“Now don’t get upset.” Max smiled as she laid her hand on Keiley’s arm. “You know how the chickies are in this bunch, sweetheart. Though I have to admit, someone outdid themselves this time. Normally the gossip isn’t nearly as interesting. Maybe they’re getting bored with the whole cheating-with-the-husband’s-best-friend angle. The threesome sounds much more fun.”
“Not to mention much more tiring.” Keiley rolled her eyes, forcing herself to treat the information as a rabid joke rather than the truth it was.
As Max had said, normally she wouldn’t have had to worry about anything more than a little gossip that she was getting some on the side.
“I wouldn’t worry about it.” Max waved it away. “Everyone here mourned the day Mac married outside the county and cut off the potentially juicy sex details they could have gotten. It’s a compliment. They at least believe you’re too refined to cheat.”
“Oh joy.”
“But be on guard,” Max warned her. “Delia is heading this way and she looks like a woman on a mission.”
Keiley was ready to walk out. She had sworn she would never subject herself to the petty viciousness of people like Delia Staten again. The same type of woman who had helped destroy her life years ago. And yet here she was, turning as Delia approached and pasting a welcoming smile on her face.
Delia had once been a pretty woman, and she could be again if she would take the pinched look of judge and jury off her long, slender face. Thick brown hair with russet tones was pulled sharply back from her face into a tight French braid. Minimal makeup showed the lines at the sides of her eyes and lips, and her brown eyes glittered with bitter anger.
She was thirty-five years old, but she looked ten years older.
“Keiley, dear, how are you doing?” The older woman’s smile was all teeth as she approached. “You’re early today, too.”
It wasn’t as though she was ever late, damn it.
“Mac was otherwise occupied on the farm this morning when I woke up.” Keiley smiled calmly. “He didn’t distract me.”
Delia’s lips tightened. It was no secret that the other woman had seen Mac as a potential husband years before. Instead he had left town and headed to Virginia after his high school graduation. Evidently, no woman married to Mac would ever be safe from her hatred after that. She had definitely spent the last three years looking for ways to spite Keiley.
“I hear you have company.” Her brown eyes were alight with cruel interest. “Very handsome company.”
“News travels fast. One of Mac’s friends from Virginia. He stopped by for a visit while he was on vacation.”
“And how long will he be staying?”
“Why, I don’t know, Delia. He and Mac didn’t say. But you raise a point. I really should ask. I was busy working and didn’t even think to question them.” She widened her eyes innocently as she stared back at Delia. “Sometimes Mac doesn’t think to tell me his plans.”
Delia’s eyes narrowed, though a tight smile curled her lips. “Yes. He does have that habit.”
Keiley almost winced. She hadn’t meant to prick at the past, but obviously she had. Mac hadn’t informed Delia when he left town all those years ago. He had just packed up and left, and Delia Staten had never forgiven him.
Keiley reminded herself mockingly to have a talk with him about not informing the world next time he decided to make a personal decision.
At that point, Max broke in. “Keiley, I saw the updates you did to the charity Web site. They’re gorgeous,” she stated. “Didn’t she do a wonderful job, Delia?”
“I haven’t checked.” Delia’s lips were pinched with distaste at this point. “If you’ll excuse me now, it’s nearly time to call the meeting to session. Good day, ladies.”
Delia turned and swept across the stone-lined patio in a cloud of flowery perfume and acrid disapproval.
“That is one mean old bitch,” Max muttered. “What the hell is going on, Kei? I’m almost afraid to let Joey’s brother come stay the summer now. He’s divorced, ya know?
Keiley breathed out roughly. “Maybe it’s that ‘outsider’ thing again?” She turned to Max and rolled her eyes. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll toss me off the charity committee. You could run my booth and yours.”
Max narrowed her eyes in promised retaliation. “Don’t even consider it, girlfriend. I’d hate to have to hurt you bad.”
Keiley snickered. “I could always tell Delia about your toy chest.”
Max’s eyes widened as mock horror swept over her face. “She would have a stroke. And Joey would certainly have a meltdown. He can barely say the word vibrator.”
“Knows how to use it, though, doesn’t he?” Kei snickered as she linked her arm with her friend’s and headed to the house. “That’s all that matters. Right?”
“Oh hell, yeah,” Max sighed in remembered bliss. “Who cares if he can say the word as long as that bad boy can do the deed?”