Page 21 of Stay Here Tonight
“Hmm? You think so?” Was Agnes flirting? So the forty-year-old did have a soft spot for the occasional man, hm?Has she ever dated someone while she’s worked for my family?She must have. Must have! She got Sundays off and often went into town on Maxine’s dime to enjoy them. She didn’t have family in town, though. So who was she seeing? A gentleman?
Now Maxine was too interested in what her help was up to.
That included Carlos the lead gardener, who waved at Maxine as soon as she popped out in jeans and a T-shirt. Penelope’s old things were dumped on top of one another with a large dirty ring encircling the pile. Two garden hoses were on standby. The windchimes hanging in a nearby tree were so silent Maxine could hear her breath. All that was left was lighting the match.
Maxine bent down and picked up one of the photos. There was Penelope and her, sitting together on a bench in Mexico, clinking together two bottles of beer and smiling. Only now could Maxine tell that her smile was more genuine than her ex-wife’s.She was probably banging the guy serving us drinks.
The picture was torn in half before Maxine knew it. “Light it up, Carlos.”
“My pleasure!”
Agnes was right. Carlos was ecstatic to have the honors. As soon as the fire was lit, he and Maxine stood back while the other gardeners went about their business.
“You ever been divorced, Carlos?” Coffee finally touched Maxine’s lips.
“Never again, ma’am.”
“Damn straight.” At this point Maxine was never going to marry again. For fuck’s sake, she couldn’t even let a woman stay the night with her. What right did she have gettingmarried?
“It’s even harder with kids.” That’s all Carlos had to say about that.
Funny. That’s one of the excuses Penelope gave me during our first breakup.Maxine didn’t want kids. She planned to bequeath most of her private fortune to charities and foundations. Maybe Agnes would get something more than the customary My Employer Died!!! condolence check. But no kids. Her branch of the Woodward tree was bound to die, and she didn’t give a shit.
The thought of Penelope being a mother was even more frightening, honestly.
Too bad the universe wasn’t going to let Maxine think of her ex for more than a few minutes. For not ten seconds after she finally began to enjoy the little fire burning in her yard, Angela the PR manager made a surprise visit with her face as white as the snow that sometimes fell on the mountains.
Like it was never a good sign to receive panicky texts from her divorce lawyer on a Saturday, it was also not a good thing to have her PR manager come rushing up to her on a Wednesday morning.
“Did you see the society pages?” Angela cried before stopping in front of the small bonfire. “Uh, what’s this?”
Maxine clapped her hand on her PR manager’s arm. “Nothing important. Now, what’s going on with the society pages?” Angela would never show up to gab aboutthat.If Maxine was featured, then a simple link in a text or email sufficed. For Angela to show up meant something… had happened…again.
Angela shoved her tablet into her client’s hands. “My contact is about to get his ass ripped in two all over again. I can’tbelievehe misinterpreted what I said to this level!”
“Misinterpreted?” Maxine looked down. “I thought I was paying you to be the fuckin’ best in the business.”
“Iam,thank you. but I can’t fix stupid of this level!”
Maxine had no idea what to expect this time. Like the photo of her and Lydia holding the donation check with the headline,“Maxine Woodward, Rich Philanthropist, Dating LGBT Foundation Employee.”
Maxine handed the tablet back, turned toward the burning fire that contained the final remnants of her abusive marriage… and cackled. What the fuck else could she do at this point?
***
“Ms. Kellerman! Lydia Kellerman!” The paparazzi was out in full force that Wednesday morning. Lydia had barely stepped out of her apartment building when the firstclick!went off. “Could you comment on your relationship to Maxine Woodward? Ms. Kellerman!”
She yelped in both fear and shock, spooking the neighbor’s labradoodle as it snoozed on a balcony overhead. Somehow the dog had remained completely unperturbed by the paparazzi gathering around Lydia’s apartment building, but the moment she lost her shit in surprise? Woof!
Lydia ran back into the front hall of her building, where her landlord popped out of her ground floor apartment with an exasperated look on her face.
“Do you have any idea what that’s about? I had to shoo them off my property, and they set up camp across the street. They keep yellin’yourname. So what’s going on?”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Manning.” Lydia caught her breath in the corner of the hallway, where hopefully no photographers could get a shot of her. “I think there’s been a mistake regarding a photo-op I had for my job.”
Oh, yeah, she had seen the links to the newspaper. Joanie made sure she saw it first thing in the morning.“Since when are you dating Maxine? I thought she kicked you out afterward?”
Lydia was not impressed to see the misprint in the newspaper. It also didn’t make any sense. Maxine couldn’t have had OK’d it, that was for sure. With a picture like that? It was obvious what they were doing! (What did it matter if they had sex right afterward?) Lydia made sure Joanie knew the truth – she wasnotdating Maxine. No fucking way.
