Part 4 (2/2)

Callie was in the kitchen making dinner the next night when Marina arrived home from her trip. As soon as she opened the door she called out happily, ”Sweetheart? Where are you?”

Callie went to the doorway and gave Marina a frankly puzzled look. ”I'm right here.”

Without even taking her coat off, Marina dashed across the living room and gathered Callie up in her arms. ”I missed you,” she said, kissing all over her face.

Callie giggled while pulling away. ”That tickles!”

Marina released her and patted her on the b.u.t.t as she walked away. ”Let's go out to dinner and celebrate.”

”But I'm making your favorite enchiladas.”

”They're just as good the next day. Come on. We'll go someplace really nice. I feel like this is a new beginning.”

Callie looked at her and saw the longing in her eyes. She had a very difficult time saying no to Marina under the best of circ.u.mstances, but when she could tell that something was truly meaningful to her, it was impossible. She considered her finances and decided that she could delay the scheduled maintenance on her car for another couple of weeks. ”You call and get us reservations and I'll get ready.” As she pa.s.sed her, Marina snuck an arm around her waist, held her still and kissed her deeply. Callie tried to respond as she normally would, but it felt forced and she went into their room trying to ignore the dread she felt in the pit of her gut. When one of those forceful kisses didn't make her tingle-something was very wrong.

The next day was rainy and cool, but Marina's parents were in town and she wanted to go meet them and play golf. Callie knew how to play and was, in fact, better at the game than Marina was, but she didn't enjoy playing with the Boltons. The family acted like each shot was vital. Because it seemed more like work than play for her, she opted out. But Marina was so disappointed that she made an offer she knew would please her.

”I think I'll stay home and get your new computer set up. I know you hate doing things like that.”

Marina grinned happily. ”It's not so much that I hate it as that I'm terrible at it. You're the only techie in this family.”

Callie gave her a quick hug. ”I hope your clients don't know how little you know about technology.”

”I'm a sales person, not a programmer. I have people who can talk tech...thank G.o.d.” She went into her office and came back with two laptops. ”Just take everything from the old one and throw it onto the new one. You can do that, right?”

Callie smiled. ”Yeah, I can do that. It'll take some time, but it's not hard. I can work on my own stuff while yours is crunching away.”

”Hey, could you put the contacts from my old phone onto the new computer?”

”Sure. Your old phone had a chip, right?”

”Uhm, a chip is...?”

”Let me see it, honey.”

Marina went to get it, returning a few moments later. ”Sorry I don't pay attention to things like this.”

”It's fine. This is my field.”

”Are you sure you don't mind?”

”I don't mind a bit. Make sure you dress warmly. They're predicting this might turn to ice.”

”Excellent. If the weather's bad enough we'll have the course to ourselves.”

”That's one way to look at it,” Callie said wryly.

She wasn't a snoop. Callie had quite a few qualities she was less than proud of, but she wasn't a snoop. Hacking into Marina's old phone was something she never would have done before. But she couldn't let go of her suspicions, and having them made staying untenable. She didn't want to know what Angela and Marina talked about. If she'd had the transcripts in front of her she wouldn't have read them. But she was almost certain that Marina was lying about the length of her relations.h.i.+p with Angela and she wanted... needed to know the truth. She actually felt that snooping might help their relations.h.i.+p because if she found out Marina was telling the truth, she could finally let this all go.

She pulled the chip out of the phone and used a device she'd bought years earlier when she was working in IT that let her pull off all the instant messages stored on the phone. Even the ones that had been erased.

It didn't take long to find what she was looking for. She went back almost two years to what looked like the beginnings of their flirtation. Her stomach was sour and there was a bitter taste in her mouth as she read random sentences from those early interactions.

She supposed there were business reasons to text someone's personal phone, but those seemed rare. You texted with a business colleague if you wanted to become her friend, or her lover.

It looked like things stayed at the flirtation stage for a long time, probably six months. But it was clear they had slept together a year and a half ago. A year and a half ago. Right when she'd moved to Dallas. Marina started having an affair... a real affair... not just s.e.x... just after they'd agreed on their rules.

Her heart pounded and she wondered if she might actually pa.s.s out. Colors swirled behind her tightly closed eyes, and she bent over putting her head between her knees.

Getting up, she held onto the desk for a few minutes to steady herself, then went into the kitchen and opened a beer. The tiny bubbles tickled her throat, and the sensation of the ice cold liquid distracted her for a few seconds.

She chugged the entire bottle, wis.h.i.+ng briefly that she could tolerate Scotch. Once her nerves settled down, she steeled herself to go back into the office and finish her grim task.

She saw quite a few entreaties from Angela begging Marina to be discreet. She also saw a piece of a frantic interaction where Marina was trying to convince Angela that their affair wasn't going to harm her relations.h.i.+p with Regan. Marina had been the one pus.h.i.+ng it. This was all coming from her. Lying, cheating, sc.u.m Marina.

Her brain was racing. What to do? Leave now and be gone when she got home? Or stay and talk? The mere thought of that made her stomach turn. Putting her mind on hold was what she needed. Getting into project mode, she went about finis.h.i.+ng the routine task of transferring information from one computer to the other by rote. It took her a few hours, and she spent much of that time trying to decide what to do, even though she was desperate to stop the mental clamor. She was so confused, so buffeted by images of Marina's lying face that she knew she needed some time before she did anything permanent. Rash decisions were never good ones, so she packed up her computer and a few days worth of clothes, then left a brief note for Marina saying she had to go home to deal with a family matter.

Once she was out of the apartment, Callie felt a little better. The air seemed cooler and fresher, and her head cleared somewhat. While she sat in her car, she used her phone to check prices and availability of flights to Phoenix. Because it was last-minute, prices were very high, but she didn't want to drive for fifteen hours. She made a reservation and hoped she wouldn't be at the airport all night long because of the rain and wind. Nonetheless, the airport was a better place than her home because Marina wasn't at the airport.

Chapter Six.

Callie waited until she was a.s.sured a seat on the last flight of the day to Phoenix before she made a call. She could have chosen her mom or either of her sisters, but she called Terri. They'd known each other for almost twenty years, and there was no one who understood her better, or judged her less. And from where she stood, nothing was more important.

At midnight, Terri was faithfully waiting at the arrivals level of the Phoenix airport. She reached across the car and flung the door open as Callie approached. As soon as Callie slid into the car, Terri said, ”Do you want to talk about it now, or wait until we get home?”

”I guess now,” Callie said quietly. ”There's a lot I haven't told you.”

”I figured as much.” Terri gave her a fond smile. ”I know you like to keep problems to yourself until you figure them out.”

”I do. But I can't figure this one out alone.”

Because of her frequently changing schedule, Terri had settled into being a night owl, so she was wide awake and ready to listen. They went to the first all-night diner they saw, and Callie ordered a burger, hoping that it would sit well in her somersaulting stomach.

While they ate, Callie went through all of the highlights and the lowlights of the past few weeks, appreciating the sympathetic comments Terri made along the way.

”What do you think you're going to do?” Terri asked.

”I don't see that I have any choice.” Pus.h.i.+ng her coffee cup away, she stacked her fists on the table and rested her head on them. ”How can I maintain any sense of self-respect if I let her lie to me over and over like this?”

Terri reached over and gently rubbed Callie's back. ”Why is this a deal breaker for you?”

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