Page 124 of Sharp Force

They pull apart with wide frightened eyes.

Caught in the act.

Swift punishment to follow.

“It’s not how it looks,” Benton says while my sister shrugs with a gleam of satisfaction.

She smiles, pointing up to a clump of mistletoe attached to a rafter.

“Oh, now don’t be getting all upset, it was nothing.” She flaps her hand at me. “We were being silly.”

“That’s not what you were being,” I reply.

“She caught me by surprise. I was about to stop it…” Benton stares at my sister as if she’s the worst of traitors. “Jesus, Dorothy. What are you trying to do? Fucking ruin everything for everyone?”

“Don’t make such a big thing out of it,” she retorts. “I was being sappy. You know how I can get.”

“Has this happened before?” That’s what I really want to know.

“Never.” Benton is emphatic.

“But it should have.” Dorothy is getting emotional. “Just as you and Marino should go ahead and fuck and get it over with. Maybe thenallof us could move beyond this ridiculous façade. Why pretend? He’s more into you than me and always has been!”

She goes on and on about Janet being right. Janet is the only one who doesn’t lie. Janet has the courage to tell inconvenient truths, and Dorothy for one is paying attention. Doesn’t matter how hard it is, we have to face reality. If she’d faced it long ago, she wouldn’t have been so foolish. She wouldn’t have married Marino.

“Why am I here?” she exclaims, tears spilling down her bronzed cheeks. “I was happy in Florida but threw it all away for him. I wish I’d never given up my beautiful place in Boca with its covered pool and boat slip! And my fabulous office with its view of the Intracoastal Waterway! I wish I’d never moved here!”

“I’m glad you did,” I reply. “Most of the time. Right now, I’m not so sure.”

“It feels bad, doesn’t it, Kay?” She dabs her made-up eyes with a tissue. “When yourpersonlikes someone better than you? When they pretend otherwise but youknow.”

“That would be terrible. I’m sorry if you’ve felt that way.” I’m not going to lie.

“He married me because he couldn’t have you.”

“I don’t believe that, Dorothy. But I understand why you would think it after hearing some of the comments Janet’s been making. I’d feel the same way if the roles were reversed.”

Dorothy’s smeared lipstick mouth opens but she doesn’t utter a sound.

“I don’t blame you for hitting on Benton and can understandwhy that would happen now. Payback for what Janet’s been saying about Marino and me,” I add to her growing befuddlement.

“But it must be true if she says it,” Dorothy sniffs, dabbing her eyes.

“She gets her information from us,” Benton replies. “Whatever anybody has said or even worried about is fodder for the algorithm.”

“Most of all Lucy, I suppose.” Dorothy sighs, staring blearily at me. “Long ago when Pete and Kay were first working together, Lucy was convinced Pete had the hots for you.”

“Lucy was threatened by everyone back then,” Benton says. “Including me.”

“I’m headed to the greenhouse if you want to come along?” I offer my sister.

She nods, wiping her eyes on her fluffy cuffed sleeve as I hear Marino’s heavy feet on the steps. He thuds back up to the kitchen, and I look at Dorothy. I have no doubt he heard the entire conversation.

“Fucking hell,” she says.

“Fucking hell is right,” Benton echoes.

“Go,” I tell Dorothy. “You’d better straighten it out with him.”