It was not Brennan. The wide waist and short body with flowing dark hair immediately told me it was Alena, Brennan’s housekeeper for the past ten years. She’d been here before me and would be here long after me. Most important, she had no beef with me. I’d always treated her well and, frankly, considered having her as a housekeeper as opposed to a younger, shapelier woman a major plus. It was one less thing to tempt Brennan.

Alena gasped when she saw us; then she recognized me. She wore a simple white polyester uniform that stretched tight around her hips and bosom. She held her hands to her cheeks, then rushed toward me with her arms out to envelop me in a massive hug.

“Miss Christy, I have missed you so much. Are you well?” She stepped back and a tear ran down her cheek. “Look at you. You look wonderful. Maybe you could eat a little more, but you are still so beautiful.”

That made me shed a tear as I stepped forward and gave Alena my own hug. I’d forgotten how sweet this woman from Guatemala could be. I also knew that not having her phenomenal pastries around was probably one of the reasons I had lost weight quickly after I moved out.

I said, “How are you, Alena?”

She shrugged, and I knew what she meant. She worked for a jerk, but what are you going to do?

I introduced Marty quickly, brushing over our exact relationship.

Alena gave me a sly smile and said, “Very handsome, Miss Christy.”

“He’s an architect, so I wanted to show him the place. Do you know when Brennan will be back?”

“Not for a long time. He had to go with his father to Miami on business. I was just using the day to run errands.”

Now it could get tricky. I hesitated, then finally said, “Alena, do you think you could keep my little visit a secret?”

“I would do anything you asked after the way Mr. Brennan treated you. Besides, now that you’re not around, he doesn’t even pretend to treat me with any respect. If I didn’t need the job so badly, I would walk away and never come back.”

I gave Alena another hug before she headed out on her next errand. Now Marty and I had some time to look around.

Chapter 21

I decided to give Marty a grand tour of my former castle. It was a lot like the tours I had given friends and neighbors after we’d had work done around the house. As I was showing him some of the guest bedrooms upstairs and recognizing all the improvements I had made in my years as the mistress of the house, I started to realize that maybe I had been covering up flaws in our marriage by throwing myself so completely into home renovations. It wasn’t an uncommon practice among the bored housewives of Palm Beach, but I’d had no idea I was doing it at the time.