Windward Secrets (2 page)

It was an easy drive to the airport and, as she drove, Caroline went over the events of the last few months. ‘How could this happen?’ she asked herself for the thousandth time. ‘I thought we still loved each other. When did we drift apart? Bill worked hard to build the business and I thought I played a role in that by freeing him of any responsibilities at home, entertaining his clients, and taking care of the boys’ needs. We had a good marriage, three great kids, and a beautiful home. I just don’t understand what went wrong. When did he start running around? Why didn’t I notice?’

Having to be told by a friend at the country club that Bill was having an affair with their dental hygienist was not only embarrassing, it felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She couldn’t breathe; the wind was knocked out of her. She had made a mad dash for the ladies’ room and hid in a stall until she got herself under control. She sat on the toilet holding her stomach and wanting to vomit. When she was sure there was no one else in the ladies room, she went to the mirror to see how bad she looked. It was BAD. After due diligence to her face, she returned to the dining room and tried to pretend nothing was wrong. Bill seemed fine, telling jokes and laughing. She wanted to spear him with her fork but, instead, she smiled and laughed at his stupid jokes she had heard a hundred times. She didn’t dare look around because she knew every eye in the room was waiting to see what she might do.

Dental hygienist, my ass!
There were three in their dentist’s office, but she didn’t need to ask for verification… she knew which one.
Bridgette, the blond with the big boobs! The bitch made my gums bleed!

Following the signs to the valet parking, at the airport, Caroline pulled up to the curb and popped the trunk. The attendant removed her suitcase and handed her a ticket. In return, Caroline handed him a hefty tip and headed for the sliding glass doors and the ticket counter. Walking down the concourse, her iPhone played its ridiculously, cheery tune.
I really need to change that
, she thought. The caller ID glowed with Bill’s name and office number. ‘Fat chance!’ Caroline glared at the phone, turned it off, and threw it into her handbag.

She took her place in line at the security area, removed her shoes and placed them in the plastic tub along with her handbag, and stepped up to the metal detector. The agent motioned her through and, of course, the bleeping alarm went off.

“Oh geez, what now!” Caroline exclaimed, as she backed out and took off her watch placing it in a tub on the advancing conveyer. “It has to be this bracelet,” she said, to the guard holding up the humongous ornamentation for him to see. In her embarrassment, she neglected to place the bracelet into one of the plastic bins so it disappeared under the wavy flaps of the x-ray machine and got caught at the other end jamming the machine and setting off another alarm.

“Sorry, sorry,” Caroline lamented, to the passengers waiting behind her. It took three security personnel to release the bracelet and get the conveyer moving again.

“Next time use a tray,” the female guard said, dangling Caroline’s bracelet with an indulgent look saved for naughty children.

“Yes, yes, of course,” Caroline whispered, snatching her bracelet and hurriedly stepping into her shoes. Red-faced, she grabbed her handbag and made a run for it.

Embarrassed and flustered she plopped down in a seat in the waiting area at the gate. Her mind raced toward the danger zone again.

Mr. Bill isn’t as smart as he thinks
, she thought with a smirk. She never let him know that she knew about his little escapade. She had been killing him with kindness for two months while she transferred funds from their joint accounts to an account in her name only. She had even moved some stocks and bonds without him knowing. “If he thinks he’s going to get away with spending everything we saved, for the last twenty-seven years, on some bimbo he’s a freaking lunatic,” she mumbled, a little too loudly.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made her look up. An elderly couple across from her was looking at her with raised eyebrows.

“It’s been a long day,” she said, sweetly, in her best southern accent and flashing them a big smile.

Finally, seated in first class, with a cocktail in hand and luckily an empty seat beside her, Caroline started to feel her stress begin to melt. She closed her eyes and put her head back against the seat.
What do I tell the girls?
Closing her eyes she thought,
Oh hell, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

***

Jill

“Woo Hoo!” Jill exclaimed, as she kissed Carrie, her daughter, goodbye. “I’m off! Be good. No men in the house while I’m away and don’t forget to check in on Gram at least once a day. Okay, sweets?”

“Sure, Mom. Don’t worry about me, just have a good time,” Carrie replied, grinning from ear-to-ear at her mother as she nearly lost her balance battling two suitcases, a tote, her purse, and a large pastry box from Patsy’s Bakery.

“Here, Mom, let me help.”

Carrie took one of the suitcases and the tote, and placed them in the trunk of her mother’s powder blue, Volkswagen beetle. Laughing, she loaded the rest of the luggage and gave her mom a big hug. “Have fun and call me when you get there.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay,” Jill asked, looking up at her daughter’s crystal clear, blue eyes.

Carrie was three inches taller than her mother with the same curly, black hair but her father’s light, blue eyes. Jill couldn’t help thinking
thank God that’s all she got from her father.

“Come on, Mom. I’m twenty-three years old. I’ll be fine. Please don’t worry.”

“Okay, I’ll try,” Jill said, turning toward the car before Carrie could see the tears building in her eyes.

Carrie walked up the front steps of their tiny, red, brick house and waved as Jill pulled out of the drive.

Jill swallowed the lump in her throat.
How did I get so lucky? What a great kid. I miss her already
,
she thought. Gripping the steering wheel tighter she turned left at the corner and headed for I-95. The three hour drive was a little daunting not to mention boring. She found an oldies station on the radio and began to sing.

Before long she tired of the music and switched it off. The GPS was re-calculating. “It’s an interstate for crying out loud, what could I have done wrong? I must have missed a direction with the music drowning out Miss Happy Voice,” as she called the GPS narrator. Pulling to a stop on the side of the road, Jill waited for Miss Happy Voice to get her act together. Finally, she was directed to turn right three times and left once and drive back the way she had come.

After driving a few minutes she realized she had exited the interstate without meaning to. “No worries. We’re back on track,” she declared, to Miss Happy Voice.

Traffic was light and she quickly accelerated to the maximum speed. “Let’s go Lulu,” she said, to her car as she settled in for the rest of the drive.

Several hours into the drive she began to think about how nice it would be to have a chauffeur to do the driving. “Better yet a MAN,” she said, out loud. “Where did that come from?” she asked her reflection in the rearview mirror.

Anyone watching her as she carried on her one-sided conversation would have thought she needed to be institutionalized. In addition to talking, she gestured with her hands and made exaggerated head movements.

I haven’t thought about having a man in my life for years. I love my job, well most of the time; and I have Carrie.
Her mind suddenly felt like it hit a concrete wall.
Oh my God, Carrie! She just graduated from nursing school and will probably be leaving home soon. What if she takes a job far away? What will I do?

Jill’s skin grew clammy and her hands were slippery with sweat on the steering wheel. Her chest tightened. Her heart raced. She knew the signs of a heart attack and was afraid she was headed for one.

She slapped her cheek. “Get a grip! This is silly. There’s no reason to worry. Take a deep breath! Carrie’s a smart girl… I have to trust her judgment. I raised her to be independent and now I have to let her choose her own path. On second thought… crap on all that psycho-babble, I want her to stay home with me forever.”

Another half hour of processing this information and she perked up. “This isn’t a heart attack, it’s a mid-life crisis. Mid-life if you live to be a hundred and six!” she chuckled. “Maybe it is time to think about a relationship.”

***

Diane

It was already 4:45 p.m. and Diane felt a headache coming on. She was never going to get out of the office in time to beat the rush hour traffic leaving Boston, so she may as well stay and get a little more work done. Picking up the phone, she dialed Claire’s cell. No answer. Voice mail picked up. “Hi Claire, it’s Diane. I’m running behind and can’t beat the traffic so I’m going to stay and work a little longer. Please, don’t wait up for me. Just leave the key under the mat and directions to my room. I’ll see you all in the morning. Love ya.”

She ran her hands through her short, spikey, blond hair and then massaged her temples. Reaching into a side drawer of her mahogany desk she pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen. “Lord, I get tired of these headaches.” Tossing two pills into her mouth she washed them down with a large gulp of water from the ever present bottle on her desk.

“Okay if I leave?”

Swallowing hard Diane looked up to see Karen, her assistant, standing in the doorway.

“Sure, go ahead. If you need me while I’m gone feel free to call.”

“When pigs fly,” Karen giggled, slipping into her navy, blue blazer. “Have a nice vacation and try not to worry about the office.”

“Oh, we always have a great time,” Diane smiled. “You have a good weekend and I’ll see you when I get back.”

Diane heard the outer door close and quiet invade the office, and said, out loud, “Okay, two hours is my limit! By then the traffic won’t be as bad and I can make better time.”

Swiveling her desk chair around, Diane surveyed the city skyline from the windows of her twenty-second floor office. The afternoon sun bounced off the west facing windows, of the surrounding buildings, winking at her.

“Gosh, where have the years gone? We have such different lives, yet are still friends after all these years.” She thought back to their days at the University of Massachusetts. “What fun we had.” That was where she had met her husband Tom. The old terror came back as she remembered the day he died. She still had a hard time believing he was gone, and so quickly. A brain aneurysm at thirty-two and that was it. She would never stop missing him. Deidra had been four and Tim only two. Taking a deep breath she rotated back to her desk.

Diane ticked items off the list on her note pad. Call the kids and remind them to stop by the house to feed the cat and water the plants. Finish up the Larson’s Seafood account. Leave all the pending files on Karen’s desk. Call Mom and Dad to remind them I’m going away. Set the alarm before leaving the office. Luggage was already in the car.

Turning her attention back to her computer she went to work.

Yawning, she glanced down at the clock in the corner of the computer screen. “Yikes. It’s 7:53 already. Where did the time go?”

She logged off the computer, cleared her desk, got her handbag out of the bottom drawer, and laid files on Karen’s desk as she headed for the door. One last look around and she activated the alarm and pulled the door closed.

In the elevator Diane pushed “P” for the parking garage and leaned against the wall as the elevator descended. It felt good to be going away. When the doors opened she stepped into the dimly lit, underground garage and walked toward her silver BMW.

***

The crunch of car tires on the crushed shell driveway woke Claire. There was no way not to smile when she saw Jill. Hugs and kisses. Drag in the luggage. Jill always over packed. “Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it” was Jill’s motto. She would have made a great boy scout.

“Oh, I love it! Just love it!” Jill cried, walking in the front door. “This is a cottage? Are you kidding? It looks like something out of a movie. And The Point… The Point is soooooo ‘Summer of ‘42.’ You remember that movie, don’t you Claire?”

Jill could say more in one breath than anyone Claire had ever met. “Yes. This is what the Victorians called a summer cottage. A bit bigger than what most of us think of, wouldn’t you say? And, yes, I do remember the movie.”

Before Claire could say any more Jill was halfway up the stairs. “Where do you want me?’

“Jill, wait,” Claire said, lugging the second suitcase up behind her. “I’m sorry but I have some disappointing news.”

“Please don’t tell me something’s wrong. I’ve been looking forward to this vacation for months.”

“Well, not really wrong, just inconvenient. We can’t use the fourth bedroom. When I booked the house it was advertised as four bedrooms but, for some unknown reason, when I picked-up the key I was told we can only use three of the bedrooms. Would you mind bunking with me?”

“Is that all? Gosh, you scared me; I thought there was a problem. No worries, it’ll be like old times… as long as you don’t snore.”

“No, no, you’re safe on that account,” Claire replied, with a smile.