Good Intentions by Joy Fielding Read Free Book Online Page A

and his overgrown, teddy-bear body, and now she was thinking about these things again, all these things she didn’t want to think about.
    “So, you still haven’t told me,” Renee Bower was saying, and Lynn realized her lawyer had reentered theroom, “why on earth you’d want to see Marc Cameron again.”
    “I’m curious,” Lynn heard herself say, the same word Marc had used the night before.
    “About what? About how far you can go to really mess up your life?”
    Lynn said nothing for several seconds, staring down into the deep rose color of her pleated skirt. “About his wife,” she said softly. “I guess if I’m being honest, I’d have to admit that I’m as curious about her as Marc Cameron was about me.”
    “And you think he’ll tell you what you want to know?”
    “I think he’s eager to.”
    “Why?”
    “I don’t know. To get it off his chest maybe.”
    “No, not why does
he
want to talk about
her
, why do
you
want to know?”
    “Wouldn’t you?”
    Lynn saw a look of indecision flicker across Renee’s soft brown eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe. I don’t think so. No,” Renee pronounced finally. “What good would it do?”
    Lynn shrugged. “It might clear up some things for me.”
    “More likely it’ll just confuse the hell out of you. What else? You’re not telling me everything.”
    Lynn looked around the room, pretending to study the delicate painting of two ballerinas to the left of Renee’s head. “I find him very attractive,” she said finally, in a voice so soft it was barely audible.
    Renee lowered her hands into her lap and sat back in her chair. “Finally,” she said, “a reason that makes sense.”
    Lynn’s eyes shot directly to those of her attorney.
    “What exactly happened last night, Lynn?” Renee asked carefully.
    “Nothing,” Lynn told her quickly. “Honestly. Absolutely nothing. But there was this … chemistry, if you will …”
    “You won’t.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “You won’t,” Renee repeated. “This chemistry. You won’t start … experimenting.”
    “Isn’t that what chemistry’s for?” Lynn tried to smile but she could see how serious Renee was. “Why not? What would be so wrong?”
    “What would be right? For God’s sake, Lynn, you know what would be wrong or you wouldn’t be here. You don’t need my permission to have an affair. You’re a big girl. You came here, you called me at home—
twice
, I might add—because you know that getting involved with this man would be a big mistake and you wanted confirmation. So I’m giving it to you, and it’s costing you over two hundred dollars an hour to get it, so here it is again, as clear as I can say it: don’t go out with this man; don’t sleep with him; don’t talk to him; don’t even think about him.”
    “I still don’t understand why I shouldn’t …”
    “Because he’s the husband of the woman your husband ran off with. That’s just for starters. On a more practical note, think of the effect it might have on your children. Think about the fact that this is a small town and people will talk, especially about something as juicy as this, so you better think about your professional reputation and your career. But mostly think about your settlement, which is a good one and which you could blow right through the roof if you do something to makeGary really angry before we get it signed, sealed, and delivered.”
    “Why would my seeing Marc make Gary angry?”
    “Think about it, Lynn. Take a few days—a few months—and think about it. The territorial imperative, or whatever it’s called. If the situations were reversed, how do you think you’d feel? At the very least, Gary might suspect your motives. And he’d be right.” Lynn opened her mouth to object, but Renee ignored her. “Lynn, Marc Cameron is hurt. He’s confused. Frankly, he sounds like a kook. What man in his position actually picks up a phone and calls the wife of the man his wife ran off