Page 56 of Nash Falls
“Ripped the crap out of it. Got stitches all the way up. Lucky I didn’t kill myself.”
“Oh my God, you poor thing.”
She had been extra gentle with the injured arm.
Now he lit up a cigarette and offered her a puff, but she firmly declined and then just as firmly told him to put it out.
“I can’t go home smelling like smoke, Rhett. I’m supposed to be out with a girlfriend who’s atriathlete.”
“Sorry. Force of habit. I should quit. I hear it’s bad for your health,” he quipped. He stubbed out the smoke in an ashtray on his nightstand.
They were in the master bedroom of his penthouse. As usual, Judith had come up in the service elevator wearing a floppy hat, sunglasses, and a long coat, despite the warmth of the evening. She would leave the same way, walk two blocks to a parking lot where she had left her car, and then drive home with a cover story to tell her husband.
“So, about Walt?”
“We just had amazing sex and you want to talk about myhusband?” Judith asked. She turned to look at him, her brow furrowedand her features tight. “I remember not that long ago when we’d do it, and you’d be ready to go again in five minutes.”
“I’m not in my twenties anymore.”
He cracked a grin that made Rhett actually seem ten years younger.
She kissed him on the lips. “I actually like you just the way you are.”
He sat up and took a sip of scotch from the glass next to the ashtray. “Okay, here’s my offer: Answer my question about Walt, then seduce me all over again with that gorgeous body of yours and we’ll go for round two. Orgasm guaranteed.”
“Why are you worried about Walter? He’s the rock of frigging Gibraltar.”
“You make that sound like a bad thing.”
“Rocks are boring, Rhett.”
“If we go for round two, it won’t be boring.”
She slipped her hand to his crotch. “To sweeten the deal, I’ll start it off with something I know you really, really like and which I don’t even do for Walter.”
“I love things you do for me that you won’t do for him.”
“You had no intention of going to the funeral, did you?” she said abruptly, letting go of him.
He eyed her curiously. “Forgot all about it, actually.”
Judith made a pouty face that was reminiscent of her daughter. “Although the flowers were a nice comeback.”
“Walt said it went okay.”
“Actually there was a man there who publicly humiliated him.”
Rhett glanced sharply at her. “At his dad’s funeral? What was that about?”
“Walter’s dad was one mean son of a bitch. Completely cut Walter out of his life. He was in Vietnam. I think it made him nuts. And his friends, too, including the jerk that was talking crap about Walter from the church pulpit.”
“Damn,” said Rhett.
“And that Agent Orange stuff? Walter’s father got sprayed over and over with it. He got a big financial settlement from the Army. He left some of it in trust for Maggie. Walter is the trustee. We just found all that out.”
“Is he going to let Maggie use the dollars for her influencer business you’ve been telling me about?”
“I’m sure Walter will analyze everything and then arrive at a decision that is fair and equitable.”
