Chapter 15
Dahlia
With two coffees in my hand, I tapped on the gallery door with my foot to get Tess’s attention. She ran over, unlocked the door, and opened it quickly.
“No drink carrier?” she asked, taking a coffee from my hand.
“They were out. What coffee shop runs out of drink carriers?” I asked.
I set my coffee on the counter and set my purse in the cabinet underneath.
“I’ve decided to have a few friends over for dinner tonight, and I’d love for you to come,” Tess said.
“Tonight?”
“Yeah. I know Alex is in Fort Lauderdale, so you don’t have an excuse not to come.”
“Dinner sounds great. What can I bring?”
“Just yourself. I have everything else covered.” She smiled. “I saw on the news this morning that Lawrence Gearheart was having an affair with that realtor who found him on his boat.”
“Oh really?” I acted surprised.
“Same with that history professor friend of yours. Did you know he was having an affair?” she casually asked.
“I had no idea. I was shocked when I found out.”
“So sad.” She shook her head. “And scary. I hope they catch whoever is responsible.”
“I’m sure they will.” I smiled.
I brought a key lime pie. I stepped onto the porch of Tess’s house and rang the doorbell.
“Yay. You’re here.” She smiled.
I handed her the white box with the pie in it as I stepped inside.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“Key lime pie.”
“You didn’t have to bring this. But thank you.” She grinned.
We stepped into the living room, where three ladies were talking and holding wine glasses.
“Ladies, I’d like you to meet Dahlia. Dahlia, this is Cara, Nadine, and Tori.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Dahlia,” they all said.
“Tess tells us you’re a genius at selling art. She said her sales doubled since hiring you,” Cara said.
“I wouldn’t say genius. I’m just very passionate about art.” I smiled.
“Okay, ladies. Dinner is ready.”
We each took a seat at the dining room table, which was elegantly decorated with fine China, white cloth napkins, gold flatware, and a beautiful fresh floral centerpiece in the middle.
“This is lovely, Tess,” I said.
“Thank you, Dahlia.” She smiled, setting the food dishes on the table. “We have oven-roasted citrus herb chicken breasts seasoned with orange, lemon, garlic, rosemary, and thyme. Garlic mashed potatoes, honey-glazed carrots, and green bean almondine for Cara, who hates carrots.”
“You always remember.” Cara smiled.
I stared at the three women who sat across from Tess and me and noticed Nadine was picking at her food.
“Nadine, darling. What’s wrong? You’re barely eating,” Tess said.
She set down her fork and picked up her wine glass. “My attorney called this afternoon. Bart is demanding that the court deny me spousal support.”
“What?” Cara asked. “He can’t do that.”
“Apparently, according to his attorney, I contributed very little to our marriage.”
“That is not true,” Tess said.
Tears filled Nadine’s eyes. I gave up graduate school after we met. I moved whenever his career demanded it. I gave him everything. Including the son he always wanted. And that’s not even the worst part. He’s filing for primary custody of Aaron.”
“No.” Tori shook her head. “He can’t do that. You’re Aaron’s mother.”
“Bart says that my emotional state makes me an unfit parent. He’s the one who did this to me. He cheated and destroyed our marriage. And now he’s going to try and convince a judge that I’m unstable because I had the audacity to fall apart after I found out.”
“How old is Aaron?” I asked.
“Twelve.” She dabbed her tears with her napkin.
“Aaron keeps telling me he wants to stay with me. He doesn’t even want to spend time with Bart anymore.
That son-of-a-bitch golfs with judges, and his attorney used to work for the state.
He’ll bury me in legal fees before we ever make it to trial.
It’s bad enough he practically drained our joint account, leaving me with barely anything. ”
“You don’t have to go through this alone. We’re all here for you,” Cara said. “Right, ladies?” She glanced at us.
“Of course.” Tess reached across the table and placed her hand on Nadine’s.
“I don’t care about the house, the cars, the vacation homes, or the money. I’m terrified he’ll take my son away from me.” She began to sob. “He’s the only good thing in my life, and I can’t lose him.”
“You’re not going to,” Tara said. “We’ll make sure of it.”
“He can buy anything and anyone he wants. He already destroyed me, and now he’s going to destroy our son. I don’t know what to do. I need help. I lay in bed every night begging for someone to make it stop.”
My mind wandered back to that night. Katherine crouched in the corner, knees against her chest, staring at me. Then those three little words she whispered, “Make it stop.”
After dinner, we had dessert. Then the others left. But I stayed back to gather more information about Nadine’s cheating husband.
“I feel awful for Nadine,” I said, handing Tess the rinsed plate to be put in the dishwasher.
“So, do I. That Bart is such a bastard. I couldn’t stand him the moment I met him. He’s controlling and has had Nadine on a leash for as long as I can remember.”
“What does he do for a living?”
“He owns Key West Developers. He’s a real estate developer. His company owns the gallery building”
“Who is he having an affair with?” I asked.
Tess put the last of the dishes into the dishwasher and closed the door.
“A woman named Celia Meadows. She owns Meadows Designs. She’s an interior designer and decorator.
They first met when Nadine hired her to redo their home.
Bart felt she did such an amazing job that he hired her to redo his offices.
Apparently, they’ve been sneaking around behind Nadine’s back for almost a year. ”
“How did Nadine find out?”
“She found a receipt in his suit coat pocket one day from a local jeweler. He had purchased a three-thousand-dollar diamond bracelet. A bracelet that wasn’t for Nadine. She confronted him, and he came clean. She filed for divorce the following day.”
“I don’t understand. How can he claim she’s an unfit mother?”
“After Nadine found out, she became severely depressed. She couldn’t get out of bed for two weeks.
Then she started forgetting things. She forgot to pick Aaron up from school a couple of times.
And she started mixing pills and alcohol.
Aaron found her one day on the bathroom floor and called 911.
She’s in therapy, and she’s much better.
Now, I’m afraid what she told us tonight will set her back.
She’s an excellent mother, and Aaron loves her very much. ”
“I guess you never really truly know someone,” I said.
“No. I guess not.”
“Did Bart move out?” I asked.
“No,” Nadine sighed.
“No?” My brows furrowed.
“He refuses. Nadine asked him to leave the day she found out about the affair, but he told her it’s his house and she’s the one who needs to leave.”
“That’s awful.” I shook my head.
“What’s even worse is he’s sleeping in the guest room, acting like he did nothing wrong. He still expects dinner on the table for him when he gets home from work. Tess told me that the hardest part of him being there is watching Bart pretend he’s the victim.”
“He’s a total narcissist,” I said. “How can he believe he’s the victim when he’s the one who’s having an affair?”
“According to him, Nadine overreacted. The affair ‘didn’t mean anything.’” She rolled her eyes. “As if that somehow makes it better. She told me that she doesn’t even recognize her own husband anymore.”
“It’s amazing,” I said.
“What is?”
“How quickly someone can become a stranger.”
I left Tess’s house and went home. Just as I walked through the door, my phone rang, and Alex was calling.
“Hey, stranger.”
“Hey, yourself, beautiful. What are you doing?”
“I just got home from having dinner with Tess and her friends.”
“How was it?” he asked.
“Very nice. I had a great time.”
“Good. And I’m happy you’re home. Did you lock the doors?”
“Yes, Alex. All doors and windows are locked.”
“Okay.”
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I just finished dinner. I’m exhausted, so I just ordered room service. I’m going to watch a little TV and then head to bed. I miss you.”
“I miss you, too.”
“I love you, Dahlia.”
“I love you. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
I took down a wine glass and poured some wine into it.
The most dangerous thing in the world was love.
People spent their entire lives searching for it.
Writing songs about it. Reading stories about it.
Crossing oceans for it and destroying themselves over it.
I never understood why. I supposed it had the power to convince good people to ignore their instincts.
To excuse the lies. Love blinded people.
It sure did for Katherine. All the signs and red flags were there, and she ignored them.
Over the years, I’d heard one too many times, “He would never do that to me.” Until he did.
Love didn’t just break hearts. It shattered identities.
Love wasn’t beautiful. It was a gamble. A dangerous one.
I wasn’t na?ve enough to make that mistake.
I deeply cared for Alex. But love? Love was a luxury for people who had never watched it destroy a family.
And once you’ve seen what love leaves behind, you stop believing it’s worth the risk.
When I told Alex that I loved him, I felt nothing.
I didn’t get all warm and fuzzy inside. I told him because he told me, and it was only right to say it back.
They were only words. And sometimes, words meant nothing. Only actions did.