“No, I’m not. I think Ray’s story of his friend’s death sobered me up. And also, what he said about his wife was too much for me.”
“Poor Kathy,” Olivia said.
“Exactly. She sounds like a great wife. She takes care of him, helps with his work, but there’s no sex between them. He ‘can’t’ do it.”
“Not with Kathy anyway, but for Rita he’s damaged the big oak desk.” Olivia sighed. “How I remember those days.”
“And how I wish I had them to remember.”
“So who’s the Adonis of the Delphiniums?” Olivia asked.
“What do you mean?” Elise’s fair skin blushed almost purple.
“You’re going to keep this from me? After what we’ve shared?”
“Okay, so maybe there is a guy who...I’ve spent some time with. Kent knows Carmen because her older brother takes care of our big shared gardens.” When Olivia looked puzzled, she explained. “My parents and Kent’s live next door to each other, and he and I have a house in the back.”
“That sounds dreadful!”
“You have no idea. I have no privacy. Anyway, Carmen does the bookkeeping and runs errands, whatever, for her brother’s landscaping service. They do the gardens for a lot of our neighborhood.”
“And that’s the brother who you, uh...?”
“Heavens no! Diego has three kids. It’s the younger brother, Alejandro, who I got to know. He’s...well, he’s rather nice looking.”
Olivia looked at her. Elise’s face had faded to a lovely shade of pink. “Drop-dead gorgeous, is he?”
Elise gave a great sigh. “Black hair and dark eyes. Skin like honey and a body... Not that I’ve looked, mind you.”
“I see. What binoculars do you use?”
“The kind made for watching eagles from a mile away. I could identify any three square inches of his bare upper body. I could pick out his jeans-clad lower half by centimeters.”
“And was your interest returned?”
“Let’s just say that I spent a lot of last summer in a rather small red bikini.”
Olivia raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t look at me like that! I’ve never broken my marriage vows. Alejandro and I are friends. He helped me with my Spanish, and we planted a garden together.” As she spoke, she didn’t look at Olivia. “Anyway, it’s his sister, Carmen, who is the love of my husband’s life. It’s hard to imagine now, after all I’ve learned, but a few weeks ago, I asked Kent to bawl her out on my behalf.”
Olivia looked at her in question.
“Carmen pushed a huge flowerpot off a low wall and it almost landed on my foot. If the thing had hit me, it would have broken bones. When I told Kent about it, he said it was my imagination and that Carmen certainly hadn’t done it on purpose.” Elise’s voice was rising in anger.
“Unwed mothers can be vicious to their lovers’ wives. There should be laws.”
A bit of a laugh escaped Elise. “I’m going to have to deal with all this soon and I want you with me.”
Olivia took her arm. “Of course. I’ll be there and I’ll bring a garden truck full of my husband’s lawyer relatives.”
“That sounds perfect. Mind if Alejandro drives?”
“With or without his shirt on?”
“Interesting question since I’ve rarely se
en him in a shirt. When we went to the nurseries together and that last night...” Her head came up. “I don’t think he owns many shirts.”