Emma thought about lying to her, making nice and being polite. But the scene Andrew had read that featured his main characters digging deeply for courage to face their foes against overwhelming odds seemed to resonate in her head.
She did not need a confrontation with Pam tonight, but she was also not in the mood to lie simply to be polite to this woman.
“I saw you that day.”
Pam stared at her, eyes wide and confused. “You saw what? What day?”
“The day my dad died. I saw the two of you together.”
Pam’s face seemed to lose color and her jaw sagged. “You... what?”
Emma nodded. “I was supposed to meet Dad at four so he could take me driving after school. We had some kind of school assembly that day so I decided to leave early and surprise him.”
She had been the one surprised, though.
The memory of all she had seen and heard burned in her mind, hot and shameful.
Pam seemed to turn another shade paler.
“Imagine my surprise when there was nobody at the front desk to meet me. I could hear sounds coming from his office. I didn’t want to disturb my dad but I wanted to let him know I was there. The door was slightly ajar and I saw the two of you there on his sofa. You certainly weren’t going over the payroll. You were all over him.”
Now a hot tide of color seemed to wash over Pam’s features, leaving her skin splotchy. “I’m sure you misunderstood what you saw. You were only a girl and it was a long time ago.”
“I didn’t misunderstand anything. I know what I saw. You were making out. How long had you been going after my dad?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Pam said, her voice icy.
“I know what I saw. I have no idea how you have managed to hide the truth from my mom for all these years. If she had any idea you were screwing her husband, I know she would never have let you stay working at Lucas Construction.”
A host of emotions seemed to cross Pam’s features. Embarrassment, unease and the beginnings of anger. “We never slept together.”
“That’s what my dad said, too. I didn’t believe him any more than I believe you.”
Pam now looked like she wanted to rush past her back to the party but Emma remained in her way. Now that the words had spilled out, she couldn’t seem to hold back her scorn.
“What kind of person sleeps with the husband of someone who was supposed to be her friend? A friend who has continued to employ you and pay you very well for the past ten years.”
“I don’t need to listen to this.” Pam again tried to push past her but Emma stood firm, ten years of pain and anger spewing out as if she had ruptured a pipeline.
“What did you hope to achieve? Did you really think my dad was going to leave my mom? He loved her.”
Pam drew in a sharp breath, her gaze hardening. “Your mother was never the woman Gary needed,” she hissed, her voice low and intense. “He needed a partner. An equal. Rosie didn’t care about Lucas Construction. She didn’t care about anything but her stupid little bookstore and about buying Stormhaven. She wasn’t there for him.I was. I was the one staying late with him to work on bids, advising him on personnel issues, spending my weekends dealing with bank paperwork.”
Her momhadbeen a little distracted around that time, Emma remembered. And her parents had been bickering more than usual. Had Pam swooped in to take advantage of the opportunity when her parents were going through a rocky time?
“Your dad had feelings for me,” Pam went on, her voice still low. “Hewasgoing to leave your mom, and we were going to run the company. Together, we would have been unstoppable. We were talking about having a future together. We would have had a great one, too.”
She narrowed her gaze, skewering Emma with a look of deep antipathy. “Until you had to go and ruineverythingby killing him.”
Emma nearly reeled in the face of the other woman’s vitriol. She felt dizzy, lightheaded, as all her own guilt and pain coalesced.
She curled her hands into fists, wanting to smack Pam rightin her furious face. She wanted to hit out, to run from the house, to go get wasted or high or any of the old things she once used to escape.
“It was allyourfault,” Emma hit back. “We were fighting aboutyouright before I hit the slick patch and drove off the cliff.”
“That doesn’t make it my fault. You were behind the wheel.”
“I told him I had seen you together. Do you want to know what he said?”