Page 10 of Two of a Kind
“Spencer Dumas,” Maggie clarified.
“Wait. Are you talking about the CEO of Dumas Industries?” Mary asked. “I met him at a charity ball Aidan and I went to last year. He had a beautiful woman on each arm.”
“That’s the one,” Maggie said on a sigh.
“Maggie was engaged to him at one time,” Taryn supplied helpfully. “But he couldn’t keep it in his pants, so she called it off. Then he tried to scam her out of her land.”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“It’s all in the past,” Maggie said, waving her hand, “and everything worked out, didn’t it? Besides, I really think that, to Spencer, it wasn’t ever personal. It was just business. I forgave him a long time ago.”
“You are both better women than me,” Taryn said, then turned back to Lexi. “What does Ian say about Kayla’s sudden selfless beneficence?”
“The same thing you do,” Lexi said, her mouth twisting into a frown. “He doesn’t trust her, either. He doesn’t think she’s capable of doing anything nice without expecting something in return. I just don’t know what to think. I want to believe we’re past all that. Anyway, I have to get back to the Goddess. Thanks for this, ladies. I don’t know what I’d do without you to talk things through.”
“That’s what sisters are for,” Maggie said.
Lexi couldn’t have agreed more, which was exactly why she was going to follow her heart and contact Kayla anyway.
Chapter Eight
Annette tried to backtrack, just as Kayla knew she would. Oh, the agency owner hadn’t come right out and said so, but she had casually tossed out subtle suggestions about the poor timing of the trip and the influx of new clients. Anticipating the ploy, Kayla had crossed every “t” and dotted every “i,” leaving Annette without a valid excuse to cancel, postpone, or delay. As a result, Kayla found herself on a plane less than a week later, staring out at the fluffy cloud layer below.
“Going on vacation?” the guy next to her asked. He had been trying to start a conversation from the moment he had taken the empty seat beside her. So far, he had either failed to pick up on her subtle hints of non-interest or he was simply ignoring them.
Kayla had been around the block enough times to read men with a fair amount of accuracy. They weren’t overly complicated creatures. She smiled inwardly, tacking on a “bless their hearts” to the end of that thought. Sue Ann Sanders, a coworker originally from Alabama, used the phrase all the time. While it sounded supportive and sympathetic to northern ears, Sue Ann often used it to convey veiled anger or pity. The blessing could be intensified by bringing a hand up to the collarbone, something Sue Ann referred to as a “pearl-clutching moment.”
This guy, however transparent, didn’t warrant even a single clutched pearl. Kayla guessed he was going through a classic middle-age crisis. He was fairly good-looking, but had the soft look of a man who had eaten too much takeout and hadn’t spent enough time in the gym. His hair was freshly cut; his clothes new enough that they still had that off-the-rack smell.
“Yes,” she said simply, returning her gaze to the window.
“Me, too,” he admitted. “I’m trying to get back out there, you know? Have some fun, live life while I’m still young enough to enjoy it.”
Kayla said nothing, hoping that would be the end of it, knowing it wouldn’t.
