done, though, isn’t it?”

He thought about that for a minute. Truthfully, he couldn’t deny it. “More than likely.”

“And what would your mother have done?”

“She’d have accepted his decision as head of the household,” he said.

She rolled toward him then and, in the moonlight streaming into the room, he saw the tracks of tears on her cheeks. “I don’t think I could do that,” she said.

Though a part of him wished it could be so simple between them, that his word would always be gospel, he knew better than to expect it. He wasn’t his father, and she, heaven help him, was nothing like his mother.

“I would never expect it of you,” he reassured her. “We’re partners, Karen. We’ll work through this together.”

“But I don’t see how,” she said. “You have your needs and I have mine. They’re not the same.”

“We have one overriding need that is the same for both of us,” he corrected. “We love each other and we believe in this marriage, so we will do whatever it takes to make it work.” He studied her worriedly. “I’m right about that, aren’t I? This disagreement hasn’t shaken your faith in us?”

“It’s scared me,” she admitted. “I don’t see how we can both get what we feel so strongly about.”

At the moment, Elliott had no idea about that, either, but they would. Somehow they would, because anything less was unacceptable.

* * *

Only a few days after his confrontation with Karen over his part in financing the gym, Elliott was back with the guys going over details. They were all determined to move forward, and their offers to pick up any financial slack were still on the table. So far, though, he’d insisted he would find a way to pay his own share.

The basketball game tonight had given way entirely to a business meeting at Ronnie’s where they could spread out all their information and hash out a final business plan. Elliott had apparently been a little too quiet because eventually Ronnie directed a look at him.

“Is Karen still having a problem with your part in this?” Ronnie asked.

“Not with the concept,” Elliott said, embarrassed to have to admit even that much.

“It’s the money thing, isn’t it?” Travis guessed. “I’m telling you, don’t let that become an issue when it doesn’t have to be. If we split up that final investment among the rest of us, it’ll be fine. I’m game. How about the rest of you?”

All of the men nodded at once.

“No,” Elliott said yet again. “I won’t be the charity partner.”