stay with him as long as I wanted to. Since I’m only big news on the West Coast, I figured this would be a good place to hang for now.”
She pondered that. CJ had never lacked for friends. He gave gifts lavishly, bailed out the down-and-outers when he could, befriended other people’s castoffs. Of course, through the years, she’d noted he frequently called in favors, too. How could anybody say no to the man who had stood up for him in a pinch? A man who had generously held out a hand when it was most needed? She wondered if this Edward Statler had owed CJ something, and if he’d been forced to offer help. She was certain there were other places her ex could have gone, other friends who couldn’t avoid paying him back.
“You have friends all over the world.” Tracy picked up a strawberry by the stem and bit into it to give herself time to think. “You want me to believe that this Statler, whoever he is, was the only one who offered you refuge?”
“How many people extended their hands to you?”
She nearly winced. CJ’s aim was excellent. “But I was just the eye candy, CJ. You were the one they owed.”
“You forget, I was the one who took their money and never gave it back.”
“Good point. It’s hard to love somebody who steals everything you have.”
“Something I never did.”
“So you said.”
“So I say. I trusted the wrong people, but I could have cleaned up that mess. Only then I was targeted by a prosecutor trying to make a name for himself. They tied things up so tight I couldn’t get back in to fix the problems. I’m fairly confident that’s what a better investigation will show, and I’ll be completely vindicated, even get back some of my assets or at least some portion of their value. Edward believes it, too. He stood by me then, and he’s opened his home now to prove he still believes. He’s even trying to find something I can do here to put my talents to good use.”
CJ’s situation was so complicated that Tracy had never understood every nuance. But she did know there had been more to the charges than what he was claiming now, real evidence that things had been amiss in her husband’s multitude of businesses. She found it hard to believe all that evidence had been concocted.
“Well, we’ve covered why you’re in Florida. Let’s move on to why you’re sitting at my table.”
“Because I turned down a dinner party at Edward’s so I could come out here.”
“We’re getting closer to the truth.” She plunked cheese on a cracker and ate it in one big bite.
“I don’t remember you eating with such relish,” he said.
“The cooks around here are less interested in presentation than flavor. The food’s too good not to eat.”
“Well, the extra weight agrees with you.”
“What?”
“Ten pounds? Don’t worry about it. What’s ten or fifteen pounds?”
She shoved her plate away and ignored her wine. “I haven’t gained an ounce. I run after kids all day. I jog, I swim, I play tennis whenever I can.”
“You did all those things at home, except for the kids, but you ate like a sparrow. I never thought you liked kids. What’s that about?”
“I’m unaccountably good with them. And I mean it. I haven’t gained weight.”
“It would be hard not to, if you’ve learned to enjoy eating. I might gain some myself. Have you been to the yacht club? The chef is talented.”
“I see prison didn’t interfere with your ability to ignore questions you don’t want to answer.”
“I don’t remember you ever asking any before. I admired that in you.”
“Admire no more. I’m a get-to-the-bottom-of-it kind of gal these days. And I want to know why you’re sitting here.”
He fiddled with the cheese. She figured an untrained monkey could have managed to plop cheddar on a cracker in half the time. Finally he met her eyes.
“I owe you something.”
“What? A slap in the face for my so-called desertion? At the time, you said I ought to divorce you.”
“Did you need my approval?”
Tracy knew better than to attempt to read CJ’s expression. His dark eyes could convey almost anything, an asset nearly as powerful as his smile. Still, the man looked hurt, maybe even genuinely so, as if the speed with which she had divorced him still throbbed.
“Did we have the kind of relationship where loyalty meant something?” she countered. “I was a trophy wife. Maybe I hoped the third time