Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
SAMANTHA
S am couldn't stand pity. When she shopped at Whole Foods and people stopped to say hello, she saw it in their eyes. Pity, plain and simple. That sympathetic tilt to their head made her furious. What was that all about? Divorce. What she had kept so private was now available for public consumption. Her darn ex-husband had probably been busy, spreading his newly found joy.
How dare he?
Now she had plans and was moving on. How could she get that message across? Meeting friends for dinner seemed like a good start. But maybe not. While she’d been up on Charlevoix, her friends Suzanne and Christy had gone to the usual parties. Christy wanted to tell her all about it. As the happy chatter continued, Sam wondered why she’d agreed to meet them at Beatrix. The popular spot was full of happy conversation and that’s not where they were. How could she get them there?
“She’s too young for him.” Christy spooned sticky cauliflower appetizers onto her plate. Although Sam hadn’t eaten lunch, she had no appetite. Getting together with friends had seemed like a good idea, but she hadn’t expected this defensive feeling choking her now. “Just wait until he’s fifty and she’s thirty-five.” Christy sent her a satisfied smirk but the remark didn’t lift Sam’s spirits.
“Christy.” Suzanne shot Christy a warning glance, which went unnoticed. Sometimes Christy could be a little dense. For a fleeting second Sam wished she were here with her sisters and Aunt Cate. They’d order exotic drinks and buzz through this appetizer menu while they laughed and bolstered each other’s spirits.
“Did he talk about his trip to Ibiza?” Sam wanted to flush out this petty stuff. Give it a good look, tell herself she was lucky and then toss it into her past. Had Kurt spun his fictitious story about going to Ibiza?
Suzanne shook her head. “I don’t think so. Is that where they went? Chelsea did look tan.”
“Spray tan.” Christy reached for more cauliflower. “Yuk, she was almost orange.”
“Kurt told me he’d be in Ibiza,” Sam told them. “But instead, he was raiding the house.”
“Raiding?” Christy’s ears perked up. “As in stealing, as in…you didn’t know?”
“Right. Went through the house like it was a furniture showcase,” Sam said glumly. “Took what he wanted.”
“That’s terrible,” Suzanne said with disgust. “Thought you said he wasn’t interested in having anything from the house.”
“That was months ago. Now he might realize they need furniture. Nice furniture.”
“Call your attorney,” Suzanne said. “He can’t do that unless it’s in your decree.”
“Rotten. That’s what.” Christy munched that cauliflower as if she were chewing out Sam’s ex. “What a creep. And he made an announcement at Joy and Rob’s New Year’s Eve party.”
Sam struggled to keep a smile on her face while Suzanne ducked her head. The baby. The creep had told them a baby was on the way. “I suppose that situation made him more desperate about their living arrangement. He needs the furniture.” Sam sighed. When had she lost track of Kurt? Who was this man anyway? Her ex-husband and with each day she was happier about the ex part.
While Suzanne and Christy spun stories to make her feel better, she wondered about her friendships. Why had she come out for dinner? Maybe because the house seemed so empty. Sam hadn't seen her old friends for a while. But she hadn’t anticipated this update on Kurt and his new love.
Thank goodness Suzanne soon steered the conversation to their great family Christmas and Izzy’s baby.
“Boy, your sister’s brave,” Christy said, her heavily lined eyes widening.
“She is,” Suzanne said. “I have a cousin who adopted as a single. Hard road for sure, but she always wanted a baby.”
“That’s Izzy. And I’m proud of her.” The baby had caught them all by surprise but also left them in awe of Izzy’s decision.
Suzanne chattered about her twin granddaughters while Christy described a wonderful Christmas cruise to various European Christmas markets. Although Suzanne seemed to avoid details about the holiday parties, Christy gave a blow-by-blow description of food and attendees. Hearing about Kurt, Sam was glad she’d escaped to Michigan.
Glancing around the dimly lit restaurant, Sam realized with a sickening feeling that she'd chosen the wrong place to meet her friends. In the early days of their marriage, she’d come to Beatrix with Kurt. Back then, they’d had a lot to talk about. They were both so excited about building their new marketing agency together. Targeting pharmaceutical companies had been their lofty goal, which made achieving it even more precious. Making plans for their future together had kept them both excited and happy. Tonight she could see that excitement on the faces of some younger couples huddled at nearby tables. The shared anticipation. The joy in each other.
Those days were gone. Kurt was moving on with a new wife and a baby to come. She was sitting in their home, where she'd had the locks changed so that her ex-husband couldn't grab more of their furnishings. Somewhere she had to find her own joy. Would it be with Josh McCall? Or was this all happening too fast, as Marlowe had said?
“Earth to Samantha.” Over the rim of her Cosmo, Suzanne was viewing her with concern.
“Sorry. I'm just kind of…” Her voice drifted off. Christy and Suzanne exchanged a worried glance and both fell silent. “Sorry if I'm such a buzz kill. I should be wishing you guys a Happy New Year.” Sam raised her mango gin and tonic and, smiles back on their faces, her friends did the same.
“To the new year?” Suzanne said.
“Yes, to the new year.” Christy went along with it.
“So how did it go in Charlevoix?” Suzanne asked after they’d taken a sip.
Thinking back, Sam felt a comforting warmth wash over her. “Great. It all went great. Although I thought it would just be me and my younger sister Izzy, my aunt had arranged to have Marlowe join us. And Aunt Cate came as well. We had a wonderful time together.” Sam smiled, remembering.
“Cate is the aunt from New York?” Suzanne asked.
“Right. She’s a lot of fun.”
“Families are what it's all about,” Christy said but a shadow seemed to pass over her. She made no bones about the fact that she hadn’t spoken to her mother in years. Some old hurt had never been healed. Having lost her mother when she was seventeen, Sam couldn’t imagine that situation.
“You're so right about families.” Maybe this would be a good time to break her news. Would they question her decision? She was ready for it. There would be no going back after she laid that major life change on the table. Sam sat back and took a deep breath.
But Suzanne jumped back in. “You realize that Kurt is a rat, right? What he did is no reflection on you. None of your friends think that.”
Did they have the air conditioning on? Sam shivered. She didn’t want to go down this path. “Yes, I understand.”
“I mean, you built that company.” Christy looked upset.
They all knew how hard she'd worked to make their marketing agency a success. And now their clients had been neatly divided between them. Only time would tell how that shift would work out. They’d agreed that if a client wanted to switch, there would be no hard feelings.
“I did, and so did Kurt. Well, at first. Now I'm looking forward to working with my share of the clients alone.”
“So Kurt and his new girlfriend are staying in the area?” Christy asked.
“I'm not really sure what his plans are.” No way was she going to grill her ex for information. From what Sam understood, he was working from home. If she kept the office space, she would have to pick up all the operational expenses. Because of her new plans, she might not need it. Sam would have to check that contract and see if she could exit gracefully.
Breaking up was hard to do. And when it involved a company, it was doubly difficult. When she was up in Charlevoix, life had felt simple, crisp and clear as the fresh snow. Her sisters and aunt were so supportive. Sitting here in a restaurant that held way too many memories, Sam felt bogged down by her past. She needed a change and fast.
“What are you thinking?” Suzanne asked. “Something is going on in that sharp mind of yours.”
“I'm moving,” she blurted out.
Suzanne put her fork down “Where? Not to Michigan?” The note of disbelief in her voice almost made Sam laugh.
“You're kidding. What about work?” Christy looked stunned.
Digging deep, Sam tried to channel the confidence she’d felt back in Charlevoix. “I can work anywhere. If I need a face to face with a client, I can fly out of Traverse City.” The waitress brought their meals and Sam glanced down at her wild mushroom teriyaki bowl. She didn't even remember ordering it.
After the waitress had left, the questions kept coming, but they both understood that she wanted a different life. “It would be hard to run into your ex all the time,” Christy said, shaking her head. Sam thought her friend secretly loved the drama of that type of confrontation. Sam did not.
“Yes, it would be.” Especially when your husband's new partner is pregnant . But she didn't say that. Did she want to see Kurt’s new bride waddling down the aisle in Whole Foods? Absolutely not.
“Have you met someone?” Suzanne had forgotten all about her caesar salad.
A door opened and, darn it all, Sam was galloping through it. She hoped her smile looked mysterious and pleased. Shock washed over the faces of her friends, followed by two delighted smiles.
“Okay, tell us everything?” Christy leaned closer over her Baja chopped salad. She wanted every detail.
The atmosphere had changed. Now she wasn’t the victim and Christy was the area’s known gossip. Sam loved her as a friend, but that woman always had her ear to the ground in Oak Brook. If the word was getting out, no way did Sam want to be seen as pathetic. Christy McCrae was the perfect person to rewrite Sam’s pathetic story.
She looked up to find Suzanne studying her, a smile dancing across her lips. “Did you meet someone up there?”
“Not exactly. He’s someone from the past.” She let the words dangle in the air.
Her smile broadening, Suzanne gave a nod of approval. “No use sitting around, girlfriend. And that's why you're moving?”
Sam shrugged. It was hard to admit that what she really missed was her sisters. After her parents’ fatal accident, Sam and Aunt Cate had pretty much finished raising Marlowe and Izzy. The sisters had been really close, but as time passed, distance had intervened. Distance does not make the heart grow fonder. It starves any relationship unless people try to keep the connection alive. After celebrating Christmas together, the Quinn girls all knew that.
“Well, who is he?” Christy asked, her meal forgotten.
“A guy I dated long ago.” But when Sam thought of Josh, her face must have changed. He’d called a couple of times since she got home. They’d done a lot of catching up. And she felt really happy about that. Josh looked at her as if she was still that girl from high school. His attention had almost made her forget the empty house.
Christy gasped. “You've been holding out on us.”
Suzanne managed a wicked smile as she lifted her drink. “Here’s to old boyfriends.”
The three of them toasted. The air was now filled with celebration and Sam’s spirits lifted. She was glad she’d come.
“Were you serious about him?” Christy was a dog with a bone.
“As serious as you can be in high school with watchful parents. That was before the accident.” Josh had helped her through the indescribable pain of losing both parents. Then they'd graduated and Josh set off for Notre Dame, while she went to a local college, staying home to be with her sisters. Even though Aunt Cate came to live for a while, Sam knew she had to be there. “We went to different colleges and drifted apart.”
“Your man from yesterday.” Christy’s dreamy expression almost made Sam giggle. And she wasn't a woman who giggled.
“What does this old boyfriend do? He must live in Charlevoix, right?” Suzanne asked.
Old boyfriend . Sam blushed, wondering how Josh would take being labeled like that. She couldn’t even look at them. “He's an orthopedic surgeon. Widowed now. Couple of kids. You know how it goes.”
“Orthopedic surgeon.” Christy repeated the words that would be trumpeted through the Oak Brook area. That giggle bubbled up again in Sam’s throat but she swallowed it.
“How long has he been widowed?” Suzanne asked.
“About two years, I think. He wandered into my sister’s coffee shop with his two children while I was there.”
“How romantic is that?” Christy looked transported by her own dreams.
This wasn't the time to admit that Sam had been wearing an old track suit when she ran into Josh or that her hair had needed shampooing. “I don't know about that but we have enjoyed reminiscing about old times. And then of course there was my accident on the cross country trail.”
“Tell us all about that.” Suzanne signaled to the waitress for another round. Sam began the story of that crazy day out in the snow, laying it on thick because she loved the change in their expressions. Did she even detect a little jealousy in Christy’s bright eyes?
Should Sam be telling this story…and embellishing it more than a little? But darn it, she did not want everyone feeling sorry for her. She would not be seen as the loser while Kurt created a new life for himself. So she launched into a retelling of her accident on the ski trail. Their eyes grew wide.
“I didn't know you cross country skied,” Suzanne said, as if Sam had been walking a tight rope stretched over the Grand Canyon.
“You had an accident? What happened?” Christy wanted all the details. “Are you okay?”
“My ankle still hurts a little. I was with my sister Marlowe and missed a turn. Went right down in the snow.” Sam laughed as if that had been the funniest thing ever when it had really been horrifying. With no control of her skis, she’d narrowly missed a tree. Her ankle had been badly sprained and Marlowe couldn’t get her back up to the trail. The ankle still gave her trouble and she’d given up on wearing heels.
“Then Josh came along.” She’d looked up to see him outlined by the sun, with his two children next to him. “Helped us out.”
“How convenient.” Suzanne seemed to approve.
“And romantic.” Christy looked lost in her own fantasy. “Are you going to see him again?”
“Oh sure.” Josh had left a message for her the night before and she hadn't returned the call. Sometimes she still couldn't believe this was happening. Call it imposter syndrome or whatever, was this really her life? And could she trust it? After the last year and her husband's abandonment, she'd lost a lot of faith in herself.
But as she wallowed in her doubts, her story had changed everything for her friends. The two women now saw her in a completely different light. Thank goodness. By the time the waitress came with the dessert menu, Sam was ready for it. Chocolate lava cake had never tasted so good while the others enjoyed pistachio cream cheesecake. They left each other with promises to meet up again. Sam didn’t know if she’d follow through on that. The evening had been exhausting. Maybe she had to rethink those two friendships.
When she reached the house later that evening, she was balancing the groceries she’d picked up at Whole Foods. Her phone went off just as she entered the kitchen. Bogart came out, winding his full gray tail around her ankles. With Josh on her mind, she answered the phone without thinking. “I know I haven't returned your call but I was going to.” She eased the bags onto the kitchen counter.
“No worries. I'm not on your case about it. We’re both busy.” It was Marlowe. Sliding a bag onto the counter, Sam sank onto a kitchen stool.
“It's good to hear your voice.”
“Why, what's going on?”
“Nothing. Everything. I just got home from dinner with old friends. It was going to turn into a pity party and then I mentioned Josh.”
Her sister gave a gutsy chuckle. “Too bad you didn't have a picture.”
“Sadly, it was the words orthopedic surgeon that stopped them in their tracks.”
“That's right, you live in that exclusive suburb. Surgeons probably rate high marks.”
“Says the woman who lives in Naples, Florida, where the average home price is in the high six digits.”
“Hey, that's my career you're talking about.”
While her sister talked, Sam eased out of her coat. “So what's up?”
“I wanted to talk to you about Sunnycrest. Izzy is at a point where a contractor wants to bring in some sketches. I think I can take off a long weekend now that my open houses are over. What about you? Are you interested in coming too? This seems to be kind of a critical point in the process.”
What a relief it would be to get out of town. “I'm ready. I just told my two friends that I’m moving.”
“You did? Really?” Surprise and something else were in her sister's voice. “I guess you can tell I'm jealous.”
“Sure, I am eager to get the heck out of here, especially now that my ex-husband is stealing our furniture for his new love nest.”
“That rat. Okay, get your house on the market. Izzy would be thrilled to have you live with her for a while. And Aunt Cate is still up there. She had her assistant stage her Tribeca condo and who knows when that's going to sell.”
By the time Sam hung up, her friends’ worrisome questions were banished. And she was ready to call Josh back.