Doublecrossed by Susan X Meagher Read Free Book Online

on!” Marina leapt to her feet, her face showing her outrage. “I won’t interfere.”
    “I don’t think that’s a promise you can keep. I won’t sound natural if you’re listening to me, and I think it’s important that I try to make some form of connection with this woman. She won’t listen to me if it sounds like I’m reading a list of talking points.”
    Marina stood there for a moment, looking like she’d explode. But her eyes darted around the room for a few moments, her intelligence showing in their depths. “I’m not happy,” she said, “but I’ll walk around the block. Just promise to call me the second you hang up.”
    “I will. Now get going so I can concentrate.” That had felt good. She had to take charge more often. Marina could rule the bedroom, but she had to push back in the rest of their lives. Maybe there was a glimmer of hope that she could make lemonade out of these lemons. She waited until the front door opened and closed, then she dialed the number. On the third ring a pleasant, business-like voice answered, “Scituate Inn.”
    “Hi, I’m looking for Regan Manning.”
    “Yes?”
    “This is Callie Emerson, Marina Bolton’s girlfriend. I think Angela mentioned I was going to call?”
    There was long silence on the other end, then Callie heard a door close. “Yeah. Hi. This is Regan.”
    Callie cringed a little when she heard her pronounce her name. She pronounced it with a long e. Ree-gan, rather than Ray-gun, as Callie had said it. “Is this a good time to talk?”
    “It’s not bad. I’m at work, but there aren’t many people here this morning. I should have some privacy.”
    “Just let me know if you need to go and I can call you back at a better time.”
    “I will.”
    Now that Callie had the floor she felt tongue-tied. “How’ve you been?”
    After another pause, Regan said, “I’ve been better. This is the first time anyone’s cheated on me.”
    “That you know of.” Callie was amazed that sentence had come out of her mouth. A lot of people believed monogamy was possible, and it didn’t seem right to throw reality into their faces.
    Regan seemed to share the sentiment. Her voice turned very frosty. “If it happened before I never learned about it.”
    “That was a stupid thing for me to say. I guess my cynicism about people comes through sometimes.”
    “I’m not very cynical, and I don’t want to be. I need to trust my friends and lovers, and when I can’t trust them anymore I don’t forgive easily…if at all.”
    Callie laughed softly. “I used to be like that myself, but I changed. Now I tend to assume that people will screw up, and I’m more likely to forgive them.”
    “I don’t really want to change, thank you.”
    Callie could hear Regan shuffling papers or moving something around, and was fairly sure she was losing her. She found herself revealing more than she’d planned. Her voice was soft and thoughtful when she said, “I didn’t plan on changing, but…over time I realized that most people can’t be monogamous. It just made sense to change the rules. If you can’t beat ’em…”
    It was Regan’s turn to talk but there was nothing but silence.. Finally, Regan said, “So you assume your girlfriend will cheat and it’s not an issue if she does?”
    “No, it’s not like that. Marina and I worked out a way to have some freedom. We’re lovers. Partners. The other stuff is just sex.” She was surprised to hear herself call Marina her partner. That was a term she never used. Were they partners? That sounded awfully—permanent.
    Regan’s voice was as cold as ice. Each word was crisply enunciated and cut short. “Angela and I don’t have an agreement. I’m not interested in that kind of agreement. I’m interested in being with someone who makes a promise and keeps it.”
    Callie started to talk just as Regan made some of those “I’m finished” kinds of noises. Undaunted, Callie continued, “If that works for both of you,