Heaven Can't Wait (9 page)

He pressed his lips to her cheek. “I put up with her because I’m madly in love with her daughter.”

Her body relaxed in his arms. “Her daughter’s madly in love with you, too.”

Soon, she was asleep.

“Surely you have some kind of mineral water that doesn’t come in cheap, plastic bottles. And I’d like lemon—fresh, sliced lemon.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but that’s the only brand of bottled water we carry.”

“That is simply unacceptable.”

Lissy tried to ignore her mother’s complaining, willing the tension to leave her shoulders as the aesthetician wrapped her hair in a towel and prepared to give her a facial. Beside her Holly, Tessa, Sophie and Kara lay on treatment tables, dressed in thick, white terry robes, their hair also wrapped in towels. Soft music drifted over the sound system like clouds, but it was no mask for the barbed wire of her mother’s voice.

This was spa day. It was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be relaxing. But her mother was ruining it for all of them with her constant criticism, her mood a chilling frost. Nothing was good enough: not the music, not the size of the dressing rooms, not the décor. Now the bottled water was below her standards, as well.

Lissy had felt obligated to bring her mother along and had been naïve enough to think this sort of pampering would make her mother happy. But it seemed nothing made her mother happy.

“When I pay for a full day at the spa, I expect to be treated like a princess!”

“You’re not paying for it, Mother.” Lissy tried to sound calm, as if her mother’s whining weren’t plucking on her last nerve. “I’m paying for it, and I like this bottled water just fine.”

“Then you’re wasting your money, Melisande.”

An uncomfortable stillness fell over the room.

Tessa spoke in her most sophisticated Savannah drawl. “You know, the last time I visited this establishment, I found the Venetian mud bath to be most enjoyable.”

“I heard they have the mud flown in straight from Venetia,” chirped Holly.

“You mean Venice,” Sophie corrected.

“Oh. Yeah.”

“I quite enjoyed the Venetian mud bath, as well,” Kara said, the tone of her voice strangely snobbish. “It was a gift from my husband, the senator, after Caitlyn was born.”

“Your husband is a senator?”

“Why, yes, Mrs. Charteris. Didn’t Lissy tell you? He’ll likely be our next governor.”

The spa offered mud baths, but not Venetian mud baths. And Kara’s husband, Reece, had sworn he’d never run for governor. Lissy had no idea what they were talking about. Had they all gone wacko?

And then it hit her. She decided to play along.

“It’s too bad the Venetian mud baths are available only to Platinum Spa Members. I only have a Gold membership.”

“Oh, really, Lissy? What a shame!”

Lissy nearly laughed out loud at the feigned dismay in Tessa’s voice.

As if on cue, her mother spoke. “Well, given the sloppiness of their service so far, I feel entitled to an upgrade in my services.”

“Would you like a Venetian mud bath, ma’am? I believe I can arrange it with management.”

Lissy opened her eyes to find the staff person her mother had yelled at standing by the door, a wide, beaming smile on her face.

Her mother nodded, the white towel on her head bobbing slightly. “Yes, I would.”

“If you would await me in the lounge, ma’am, I’ll prepare the facilities.”

“I think the rest of you should insist on the same.” Her mother stepped down off her treatment table and into her courtesy flip-flops, then walked out the door.

The smiling staff member looked apologetically toward Lissy. “I’m sorry she’s unhappy with our services.”

But it was Lissy who felt sorry. “I don’t think she’s happy with much of anything.”

Then Tessa spoke, her eyes closed, her face covered in white goop. “There’s a hundred-dollar bill in it for you if you keep her occupied for the rest of the day. Right, girls?”

Lissy, unable to help herself, burst into laughter.

Will turned onto their street and jerked the truck to a stop. “Give me a break!”

The Cone Zone had expanded while he’d been at work, reducing their street to a single, cramped lane. What in the hell was the city trying to do? If they weren’t done by the time he and Lissy got back from France, getting a moving van through was going to be a bitch.

He steered carefully into the parking lot, grabbed his briefcase and picked his way through orange cones toward the front steps. He’d ended up working late again, trying to tie up loose ends so that both the paper and Channel Four would be set while he was in France with Lissy. The sports department had given him a send-off that had included putting up streamers made of hundreds of linked condom packages around his desk. Bunch of lunkheads.

He slipped his key in the lock, heard shouting coming from inside. Quietly, he opened the door and stepped into the hallway.

“You don’t know him! He’s nothing like my father!” Lissy’s voice was trembling.

Protective rage flared in Will’s gut, hot and immediate. He put down his briefcase, headed straight for the kitchen.

“They’re all like your father, Melisande! You might as well plan for it now, because sooner or later he
will
cheat on you!”

“I’m sorry you think so, Mrs. Charteris.” Will fought to control his temper.

Both women gasped, and he saw the blood drain from the older woman’s face. Tears stained Lissy’s cheeks, her grief fueling his fury.

He walked slowly toward her mother. “I’m sorry you married the wrong man for the wrong reasons. I’m sorry he hurt you by sleeping around. I’m sorry you cheapened yourself by doing the same. I’m sorry for whatever it was that made you such a heartless, miserable human being. But I’m done tolerating your poison in our home. Pack your things, and get out!”

Lissy’s mother gaped at him. Then her face turned to stone, her voice to ice. “At least have the decency to call me a cab.”

Will met her frigid gaze with steel. “My pleasure.”

Lissy watched through the guest room window as the cab wound its way between orange cones and disappeared around the corner. Tears she didn’t want to cry ran warm down her cheeks, her mind a riot of conflicting emotion. She heard the soft tread of feet on carpet and felt Will’s hands against her shoulders.

“I’m sorry, sugar. I know that couldn’t have been easy for you.”

“Or for you.” She wiped her tears away. “I really feel sorry for her, Will.”

“She’s to blame for her own situation. No one forced her to marry your father or to stay with him. She made those choices herself.”

I’m sorry for whatever it was that made you such a heartless, miserable human being. But I’m done tolerating your poison in our home. Pack your things, and get out!

She heard Will’s voice in her mind, saw the anger and hurt on her mother’s face. “I wish you hadn’t been so hard on her.”

“Hard on her?” Will stepped back, ran a hand through his hair, shook his head. “God, Lissy! How many men would tolerate half as much as I did? I think I went pretty easy on her, considering what I heard her say. I don’t care if she doesn’t like me, but I won’t have her standing in our kitchen, upsetting you and accusing me of fucking around on the wife I haven’t married yet! I’m not that kind of man!”

She heard the rage in his voice, beneath it the hurt. “I know that, Will. You don’t have to tell me that.”

“I think maybe I do. That’s what all this is about. Be honest, Lissy. You didn’t decide to stop having sex until after the wedding for the sake of romance. You did it because some part of you doubts us—doubts me!”

Lissy felt the heat of anger rush to her face. “That’s not true! But isn’t it interesting that going two weeks without sex is such an issue for you that we end up fighting about it?”

“That’s not why we’re arguing, and you damned well know it! Don’t try to turn this around.” His gaze went cold, and she could tell he was truly angry with her now. “It’s not the bet that bothers me—it’s your lack of faith.”

His words felt like a slap in the face, perhaps because some part of her knew she deserved them. But she was too overwhelmed, her emotions too raw, to think it through just now. “I defended you! I stood by you when you told her to leave. Why would I do that if I didn’t trust you?”

Then, a sob caught in her throat, she ran to their bedroom and shut the door behind her.

Keys jingled, and Lissy’s heart sank as she heard Will walk out the front door and lock it behind him.

Lissy woke to find she’d slept in their bed alone. She sat bolt upright, suddenly alarmed. She’d sat up waiting for him until after midnight and then had gone to bed furious. But what if something had happened to him?

Then she heard the rasp of the coffee grinder.

Will was home, but he had chosen not to sleep beside her.

The realization left her feeling almost sick. She fought the urge to dash into the kitchen to confront him or to beg for his forgiveness, instead slipping into a hot shower. When she entered the kitchen a half hour later, she found him reading the papers.

He looked up from the page, dark circles beneath his eyes. “Morning.”

She stood there, looking at him, wanting so much to tell him she was sorry, wanting to shout at him for leaving her alone all night. “Morning.”

They didn’t talk about it at breakfast. They didn’t talk about it in the car on the way to lunch with the wedding planner. They didn’t talk about it while they waited for everyone to show up for the wedding rehearsal. And although the rehearsal went as smoothly as Lissy could possibly have hoped—her mother attended and didn’t complain once—Lissy knew all was not as it should be.

Will was sweet and attentive, standing with his arm around her shoulders, rubbing his thumb over the bare skin of her arm, kissing her on the cheek now and again, but there was a remoteness to his affection that made the lingering pain of their argument even harder to bear. Still, it was the evening before her wedding, and Lissy was determined at least to seem as if she were having the time of her life. So she kept a smile on her face, laughed at people’s jokes, chatted cheerily with friends and guests.

Rather than a formal rehearsal dinner in a restaurant, Lissy and Will had opted to have a catered buffet in the park near their condo. They’d wanted their friends to be able to bring their kids and to dress comfortably, strictly weekend casual, though Lissy had opted for a sleeveless dress of black linen and sandals. They’d all get their fill of being dressed up and formal at the wedding and reception tomorrow.

A big white tent had been set up to shelter the food and tables in case a late-afternoon thunderstorm rolled in over the mountains, as so often happened during the summer. But the sky was clear, and as their guests finished eating, they spread through the park to enjoy themselves, just as Lissy had hoped they would.

Kara’s husband, Reece, was playing soccer with their son, Connor, while Kara bounced Caitlyn, their eleven-month-old baby, on her lap and talked with Lissy’s mother about the trials of being a senator’s wife. The groomsmen and ushers were trying their luck with a Frisbee and discovering why they preferred football. Tessa and Sophie were lost in a discussion about some investigation they were working on. Devon and Holly were…all over each other.

Lissy looked up at Will, expecting to share a laugh with him, only to find herself looking at his back as he walked away. He was still angry with her. They were about to be married, and they weren’t even speaking.

A bleakness Lissy had never known crept into her belly. Tears pricked behind her eyes. She stood, suddenly needing to think, needing be alone. Knowing her mother would see beyond whatever lie she concocted, she threaded her way among the tables toward Tessa and Sophie.

“I’ve got a really nasty headache,” she told them. “I’m going home for a while.”

Then, before they could ask too many questions, she hurried out of the park toward the condo, tears spilling down her cheeks.

Will tossed the ball gently to Connor, saw a smile of surprise cross the boy’s face when he caught it. “That’s the way. Hug it tight, and run for the end zone.”

The child ran as fast as he could on six-year-old legs toward the two trees that marked the end zone, through a gauntlet of former football players who couldn’t seem to catch him.

“Whoa! Touchdown!” Devon shouted. “High five, little man! Now spike the ball!”

Will stepped out of the game and strode toward the keg, pretending to want another beer when what he really wanted was to be alone with Lissy. He’d spent all day trying to ward off his growing sense of guilt, trying not to notice the shadows in Lissy’s eyes or the way she kept looking to him for some kind of reassurance.

But there was no way around it. He’d been an ass. He’d known Lissy was upset, but still he’d forced the issue, trying to make his point.

That’s what all this is about. Be honest, Lissy. You didn’t decide to stop having sex until after the wedding for the sake of romance. You did it because some part of you doubts us—doubts me!

She’d reacted as if he’d hit her.

I defended you! I stood by you when you told her to leave. Why would I do that if I didn’t trust you?

And she had. She’d stood up to her mother for him, and she’d stood beside him when he’d kicked her mother out. She’d shown him respect, something she’d surely never seen her parents give one another, something her parents had only rarely shown her.

A voice in his mind started offering excuses. He’d only told her the truth, after all. How could he be blamed for that?

Because you hurt her, you fricking idiot!

He’d been so angry with her mother, every inch of him burning with frustration after four days of putting up with insults and innuendo. And he’d taken it out on Lissy, first by ramming his point of view down her throat, then by leaving her alone most of the night while he’d sulked and watched ESPN at a damned sports bar.

He felt a surge of regret, looked about the park for her. He needed to talk to her. He needed to apologize. Tomorrow was their wedding day. It was time to set things right.