The Secret of You and Me - Melissa Lenhardt Page 0,76
just like we do. You’ll be good. If you need me to kick her ass, just give me a wave.” Ivey winked at me and went to the car.
Alima waited for me near the river bank. “We need to get back, so make it short,” I said.
“I’ve known Nora for about five years. We’ve been lovers for three.”
I swallowed down the jealousy blocking my throat. I crossed my arms over my chest. “Sounds like you’re gearing up for a story.”
“We’d still be merely coworkers if I hadn’t seduced her. When we saw each other at work the next day, you’d have never thought we’d been sweaty and naked the night before.”
I lifted a hand. “Okay, I don’t need the details.”
“So, I waited. To see what Nora would do. It wasn’t until later that I discovered Nora didn’t commit. Ever. She was easy enough to get in bed, but after that, nothing. Which is perfect for me, because I didn’t want to be a couple, I wanted to be lovers. She was all right with it, too. She has her men and women on the side; I have my husband.”
“Men and women?”
“She’s bisexual. You didn’t know?”
“No.” Did she mention it during one of our fights? It was possible, but she never said bisexual. That I knew.
I couldn’t fathom wanting a man. Though I’d been sleeping with Charlie for years, I’d never felt desire when I watched him get out of the shower, his muscular body slicked with water. I knew he was gorgeous, and I was lucky, but looking at him was like looking at a beautiful sunset. I appreciated its beauty, but I didn’t want to fuck it. I’d long since stopped fooling myself that I enjoyed sleeping with him, or that he or anything he did made me come. The only way I’d ever been able to come was to think about women, mostly Nora, but also the occasional stranger. And Cate Blanchett.
“Nora isn’t an amateur. She’s been with lots of—”
I raised my hand. “Please stop. I really don’t want to know about Nora’s love life.”
“You want to think you’re the only woman she’s fucked?”
“Meeting you ruined that fantasy for me.”
“The only woman she’s ever loved?”
Our eyes met, and I nodded slowly.
“Sorry to tell you, but she loves me.”
I looked away. I closed my eyes, lifted my face to the setting sun and inhaled. Why wouldn’t Nora love Alima? She was the type of woman I would have been, if only... “Are you ever going to leave your husband for her?”
“I have. Last week. Sophie, I understand what you’re going through. Being my authentic self—well, when I was young that wasn’t even a phrase, let alone an option. I was married as a young woman to a man my father chose. I was lucky; Davoud was a good and kind husband. We had a nice life. I raised the children and he even let me have a career. He was much more liberal than my father thought, much to his consternation. But, liberality only goes so far, and we are devout, in our own way. I was perfectly content with my life until I fell in love with Nora. Still, it’s taken me years to get up the courage to leave. It’s not a decision that can be made so quickly, is it?”
“No.”
“Go ahead. Seduce Nora. Trust me; you’ll enjoy it. But, in the end, you won’t leave your family, and Nora hates Lynchfield, and you, too much to give up her life, career, and me.”
“Nora hates me? She didn’t seem to in the laundry room.”
Alima studied me for a moment with the same knowing smile I’d seen at the house. “Under different circumstances I think you and I would be friends. I like you much more than I thought I would, especially after everything Nora told me about you.”
A sharp pain pierced my heart. According to everyone, including my daughter, and now Nora, everything had been my fault.
“Nora wants to sleep with you, and I can’t blame her for that. She’ll never trust you, and can you blame her for that?”
I shook my head and looked away.
“I’m sorry to be cruel. I only want what is best for Nora.”
“And you are what’s best for her.”
“Yes, I am. We have a great relationship, and we love each other. I’m giving up a lot to be with her, just like you would, so I understand what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours. It took me three years to