glanced at her watch. “I better dash—I’m prepping for a shoot tomorrow. Take care, okay?”
“You too.”
“And, Lake, try to make some time just for yourself, will you? I know things are crazy right now, especially with the custody case—but you look exhausted. I’ve never seen you like this.”
It felt like a slap in the face
“Thanks for the concern,” Lake said, with a hint of sarcasm.
“I’m just worried, that’s all. You’re clearly under a lot of strain.”
“Okay, thanks,” she said, softening. “I’ll talk to you later.”
In the cab home Lake wondered if she was being overly sensitive about Molly, who was just being her typically blunt self. And yet Lake was sure she detected a snide tone in some of Molly’s comments today, suggesting some subterranean resentment. Perhaps Molly was annoyed because Lake had been so unavailable lately. As she replayed the conversation in her mind, her phone rang. To her chagrin, she saw it was Jack.
“Didn’t you get my message?” he asked brusquely.
“No,” she lied.
“Since I couldn’t make parents’ day, the camp director said I could stop by one afternoon this week. Will wants me to bring a few books—that sci-fi series he’s reading.”
“I take it something came up,” Lake said.
“If you must know, I had a work emergency.”
Or, she thought, he raced back to the city after shaving the fur off Smokey, loath to come face-to-face with her.
“Are you still there?” he demanded when she gave no reply.
“Yes. But I’m not understanding what you need from me.”
“I need to get the books—they’re on Will’s bookshelf. He hasn’t read the last two in the series.”
“All right,” she said, cringing at the thought of seeing Jack. “I have to be somewhere at six. Why don’t you meet me in the lobby at five-thirty.”
“That’s not the best time for me.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s the only time I have today.”
He accepted with an irritated sigh.
As soon as she was back in her apartment, she opened her laptop and pulled up what she had so far in her PowerPoint presentation. To her relief, her recommendations seemed stronger now that they were in a kick-butt font against a color background. Over the past day she’d toyed with the idea of suggesting that Levin become the public face of the clinic and be used more on television, so she added a slide spelling out the concept. That, she figured, should at least earn her points with his ego.
It took all of her effort to focus on adding the finishing touches. Her thoughts were constantly jolted back to her conversation with Molly and to the news about the investigation. Lake kept picturing McCarty and that pit bull Hull staring at the report from the forensic lab and wondering who’d been in bed with Keaton. If they discovered it was her, how could she ever prove she hadn’t murdered him?
But something else from the conversation gnawed at her—the part about Keaton having sex with that woman, Gretchen. Was it the idea of having been just another lay to Keaton? Yes. But it was more than that: the trip to Saratoga Molly had alluded to. People went to Saratoga in August to see the thoroughbred racing. And to bet on the horses. Perhaps Keaton really did have a gambling problem. As suspicious as Lake now was about the clinic, Keaton’s gambling issues might still be the reason he was dead. And that could mean some nasty mob type coming after her.
At four-thirty, her brain fried, she gave up on the presentation and faxed the kids. She wrote long notes this time, to make up for forgetting yesterday, and added little poems and cartoons. When she finished, it was almost time to leave for the meeting with Sydney Kastner—and then for drinks at Steve’s. Of course, first there would be the encounter with Jack, which she dreaded. Before heading to the lobby, she went to Will’s bookshelf and grabbed the last two books in the sci-fi series.
Jack was ten minutes late, which was typical. When he finally arrived, without apology, she rose from the cushioned bench in the lobby and handed him a small shopping bag with the books inside. He rifled through the bag, inspecting the contents.
“Wait,” he said. “One of these is wrong.” He rattled off the name of a different book.
“You told me the last two books in the series.”
“If I did, I was wrong.”
As she met his hazel eyes staring back at her, she felt nothing but disgust. I don’t love him anymore, she thought. Not