The Reluctant Cinderella by Christine Rimmer Page B

continue. “No, Carly. He says it really is over, between the two of you. That you’re divorced and that’s how it’s going to stay.”
    â€œNo…”
    â€œYes—and that house I just mentioned? Well, he showed it to me.”
    Carly’s fine nose wrinkled in an expression midway between sheer horror and disgust. “ You? He showed you his house….”
    â€œYes. And…and he kissed me, Carly. I mean, we kissed. Each other. He kissed me and I kissed him back.”
    Carly blinked several times in rapid succession. “I don’t…I can’t…” She paused, collected herself, said with an awful kind of calmness, “You know what? I heard, from Irene Dare, that she and Rhonda had seen you with Greg. I didn’t believe Irene. I thought she was just carrying tales, telling lies, stirring up trouble the way she and Rhonda like to do. I would never, ever have believed that Greg would…” She seemed to run out of words. She shook her head, tried to continue. “That you could…” The words ran out again. She swallowed. And then, with great care and a terrible, wounded dignity, she rose to her feet. She drew herself up tall and straightened her robe. “You kissed my husband?”
    Megan put out both hands in a placating gesture. “Carly. No—I mean, yes. I did kiss him. But he’s not your husband anymore and you really have to come to grips with that, I think.”
    Carly was shaking her head, backing away. “You…you pretended to be my friend.”
    â€œNo. Carly. I am your friend…” Megan let her hands drop limply to her sides. “Or I was…”
    â€œYou stole my husband from me.”
    â€œNo. I hardly knew him. I swear. And until the third of July, when I went up to his office for that first interview, Greg never showed an interest in me. He’d even forgotten that he’d told you he’d see me. It was just pure luck that I caught him at his desk.”
    â€œPure luck…” Carly made the words sound like a curse.
    â€œCarly—”
    â€œYou said you told him you wouldn’t go out with him.”
    â€œYeah. I did.”
    â€œAnd then you kissed him?”
    Megan didn’t even try to defend herself. “Yeah. And then I kissed him.”
    Carly tipped her chin high. “I don’t know what to believe. All this you’re telling me, it could be just lies.”
    â€œOh, no. Please…”
    â€œBut the one thing I do know now is that you are not my friend, Megan. You are not my friend and I will never speak to you again.”
    â€œOh, Carly. Please don’t—”
    â€œShut up.” Carly put both hands to her temples and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. “Just shut up. Shut up and get out of my house and never come back here again.”

Chapter Seven
    A t home, there was no one.
    Angela had taken the kids to day camp and gone to work. Megan knew that she should head for the office, as well.
    But the awful scene with Carly had pretty much wiped her out. She went up to her apartment and sat on her bed and stared out the window that faced the backyard and wondered how she was going to manage to get through the day.
    Sweet, gentle Carly had kicked her out of the McMansion and told her never to come back. Carly hated her now. That really hurt. And what hurt even more was the sneaking suspicion that maybe Megan deserved Carly’s hatred.
    No.
    No, that wasn’t true. She didn’t deserve hatred. Fury, maybe. A good strong lecture for not being honest from the first.
    But hatred?
    Megan shook her head and let out a sad little laugh. What did it matter what she deserved? She had Carly’s hatred. That was the bald truth.
    Carly hated her. And Megan really, really needed to talk to Angela. She needed her sister’s wisdom and level head. She needed Angela to tell her that yes, she had blown it royally. But now, at