Microsoft Word - Beverly Barton - As Good As Dead by Elisa Jingco

Author:Elisa Jingco
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2012-01-17T20:55:30+00:00

CHAPTER 16

Reba met Dodd at an out-of-the-way restaurant in Sevier-ville, hoping they would go unnoticed in the rush of tourists who flocked to the mountains in October, filling hotels, motels and restaurants to capacity. While sitting in her car, waiting for Dodd to arrive, she'd watched the flow of customers arriving and leaving and had felt terribly conspicuous even though no one paid any attention to her. By the time Dodd arrived, exactly at seven-thirty, she was a nervous wreck. How on earth had Jim been able to handle all his affairs, all those clandestine meetings with one mistress after another, not to mention the numerous one-night stands he'd probably had over the years? The answer, of course, was crystal clear. Jim hadn't been burdened by enormous feelings of guilt, while she, on the other hand had a conscience that bothered her greatly. After all, she was a married woman doing the one thing that she had condemned her husband for doing repeatedly during their long, unhappy marriage.

Dodd reached across the table and clasped Reba's hand. Her first instinct was to jerk away from him. After all, they were in a public place. But their booth was at the back of the large restaurant, and no one was particularly interested in an old couple they probably assumed had been married to each other for ages.

"What's wrong?" Dodd asked. "You're a million miles away."

She looked at him and smiled. Such a dear man. Gentle and kind. And loving in a way Jim had never been. When Dodd merely held her hand, as he was doing now, and gazed tenderly into her eyes, she felt his love for her. In the early years of their marriage, Jim had been an attentive lover and the sex had been quite good. Incredibly good. But all that had changed when Jim, Jr., and Melanie were preschoolers and she had learned about Jim's affair with his then secretary, a woman whose name Reba couldn't even remember now. That woman had simply been the first in a long line of women who had paraded in and out of Jim's life. After that first incident, every time Jim touched her, Reba had cringed, but she'd done her wifely duty and submitted to her husband's sexual needs. But in time, he'd come to her less and less until finally she had requested that they no longer share the same bed. He had protested at first, but eventually he'd moved into a different room. And not once had they ever discussed that decision or the reason that had prompted it.

"Reba!" Dodd called her name loud enough to gain her full attention.

"Oh, Dodd, I'm sorry. My mind really is wandering."

"What's the problem? Is there something I can do to help?"

She squeezed his hand, then eased her hand away and slipped it back into her lap. "Caleb brought Jasmine and Ms. Sorrell to Sunday dinner yesterday." Caleb marrying Jasmine Talbot was a problem, but it wasn't what she'd been thinking about. How

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