I made small talk with the woman to my left during the meal. She was elderly, and a bit hard of hearing so I had to raise my voice to speak with her, which caused the people around us to stare.
She's the attorney general's aunt and kept going on about her son, who used to be a senator, and her grandson. They disappeared back in the 1990s. Even though I was just a kid when that occurred, I mentioned that I remembered my dad discussing the disappearance. It's one of the few times my father showed heartfelt concern for a political family.
I kept peeking over at Heidi. She was in a deep conversation with Mr. Willis, and that concerned me. I had no idea what my ex's father was telling her. He could be filling her head with falsehoods, like the slander he believed I did to Jackie. He thought it was me and not his daughter who lied, cheated, and stole throughout our marriage.
The man couldn't fathom that his precious little girl could do those things, so it must have been me.
Once the dessert arrived, I noted Mr. Willis and Senator White exchanged glances that accompanied a smirk. And the smirk was followed by a turn of Mr. Willis' head so he could stare at me.
I had trouble swallowing the decadent lemon cake and turned my attention to Heidi. She wasn't eating, either. Her eyes were glued to her plate with worry etched in her features.
This dinner had to end. I had to speak with Heidi and find out what Jackie's father told her. I got my chance when the butler announced that drinks would be in the first-floor library. How many large rooms did this home have?
Jumping from my seat, I moved toward Heidi. Instead of heading in the direction of the crowd, she was making her way back to the front entry. The same place I told her, when we first arrived, that she had nothing to worry about.
How could I have been so foolish?
"Ready to leave?" I asked a little breathless and with hope tickling my voice.
"Yes." Heidi didn't even turn to face me as the butler handed Heidi her purse. My forehead beaded with sweat from her cold response.
"The food was good. I liked the steak. Don't get that too often." I attempted to brush some hair from Heidi's shoulder, but her body stiffened the same way it had when her mother had touched her earlier.
Heidi finally turned when the butler left. "How many people have you tried to swindle money from, Max?" The glare from her eyes could easily have sliced the steak I enjoyed earlier.
"What? No one. I've never swindled money from anyone. Wait, I mean . . ."
"Besides me, you mean?"
I wondered if someone left a window open. The room felt hot and muggy as if all the cool air had evaporated. It became difficult to breathe.
"I explained what happened with that. I really did think you would ask around and realize you could get the plumbing done at a much cheaper price. I never expected you to call me back."
"Then why didn't you say something right away? You waited until it was obvious you could seduce me—"
"Seduce you? Where is this coming from? I love you, Heidi. When I kissed you for the first time back in May, I had never wanted to kiss any woman so much in all my life." I held up my hands to try and stop that terrible accusation. "Look, I did something stupid, and I will keep saying sorry until you believe me."
Heidi's beautiful hazel eyes filled with concern and disappointment, and I was thankful they weren't on me. "I want to believe you, Max, but what Mr. Willis told me . . . He's right, even after spending time with you, no one can really know you."
As much as I regretted marrying Jackie and bringing her evil father into my life, I would never be sorry for the most wonderful person we created with our union—Kat. She's everything to me, and so was Heidi. I shook my head, understanding that Mr. Willis was now hellbent on taking Heidi away from me as punishment for still having a connection to his daughter, even though it was through Kat.
"I can't tell you how many times that man has acted like Kat doesn't even exist or worse . . . he has threatened to take Kat away. Not because I'm a bad father. You have seen me with my daughter, Heidi. Do you believe I don't treat her as a father should?" I crossed my arms and waited for her truth.
"No, you are a good father. I never doubted that for a moment, Max. But how you have treated your clients, and even your ex-wife . . ." Her shoulders sagged as if the fight in her had died. "It doesn't make sense," she said softly.
"Because it's not true." I placed my hands on her shoulders and waited for her to gaze up at me. "The only time in my life that I ever stole something was when I was two years old. I grabbed a piece of candy from the checkout aisle in the supermarket. I showed my mother when we left the store, proud that I got my own candy. She marched me right back inside and made me apologize to the cashier for stealing. I never took anything ever again."
Her mouth opened on a breath, and I knew my words had an impact on her. Heidi had just met Mr. Willis tonight, but she knew me. She couldn't believe him, not while I was standing right in front of her. She's been around smarmy politicians her whole life. Couldn't she see Jackie's father was no better?
"Mr. Willis showed me the letter, Max. Where you apologized to your ex-father-in-law for overcharging his friends for plumbing work. He told me that you agreed to do free work for them to make up the cost as you already spent the money. Mr. Willis said he promised that there would be no legal action if you agreed to divorce Jackie."
Shit.
"Did you write that letter, Max?"
I took a deep breath before I slowly nodded my head. "Yes, I wrote it."
Chapter 15
Heidi
"WHY SO SAD?" FELIPE asked as I picked a fight with a chair trying to pull it from the table. Meeting at Bake & Take for lunch wasn't my idea.
A good lunch for me, especially after the shattering of my heart last week at my parents' dinner party, included baking a bunch of cookies, breaking them into pieces, putting them in a blender with chocolate pudding and peanut butter—for protein, of course—and then mixing it up into a very thick smoothie.
I was embarking on creating a smoothie diet of my own. I would call it the "Enjoy Life Because Men Are Crap" diet.
"I'm not sad. This chair just doesn't want to cooperate and needs to be taught a lesson."
Gathering myself, I took a breath and glanced around the café to find everyone staring. Managing to slide the seat back a few inches, I squeezed myself between the wooden table and chair. I couldn't breathe without taking gulps of air, but it was fine. I was fine.
"You aren't fine, Heidi."
I jerked my head up. "Did you read my mind?"
On top of being handsome, charming, and the smartest man in the room, Felipe could now read minds? Life wasn't fair. All I could do was come up with a smoothie diet that most people on social media—where I may have posted my idea with enthusiasm—called it grossly unhealthy.
But the more I stared at Felipe, the more I realized I could use my friend's gift to help me. "How do you feel about beating a senator at his own game with your mind reading skills?"
He chuckled, blinding people with a flash of his gleaming white teeth. "I can't read your mind, Heidi. But I can tell you are upset and extremely uncomfortable."
Felipe stood and moved to my side of the table. With a slight tug of my chair, with me still in it, he gifted me with breath again. My seat magically skidded back several more inches.
This chair loved him. Everyone loved him.
"I'm unlovable."
"What happened with Max? Did your father get to him?"
Felipe, with the grace of a dancer and the sex appeal of a movie star, slipped into his seat. Just once, I wanted to be cool like Felipe. Then maybe men would think twice before using me for my family’s money.
"Dad tried, but I don't think Max was after my family connections. He just wanted money. As much money as he could swindle out of me."
Felipe's brows pinched together, and he looked adorable. I heard someone sigh in the distance. "That doesn't sound like the Max I know."
; I leaned back in my hateful chair with a stare that could draw blood. "Then you don't know Max. I thought that, too. Hell, I even slept with him."
It was a mistake the moment I said the words, but it was too late. Even as my hands flew up to cover my mouth, I heard Felipe squeal.
"Oh my God!" Felipe flapped his hands trying to process what I told him. "Heidi, why didn't you tell me? I knew you seemed less like a social hermit lately."
"Gee, thanks." I rolled my eyes. Nothing like a best friend to keep it real.
Max had made up for all the years I lived as a sexual recluse. It was fun, but what made it worse was that I fell for him. Hard.
I took a fortifying breath and decided to not live in the past anymore. My father was right. I had to think of them. They may not be great parents, but they were the only ones I had. Perhaps I would be happier, not feel as jilted, if I dated a guy of their choosing.
As I pondered the list of hopeful men my parents had mentioned over the past year, I discovered Felipe wasn't talking.
He never liked dips in conversation. Something was wrong.
"What is it?" I asked as he watched me as if he was studying my face for some test.
"I never believed Max would be terrible at sex. If I had known, Heidi, you have to understand, I never would have pushed you two together."
"He's not bad at it. In fact, he's, uh . . ." I swallowed, unable to find the right words. "Max is perfectly adequate when it comes to sexual relations."
The more I spoke, the deeper and more cartoonish Felipe's frown became.
"It's worse than I thought. Does he even know what a clitoris is? I mean, I'm gay and even I know what it is."
He reached across the table, gently cupping my hand. His expression was perfect for a funeral scene in a Lifetime movie.
Leaning toward him, I lowered my voice. "The sex was fantastic, okay. He's like one of my snickerdoodles but in the human male form."
"Wow. That good, huh? Now I'm jealous and pissed for you. I can't believe a lay that good walked away."
"He didn't walk away. I did."
More silence. Felipe removed his hand and I couldn't bear to look at my friend. I knew what I would find on his face, so I glanced away.
He would be disappointed and confused. Maybe there would even be a hint of a calculating scheme to turn Max gay so Felipe could find out what an incredible lay he was for himself.
But when I peered up at my friend, I saw none of that. Only heartbreak.
"Oh, Heidi. I can't believe you let your father get to you."
"For once, he didn't. It was Max's ex, Jackie. Her father was there. He showed me a letter Max wrote admitting to exaggerating some bills to take money from his friends. Just like he did to me."
Thinking about dinner last week, I folded my arms across my chest. After Max admitted to writing that letter before I left my parents' house, he never said a word. But he didn't need to . . . his eyes explained everything. The pain and surprise shot at me in his wide stare, like a loud scream, told me that he never wanted me to discover that letter.
I turned my back and left the dinner, hating all the lies from all the men I had ever loved.
That was what made it more painful. The moment my father introduced Mr. Willis was the moment my heart grew with love for Max. Not because he could take an emotional beating from my parents, but I realized Max was everything good and wonderful in a man I was missing in my life.
His eyes looked at me as if I had no faults. Like I was perfect, even after he witnessed all my embarrassing imperfections and goofy ways. My father had never seen me like that. Every time I snorted from laughter or made a silly joke, my dad frowned and wondered aloud if I was his flesh and blood.
"That can't be true. Something about this doesn't seem right. Have you spoken to him since then?"
"No. I don't have to."
"Yes, you do."
I've had enough of men trying to manipulate me and use me to get something for themselves.
"This is his fault, I don't have to do anything. He knows where I live if he needs to write me an apology letter."
Felipe scratched his chin, and I noticed for the first time a bit of stubble. "You're my best friend, but you sound like a child right now. Has he tried to call you?"
I bit my lip and moved my gaze toward the door, refusing to answer. The entrance opened and with it came muggy air and a couple who looked happy and in love. I hated them.
"Heidi."
"Yes. Yes, he's tried to call every day over the past week. And he has stopped by my place several times. Unannounced, I might add."
"Have you answered any of his phone calls?"
More silence.
"I'll take that as a no. So, he's tried to call you with no response. Therefore, he would have to show up at your place unannounced because you won't answer his calls."
I snorted. "Sure, bring logic into the equation."
"Heidi, you have to talk to him. Why would your father become chummy with Max's ex-father-in-law? Last I checked, Senator White only befriended like-minded people."
I said nothing but knew Felipe made sense. I hated when he was right, which seemed like it was always. Except for Max. Felipe, so certain Max was ideal for me, was wrong. Max was nothing but a liar and that's what Felipe had to realize. He was mistaken about a man he pushed in my direction.
"I don't have to talk to a liar if I don't want to. If he really is this saint you are making him out to be—"
"I never said Max was a saint. And, you talk with your father all the time, and we all know he has a Ph.D. in falsehoods."
I didn't like Felipe's reasoning.
"Fake logic," I said turning slightly in my chair.
As if I was here to entertain him, he chuckled. "What is fake logic?"
"It's when logic is used but the person listening doesn't want it to be correct, so they pretend it's not true. A term I call, fake logic."
"How about an expert on this logic, or fake logic, as you put it? Would you consider an expert on the matter?"
"Yes, I would. As long as it's not you throwing your fake logic at me as if it would be the answer to my problems."
I turned my back as I heard Felipe's chair scrape the floor. "In that case, I'll be right back."
Good. I needed a break from my best friend. Let him go to the bathroom and piss and laugh all he wanted. I was going to sit right here thinking up alternative logic to defeat any fake logic his so-called expert may throw my way.
Taking out my phone, I noticed several missed calls from Max and ignored them. As I was looking up several almost solid counterpoints to hit Felipe with on Google, he returned, and I heard more than one chair scrape against the floor at our table. Turning back around, I cursed at what I saw.
Felipe's fake logic was in human form—Max.
"Is this some sort of crusade to prove your fake logic, Felipe?" I refused to acknowledge Max.
I knew he was there. He knew that I knew he was there, but I didn't have to act like it.
"Just hear him out, Heidi. Max called me when he couldn't get through to you. He's not who your father or his ex's father paints him out to be."
"So, this whole lunch was just a setup?"
Felipe scooted forward and with an expression I had never seen before, he answered simply, "Yes, it is. I have watched everyone in your life hurt you. Use you. Even the people who were meant to show you nothing but unconditional love treat you with disrespect. And I'm ashamed to admit that I have taken advantage of your kindness at times."
I placed my hand on his. "No, Felipe. You have never asked me to do something bad or illegal like my father has. I could never refuse you when you needed someone. You're my friend."
Felipe sighed. "Thank you. That's why you're my best friend. Even when I admit that I rely too heavily on your kindness, you still tell me you care. And that's why I had to set up this lunch meeting. Because you would be a fool to let Max go, Heidi. You two were meant to be together. And, at the v
ery least, two people in desperate need of some good sex."
Max coughed while my ears and most of my face burned.
"I think that's my cue to break in." Max's deep voice rumbled and rolled down my neck in the most delicious way.
I missed his words, his deep tone. And as I gazed over at him, I realized I missed everything about him.
Felipe patted my hand and stood. "Oh, look at the time. I have to go. You two have a wonderful and very fruitful discussion." He winked at me before he moved to the door.
"Okay, so talk. If you wrote that letter to Mr. Willis, then why should I trust you, Max?"
I leaned back, studying his face. Growing up in my house, you learned the tics people had when they lied. But, to my surprise, Max had none, only sincerity radiating from his eyes.
"I did write that letter. But the question you should be asking is why I wrote it," Max said with a curve of his lips. I hadn't forgotten how endearing his smile was and the addictive warmth that always seemed to bloom in my heart after seeing it.
That's why I stayed away. His lips could set fire to the icy wall I'd carefully built over the last week.
"Then why did you write it?"
"Jackie. One of her dad's friend noticed a line on his plumbing bill labeled Miscellaneous Parts. He was surprised because the charge for the parts was over a thousand dollars. Mr. Willis, being a man that hated me from day one, asked all his friends who had work done by Brighton & Sons if they too had this charge. And they all did."
"Pretty clever, assuming his friends wouldn't necessarily look at their bill. But, Max, not everyone is a fool." Except for me.
"You're right, Heidi. I was the idiot. I begged my dad to let Jackie help with Brighton & Sons after we had Kat. She was complaining she wasn't meant to be a stay-at-home-mom, and I thought if she had a job it would help her. My father, after much begging, let Jackie do the bills. Then she convinced her father to have his friends, who happened to have money, have Brighton & Sons take care of their plumbing."
"I think I can see where this is going. You used your wife to steal from her father's friends?"
Max straightened in his chair. "No. Not at all. I know, because of how I was going to overcharge you when we first met, it's easier to believe that I played a part in this scheme. But this was all Jackie. I had no idea she was doing that until it was too late. It was the reason I divorced her."
Dirty Secret Page 10