On The Dotted Line by Kim Carmichael

Author:Kim Carmichael [Carmichael, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Irksome Rebel Press
Published: 2015-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

* * * *

Everyone held secrets. Everyone. Randolph learned that fact when he was a young child. No one was immune to hiding information when they felt they had no other alternative. Sometimes the information remained hidden, but many times, probably more often than not, it was uncovered.

When caught in one of these unfortunate situations, the best course of action was to address the situation in a calm, cool manner. Lucky for his wife, she was married to one of the best negotiators around, if he did say so himself.

He corralled Jade and Slate into the library, shut the door and put their gifts on one of the shelves.

“Well, we thought you were just sleeping with her.” Slate laughed.

“I thought she was my friend. We had a connection.” Jade hid her face in her hands.

“She is your friend.” He lifted his hand and paced back and forth across the floor, buying himself a moment to catch his thoughts. All night Willow tried to be the perfect wife, and he needed to help her. At last he stopped and faced them. “With knowing what you know, she was concerned you would think less of her. Please forgive her.”

Slate patted his girl. “We were shocked when the invitation was delivered. Actually it was delivered to me. Jade was my plus one.”

“You don’t understand.” Jade kept her head down.

No, he would never understand women’s relationships. He likened it to some sort of mystery like the pyramids. He tried to bend down to look her in the eye. Jade’s friendship was exceptionally important to his wife. “For what it’s worth, she adores you.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose we have to talk.”

Jade went out of her way to help Willow and deserved to hear from her, but he didn’t think his wife could handle anything more. “Maybe it can wait until after the holidays?”

She paused, but finally spoke. “It’s fine. I just thought we were part of her life. I don’t know if it will ever be the same.”

Though he wanted to get the situation tied up with a nice bow for Willow, he could only force the issue to a certain degree. “Listen, why don’t you go enjoy the party?”

Slate nodded and took Jade’s hand. “Come on baby, you wouldn’t let me eat anything, and you always said you wanted to see Randolph’s home.”

“Even dressed like this?” She lifted her head.

“Especially dressed like that,” Randolph raised his eyebrows.

His friends made their way toward the door. With the scant bit he knew about fashion, he predicted the women here would be wearing knock offs next week.

“Wait.” He hated the next words he had to say.

They turned toward him.

“You know the circumstance with our wedding isn’t the usual case.” He took a breath. “It goes without saying…” Even though he trusted these people, he needed to remind them of the most important detail.

“I think Jade’s dress and our gifts said it all. Give us some credit.” Slate held out his hand.

He shook Slate’s hand and smiled at Jade.

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