Part 67 (1/2)

”What?” Penny asked.

Naomi grabbed her and pulled her into her office. ”I saw that,” she said. ”The whole thing. The intimate conversation. The private touches. There's something going on with you and Cal.”

”No, there isn't. Well, maybe. Something. But it's no big deal.” If she didn't count being in love with him. Then it was practically nothing.

”And?” Naomi demanded.

”And, what? I went with him to see his daughter. He decided not to tell Lindsey who he is. It was hard for him. I saw the whole thing and it made me...”

”Yes?”

”It made me like him.”

”Ha. As if that's all that's going on between you. I know there's more, but I'm not sure I'm up to the details. Just be sure this time.”

”What?”

Naomi sighed. ”Be sure. Last time you left. You shouldn't leave. It's wrong and it hurts the people left behind.”

The unfair accusation stunned her. ”I didn't leave. Okay, technically I did move out, but that was only because Cal didn't care. He's admitted so himself. He didn't love me.”

”You didn't fight for him.” Naomi held up a hand. ”Look, I'm sorry. You don't need this from me and I'm hardly in any position to judge. I'm the queen of running away.”

Penny was having a hard time getting her head around the conversation. ”I didn't run from Cal.”

”Yes, you did. And that's okay. I'm just saying that before you start something up again, you need to know if you're in it for the long haul.”

Naomi returned to the kitchen, leaving Penny speechless and annoyed.

She hadn't run. Cal had disappeared emotionally long before she'd moved out. The problems in their marriage weren't about her. Were they?

As she walked to the door a voice in her head pointed out that it took two to make or break any relations.h.i.+p. That no one person was all in the wrong or all in the right. That maybe, just maybe, she had some culpability in what had gone wrong.

DANI HATED EVERYTHING about Gloria's office. The size, the whiteness of it all. Being here always made her feel as if she'd been called to the princ.i.p.al's office, even when she'd been the one to request the meeting.

It was seven-thirty on a Sat.u.r.day night. Most people were at home with family or out on dates or with friends. Not her grandmother. Gloria was at the office and if Dani wanted to talk to her, that was where she had to be, too.

”You may go in now,” her secretary said, holding open the door to the inner sanctum.

Dani smiled at the woman, one of two secretaries Gloria employed. Her hours were such that one a.s.sistant simply wasn't enough.

”Dani,” Gloria said from behind her very large, very white desk. ”How nice of you to ask to see me.”

Gloria didn't stand or offer to shake hands or hug. Not at the office. Here things were strictly business. Here they were never family.

”I took the liberty of going over the numbers at Burger Heaven,” Gloria continued as she motioned to the chair opposite her desk. ”They look good. So I don't think there's a problem there, is there?”

”No.”