Page 9 of Now & Forever
“Have you guys gone to couple’s therapy yet?”
“We’ve tried.” Gwen didn’t want to think about that. “Didn’t really get anywhere.”
Kathryn didn’t say anything, much to Gwen’s relief. So when she opened her mouth to ask another question, Gwen was compelled to interrupt with the crux of her problem.
“I keep thinking that I should cut my losses and leave.”
The silence now simmering at their table was much alike the silences in couple’s therapy.I feel terrible saying that, but it’s the truth. Who else can I tell right now?She had already dropped hints to her friend Charlotte that she was thinking of breaking up with James for good. It didn’t matter how much a woman loved a man. It also sometimes didn’t matter if that man had a good heart and had never hurt her in the seven years they had been together. Sometimes, the powers that be – the ones really pulling the puppet strings in the background – were dark enough that a girl needed to know when to run.
“Leave, huh?” Kathryn’s hands remained wrapped around her cocktail. “I can’t even imagine it. You and James have been together for as long as I can remember.”
“Yeah, well…” Gwen sipped her cold tea.Not enough lemon.Nobody gave her enough lemon slices, even if she asked for two. “Things change. We had a good run, but it’s kinda like a TV show, you know? At some point, everything jumps the shark, and it feels like the writers are putting in outrageous, contrived scenarios to get more ratings. That’s what this whole past year has felt like. While everyone around us is hooking up and getting married, we’re over here falling apart.”
Kathryn cocked her head. Usually, she wore it up in a tight, blond coil that made people ask if it hurt. Today, however, she wore it down and to one side. Luscious, silky locks that were the envy of every brunette heiress in New England.My hair isn’t really blond. I wonder how many people know that?James knew it. Charlotte knew it. Gwen had been dying her light brown hair blond for so many years that not even Amber Mayview, queen of fake blond hair, could hold a candle to Gwen’s layering and highlighting skills.
It ruined the texture of her hair.
“Is it really about the baby, though? And the in-laws?”
Gwen didn’t dare make eye contact with Kathryn as she considered that. “There have always been issues to the undercurrent of our relationship. No relationship is perfect, you know.”
“Don’t I. Being with Ian isn’t a walk in the park, no matter how long you’re with him.”
“I can imagine.” Gwen drummed her fingers against the table. “I love James. Before we were blindsided with a baby, we had issues, but we could deal with them. We were working through them. I can’t deal with those issuesandthis bullshit. It’s bad enough the whole world knows about what the Welshes did. Now I’m a stepmom? Just like that? It’s way too much. James and I still aren’t even sure where we’re going over the long term. It would’ve been one thing if I got knocked up. Or if he at least hadsleptwith the mother of his child…”
Kathryn couldn’t stand the ensuing silence, could she? “That’s the danger we sign up for committing to men who have… uh, pasts.”
Right. Because Kathryn was the one woman who understood what kind of “past” James had.Ian is probably worse.Gwen had heard all the stories about their frat boy days.“Endless pussy for days, Gwenny. I’m not ashamed to admit your boy here took part in the plunder. Only with the willing, of course. But, you know me… lots of women willing…”He always told those stories with a wink and the kind of charming smile that made it a hilarious anecdote as opposed to,“How many illegitimate children do you have, James?”
Kathryn was not the mothering kind, like Gwen. For Kathryn, she probably worried every day she would have stepmother-hood dropped on her the day one of Ian’s ex-lovers appeared with a kid that looked like him. Well, it had happened to Gwen, but it was all wrong!
“Don’t mind me,” Gwen said. “Musing out loud.”
“You have every right to be…”
Gwen cut her friend off with a gasp. As if God had decided to fuck with her some more, the elevator doors to the members-only café opened to admit a contingency of Welsh women.
No, not the ones from Wales. (Although the Welshes certainly claimed to be… Welsh.) The ones that had set out to destroy Gwen’s life and relationship.
Madam Sarah Walsh walked in first, her trendy trousers sashaying with her legs as she corralled a toy poodle on a leash. Behind her?
Her only child. Cassandra.
Gwen hadn’t seen the oft talked-about woman in months. Seen her pictures? Yes. Heard the outrageous stories? Obviously. Seen her in the flesh, let alone heard that whispery voice thatsomehowseduced half the men in the world but couldn’t make James Merange bend enough to bed her?
No. Gwen had made sure of that. Yet she supposed she couldn’t completely avoid a wealthy heiress around those parts.
“Wow.” Kathryn drank the last of her cocktail. “Wow.”
Gwen couldn’t take her eyes off the woman who had effectively ruined her life. Cassandra Welsh was one ofthoseeffortless beauties who managed to be both wounded deer and strong, independent woman. Gwen had it on good authority – such as Kathryn’s – that Cassandra was a master seductress who could change her appearance like a manipulative chameleon. That’s how she was able to bed men who preferred their women loud and proud, and men who saw themselves as the hero in every girlfriend’s story.She’s got problems. I can’t hold that against her.The truly terrible thing about all this coming out in public discussion was how much of Cassandra’s mental health had been put on trial. Then again, Gwen often mused, no woman went around acting like that without having some sort of issue. Apparently, Cassandra’s was a perpetually broken heart.
Not my fault she can’t seduce James!Gwen had to control her breathing before it fled her body and left her a withered shell.
“What are the odds?” Kathryn asked.
“Pretty good, apparently.” Gwen grabbed her things before the waiter brought her lunch. “I’m sorry, Kathryn. I can’t…”
“I understand.” She put her hand on Gwen’s. “I’ll take care of the bill and have your meal forwarded to your house.”
