Memories of Santorini, page 4
Surely there’d been an attraction, but what counted were actions.
“I understand completely. You don’t owe me anything.” Though Donald did for the terrible way he’d treated her for so many years. But she knew instinctively this girl was innocent. She was a young thirty, sweet, and Angela mourned the death of her innocence when she found out what Donald was really like.
She urged the girl on. “But that isn’t what you came here to tell me.”
Bron shook her head, her silky blonde hair caressing her perfect cheekbones. “I don’t want there to be any animosity or for you to think I have an ulterior motive.”
Everyone had an ulterior motive. It didn’t make Bron a bad person. “No worries. I don’t have even a scintilla of animosity.” She smiled reassuringly.
“Thank you. And I want you to know that I really, really like your daughter.”
Angela barely restrained her eyebrow from rising. What did Sienna have to do with anything?
“I know there’s a huge age gap between Donald and me, and I feel like Sienna’s a sister.”
That meant Angela was more like this girl’s mother. She’d been twenty-three when Sienna was born. “I’m glad. She works so hard, and she can always use more friends.” Someone who could help her see that work wasn’t the only thing in life.
“Well, then, I…” Bron was stammering again. “You can see why I’d like to have her in my wedding.”
“Sienna told me you’d asked her to be a bridesmaid. It’s kind of you to include her.”
“So I’m asking your permission,” Bron said. “It’s not meant as a slam against you.”
Angela interrupted so the girl didn’t have to keep apologizing, “It’s a wonderful idea.”
Bron didn’t seem to hear her. “Sienna and I would’ve been friends even if I’d never fallen—” She stopped, looking at Angela as if saying the words aloud terrified her. Then her eyes went wide as she suddenly understood what Angela had said. “You do? Think it’s a good idea, I mean?”
Angela confirmed with a nod, wanting to put the girl at ease. She was a girl, so young, so hopeful. Angela hated the thought of what five years of marriage to Donald would do to her. She wondered if he’d make her get a paternity test for the baby she was protecting in her womb. “Sienna needs friends. I’d love for you to be close to her. Being your bridesmaid doesn’t bother me in the least.”
Bron shook her head as if she was trying to clear it. “Then why did you—” She stopped again.
“Why did I what?”
“Why did you tell Donald you didn’t want Sienna in the wedding?”
It didn’t surprise Angela. It didn’t even raise her blood pressure. “I don’t know why he would’ve told you that. I haven’t talked to him in weeks.”
Bron’s brow furrowed with mystification. “But he said you called, that your feelings were hurt, and you thought Sienna was choosing sides. He said that you could get vindictive if we pissed you off. You could go back to the courts for a better settlement or make trouble about the Atherton house.” She closed her mouth abruptly, realizing she’d said too much.
Angela couldn’t hold back, asking with a sudden hardness, “Did he say this just to you? Or to Sienna as well?”
“To both of us,” the girl whispered. “While we were at the caterers on Friday.” She put a finger to her lips. “Right after I asked Sienna to come to the bridal shop to pick out dresses.”
Donald had found the perfect opening. It didn’t hurt that Sienna was in the wedding. It didn’t hurt that she’d helped choose the wedding menu. But it crushed Angela to realize Sienna had called her almost immediately afterward and turned down the Santorini trip.
She sat straight and stiff. “I didn’t call Donald. I have no problem with Sienna being in the wedding. I have no problem with you marrying Donald. Or having his child.”
She felt sorry for the girl, but there was nothing she could do to save this beautiful, fresh-faced young woman who didn’t deserve what Donald would do to her if she disappointed him. Which she inevitably would.
“I don’t understand,” Bron whispered.
Angela made excuses just as she would have done for Sienna. “Maybe he’s just uncomfortable with what people might say.”
“But you really don’t mind if she’s in the wedding?” Her voice had the pitch of a teenager who needed comfort when the boy she liked asked another girl to the prom.
“I don’t mind at all.”
Donald had told this terrible lie while they were choosing the menu and talking about bridesmaid dresses. But that wasn’t a surprise. He was an asshole.
“I hope it’s not too late to go back to Sienna. You haven’t asked someone else to fill the spot, have you?”
“I wanted to talk to you while Donald—” She cut herself off again.
While Donald was at work and didn’t know what she was doing. Which meant Bron didn’t completely trust him. It also meant she wasn’t working for him anymore, that she was busy getting ready for the baby, the wedding, and fixing up their magnificent Atherton house.
How Angela wished she was that young again, still living with her illusions and her hopes. Before she’d made all her bad decisions.
“You should absolutely have Sienna in your wedding.”
“But what am I going to tell her about you?”
“Just tell her that Donald changed his mind.”
It wouldn’t do any good for Bron to tell Sienna that her father had lied. Sienna wouldn’t believe her. And it certainly wouldn’t solve Angela’s problems with her daughter.
She was the one who’d have to figure out how to fix the damage Donald had done for all these years.
And she’d start right now by paying him a visit.
5
Angela seethed from the moment Bron had, whether by accident or on purpose, revealed Donald’s excuses for why Sienna shouldn’t be in the wedding.
First, it was that Angela’s feelings were hurt. Then it was that she’d think Sienna was choosing sides. She could let all that go. But when he claimed that she’d make the divorce settlement disagreeable, that pushed Angela over the edge. Sienna would assume her mother was a vindictive bitch who would use her own daughter to make Donald pay.
No wonder Sienna had curtly rejected the Santorini vacation. Angela couldn’t abide that Donald was still trying to turn Sienna against her, even after he’d divorced her.
She jumped in her car after Bron’s departure. The woman wasn’t a bad person, quite the opposite. She could be a good friend for Sienna.
But Angela had to deal with Donald. She had no illusions that it would change him, but it would restore some of her power to call him on his dishonesty.
Donald’s anteroom was decorated in muted colors with a sofa, two chairs, and a one-cup coffee machine on a sideboard. His replacement secretary, seated at a desk outside his door, was a battle axe of indeterminate age. After Bron, maybe he thought he needed real protection.
She glanced at the nameplate. Heather. The name was completely incongruous with the woman’s wide shoulders, thick neck, short gray bob, and steely gaze.
But Angela wouldn’t be cowed. “I’m Angela Walker. Please tell Donald I’d like to speak with him.”
“You aren’t on Mr. Walker’s calendar.” Her voice was as thick as the rest of her body and as steely as her eyes.
“That’s because I’m his wife. I don’t need to make an appointment.” She couldn’t quite make her voice as steely as Heather’s.
“He never makes an exception, not even for family.” Heather raised her nose as if she smelled something bad. “And as I recall, you’re the ex-wife, not the current wife.”
Angela smiled at the slam Heather had hoped to deliver. “I am the current wife because he doesn’t have another one yet. He has an ex-secretary who will become his wife in the next few months. I’m sure he’s told you all about me and that I have an axe to grind and that you should never let me in.”
Her little speech surprised a raised eyebrow out of Heather. “He hasn’t told me you have any ax to grind. He hasn’t even told me not to let you in.”
Odd. Maybe it meant that Donald didn’t consider her a threat. Then she spied the pictures on the desk, two families with children, obviously Heather’s grandchildren. “I’m just here to talk about our daughter. Sienna. I’d really like Donald’s advice. I’m worried about her, and he could always handle her better than I could.”
It wasn’t a lie. She was worried about Sienna. And Donald had always gotten on better with her, mainly because he was the master manipulator.
Heather’s demeanor seemed to soften, the corners of her mouth rising slightly.
Angela added, “If he’s not in a meeting, that is. I don’t want to break up anything important. But this is about his daughter.”
Heather picked up the phone as if she’d gone through these same kid problems herself. “Let me check. If he’s not on the phone, I’ll slip you in.”
“I’d be ever so grateful.”
It took several long moments of quiet back-and-forth conversation, but when Heather hung up, she pointed at the door. “He’s only got a very few minutes.” She gave Angela a hopeful look, as if between the two of them, they could solve all Sienna’s problems.
Donald was seated behind his massive desk, two large screens in front of him and a magnificent view of the San Francisco Bay behind him.
He waved her into a chair. “You hate driving into the city. This must be important.”
At fifty-five, he was a handsome man, the gray rapidly taking over his brown hair and adding to his distinguished demeanor, steady, knowledgeable, his suit impeccably tailored, giving the sense that everything was well-toned beneath the bespoke material. Even if it wasn’t.
“It’s about Sienna.” She came to the point. “You lied to her.”
He raised one eyebrow. If his hair had been dark, he would have looked like Spock. Or the devil. “What makes you say that?”
“You told her I didn’t want her in your wedding, that I was afraid she was choosing sides. And that I could be a vindictive bitch who would make things difficult for you, especially about the house you bought while we were still married and didn’t include in the settlement.”
His hazel eyes turned flinty. “I never said you were a vindictive bitch. And the house was purchased in the company’s name, so it wasn’t part of any property settlement.”
“That’s my point. I couldn’t get it from you even if I took you to court. You just told Sienna that to make me look bad.”
He allowed himself the smallest of smiles. Though he didn’t want to appear to be gloating, he was enjoying the fact that she’d come here. “Sienna doesn’t need any more ammunition to think badly of you. She’s had her whole life to do that.”
“All because you’ve been feeding her lies since she was eight years old.”
His eyes gleamed with triumph. He manipulated everyone around him with his lies. Maybe her daughter didn’t recognize it, maybe Bron didn’t either. But Angela knew him so well.
“I didn’t need to tell lies,” he said smoothly. “You simply showed your true colors.”
The only true color she had was in the love she bore her children. The love Donald had torn to pieces. “I want you to let her be in the wedding.”
He held up his hands, spreading his fingers as if he were surrendering to her whims. “It’s Brianna’s decision, not mine. You see, she actually had a thought for your feelings. She only made me bring it up because she didn’t want to sound like the bad guy in front of Sienna.”
He lied so easily, without an insincere line on his face. But if she wanted to call him on this latest lie, she’d have to reveal that Bron had come by to see her. Lacking even an ounce of animosity toward the woman, she couldn’t bring her into the discussion. At least not with the truth. “I’m sure you browbeat her into it.”
He smiled widely, showing little of his teeth. “I don’t have to browbeat her. She knows the right thing to do. Besides, she adores me.”
“How long do you think that’s going to last once she finds out what you’re really like?”
His smile didn’t falter at the insult. “I can’t believe Sienna actually called you about the matter. I know about your lunch with her and how you’re trying to make everything up to her, but she still doesn’t trust you.”
“You’d be surprised who Sienna talks to.”
He laughed softly, snidely. “Ah, so it was dear Teresa.”
“It could be anybody,” she told him. “Our daughter talks, your fiancée talks, their friends talk. You’d be surprised at all the talk.”
“I’d be surprised if your daughter told you anything.” Donald had made very sure of that.
“I want you to put her in the wedding.”
His jaw ticked. “Or what?”
She had nothing she could hold over him. All she said was, “Both Sienna and your fiancée are going to figure out exactly who you are. They’re going to see through your lies and recognize how you manipulate people.”
He stood then, as if he suddenly realized his lies might be traceable. “If you’re considering making trouble, you better think about what you have to lose, my dear ex-wife.”
“I have nothing to lose. You already stole my daughter and my son.”
He wagged a finger. “But you’re hoping for a reconciliation.”
“You’ve made very sure that won’t happen.”
She stood too, slowly, sliding the strap of her handbag up her arm. Calmly, almost serenely, she said, “What if Sienna were to learn that Bron never said anything at all, that you were telling yet another lie?”
“Her name is Brianna, not Bron.” Except that he was the only one who refused to call her by the nickname she preferred, another of his power trips. “And neither of them will ever believe a word you say.”
She turned, saying over her shoulder as she walked away. “Maybe Sienna would.”
“Then I’d have to tell her the truth. That she’s not actually my daughter, but I raised her anyway. Out of the goodness of my heart.”
Angela didn’t falter even a single step.
Teresa was right. She needed to tell Sienna the truth sooner rather than later.
And put an end to Donald’s power over her before he made sure Sienna found out in the worst possible way.
Her job search had fallen apart. Sienna didn’t want to jump ship for something worse. She wanted a smaller but more prestigious firm with the opportunity to move up and make partner, and she didn’t mind proving herself. She was tired of the bureaucracy and the backstabbing in a faceless, unfeeling corporation.
But there was nothing out there right now.
Maybe her weariness was why, when Bron called for lunch on the Wednesday after that terrible tasting party, Sienna signed out of her computer with a punch of her mouse and decided this would be a long lunch. Just because her mother had been cruel about the wedding didn’t mean she would give up her friendship with Bron.
They met at an exclusive café on Market Street, with booths that had seats she could relax into and where the patrons dressed elegantly in business suits and designer clothing.
All except Bron, who hadn’t received the message that the fiancée of the managing partner at Walker and Walker shouldn’t wear leggings and a blowsy shirt that could have come from any department store. But Sienna liked how down to earth Bron was. She hadn’t forgotten her roots in the secretarial pool, and she’d truly fallen for Sienna’s father.
Bron had already ordered a champagne cocktail for her even though Sienna shouldn’t drink at lunch. But what the heck. She lifted her glass. “Here’s to a lovely lunch.” They tapped flutes, Bron’s filled with sparkling apple juice.
The champagne wasn’t the best, but the cocktail was good. Before the baby, Bron stocked the cheapest champagne she could find, hiding it in the back of the pantry in the multimillion-dollar Atherton house. Sienna’s father would have popped all the tops and poured every bottle down the drain if he’d found them, but Bron claimed the cheaper the champagne, the better the champagne cocktail. They’d even taste-tested one evening when Dad was working late. Just as Bron said, the cheap stuff made the better cocktail.
That was another reason she enjoyed Bron. She knew what she liked, and she didn’t care if it was cheap. She even bragged that she’d found this or that adorable outfit at a consignment store or even a thrift shop. “You can’t go looking for something specific,” she always said, “because you’ll never find it. It’s while browsing that you come across incredible deals, some stuff still with the tags on it.”
Sienna had taken a few shopping trips herself and found some amazing buys.
Eventually her father would break Bron’s habits. He couldn’t have his wife appearing in second-hand clothing.
Their starters arrived, Bron having ordered them already, and they told the server to come back once they’d decided on their main course.
“Let me tell you right away why I asked you for lunch.” Bron licked the salt off her fingers after tasting the tempura shrimp.
“You’ve got me intrigued.” Sienna relished a crispy shrimp.
“Here it is. I want you in my wedding. I love all my other girlfriends. But I want you too.”
Sienna felt herself blush. “Thank you. I like you too.” They sounded like they had girl crushes on each other. “But I think my father is pretty set.”
“I’ve talked to him.” Bron snipped the tail off a shrimp, savored the meat, then added, “Don’t get mad, but I went to see your mom.”
Sienna couldn’t get a word out. She was stunned, even a little angry.
“I just wanted your mom to understand that we’re friends, and I want you in my wedding because you’re a special person and not because I wanted to stick it to the ex-wife.” Bron waved her hand. “Not that I said it exactly like that.”
“I wish you hadn’t done that.” Sienna didn’t want the wedding to turn into a big deal and set the tone of their relationship. As always, her mother said one thing to her, then another thing to her father. It had been going on for years, her mom letting Dad be the grunt.
