He shook his head. “I don’t know how she could’ve. I think we were all a little shocked at the restaurant.”
“All of us but Samantha,” I exhaled. “She found a letter that Kari wrote you a long time ago but never sent. I’m pretty sure she set you up.”
His reaction wasn’t what I expected. He started chuckling, shuffling his feet backwards a couple of steps, his eyes looking me up and down. I knew he was gauging me, trying to see how far he could push me.
Judge carefully . . .
“Good,” he grinned. “Seeing Kari again was an answered prayer. I shouldn’t have walked away from her like I did and I’ve never been able to really get over that. But now I know where she is and what happened—I can try to make things right.”
“Things are right. We are getting married in a couple of weeks.”
He blanched. “You’re marrying her? What about Sam?”
“What about her?” I laughed angrily.
“She said you and her—”
“She’s a crazy bitch.”
He stood taller, eyeing me. “Kari just came back into my life. Don’t expect me to just ignore her.”
“Oh, I’m expecting you to ignore her, alright. I’m expecting you to pretend like she doesn’t exist.” I took another step forward, causing him to step back. “That girl means the world to me and if you or your girlfriend or fuck buddy or whatever you want to call Samantha mess with her, I’ll end you. Got it?”
“I don’t ‘got’ anything,” he challenged me, eyes blazing.
I smiled through the anger. “I’d be more than happy to help you understand.”
I peered down at him. I could feel the vein in my temple pulsing, rage tearing through me.
Try me, you sonofabitch.
I took another step towards him before he laughed nervously and headed towards the parking lot. I watched him walk away, get in his car, and drive off into the afternoon traffic.
KARI
“And that’s how I met Pierce,” Isa laughed, setting down her cup of coffee. “He was so irresistible. I couldn’t help myself.”
“He reminds me a lot of Max,” I said, picturing his face. “Just younger.”
She nodded. “They’re good people. Good hearts, all of them. For Joselyn’s first birthday, Max had a pink Mustang, you know one of those Little Tykes battery-operated things, delivered to our house in Texas. She couldn’t even use it yet, but he said she had to have it. Had to start her in a Ford.”
I laughed. “I can so see that.” My phone started ringing in my purse and I grabbed it. Gladys’ name was flashing on the screen. “I need to get this,” I told Isa. “Hello?”
“Hey, Kari. It’s Gladys. I thought you should know that your friend left your house keys over here.”
“What?”
“Your friend, Samantha. She left the house keys with me. Said she was moving out and asked me to give them to you. I’m assuming you knew.”
News to me.
“Well, I didn’t really. I’m not surprised, but I didn’t know it’d be today. I’ll swing by there in a little bit and pick them up, if that’s okay.”
“I’m sorry if I surprised you with this. I know you’ve been friends for a while; I hope everything is okay.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “We weren’t really friends and I haven’t known her that long. She’s a friend of Max’s family and he hired her on at his company temporarily and she needed a place to stay. I’ve only really known her for a couple of months, so it’s nothing to worry about. I appreciate your concern, though.”
“Oh,” she said, surprised. “I thought you two were closer. I remember seeing her visit you a lot last year, when your sister lived with you.”
My blood turned to ice. I looked at Isa, my eyes wide. “Gladys? What do you mean?”
“Well, you don’t have a lot of guests. Little old ladies like me are nosier than we should be, I know. But when your sister stayed there, you had one girl that kept coming over. I noticed her because she didn’t drive. She always walked. I actually was out in the yard one afternoon and she went in the back, like she always did, and then came out the same way. I stopped and talked to her that day and she said that your house was on her running route and she would pop in for a glass of water. Said you had been friends since high school. She seemed like a nice girl.”
“Gladys,” I choked out. “That’s a lie.”
Oh. My. God.
MAX
“I’d say I hate telling you this, but I don’t. She’s a fucking lunatic,” Cane said, tipping back his Corona that evening. “Although the rape shit wasn’t something I ever expected, but I’m not surprised. I’ve told you for years that she’s a head case.”
A fire was going in the fireplace at Alexander House. Kari, Cane, Jada, and I sat around after dinner. We tried to talk about other things, but we couldn’t get over the topic of Samantha.