The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank Read Free Book Online

to go see the ex-wives, go to girly movies, shop, be with our granddaughter . . . she has her own interests. I have mine. And I do take her out to the club every weekend and as I told you last week, we go to Vegas at least once a year. Some years we go to the Bahamas. You know, just to mix things up.”
    â€œDoes she like to go to Las Vegas?”
    â€œI don’t know. Of course she does, right? Why wouldn’t she?”
    Dr. Jane Saunders, the Ice Queen of Atlanta, just stared at me like I spoke Turd instead of English. What was she trying to tell me?
    â€œI think we’re ready for a joint session, Wes.”
    â€œFine with me,” I said.
    Frankly, I couldn’t see an inch of progress. I’d pay for one more session and after that? I was already losing interest in this whole charade anyway.

CHAPTER 5
    Les—Atlanta, April 2012
    A ll our lives began to unravel last December 31, when Harold sheepishly announced he was leaving Danette at the overcrowded New Year’s Eve party at the Piedmont Driving Club, that venerable institution of stone and timber with the most majestic ballroom in town. Lately it was becoming the stage for too many life-changing events. It wasn’t the first time that Danette suspected Harold was having an affair with someone, I think, but she had absolutely no idea this one was so serious. They were both a little drunk. Maybe we all were. Well, maybe just slightly tipsy. It was late; we’d been at the club since eight, drinking champagne and wearing silly feathered tiaras with our gowns, and the boys in their tuxedos wore glittered top hats. As we did every New Year’s Eve we made ridiculous resolutions that no one would keep, and quietly we all wondered what the coming year would hold, each of us praying for our own private miracles. Good health. Better health. A marriage for this child, a good job for another. This hopefulness was something hardwired into our psyches, that a new year might mean some monumental something wonderful could happen to bring us happiness at a level we had never known. A new year was a chance to start over. Maybe even, just maybe, there would be peace on earth for one entire day.
    The orchestra played and we danced and danced, but Lord save me, I couldn’t wait until the clock struck twelve so that I could go home at twelve fifteen and take off my heels. Those black satin pumps that I thought made my legs look so good turned out to be individual torture chambers. My throbbing feet were my priority, and then suddenly I was blindsided. What happened next was the last thing in the world I ever expected.
    It was around eleven forty-five. We were sitting with six other members we barely knew, a very ancient couple who seemed sweet and two other young middle-aged corporate types and their young Barbie wives. Paolo had stayed home, still mourning and saying he just wasn’t up to celebrating anything yet. We didn’t blame him really, but his absence made me miss Tessa like crazy that night. I remember thinking, At least I still have Danette .
    Harold’s cell phone kept buzzing—cell phones are strictly forbidden in the club. He had once been a stickler for rules and propriety. But lately? A silly club rule didn’t stop Harold from pulling his phone out and looking at it. Someone was texting him like mad and Danette was becoming suspicious, rolling her eyes in my direction. The next time it buzzed she grabbed it from his hand. Harold tried to grab it back from her, but she slid his phone across the table to me. Before Wes could grab it from my hands, I managed to read a partial text message that involved Harold’s tongue and the sender’s nether regions. I was aghast. Wes’s entire head turned beet red as he read it. As if by instinct he started to sweat and tossed it back to Harold. But Danette caught it and read it, and her expression was one of honest horror. I don’t know why she chose that