Page 30 of Stay Here Tonight
Lydia spent most of the ride on her side of the limo bench, either looking at her phone or out the darkened window. She never once complained or expressed discomfort over what had happened at the party.Because she doesn’t know. She has no way of knowing.The details had been kept from the public for a damn good reason.
So why did Maxine have to ask such an invasive question as soon as Maxine put her phone away for good?
“What’s really going on with your ex-wife? Why is she threatening me like that?”
Groaning, Maxine leaned back against her seat and shielded her eyes from the yellow light shining in the middle of the ceiling. “I told you. She can’t stand the thought of me officially moving on from her. She sees me as her territory or some messed up shit like that.”
“She so badly wants me to believe that you’re the abuser, but there isn’t an ounce of truth to what she’s telling me. Except I don’t know what the truth is, either. What really happened between you two?”
Maxine glared at her. “It’s none of your business.”
“If I’m dating you, whether for real or not, then I need to know. This could affect me too.”
Why did she have to make so much sense? “Fine.” Maxine refused to look anywhere but out the window. Better than submissively toward her lap or in defiance toward Lydia. “You want to hear a juicy detail? Penelope is the sadistic one. I used to think she was emotionally sadistic, but she’s not above her own physical threats. She… never mind.”
“No, come on. Tell me. I promise I won’t tell anyone else, especially the press.”
“Oh, well, if youpromise.”
“Make me sign a NDA when we get back to your place for all I care.”
“Maybe I will. On principle.”
Lydia scoffed. “So what happened?”
Maxine had to admit that Lydia was particularly pretty when she exhibited this side of herself. Demanding, relentless, and damn sexy.She wants to kill me, doesn’t she?“She threatened me with a gun. Do I have to say more than that?”
Lydia did not initially react, but her hands twisted in her lap and her cheeks sucked into her mouth as she mulled over those words. “She showed me this scar on her forehead. Said it was from when you pushed her into a coat rack.”
“Oh, God.”She really went there?That was the same story Penelope tried to present in court.Only after I provided proof about the gun.Penelope attempted to twist the story into sounding like the gun was used in self-defense after her ex had pushed her. In reality, the pushing came after she slapped Maxine so hard the woman almost had whiplash. And a coat rack? Really? Who did she think she fooled with a story like that? When Maxine pushed back against her physically aggressive wife, it ended with Penelope smacking against the open doorway, in time for Agnes to emerge after hearing the altercation for the past fifteen minutes.
Agnes had testified on Maxine’s behalf.“I won’t give you my judgment on Ms. Amarillo’s mental issues – yet. All I’ll tell you is what I saw. When I came down the hallway, Ms. Amarillo slapped my employer and called her a word I’d rather not repeat unless you force me to. She then attempted to push her wife again, and Ms. Woodward pushed back in what I would safely say was self-defense. I would have done the same thing. I’m not even sorry that Ms. Amarillo sustained a minor injury.”
The security cameras in the hallway that had barely caught the altercation was what sealed the deal in the judge’s eyes. Penelope was denied her claims of abuse and demand for compensation – monetary, of course. In the end, all Penelope received was what legally belonged to her under Californian law, and that was Maxine being generous. I didn’t need her things. I didn’t need her money. I practically paid her to leave me alone.All the good that did everyone.
“I’m guessing that wasn’t true. I told her that I thought she was full of shit.”
Maxine’s eyes widened. “You did what?” Good thing they were getting a restraining order! Because that was liable to make Penelope completely lose her shit. She didnotlike having her lies called out. Typical narcissist. She was also such a compulsive liar that Maxine had no doubt that her ex started believing her own bullshit after a while.
“I know that abusive people are usually quite the charmers, but while you’re charming, Ms. Woodward, you’re notthatkind of charming.”
“I honestly have no idea how to take that.”
“I think it was a compliment?”
Tissues came out of their box in the side panel. Those hardened memories always made Maxine’s sinuses act up.Stop it. Stop thinking about them. She can’t touch you anymore. She won’t threaten you like that anymore.
She realized it wasn’t herself she was so concerned about.
It was Lydia. A person so innocent in all of this that she barely knew who Penelope was when she first hooked up with Maxine. Was that really only a week ago? Felt like so much longer. It felt like they had been dating for a while. A month? Two? They weren’t in love. No way. That was way too fast, especially for Maxine. But it did feel like they… ah, it must have been because they always saw each other at the resource center. While that didn’t mean they knew each other even on a friendly level, it meant they had a certain level of familiarity that Maxine treasured. Lydia had a friendly face that was willing to help and say kind words. What woman didn’t want more of that in her life, privileged or not?
“You want to know the truth about what happened between me and her?”
Lydia stiffened, a gesture so slight that Maxine only saw it because she studied the young woman so closely. The soft white spot of her neck. The curve of her shoulders. The way her bust settled into her bra and dress. Her crossed legs, the hem of her dress decorating her hairless calves as they turned into slight feet punched into navy blue pumps. Everything about Lydia Kellerman was so casuallyfuck me senselessthat Maxine worried she may do something stupid. So why not talk about something that sucked?
“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to share.”
“No, you should know. If you’re going to get involved with any of this, you should definitely know what’s going on.” Maxine inhaled as deeply as she could, filling her lungs with the recycled limousine air that faintly smelled of cinnamon. “Penelope is absolutely unhinged. I’m sure you figured that out for yourself, but you don’t know the extent to which she’s willing to go. She’s accused me of more than ‘just’ hitting her.” Maxine left the implications there.That tabloid isn’t the first time she made it sound like I forced her to do things.
