Treacherous Secrets novel Chapter 2

Coming around the table to Emily, he picked up her glass and sniffed it. "A little early for margaritas, isn't it?"

"Maybe," Emily said. She turned her face up to Kenton for a kiss, but he kissed her on her forehead instead of her lips, and then downed what was left of her margarita.

"I sent you a text earlier telling you that the party had been moved up to today, did you not get it?"

Emily gritted her teeth. "No, I didn't get it, but Carol informed me about the new time when she got here. Barbara McKinsley is on her way over. They're going to help me set up."

"Good," Kenton said and headed toward the house. "I'm going to get a shower and a nap. Why don't you join me in a little while?" He winked at Emily and disappeared into the house.

Carol looked at Emily and grinned. "Wink, wink, I guess we know what he wants."

"Well, if he can't bother to kiss me on the lips, he most certainly isn't getting anything else. Besides the fact that I now have less than six hours to prepare for this party," Emily growled.

Kenton poked his head out of the door. He'd already taken off his shirt, revealing his tanned, muscular torso. "I almost forgot. Walter and his son, Frank, are coming. Make sure we have plenty of champagne. Wake me later."

He went back into the house and Emily pursed her lips. "God, he is such an ass sometimes."

"You have got to be kidding," Carol said. "At least he hints around that he wants sex instead of just taking it."

"I wasn't talking about that," Emily said, frowning. "He just expects so much out of me." She looked at Carol, "So Damon what, just shows up and throws you on the bed?"

"Sometimes there's a bed involved, but it's usually where ever and whenever he decides he wants it." Carol took another drink of her margarita, finishing it off, and poured herself another one from the pitcher.

"So why do you think he's having an affair if he wants to have sex with you all the time?" Emily asked picking up her glass and heading toward the house.

"He doesn't want it all the time, and he never wants it when I want it. And, I think he's having an affair because he doesn't want it like he used to, and he's always talking about meeting this woman from Knoxville at unusual places. He talks about sending her gifts, and wanting to be with her," Carol said.

Emily stopped at the sliding glass doors. "So he sends her a text saying, I want to be with you, meet me some place, I have a present for you?"

"Not that plain," Carol said, rolling her eyes. "They talk in code, and he doesn't use her real name. He uses some kind of initials code, but I know it's her."

Barbara opened the sliding door, making both of them jump. She was standing there holding a margarita in one hand and her purse in the other. "I just saw your delicious husband, Emily. He is just gorgeous."

Emily pushed past Barbara, "Well, Gorgeous is throwing a party for at least twenty people tonight, and I only have five and a half hours to get ready for it; you two going to help or what?"

The phone buzzed. That cheating son of a bitch was getting a text. The forwarded message read: "Where are you?"

His reply, "Nashville."

"U going to the party?"

"Y"

Did that mean his lover was going to be there tonight?

The next message said, "Mt me later?"

His reply, "If I can."

Emily smiled back and gave him a nod, "Senor.""Miss Emily," Fernando said, with his thick Hispanic accent, "This is our nephew, Mario Rodriquez. Mario, this is Miss Emily, but we call her Mrs. Jenkins when Mr. Jenkins is home."

"I would offer you my hand," Mario said with a lighter accent, more like Sonja's. He held up the hand in question which was clearly wet and dirty.

"That's okay," Emily smiled, thinking that she probably didn't need to touch this handsome man anyway. She looked back at Fernando. "Mr. Jenkins thinks we need another case of champagne. Do you think you can run out and get another one?"

He looked around at the tables that still needed arrangements and candles. "Would it be okay if Mario goes?"

"I'm not sure," Emily said, looking over Mario."He's okay," Fernando assured her, reading her thoughts. "I know how I want things set up, and it will take at least an hour to go to the liquor store and back. By then many of your guests will be arriving."

Emily sighed, "Okay." She took the bills out of her wallet and told Mario the exact brand of champagne to buy. "Please make sure you get the right brand."

"Don't worry, Miss Emily," Mario said with a twinkle in his dark brown eyes. "I'll be back before you know it."

Emily watched him saunter out of the garden toward Sonja and Fernando's house at the back of the property. "I've never heard you and Sonja talk about having a nephew that old. Where'd he come from?"

Fernando looked confused. "Surely we've spoken of my sister's son before. He has been at a university in Texas and spent the past few years travelling through Mexico in the area our family originally came from. He's a very good boy. Always respectful, a hard worker, he graduated with honors. Sonja and I went to his college graduation in El Paso."

"Oh yeah," Emily said, "I remember now. You went down there for a week. That wasn't too long after Kenton and I got married."

"Right," Fernando said. He walked over to the crate with the flower arrangements. "He has just moved back to Nashville to take care of his mother. She's developed diabetes and some other health problems."

"That's very sweet of him," Emily said. "Not many people will give up their own lives to take care of their parents."