Deep Waters

she bothering to cook a meal for Elias Winters in the first place?
    She was still simmering over their early-morning conversation. He had made it breathtakingly clear that he wanted to pretend that he had never shown her that vulnerable piece of himself last night. On the other hand, he was content to carry on with the sexual side of their relationship now that it had gotten off the ground.
    Typical, Charity thought. It was just so damn typical.
    No, that wasn't fair, she decided as she reached for a package of rice and some soy sauce. Nothing about Elias could be called typical.
    She glanced at her list. She still needed fresh fruit for the dessert. It was getting late. She had left Newlin in charge of closing Whispers while she took off to do her grocery shopping, but she still had a number of things to do before Elias arrived on her doorstep.
    She muscled the grocery cart around a corner and saw another cart blocking her path. Jennifer Pitt had the door of the frozen food case open.
    "Oops, sorry, Jennifer." For some reason, Charity's cart, which until now had fought her every inch of the way, suddenly took off like a thoroughbred racehorse.
    Charity dug in her heels and managed to drag it to a halt. "Didn't see you."
    Jennifer smiled her cool, bored smile. "Don't worry about it. These aisles are far too narrow. When things start to boom here in the Cove, I'd like to see a major grocery chain move into town. We could certainly use a decent store here."
    "This one's not so bad. Just a little small."
    "You could say that about the whole damn town."
    Charity started to back out of the aisle. The last thing she wanted to do was get into an extended conversation with the second Mrs. Pitt. Jennifer was not a happy woman. Of course, it had not been an easy summer for her, what with the flamboyant first Mrs. Pitt flitting around town in her outrageous Voyager costume.
    In Charity's opinion, Jennifer had actually handled the whole thing with surprising grace. Perhaps the knowledge that she was the current Mrs. Pitt, not the ex, gave her the fortitude to rise above the awkward situation.
    Jennifer was a tall, sleek, striking woman in her mid-thirties. Rumor had it that she had once done a short stint as a model in Los Angeles. Charity could well believe it. She had the height, and there was a certain kind of Southern California glamour about her. It whispered of hot beaches and endless summers. Everyone knew she, worked out regularly on the home gym equipment Leighton had purchased for her. The results showed.
    She had a sense of fashion that was alien to Whispering Waters Cove. Today she wore a silk shirt designed to imitate denim and a pair of beautifully draped trousers that flowed over the cuffs of her shoes. Her honey-brown mane was streaked with a lot of golden highlights, as if she lived in perpetual sunshine instead of in the cloudy Northwest. She wore her big hair in a voluminous, shoulder-length style that always managed to look just slightly windblown. The large diamond that Leighton had given her on their wedding day glittered on her left hand. She always had a pair of stylish dark glasses perched on top of her head, and her makeup was flawless.
    Most folks held the view that Leighton Pitt had never stood a chance once Jennifer set her sights on him. The biggest mystery in Whispering Waters Cove was not why he had divorced Gwendolyn to marry Jennifer. The mystery was why Jennifer had ever wanted to steal him in the first place.
    True, Leighton was the most prosperous man in the Cove, but most people felt that, with her looks and style, Jennifer could have done much better for herself in Seattle. After all there was real money in the city, everyone pointed out, what with all the high-tech companies and the Pacific Rim businesses located there.
    "I suppose you'll be joining the crowd on the bluff at midnight tonight." Jennifer's long, red-tipped acrylic nails closed around a ready-made, low-fat entree.
    "Wouldn't miss it." Charity glanced curiously at the microwavable meal Jennifer had selected. It was a single-serving size. "Biggest show in town."
    "Which isn't saying much, is it?" Jennifer's crimson mouth twisted with just a hint of bitterness as she closed the freezer door. "Well, at least it will all be over by tomorrow. Gwendolyn's Voyagers will finally realize that they've been had. Wonder what they'll do about it when they find out they've been ripped off?" Charity thought about it. "I suppose some of them