CHAPTER 35
“I think I made a huge mistake,” I tell Capri as soon as she sits in our normal booth at Bad Daddy’s – front corner near the windows.
“What’s wrong?”
I hold up my left hand. Her eyes light up.
“That better not be what I think it is.”
“It is.”
“Myra, you’re engaged?”
“No. I’m married.”
“What!” she screeches, prompting a few guests to look over here at us. “Stop playing with me.”
“I’m not. I promise you I’m not.”
“Then what do you call it? You—you’re not married. You can’t be married! You weren’t even serious enough with anyone to get married? And who are you married to? Who? Axel?”
“Yes.”
“ Axel ?” she asks again, as if needing clarification.
“Yes. Axel. Look—I thought I was being spontaneous and not being so uptight. For the first time in my life, I removed the roadblocks. Isn’t that what you told me to do?”
“Yes, but I didn’t mean run off and marry the man!”
“Well, I also married him because I love him, Capri. Isn’t that why you’re marrying Dorian?”
“Yes, but we’ve been together for two years, Myra. You hardly know Axel.”
“And that’s why I started this conversation stating that I made a huge mistake.”
“Oh. Right. You did, didn’t you?” Her facial expression softens when she says, “Tell me what happened.”
“We were in Hilton Head this past weekend. I found this in his suitcase.”
I pull the business card from my pocket and put it on the table like I’m lying down a playing card. She picks it up, reads it over, and says, “Axel Jennings, Chief Operating Officer of Leverage Realty Group—wait. I don’t understand. I thought he was in maintenance.”
“Yeah, so did I, but according to that card, he’s been lying to me.”
“Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you confront him about this?”
“Not yet. I’ve been avoiding him most of the day. I’m going to wait until closing time and bring it up.”
“What do you make of it?”
I sigh heavily and say, “He’s been lying to me all this time, Capri. He’s not a maintenance worker. He’s a top-level executive for the company I work for. He drives an expensive car and paid for an all-inclusive resort, not to mention this ring must’ve set him back a pretty penny. You need more than maintenance money for all of that.”
Capri takes my hand and says, “This ring is fire. My goodness. It must’ve cost a fortune.”
“Too bad I’m giving it back to him.”
“Wait a minute, now. Talk to the man first.”
“I am, but he’s getting it back. You don’t make a fool out of me and get away with it. I should’ve listened to my inner voice that told me he was going to be trouble.”
“That same voice also told you he was fine—and that you wanted to marry him before some other woman snatched him up.”
I shake my head.
She says, “You shake your head, but it’s the truth. You’ve started a life with him. You’ve been intimate and—”
“Not necessarily.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we haven’t—you know—consummated anything.”
“No?”
“No. Well, he’s done some things to me, but that’s about it.”
She shakes her head in disbelief.
“Anyway, I need to address this. My stomach has been in knots ever since I found this card.”
“Your stomach is going to be in more knots than that when your brothers find out. I’m assuming they don’t know.”
“No, they don’t.”
“What about your mom?”
“Un un. Nope. You’re the first person I told. This all just happened.”
I drop my head and decline food when the waitress comes over.
Capri says, “Maybe you got it all wrong, Myra. It’s probably just a simple misunderstanding.”
“It’s not,” I say, but I can’t bring myself to tell her about the website and his picture, confirming that he is indeed an executive for Leverage. Axel Jennings has been lying to me, and I need to find out why.