The Almost Wives Club: Kate by Nancy Warren Read Free Book Online Page B

Monday morning.”
    “My next call,” Kate said, suppressing a groan.
    Allison Timberlake was a wonderful woman. A charitable and tireless workhorse. She was also humorless and so politically correct that Kate kept her sentences short and factual to avoid one of Allison’s tiresome lectures.
    Even though she worked as hard as anyone, she knew that Allison looked down at her for marrying into ‘the establishment’. Also, for wearing lipstick.
    She called Allison’s work number and even though it was a Saturday, the woman picked up immediately.
    “Allison, it’s Kate.”
    “Why, hello Kate. Congratulations. I just heard the good news. Our funding’s in place for another year. Sending individual letters to every board member was a brilliant idea.”
    Kate let out a sigh of relief as one chunk of stress fell off her shoulders. “I’m so glad to hear it. I was hoping. But I’ve also got other grant proposals ready to go and some ideas for fundraisers. But I wanted to ask you a favor.”
    “Yes? What is it?”
    “I’m wondering if I could take my holidays now, instead of in three weeks as I’d planned.”
    There was a beat of silence and she felt the stress start climbing back up her spine.
    “Look, Kate, I’m glad you’ve called. I was going to talk to you next week anyway. You know better than anyone how tight our budget is. I don’t think we can afford a full-time fundraiser.”
    What?
“But you just complimented me on my work.”
    “Oh, please don’t misunderstand me. You do excellent work. Outstanding. But with your upcoming marriage, you obviously won’t need the modest salary we’ve been paying you. I’m very much hoping you’ll consider continuing your work as a volunteer. Naturally, you wouldn’t need to come to the office and put in long hours, but you could be so valuable in promoting our work to your husband’s colleagues and your social friends. Particularly the wives.”
    “Allison? Are you firing me?”
    “No. Of course not. We’re eliminating your position.”
    Kind of the same thing from where she stood.
     ***
    Kate spent a lot of time walking beaches. She stopped whenever she felt like it, drank coffee, browsed surf stores and junky tourist places. And then she’d get back in her car and make her way generally south. Mexico seemed complicated. She didn’t speak Spanish and she didn’t feel like anything complicated. San Diego was too busy. She felt so raw it was like her skin had been stripped off. She couldn’t handle busy. She wanted a quiet place near the ocean where she could walk on the beach, listen to the waves soothe her. Where she could think. Heal.
    In twenty-four hours she’d broken her engagement and lost her job. She figured she was allowed to wallow.
    When she pulled into Carlsbad late that afternoon, she knew she’d found her place.
    The beauty of Carlsbad was that it was only an hour and a half from LA. They’d never in a million years think she’d end up there. It was too close. But no one she knew lived in or visited the seaside resort town which made it the perfect hiding place. She hoped that by the time the Carnarvons and their hired detectives discovered she wasn’t in London, Sydney, Las Vegas, New York or Miami, she’d have a better idea of what she wanted to do.
    Ever since she ended her call with Lissa she’d felt that sense of power and freedom she’d experienced in that decrepit phone booth. She wouldn’t think about losing her job, not now. She’d find another job. For now, she could take a vacation for as long as her money lasted.
    Ted and his family wanted a virtuous wife so badly they’d tested her. The best and most permanent way she could think of to make them understand that she would not be marrying Ted, not now and not ever, would be to act as unvirtuous as possible.
    Kate, who had spent every one of her twenty-eight years as a good girl, was going to be a badass.
    Carlsbad might not be the bad girl haven, but she figured a woman