Love, Honor, and Betray by Roby, Lawson (ebook reader ink txt) 📕

“Of course.”

Gilda finished bagging Charlotte’s items and handed them to her. “As always, we really appreciate your business, and I’llsee you next month.”

“Take care.”

“You, too.”

Charlotte browsed a couple of dress racks, looked at some blouses, and then went on to the jewelry section. She loved, loved,loved David Yurman and went straight to his collection. She loved his style and was due for a new bracelet and a pair of matchingearrings.

“Good afternoon,” the distinguished-looking salesman said. “May I help you find something?”

“Yes, could I see the bracelet toward the middle?” she told him, pointing at it through the glass.

“This one?”

“Yes.”

“The Pave Diamond Waverly is absolutely divine. It’s one of my favorites.”

Charlotte removed the diamond bracelet she had on and held out her arm. The salesman placed the David Yurman piece aroundher wrist.

“This is perfect,” she said. “I love it.”

“We do have matching earrings, if you’re interested.”

“Really?”

“Yes, and by the way, I’m Bartholomew, but you can call me Bart.”

“Nice to meet you, Bart. I’m Charlotte.”

Bart pulled the earrings from the case, and Charlotte said, “You can just go ahead and ring those up with the bracelet. Noneed for me to try them on when I already know how wonderful they’re going to look.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, then, what else can I get you?”

“Mmm,” she said, scanning a couple more jewelry lines. She saw some cultured pearls that she sort of liked but told him, “Ithink that might be it for now.”

“Sounds good.”

Bart took both pieces over to the counter behind him, boxed them up, and then entered the purchases into the system. At first,Charlotte had thought about asking him the price, but if she wasn’t mistaken, she’d already seen both the bracelet and theearrings online. If so, the bracelet was twenty-five hundred, and the earrings were just over a thousand.

“With tax, your total is three thousand six dollars.”

How ironic that the amount wasn’t much different than what she’d just spent upstairs, Charlotte thought, and then gave himher card. Once the charges were approved, she signed her name. Bart gave her the jewelry and she placed the bag in her tote.

Another three hours passed, and by the time Charlotte had finished up in Neiman’s she’d bought herself a whole new set ofexpensive underwear, two pairs of jeans, and two pairs of three-inch, pointed-toe leather boots, one pair black and the otherbrown. She’d easily spent ten thousand dollars in there, and had spent another fifteen thousand in Tiffany’s, which was whather new diamond necklace and diamond earrings had cost her. Today was by far one of the best days she’d had in a while, andshe was glad about it. Glad she’d gotten away from Mitchell and the life she was no longer content with.

Charlotte took her purchases to the car, locked them inside her trunk, and then walked back over to The Clubhouse. This wasone of her favorite restaurants, and she rarely came to Oakbrook without eating here. Before she opened the door to go in,however, she scanned a row of less expensive specialty stores. She hadn’t had to shop at any of them for so long, she couldbarely remember what kind of merchandise they carried. This was another reason she didn’t want to separate from Curtis. Although,if he pushed her, she would sue him for as much alimony as the court system would allow her. She would sue him for half ofeverything, the same as any other intelligent wife who had been wronged by her husband—she would do it on purpose and thenconsider her huge settlement as just punishment for Curtis’s sleeping around on her in the first place.

As Charlotte sat waiting on her Caesar salad with no croutons, she pulled out her BlackBerry and signed onto Facebook. Shescrolled through her wall postings but then got excited when she checked her inbox and saw a message from Michael Porter.

Hey,

Look, I know I’m probably completely out of line, and since it won’t do me any good at all to beat around the bush, I’m just going to say what’s on my mind. Ever since we communicated last night, I haven’t thought about anything else. I’ve even thought about the wonderful times we once spent together, and I can’t deny that all these amazing memories have now stirred up a lot of old feelings. Feelings that really don’t seem all that old anymore. Yes, I know you’re married, and yes, I’m married, too, but…Anyway, if this note somehow offends you or you never want to speak to me again after reading this, I will totally understand. And I apologize. Still, I couldn’t help being honest with you.

Hope you are well.

Michael

Charlotte’s hand shook. Worse, she felt the kind of intimate sensations married women should feel only with their husbands.She took a deep breath and reread the note, then set her BlackBerry down on the table. She examined each area of the restaurant,almost as if she were afraid someone might be able to read her mind or peep at the note on her little mobile device. She didn’tknow how or if she should respond to her ex’s message. Deep down, she knew she shouldn’t and that she should end all contactwith him immediately. But there was also this aching part of her being, the kind that desperately craved individual attentionfrom a strong, smart, gorgeous-looking man. What she needed was the kind of attention Curtis had once given her, right beforeCurtina had been dumped smack-dab into their lives.

The waitress brought Charlotte her salad and told her to enjoy. But Charlotte was much too flustered to eat anything. Shecouldn’t stop thinking about Michael or the offer he’d made about them seeing each other. At the same time, however, she couldn’tforget about Curtis and the love they’d shared for so many years, regardless of all the ups and downs they’d had to deal with.

So, at this point, she didn’t know what to do. As she weighed her options, she thought about the affair she’d