Good Intentions by Joy Fielding Read Free Book Online Page B

with?
Why
does he want to see you again? Think about it. He’s been screwed. And what better fantasy fulfillment than to get back at the man who screwed him by quite literally screwing that man’s wife? Lynn,” she said, lowering her voice and taking a deep breath, “he’s a very angry man. He may not even realize on a conscious level what he’s doing. He may not be deliberately setting out to hurt you, but what difference does it make if he hurts you nonetheless? Do you need this?”
    “You don’t think that there’s an outside chance that Marc … that this man just finds me attractive?”
    “I think there’s
every
chance that he finds you attractive. Why wouldn’t he? You’re a lovely, bright woman, and he’d have to be blind not to find you attractive. But, Lynn,
you
don’t really have anything to do with this.” Renee pushed her chair back, then walked around to Lynn’s side of the desk. Lynn thought in that moment how pretty her lawyer would be if only she’d lose a few pounds. “Lynn,” Renee began, not allowing Lynn’s eyes to wander from her own, “one day you’llmeet a man who will find you attractive for all the right reasons. But not this one.” Renee Bower carefully studied her client’s clear gray eyes. “You’re not going to listen to me, are you?” There was an equal mixture of incredulity and resignation in Renee’s voice.
    “I don’t know,” Lynn replied honestly after a silence.
    “Can you at least wait to see him again until after we get the separation agreement signed?”
    “I’ll try.”
    “Try hard.” Renee paused and Lynn realized that she wasn’t quite off the hook yet.
    “What?” Lynn asked.
    “I think you should talk to someone.”
    “Someone? What do you mean?”
    “Someone professional.”
    “I am talking to someone professional. I’m talking to you.”
    “To a psychiatrist,” Renee said plainly. “And don’t tell me I’m overreacting,” she continued, just as Lynn was about to. “Lynn, you’ve handled this whole divorce thing up to now very well, maybe even too well. There are a lot of pent-up emotions in you. What harm could it do to talk everything over with someone?”
    “Your husband needs the business, does he?”
    “My concern at the moment is not with Philip. He’s doing very well, thank you. How about someone in your own office?”
    “Don’t you have to get to the airport?” Lynn asked, then checked her watch. Renee Bower did the same, understanding the subject was closed.
    “Jesus, yes, I better run.” She didn’t move.
    “Is something wrong?”Renee threw her hands up in the air. “What the hell. You don’t have the corner on craziness. My sister tried to kill herself last night.”
    “What? Oh my God!”
    “Yes, that’s what I said.” For several moments, Renee stood absolutely still. “Kathryn always did know how to get my attention.”

FOUR
    R enee studied the disembarking passengers as they pushed through the swinging doors into the arrival area at the Fort Lauderdale airport, wondering if Kathryn would be among them. The woman who called last night—Renee still couldn’t remember her name—had promised to drive Kathryn to the airport and make sure she got on the plane, but what could she have done had Kathryn simply refused to go?
    Renee followed the slow gait of a middle-aged man as he greeted his anxious-looking wife with a distracted hug, and found herself smiling as a teenage girl flew into the arms of her eager grandparents. Renee liked watching people, guessing the nature of their relationships. She projected that the distracted middle-aged man was returning from a convention in New York, to which he’d also brought his girlfriend, the woman who had marched through the swinging doors just ahead of him and never once bothered to look back. Now the man was smiling wanly at his wife who was peppering him with questions about his trip, as eager as her husband to maintain the charade of their marriage. Renee