Chapter 21
APRIL
Iprobably should have been worried about getting caught with Eddie, but honestly, I wasn’t.
I probably should have felt guilty for cheating on David, but honestly, I didn’t.
Sue me.
For the second straight week, I met Eddie at eight a.m. on a Tuesday. David was just getting to work, and would assume I was either still milling around the coffee shop or out doing errands.
And it’s not like he ever called me right when he got to work. Maybe around noon or so, but I’d be long gone from the hotel by then.
So, Eddie and I could have enjoyed a second lap around the block if you know what I mean.
But like the first time, it was one and done.
That doesn’t mean it wasn’t great. It was the best sex I’d had in years. And I mean several years. David and I never had sex this good. Not once.
When we finished, I brought up where we’d left off last time.
“You said that you heard what I said after Margie went back into the bar.”
“I did.”
“What did I say?”
“You said something to the effect of ‘maybe I’ll get lucky, and David will just drop dead.’”
He’d repeated it almost verbatim. At least, that’s how I remembered it.
“And that interests you how?”
“We’re like two peas in a pod, April. We’re cut from the same cloth. We’re dead ringers. Mirror images of each other.”
“One example was enough.”
Eddie laughed. “Touché.”
“How are we two peas in a pod?”
His expression turned serious for the first time since I’d met him. “Both of our spouses are fucking us over.”
“My spouse isn’t fucking me over.”
“Oh, yeah? David Devers, Vice President of blah blah blah Investing. Do you know how much money he’s making? And how much are you getting?”
“He helped me launch my coffee shop.”
“And still makes you work as the barista like you’re some minimum-wage high-school student.”
“It wasn’t cheap to open the coffee shop.”
“I’ll bet David makes in a month what it took to open that coffee shop.”
Part of me agreed with everything that Eddie was saying, but I wasn’t going to let him know that. I had to play hard to get until I learned what he had in mind.
“It costs more than you think.”
“How much to open this place?”
“Two hundred grand. Probably a little more.”
“Thanks for making my point. Your husband is the vice president of a financial planning company with a bunch of rich Angelenos. I promise you he’s making two hundred grand a month.”
“So what if he is?”
“If he’s making that kind of money, he could afford to hire a few more baristas so you’re not doing all the work.”
“Maybe I like being there and doing the work.”
“Yeah, you always look delighted having to work at five a.m.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“It’s better than suffering in silence like you.”
I had the same feeling I had right before we first had sex last week.
Half of me wanted to poke Eddie in the eye with a fork, and the other half wanted to not only sleep with him, but run off with him and never look back.
I found his bad-boy attitude enchanting. I’d be lying if I said any differently.
Yes, the sex was great, but maybe more importantly, the guy was fun. David wasn’t fun. A life on the run with Eddie sounded better than a life at home with David.
Hey, I never claimed to be a good person.
“If it makes you feel any better, my wife is worse,” Eddie said. “Her parents are much wealthier than your precious David. And guess how much of that has trickled down to me.”
“A big fat goose egg?”
“Nailed it.”
In the silence of that moment, something passed between us. Maybe a deeper understanding of each other.
“So what exactly did you have in mind?” I asked.
“I’m still figuring some things out, but I’ll come up with a plan soon.”
“What type of plan?”
“A plan to make us rich on our own, devoid of our rotten spouses,” Eddie said.
I had so many emotions running through me. Disgust should have been one of them. It wasn’t.
But you know what was? Excitement.
“I can’t tell if meeting you was the best or worst day of my life,” I said.
“Time will tell. Will I see you next Tuesday?”
“Yes. Yes, you will.”