Part 12 (1/2)

”Really?”

”Yeah. I figured she got seduced by you she-devils.” She laughed, almost guffawing. ”But now that I know you, I can't even conjure up the evil home-wrecker image I had of you. You're a very kind person.”

”I try to be. I told Marina I could only consider it if we would only have s.e.x with people who were single or had the same kind of relations.h.i.+p we did. I never wanted an innocent woman to be involved.” She reached over and grasped Regan's arm, squeezing it. ”I'm so sorry you got hurt. If I hadn't agreed to it...”

That was a huge relief. At least Callie had tried to protect other women. Knowing she'd tried to keep the damage of being in that kind of relations.h.i.+p to just herself and Marina was admirable. ”No way. Marina was a cheater, pure and simple. She was a bigger cheater than Angela, in some ways. She could have had hundreds of other women, but she chose my Angela.”

”I don't know if I believe her, but she says she did it to ingratiate herself so she'd get promoted to Angela's level.”

Regan stared at her for a very long time. Then she said, in a low, dangerous sounding tone, ”If that's true, I'd better never meet her. I think I'd kill her.”

Chapter Eleven.

They had a nice belated birthday dinner for Callie at a restaurant not far from their hotel. Even though it was fun, Callie could tell that Regan was still bothered by their talk at the beach.

After dinner they went back down to the water, took off their shoes and walked along the low, quiet surf. ”You seem kinda...down,” Callie said after they'd walked a long time in silence.

”Yeah. I am.” She walked along, not speaking for a while, then she said, ”It doesn't seem to bother you much that Marina was trying to screw her way to the top. That bothers me. A lot.” Her voice was cold and dangerously low.

Callie reached out and took her hand, slowing her to a stop. ”No, no, that's not true. I...I think I have to tell you the whole thing.”

”What?” Regan's eyes looked dark and hard in the moonlight.

”We talked a couple of times after I left. I think I got the full story out of her.” She paused, took a breath and said, ”Do you want to hear it? It's...not good.”

”Yeah, I do. I need to know the truth, no matter how bad it is.”

They started to walk again, with Callie finding it easier to talk when she wasn't looking into Regan's innocent face.

”They started working together a year before Marina and I met. She said she was attracted to Angela from the beginning but she didn't know she was gay.”

”Probably true. Angela isn't out at work, even though I know she could be.”

”Neither is Marina. Which irritated the heck out of me. She wouldn't even consider taking me to events at work, even though two of her salesmen are openly gay.”

”Same for Angela. It would have had to change for us to get married.” She nodded her head slowly when Callie stopped and stared at her. ”Yeah, we were thinking of getting married. We wanted to start a family.”

Callie put an arm around her and they wound up standing in the warm water, holding each other for a few minutes while each shed some tears for their fractured plans.

”I'm so sorry,” Callie said again.

”Me, too.” They started to walk again, with Regan holding Callie's hand as a child would an older sister.

”So Marina was attracted to Angela, but they never acknowledged it. Until one night, about a year and a half ago...” Regan gasped and Callie squeezed her hand. ”I told you it was bad.”

”A f.u.c.king year and a half ago,” she muttered. ”a.s.shole! b.i.t.c.h! Wh.o.r.e!” Her voice had risen until she shouted the last word. ”The G.o.d d.a.m.ned b.i.t.c.h!”

”I know, I know,” Callie said, trying to soothe her. ”It's bad.”

”How could she talk about having children with me? How could she?” She started to cry in earnest, with Callie holding her and rubbing her shaking back.

”I don't know how she could do it, but she's an idiot for losing you. Especially for someone like Marina. She's not one tenth the woman you are.”

Sniffling away the last of her tears, Regan stood up tall and took some deep breaths. ”I'll try to keep it together. I really do want to hear the rest.” A second pa.s.sed and Regan grasped Callie by the shoulders, her grip so intense it could have left bruises. ”A year and a half? That's how long you were together!”

”I know.” She put her head down and took in a breath. ”They started up just when I moved to Dallas. I didn't get to have her to myself for even a week.”

Regan threw her head back and screamed. ”Filthy b.i.t.c.h!” Shaking, she wrapped Callie in a hug so fierce her feet left the ground. ”I'll strangle her if I ever meet her. For both of us.”

They stood there crying for a few minutes, the sound of their tears drowned out by the gentle lapping of the waves. Finally, they started walking again, arms interlocked as though each was trying to hold the other up against a hurricane-force wind. ”Do you want to hear the rest?” Callie asked.

”Yeah. Give it to me.”

”They were at a conference in Las Vegas and they came out to each other. I guess there had been some kind of veiled flirtation because they hooked up right then.”

”A year and a half ago.”

”Yeah.”

”Marina didn't have an explanation for why it happened?”

”She's just a s.l.u.t.” Regan didn't ever need to learn the truth. Angela's excuse was so d.a.m.n cold. How could she tell Marina that Regan was lousy in bed? That was such a betrayal of someone she'd claimed to love. Regan was precious. Even more precious than she'd seemed when they'd talked on the phone. No matter what, she was going to take Angela's insult to the grave. Torture couldn't have gotten it out of her.

”So how did this help Marina's career?”

”Well, if she's being honest, she said Angela wanted the affair to continue, even though she didn't.”

”Great.”

”Marina claims she knew she'd made a mistake by doing it that first time, but she thought it was harmless. She knew she was in trouble when Angela wanted her to arrange to travel to Boston more often. That's when she started to worry Angela would veto her promotion if she turned her down.”

”So it was all Angela's fault, huh?” She sounded bitter and sarcastic, but that wasn't who Regan really was. Callie could only hope that Regan didn't allow herself to let this sour her and make her jaded. She was too nice a woman for that.

”No, she didn't claim that. She admitted Angela would never have been on the list of people I'd approve, but since she'd been attracted to her since before we got together, she saw her as kinda grandfathered in.”

”What do you think?” Regan's voice carried over the warm, moist wind.

She sounded so hopeful, like she was depending on Callie to rea.s.sure her. Unable to resist the unspoken request, Callie stopped and pulled Regan close, trying to let the moon illuminate her face. ”I think she's a user.”

”At least.”

”And I think she's a person without a real conscience. Even though she claimed to be so contrite about sleeping with Angela, she admitted that they didn't click at all. And, to be honest, I think that's the main reason she didn't want to continue to have s.e.x with her.” She took a deep breath. ”I'm an idiot for letting her into my life, much less my heart.”

Regan nodded slowly. ”Okay. Then we can be friends.”

They walked back to the hotel in silence. But Callie's brain wouldn't slow down a bit. If Marina had screwed up the friends.h.i.+p she was starting to rely on, she would have killed her. Regan was the kind of person she needed in her life. Someone with morals that didn't change with the weather They were both quiet on the long walk back to the hotel. They weren't holding hands or touching any longer, and Regan still felt like punching someone. How could Callie have stayed? How could she have given Marina a second chance? There had to be some sick secrets behind that sweet facade. Where were they hiding?