CHAPTER 15 #2
“You’re Geoff’s wife. It’s the least I can do.”
Geoff’s wife? This woman was on a first-name basis with her husband?
Lainey’s face couldn’t hide her thoughts.
“It’s fine. I knew about you, but you never knew about me,” Sam said.
Lainey looked around. Emma and Jake were dancing along with another couple on the other side of the room. Other guests had broken off into smaller groups drinking, talking, laughing, and dancing. Here she was alone with this woman, who obviously knew her husband on a personal level.
Lainey shook her head. “How did you know my husband?”
“I told you, he came in here. He was a regular. That’s how we met.”
“That’s right, you waited on him the night before he died...Wait a minute. He was a regular?” Lainey’s intoxication delayed her brain. It slowly replayed what Sam had just said. Lainey repeated it for clarity. “You knew about me, but I didn’t know about you? What are you saying?”
Sam chuckled, “Here, you haven’t taken a drink yet.” She slid the fresh margarita closer.
Sam, Sam. Lainey knew that name. She stared into the glass. Pink hazy liquid with minuscule strawberry seeds swirling around.
Sam. Sam. Sam! It was a name in the daily call logs on Geoff’s phone.
She’d gone through it when he’d died, finding his friends to invite to the funeral.
Sam, he talked to almost daily. She’d assumed it was a fellow firefighter, but no one ever introduced themselves as Sam at the visitation or funeral.
Lainey ignored the drink and asked again, “What are you telling me?”
Sam gave her a Really? expression.
“Were you and Geoff..?” Lainey couldn’t bring herself to say it. She was out of her mind. The tequila in the margaritas had loosened her tongue, taking away all sense and reason. She was confused. This couldn’t be what she meant.
Sam couldn’t help herself. She had to poke the bear. She should’ve left well enough alone. Geoff had always been good to her and honest about his family. But she always wondered if his wife really was as clueless as he’d let on. Apparently, yes.
Sam wanted to clue her in on who her husband truly was. She’d dive-bombed enough hints in this brief conversation, but she wanted Lainey to straight up ask her if Geoff had been screwing her behind her back?
Lainey almost did ask, but Sam wouldn’t finish the question for her.
Lainey shot up from her chair, clutching her purse. “I have to go,” she said, accidentally knocking the table’s edge. The pink margarita splashed out over the brim. “I’m sorry.” Lainey reached for napkins, haphazardly blotting the spilt liquid. Then, she stumbled around chairs to escape from Sam.
Sam shook her head, laughing. How could this woman not know Geoff was leading a double life? Sam felt sorry for her, but only for about two seconds. There was a high probability Lainey knew where the coins were.
What a dipshit, Sam thought as she picked up the margarita, and drank it herself.
Lainey made her way to the door. She hadn’t bothered saying goodbye to Emma. She was having too much fun to notice Lainey sneaking out. Surprised she hadn’t though. Lainey was a bull in a china shop, bumping into the tables and sloshing margaritas all over the place.
Lainey was desperate to get away from that woman. That weird woman insisted she knew Geoff personally. Leading on, Geoff may have been...No. Lainey wouldn’t allow herself to fully develop that thought. No, he couldn’t have. He wouldn’t have.
He was a hometown hero, active in the church, honored amongst men. There was no way.
She dug through her handbag for keys as she hurried across the parking lot. Her feet fumbled sideways. She lost her grip and dropped the whole damn thing. The contents splayed across the pavement.
Ah ha! The key fob was visible among the items strewn over the ground. She knelt down, scooping the items back into her purse. Before she could stand up, something shadowed over her, blotting out the streetlight.
She reached to retrieve a tube of Chap Stick which had rolled into a pair of combat boots. They were planted next to her. Her eyes traveled up the legs and body clothed in camo fatigues. A familiar face glared down at her.
Robert.
She swallowed the lump in her throat.
She felt the ground spin as she stood up. There was no denying it. She was drunk.
His face was rigid.
“What...what are you doing here?” She stuttered, not sure he was real at first.
“I didn’t like the way our conversation ended the other night.”
“What do you mean?” she asked. It wasn’t only the conversation that had ended, but them.
“If you’re going to break up with someone, you at least need to do it in person,” he said. Lainey caught a glimpse of sorrow before his face hardened again.
“I’m on my way out, but Jake and Emma are still in there.” Lainey said, ignoring his words, casually giving him the brush off.
She turned towards her car and pushed the fob to unlock it, but she dropped her key ring yet again.
They clattered on the pavement. She sighed, bending over and scooping them up.
But her balance wavered when she straightened.
She took a step back to steady herself, and a large hand gripped her bicep.
“Whoa.” Robert caught her from falling back further.
She shrugged him off. “I’m fine.”