Quiet as the Grave by Kathleen O`Brien Page A

sighed. “Of course I do. But who is? Frankly, you and Phil have the only happy marriage I’ve ever seen.”
    It was true. Her own parents had a sick servant-master arrangement. And though many of Debra’s college friends had married in the past few years, some with diamond solitaires so big they could blind you, look at them now! The lucky ones had already escaped in divorce. The others just seemed to be settling in for lifelong misery.
    So why did Debra persist in thinking of herself as somehow inferior? Unwanted .
    â€œAnyhow, that eternity ring is fantastic.” She shook off the self-pitying mood and grinned. “Did I ever tell you about the time I found a jewelry box in Rutledge’s sock drawer?”
    â€œI don’t think so. When?”
    â€œTwo years ago. I was putting away laundry, and—”
    She caught Judy’s wry expression. “I wasn’t prying. It was early in the relationship—things hadn’t deteriorated to the prying point yet.”
    They both laughed. Debra didn’t have many secrets from Judy these days. Everyone needed a confidante, and over the past few months Judy had become hers.
    â€œAnyhow, it was only a couple of days from the anniversary of our first date. Not that I’d expected Rutledge to remember that. So how could I have resisted looking?”
    â€œYou couldn’t have,” Judy agreed immediately. “And…”
    â€œAnd inside was the tackiest ankle bracelet I’ve ever seen. It had a nice chain, I guess, but dangling from the chain was this charm shaped like a huge, revolting pair of puckered lips.”
    Judy stopped in her tracks. “ What ?”
    â€œI’m serious. It was the ugliest thing I ever saw in my life.”
    â€œWhat did you do?”
    â€œWell, what could I do? I wouldn’t have been caught dead in it, so I slipped it back under the socks. Then I made a couple of strategic comments about how I preferred understated jewelry. Ledge isn’t the most subtle guy in the world, but I guess he got it. The jewelry box disappeared.”
    â€œHe never gave it to you?”
    â€œNope. I guess he took it back, but he must have been offended, because he sure didn’t exchange it for anything. The anniversary came and went. Nothing. ”
    Judy looked even more appalled. Though Debra nudged her arm, she didn’t start walking again. They were just frozen there on the sidewalk in front of the jewelry store.
    Debra scanned her friend’s face, beginning to wish she hadn’t shared this particular Rutledge story. Judy was a great friend, but she was a little bit of a prude, and she already hated Rutledge enough. Perversely, Debra felt herself getting defensive for him.
    â€œHey, it’s not like a mortal sin, you know. Most guys have rotten taste in jewelry. You’re lucky Phil is so—”
    â€œNo.” Judy’s eyes were stretched so wide they quivered slightly from the strain. “That’s not what— Oh, Deb …Deb, look. Across the street.”
    Debra turned curiously. They were in the middle of downtown Albany, thirty miles from home in Tuxedo Lake. She wasn’t even sure what else was around here. A sandwich shop, a bookstore. A small hotel.
    â€œWhat?”
    But then she saw it.
    Saw him .
    Rutledge stood on the opposite sidewalk, looking extremely happy and handsome, his white shirt crisp and clean, his blond hair shining in the sunlight. He obviously hadn’t been working on anybody’s boathouse today.
    She thought at first he was alone. She was just about to raise her hand and call to him when he suddenly let out a happy laugh, the way he sometimes did when heplayed basketball at their apartment complex and sank an impossible shot.
    He turned and grabbed the woman walking next to him, an incredibly beautiful brunette. Like a fool, until that very moment, Debra had thought she was just a stranger coincidentally strolling