Free A Wife by Accident by Victoria Ashe Page B

Charlie and Gary. She’d sampled them all until she was stuffed.
    With a smile, she brushed some flour from her hands onto her baggy pants and stood back to admire her work. Key lime, raspberry swirl, and chocolate chip cheesecakes lined the counter. Right on cue, she heard Charlie walk into the kitchen first, followed closely behind by Gary. Were they coming home earlier in the evenings now? It seemed so.
    She dropped her dishrag onto the counter and looked up. “Dinner’s on the table, guys. Enjoy. I’ve been admiring the pool for the last six weeks and I think I’m finally going to try it out.”
    She grinned and walked past them as casually as possible. Could Gary tell how rattled she got when he walked into the room after a day at some construction site or another? Was it obvious that the dust in his hair and his sun-bronzed skin made it hard not to simply stand and stare at him? He was easy on the eyes, she’d give him that.
    •
    “Who was that woman?” Charlie asked with a laugh.
    Gary shook his head and grabbed a plate. “My guess is a woman whose boss was out of the office all day. I saw the witch driving downtown today.”
    “That bad, huh?”
    Gary nodded between bites. “She can cook. You know, I’d tell her to quit her job and just let me take care of her expenses if I didn’t think she’d be offended.”
    Charlie bit into a juicy, butter-soaked carrot and moaned as if in heaven. “I’ve been looking over the accounting records for all this decorating she’s been doing.”
    “How much has this set me back so far?”
    “She hasn’t come close to spending even half of what we thought it’d take. And you know what? She hasn’t bought a thing for herself. Make-up, shampoo, books—her cell phone bill. Chewing gum, for Pete’s sake. She’s been paying for all those things with her own cash. I saw some of the store receipts sitting in the garbage can the other day.”
    Gary paused with a chunk of onion on his fork. “You’re kidding?”
    Charlie shook his head. “Nope.”
    “I understand independence, but she’s contributing way more than her share to the plan. She’s earned a little fair treatment.”
    “Given all that zest for independence, I wonder what she thought of the expensive car,” Charlie mused and shot a meaningful look at Gary.
    Gary tossed down his napkin. He hadn’t considered that she might have a lukewarm or even negative reaction to his generosity. That she hadn’t mentioned the car at all couldn’t be good.
    Gary walked in his sock feet all the way across the house, through a newly magnificent exercise room, and directly to the indoor pool. When had she found the time to pick out weight lifting equipment? He smiled. After lifting lumber all day, he couldn’t imagine what use he’d ever have for a bench press. Maybe for all those other days when he wound up stuck behind a desk.
    The telltale scent of chlorine wafted toward him as he opened and closed the door to the pool. Hayely turned around to face him as she treaded in water up to her neck. The cobalt tiles under her feet emphasized the water’s blue reflection along the walls.
    “I haven’t been swimming in ages,” she said. “I’d forgotten how good it could feel. This is like having access to a private company spa or something.”
    Gary looked down through the water. The pool was too sparsely lighted and the water rippled just enough to obscure his view of what looked to be a simple black swimsuit.
    “I wanted to talk to you about the car.”
    Hayely swam to the edge of the pool and lifted herself out onto the cement edge to sit on her towel. “I wanted to talk to you about that, too.” She squeezed some water out of her moisture-darkened hair and wrapped herself in another large towel.
    He forced himself to meet her eyes and think of the reason he’d sought her out. “Did you drive it today?”
    “I did. And I understand you probably got it so that I’d look more the part, but I have to admit