The Secret of You and Me - Melissa Lenhardt Page 0,106
or next week or next year. I just want to be with you while I can. As much as I can.”
Nora nodded slowly, her gaze never leaving mine. “I need to clean up.”
I grabbed her arm as she went past. “Wait.” The scent of hay and motor oil hovered around her. “I’m not leaving Charlie.”
Nora narrowed her eyes. “I thought he would leave you.”
“I have to stay. For Logan.”
She swallowed nodded. “I understand.”
I smiled. “No need to look like I just kicked your puppy. We will be together by next Thanksgiving. Logan will be in college, I’ll have helped Charlie get elected to the State Senate, and then we’ll can be together.”
Nora shook her head. “You want to be around for Logan’s last year, fine. But, you don’t have to be married to Charlie to do it.”
I stroked her cheek and smiled. “You sound jealous. I like it.”
She leaned her cheek into my hand. “I don’t. I can’t stand the idea of you being with him.”
“Me either. I’m never sleeping with another man again. That’s why I moved into the guest room last night.”
“Oh.”
“You can pretend to be jealous for a little longer. It’s good for my ego.”
Nora rolled her eyes. “How did Charlie take it?”
“When he realized Logan knew, and it hadn’t ruined our relationship, he pretended to be okay with it. I think he’s going to try to get back at me, somehow.”
“Through Logan?”
“That would be my guess, but I don’t think it’ll work. At least I hope it won’t. One year, and I’ll come to you, wherever you are.”
“You aren’t asking me to stay?”
“Would you?” I could see the answer in her eyes. “Forget it. It would be too hard to sneak around, anyway. Will you wait for me?”
“I’ve been waiting for eighteen years. What’s one more?”
I kissed her again, hard and quick. “Clean up fast. I don’t have much time.”
“So, this was a booty call?” Nora ambled through the den and down the hall to the bathroom.
“Yep. Get it in gear. I have fifty calls I need to make tonight for Charlie’s campaign.”
“I don’t get why you’re helping him.” She started the water in the bathtub. I leaned against the doorjamb and watched her undress.
“He says I owe him, and I agree.”
“Owe him? For what?”
“Using him?”
She was slim and fit, and it took all of my willpower to stay in the doorway. She pulled the lever to switch it to the shower nozzle, stepped in and closed the shower curtain. “He’s controlling you, Sophie.”
“He’s trying. We aren’t going to be interrupted by anyone this time, are we? No late afternoon appointments?”
“No. Did you hear about Erin? It was all the locals could talk about at the estate sale.”
“Yeah. I’m a little ashamed that a fifteen-year-old has more courage than I do.”
“You’ve got more to lose, Soph.”
“I suppose. Logan suspected, about Erin. She was very supportive of her. Kim told me.”
“Think it will help her come to terms with us?”
When we’d gotten home from church, Charlie went off to play golf at the club. Logan had come to me and hugged me tightly. “I love you,” she said.
“Aw, sweetie. I love you, too.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that the other day. At the Magnolia.”
I pulled back from her. “Didn’t you?”
“I couldn’t remember. I know it took a lot for you to tell me, and I probably didn’t handle it well.”
“Better than I expected.”
“Well, I love you, and I support you. Always. Just like you’ve always loved and supported me.”
At that point, I burst into tears. We both had. I would tell Nora about it, eventually, but I wanted to hold that private moment between me and Logan within myself for a little while longer.
“I think she already is,” I said to Nora.
Steam billowed up to the ceiling, and rolled out into the bathroom, bringing the scent of peppermint shampoo with it. “I would have liked to have been in that Sunday school class, though,” Nora said. “Think Erin was sending you a message?”
“Maybe. And here we were supposed to be the ones helping her.”
I leaned down and checked myself in the mirror. I pulled my sunglasses off my head and ran my fingers through my hair.
“I think we did. She came out the next day.”
“To a room full of Baptists. Guaranteed to spread it over town like wildfire.”
The water cut off, and the shower curtain rolled back. “As long as she keeps your secret,” Nora said.