Trouble Down The Road. Bettye Griffin

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СКАЧАТЬ with numerous pots going on five burners and the oven on as well. The granite countertops were covered with bowls of chopped onion and peppers, spice jars, stoneware, different types of drinking glasses, and cookbooks.

      “Good. Um…Paula, I’m sorry it didn’t work out with Kenya.” Paula had offered to pay Suzanne’s younger sister to help her with the prep work, but Kenya canceled at the last minute, claiming she didn’t feel well.

      “No problem. Everything’s gotten done.”

      Suzanne appreciated Paula’s cheerfulness, but she still felt bad about her sister’s behavior. Kenya would attend the party with her boyfriend in a few hours, showing no signs of illness, and Paula knew it. Sometimes she wondered if anyone was as lazy as her little sister. “Listen, it’s five-thirty. I’m going to go chill with Brad for a while. Holler if you need anything.”

      “Will do.” Paula’s shoulders and hips swayed to the CD she had playing in a small boom box perched on the kitchen counter.

      Suzanne wore a smile as she walked toward the master bedroom. It was pretty funny that she and Paula had become such good friends, considering all the intertwined relationships already in existence. Paula had been previously married to Suzanne’s next-door neighbor Darrell Canfield and was the mother of their daughter, Devon. Darrell was now married to Brad’s first wife, Lisa, and stepfather to Lisa’s daughter with Brad, Paige Betancourt.

      Unlike Suzanne, Paula had no issues with Lisa. Lisa had helped Darrell raise Devon, who was just three months younger than Paige. Paula left Devon in the care of her father and stepmother while she embarked on an ultimately unsuccessful second marriage in Texas. She’d never said much about it, but Suzanne sensed that relations between mother and daughter had been strained ever since.

      Even more ironic than Suzanne’s friendship with Paula was the genuine friendship that formed between Brad and Darrell. It seemed unheard of to Suzanne that two men who’d both been married to the same woman could go out fishing or watch sports on TV together. She wondered if Lisa found it as bizarre as she did.

      Suzanne entered the bedroom to find Brad napping in the down-stuffed chair in their bedroom, his feet resting on the matching ottoman, the television tuned in to an NBA semifinal game. Even in repose he looked dashingly handsome, with streaks of gray mixed in the dark brown hair on his head, as well as in his mustache and neatly trimmed goatee.

      She bent and gently brushed her lips against his cheek. He didn’t stir. She tried again, this time tracing his lips with her tongue.

      His eyes slowly opened. “That you, Suzie Q?” he asked sleepily.

      “It better be,” she replied with feigned indignation.

      “What time is it?”

      “Going on six.”

      “Mmm. I really knocked out.”

      “You don’t have to get up yet,” she said quickly. “Unless you want to move to the bed. You’re going to be fifty in a few hours. I was hoping to get one more chance to make love to you before that happens, just in case you lose it.”

      He pulled her on top of him. “I’ll be just as good at fifty as I am at forty-nine.”

      “Prove it,” she challenged.

      Half an hour later they lay sweaty and satiated in bed. “Well, there’s no doubt that you’ve still got it,” she said. “Now I can’t wait for midnight.”

      “At midnight we’ll have a house full of guests, so you can forget about that. But don’t worry. I’m not ready for Viagra yet.”

      “I’m not worried,” Suzanne said confidently. “I’m going to take a catnap and refresh myself before I start getting ready. And, Brad—”

      “Hmm?” He was already dozing off.

      “I love you,” she whispered, so softly that he couldn’t hear her.

      She truly did.

      And no one—no one—would take him away from her.

      Suzanne frowned as she looked through the peephole. Why did the most boring people always have to be the first to arrive? Even Brad’s family members from out of state, all of whom were staying at the same hotel, hadn’t gotten here yet. Flo and Ernie Hickman must have gotten in their car at the stroke of eight to drive over. And she’d be stuck entertaining them until someone else arrived and freed her. Brad flatly refused to have anything to do with them. He’d had it with Ernie’s endless comments about their possessions, always followed by something along the lines of, “Well, I’ve been looking for one of those myself. Do you mind if I ask how much you paid?”

      The Hickmans lived in Villa St. John, the subdivision around the corner. Suzanne hadn’t seen much of them in the last few years. From Kenya, who dated their son Gregory off and on, she’d learned they’d had some hard times, although they tried hard to mask it. Brad encouraged her to leave well enough alone. Ernie could be awfully crude, and they were both nosy. Suzanne had spent a fair amount of time in Flo’s company before Flo’s spare time suddenly dried up—Suzanne believed she couldn’t afford to hang with her anymore. Suzanne had enjoyed Flo’s open admiration of their home, furnishings, and cars, and she also found Flo’s attempts to keep up with them amusing. The Hickmans didn’t want to keep up with the Joneses, they believed they were the Joneses and everyone had to scramble to keep up with them.

      Because of Brad’s feelings and the Hickmans’ annoying ways, Suzanne had considered not even inviting them, but in the end didn’t see how she could make the exclusion. She’d invited friends of Lisa and Darrell’s who also lived in Villa St. John, couples whom they saw whenever the Canfields entertained. She hadn’t wanted to invite them—both the women were friends of Lisa’s, and Suzanne suspected they talked about her behind her back—but Brad asked her to and she had no choice. It wouldn’t be right to invite them and not the Hickmans. Then there was Kenya’s relationship with Gregory Hickman to consider as well—hardly a boyfriend / girlfriend setup, but a relationship all the same. The sporadic nature of their dating pattern suggested Gregory simply did not share Kenya’s devotion, and Suzanne knew from her mother that they were on the outs again. Kenya hadn’t even gone to Gregory’s recent graduation ceremony from the University of North Florida, but Suzanne felt that regardless, her sister would probably invite him to be her date.

      Actually, Suzanne hoped she would, and that he would accept. Brad’s daughter Paige, as well as Paige’s stepsister and best friend Devon Canfield, were coming tonight. Both girls had crushes on Gregory when they were teenagers. Suzanne and her mother had both been thrilled when Gregory chose her sister over the other two.

      The thought of both girls, now completing their junior year, showing up dateless while Kenya had Gregory at her side brought an unabashed smile to Suzanne’s face.

      “Ernie, Flo, how nice to see you,” she said graciously. “It’s been much too long.” She gave herself credit for mastering the art of bullshit. Ernie looked fine in a high-collared light gray shirt and dark gray suit, but Flo looked like she was ready for New Year’s Eve in a gold sequined dress with a scoop neckline in both the front and back. She must have been wearing every piece of jewelry she owned, including a huge pair of gold earrings that had to be clip-ons; if they were pierced, her earlobes would be sagging like the jowls of a centenarian.

      Flo glanced around at the empty family room and the large patio СКАЧАТЬ