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What are you going to do? Just sit there?
Well, I could go wait in the lobby of the hotel. It s just down the
street from the restaurant.
Which hotel?
àe York. àat s where Cambridge puts everyone up.
Not Marina. She only stays at the Sheffield. She says it s for the
points, but it s probably so she can have a parade of women striding
through the lobby and not have any co-workers know.
Not what I wanted to hear tonight, Regan said softly.
Damn! I m sorry. I m making things worse, aren t I.
You re not. It s really helping to have you to talk to. Can you look
up the Sheffield? I don t know the address.
Yeah, of course. As she searched she asked, Aren t you afraid of
being spotted in the hotel?
Quietly, Regan said, Marina doesn t know what I look like.
Letting out a breath, Callie said, Right. Right. But you don t know
what she looks like either.
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Yes, I do. I googled her. Plus, there s a picture of her on the
company website. She s pretty.
Okay so you know what she looks like and when she goes into
the hotel alone, I hope you can go home and try to make up with
Angela.
I hope so too. I really do. If Marina goes into that hotel alone I m
going to wipe this from my mind and throw myself into making a fresh
start with Angela. She paused for a moment. After I tell her I know
she was lying about how many times they were together. A relationship
has to be based on trust. I ll find out the truth or it s a waste of my
time.
Callie had to wait almost two hours to hear from Regan again. She
spent the time trying to do some work but hadn t been able to
concentrate for ten minutes straight. Even though it was dark out, she
was considering going for a run when the phone rang. She pressed the
switch and knew, without a word being spoken, that something very
bad had happened. Regan? Are you there?
Yes. Harsh, ragged breaths filled the line. It sounded like she was
on the verge of sobbing. àey went into the hotel together, and I
decided to give them a few minutes just in case they were exchanging
files or documents or whatever the fuck they do.
With her heart thudding in her chest, Callie asked, How long ago
was that?
àirty or forty minutes. I don t know what to do. Do I go up there?
Do I accost her and make a scene in the lobby when she comes back
down? Do I go home?
She sounded so remarkably sad, so disconsolate, that Callie
desperately wanted to be there for her. She wished she could magically
appear in Boston and hug Regan so she knew she had a friend
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susan x meagher
someone she could trust who knew how it felt. What do you think
would make you feel better?
I d like to go home& to my parents home. I want to tell my mom
what happened and have her make it all go away.
How far is that?
I don t know, she said, sounding confused. Maybe a half hour?
But& She took in a shaky breath. My mom s in Florida now. I
forgot.
Do you know anyone who lives closer? Anyone you trust?
My sister is about ten minutes away.
Do you think she s home?
Probably. Or she s just getting home. She usually leaves work by
eleven.
àink about it for a minute. Will she listen to you? Will she be on
your side?
Regan barked out a short laugh. She acts like she likes Angela, but
she doesn t. She d like nothing more than for me to break up with her.
She sounds like the right person to be with. Call her before you go,
so you don t waste a trip, and don t leave before you re sure you can drive
safely. A thought occurred to her and she added, Take a cab. I m
worried enough about you as it is.
àanks, Regan said, sounding a little more in control. I just don t
want to see her.
àen get out of there. Go to the hotel bar or to another place
nearby. Don t put yourself in a position you don t want to be in. She
could hear Regan moving around, then she heard some street noise.
I m going to go to my car, if I don t freeze to death first. àen I can
call my sister and make some plans.
Okay. It sounds like you have things under control. But promise to
call me when you get where you re going. I m worried about you.
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doublecrossed
Regan s footsteps echoed noisily and Callie could tell she was in a
parking garage. She heard a car door open and when it closed the
background noise was greatly reduced.
àanks. I m not thinking clearly.
àat makes perfect sense. Don t forget to call me back.
I won t. àanks for being there for me. I could tell how tense this
whole thing made you.
You d do the same for me. àat was undeniable. You could rely on
people with morals.
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Chapter Nine
During Regan s move
back to her parents house and the difficult
weeks that followed, she called Callie almost daily for support.
My mom and dad are in town for my nephew s birthday, and
they re making noises about having me committed, Regan said one
afternoon.
Committed? Are you joking?
Yeah. Kinda. But they re both hovering over me so bad that I m
about to lose my mind. à en they ll really have reason to have me
locked up.
Doesn t sound like fun in the Manning house. It must be hard on
your parents too.
Yeah, it probably is. But my mom knows I can t take much
supervision. We have a long history, she added, chuckling.
So you re still really sad?
Yeah. Moody, too. And the smallest thing makes me cry& at work!
I ve never done that. àat s what makes them think I m bonkers.
Are they pissed at Angela? My mom wants to have Marina
neutered.
doublecrossed
Nah. I didn t tell them why we broke up. I don t want them to
dislike her. She sighed. It took me so-o-o long to get everyone to even
act like they liked her. All for nothin .
You ve mentioned something like that before. Why s she so hard to
like?
She s not. She s actually really charming. But she s a lot older than I
am.
Really? Hey! I have no idea how old you are. Or how old Angela is,
for that matter.
I was twenty-seven when we got together and she d just turned
forty.
Ooo, my mom would have been suspicious of that too. Was your
age difference a problem?
Not for us.
Really? I d think it would be hard to combine friends.
We didn t do much of that. We made new friends from our
neighborhood. We live& lived on a really nice block in Cambridge. We
had barbecues and Christmas parties and all sorts of things. I m gonna
miss those guys, she said, sniffling.
You can still see them.
Nah. Wouldn t work. It was a neighborhood thing. Usually pretty
extemporaneous, you know? You d see someone out and you d ask them
over for a beer. àat kinda stuff. We babysat a lot and walked dogs
when our neighbors were on vacation.
Sounds nice, Callie said wistfully.
It was. We had a great house.
We had a great apartment. High floor, great views, nice pool. We
were right in the middle of all of the action in Dallas. I could go
running in a park that was really close.
I could run along the Charles.
You run?
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susan x meagher
Yeah. I have since high school.
Me, too. I ran cross-country.
I ran the four hundred and the eight hundred when the coach was
desperate.
Oh, I bet you were great.
You d lose that bet, Regan said. I was only decent, but I loved
being on a team.
I always wanted to run cross-country in an area like you live in&
you know, where they have hills and streams and forests. We usually ran
on flat golf courses.
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