Bolted (12 page)

Nadia sighed. “Did he actually ask for a divorce at that infamous lunch?”

Greta shook her head. “He looked really surprised when I walked in. So I sat down and said something innocuous like Dorothy had called me. And then he started looking sort of sick.”

Nadia blew out a breath. “I see. She hadn’t told him what she was up to.”

Greta nodded. “That’s what I think. She was doing an end run. Maybe Ryan was taking too long to end the marriage and she decided to take matters into her own hands.” She managed not to grit her teeth.
If I’d taken the time to know him better, could I have seen that coming?

“I’m assuming that your husband hadn’t mentioned this great love affair before this,” Nadia said dryly.

“No.” Greta gave her a sour smile. “My guess is he hadn’t thought of it in quite the same way she had. Anyway, after I dumped the water in his lap, I got up and went home. And then I called a woman I knew from the harbor who was a lawyer in Boston, and she put me on to the guy who represented me in the divorce. It actually doesn’t take too long to get one in this state, as it turns out. We were separated for a few months and then it was over.” Yet another quick decision and follow-through. Although this one hadn’t been quite as catastrophic.

“Did you ever talk to your husband about the entire affair?”

“You mean the lunch date or Dorothy?”

Nadia shrugged. “Both. Either.”

Greta shook her head. “At first, I was too mad to talk to him. Then it just seemed pointless. I wasn’t going to take him back no matter what he had to say. And really, I don’t think he wanted me to take him back anyway. I think he was ready for the marriage to be over. Both of us were.”

Nadia began blotting the blossoms with another piece of paper towel. “Why?”

“I don’t think we had much left,” Greta said slowly as she unwrapped the leaves from the butter. “Maybe we never had much to begin with. I think I married him because it seemed like a good idea. And then it wasn’t.” Like the purple hair. Like dropping off the tennis team.

“Because of the secretary?”

Greta closed her eyes. “Because we didn’t really love each other. Because he married me to get a wife, and I married him to get a husband.”

“Why did you think you needed one?” Nadia’s voice was neutral, but her dark eyes had a suspiciously hard shine.

Greta stared down at the butter and sugar in her mixing bowl. “My parents had been married for twenty-five years when my father died. My mom’s best friend Lily died last year, and she was married for over thirty. People in the harbor get married and stay married. I guess I thought I needed to do that too.”
And I never stopped to wonder why I thought so.

“Because your mother wanted you to?”

“Maybe. She never said anything one way or the other, but I think she thought I needed to settle down. And I really messed up with college and all—I mean, I started college and then I dropped out and went to culinary school. She probably thought I was beyond help.” Greta started beating the sugar into the butter, stirring maybe a little more vigorously than she needed to. She really hadn’t proved her mother wrong, had she?

“Did you finish culinary school?”

“Oh yeah. I really enjoyed it too.”

“But that didn’t please your mother?”

“Not so much. She calls it cooking school.”

“So you got married to make up for not finishing college?” Now both Nadia’s brows were elevated.

Greta sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But now I’ve messed up again. Mom’s going to be very unhappy with me.” She probably already was, in fact.

“How precisely did you mess up, dear?” Nadia said briskly as she moved the paper towels to the back of the counter. “Your husband had an affair with his secretary and got caught. I fail to see how that was any of your doing.”

“Well…” Greta began and then stopped. When you put it like that, it did sound a little weird.

“And please don’t tell me that if you’d been a better wife, he’d never have slept with her.” Nadia dusted her hands. “Men who sleep with their secretaries don’t need any particular excuse.”

Greta sighed, pouring sugar into one of the bowls. “You could be right.”

“I am definitely right. Does your ex-husband plan to marry this woman?”

Greta shook her head. “I have no idea, but I haven’t heard anything about an engagement.”

“Then my guess is she’s not really the love of his life, no matter what she thought about it herself. He didn’t leave you because he loved her.”

“No, I’ll grant you that. I’m pretty sure he didn’t love his secretary.” Of course, Greta wasn’t sure he’d ever loved her either. Not even when he’d asked her to marry him.

“What other excuse might you come up with to assume this situation is all your fault? Perhaps that you aren’t attractive enough. But I assume you’re much too smart to fall for that one.” Nadia leaned back against the counter, folding her arms across her ample bosom.

Greta paused, then shook her head. “No, I look okay. Maybe not as good as Ryan would have liked—I mean, nobody would ever mistake me for a supermodel—but definitely okay. When I take care of myself.” Had she taken care of herself? Had she made enough effort to make herself presentable for Ryan? She really didn’t know for sure. But she thought she had. And she was beginning to think that wasn’t really an issue.

On the other hand, she’d rushed into a marriage with a man who didn’t love her against her mother’s advice. That particular issue still loomed large.

Greta squinted at Nadia’s lavender flowers. “How long do they have to sit there?”

“A few hours. The scent intensifies as the flowers dry.”

“And then what?”

Nadia shrugged. “And then I pack them into jars and fill the jars with olive oil. What are you going to do now?”

Greta glanced down at the collection of bowls on the counter. “I need to mix up some milk and water and vanilla. Then I beat some egg whites into the butter and sugar. Then I put it all together, mix it up, and bake it in the pan with the rose geranium leaves.”

“Fascinating,” Nadia said dryly. “What I meant was what are you going to do about telling your mother?”

“Oh.” Greta shrugged. “Well. I need to do that, I guess.”
Guts up, Greta.

Nadia nodded. “I would recommend that you do it sooner rather than later.”

Greta closed her eyes. “I know. I will.”

“Would you like to use my phone?” Nadia gave her a bright smile.

Greta shook her head. “I’ll use my own.”

“Do it now.”

“I’m in the middle of something.” Greta narrowed her eyes.

“Nothing that can’t wait a few minutes. You need to face this, dear. And you need to do it now.”

“All right, all right,” Greta grumbled. It didn’t help anything that Nadia was absolutely right.

Her phone was upstairs in her room. Maybe someone would waylay her on the stairs before she found it.

Unfortunately, all the potential waylayers seemed to have moved on to other things. She reached her room without seeing anything or anyone unexpected. Her phone sat where she’d left it on the nightstand. She picked it up, turning it on for the first time in two days.

The first thing she saw was the voice mail icon. She’d ignored it when she’d called Josh. Now she clicked on the icon and looked at the list. Four messages were from her mother. One was from a number in Texas that she assumed wanted to sell her something.

One was from Ryan.

She blinked. Why would Ryan want to talk to her? He’d managed to say little enough during the entire divorce debacle. Why would he want to talk now that it was over?

She took a deep breath and clicked on the first of her mother’s messages.

“Greta,” her mother’s voice snapped in her ear. “Where are you? Why did you leave without telling me? Call me as soon as you get this.”

The second was more of the same, although her mother’s voice sounded slightly more anxious. Greta felt a brief pang of guilt.
Of course she’s anxious. Did you expect her not to notice? You know this counts as another screwup, right?

She flipped through the last two, listening to her mother’s voice rise. It was message four that made her clutch the phone so tightly her fingers hurt. “Oh Greta, why didn’t you tell me? What on earth happened? You’ve been separated and divorced and you didn’t even mention it? What were you thinking?”

Greta licked her lips. What had she been thinking exactly? That time would stand still until she got around to explaining everything to her mother? That her mother wouldn’t call her ex-husband when she didn’t realize he was an ex? She closed her eyes for a moment.
Definitely another screwup, Greta.

She took a deep breath, then clicked on Ryan’s message. “Greta.” Her ex-husband sounded faintly annoyed. “Where are you? Your mother is trying to reach you.” There was a long pause and she thought the message was over. Then she heard Ryan’s voice again. “Are you all right?” He sounded concerned. More concerned than he’d sounded when they got the final decree.

Well, crap.
Her mother was furious, and her ex-husband was annoyed. What was she supposed to do now?

Call them, of course. Except she had a cake to finish.
Decision-free zone.

Chapter Nine

Sophie had to admit it—Hayley Stone really had changed. Or at least she’d changed her outfit. Her red top and black slacks were a lot more serious than the outfits she used to wear, most of which featured safety pins in picturesque formations. Of course, the fact that Hayley had let her hair go back to its natural blonde rather than the jet black she’d worn in high school, added to the fact that her eyes no longer looked like they’d been outlined in crayon, definitely helped.

Hayley rested her notebook on her knee, listening carefully—and patiently—as Sophie filled in the details, with Owen supplying the occasional bit of support. Sophie had to hand it to her. Not everyone was so patient with Owen. She began to feel a lot more sympathetic toward Hayley than she had when she’d first arrived.

They finally finished explaining everything, and Hayley glanced down at her notes, pushing a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “Let me see if I’ve got this right,” she said carefully. “Greta drove off after the wedding.” She paused briefly, keeping her gaze resolutely on her notebook, and her face flushed.

The wedding. The disaster. Right. Carry on, Officer.

“She sent you a text that said ‘I’m all right, don’t worry’. And you haven’t heard from her since. Is that the gist of it?” She raised her gray eyes again, glancing first at Sophie and then at Owen.

“Yes,” Owen said.

Hayley’s forehead furrowed in a frown.
Crap.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t see anything here I can act on. There’s really no evidence of foul play. Is there any particular reason you’re concerned aside from not hearing more from her?”

“She left all her things here,” Sophie said in a rush. “She left wearing that ridiculous bridesmaid outfit, with nothing else except her purse.”

Hayley nodded. “I can see how that would be worrying. But…” She paused again.

“But?” Sophie prompted stonily.

“But Greta was always sort of…impulsive. As I recall. Couldn’t it be that she just decided to go visit someone? Or take a couple of days to decompress?” Hayley gave her a guarded smile.

Sophie gritted her teeth. Of course, that’s what everybody in town would think. Greta the flake. Takes off and leaves her mother to worry without even thinking about it. Which was pretty much what had happened, after all.

“She just got divorced,” Owen blurted. “She didn’t tell Sophie.”

Sophie closed her eyes for a moment. She hadn’t really intended to tell anyone about the divorce. Not until she’d had a chance to talk to Greta about it first. She didn’t especially want the news to spread around Promise Harbor before she had all the details.

Hayley nodded slowly. “Well, that could be a reason for her to want to take some time off to think, couldn’t it?” She gave Sophie another faint, sympathetic smile. “I mean, if I were to come up with a reason for her to take off, having her marriage break up would be a good one.”

Sophie blew out a breath. She really hated being pitied by a former student. Particularly one who was friends with Gavin Montgomery, the wedding-wrecking snake. “That’s true, but she could also have had an accident. Or worse. I just want to make sure she’s all right.” Much to her annoyance, her voice wobbled on the last two words. Lord, she hated that sympathetic look in Hayley’s eyes.

“I understand. Has Greta’s ex-husband heard from her?”

Sophie blew out a breath. “I don’t think so.”

“Is there any reason to believe it was a bad breakup?”

A drip of ice coursed down Sophie’s backbone.
Ryan? Ridiculous!
“If you’re implying that he could be involved in her disappearance—”

“I’m just trying to cover all the bases, Mrs. Brewster. If you’ll give me his name and number, I can give him a call and see if there are any other places Greta might have gone that he knows of.”

“Of course,” Sophie said stiffly. She dug Ryan’s number out of her cell phone address book. She’d have to delete it now.

“In the meantime I’ll check the accident reports and do a little calling around to make sure no unidentified accident victims have shown up at any of the hospitals in the area.” She gave Sophie another of those reassuring smiles. “For what it’s worth, we probably would have heard about anything like that by now. The fact that we haven’t is really good news.”

Oh yeah, really good news.
Sophie managed not to snarl.

“That’s good,” Owen said quickly. “That’s great. Thank you.”

“I’ll let you know what I find out.” Hayley pushed herself to her feet. “If you should hear anything from Greta…”

“I’ll certainly call you.” Sophie gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Thanks.”

She watched Hayley stride back to her truck, parked in the driveway where all the neighbors could see it and probably call one another ASAP.
Something else going on with the Brewsters. Hayley Stone stopping by.