“I didn’t know you were,” he said, and somehow that hurt as much as anything, that he’d paid so little attention to her.
“If it isn’t that, what?”
He was silent for a long moment; then he shrugged. “We’re just different people now. That’s all.”
“That’s all?” She thought she would explode from the emotions that swelled up in her, anger and frustration and pain mixing together and each feeding the other. “We’re different people? Just when did we become different? Who changed, me or you?”
“Neither of us,” he said softly. “That’s the kicker. Maybe I just found out we’ve been different all along.”
“Would you stop with the fucking riddles?” she yelled, clenching her fists. “I don’t know what’s going on! I don’t know what you’re talking about! All I know is we’re falling apart and it’s killing me! For god’s sake, just say it in plain language!”
“Leave it alone.” He sounded totally unmoved by her fury. “Just—leave it alone. I don’t plan on leaving you; we can rock on the way we always have, keep our lives the same.”
“Are you crazy? How can it be the same? How can you love someone one day and the next day it’s like we haven’t even been introduced?”
“I’ll tell you how.” Venom suddenly laced his tone. “I’ll tell you in two words: True Gallagher.”
Susanna actually fell back a pace, her mind going blank. “What?” Shock paralyzed her thought processes, leaving her standing there with her mouth open and nothing else coming out. Surely not. Surely he didn’t—
Rip didn’t say anything else, just watched her.
Then with an almost audible click her mind began working again, racing along at a feverish pace. “I’m not seeing True Gallagher! You think I’m having an affair with him? My God, Rip, I’m trying to set him up with Milla!”
Something moved in his eyes, flashed across his expression, so fast she couldn’t read it. “Leave Milla alone,” he said flatly. “She deserves better than him.”
“Why do you have such a hard-on for True? What’s he done to you? I swear, I promise you, I’m not cheating on you with anyone and certainly not with him!” She tried to think of the times she’d spoken with True in public, which weren’t many, tried to think of anything they had said or done that would give an onlooker the impression they were having an affair.
“Let’s just say I don’t believe you,” Rip said. “And leave it at that.”
He turned and left the room, and somehow Susanna knew he wouldn’t be sleeping in the same room with her anymore. Until now they had at least done that, though he’d been on his side and she’d been on hers, and not so much as a hand had strayed into the neutral territory between them.
She wanted to laugh. She wanted to cry. She wanted to throw something; she wanted to hit something; she wanted to hit Rip for being such a dumb asshole. He was being a jerk because he was jealous, of all things.
She couldn’t believe how backward she’d had it. While she was suspecting him of having an affair, he was suspecting her of the same thing. She knew she wasn’t. Unless Rip had accused her as a sly method of throwing her off his track, he wasn’t having an affair, either.
Her marriage wasn’t over, after all. It was just going through a rough patch. If she hung in there, things would eventually smooth over and he’d realize he was totally out of bounds with his suspicions, and they would gradually regain the warmth between them. Until then, she’d have to be very, very careful.
She didn’t use the landline phone, any extension of which Rip could look at and see she was on the phone. Instead she fished her cell phone out of her bag, closed the bedroom door, then went into the bathroom and closed that door, too. Then she dialed True’s number.
“Rip thinks we’ve having an affair,” she said in a low voice when he answered. “He’s very suspicious.”
“So soothe his ruffled feathers. We can’t afford to have him doing something stupid like following you around.”
“I know. I told him I was trying to set you up with Milla, but he’s so pissed he didn’t like that idea, either.”
“Just keep playing him. Did you make any progress with Milla?”
“I don’t think so. You know how stubborn she is when it comes to that foundation of hers. She’s afraid that if she goes out with you, she’ll lose a dollar in funding from some old biddy who doesn’t think it looks good for her to be dating a sponsor.”
“Yeah, that’s what she told me, too. Keep working on her, though. I don’t want to push too hard and make myself obnoxious.”
“I’ll do my best. With our schedules, sometimes it’s tough getting together for girl talk.”
“Then make an opportunity. All of a sudden she’s coming up with information she shouldn’t have. I need to know how she’s getting it, and I need to know every move she’s going to make before she makes it. I can’t do that unless I get close to her.”
“I know, I know. Like I said, I’ll do my best. I can’t twist her arm and make her go out with you.”
“Why not?” He sounded amused. “Get her to go out to dinner with you and Rip, and I’ll just happen along. How does that sound?”
“I don’t know if I can get Rip to do anything right now. I’ll have to work on him.”