Payback (14 page)

“Is that my coffee?”
he asked.

I nodded and walked over to the side of the bed, handing it to him.
“Do you want breakfast now or later?”

“I’ll be down in half an hour.”

I tried not to show any additional emotions. Leaving the room in haste, I made my way to the kitchen before grabbing the counter to hold myself up. So this is how it felt to walk in on someone sleeping with the person you love?  In my case, he’d walked in while Gordon was plowing me from behind—a much more graphic event than what I had just seen. Still, I felt gutted. I realized that Caden must have felt ten times worse. It brought home just what I had done to him.

Half an hour later
, I heard their voices as they came downstairs joking and teasing each other.  When they reached the kitchen, the two women eyed me up and down, as if they weren’t sure what my role was.

“Twyla and Nicky, this is Marie. Whatever you want for breakfast, she’ll do her best to make it.”

Nicky, the older woman, had a hard look to her, as if she’d been around a few too many pool halls.  But there was a sassiness in her that I knew would appeal to Caden. He liked his women to be spunky and full of personality. Nicky shook her head.  “Nah, thanks, Caden, but we need to get back to Whitefish. My babysitter has plans today.”

The blonde, who had her arm around Caden’s waist and was wearing a top that showed almost as much breast as I had seen when she was nude
, was clearly enamored with Caden. She kept looking at him as if he were a god. I guess I could relate because, frankly, when it came to men, he was achingly handsome.

Caden nodded and pulled out his wallet from his back pocke
t and started to peel off fifty-dollar bills. I owe you two three hundred each, right?”

They both nodded. “Here
. And here’s twelve hundred for the other four girls that were here and an extra fifty each for the two of you. That was really special last night.”

They both beamed and then gave him long French kisses before sashaying out the side door. He looked over to gauge my reaction and
must have been satisfied because he snorted a little. I’m pretty sure I was an ash gray, because I felt sick to my stomach.

“What would you like for breakfast?”

“The usual.”

“Caden, they used my clothing to decorate the floors and Christmas tree.
Some of it is ripped up. And that girl who just left, she was wearing my skirt.”

“Really?” he chuckled. “Well, you should take better care of your stuff
, I guess.”

“Look, I don’t have
a lot as it is, and now I can’t find all of my underwear.”

“Yeah, I think some of the guys took souvenirs last night. They liked your panties a lot.”

“You should replace my underwear since they’re your friends!  I don’t have that much…really, I don’t have much at all.” I was close to crying so I bit my lip to control my emotions.

Frowning, he dismissed me. “Oh, come on.  Surely you have more clothing back in Los Angeles?”

“You don’t fucking get it, do you?” I screamed.  “I’m broke! I had to keep downsizing and selling what I had. Most of my clothing went on eBay. You’re looking at all I have in the world.”

He stopped for a second and considered it. A small flame of compassion flickered for a moment
, and then he threw up a hand.  “Yeah, well, whose fault is that?”

“Oh, fuck you, Caden. Fuck you.” I threw a banana at him and stormed out of the kitchen while he laughed at me.

I didn’t talk to Caden for the next few days, and he didn’t seem to notice.  Jason finally cornered me at lunch on Christmas Eve.

“What’s up with you? You seem to be pissed at the world.”

I told him that as a result of the party, I was down to three pairs of underwear and two bras. The rest had been destroyed or were missing. 

“I’m sorry.  I’ll get the guys to make it up to you.”

“You will not,” Caden said, looking up and glaring at both of us. “I will not have my guests told that they have to reimburse me for having fun in my house. You should have put your suitcase someplace where it wouldn’t be seen.”

“I didn’t have a chance!  You practically told me to get out. I never thought that anyone would take or destroy my things. I don’t have a chest of drawers or anything to put them in.”

“Oh, boo hoo,” Caden taunted me.

I threw the dish towel down and went downstairs.

“You really know how to piss each other off, don’t you?” Jason said.

Caden clenched his teeth. “Yeah, we know what buttons to push, that’s for sure.”

“You must have really loved her.”

Caden wasn’t expecting that. He took a deep breath, got up from the table and left the room
as Jason laughed at Caden’s misery. 

Jason yelled after him, “Hey, Caden, I’ll be going now. See you tomorrow around one. Don’t be late.”

I heard the door and then the sound of tires on the gravel. I grabbed my crochet hook and yarn and holed up in the theater, where I finished making the rest of my gifts. I spent most of the morning baking cookies, fudge, and a Dutch apple pie for Christmas dinner. I was still simmering in the theater when the door opened and he stuck his head inside.

“I’m hungry.”

“Fuck you. Get your own dinner. I just gave myself the night off,” I growled.

“I’m still hungry.  I’ll pay you time and a half to make me something.”

I thought about it. I could make over twenty-two dollars an hour to make his dinner. That would work out to about forty-five bucks with cleanup for one meal. I put my crocheting down and stood up, pushing past him as I made my way to the kitchen.

“You’re getting a sandwich and soup.”

“I can live with that.”

After feeding him and cleaning the counters, I finished my crocheting and wrapp
ed my gifts. As I was picking up the scraps of wrapping paper, he walked into the theater and searched through the DVDs, finally putting a movie in the player. He sat a row behind me, taking his boots off and putting the recliner back. I sat down, and together we watched
Jeremiah Johnson
in silence. When it was over, he got up and went to bed.  It occurred to me that I’d never seen him use the theater with its beautiful leather recliners, drink holders, and popcorn maker.  Why he chose Christmas Eve to watch a movie was baffling—unless he just didn’t want to be alone on Christmas Eve.

The last time we spent Christmas Eve together, it was in the spa
at Topanga Ranch with a bottle of Dom Perignon. We held each other for a long time before going inside to the bedroom and making love. He’d been especially amorous that night and after giving me a very sensual massage, he pulled me into his chest and, kissed me.

********

“
I want to spend every Christmas Eve making love to you.” He nuzzled my hair. “Of course, in the future we’ll be putting out gifts for our kids.”

“Our kids? How many of these hypothetical kids are you talking about?”
I asked.

“I want as many as I can convince you to give me.”

“One does not give another children.”

“You know what I mean. I can’t imagine having kids with anyone else. They’re going to be
so incredible…my looks and your brains...” he teased.

I swatted his chest. “What’s wrong with my looks and your brains?”

He laughed. “As long as I have the kids with you, I’ll be happy with whatever mix up of genes they inherit.”

********

I
closed up the theater and then put the presents under the tree. Climbing under the blankets on the sofa, I fell asleep.

A
hand was shaking my shoulder. “I need some help out in the stables. Get your clothes on and join me out there,” he snapped.

Not wanting
to crawl out from under the comforter to face the morning, a groan escaped from my lips. Despite the fact that I was inside, Caden had the heat on a timer downstairs and it shut down at midnight. By six in the morning, it was cold enough in the playroom that my nipples were always hard. It wasn’t as cold as the tack room, but I still didn’t want to get out of bed.

After a lot of grumbling,
I finally joined him in the stables, where Caden was mucking one of the stalls out. “What do you need?”

“I need you to muck out the rest of the sta
lls while I feed the cattle. The cattle have gone through some of the big bales, so I need to replace them because there’s supposed to be a storm late tonight.” He put down the rake. “You remember how to do this?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

How could I forget?  On the staff’s day off, Caden and I used to muck the stalls and feed the horses in Topanga.  It always ended up that we’d make love somewhere out in the stable or canyons, the smell of the stable mixing with the smell of our sex. The sounds of our lovemaking were sometimes so loud that the animals became restless. 

After
the mucking was done, I went out into the overcast yard and noticed that Caden was having a hard time pulling the large bales off the back of the truck bed. It was usually a two-man-job, so I hiked out to the middle of the field and climbed up in the back of the truck. Without saying a word, we worked in tandem to pull the bales off. When it was done, we climbed into the cab of the truck. He looked at me and seemed to have a hard time deciding what to say, so he said nothing, but gave me a polite nod before starting the truck.

We got back to the house and I made him breakfast.
After serving him, I took my bowl of maple and brown sugar oatmeal downstairs to the bar to eat. He came down the stairs and stood nearby with his hands on his hips.  “We’ll be leaving in an hour.”

“Okay.”

“What’s that?” he gestured to the gifts under the tree.

“They’re gifts for
Ona’s family, Chris and Jason…and you.”

His eyes flew open. “Me?”

I nodded and then walked over to the tree and picked up his gift. Handing the present to him, he seemed a little embarrassed but began to open it.  I had used a beautiful blue and black wool to make him a cap. The blue was on the border to highlight his blue eyes and black eyelashes.

“It’s really nice. Thanks,” he looked as if he was debating whether to be nice to me. “I got you something too.”

I was moved and excited, wondering what he had gotten me. He always had good taste and had purchased me many lovely designer pieces that I had been forced to sell on consignment or on eBay.  I waited while he went upstairs and then came back down with a cheerfully wrapped box about eight by four by six inches.  I grinned at him and shook it next to my ear but nothing really moved.  Giggling, I looked in his eyes and wasn’t sure what I saw in them.  Instead of being excited, he seemed to be embarrassed. I tore the paper off and managed to give him a smile. I didn’t want him to see how much he had hurt me with his cruel joke. “Thanks. A girl can always use another box of tampons.”

“Yeah,
I thought you’d appreciate it. At least I don’t have to tell you where to put your gift.”

I gave him a little laugh
, as if I thought it was funny, but I was biting my cheek to keep from crying. “Well thanks again. I better get ready.” I picked out a few things from my suitcase and walked into the bathroom to shower and have a good cry. Once I’d toweled off, I put on my cashmere sweater bought in my money-making days, my best jeans along with the only warm shoes I had, my work boots. Afterwards, I did my makeup and hair and then went upstairs to wait for Caden.

He appeared clean-
shaven and looking very much like I remembered him as a younger man. For the first time since I had arrived, he was wearing black tailored trousers made from the most beautiful silk.  I knew how much they must have cost, but their value would be lost on the crowd we were meeting today. He also had on a beautiful black silk shirt under a red V-neck sweater. GQ would have been proud to have Caden on the front of their magazine. He reminded me of Gatsby, suave, debonair, confident.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Could you carry the pie to the truck while I get the rest of the things?”

“Okay.”

He grabbed a bag with a bottle of very expensive whisky and a wrapped gift before taking the pie I put into his hand. Once inside the cab, I couldn’t talk to him. I thought for sure I might start crying if I addressed him. We’d been on the road for half an hour before he addressed me.

“Jason invited you and Ona over for a drink later, right?”

I nodded. “We will be down after lunch, around four or five.  Do you think that will be okay?”

“I don’t know. You could give them a call when you get there.”

Ona was getting out of her car with a grocery store bag when we pulled up to the curb.  I got out, and Caden rolled down his window to address Ona.

“Merry Christmas, Ona.”

She walked over to the truck. “Merry Christmas, Caden. You want to come in for a few minutes? The guys are watching some football.  The jackasses, I couldn’t even get them to go to the store for me.” She held up a bag. “Gravy.  Forgot the damn gravy.”