Chapter Ten

   Another month passed and Lydia was blissfully happy—with the exception of one thing. Or one person . . . Chris. The other woman had indeed changed her methods and was attempting to embody the catch more flies with honey than with vinegar approach. She’d had her lawyer withdraw her papers seeking sole custody of Casey and was doing everything possible to get into Jake’s good graces. And dammit, Jake was oblivious to her latest tactics. Lydia was sitting at one of the picnic tables that were placed around Danvers headquarters for its employees, having lunch with Crystal. It was so nice outside today that they’d picked up some sandwiches and brought them here to eat away from the hustle and bustle of the midday crowd. Mia had to take a last-minute support call but planned to join them soon. “So how’s life with Mr. Big treating you?” Lydia joked as she took a drink of her tea. She still thought of the character from Sex in the City whenever she saw Mark, and she didn’t think that would ever change. She wasn’t attracted to him at all in that way, but she could certainly appreciate the appeal of a rich and powerful man who was hot to boot.

   “Mark is amazing,” Crystal replied softly. “We just mesh so well.” Lowering her voice, she added, “Our sex life always surprises me. After a few months, I would have expected that I’d know it all, but he’s so—creative. Plus, he wants me all the time. Like even right after we’ve done it. Sometimes, we go again.”

   Lydia smiled at the incredulous tone of her friend’s voice. Funnily enough, she could easily relate to what she was saying because Jake was the same way. He could and did spend hours touching every inch of her skin before going for round two. She found herself in a constant state of sexual awareness where he was concerned. Her body was so attuned to him that it was almost scary. One look or touch and her clit was throbbing and her panties wet. “I’m guessing you aren’t complaining about his libido.” Lydia giggled as Crystal blushed.

   “Not in the least,” Crystal agreed before adding, “but we both certainly had a buzz kill last night. We had our parents over for dinner.”

   “Yikes.” Lydia cringed. She knew from Crystal how overbearing her mother was. Crystal had also told her about the struggles Mark’s father had with addiction. She couldn’t imagine it was a relaxing evening.

   Shaking her head, Crystal said, “It was painful. Mark’s parents were actually enjoyable. They’re doing really well, and his dad is still hanging in there with his sobriety. My mother was a different story. She’s tried to be better lately, but sometimes, that’s met with varying degrees of success. Last night was not one of her better efforts. She kept referring to Mark as slick. As in, ‘How much did this house set you back, slick?’ Mark is really patient with her and doesn’t appear to get offended, but it’s embarrassing to me. It would be like some one-woman comedy show if most of her humor wasn’t so insulting.”

   “I swear, doesn’t anyone observe the lunch hour anymore?” called out a disgruntled voice from somewhere nearby. Both Lydia and Crystal swung around to see Mia stalking toward them. “The install my team did at Beach Villas last week went flawlessly. Trust me; you know how OCD I am that everything is in order. But their manager is driving me nuts! She is calling, like, ten times a day. ‘I don’t think my dial tone is working correctly.’ Or, ‘When I hit the button for the speakerphone, everyone in the room can hear my conversation.’ Geez, of course they can. That’s what a speaker does!” Lydia was dying laughing, and Crystal was holding her sides as their friend continued to give them crazy examples of the calls that she had been getting. “I’m telling you. There isn’t enough support to help her out.”

   “But you’re going over there after lunch, aren’t you?” Lydia guessed. Regardless of how much Mia might complain, she’d never leave a customer hanging, no matter how silly the issue. It wasn’t in her DNA to be anything less than perfect where her job was concerned.

   Putting her hands on her hips, Mia glared before slumping down onto the bench beside Crystal. “Dammit, you know I am. If nothing else, this is a challenge to my skill in training customers and my patience at not choking a pain in the ass.” Taking the sandwich Lydia passed over, she asked, “What’d I miss? If you tell me it was the sex talk part, I’m going over there to stand in the street.”

   Crystal bumped shoulders with Mia as she said, “I was just filling Lydia in on my latest mother drama. I told you about it when you dropped by this morning. So you didn’t miss anything.”

   Mia shook her head as she took a bite of her sandwich. “I’m sorry, Crys, but I swear your mother is a raving bitch most of the time. I don’t know how you can still manage to spend time with her. And Mark must love you more than you imagined to tolerate her as well.” In what sounded like some kind of demented town hall meeting, Mia asked, “Does anyone have anything else besides Psycho Sandy that they need to discuss?”

   Lydia raised her hand and muttered, “Well, I have Homewrecker Chris if you’d like some variety. She’s also the guest you never wanted to invite, but don’t know how to get rid of.”

   Grimacing, Mia asked, “The baby mama? I thought she had gone all nice now. Is she back to her witchy ways again?”

   “Oh no,” Lydia said wryly, “she’s still sweet as sugar, especially where Jake is concerned.”

   “But things are really good between you and Jake, right?” Crystal asked, looking confused.

   “We’re great.” Lydia nodded. “But I know that Chris is up to something. She’s all gushing and accommodating to Jake, but I’ve caught the looks she gives me when she doesn’t think that anyone notices.”

   “You think she’s playing him,” Mia guessed. “I swear men are so gullible where a conniving woman is concerned. It’s like they want to believe that the female sex is sweet and pure and can’t process it when that’s not the case.”

   “That pretty much sums it up,” Lydia confirmed. “I know she thinks if she continues to be nice, then he’ll relax his guard further and she’ll be in. She isn’t above using Casey to accomplish that goal either, which sucks.”