“And he decided to disappear from the face of the earth because of just stuff?”
“Yes, Cliff yes. I was even thinking that he slept in your place last night.”
“No, he didn’t-wait, he slept outside the house last night?”
“Yes.”
“It’s that serious?”
Alana sighed again. This was not taking her anywhere. Brad was apparently not in the office and he had not slept at Cliff’s place. Last night the urge to go over there and check for him had been overwhelming. After she managed to suppress it what came up next was the itch to call Cliff and ask if he was there. The only thing that had kept her from doing so was the thought that he probably needed some space. Calling him would not achieve anything.
“Alana, what happened?” Cliff asked.
“I told you; some stuff,” Alana replied.
“Brad isn’t a hot-headed person,” Cliff said. “He isn’t the type to leave home and go AWOL because of some stuff.”
“Look I can’t talk about it.” It was time to end this call. “Please if he calls you or picks up when you call, let me know. Okay?”
“I’ll do that.”
She tapped the end call button and placed the phone on the passenger seat. As soon as it touched the fabric of the seat it began to ring again. It was Fred Luther, her dentist, Brad’s frat brother from their college days. Was there a possibility that Brad was with him instead?
She picked the call. “Hey.”
“Yes, Alana, good morning.” His words came out in a drawl.
“Good morning. I remember the appointment.”
“Good. That’s why I called, to remind you.”
Did all dentists call their patients to remind them of their appointments with them? Or was this because she was Brad’s wife? Maybe he was treating her in a special way because of that, or because he wanted something from Brad. There was no need for the appointment by the way. She was doing fine. The tooth was gone. The pain killers he had given her did their job. She no longer felt the pain anymore. What was the need to meet again? Fred Luther was too meticulous for her liking.
“Okay then,” Fred said, “Twelve noon today. See you then alright?”
“Yeah, yeah.” She took a deep breath. “Look Fred, I need you to be honest with me okay?” She heard his breath catch in his throat, like he was afraid of what she was going to ask.
“Err…yeah?”
“Is Brad with you?”
“Brad?”
“Yeah. Did he sleep over at your place last night?”
“No. why?”
“Have you seen him today?”
“No. Wait, are you looking for him?”
“Yeah. Please if you see him let me know.”
“Since when?”
“Yesterday.”
“Have you called the police?”
Alana checked her wrist watch. It was fifteen minutes past ten am. “There’s no need for that. I’m sure he’s okay.”
“Well, how do you know?” Fred asked her. “Look you need to file a missing person report.”
“Just let me know if you see him please, okay?”
“Okay. But you still need to file that report.”
If she didn’t agree he would keep at it til they both sprouted gray hairs. “Yes I will.”
“Right now.”
“Yes sure, right now.” She rolled her eyes. Where is my husband?
14
Brad cried for a long time.
The tears just wouldn’t stop coming. Fortunately, even though Liam had his work to get back to, he was patient with him. He patted Brad gently on the back intermittently and told him to let it all out. So he cried until he had let it all out.
His best friend Cliff had once asked him:
“What would you do if you found out your wife was cheating on you?”
His answer had come almost immediately. “She would never cheat on me.” It was delivered with a cheeky smile and the cockiness of one who had it all figured out.
Cliff shrugged.
That was the week Brad discovered Cliff was having an affair with one of the paralegals in the firm. A lady named Bella. Brad didn’t know her last name, but he knew that she was trouble. She was as sexy as they came. She was blessed with the generous busts that belonged on the silver screen and a behind that often made Brad wonder how she had managed to miss her calling. With a body like that, she had no business doing anything outside the entertainment industry.
Like every other man in the law firm, and those outside it, and even the ones in Bella’s personal life, Cliff liked what he saw. Unlike most of these other men however he had the balls to go for it. Again, unlike a good number of the men who had made advances on Bella, within three days he got her where he wanted her, on his table, late in the night, with her tight length skirt bunched up around her waist and her black thong shifted to the side to permit the free entry of his massive member into her dripping orifice.
Brad had happened on them by accident. It was one of the most traumatic experiences in his life considering the fact that he could have knocked on the door before entering the office but he hadn’t. What made matters worse was that he usually knocked on doors before entering.
Perhaps the reason for this irregularity in his behavior was the fact that it was already past midnight and he was tired and out of sorts and was no longer in the mood for any of the courtesies he had been brought up with.
Brad panicked a week later when he noticed that Bella had started batting her long faux lashes at him and bending over whenever he was passing so she could showcase the enormity of her backside for the benefit of his eyes. While he considered the situation and tried to decide the appropriate course of action Cliff poured petrol into the raging fire.
On the last day of the week, while they were at a bar, having one for the road, as was their custom, Cliff told him that Bella was interested in him. Brad laughed it off. But Cliff persisted until he realized that he was serious.
“Are you not jealous?” he asked him.
“Why? She isn’t my wife or girlfriend,” Cliff replied.
Their voices were low, since the bar had not gotten noisy yet. A soothing country song was playing, giving the place a fleeting serenity that lay with one eye closed and the other open. Soon the noisy guys would come trooping in with their sleeves rolled up and it would have to flee through the back door.
“Well, what is she to you?”
“FWB.” Friends with benefits.
Brad shook his head and took a swig of his beer.
“Look this is just fun, harmless fun.” Cliff said. “You don’t have to be attached to her. Just do your thing and go your way. If you impress her, she could ask for seconds and on and on, you know…”
“Not happening,” Brad said laughing.
“Come on man,” Cliff pushed him playfully. “You gotta admit, the girl’s got it.”
Brad nodded in agreement with a sardonic smile on his face. “What about your wife?”
“My wife?”
“Yeah.”
“What about her?”
“What if she finds out?”
“She won’t man.”
Brad shook his head. “But that still doesn’t make it right.”
“Yeah it doesn’t. But then you don’t know what she does when you are not around.”
Brad scoffed, “Come on man.”
“Yeah. You don’t know.” Cliff leaned closer. “Look, what if your wife is cheating?”
It was fortunate that Brad did not have anything in his mouth at that moment. The force of his laughter would have made him spit it out much to the displeasure of the bar man. It rocked him hard, this laughter. He threw back his head and raised his leg as he laughed, banging the table repeatedly in his mirth. Cliff watched him with a stony face.
“My wife?” he asked after a while and continued to laugh.
“What if your wife is cheating on you?” Cliff asked. Brad didn’t seem to hear him, s
o his friend asked again. “What would you do if you found out your wife was cheating on you?”
Brad shook his head as he gathered his thoughts. He turned to Liam and said, “Let me not keep you here. You’ve got a company to tend to.”
“You will be okay,” Liam assured him.
Brad opened the door and got down from the car. He turned to watch as Liam drove away.
***
Just as Brad expected, nobody was home.
Liam’s wife was probably at work and his kids at school. It was quiet, yet as welcoming as it had been the other time he came. Then he had found himself wondering if the gaggle of laughing kids that greeted him at the doorsteps would not be a problem. In the days that followed, after Liam had set him up in the guest bedroom and vacated his own study for him, Brad got to enjoy a kind of tranquility that was so complete and soothing that he wondered where the children had gone. He meant to ask but he always forgot because his head was always in the clouds trying come up with the best ways to poke holes in the case of the district attorney against his client.
The front door had a big smiling teddy bear with a welcome sign on its belly hanging on it. Brad’s hand shook slightly as he unlocked the door. Upon walking in he saw that Christmas decorations had already been put up. The walls were adorned with paintings of picturesque sceneries and the floor was covered by thick rugs that cushioned the feet in the most comforting manner. It was the kind that made one want to walk about on bare feet.
Brad found his way to the guest room and dropped on the bed with a groan.
He wanted to call Cliff. Cliff would see this situation in a way no one else could. He had the capability to look at it dispassionately, the same way a lab scientist would regard a specimen that awaited his examination on his slide. It was something Brad could not do right now. He had never been able to do that in any matter that concerned Alana.
All the cool-headed logic that was required to take care of his cases always flew out of his head whenever he had to face her. With Alana his brain was not permitted to take part in reasoning. It was just the emotions that ran things.
That was why he needed to call Cliff. But he was hesitant to do that. Cliff was kind and compassionate. He was the kind that would make out time for his friends and help them tackle any issue that was taking away their sleep at night. His was the practical approach all rational people favored. But he had a big mouth.
All it would take was a week at the most, and Brad would be sure to hear tales of his wife’s philandering on the lips of one of the associates. That was a nightmare that was horrible enough to make him abhor the thought of sleeping anymore for the rest of his life.
Brad accessed his email account from the phone and sent a short message to Roger Sandler. He was sick and would not be able to show up for work for two days. Doctor’s orders.
His vacation was just four days away. So, what was an additional two days? Brad smiled churlishly. If he knew Roger, the man would try to get back the lost two days from his two weeks’ vacation break. But he would be damned if he allowed him to do that.
After sending the email Brad checked his call log and saw that he had two more missed calls from Roger and three from Cliff. There were twenty from Alana, five messages and a voice note. He even had a text from Fred – Alana’s dentist and his frat brother.
Hey Bro. Is everything okay? Fred had texted.
Brad shot him a quick reply. Yes. Holding up. We need to hang out soon.
Brad refrained from checking his voicemail. There was no call or message from any of his clients and that was what was important.
He kept the phone on the dresser and fell into a deep dreamless sleep. The moment his breathing deepened the phone’s screen lit up with another incoming call.
15
The front desk officer told her that her brother wanted to see her the moment she got in. It was already after ten - 10:31am to be exact. She stood in front of the woman’s desk for a beat, undecided. All she wanted to do was go to her office and hide out and perhaps do some work. There was a need for that as she had a lot to catch up on.
However, after a while she walked to his office. It was at the end of the floor. At the corner where he had two glass walls to look out through. Her own office also had a glass wall, but it was only one. The only other office with two glass walls was the production manager, Grace’s office.
Johnson was with her when Alana walked in. They were hunched over some papers on the desk. Probably some new recipes Grace wants to try out. She was the only one who had inherited their mother’s unique ability to make the tastiest confections. Her sister’s presence made Alana pause in the doorway and consider coming back later. She knew why Johnson wanted to see her and she would have preferred to discuss it with him alone first before making it a family matter. She and Grace had never really seen eye to eye.
She was about to turn back when Johnson looked up and saw her and said, “Good morning.”
She walked into the office summoning a smile to her face. It was not easy, but it had to be done. “Good morning brother, sister.”
“Are you okay?” Grace asked. She pulled the other chair beside hers closed and beckoned Alana to come and sit. This was the very thing Alana disliked about her. She was a younger version of their mother. Fussy and attention seeking. The fussy side of her was showing now. Soon she would ask what was wrong with Alana and then try to get a solution for the problem, which would steer the conversation to herself.
Johnson got up from the big swivel chair he was sitting in and gestured toward the sofas across the room. They were three in number and white in color. Two had been joined together to form an L while the third one lay perpendicularly to the base of the L.
“Grace I would like to talk with Alana alone,” Johnson said. He walked out from behind his desk.
“But we are not quite finished,” Grace protested.
“We are. I told you what I want. It hasn’t changed.”
“What do you two want to discuss?” she asked.
Even though Johnson was now walking toward the sofas Grace still remained on the chair before his desk.
“What were you two discussing?” Alana asked her to try to remove the spotlight from herself.
“Recipes,” she replied with a tight smile. “So, do you mind telling me what you guys have to discuss?”
“We want to decide how much to sell you for,” Johnson said. He had settled in the crook of the L sofa and crossed his legs. “You know, some slave drivers will be coming to Boston tomorrow. We thought you would procure a handsome price. The kind of money we need right now to expand.”
“You are crazy,” Grace said, standing up.
Johnson shrugged.
Alana smiled at her sister hoping that she was not offended, then she scooted over to the sofa to join her brother. If Johnson cared, it didn’t show on his face. It was neutral, like it always was whenever he had to deal with sensitive issues.
“Alright,” Grace started walking toward the door. “If you guys don’t want me here, I’ll make myself scarce.”
Johnson laughed and waved her away and turned to face Alana. “Hey!”
“Hey,” she managed another smile.
“I really do wonder what you two want to discuss though,” Grace said. She was now at the door. “Seriously, don’t you think I should be in on it? We are all siblings after all.”
Johnson’s face creased with a frown. “Come on, Grace.”
“Okay-okay-okay,” Grace held her hands up and left the office.
“So what’s up?” The frown was still on his face.
“The sky I guess.”
They laughed.
“That’s so clichéd,” Johnson said.
“But it’s true,” Alana insisted.
“Come on,” Johnson didn’t have time for games. “What kept you away yesterday?”
Alana took in a deep breath and told him: “I am pregnant,” she said flatly.
His demeanor was sof
tened by a smile that began in his eyes and spread out to the rest of his face. The craggy outlines of his face seemed to disappear for a moment. “Wow, congratula-”
Alana stopped him from completing that word with a raised palm. “Wait, that’s not all. There’s a problem.”
“A problem? Complications?” The smile was quickly replaced by concern.
“No. Yes. Kind of,” Alana closed her eyes and took another deep breath. This was going to be tough. The fact that she had already tried it with Brad and got a discouraging result made it more difficult.
“Explain,” Johnson said.
“Okay. I don’t know who the father is,” Alana said.
Johnson’s jaw dropped.
“I mean Brad is supposed to be the father.”
“I don’t understand.”
She got up from the sofa and walked to the glass wall.
Outside the street bustled with cars and people moving to places she didn’t know. She wondered how many of them were embroiled in sticky problems that got them confused when they tried to think of a way to solve them. How many of the women down there had children whose fathers they didn’t know? How many of them had husbands who believed that they were unfaithful when they weren’t?
“Alana.”
She turned. Johnson was still on the sofa, legs crossed, waiting for her to explain.
“Look, the last time I was with my husband, with Brad, that was before he left for that case, I told you about.” She spoke slowly, choosing her words carefully, intent on painting the clearest picture of her present situation. “That was more than six weeks ago, almost two months I think.”
“Okay.”
“But this pregnancy… I am only three weeks along, well almost a month now.”
“A month…how?”
“That’s the same question I have been asking myself.”
Johnson got up and went to her. “Be frank with me Alana,” he said. “Have you been sleeping with someone else?”
He asked the question bluntly. Never one to beat about the bush, Johnson was known for always hitting the hammer on the nail. It didn’t matter if someone’s toe was going to be stepped on.
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