The Liar Next Door by Nicola Marsh
Forty-Three
Saylor
After the dinner party I lay low for a week, trying to stay busy with scouring baby websites for nursery furniture, reading pregnancy books, desperate to rein in my impatience as I wait to see if gathering my neighbors in my home for a meal had the desired effect and I’m closer to getting the money I need. Lloyd has been busy with work and I’ve done a few marketing quotes for companies I’ve worked with before. I never valued working from home more than now, when my ankles tend to swell by the end of a day and my back aches if I stand too long. All perfectly normal for a pregnant woman but sometimes I forget I’m carrying a child, I’m that focused on the outcome.
I’m strolling around the park when Celeste comes out of Frankie’s house with Violette and Luna in tow. They find a spot in the park where Celeste sits on a bench, the girls at her feet, and I can’t pass them without saying hello. I haven’t spoken to Celeste since my dinner party and I can’t envisage us ever being close, but it’s only polite to stop.
“What are you three up to?”
Celeste looks up as I approach and there’s a flicker of unease before she quickly masks her expression. “Frankie’s working so I thought the girls and me would spend some time out here in the fresh air.”
I raise a brow as I see they’re both glued to a tablet, watching a princess cartoon.
“Just you wait. Your life will depend on any kind of screen by the time your boy’s two.”
“I have to wait that long?”
We share a chuckle and I sit next to her on the bench. “How are you? Settling into the neighborhood?”
“Yeah, I love it here.” She sweeps her arm wide, encompassing the park. “I’ve never lived anywhere as pretty as this.”
“Where exactly are you from again?” I ask.
“Southampton.”
There’s the slightest hesitation before she answers me, almost like she has to get her story straight. It makes me wonder what she’s hiding, especially as she has no online presence. As someone who’s had to become secretive out of necessity since I got pregnant, I recognize the signs.
“Violette’s father not in the picture?” I continue to probe.
“Nope. I painted over him a long time ago.”
I laugh but notice she’s not smiling anymore. She’s looking at me, but her gaze slides away every now and then, like she can’t quite meet my eyes.
“Do you know Ruston well?” Her question is from left field, like she’s trying to deflect attention off her, and this time, she’s looking at me with blatant daring, calling my bluff. I freeze and try not to let my worry show. This is what I get for digging into her past. She’s trying to delve into mine.
“As a neighbor, yeah.”
Her eyebrows rise. “Seemed like there was a bit of tension between the two of you at your dinner party so I wondered if you knew each other from the past.”
She’s fishing. She can’t know anything. I’ve been careful. Nobody knows, and I need to keep it that way. The last thing I need is for her to tattle to Lloyd and my marriage to suffer. Time enough for that to happen when I tell my poor husband the rest.
“No. He came to the gender reveal party and I met him then.” I fan my face, mimicking that he’s hot. “He stood out, you know?”
She laughs. “Yeah, he’s good-looking, but he knows it.”
“You think?” I bite my tongue at how swiftly I’ve defended him and it hasn’t gone unnoticed as Celeste pins me with a curious stare.
“Men like him know they can have any woman they want and he seems the type that even if he was in a committed relationship he’d sleep around.”
Something I’d found out the hard way. I will the heat seeping into my cheeks to subside. By Celeste’s raised brows, I’ve failed.
I aim for blasé. “You could be right. He was flirting outrageously with Frankie at my dinner party and she seemed to lap it up.”
“I think he dazzled her, but it was a game to him. He saw how she responded to him and he played on it.” She tut-tuts. “Not a nice move considering her husband had a front row seat to his games.”
I want to say so much but I can’t. My future depends on not revealing the truth until it’s the right time and that isn’t now. “You’re right. Game players are the worst.”
“You’re lucky you have Lloyd. He seems lovely.”
“He is.”
“Have you been married long?” She’s turned the spotlight back on me, delving into my private life, making me uncomfortable.
“Nine months. My folks introduced us.” Enough information without giving away too much.
“At the risk of sounding jealous, Lloyd looks at you like you’ve hung the moon. You’re so lucky.”
Celeste is right, I am lucky, and I’m a better woman for basking in his attention. It makes what I’ve done all the harder because I know he’ll never look at me the same way again once he finds out; if he sticks around, that is.
“Lloyd’s amazing and he’ll be a great dad,” I say, trying not to squirm under the intensity of her stare. She’s looking at me like she can see straight through me—my past with Ruston, the mess I’ve made of my marriage because of one stupid, impulsive night—and I’m uneasy. It’s too soon for the truth to come out.
“I know this is none of my business, but take it from someone who knows, don’t get too hung up over how boring you think your life will become after you have the baby or how much you’ll miss out on, and just make the most of what you’ve got.”
Her stare is spooky and I resist the urge to rub my bare arms. She’s giving me some kind of warning and I wonder again if she knows more than she’s letting on.
But how can she? I’m careful. At least, I hope I am.