The Bottom Line by Sandy James Page B

marks.”
    “You frightened her.”
    “She didn’t act afraid. She acted pissed.”
    Dropping her arms and relaxing her at-attention stance, Juliana leaned back against the wall. “Pissed is frightened for Mallory.”
    “Why would she be scared of me?”
    “Because she knew you’d figured out she had cancer. She’s been very private about it. Even when her hair fell out from the chemotherapy, she wore wigs that looked like her old hair. When she abandoned the wigs, she just said she decided to cut it really short so she didn’t have to mess with it anymore. I’ll bet only a handful of the staff at school knows everything she’s been through. She needed it that way.” She shrugged. “They might even attribute the physical changes to her sudden divorce.” Then she closed her mouth so quickly, her teeth clacked together.
    “Mal told me she was divorced. You’re not revealing some deep dark secret. Actually, I’d already figured it out.”
    “Did she tell you her skunk bastard ex left her three days after her diagnosis?”
    The news took a few moments to sink into his brain. “He left her because she had cancer?” That guy deserved the beating of his life, and Ben would be happy to deliver each and every blow.
    What kind of cold-hearted bastard did that to his wife?
    When Theresa was at her worst, which could be pretty damned bad, he’d never once considered breaking the vows he’d taken. He protected Amber at all costs, but he didn’t abandon Theresa. She’d walked out. Several times, actually. The difference was the last one stuck.
    His heart went out to Mallory even more. Then and there, he took a new vow—to make her house the most beautiful one in Cloverleaf, no matter the cost.
    Juliana nodded. “The Ladies Who Lunch helped her through her surgery and chemo.”
    At this rate, he’d never stop feeling ignorant. “The what?”
    “We have a group of friends who’ve eaten lunch together every day for years. Named ourselves after a song from the show
Company
. We all saw it once in Chicago and laughed about that song being so much like our crazy little group.”
    Ben nodded toward the bar. “Let me buy you a drink, and we can talk.”
    She hesitated when he took a step that direction. “I really shouldn’t… Mallory wouldn’t like—”
    “Look, I like Mallory. I want to make this better, and I hope she still wants to get to know me as much as I’d like to know her. But I can’t do that without your help.” When she still hesitated, he closed his eyes and heaved a sigh, trying hard not to let his shoulders droop in defeat. Then he opened his eyes. “Please?”
    With a curt nod, she led the way.
    * * *
    “What was I thinking?” Mallory asked Rascal when he jumped up on the bed and pawed at her hand until she petted him. “I’m not ready for this.”
    She hadn’t gone on that date for any reason other than to get Jules off her back about reentering the world. Well, maybe a couple more reasons, one of which was to prove to herself that she could still interact with people.
    For the last year, she’d been something of a hermit. Not that it was all her fault. A person sure as hell didn’t feel like socializing when she was in the midst of recovering from a mastectomy and suffering the side effects of chemotherapy.
    Everything had happened so fast, she wasn’t sure she’d truly accepted all the ramifications. The loss of her breast. The early menopause brought on by the meds. The fear of what the future might or might not bring.
    She hadn’t cried much, although she’d worked her way through the five stages of loss her oncologist had warned her about.
    Denial only lasted a day. Confronted with all the evidence, staying in denial for too awfully long would have been absurd, especially when the doctor was urging her to act quickly.
    Anger got her through the surgery. It was so much easier to face the pain and the loss by being pissed off. Being a teacher made her empathize with people