Chapter 16

Wynne scanned the complex anxiously as she waited to see if Paula would show. She’d seen the blonde woman from afar a couple of times in the evening as she went in and out of the condominium’s fitness facility, then onto the jogging trail that circled the adjacent golf course.

The Labor Day picnic was underway, with more than a hundred residents and guests milling about between the pool and the clubhouse. The caterers had laid out a buffet line of salad, baked beans, chips, and corn on the cob. Two men watched over the grill, which was spread generously with hot dogs, hamburgers, and barbecued chicken.

“Tell me again what she looks like,” Kitty asked. The elder Connelly was really looking forward to meeting this woman that had her daughter in such a state. After drawing closer to Wynne over the past year, she wanted her own assurances that this Paula McKenzie was nothing at all like Heather Bennett.

“She’s…right there!” Wynne beamed with excitement as she watched the blonde woman bound down the steps toward the party. For some silly reason, it hadn’t occurred to her that Paula would in fact know many of the people in attendance, and she was at first surprised to see her stop and greet one group after another. Eventually, she found her way to the table where the Connellys waited.

“Hi! I’m glad you could come.” Wynne stood immediately and pulled another chair to their table.

“I try not to miss these things. It’s a good chance to see my neighbors.” Paula wanted to underscore the fact that she was planning to come anyway, and that Wynne’s invitation had been unimportant. Turning toward the woman she assumed was Wynne’s mother, Paula introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Paula McKenzie.”

Wynne completed the introductions as the two women shook hands. Paula remained standing until the older woman insisted that she join them.

“So how do you like Orlando, Mrs. Connelly?”

“Please call me Kitty. After all, we’re neighbors now. We like Orlando just fine, don’t we Wynne?”

“Very much.” Especially now.

“I like it, too. I’m really glad to be back.” Paula was quite deliberate about addressing her remarks to Kitty rather than Wynne. “And I like this complex too. The facilities are nice and the people are friendly. Do you like it here?”

“Oh, yes! The complex is very nice.” Kitty recognized at once that Paula was avoiding her daughter altogether; it amused her to see the consternation on Wynne’s face at being excluded from the conversation. But she wasn’t about to let that happen indefinitely.

“Wynne tells me that she met you at the hotel.”

The brunette nearly choked at hearing her mother open that can of worms. And then there was Paula’s reply!

“That’s right. We used to be pretty good friends.”

Ouch!

“Well, I know she’s been very excited about you moving back to town. She hasn’t made many new friends here, and I hate to think of her spending all that time by herself at home. It’ll be nice to see her start getting out.”

Wynne’s face burned with embarrassment at her mother’s blatant insinuations.

Out of the blue, Kitty Connelly had put her finger on what it was about seeing Wynne again that was so unreal. She was…by herself! In all of the hours over the last week that Paula had spent thinking about the sudden invitation to this picnic, she hadn’t once thought about the woman who had answered the phone in Baltimore.

Paula stood suddenly and stepped back from the table. “I should be going. I have something planned with my family, but I wanted to stop by and say hello. It was very nice meeting you, Mrs. Connelly.”

“Call me Kitty. And it was nice meeting you. Wynne, if you want to walk your friend back to her place, I’ll be fine here.”

On cue, the red-faced woman stood and fell in beside their departing guest.

“Your mom is certainly subtle.”

“Like multiple gunshot wounds,” Wynne agreed sheepishly.

“You know, I know the way home. You don’t have to walk with me.” Paula had owned up to her demons when she’d come face to face with Wynne in Denver. As far as she was concerned, their brief talk that night in the Concierge lounge settled things between them for good. But seeing her again — at her own door, no less — had stirred emotions that she just couldn’t identify.

“I know, but…I’d appreciate it if we could talk a little.” Wynne shoved her hands in her pockets, slowing her gait in hopes that the shorter woman would do the same. Paula’s demeanor today was far from warm and friendly, but at least she’d come to the party, and that counted for something.

“Fine,” she answered noncommittally. “So I take it you live alone these days.”

“Yes, I do. I split up with Heather right after I got back to Baltimore.”

The blonde shot her a sideways glare.

“Yeah, I know. My timing left a lot to be desired.”

“Well now, there’s an understatement!”

Plainly, forging even a friendship was going to be a challenge. “Look, I know that you told me in Denver that it didn’t really matter, but I want you to know that I’m really sorry I made such a mess of everything,” the brunette started.

“You don’t have to apologize,” Paula answered, looking straight ahead as they walked.

“Then don’t think of it as an apology. Think of it as a statement of how much I regret what I did because it caused me to lose your friendship, and because it cost me the chance to have even more than that. I know I should have spoken up, but I never really thought things would go that far between us.”

“That’s no excuse, Wynne. No matter what you thought would happen to us, you and I started out just being friends, and even friends would think to say something like ‘Oh, and I live with someone back in Baltimore.’ But you deliberately left that out. You told me about your mom, your sister, and your niece. Why not tell me about your girlfriend?”

That was a good point, Wynne thought. Why had she never mentioned it? “Paula…you and I started flirting with each other the first night we met. We were having fun. It was the first time in five years I could remember having fun with anybody.” She heaved a big sigh, worried that she might be digging herself into a deeper hole. “Look, I’ll say it again. What I did was wrong. I should have told you about Heather. But at the time, I didn’t think there was any chance of you and me being anything more than friends.”

“Hello! We had sex, Wynne! That was you, wasn’t it?” Paula sneered sarcastically, still not looking at her companion.

“I didn’t set out to have sex with you. I never thought it would go that far, honest to God.”

“It never should have gone that far, and if you’d told me about this Heather, it wouldn’t have. I’m not in the habit of borrowing someone else’s girlfriend for a roll in the sack. And just so you know it, I don’t happen to like to share either.”

Wynne walked in silence for a few steps, acutely aware of the ache in her chest as she absorbed Paula’s angry words. Was this how the term “heartbroken” had come about?

But she forged ahead.

“Paula, everything I did was wrong, and I knew it. I told myself over and over that I shouldn’t be spending time with you like that, and especially when I started to realize the feelings that were growing every time I came down here.”

Paula looked at her in disbelief.

“That’s right. And when I started feeling more for you than just friendship, I really knew it was wrong. By that time, I didn’t want to stop. But I figured my job would end soon and both of us knew that would be the end of it. I never thought it would go that far. I lost control.”

“So did I,” Paula confessed.

“I wanted to try to set it all right, but you found out about Heather before I had a chance to tell you. And I would have told you. I realize how convenient that sounds, but it really is the truth.”

“Did you tell Heather?”

“No. I hurt Heather enough just by asking her to move out. There was no reason to add to that.”

“Would you have broken up with her if it hadn’t been for me?”

“I hope I would have. Being with you sure showed me all that was missing from what she and I had. I was with Heather for all the wrong reasons, and if you and I can manage to be friends again, I’ll tell you all about it someday. She’s a good person; we just weren’t right for each other. I hated hurting her, and I hated hurting you.”

As they climbed the steps, neither woman spoke. Out of the corner of her eye, Paula watched the taller woman grimace as she grasped the rail and pulled herself up, obviously struggling to alternate her lead foot. That was a significant change from last time, she noted, when Wynne could only lead with her good leg.

“You had the surgery?”

“Yeah, about a year ago. I think this is as good as it gets.”

“It looks like it’s a lot better,” she observed, wanting for some reason to both compliment and encourage this woman beside her. “Does it hurt much?”

“Not like it used to.” They reached the landing and stopped. Wynne finally gathered her nerve to ask Paula for one small concession. “Look, I know I don’t deserve your friendship, but if we can work it out to start over, I promise that I won’t lie to you again.”

Paula didn’t respond at first; she wanted to choose her words very carefully to convey exactly how she felt. She turned and inserted the key in the door. Still not meeting the eyes of her companion, she answered sternly, “Wynne, you need to get it out of your head that we can ever ‘start over.’ We might be able to be friends someday — ‘might’ is the operative word — if I ever feel like I can trust you again, but we won’t ever go down that other path. If that’s what you’ve got in mind, do us both a big favor now and just let it go.”

Despite all those qualifications, Paula’s response was enough to keep the hope alive in Wynne. If they could be friends again, she’d find a way to show Paula that they could be more.