LITMIR.BIZ

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off her old friend’s praise. “I spent most of the afternoon buying Christmas cards and wrap—after I had lunch with Roy. I swear Scrooge has more Christmas spirit than my son.” Her elegant white suit was left over from her old life. These days, she was most comfortable in jeans and an oil-smeared cotton shirt.

      Marta was blond and tanned and she dressed strictly in black, no matter what the season. It was a New York thing, Anne figured. Her friend’s hair haphazardly framed her face, but Anne knew there was nothing haphazard about it. She looked chic, rich, sophisticated, and her world seemed a million miles from the one that had become Anne’s.

      “Speaking of Roy,” Marta said as she led the way into the dining room. “I understand he’s making quite a name for himself.”

      “I’m very proud of what he’s accomplished, but I worry about him.” She didn’t elaborate and thankfully Marta didn’t question her. Despite her determination to enjoy this evening, Anne’s thoughts went back to the lunch with Roy. He seemed preoccupied, but when she’d asked him about it, he’d brushed aside her concern. He so rarely permitted her any glimpses into his life; he’d closed himself off from her, the same way he’d shut out everyone else.

      Marta announced her name to the maître d’, and they were immediately seated. The man handed Anne a leather-encased menu, and with more ceremony than necessary, draped the white linen napkin on her lap.

      A waiter came for their drink order, and both Anne and Marta requested a glass of white wine.

      “What brings you to Seattle?” Anne asked her. “Business, I assume.”

      “What else? At one time I had a life, but now it’s art. You wouldn’t believe some of the pieces I’ve found. And—as I mentioned before—I really would like to see your work.”

      “I’ve only been painting for the last five years, Marta. My work is amateurish compared to the artists you represent.”

      “Let me decide that. You were the most talented girl in our class and I don’t expect that’s changed.”

      But it had. So much had changed in the forty years since Marta had first known her.

      Their wine arrived, and they paused to sample it. Anne welcomed the break in conversation.

      “Well,” Marta said as she set her wineglass aside. “Let’s get the subject of Burton out of the way. What happened?”

      Anne gazed sightlessly into the distance. “What always happens?”

      “Another woman.” Marta scowled as she added, “Younger, no doubt.”

      Anne nodded. “Thirty years younger.”

      “I hope he paid through the nose for this.”

      Anne didn’t answer. How could she? “Actually, no.” The details weren’t anyone’s business but her own. “It depresses me to discuss it, so let’s not, all right?”

      “The jerk,” Marta muttered, and said something else under her breath, something Anne wouldn’t ask her to repeat.

      “Shall we toast to independence?” Marta asked, tears filling her eyes.

      “Marta?” Anne leaned forward and touched her friend’s hand. “What’s wrong?”

      “What’s always wrong?” she murmured, echoing Anne’s earlier statement.

      “Jack?”

      Marta nodded, lowering her eyes. “He’s got a girlfriend. Naturally, he still thinks I have no idea, but a blind woman could’ve figured it out.”

      So this was the reason Marta had sought her out. “What are you going to do?”

      “Twenty-seven years with a man, and you assume you know him. Silly me.” She made a gallant effort to smile through her tears. Raising the wineglass to her lips, she took a long and appreciative swallow.

      “You’re considering a divorce?”

      Marta shrugged. “I can’t imagine the rest of my life without Jack, but I can’t tolerate the thought of him with another woman—especially while he’s married to me! I don’t know what to do.”

      Anne noticed that her friend’s hand trembled as she put down her wineglass. “Half the time I want to bash his head in for hurting me like this and the rest of the time I cry.”

      “You’re sure he’s having an affair?”

      Marta reached for her wine and took another large swallow. “Very sure.” Tears glistened in her eyes again. “All right, my wise friend, advise me.”

      Anne felt in no position to be giving her advice, although she supposed she could tell Marta what not to do. She’d been cheated and misled, and all because she’d been naive. The waiter appeared at their table, and Anne realized they hadn’t even looked at their menus. They did so quickly, both deciding on the salmon entrée.

      Resuming the conversation, Anne called on her own experience. The first thing she suggested was that Marta talk to an attorney, and not one her husband recommended. From this point forward, everything Jack said was suspect, since he’d lied to her already. Marta needed facts and information. Anne might have saved herself a lot of grief had she hired an attorney of her own choosing—and done so earlier.

      Their dinners arrived. They chatted, they ate, they laughed and cried, and then laughed again.

      “I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to talk with someone openly and honestly,” Marta said after their second glass of wine and two cups of strong coffee. “I didn’t know where else to turn. Lots of our friends have split up over the years, but … this just can’t be happening. Not to Jack and me, and yet it is, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

      Anne squeezed Marta’s hand. “I hoped Burton would come to his senses. I prayed and pleaded with God to give me my husband back. My entire identity was tied up with his.”

      Marta grew tearful again. “I’m beginning to wonder if God really answers our prayers.”

      Anne believed He did. “While it’s true God didn’t give me the answer I wanted, He did answer me.”

      “How do you mean?”

      “I have my own identity now, and it isn’t that of Burton’s ex-wife. I’m Anne Fletcher—and I’m also Mary Fleming, artist.”

      “Why did you decide to use a pseudonym?”

      It was a well-kept secret. Only a few people knew. Her fear was that friends, out of pity and concern, would purchase her landscapes in a desire to support her. Anne didn’t want their sympathy. Come hell or high water, she was determined to make it on her own.

      “Mary Fleming is business-savvy, smart and talented. Anne Fletcher is meek, mild and a victim, in the eyes of the world.”

      “I love it,” Marta said, reaching for the tab and signing it to her room. “Speaking of Mary,” she said, “I’m really looking forward to seeing her work.”

      Anne hesitated. “You’re sure about this?”

      “Is that Anne or Mary speaking?”

      “Anne,” she confessed with a laugh.

      “That’s what I thought.”

      “Okay, come to my car with me. I brought a sketch.”

      They left the hotel, and Anne handed the valet her claim check. He brought her car around, and at Anne’s instruction, parked it by the outside curb to avoid delaying anyone who was pulling into the portico. The Cadillac was one of the few things she’d gotten as part of the divorce settlement. Roy said that was because Burton had wanted it to look as if he’d been fair.

      “As I explained, this isn’t one of my landscapes,” Anne said, opening the door. Because of the size of the painting, she’d brought

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