Page 2 of The Man Next Door
“And he didn’t deserve you.”
“No, he didn’t.”
He had started out as a wonderful husband. So encouraging, so fun, so sweet, so good at handling their money. He was a solid businessman, dedicated husband and father. In those early years there was money growing in the bank accounts. They discussed what they wanted to spend that money on and they enjoyed spending it. Those dollars were always where they were supposed to be.
Until he’d taken a sledgehammer to both their finances and her trust.
“At least you’re out of debt now,” said Gracie.
Thanks to the sky-high value of California real estate. Although when you had a second mortgage on your house and debt coming out of your ears, you didn’t exactly walk away from a sale with a profit. Zona may have been out of debt technically speaking, but she owed her daughter big-time thanks to the mess Gary had created. And Zona was completely broke.
“I appreciate you helping me get through this,” she said.
Gracie had been a good friend, providing a listening ear and therapeutic doses of chocolate on a regular basis as Zona processed her husband’s financial infidelity, cried through their divorce, and tried to be strong as the house she’d pretty much raised her daughter in went up for sale. Gracie’s life was like a Jane Austen novel, with everything turning out as it should. Good husband, two great kids, successful real estate career. Jane would have approved.
Zona’s life, on the other hand, had been more Dickens than Austen. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. One of the best being when she’d met her first husband, Luke. When she’d had her daughter Bree. Then came the worst when she found out Luke had been cheating on her while she was pregnant. Then came divorce number one and the struggles of being a single parent. More worst times when her gift shop went under. But then came... the best: Gary, the solid businessman who wined and dined her, who loved her daughter. They bought their dream house, Zona got a secure job with the department of licensing, issuing drivers licenses—boring but steady work. Double income, dinners out. Yep, best of times. Then halfway down the yellow brick road, Gary developed this problem. Which eventually turned into epic disaster. And now it was the worst of times again.
Zona was divorced and flat broke. Nothing in savings, the nest egg broken and scrambled, Bree’s money for nursing school gone. And Zona’s share of the profits from the house sale would all go to pay off the last few stones from the mountain of debt that Gary’s gambling addiction and financial infidelity had built. His debts had become her debts. Community property was a rip.
“Sometimes I still can’t believe this happened,” she said. “Gary seemed so solid. I thought we were solid. I thought our life was solid.”
Gracie shrugged. “Some people hide who they really are.Or they have, I don’t know, a little crack in their foundation, and with time, if they don’t do anything, the crack gets bigger.”
“Gary was definitely cracked,” Zona said.
It made her grind her teeth every time she thought about what had happened to them. If only she’d caught those early warning signs that Gary’s gambling hobby was becoming an addiction. But she hadn’t. He’d hidden it, like pornography.
Then came the day she went to make a deposit to the savings set aside for Bree’s nursing school and discovered it had been drained. And that was only the beginning.
“I was going to put it back,” Gary had insisted as if he actually had a plan, as if he could be trusted ever again.
“I swear, if I could have gotten away with it—” Zona began.
“Aack! Don’t finish that sentence,” said Gracie. “I know where you’re going.”
Zona frowned. “I’m just fantasizing here.”
Anyway, murder was too good for Gary. He should have to suffer. Work on a chain gang in the blazing sun with no water to drink. Nobody did chain gangs anymore. Too cruel. But how cruel was it to ruin your family’s finances and your marriage? To steal your stepdaughter’s future?
“Stick to romance novel fantasizing,” Gracie advised.
“That’s probably what got me in trouble in the first place,” Zona muttered. “I’m never reading another romance novel again, and there’s nothing com about rom.”
Gracie shrugged. “Don’t blame fiction. Your problem was with real life. Your mom brainwashed you. She had you convinced that every man was like your dad.”
“Yours is,” Zona pointed out.
“I got lucky.”
“Aaargh, that word again.”
“Sorry,” said Gracie, and tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear.
Thanks to her new budget, Zona’s once blond ’do had gonefrom trendy shadow roots to desperate for sunlight. Total disaster. Like her life.
She frowned at the salad remaining on her plate. “How could I have been so oblivious to what was going on?” It wasn’t the first time she’d asked it. Probably wouldn’t be the last. It was a song on constant replay.
“Because at first it was too small to take any notice of. Like when something’s going wrong with your insides, but you can’t see it until your intestines explode.”
