Crazy for You Read online

  “I don’t date them while they’re married,” Barbara insisted. “I’d never date a married man. It’s just that when I find somebody who’s really good and can fix things, I have a lot for him to do.”

  “So he comes over a lot.” Quinn nodded for her to go on.

  “And then sometimes they ask me out,” Barbara said. “But I always tell them that even though I’m really, really grateful for how hard they’ve worked, and that I think they’re wonderful, because they are, I couldn’t possibly go out with a married man. Because I couldn’t.”

  “And then they leave their wives,” Quinn said, light dawning. She could just imagine Matthew, after umpteen years with Lois bitching at him, having a young, beautiful blonde telling him he was wonderful.

  “And then for a while it’s wonderful,” Barbara said, almost to herself. “And I feel so safe, and I know who I am because I’m with this wonderful man who knows everything.” She came back to earth and said, “But it always turns out he doesn’t. It’s so disappointing because they always say they do, you know? But they don’t, and you can’t trust them after all.”

  “I think you’re supposed to love them for themselves,” Quinn said.

  “Well, I do,” Barbara said. “Until they fail me.”

  Quinn went back to the essentials. “Why would you want somebody who would dump his wife?”

  Barbara looked dumbfounded. “People get divorced all the time. Nick’s divorced, and you’re with him.”

  “No, I’m not,” Quinn said. “He’s not even talking to me.”

  “Then why did he pay your loan?” Barbara said. “He must think he’s with you.”

  “I don’t know what he thinks,” Quinn said. “I’m not even sure what I think. My world is going through a weird phase.”

  “Darla Ziegler is living with you, isn’t she?” Barbara said.

  Quinn frowned at her. “No. She’s just staying temporarily to work on the school play.” That sounded so lame she could see why Barbara wouldn’t buy it, so she ditched the excuses and went for the truth. “She hasn’t left Max. They’re still married.”

  “If I had somebody like Max, I wouldn’t move out and leave him alone,” Barbara said. “I heard he was at Bo’s last night. That’s terrible.”

  Bo’s. Oh, hell. “They are not getting divorced, Barbara,” Quinn said. “Forget it.”

  Barbara flushed, and Quinn felt sorry for her. “You’ll find somebody wonderful who knows a lot who’s not married,” Quinn told her. “It’s bound to happen.”

  Later, driving back to school, she realized that had been pretty patronizing. It wasn’t as if she were doing any better than Barbara, really. Barbara was at least getting her house worked on. Quinn couldn’t even get the guy she wanted to pay attention to her (although he’d pay her down payment, the dumbass), and she couldn’t get the guy she didn’t want to leave her alone. Fix your own life before you start on Barbara’s, she thought.

  She started with Jason. “Mr. Gloam is upset that you’re doing both the play and baseball.”

  “I’m not the one screwing the team up,” Jason said.

  “He seems to think that would be me,” Quinn told him. “He also implied that our relationship might be, uh, more than teacher and student.”

  “He’s whacked,” Jason said.

  Quinn moved back as Thea came out of the storeroom with more paper. “I think so, too, but he can make life hell for me, so I’d appreciate it if you’d stand at least twenty feet from me at all times.”

  “You’re kidding.” Jason looked disgusted.

  “What’s wrong?” Thea said, and Jason said, “Gloam thinks I’ve got the hots for McKenzie.”

  “He’s just trying to blackmail me into kicking Jason off the crew,” Quinn told her. “He doesn’t really believe it.”

  “You’re not going to kick me off, are you?” Jason said, and Quinn shook her head. “Good,” he said. “This place is crazy.” He looked at Thea as he said it, and then went back to his seat, only to get up a few minutes later and say to her, “Listen, Thea, if Gloam shows up at practice, I’m sticking to you. Maybe he’ll think I’m after you instead of McKenzie and get off her back.”

  “Are you that good an actor?” Thea said coolly, and Jason shook his head and said, “This place is definitely crazy.”

  “Not just this place,” Quinn said and thought about Nick. He’d paid off her loan. He should be thanked for that. Her pulse kicked up a little at the thought. Exciting wasn’t turning out to be as easy as she’d thought it would be, but it was definitely worth pursuing. After ignoring her for two weeks, Nick should definitely be thanked.

  Whether he wanted to be or not.

  Darla was just finishing up Joan Darling’s blow-dry when Max came into the Upper Cut.

  “There’s your husband,” Joan said.

  “Is that who that is?” Darla said. Shut up, Joan.

  “You been gone so long you probably forgot,” Joan said.

  “There you go,” Darla said, shutting off the dryer before the back of Joan’s head was completely done. Let her walk around like that for a while.

  “You and that Quinn aren’t fooling anybody,” Joan said as she got up. “We all heard the rumors, and Corrie Gerber said that Quinn admitted it right here in this chair.”

  “Admitted what?” Darla said, but then Max was there, saying, “I need to talk to you,” and she walked to the break room with him following her while Joan watched them, avid for news to spread.

  Max closed the door behind them. “How long are you going to pull this crap?”

  “Which crap?” Darla said. “Living with Quinn instead of you? Until you give me a good reason to come home.”

  “Well, I’ve got one for you,” Max said. “There’s a rumor going around that you and Quinn are sleeping together.”

  Darla laughed. She couldn’t help it, he looked so indignant. “So are you afraid we are, or disappointed we aren’t?”

  “It’s not funny.” Max glared at her. “You’re making me a laughingstock.”

  “I don’t see how,” Darla said. “You should be getting a lot of sympathy. I bet those cookies are just piling up over there.”

  Max’s face got red. “You really think I’d cheat on you? you really do?”

  “No,” Darla said. “But I really think you still don’t get it.” He looked so unhappy she wanted to put her arms around him, but that would just get her back where she’d been. “We need a change, Max. We need to really look at each other again, take risks again, remember what it was like to really live again. If I come home, it’ll be like it always was, and I can’t stand that.” She stopped, knowing from the look on his face that he wasn’t getting it, that he was getting angrier instead. “Forget it.” She turned back to the door. “Just forget it.”

  “Look, just tell me what you want and you can have it,” he said, his voice tired with exasperation.

  “If I tell you, it doesn’t mean anything,” Darla said. “It isn’t anything specific. I just need you to realize that we’re turning to stone and we’re not even in our forties yet. I tried to do something different, and you wouldn’t pay attention. Now you try something. Surprise me. Prove to me we’re still alive.”

  “I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about,” he said.

  “Well, that’s why I’m sleeping with Quinn instead of you,” Darla said.

  Late that afternoon, Nick bent over Marcy Benbow’s Jeep and thought about Quinn. And sex. He wasn’t comfortable with the two ideas in the same sentence, but he couldn’t get them out of his mind. So maybe he could talk her into doing it once, so they could get it out of their systems and go back to where they’d been before. One shot, that’s all he wanted. One chance to rip that underwear off her and roll her over and then back to the good old days like before. One fast forbidden fuck, and then—

  Out front, a car door slammed and Barbara Niedemeyer walked toward the station door. She’d driven in her mom’s Camry this time,