Sharp Edges (2 page)

“Married men sh
ouldn’t be allowed to look that freakin’ hot,” stated Darcy.

“
Actually, I don’t think he’s married,” I said, brushing the hair out of my eyes.

We
watched in silence as my new neighbor finished his morning routine of stretching his sinewy body parts before taking off for the usual morning run. Today it was already humid, so he was dressed in black shorts and a bright yellow tank top that emphasized his lean, muscular arms. Catching us gawking, he waved and we reciprocated.

Darcy sighed. “You’ve got it made
, Lindsey,” she said as we both turned to watch him jog towards the golden-pink sky, admiring his tight buns as they moved beneath the shorts. “You’ve got a doting husband, a hunky neighbor, and kids who can make themselves breakfast in the morning. Honestly, you make me want to slit my fucking throat.”

I choked on my coffee and began laughing.
“Darcy! Jeez, don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re just in a tough place right now. Once this divorce thing is over, you can get on with your life. Besides,” I said, “you know very well that I’m always here for you.”

She open
ed up her purse and took out a tube of lipstick. “And I appreciate that, Linds,” she said, after applying it generously to her lips. “Really, I do. But what I need is to just get through this nightmare with Frank. Then, I’m going to drop Max off at grandma’s for the weekend, find me someone sexy and stimulating who doesn’t run on batteries, and top it all off with a bottle of expensive champagne to help me forget about everything else for a few hours.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Batteries?”

“I’ve got to do something,” she said dryly. “My vibrator started smoking last night, and not in a good way.”

I gigg
led. “You and that damn thing. I heard you can really hurt something down there if you use it too much.”

She waved her hand.
“I’ve used it a thousand times this past year and let me tell you, the hurt is
good
.”

Leave it to Darcy.

We’d known each other since grade school, and were been best friends all the way through senior high. Then, she’d taken off for college to become a C.P.A. and I’d stayed behind because I’d gotten pregnant. Fortunately, Scott and I had been madly in love at the time and everything had worked out just fine in the end. We’d gotten married, had two beautiful children, and were now entering our fifteenth year of marriage. Of course, we’d had our occasional fights and disagreements throughout the years, but had always managed to work out the kinks. Life was good and I felt fairly content in it.

“I suppose I should get going,” she said, looking at her watch.
“I’ll be back to pick up Max sometime after two o’clock, if everything goes as planned.”

“Okay
,” I answered, finishing the last of my coffee.

“
He’ll probably fall asleep soon. Frank had him last night, and didn’t drop him off until late.”

I nodded. “That’s fine
. Well, good luck, Darcy. Call me when you can and let me know how it’s going.”

She nodded and gave me a hug. “Thanks for everything
, hon.”

“You know I’d
do anything for you,” I said. “Now, remember – stay strong!”

“I’ll try,” she said, stepping off the porch. “If I don’t get my w
ay, however, I’m going to rip his dick off and stuff it down his skanky girlfriend’s throat.”

I chuckled
and watched as she walked to her Mercedes in her designer suit, expensive haircut, and perfectly-manicured nails. For as long as I could remember, she’d always looked perfect: no blonde hair out of place, flawless makeup, and rail-thin except for the silicone breasts she’d recently purchased after Frank had gone and cheated on her. Those were still fairly new and even I was having a hard time getting used to them. I thought she’d gotten them a little too big, but she wanted to rub them in Frank’s face. Well, not literally; he’d lost that privilege.

As I opened the
front door, I looked down at my own short, messy nails and sighed. There was a time when
I’d
turn heads, just like Darcy, but these days, I turned nothing but supermarket isles and grilled-cheese sandwiches. I was also about fifteen pounds overweight, give or take five, and the last time I had
my
hair professionally done was six years ago, just before my sister’s wedding. She’d made the appointment, paid for it, and dropped me off before I could protest.

“It’s my wedding and I want everything perfect,” she’d told me. “Including my only sister, so don’t argue.”

Even I had to admit that I’d looked pretty amazing walking out of the salon that day. My auburn hair had been trimmed, foiled, and styled – and not by my own hands for once. Of course, it had also been outrageously expensive and was something I hadn’t repeated on my own. These days, “practical” was my middle name. That meant trimming my own hair, wearing cheap, comfortable clothing, and biting my nails evenly to make sure they all matched. If I did use nail polish, it was the quick-dry stuff that chipped by the end of the day, so I mostly never bothered with that, either. Except for my toenails; for some reason, not having neatly trimmed and polished toenails wasn’t even an option for me. Secretly, besides my dark brown eyes, I thought my feet were my best feature, which, come to think of it,
was
a little pathetic.

As I mulled over these things, I stepped
into the kitchen where Scott was finishing his morning cup of coffee.

“Good morning,
” I said.

He glanced
at me and smiled. “Good morning. I see that Max is sacked out on the sofa. Today must be the court thing?”

I sighed. “Yeah, it’s the big day. Darcy is on pins and needles.”

He walked over and kissed my cheek. “I’m sure everything will work out just fine.”

“I hope so,” I said, leaning into him. “
She’s been through so much.”

He nodded.
“Oh, by the way, I have to work late again. This deal is turning out to be a nightmare. The firm we’re trying to sign up with isn’t happy with anything we’ve designed. Now we have to start over, all the way from scratch.”

Sighing,
I moved over to my Keurig and started brewing another cup of coffee. “Damn, I know how hard you’ve been working on those proposals, too. Well, will you be home in time for dinner?”

He ran a hand threw his
wavy, blonde hair and shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Listen, just don’t even worry about dinner, babe, I’ll pick up something on the way home if it gets too late.”

“Okay.”

“I love you,” he said, reaching over and grabbing me around the waist.

“I love you,
too. Don’t forget about tomorrow night.”

He s
miled. “Our anniversary? Now, how in the world could I forget about that?”

“
Honestly, I wish your parents wouldn’t have splurged like they did. Didn’t you say they’ve rented out one of the banquet rooms at the Hyatt?”

He pulled
a tendril of my hair playfully. “Yes, they have. But, you know how they live for these things and love doing it for us. They’re retired and bored.”

And so rich they don’t know what to do with all
of their money.

“I guess. It’s just…
I wanted something romantic, you know? Just the two of us,” I pouted.

“We’ll have all night for that,” he
said, sliding his hands over my hips.

With his hands gripping
my rear and the scent of his cologne teasing my senses, I didn’t even care anymore. As long as we’d be celebrating in our own special way after the party, I could live with whatever made him happy. “We do, and I’m looking forward to it.”

“
Me, too. Well, I’d better go. I’ll call you later,” he said, releasing me and grabbing his briefcase. “Give the kids a hug for me.”

“I will,
” I said, pushing my bangs out of my eyes once again. I desperately needed a trim and made a mental note to look for the scissors.

I watched him as he left, admiring how polished he looked
in his grey Ralph Lauren suit. After all these years, he was still an incredibly handsome man. It was hard to imagine that we’d been together for over fifteen years, although, I felt like I’d loved him my entire life.

“Morning
,” mumbled my oldest daughter, Regan, as she shuffled into the kitchen. She’d just turned fourteen and was still at the age where she loved school. She was on the girl’s track team, played tennis, and was a straight-A student. I couldn’t have been more proud of her.

“Still tired?” I asked, handing her a glass of orange juice.

She yawned. “Yeah, but I have a test first period, so I wanted to study a little before I left for school.”

I looked at my watch. “Well, you certainly have enough time.”

She looked at me like I was dense. “Well,
yeah.
That’s why I woke up early.”

I shook my head but
didn’t say anything more. I’d learned recently that you couldn’t win an argument with anyone from the age of twelve to seventeen. They knew
everything
.

She took out her history book and began studying while I
made her some oatmeal. Then I checked on Max, who’d fallen back asleep watching cartoons, and finally went to my youngest child’s room, Jeremy.

“Oh,
good you’re already up,” I said.

He was twelve
and had just gotten a new Kindle for his birthday. He now spent most of his time downloading new games or reading science fiction stories.

He pushed up
his glasses. “Yes, I just downloaded a new book that’s very intriguing. It’s about a young boy who is training to become a soldier to fight these bug-like aliens that are threatening his planet. Very intense stuff, mom, you should read it.”

I bit back a smile
. My son, the intellectual, far beyond his years; he sometimes made me feel like a dolt. “Maybe, let me know how it goes and I’ll think about it.”

He nodded and returned to his story.

“You have ten minutes and then you should get ready for school, kid,” I said, grabbing his dirty clothes hamper.

He nodded.
“No worries. I’ll be down in a bit.”

I stared at Jeremy and was reminded of how fortun
ate Scott and I were. Both children were intelligent, confident, and fortunately, had their father’s sunny good looks.

“You okay, mom?” he asked, biting one of his nails.

I smiled. Of course, he had one of
my
bad habits. “I’m fine. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Af
ter the kids left for school, I drove Max to the nearby park and started a sizzling, hot detective story I’d just downloaded on my own Kindle, while he played on the slide. The house was clean, the dry-cleaning and laundry taken care of, and my entire day was pretty much free. Since Scott was adamant about me not working and being home for the children when they arrived home from school, I had all the time in the world between the hours of eight and four. I had to admit, though, it made me somewhat jaded at times.

“Hi,” said a woman, planting herself
on the bench next to mine. She was pregnant and had another child, who appeared to be around four, playing on the jungle gym. She looked to be somewhere in her early twenties, short, blonde bob, pierced nose, and a tattoo of a butterfly on her ankle.

“Hello
,” I answered, smiling warmly.

“Whew
, it’s a scorcher today,” she said, brushing away the beads of perspiration from her forehead.

I nodded.
It was definitely humid. Fortunately, the sun was hidden behind the clouds making it bearable for those of us not pregnant. “You look miserable,” I said, noticing her swollen ankles.

“I am and I can’t
wait
for this baby to be born,” she said, rubbing her tummy. “One month left and I know it won’t come soon enough.”

“It’s tough, I remember those last few weeks.”

“They suck, big-time,” she said.

I’d packed a small cooler of bottled water and offered her one. “Here, you look like you could use one of these.”

She smiled
, gratefully. “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver. I don’t know
what
I was thinking, coming out here without something to drink.”

“No, problem,” I said
, relieved that I’d packed extras.

She
tipped the bottle back and guzzled most of it down immediately. Then, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and replaced the cap. “I’d better save some for Jenna. That’s my daughter.”

“
Pretty name,” I said, handing her another bottle of water. “Just give her this fresh one, I’ve got plenty.”

She looked at me
like I was from another planet. “Wow, thanks.”