No way was Dana going to stick around for an embarrassing confrontation with Sean. “We're leaving, Brittany. You can say hello, and then come on. I'll expect you over by the hose in two minutes,” Dana called after her. Then she turned to Cécile's daughters. “Come on girls, let's go.”
One by one, Dana sprayed her three charges with the hose the city provided, rinsing them thoroughly, then turned it on herself, pulling her swimsuit out with one hand to get the sand off her skin.
She turned around. No sign of Brittany, and it had been nearly ten minutes. Doggone it, she'd told Brittany to make it quick. She'd come to this beach in the first place because Brittany wanted to catch up with Vanessa.
No, that wasn't fair. She couldn't blame this on Brittany. She should be grateful, for if she'd gone to Jax Beach like she'd planned, she never would have known of Sean's duplicity. Last night he'd made love to her, and this afternoon he was with another woman.
“Josie,” she said, “I want you all to stay right here with our stuff. I'm going to get Brittany. Don't move, all right?”
“All right, Miss Dana.”
Dana took off in search of Brittany. Her footsteps felt clumsy because of the soft sand. She spotted Brittany and started heading in that direction when she noticed the woman in the orange maillot sitting up and leaning forward. Sean lay behind her and was rubbing somethingâprobably sunscreenâinto the skin of her back. She couldn't bring herself to keep moving and stopped where she stood, wanting to get a better look at Sean's companion.
The woman shifted position, leaning back with her arms outstretched behind her. She looked up and met Dana's gaze, then gasped in shock.
Dana, too, sucked in her breath when she recognized her tenant, Micheline Mehu. Her tawny hair looked darker in its wet state.
Sean, aware of something amiss, sat up to see what had upset Micheline. His eyes grew wide with almost comical speed.
Dana moved in until she stood directly opposite them. “Hello, Sean, Micheline,” she said calmly. “Sean, when you asked me which beach I went to when you brought me home last night, I didn't realize you had an ulterior motive. But it just so happens that my daughter asked me to come to this beach so she could meet up with her friend.” She forced a smile. “Surprise, surprise.
“You'll excuse me now. I have to get my daughter because we're leaving. Oh, and by the way, Micheline,” she added sweetly, “your lease isn't being renewed. Bye-bye now.”
She walked off, savoring their shocked expressions.
Chapter 18
D
ana found Brittany a few yards down the beach from Sean. “Brittany Covington. Didn't I tell you to just say hello and come on? We're waiting for you!”
“Hello, Miss Dana,” Vanessa said politely but reservedly, clearly cowed by Dana's annoyance.
Dana immediately warmed up. “Hello, Vanessa.”
“But Mom,” Brittany said, “Vanessa and her daddy are leaving, too. Mr. Gil is rinsing his shoes out in the water, see?”
Dana turned to see Gil approaching, a black sandal dripping water in each hand. He wore a powder blue undershirt and dark blue trunks. The skin exposed by his barely-there shirt hinted at an impressive physique that hadn't been as noticeable in his suits and ties.
She waved to him, and he raised his chin in acknowledgment.
“We've been out here three hours, and I can't stand this sand anymore,” he said when he reached them. “I told Vanessa that if she wants to swim more she can do it at the pool at the apartment.”
“I know what you mean. We're leaving as well.” She glanced over at the beach entrance. “I have my friend's three daughters with me, and I'm afraid I've left them alone too long. We really have to go, Brittany.”
“Why don't you all come over and swim a while?” Gil suggested. “I'll even feed you. I've got a huge package of hamburger meat.”
“Oh Mom, can we?” Brittany asked, jumping up and down in her eagerness.
Dana hesitated a moment. “Right now, you and I need to get to Josie, Monet, and Gaby.” To Gil she said, “How about we wait for you there and talk about it then?”
“Yes, you'd better make sure your friend's kids are okay. We'll be along in a minute.”
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Dana dove into the pool at Gil Albacete's apartment complex, hoping she wouldn't land flat on her belly. Being around Gil made her conscious of every move she made. He was movie-star handsome.
“Mom!” Brittany called out. “You forgot your bathing cap.”
Dana intentionally hadn't put it on. She'd decided it would be worth washing and rolling her hair tonight if it meant looking good in front of Gil. Surely Irene, with her thick curly hair, had never worn a swim cap, and neither did Vanessa, whose long hair had natural waves in it and didn't need straightening.
The girls were already in the shallow end of the pool. Dana swam toward them in what she hoped were graceful strokes.
“Look, here comes my papa,” Vanessa shouted just as Dana reached the shallow end.
She shifted onto her back in time to see a shirtless Gil dive in from the side of the deep end. Stiff insurance premiums in Northeast Florida had effectively eliminated the presence of diving boards from all public and residential-complex pools. Dana would have loved to see Gil do a perfect jackknife from a board. She had no doubts he could do it. A man who looked as good as he did could do anything.
The group spent about an hour in the water. Surprisingly for such a hot day, only a few other people ventured into the water. Most of the tenants present were there strictly to work on their tans.
Dana, Gil, and the children hooked up with a foursome of adolescent boys who had a ball, and they all played a version of water volleyball.
“Popi, I'm hungry,” Vanessa said after nearly an hour.
“All right, I guess I'll start dinner.”
“I'll help you, Gil,” Dana said quickly. She felt a bit guilty because there were so many in her party. Dana felt Gil's offer was sincere, but she nevertheless felt that the least she could do was help out.
“Come on, girls,” she called. “You can't stay in the water unsupervised.” The apartment pool, like those in all apartments and condos throughout Jacksonville, did not have a lifeguard on duty. She hung back as the girls made their way to the stairs at the shallow end and climbed out one by one.
Once inside Gil's town house, Dana first excused herself and went to the powder room, where she placed a white terry turban on her head to keep it hidden as it dried into what she knew would be a frizzy mess. Upon joining Gil in the kitchen, she insisted on helping with the food preparation.
“You really don't have to,” he replied. “I'm very handy in the kitchen.”
I'll just bet you are, and in the bedroom, too
. Funny. She hadn't thought about Gil in weeks, ever since she'd started seeing Sean. But all of a sudden Sean was out of her life, and here was Gil, looking as luscious as ever.
She knew nothing would ever come of itâfor all she knew Gil was back with Irene, at least unofficiallyâbut her fascination with him bolstered her spirit. It proved that Sean hadn't done any permanent damage to her psyche. Norell and Cécile had been right in predicting he would hurt her. He had, but she knew her heart would heal.
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Micheline got home before Dana did. She and Sean hadn't exactly rushedâafter Dana busted them they'd simply shrugged and gone back to lounging in the sun. She hadn't even bothered to point out to Sean that he'd lied to her and was still seeing Dana. She'd known all along, but she really didn't care, and Sean knew it.
Now she wondered if Dana was stalling coming home because she dreaded facing her. The thought of having such power made her feel heady. Hell, this was Dana's house.
She
certainly wouldn't let a tenant make her avoid her own home. If that had been her, she would have gone straight home and asked the renter when she would be vacating.
Micheline decided that she needed to contact Cécile and give her a carefully edited version of what happened. After all, Dana was her friend, and she'd probably go crying to Cécile about what a monster her sister was. She might be over there spilling her guts already.
Nah
. Micheline decided that Dana would be too hurt to confide in anyone right now. She'd want to wait a day or two, run it over in her mind, try to figure out what she'd done wrong. Of course, she'd done nothing wrong. Sean was a typical man with typical lack of willpower when it came to women. That's what she'd counted on.
She'd go see Cécile tomorrow, call from work and suggest they meet for lunch. Cécile would be so surprised.
And when they met she'd get the
real
surprise.
One thing for sure, Micheline thought. She'd better hurry up and find a new place to live. Dana had all but told her to get out. She'd contact the manager of those apartments she'd really liked and arrange to move in as soon as possible. No big deal. She'd already decided to move there anyway. She wanted to have a Plan B in place for living arrangements, since she'd been playing with fire over the last few weeks and never knew when a burn might occur.
Micheline could still see Sean's shocked expression that night they met when she gave him her address. “That might be a little awkward,” he'd said. “I ... used to date the woman who owns that house.”
“Dana?” she'd said, feigning surprise.
“Yes. I met her when she put her husband's car up for sale after he died. I wouldn't want to run into her. It would be embarrassing for both of us.”
“I understand, Sean, but if you want to take me out, you have to pick me up.”
They compromised in that Sean did come to pick her up, but he parked in front of the house next door. Micheline noticed he never turned on his headlights until they had driven past Dana's house.
Micheline knew Sean had lied when he indicated his affair with Dana was in the past. And she knew that Dana's special date at the Omni Hotel had been with Sean. It was probably the first sex she'd had since her husband died a year before. No wonder she'd been so excited.
Micheline had kept tabs on Sean that night at Wild Wednesday. She'd seen him talking to Dana, and she was outside having a cigarette when Sean escorted Dana, Cécile, and a whipped-looking Norell to their cars. He didn't approach Micheline until he returned, spending an hour or so with her and making a date for that Friday night before she left. She'd figured out that he'd chosen that night because he'd already reserved Saturday for Dana.
Micheline hadn't liked being relegated to second-best night of the week. After that first date she'd insisted they go out on Saturday. But she moved their next date to Friday when Yolanda held a dinner party Saturday evening and introduced her to Errol Trent, her husband's friend who was also a dentist. When Dana asked for advice on what to wear to her special date, Micheline knew Sean had taken advantage of her absence and reserved a room to spend with Dana at the Omni. She'd say that much for him, he was a resourceful son-of-a-gun.
She hummed a few bars of a favorite tune. Everything would work out fine. She'd get settled in her apartment and have no dating restrictions whatsoever. Originally she preferred the Beaches area, but recent hurricane activity made her decide against living too close to the ocean. She settled for a one-bedroom loft in a brand-new complex in the southeast section of town. Besides the loft bedroom, her apartment came equipped with a stacked washer and dryer. She could be at the beach in twenty minutes, the airport in twenty-five, and downtown to work in fifteen. Micheline didn't relish moving her furniture from a storage unit into an apartment. She didn't want to ask Errol to help her; they'd just met, and it was way too soon to start asking for favors. She could probably get Sean to help her. After all, it was his fault that she had to move. And it would be one more opportunity to rub Dana's nose in their affair.
Not that she disliked Dana. She just found it annoying that Sean had talked to her first. They'd sat together at the same table for a good half hourâshe'd spotted him looking her way and waited expectantly for him to make his move on her, but he picked Dana first. Then after Dana left he came to her like she was some kind of afterthought. How dare he?
Who was Dana, anyway? Just one of Cécile's dull housewife friends. Cécile talked about her friends all the time, but the only one that looked like she was the least bit interesting was Norell, and now Micheline knew that even she wasn't anything special. What kind of pathetic woman couldn't get pregnant?
The faint sound of a motor prompted Micheline to take a discreet look out her window. She saw the moonroof of Dana's Camry closing. So she had finally come home.
Micheline glanced at her watch. She'd wait ten minutes, then go over and tell Dana she'd be moving out.
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When Dana heard the knock on the backdoor she knew it was Micheline. Her neck and shoulders immediately tensed. She wasn't interested in hearing any apologies. All she wanted to know was when Micheline planned to move out. The girl had made a fool of her. The way she reacted when she saw Dana proved it. If Micheline hadn't known about Sean she would have smiled and said a friendly hello, not given her that guilty look like the kid caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar.
Now she knew how Sean had been spending those Saturday nights he said wouldn't work for him, asking instead to see her on Friday except for the last two weeks, when he'd gotten her into bed. Now Dana wished she'd listened to Cécile. Micheline Mehu was bad news, nothing but trouble.
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Cécile sat at her kitchen table, staring open mouthed at her sister. “Are you sure you're talking about the same man? The same Sean who drives a white Eclipse?”
“Yes,” Micheline replied, sounding distressed. “Can you believe the gall? He knew I lived on Dana's property, but he asked me out anyway.”
“Are you sure you didn't know he was dating Dana, Michie?”
Micheline bristled. “Of course I didn't know. Like I told you, he said he
used
to date her but it was all over. Why would you even ask me if I knew, Cécile?”
“Oh, maybe just to prove to yourself that you're the cutest thing around. Sometimes people build up their egos by tearing other people's egos down. Or maybe you're annoyed at me for asking you not to do anything that would hurt my friend.”
“Listen, I'm just trying to give you a heads-up, keep you informed about what's happening. And I wanted you to hear it from me. Heaven only knows what Dana will tell you.”
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The moment Micheline was gone, leaving another broken heart behind her, Cécile picked up her cordless and dialed Dana's number. “I'm so sorry,” she said without preamble when Dana answered.
Dana made a lame attempt at a chuckle. “I gather you talked to Micheline.”
“Yes, she came over to have lunch with me.” Cecile paused. “I don't know what else to say, Dana. I'm so embarrassed by my sister's behavior. She says Sean told her you and he had had an affair that was in the past.”
“Hmph. That would explain why she looked so shocked to see me at the beach. I thought that meant she knew Sean was dating me, too. Maybe I was too harsh on her, Cécile. I told her she had to get out.”