Free She Left Me Breathless by Trin Denise Page B

sentence.
    Edward whistled loudly as he looked around the foyer. “This is some place you got here. What is it, six, seven thousand square feet?”
    “Twenty-five-hundred, sixty feet,” Sydney said, thinking that the man reeked of arrogance and alcohol.        
    “Only two-thousand, five-hundred, and sixty feet, huh, that’s not as big as I thought. Sure looks a lot bigger. My house is just a little under five thousand. That’s definitely bigger than yours,” he said, smugly.
    His house? What a total jackass, Sydney thought. The only thing he owned was his 1996 Toyota Camry. Everything else was in Rachel’s name and that included the house. His name isn’t on the deed and she hadn’t given it a second thought when she had seen a copy of the loan papers. Now she understood why, because his name wasn’t really Edward Ashburn. A loan would have raised all sorts of questions, like credit scores, past job experience, references, etcetera, but why wouldn’t Rachel have questioned him on this? Did she know that her husband wasn’t who he claimed to be? Even if she did, she couldn’t see Rachel involved in anything shady.
    He had to have told her one helluva story and the plot continues to thicken, she thought as she looked at Edward and shook her head. “I think you misunderstood me. It’s not twenty-five hundred, it’s twenty-five thousand, six-hundred square feet,” she said, grinning with satisfaction at the shocked expression on his face as the figures finally sunk into his tiny little brain.
    “You’re not supposed to ask questions like that. It’s rude, Edward,” Rachel said, looking apologetically at Sydney.
    “What’s something like this cost, three, four million?” he asked, undeterred by his wife’s admonishment.
    Caitlyn and Rachel looked as if they wanted the floor to open up and swallow them. Sydney glanced at Caitlyn. She winked at her protégé before turning back to Edward. “Eighteen-million dollars,” she said and then added, “Cash.”
    Sydney had caught Edward off-guard. If she had any reservations about the man before now, he had quickly solidified her opinion of him and her opinion was lower than she had initially thought.
    “You got anything stronger than sissy-ass champagne?” he asked as a server passed by.
    Sydney nodded toward the foyer doorway that led into the family room. “There’s a wet bar through there. Help yourself.”
    Edward didn’t wait for a second invitation. Without a word to Rachel or Caitlyn, he left the foyer. No doubt on his way to get a drink, as if he needed one , Sydney thought as she turned to Caitlyn. “I need to go speak with someone. Why don’t you show your mother around? Get something to eat and drink. Have a little fun.”
    Caitlyn looked at Sydney and mouthed a silent thank you. Sydney gave her a “you’re welcome” smile before turning to look at Rachel. “It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Ashburn, please excuse me,” she said and left the foyer. She had to put some distance between herself and Rachel. She had been waiting for this moment for so long that she had not given a second thought on how it would affect her when the time finally came. Her emotions were in overdrive. She grabbed a glass of champagne from a server’s tray and was not surprised to see that her hand was shaking.
    She walked back into the family room and looked around. This had to be the largest Christmas party yet. The place was jam packed with bodies and from what she could tell; most Welsh employees were in attendance. She waved to the Mayor of Miamisburg who seemed to be having an animated discussion with Edna and Allen. What a combination, she thought.
    “Well howdy, Sydney. Merry Christmas ta ya,” a voice said just over her shoulder.
    She didn’t need to guess at whom the voice belonged to. She turned to see the smiling face of Jedidiah Saunders. “Hello, Jed. I’m glad to see you could make it and Merry Christmas to you,” she said. “This must be