Page 31 of Beyond Reach

Marcella came flying over the table like someone hired her to do a movie stunt. Claws bared, she came at Chanda, still screaming. Chanda tried to dodge and stand up, but she was on the inside of the booth. There wasn’t anywhere to go.

“Marcella, calm down.” Garner caught his fiancée as she landed on the table. One of the flip-flops she wore fell off her foot. Her dressing gown, which she’d actually worn out of the house, gapped open to reveal far too much. A few of the curls the hairdresser had so artfully styled the day before was plastered to her wet forehead, and her eyes shot murderous intent at Chanda.

“It’s not like that, Marcella.” Chanda hated herself for making the claim. Really, nothing she said in this situation would sound right. She shouldn’t have come. “We were just talking. Garner used to be my friend more than anything. Plus, I had to tell him something important. Again, nothing happened.”

“Liar!”

Garner frowned. “Get off the table, Marcella.”

“You’re not mad at me?” She blinked at Garner in confusion.

“The entire café is looking at us, and I’m sure you don’t want to make a scene.”

“You mean you don’t want everyone to know you’ve been sneaking around behind my back.” She raised her voice. “Cheating with my cousin.”

The same waitress who had looked at them with fondness now cast a scathing glare at Chanda. Not Garner, but at her. She wanted nothing more than to get out of there, but Garner still blocked her in the booth.

“Let me out, Garner. Marcella, we’ll talk about this somewhere else.”

At last Marcella managed to get to her feet. Garner reached to help her, but she slapped his hand away, which surprised Chanda. She didn’t expect Marcella to hold anything against him.

Once Chanda was free, she left the café and stood out by her car. She should apologize before she left, even if nothing happened. The fact remained that she owed Garner an explanation on the loss of their child. That wasn’t something she regretted doing. Holding his hand, sitting close, even feeling like she wanted to kiss him, that was bad. Of course, she wasn’t going to tell Marcella about her errant feelings.

Her cousin stormed out of the café, and Chanda braced herself for another attack. Marcella charged up to Chanda with Garner on her heels. Her cousin stopped just short of Chanda and planted her hands on her hips.

“Just because you’re jealous of us doesn’t give you the right to try to destroy our marriage before it gets started.”

Chanda had an odd feeling of something heavy landing on her head and unsettling her world. “Don’t you dare say that to me, Marcella. You know I’m not that kind of woman.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“Then why did you meet him in the middle of the night?”

Chanda bit her tongue and stumbled over her words for a moment. “I had something important to tell him. It was necessary. But I have a question for you? How in the world did you find us or know that Garner wasn’t at his house?”

Marcella opened her mouth, shifted her gaze over at Garner, and clamped her teeth together. She thought about her answer and then shrugged. “I tracked his phone. Not a big deal. Parents look after their kids with an app so they know they’re safe.”

“You’re saying you think of Garner as your child?

“You know that’s not what I meant!”

“No, you don’t trust him to be faithful to you, so you’ve been keeping a close eye on him.”

“Don’t try to turn this around on me.” Marcella stepped closer and pointed a finger in Chanda’s face. “I know what you’re doing. You regret your decisions back then, and you lied, talking about you were fine with me seeing Garner. I was the bigger woman. I called you ahead of time to tell you about us. But you betrayed me.”

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“Let’s get it straight, Marcella. You texted. And it was after the fact.”

“That makes a difference?”

“You know what? It doesn’t. Goodnight.” Chanda spun away to get into her car. She opened the door, but Marcella slammed it shut again. She wanted to shout some more. Chanda wasn’t having it.

Garner stepped between them and spoke in a firm tone. “Enough. Both of you! I take full responsibility for this situation, Marcella. You want to know why we met? Because—”

“Garner,” Chanda interrupted.

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