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He would recognize the phone, pick it up, and mission accomplished. I could go back to the cottage, puke in my toilet, and explain everything to the dogs. They’d understand. They wouldn’t judge me.
I made the left turn Siri suggested and continued ruminating. Boone was a grown man. He could do what he wanted, couldn’t he? Of course he’d choose the low road. I wondered briefly what kind of woman Stacy Clausen was, but I knew I didn’t want the answer to that.
When I parked, lights were on in the house. I would have preferred darkness to hide my dash to the door and back. Opening the car door, I didn’t bother locking it, as I wasn’t going to be here that long. A stealthy jaunt up to the house to drop the phone, a quick knock, and a hasty exit. As I walked toward the door, I dreaded hearing the moans and groans of sweaty sex.
The laughter of a man and a woman came from inside as I reached the porch. Boone’s voice was unmistakable.
Instead of throwing the phone down like I wanted to, I laid it on the doormat just off to the side so he wouldn’t step on it. I could be considerate.
The woman laughed again.
Maybe tickling was part of his sexual repertoire—get her to laugh so she could ignore the gross injustice she was participating in.
I wrapped my knuckles three times on the door and scurried back down the stairs. But I didn’t quite make it to the car before light streamed out of the house as the front door opened.
CHAPTER14
Angela
Boone’s voiceechoed in the darkness. “Angela,” he yelled. “Where are you going?”
Without turning, I said the only thing I could think of that was semi-appropriate. “Three’s a crowd.”
“Please don’t go. I have cookies,” the woman’s voice rang out.
Frozen by the incongruent words, I turned around.
Stacy Clausen wasn’t at all what I’d imagined. She wore a baggy dress and had curlers in her hair. Not exactly date-night attire, but maybe it didn’t take much to tempt Boone to drop his zipper. When she turned slightly, the backlighting from the door showed a big belly.
My God, she waspregnant.
Marge might think Boone sowing his wild oats was what a man felt compelled to do, but with another man’s pregnant wife? Morals were obviously different out here in rural Virginia.
I couldn’t process the scene. This lady was offering me cookies. Well, probablyladywasn’t the right term for a pregnant woman who cheated on her husband while he was away protecting our country.
Boone had been the lowest of the low in my estimation, but in this moment, he moved down another notch.
I remembered the other thing Marge had requested. “Marge said you’re supposed to call Gary.”
“Oh crap,” Boone complained. “He better not have flaked out on me.”
I couldn’t care less about Boone’s problem with Gary, whoever he was. I rounded the car to escape before I puked in public. The question of how quickly I could repack my things and move out of the cottage flashed through my mind.
“Changing out a water heater is a two-person job,” he said.
I continued around the car.
“Does this mean I’m going to be without hot water for another two days?” Stacy asked.
Boone shrugged. “Maybe not. Hey, Angela, would you like to give me a hand with the water heater?”
My mouth dropped open.Say whaaa?
“I can pay you in cookies,” Stacy offered.
“And I promise to be nice to you the whole time,” Boone added. “Angela, it’s okay if you don’t want to. This isn’t your town. I’ll call one of my brothers, and maybe we can get Stacy here hot water by tomorrow night.”
“I am not going another day like this,” a girl’s voice called from inside the house.
