I STILL LOVE YOU, BUT...

CHAPTER 3

I remember Cora at a barbeque we threw in March a few months ago at my house. Colin had invited his staff as a gesture of appreciation.

Cora stood out from the crowd. She was dressed in a skin-tight pink tank top with skinny black tights that moulded every delicious curve of her bum. In short, she was every man's dreamgirl, a blonde, living, breathing, Barbie doll.

Throughout the barbeque, she was hanging all over Colin, touching his arm, giggling, whispering in his ear, hanging onto his words, looking up into his eyes adoringly. Colin treated her like the rest of the staff, and continued to chat and mingle casually with the people from his office, many of whom I had never spoken to.

Ever so often, Cora would fluff her blonde hair, and laugh, and every time she laughed, she would lean a little closer to Colin, with her whole body, until her boobs were pressing his forearm. He moved away at once. I gritted my teeth, took deep breaths to calm myself down, and downed a whole bottle of sparkling water to cool my jealousy.

Colin glanced over and caught me glaring, and gave me an encouraging nod and a smile, as if to say, "It's nothing. She doesn't mean a thing to me."

"Look at that sex kitten making eyes at your husband." Iris ambled over. She was an attractive platinum blonde in her forties, the head of the Marketing Department, and married to Edward Cartwright, a good friend of Colin's, who owned his own real estate company. "She's got her claws into him. Better keep an eye on her, Amanda."

Iris had sort of taken me under her wing, ever since she was introduced to me, a few months after Colin and I had got married, and we tended to gravitate toward each other at company functions and parties.

"Maybe, she's like that with all the men," I said lamely. "You know, a natural flirt."

"That's how it starts..." she said darkly. "You can't be complacent, Amanda. I wouldn't let my husband come within an inch of that temptress."

My eyes followed hers to where Edward, a stocky man with receding hair and a kind face, was being accosted by a very curvaceous brunette in a red dress.

"What on earth is Gloria talking to Ed about?" she said suspiciously. "I'm going to find out." She stalked off in the direction of her husband and the woman in red.

Next thing I knew, Cora's eyes locked on mine, and in a minute, she had bounced over to me.

"Mrs. Clayton?" she cooed. She has a babyish, breathy voice. Kind of like Marilyn Monroe's. She stretched out her hand, beaming. "I'm Cora. Cora Webb. I wooork for your husbaaand. We've spoooken on the phoooone a feeeew tiiiimes."

"I remember," I said icily. I also remembered Colin had been working late the past few nights. And if she was his intern, it meant that she had been working late with him on every one of those nights.

"Colin's a terrific guyyyy. It's so terrificcc working for him," she gushed.

"Terrific." What else could I say?

"You're so luckyyy."

"I am?"

She fluffed her blonde locks and giggled breathily.

"Mrs. Clayton, youuu stay at hooome, righhht? Youuu're a hooousewife?"

"Actually, I run an online business," I lied. Please, don't ask me what kind of business.

"From hooome?"

"Yep."

"Terrifficccc."

"Amazingly terrific."