Kelly Jamieson - One Wicked Night

“Yeah. A few.”

Tyler walked up. “Ready to go?”

“Yup.” Guests had started leaving a while ago and the party was winding down.

“I told Avery I’ll help with whatever she needs done tomorrow,” Tyler said. “Apparently there’s all kind of shit to do—picking up decorations and crap.”

Kaelin grinned. “Yeah. Avery will be busy having her spa day.”

Tyler rolled his eyes. “I suppose you’re going with her.”

“Yes.” She sighed. “It’s not my thing, but Avery insisted on treating Maddie and me to manicures and pedicures and some kind of body scrub thing.”

Tyler eyed her body and heat followed his gaze.

“If you’re picking up the decorations, you can bring them to my place,” she said. “So I can take them on Saturday.”

“Where do you live, Kaelin?” Nick asked.

“Same place. My parents’ house.”

“Okay.”

“So I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” she rushed on a bit breathlessly.

She watched the two men leave out the front door, her nerves twitching, skin tingling. Exhaustion fell over her like a heavy blanket. Wow, what a roller coaster ride of an evening. Seeing Tyler again had her emotions all over the place, leaving her both drained and excited.

Bad. It was so bad.

She’d been so focused on pulling off this wedding for her best friend, making it everything Avery wanted it to be, she’d barely even thought about what it was going to be like to see Tyler and Nick again. It added a whole other dimension to everything, an unexpected, unsettling dimension. She covered her face with one hand briefly and lowered it just as Avery approached her. Avery wrapped her arms around her and hugged her.

“I’m sorry about the scene, Ave,” Kaelin said, hugging her best friend back.

“Don’t even worry about it. Every party needs a little excitement.”

“I don’t think your mom would agree.”

Avery snorted. “You know what she’s like.” She released Kaelin. “What was that about anyway?”

“Um…you mean with Tyler?”

“Yeah.” Avery’s searching gaze had Kaelin turning away to pick up some empty glasses off a table.

“Oh, he just drives me crazy.” She tried for a light and casual laugh but nearly choked on it. Avery followed her into the kitchen with more dishes.

“Mmmm.” Her noncommittal response made Kaelin nervous. “He’s such an intense guy.”

“Intense?” Kaelin shot Avery a glance over her shoulder from the dishwasher. “That’s not a word I would have used to describe Tyler. He always seems like he doesn’t give a shit about anything.”

“He seems that way,” she agreed. “So. Let’s talk about what’s happening tomorrow.”

The party finally over, the guests all gone, the kitchen spotless once again, Margot poured herself one last glass of wine. Ken had already gone up to bed, but she needed a few minutes to wind down. Her nerves were stretched taut, her face hurt from the smile she’d kept firmly in place all evening and she was exhausted from making small talk and her constant efforts to make sure every detail of the party was perfect. She really had to get over that, but it wasn’t so easy to let go of the few things she felt control over in her life.

She also wanted to sit down and think about her son.

Tyler. He’d walked into the house and her heart had leaped with joy at the sight of him. He was a man now, taller than his father, broader than his father, though with the same lean athletic build. Everyone said both her children looked like her, with blond hair and blue eyes, but she saw Ken’s strong jaw and high cheekbones in Tyler’s handsome face. She longed to run her hand over his cheek, as she had when he was small, to enfold him in a hug, except now he was a good seven inches taller and probably sixty pounds heavier than she. She smiled wistfully and carried her glass of wine toward her office.

But Tyler hadn’t been so happy to see her. Her heart constricted remembering his cool greeting, the way he’d rebuffed her attempt to hug him, the way he’d avoided her and any attempts to talk to him all evening. Now she ached, deep down inside, a sad painful ache.

She shouldn’t check her email again. There’d been nothing from him earlier, and now it was after midnight there likely wasn’t now. But she knew she was going to. Because chatting with him, telling him about her children, telling him what had happened with Tyler without having to hold anything back, was a bright glowing spot in her bleak, exhausting evening.

She opened the door to her office and stopped short in the doorway. Her husband sat at her computer. He turned to her, his eyebrows drawn into a bewildered frown, his mouth open. “Margot.”

Her heart actually stopped, and she put a hand to her chest as it then hurdled into a rapid, uneven rhythm. “What are you doing?” She thought he’d gone to bed.

“What are you doing?” he asked slowly, gesturing to her computer. “Who is this man you’ve been emailing with?”

Her mouth went dry and she swallowed. “Just a friend.”

He rose to his feet and stood here, looking back and forth between her and the computer. “You never mentioned a friend.”

“Ken.” How could she explain this to him? Why did she feel guilty? She’d never met Jeff in person. It was just a friendship, as she’d said. Someone to talk to and laugh with and maybe even flirt a little, but it had never gone beyond that.

He gazed at her and moved his head slowly from side to side. “Margot. I don’t understand what’s been happening with you.”

“I’ve tried to tell you,” she whispered. She clutched the glass of wine in both trembling hands. “I’ve tried.”

He squinted at her, as if having trouble seeing her. Since their children had both left home, she’d been increasingly unhappy with her life. She’d tried to keep busy, with the charity work she knew Ken liked her to do, with her golf and tennis and her friends. Shopping and decorating the house. But lately it hadn’t been enough.

The most embarrassing thing was that she wanted sex. Lots of sex. All the time. She’d chalked it up to some premenopausal hormonal surge. She’d bought sexy lingerie and tried to seduce her husband. It worked. Just not as much as she wanted it to. Perhaps sex every day was a little unrealistic for a sixty-year-old man, but she still believed a couple of times a week was reasonable. Wasn’t it?

Now they had no children around, no reason not to have sex anytime, anywhere they wanted it, but Ken still worked long hours, still came home tired. The frustration from that built on her long-buried hopes and dreams for her life.

“You said you wanted me to retire,” he said now.

“And you said you don’t want to.” She’d suggested they could travel. Maybe to Europe. Australia. Thailand. She’d always wanted to go to Thailand. He’d thought she was nuts.

“I’m not ready to retire. And I don’t understand this…” He threw out a hand toward her computer. “Why?”

She moved across the room on stiff legs. As if it hadn’t been stressful enough with Tyler coming home, disappointing her with his cool demeanor, and then he and Kaelin having that awful blowup, now she had to deal with this.

“I was going to talk to you after the wedding,” she said, sitting on the small couch. She looked down at her wine. “I don’t think I can go on like this.”

He stared at her, hands hanging at his sides. “What are you saying, Margot?”

“I’m saying…I don’t know.” She closed her eyes. Did she have the nerve to leave him? Probably not. Where would she go? What would she do? “I just wanted to get the wedding over with and then talk about it. I’m not happy, Ken.”