MRS. COLLINS

38. stay away

I head down to Nick's office after Paul and I are done for the day. We came to work together in his car this morning so I go down to meet him. I don't know how I feel. Part of me feels like I'm overreacting. I mean, if I'm being honest with myself, jealousy is flattering. I can't stop thinking about how if it weren't for what happened with Victor, I probably wouldn't be reacting this way. I've tried putting myself in Nick's shoes and I know I would get jealous if I saw him with a woman.

It's kind of ironic that I'm thinking about this because when I get to Nick's office, I realize that he isn't alone.

"Is he in a meeting?" I ask Tara, his secretary.

She looks nervous as she looks at me. "Uh, not exactly."

I narrow my eyes at her in annoyance though I know it's not her fault. "Who's in there with my husband, Tara?"

She gulps. "It's Linda, Mrs. Collins."

I run my hand through my hair feeling very annoyed now. "I'm going to go in." I tell her so she doesn't try to stop me. She doesn't. I twist the doorknob and let myself in.

Nick and Linda are standing inside the office. Nick is behind his desk and I feel relieved because I would have really lost it if I would have seen him touching her. Linda is standing on the other side wearing a rose pink skin-tight dress and silver heels. Her blond hair is loose around her shoulders. What the hell is she doing here? And why would Nick let her in after what she tried to do? Is he out of his mind?

I can tell that I've obviously interrupted an argument. Nick looks almost as annoyed as I am and Linda looks angry. They are both looking at me now and I shut the door behind me.

"Good," Linda says looking at me. "I'm glad you're here."

"Are you now?" I ask taking a step forward.

"I'm not here to fight," she says sending Nick a pointed look.

I look at Nick and he sighs in annoyance and starts pacing behind his desk. "Why are you here, Linda?" I ask her.

"This has nothing to do with Nick and me," she says then looks away. "I've-moved on from that."

"Then?" I ask not believing her at all.

"This is about Eva."

I frown. "Eva?"

What does Eva have to do in this conversation?

"She didn't know what was going on between Nick and me," Linda says looking at Nick but he's looking at me. "She-she found out by accident about a week ago."

"Okay," I say slowly trying to understand where this is going. Is Eva planning on telling the world about Nick's affair? Because that would be a problem. I hate that we're back to this. This is supposed to be behind me, in the past. All I want to do is move on and forget about everything that has happened. Please.

Linda looks at me. "She lost it."

"She lost it? What does that mean?"

Linda looks at me like I'm an idiot; like I'm supposed to know something. "She was hurt, Rachel. She called me a traitor along with other things. I've never seen her like that. I thought we were friends." She looks a little sad saying that and I can tell that losing Eva as a friend has her feeling down.

I think about what she just said then look over at Nick who shakes his head at me. I can tell he's dismissing everything Linda is saying. He probably doesn't believe her. To be quite honest, I don't either. Why would we trust Linda? After what she tried to do?