Free The Wives of Beverly Row 2: Lust Has a New Address by Abby Weeks

two of them to go to without dates and the food was fantastic.
    “How did you ever discover this place?” Veronica said when she joined Ariel at the table. They were overlooking the patio.
    “I used to come here with Gabe.”
    “And it doesn’t bring back painful memories?”
    Ariel shrugged. “Being married to Gabe wasn’t ever really that painful.”
    “Really. Didn’t you say he’d had his fair share of affairs?”
    “Oh, he did, but it was all just emotional stuff he was going through at the time. Stuff from his childhood really messed him up.”
    Veronica looked at Ariel suspiciously. “I don’t believe it!” she said.
    “What?” Ariel said.
    “You’re making excuses for him.”
    “I am not.”
    “You’ve been meeting up with him, haven’t you? I can tell immediately when a girl’s back with an old flame. All the terrible things are forgotten and everything’s sunshine and roses again.”
    “Gabe and I are not back on!”
    “Oh, really? I don’t believe you.”
    Ariel covered her face with her hands. Then she laughed. “It’s complicated,” she said. “Let’s order some drinks.”
    Veronica got the waiter’s attention and ordered a bottle of Chardonnay. “So spill the beans,” she said, bringing her attention back to Ariel.
    “Gabe and I met up for lunch the other day.”
    Veronica clapped her hands together. “I knew it,” she said. “Didn’t I tell you?”
    “It was only lunch,” Ariel said.
    “Same thing. It starts with lunch, then dinner, next thing you know the two of you are humping like you did when you first met as teenagers.”
    Ariel pictured it. Veronica was right. If Gabe walked into the restaurant right then and there and asked her for sex, she’d have had a very hard time saying no to him. She wasn’t even sure what she would do. She knew he’d been an awful husband but you couldn’t hold everything a man did against him forever, especially when he was as charming as Gabe. The truth was, Ariel had been thinking about Gabe ever since their lunch date. She couldn’t believe Gabe’s father had abandoned him and his mother for three years and she’d never known about it. She thought she’d known everything there was to know about Gabe. It turned out there were whole aspects to him that she’d never even imagined. None of it excused the way he’d treated her during their marriage, the affairs and the dishonesty and the stealing, but it did get him back in her mind, under her skin in a way he hadn’t been since she’d broken up with him. And it provided some perspective. It colored things differently.
    The waiter came and poured their wine and took their orders.
    “Well,” Ariel said after he left, “since we’re sharing.”
    “Go on,” Veronica said. “I can tell you’re not going to be a friend I can keep a lot of secrets from.”
    “No I’m not, and I want to know the full story about you and Matt Harkness.”
    Veronica looked flustered by the question. “What do you mean? I tried to set him up with you.”
    “And I couldn’t go near him because he’s in love with you.”
    “What?” Veronica said, her cheeks rising in a flush of pink.
    “You heard me,” Ariel said.
    The waiter brought over their salads. He offered them freshly ground pepper but they were too eager to continue their conversation to worry about pepper.
    “He told you that?” Veronica said.
    “More or less.”
    Veronica put her fork down. She was looking right at Ariel. Her face told her that she was dying to hear more. “Tell me exactly what he said.”
    “Alright,” Ariel said, “this is exactly what he told me. Basically that he’s been in love with you for years.”
    “He did not say that.”
    “Yes he did,” Ariel said. “He said there’s been a chemistry between the two of you for as long as he’s known you. That’s the reason he’s such good friends with Hank. Because he wants to be as close to you as possible.”
    Ariel looked right at Veronica. Her