Breaking Bedrock (Book Two) (23 page)

Addie wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand and
offered up a slight smile. “
Touché.
”

As Penny closed the front door behind the last of the
members of the garden party committee, she exhaled a sigh of relief. She hadn’t
been certain which way it would go. These days, she wasn’t certain of much.
Sitting down at the bar, she put her head in her hands. After having just
hosted a luncheon for thirty-five ladies, she was exhausted. Ever since
everything had happened, she’d been a mess. Her son was no longer speaking to
her, and her husband wasn’t too far off. Any communication they had was fairly
selective these days, and he’d been spending all of his time at his apartment
in the city. Addison refused to see her and even went as far barring her from
the hospital. Her friends were constantly asking how she was doing, and Penny
was afraid that she’d only be able to keep up her front for so long. People
were going to start talking, as if they weren’t already.

She tried going through Patrick’s mistress, but she’d given Penny
a run for her money. Penny had thought Addison was bad all these years; well,
this woman put her to shame. Penny wasn’t one to give up, and this lady was
going to be the mother of her granddaughter, so she’d keep trying, if she had
to. But admittedly, part of her wondered if that baby was her son’s at all. If
it were her, she’d be demanding a paternity test ASAP. She was going to have to
talk to Patrick about that when and if her son ever started speaking to her
again.

She’d heard from her husband that Addison had been released from
the hospital and that she and the boys had been staying with that Hartman
character. She was going to have to talk to Patrick about that too. She
couldn’t see how her son could be okay with that. Not to mention the fact that
her relationship with her grandsons would probably never be the same.

Penny had started seeing a therapist after the incident at the
lake house, which had since, unfortunately, been put on the market. Penny hated
to see that house go—she always did love it so—but her husband hadn’t given her
a choice in the matter. Anyhow, at her husband’s insistence, she started seeing
this therapist, which she clearly didn’t need, especially after he’d tried to
diagnose her with something called NPD in addition to Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder, which she was pretty sure she suffered from. While she liked the guy
and agreed with the PTSD theory, she vehemently denied having Narcissistic
Personality Disorder. Dr. Brandt explained that she appeared to be a classic
case and that there was treatment for this sort of thing but it required first
admitting that there was a problem. Needless to say she hadn’t been back.
Therapists were a dime a dozen, anyway; she just needed a second opinion.

Addison met Jess for coffee at their usual spot about
six weeks after she’d been released from the hospital. They’d spoken several
times since the incident in the hospital but never about how Addie had treated
her that day. The weather was finally starting to warm up a bit, which may have
been the reason the coffee shop didn’t seem as busy as it usually did. As Addie
opened the door, it suddenly took her by surprise just how much she was going
to miss this. She considered how much their lives had changed since they’d
first started meeting here, and she smiled to herself, thinking back on it all.
She pictured them meeting here as girlfriends in college before kids, before
marriage, and then with babies in strollers, and then toddlers they couldn’t
contain, and suddenly, everything came rushing back to her. In some ways, it
felt as though this were yet another one of the transitions that time often
brought with it. But in others it also felt like an ending of sorts. Or maybe
it was just a beginning that hadn’t quite happened yet. That’s the thing about
life and all of its ups and downs. Usually you don’t quite know where it is you
are, until you’ve arrived.

Addie stepped just inside the door and stood watching Jess for a
moment before approaching the table. Jess was writing in a notebook, and Addie
couldn’t help but notice how tired her friend looked. It made her feel bad
because she’d been so wrapped up in her own problems lately she hadn’t even
stopped to consider that her best friend might need an ear too.

Jessica looked up, meeting Addie’s gaze head on, and suddenly her
serious expression gave way to a smile. She stood and waved her over.

Jess nodded at the two cups on the table. “I got here early, so I
went ahead and ordered for you.”

Addie kissed her cheek and sat down. “Thank you. So . . . how are
you? I feel like we haven’t actually talked about
you
for a while. And I
really want to apologize for that, among other things.’

“I’m fine. You know it’s just more of the same for me, anyway. There’s
no need to apologize,” she replied, waving Addie off.

“But there is. That day in the hospital . . . The way I acted was
totally uncalled for. I never should have talked to you like that, and I’ve
regretted it ever since. I love you, and I’m so sorry, Jessica.”

“Oh that. Come on. I knew you’d been through a lot, and I was
pressing. I was the one who was out of line. Plus, I knew you didn’t really
mean any of it.”

Addie inhaled. “How are you, Jess? Something’s going on . . .”

Jessica looked away. “I’m fine. The kids are driving me crazy, and
I’m working on a new project that’s been keeping me up, but enough about me.”
She smiled. “I really did come here to hear about you. This time next week
you’re off, huh?”

“Project? What sort of project? A PTA thing? You know you need to
get the other moms to do at least half of the work you’re doing,” Addie
insisted.

Jess threw her head back and laughed. “No, it’s not a PTA thing. I’ll
tell you all about it, but first, I want to hear about you. This time next week
you’ll be in Switzerland. How crazy is that? And how’s everything going with
Mr. Handsome.”

Addie bit her lip and grinned. “Yeah, it’s a little bit surreal.
First we’re headed to Geneva, where we’ll be for three to four months, and from
there, it’s looking like either St. Kitts or possibly somewhere in the
Dominican—”

“Wow. Yeah, the boys tell me how excited they are. It seems like
they’re really looking forward to it.”

“Yeah. Partially, I think because Kelsey’s coming. They just love
her. She’s the best nanny ever, I swear. But also because William is dead set
on making it fun for them. Patrick seems to be doing okay with it all. And . .
. I think that helps. Truthfully, if I felt that they weren’t on board with the
whole thing, I wouldn’t be going. It’s pretty amazing how much life can change
in a year, you know.”

Jessica smiled. “I do know. And Mr. H? How’s all that going?”

Addie hesitated before leaning in close and resting her chin in
her hand. “It’s going—oh my God—beautifully. He’s just—I don’t know—everything
I’ve ever wanted. It was rough after it all happened, you know. I mean I wasn’t
sure whether I was making the right decision, starting a relationship with such
a complicated man, especially because it’s all so different—being with him, I
mean. But then while I was recovering, I realized that I made the best decision
of my life, besides my children. These past few weeks have been incredibly hard
and, still, somehow beautiful at the same time. He lost a real friend in Carl
and he’s hurting. Plus, he’s dealing with his own recovery as well as mine too.
Well, it’s just been a lot, but he really took care of me, and I let him. I
guess I just gave into it. It’s crazy, but we’ve learned
so
much about
each other in the past few weeks. And,
fuck,
the sex is amazing. I mean
considering our injuries,
both
physically and emotionally, it’s been a
little tricky but so beautiful. I mean it has always been amazing with him, but
damn
. There. Are. No. Words. For. It. He’s like a bad addiction, and I
just can’t get enough.”

“Damn, girl, you’ve got it bad.” Jess winked. “I told you from
the beginning that you were in so much trouble with
that
one.”

Addie beamed. “I know you did. And I am. But, you know, I think
the key is to not completely lose myself the way I did in my marriage. It would
be so easy to do it with
him
too. I just won’t let it happen though. He
either loves me for
me
, or he doesn’t and that’s it. I’m not giving up
what it is that I want any longer. And so far he seems to get that. I mean coming
with me on this trip was all his idea. I thought he was crazy, but he really
wanted it. He’s so goddamned smart about it all too. The way he thinks . . . His
business acumen . . . I mean I never get tired of finding new things to love
about him. It’s funny too because, well, obviously he’s been ultra-successful,
but he doesn’t make me feel inferior about any of it. He asks my opinion about
things, and he listens. He doesn’t shove opinions down my throat, either. He
lets me come to my own conclusions about things. I don’t know. It’s all just so
different. And the boys . . . They really like him. He’s so good with them. I
mean so, so good. It’s a little scary though because I watch him with them, and
I think about what a great father he’d make. I mean we haven’t talked about it
or anything, but I just don’t think I want any more children.”

“You might change your mind.”

Addie sipped her coffee. “I don’t know. I’m not so sure.”

Jess shifted and lowered her voice. “What about his issues and
your issues? How are you guys handling that? I can’t imagine giving him what he
needs is easy.”

“You know we’re kind of handling it our way. I give him what he
needs, and somehow, he just senses what it is I need. It’s a pretty adventurous
learning curve; I’ll just say that. We’re vanilla when we want to be, but
there’s not much that’s off limits, and it’s nice. I think the way we see one
another is somehow making us able, or at least teaching us, to finally see the
truth about ourselves. Kind of like a mirror, I guess.”

Jess furrowed her brow and downed the last of her coffee. “So you
think you’ll ever marry him?

Addie snorted, choking on her coffee. “No. I don’t think so. I’m
not sure getting married again is in the cards for me. Right now I’m just
taking things one day at a time. We’ve . . . Well, he’s talked about it. He’s
asked, but I keep saying no, and although he keeps asking and I keep saying no,
I think he’s content with that. I’m not going anywhere, and I don’t think he is
either.”

“Well, you’re going
somewhere.”

Addie leaned back and took her friend in. “I’m going to miss you
so much, Jess. I’m gonna miss our little dates. Sure, maybe we’ll Skype them
from now on, but it won’t be the same.”

“No. It won’t.”

Addie raised her cup and pointed it in her friend’s direction. “I
love you, Jessica. Here’s to friendship, to
us,
and to going somewhere
and nowhere all at the same time.”

Twenty

A note from the storyteller:

One of my most favorite quotes says something about the fact
that when you’re in the middle of a story, it isn’t a story at all; that only
afterword does it begin to resemble something which makes any sense. I
wholeheartedly agree, and as a reader, you should know that it took me a long
time before Addison would agree to let me tell
her
story. Undoubtedly, it’s
understandable why she would be protective of her little love story.
Nonetheless, if it were going to be told, and it had been—it wasn’t long before
it was splashed all over the gossip sites—she wanted it told as it was, as it
had
actually
been, blemishes and all. But, before she finally agreed,
names had to be changed, and in order to get it just right, the way she wanted
it, it had to be written and rewritten, and quite frankly, it required a lot of
research and hours upon hours of interviews to make sure everything was factual—aside
from the actual identities of those involved. That’s the funny thing about
stories, you know. What may be factual to one is almost certainly
never
factual to another. But, I digress.