Page 30 of Little Twisted Things

“Okay, ladies. Dinner is ready.”

We each took a seat at the dining room table, which was elegantly decorated with fine China, white cloth napkins, gold flatware, and a beautiful fresh floral centerpiece in the middle.

“This is lovely, Tess,” I said.

“Thank you, Dahlia.” She smiled, setting the food dishes on the table. “We have oven-roasted citrus herb chicken breasts seasoned with orange, lemon, garlic, rosemary, and thyme. Garlic mashed potatoes, honey-glazed carrots, and green bean almondine for Cara, who hates carrots.”

“You always remember.” Cara smiled.

I stared at the three women who sat across from Tess and me and noticed Nadine was picking at her food.

“Nadine, darling. What’s wrong? You’re barely eating,” Tess said.

She set down her fork and picked up her wine glass. “My attorney called this afternoon. Bart is demanding that the court deny me spousal support.”

“What?” Cara asked. “He can’t do that.”

“Apparently, according to his attorney, I contributed very little to our marriage.”

“That is not true,” Tess said.

Tears filled Nadine’s eyes. I gave up graduate school after we met. I moved whenever his career demanded it. I gave him everything. Including the son he always wanted. And that’s not even the worst part. He’s filing for primary custody of Aaron.”

“No.” Tori shook her head. “He can’t do that. You’re Aaron’s mother.”

“Bart says that my emotional state makes me an unfit parent. He’s the one who did this to me. He cheated and destroyed our marriage. And now he’s going to try and convince a judge that I’m unstable because I had the audacity to fall apart after I found out.”

“How old is Aaron?” I asked.

“Twelve.” She dabbed her tears with her napkin. “Aaron keeps telling me he wants to stay with me. He doesn’t even want to spend time with Bart anymore. That son-of-a-bitch golfs with judges, and his attorney used to work for the state. He’ll bury me in legal fees before we ever make it to trial. It’s bad enough he practically drained our joint account, leaving me with barely anything.”

“You don’t have to go through this alone. We’re all here for you,” Cara said. “Right, ladies?” She glanced at us.

“Of course.” Tess reached across the table and placed her hand on Nadine’s.

“I don’t care about the house, the cars, the vacation homes, or the money. I’m terrified he’ll take my son away from me.” She began to sob. “He’s the only good thing in my life, and I can’t lose him.”

“You’re not going to,” Tara said. “We’ll make sure of it.”

“He can buy anything and anyone he wants. He already destroyed me, and now he’s going to destroy our son. I don’t know what to do. I need help. I lay in bed every night begging for someone to make it stop.”

My mind wandered back to that night. Katherine crouched in the corner, knees against her chest, staring at me. Then those three little words she whispered, “Make it stop.”

After dinner, we had dessert. Then the others left. But I stayed back to gather more information about Nadine’s cheating husband.

“I feel awful for Nadine,” I said, handing Tess the rinsed plate to be put in the dishwasher.

“So, do I. That Bart is such a bastard. I couldn’t stand him the moment I met him. He’s controlling and has had Nadine on a leash for as long as I can remember.”

“What does he do for a living?”

“He owns Key West Developers. He’s a real estate developer. His company owns the gallery building”

“Who is he having an affair with?” I asked.

Tess put the last of the dishes into the dishwasher and closed the door.

“A woman named Celia Meadows. She owns Meadows Designs. She’s an interior designer and decorator. They first met when Nadine hired her to redo their home. Bart felt she did such an amazing job that he hired her to redo his offices. Apparently, they’ve been sneaking around behind Nadine’s back for almost a year.”