Episode 585: Cool

She frowned at herself. Clandestine was not the correct term. She wasn’t planning to do anything truly clandestine with Cal. But she still didn’t want anyone to know she was meeting with him. Especially not anyone she and her husband were bound to bump into at one function or another over the holiday season.

She sucked in a deep breath. She needed to calm down. Cal wasn’t even there yet. Adria Marques had only seen her. There was still time to fix it.

Sarette straightened her spine, determined to keep her cool as she marched over to Adria’s table, encouraged that the young woman appeared as uncomfortable on the outside as Sarette felt on the inside.

"Hi there, fancy seeing you here," Sarette said as the girl merely nodded, her eyes swimming with panic. "And with your husband." She’d heard through the grapevine that not only was Adria estranged from her husband, but her parents no longer approved of their son-in-law. Yet here the two of them sat, looking very cozy.

"It’s really great to see you, Mrs. Jordan," Adria said, "but, um, I would be really grateful if you kept mum that you saw me."

"I believe I can manage that," Sarette said, "as long as you don’t tell anyone you saw me here, nearly ruining my diet."

They shook hands and Sarette headed back to her car. Cal would be upste with her for missing their meeting, maybe never want to meet with her again, a thought that didn’t sit well in Sarette’s heart, but she had no choice.

Meantime, in their corner booth, Adria said, "we can’t meet like this anymore, my parents wouldn’t understand."

Ryley reached across the table and took her hand, thrilled that she didn’t pull away. "I can keep tutoring you," he insisted. He loathed helping her get further away from her dream but loved spending time with her. "We can study at my place." Which used to be their place. And as long as he kept things cool, would be again.

Episode 586: The Edge Of Glory