Destined For Them (Story 3)✔

~14~

~Caroline~

I bet you're curious, Caroline. If you want to know what your husband has been up to lately, meet me. Dress for the occasion.

By lunch time I knew those words by heart and watched Olivia from across the table as she read them quietly to herself. The diner we had met at for lunch was small and discreet. The homemade food was to-die-for, though I didn't have much of an appetite. There was just too much on my mind and I was afraid that if I ate, it would only come back up.

Finally, when it seemed she had read it over a million and one times she looked back up at me quizzically. "Well, this is a little fucking insane. What does this even mean? Is Sol like, cheating on your or something?" Liv's green eyes narrowed. Or something was right. I found it hard to believe that anyone would be that interested in someone who was just committing infidelity. No, what my husband was doing-or had done-was far more dangerous. I just hoped it didn't come back and bite us all in the ass.

I fingered the condensation from my glass of iced tea and shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe." I replied. True, I had called Liv here to confide in her; I had told her about mostly everything, even Sol's crazy accusation about me seeing someone and the drinks from the cigar bar but there were just some things-or one-that she didn't need to know. My husband had killed the man that had taken our daughter and someone knew about it.

"You've tried to talk to him about it, right?" Was my friends next question. If she only knew. It was clear that Sol was way passed talking. He had moved on to a more physical way of dealing with things which was just like him. It was all he knew and it had pissed me off-opened up old wounds.

"Of course I have." Just then a headache started at my temples and I wished that I could just tell her everything. It would make this whole conversation a little easier but I knew that was out of the question. I trusted her but I didn't trust her with my family's lives and future. When she slid the invitation back to me, I put it safely into my purse. There was no way it was going to get out of my grasp again. Not until after I showed my husband anyway.

Before Liv could reply to that-I knew she was going to by the look on her face-her cell started to ring on the table and she answered it. While she spoke to the caller, I waved the waitress over for the bill and paid for our untouched lunches. I thought about everything that was happening again and I thought I might just throw up. Fuck, I did not want this to end up badly. Hadn't I mentioned I didn't want to be a prison wife? Or worse, locked up myself from the information that I knew. What would our children do without us? Why hadn't Lenny Baker and Sol handled this differently. Didn't they know there was this thing called the police? Intead Lyza and Rich Foster could have been in jail right now instead of dead.

Emotions ran rampant as Liv announced she had to get back to the baby. The small talk we made out to the parking lot went in one ear and out the other and before I knew it, Liv was gone and I was sitting behind the wheel of my car, staring out the winshield. It was just a matter of time before this person 'contacted' one of us again. I forced all of the unwanted and scary possibilities from my brain and left the diner.

On my way back to Penny's, I called my mother to see how Lydia was doing. "She's fine, Caroline. You don't have to call a million times when she is with me, you know?" Is what had been Mrs. Thomson's reply. Of course I did. I was so not over the kidnapping and anyting could happen no matter who my daughter was with. She had been taken right from under our noses in our own home and that was proof enough right there. As I pulled back into my usual spot in front of the boutique, my phone rang. It was Sol, again, for the sixth time today and like all of the other five times he had tried to call, I ignored it and got out of the car. I didn't want to talk to him right now, no matter how anxious I was to rub that damn invitation in his face.