you so," Stacy muttered.
Millie either didn't hear her, or didn't care; she kept her eyes locked on Peach. "I waited a long time, and that was okay, because I knew he would see me, eventually. But instead, like everyone else, all he saw was you." Her eyes glittered with malice, and I felt a chill go down my back. This wasn't Millie; whatever Cain was doing to her, it had not just given her power, it had somehow changed who she was, and it was creepy as hell.
I stood up. "Come on, Millie. Let's go out on the porch and cool down for a minute." I reached to touch Millie's shoulder, but she stepped back and waved me away.
"I don't need to cool down. I need to confess." She turned her cold eyes on Peach, and they flashed with rage and no small amount of insanity. "I need to confess that last night, after a long evening of going over the quarterly taxes, Nick and I had sex on his desk."
"Oh, god, ew." Stacy said, putting her hands up over her ears.
Peach blinked a few times, as if she'd been struck, and then she shook her head. "No. You didn't."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you know differently? Was he with you last night?" Millie's voice was saccharine and cold as her thick lashes fluttered at Peach with mock innocence.
"No," Peach said, her color rising. "He was ... working late, but there's no way ... he would never..." She looked at me and Stacy, desperation in her shaking voice. "He wouldn't cheat on me. He just wouldn't."
"And yet, he did," Millie said, watching with unmasked glee as Peach's eyes filled with tears.
I stood between Millie and Peach. "That's enough, Mill. I don't know what the hell's going on with you, but it needs to stop."
"I see it differently," Millie said. "I think it took too goddamn long to start."
And with that, she turned around and walked out, heels clicking and hips swaying, like a woman who knew she was in charge. She shut the door quietly behind her, and I turned my attention to Peach, who stared after her, face awash in shock and hurt.
"Peach." I touched her, and when I did, a huge spark of static electricity went off between us. She cried out and stepped away from me, rubbing her shoulder.
"Jesus, Liv!" she said, tears falling freely now. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Then she grabbed her bag and ran out the door. I watched after her, shaking out my hands, which were tingling again.
"You know, I think maybe we should put a moratorium on the confessionals," Stacy said from behind me.
I turned around to look at her, and she shrugged.
"Just a thought."
Chapter 10
"Didn't I fire you?" Betty said when she unlocked the front door to CCB's to let me in later that night.
"You put me on sabbatical." I walked into the empty dining room, sat at the counter, and placed my head in my hands. "Turns out waitresses don't go on sabbatical."
Betty glanced pointedly out the front windows to the dark night beyond, and I held up one hand to stop the lecture. "I know. It's past sunset. But I couldn't stay in the house." I let out a whoopee-cushion puff of air. "It's been a rough day. I had the Confessional with the girls this afternoon, and it took a bad left turn."
Betty made a face. "Of course it did. There's never any good to be had from confessions. I've been telling you that for years. You'd think seventy-three years of wisdom would count for something. Jeez."
I reached out and grabbed her hand. "Let me close with you tonight. I can mop. Count the till. Anything. I promise, I won't go outside again until daylight. I'll sleep on your couch. I just need something to do to take my mind off things."
"It's all done. You're just lucky I was still down here. What the hell were you thinking, walking over here at night?"
"What's the difference?" I said. "My house, out on the street, here. If he wants to get me, he'll get me. Holing up at night isn't going to make much of a difference."
We both went silent for a moment, and Betty gave a small shrug conceding the point.
"I need chocolate," I said. "You didn't happen to zap up any chocolate cakes today, did you?"
She shook her head. "Gotta place your order before sunset, sweetie." She watched me for a moment, her expression softening.