Page 98 of The Best of Friends

She couldn’t do it anymore. Not the drama, the hysterics, the assumptions. She just wanted normal. She dropped the necklace onto the coffee table.

“Good-bye,” she said to both of them. She picked up her purse, then walked out.

David came after her. He grabbed her arm and spun her to face him. “Don’t,” he pleaded. “Rebecca’s leaving. I want you to stay. Jayne, please.”

“This isn’t about you,” she told him. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore. I thought I could. I thought we had a chance. We don’t.”

“I love you.”

It was a perfect moment. If this were a Lifetime movie, Rebecca would burst out of the room, eyes filled with tears. She would apologize and admit she’d been wrong. She would tell them both that she wanted them to be happy. David would sweep Jayne up in his arms, and they would kiss.

But this wasn’t a movie. It was her life, and she’d been avoiding reality long enough.

She thought about telling him she loved him, too. That he was everything she wanted, but there was no point. So she simply turned her back and walked away. David was a proud man—he wouldn’t come after her a second time.

And he didn’t. She made it to the elevator without hearing another word.

Elizabeth hovered in the hallway, listening for the sound of Blaine’s arrival. Normally, she waited in her office or in the family room. Not that she was ever excited that he was home, but it did mean the rest of the evening could begin. Usually he ran late, meaning she had to usher him through getting changed for whatever event they had on the calendar.

Tonight was a quiet evening. Just the two of them. For the best, she thought as she glanced at her watch again. They needed to talk, and interruptions wouldn’t make the conversation go any faster.

Finally she heard the door to the garage open, then close. She moved into the kitchen and waited until Blaine had entered.

“We have to talk,” she announced.

“Hello to you, too,” he said.

She flicked her wrist. “Yes, yes. Hello, I’m fine. I’m sure your day was excellent. Is that enough?”

He put down his slim briefcase. “As always, your romantic declarations make me love you all the more.”

She did her best not to glare. “Are you being funny? Is this humor?”

“Apparently not.” He walked into the butler’s panty and opened the liquor cabinet. “Scotch?”

“Yes, please. Then we can talk.”

“About?”

“David and Jayne. They’re together.”

Blaine stepped back into the kitchen. “They’re going out?”

“Yes.” She finally had his attention. Talk about a miracle. “Apparently it’s serious. They’re sleeping together, which today doesn’t mean anything. But they’re also involved. David seems quite taken with her. I can’t imagine why.”

“Why not? She’s a bright young woman. Hardworking.”

“Which is an excellent characteristic for a housekeeper, but not how I want my future daughter-in-law described.”

“You’d rather she was lazy?”

Elizabeth forced herself to breathe slowly. “Blaine, I swear, you look for ways to annoy me.”

He retreated to the butler’s panty, then reappeared with two drinks. He handed her one. “I don’t plan. Sometimes the opportunity presents itself, and I succumb to temptation.”

“Resist,” she snapped. “We have to talk about what to do. Jayne is nobody. There’s no family, no money, no connections.”

Blaine sipped his drink. “David has enough for both of them.”