Chapter 194 Devilish Dip in the Pond
Sitting outside by the pond on a bench, Andrea tried to clear her mind. And stay away from Rhonda. She’d spoken to Case earlier, and while he was upset that his mother had just shown up without calling, again, he was more concerned about Andrea being there alone with her. Andrea had assured him that she could handle it, but being cooped up inside with the woman had been enough to set Andrea’s nerves on edge. So she’d wandered out here.
The pond was peaceful. There was a light breeze stirring the leaves on the shade trees, and the frogs were calling to one another as dragonflies zoomed about. She breathed in the fresh air, noting how different it was from LA where even the parks smelled a bit like smog. It was so beautiful out here. She wished she could just stay here year wrong.
And then she heard an annoying voice behind her and turned to see Rhonda headed across the grass. “There you are!” the woman called. “I thought you’d left for good. Of course, I thought even you weren’t rude enough to go off and leave a guest in your house alone….”
As Rhonda continued to make her way over, Andrea got the feeling that something wasn’t right about this trek. Rhonda wouldn’t come all the way out here unless she had something especially rude she wanted to say.
She also noticed that Rhonda was wearing an unusual outfit. Generally speaking, the woman was dressed to the nines. When she’d arrived, she had been. Now, she was wearing what appeared to be old gray capri pants and a dark T-shirt. She had no jewelry on either.
Thinking she had to be up to something, Andrea discretely turned on the video recorder on her phone and set it where it could pick up Rhonda’s movements and her voice. Andrea couldn’t help but ask about her outfit, too. “You changed clothes.”
“Oh, well, when I saw how casually dressed you were, I decided to put on something less fancy.” Andrea ignored the dig. “Besides, I thought I might want to take a nap later.”
Andrea thought that looked like an odd pair of pants to nap in, but she didn’t say it out loud. When Rhonda sat down next to her, she noted the flip flops, too. They looked like the kind a person might where in the shower at a hotel, when they weren’t expecting anyone to see them but needed something on their feet.
“It’s beautiful out here,” Rhonda said. “When Case first bought this place, I told him to put in this bench. I thought it would be nice to come out here and sit and listen to the frogs.”
“It’s very peaceful,” Andrea agreed, biting off the comment that she wanted to add—that it had been peaceful.
“Listen, Andrea, I don’t want to be unpleasant, but I did want to mention to you that I’ve given some thought to this idea of you and Case getting married, and I think I have plenty of reasons why the two of you should wait. I hope you’re willing to listen without lashing out irrationally as you usually do.”
Andrea raised an eyebrow but didn’t take the bait. “What’s that?” she asked, trying to seem pleasant, even though she was ready to shake the woman.
“Well, first of all, you haven’t been dating that long. I think you should wait until you’ve been dating for at least a year before you get engaged.”
“We’re already engaged,” Andrea reminded her.
“Yes, well, that can be changed. Also, I think you should have a test done for venereal disease. I’m sure Case wasn’t thinking about that before he asked you, but you have been with many, many, many men.”
“I don’t really see how that’s your business,” Andrea said dryly. “However, if you really want to know, the number is less than half a dozen. I seriously doubt many people would call that ‘many, many, many’ men.”
“Fine. Dozens then. Whatever you want to call it.”
Andrea’s mouth dropped open, but she didn’t comment. There was no point. “Are you finished?” she asked.
“No, dear. My final reason is that I don’t want you to marry my son. I don’t know why he’s so smitten with you. Frankly, I don’t see it. But what I do know is that I failed at keeping my other son away from a wicked woman, and now I’ve lost him. I promise you, I won’t fail this time.”
“Don’t you think that’s a good sign that you just shouldn’t try to come between your children and the people they love then?” Andrea reasoned.
“Oh, no. I already told you. I’ll stop at nothing. Now, I ask you this. Will Case still want to marry you when he finds out how vicious you are?”
“What are you talking about?” Andrea’s eyes enlarged as she attempted to figure out what Rhonda was getting at.
“What kind of a horrible person would push an elderly woman into a pond?”
“I don’t know,” Andrea said, her forehead crinkled. “But not me.”
“That’s not what Case is about to see.” She took her phone out of her pocket and set it on the bench before standing. “Who do you think he’ll believe? You or his darling mother who raised him? Who gave birth to him?”
Andrea’s mouth dropped open as she watched Rhonda walk over to the pond. She made sure her phone was still pointed at Rhonda. “Ms. Meyer, please don’t do that. I have no idea how deep that water is. You could get hurt.”
“Say you won’t marry my son. Take that ring off and toss it into the pond.”
“I can’t do that. Now, stop. Get away from there.” Andrea put her phone down, too, still pointed at Rhonda. She stood. “Seriously, don’t jump in the pond.”
“I’m not. I’m falling.” She moved over so that she was in front of her phone and started waiving her hands around. “Andrea! Please don’t push me into the pond!” she shouted. “Please! I can’t swim!” Then, she fell backward into the water.
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