Hadley swallowed. “Roger, I quit,” she said resolutely. With that, she hung up the phone.
The next thing she did was to march into the locker room and remove the tight, short dress.
As she walked out into the sunlit New York street, she felt like shouting. She wasn’t sure if it was joy or anger, but her whole body was buzzing with emotion. The excitement of earning that much money flooded her, and the tension of seeing Jack coursed through her veins as well.
How could he ignore me like that? she thought furiously. What did he mean by that?
Could this thing have meant so little to him?
The thought of handing the check over to the bank made her feel better, though she didn’t know what would happen afterwards. The one thing that she knew was that she could not stay in that club.
It was good that I quit, right? she wondered later that night as she laid in bed reviewing the afternoon. There is so much left unsaid between us.
She wished that he had acted differently. He could have looked at me, greeted me, asked me to sit. But that was the Lion’s Den, not Patagonia. I am his staff. I told him I didn’t want it to be complicated like this. Damn him.
She thought about how Jack had told her not to overthink things. Was she over-thinking this? Where was the man she had known in South America, the man who said not to worry? To enjoy? Did he enjoy the way things were at the club? Would he miss her? The questions came one after another, until she couldn’t keep them straight.
Maybe he’s just as confused as I am, she thought. She remembered the way he’d opened up to her at Jose’s house, only to shut down again the night after. There are different sides to him, as there are to all of us, she thought. I asked him to be open to emotions, but maybe he doesn’t know how.
The next day, her mind felt clearer. She spent the morning doing yard work, pulling weeds around the lilac bushes and digging up thistles around the walkway. Soon there would be a hundred people in her backyard, and she wanted it to look good.
As she worked up a sweat pulling weeds she started to wonder if she had overreacted by leaving without saying goodbye -- without telling him directly that she could no longer work for him.
What would he take from her actions? He can’t read my mind, she thought suddenly. I need to tell him how I feel. Maybe it will help him understand his own feelings.
She realized that she’d been avoiding this, because she didn’t want to take up his time. A part of her felt that he was better, because of his money. That’s not true, she thought. He’s just a man. The man I sat out on the porch with, looking at the stars. The man who has loved, and lost, just like I have.
With a sense of urgency, she dressed to go into the city.
Chapter 8
“Hi Gina!” Hadley could not help but speak loudly when she got her ex-employee on the phone. “I’m so glad I caught you!” Hadley could hear her heartbeat in her ears. She had just parked near Broadway and was walking towards the Lion’s Den. “I have to tell you something,” she said.
“Yeah? I’ve been meaning to call you too. Are you getting any hot photos?”
“It’s about that --” said Hadley, leaping up onto a curb just as the crosswalk’s signal was ending. Cars started rushing past, behind her, and she pressed the phone to her ear. The day was bright, sunny. The first week of August had brought a reprieve in the humidity, and she was glad for the crisp, breezy dry air.
“I don’t want to do it, Gina. I’m not going to. I’ll get your camera back to you.”
“Whhaaat?” Gina’s voice was low, quiet, and she sounded pissed.
Hadley cringed. She hadn’t expected this.
“Gina, things have changed. I don’t want to go through with it. That’s not the way I do business. It’s a violation of someone’s trust… his privacy. I just, -- I just can’t.”
“Fine, have it your way,” Gina said with a frosty edge to her voice.
“Do you want to meet for coffee again soon?” asked Hadley. She did not want to burn a bridge with Gina just because she wasn’t willing to become a spy. “I can give you the camera back.”
“Yeah, yeah. Sounds good,” said Gina, sounding distracted. Hadley heard shuffling papers. Gina’s voice was distant, as if she had dismissed Hadley and was giving her the cold shoulder.
“Okay,” Hadley said slowly. “Please be happy for me, Gina. This feels right. I’m sorry that it didn’t work out for us to get photos to your boss. But it’s better this way, I promise you.”
“Hey, listen, I gotta run,” Gina said, her icy tone seeping through the phone and making Hadley cringe.
As they hung up, Hadley had to shake her shoulders slightly just to get the chill out of her bones. Well, that’s that. She can be as pissed as she wants to be, she thought. She’ll get over it.
As Hadley approached the Lion’s Den entrance she saw the bellhop standing outside. She hurried up to him.
“Hi! I’d like to go inside,” she said.
The bellhop eyed her. “Roger said that you quit. He said not to let you in.”
“I have to talk to Jack,” Hadley said. God, I sound crazy! she thought. Silently, she pleaded with the bellhop to understand. If she could only talk to Jack, she could stand up for herself, and tell him how she felt. Maybe he felt the same way. Maybe he was afraid that she wasn't interested in him, in his lifestyle. He said before that he had lost love because of his wealth before. Was he afraid that would happen again?
The bellhop shook his head. “Sorry, Ms. Wilder. Orders are orders.”
Hadley stood taller. The bellhop was half her age. She attempted to sound like a stern mother as she spoke again. “Get Roger on the phone,” she said. “I need to speak with him immediately.”
This had an effect on the young man, who looked twice at her before hesitantly reaching for his cell phone. She watched him step away and place the call, speaking quietly on the phone and every once in a while glancing over at Hadley.
Hadley nodded, trying to encourage him.
When he hung up, he returned to her.
“Ma’am, Roger says that he is not available. He said that only employees are allowed inside, and since you quit yesterday you are excluded from that group. He also said that if you wish to speak to Jack you’ll need to call his social manager. Here’s her number.” The bellhop scribbled a number on the back of a business card, and handed it to Hadley .
“Great,” Hadley said sarcastically.
She stared at the card.
A feeling of defeat sank into her gradually as she walked away from Lion’s Den. Calling the manager didn’t seem right. Who knew when the social manager would get her message to Jack, or how the message would sound.
Hadley didn’t want to come across as desperate.
She simply wanted Jack to know that she cared for him, and that she wasn't afraid of him. She could see herself as his equal, if he could.
How could she explain that, through a message?
I have to see him myself, thought Hadley. She crossed the street and began walking towards her car. But instead of getting into her car, she ducked into a small cafe, from which she could see the Lion’s Den entrance.
Maybe I’ll see him walking towards it. I could call out to him, and we could talk. Person to person.
She ordered an iced latte and took it to a window seat. As the afternoon began to pass, Hadley became lost in her memories of their time in Patagonia. She thought of the way Jack smiled and laughed as he drove the white Corvette up the winding highway into the foothills of the Andes, on their way home from El Calafate.
She thought of the way he’d looked up at the stars, at Jose’s house. She remembered the way he didn’t want to be left alone, at the dinner table.
Their night of uninhibited love making.
The memories came vividly to mind, and she was thinking them over when she saw the Cadillac pull up. Quickly, she jumped from her seat, and rushed to the cafe’s doors. A little bell jangled as she pulled it open, an
d she stepped through it, onto the busy street.
“Jack!” she called out, raising her arm. She could see that he hadn’t heard her. He was speaking to his driver, and then closing the door. He brushed off his pants, and adjusted his sunglasses. Hadley was walking quickly to the cross walk.
As she waited for the walk light to come on, she studied him. He checked his phone before turning towards the Lion’s Den entry way. He was a dozen feet from the door. Hadley felt her heart racing, and when the light came on, stopping the cars and allowing pedestrians to move out into the street, she wove through the crowds quickly.
She leapt onto the curb, and rushed towards the Den.
“Jack!” she called again. This time she saw him stop in his tracks. He hesitated, and then turned. She gained ground, and was approaching him quickly as she watched his back. His shoulders rose, and then fell.
Slowly, he turned.
She reached him just as he spoke.
“Hello,” he said. He took off his sunglasses, and Hadley saw that there were deep circles under his eyes. His face was usually flawless, but today he looked tired.
“Jack…?” Hadley said breathlessly. She caught his eye at last, and transmitted her question with her gaze. What is going on between us? she asked silently.
“Hadley,” he said again. “I hear you quit. I hope that you find other employment in a timely manner.”
“I quit because I can’t work for you, Jack,” Hadley said. “I… I think I have real… I mean, it’s been so confusing since we’ve gotten back to New York, but I can’t stop thinking about --” She caught his eye, and saw a glimmer of recognition there. A spark that told her that he couldn’t stop thinking about it either.
“-- I know,” he said. “I know, Hadley.” His face was drawn. “Hadley, I’ve slept with many women. It’s just sex. I told you I was using you.” He met her eyes directly and Hadley did not look away.
“That’s what you said, Jack. But I don’t believe it. I think there’s something more for us. I don’t think that it was purely physical pleasure. You felt it too,” she ventured. She shook her head. “That wasn’t just about sex.” She saw a hitch in his breathing as she said this.
“I’m not like the other woman, Jack. The woman who left you. I think we owe it to ourselves to find out what this could be.” It felt so good to say those words.
Jack’s phone began to beep. At the same instant, Hadley’s phone rang. She ignored it. They each waited for the ringing to stop, Jack’s breathing uneven and Hadley’s heart hammering in her chest.
When the phone stopped, she waited before opening her mouth to speak again. Just as she was about to continue, the phone rang again.
“Sorry,” Hadley said, pinching her lips together. “I better see what this is,” she said quietly as she searched through her purse and came up with her phone. She saw Jack begin to check his messages as she accepted the call from Cassy.
“Cass?” she asked quietly, turning away from Jack as she spoke. “I’m in the middle of something, can I call you back? Everything okay?”
“I just have to tell you something about Jack,” Cass said. “Call me when you can.”
“But you’re okay? You called twice in a row,” Hadley said. “I got worried.”
“I just think this is important,” Cassy said. “And you really need to know about it.”
Hadley glanced at Jack. He’d received a call as well, and picked it up as she watched him.
“I have a minute now,” Hadley said. “What is it?”
“Photos of Jack Pittman. They’re taken from the back of his car. Dated this week. Most of them are from just yesterday.”
“No,” Hadley said. “That can’t be! I--” She stopped, her hand pressed into her chest as if she could place it on her heart and steady the pounding that surged up inside of her.
“They’re of Jack and another woman, Aunt H. I wanted you to know. I guess he’s a player after all. Maybe this is the reason he’s not calling. They’re all over the internet.”
“Okay,” Hadley said. “Okay.” She tried to breathe so that she wouldn’t faint. Inhale. Exhale. Breathe Hadley.
How had pictures gotten out? Were they from the camera she’d placed? Was that even possible?
She hung up and glanced at Jack. He was listening to the phone call, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Her thoughts continued to race as she waited for him to hang up. Cassy said the photos were taken from the back of a car. But she hadn’t even figured out how to access the camera! She’d decided not to use it at all! Did anyone else have access to it?
And who was the other woman?
If they were from yesterday, that meant Jack had been with another woman just before, or after he’d seen her. He wasn’t waiting to see her, as she’d hoped. He was driving around with someone else.
“I should have known,” Hadley said under her breath. “I’m a fool.” She tucked her phone back into her purse just as he hung up.
“I have to go,” he said shortly. “There’s been a breach of confidentiality. Apparently, some photos have gotten out which I really didn’t want to be made public. Excuse me,” he said. She tried to speak, but no words came. He turned away, and walked quickly to the club door, where the bellhop stood ready to let him in.
Before he stepped inside, he turned to her. “I want to talk about this,” he said. “I think we have to. I haven’t been sleeping well. At all, really. Come to the club tomorrow, and we’ll meet. You’ll be a guest, not an employee. I have to go deal with this now. I’m sorry.” He stepped inside the door, and disappeared.
Hadley wondered what he would do to ‘deal with’ the photos. She looked at the bellhop, and he nodded. Satisfied that the bellhop would let her in the next day, Hadley turned and began walking away. She returned to the cafe, and purchased a water bottle. She found a comfortable armchair, and fired up the internet on her iPhone.
“Jack Pittman” she typed into the search engine.
Immediately, her phone screen was populated with photos. The top source was Millennium Starz.
“Did Gina leak these?” she whispered under her breath. “How did she get them?” She clicked on the Millennium Starz article, and began scrolling through and peering at the photographs.
The article was all about Jack’s mysterious reputation and full of speculation about his business career. It highlighted the fact that he was no longer seeing Jada Locklove, and sensationalized the news that he had been seen lately with a new, young, anonymous woman. This ‘unidentified beauty’ was apparently his new flame, and the article further speculated that perhaps this time it would lead to marriage.
The photos were clear, sharp, and so close up that it was astonishing. Jack’s face looked tired, as she’d seen him today. There was a clear expression of caring on his face as he looked towards the young woman sitting in the back seat with him.
She looked to be in her early twenties. She had long, platinum blond hair, and stunning features. Hadley had to admit that she was one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen. She looked like a celebrity, or at least a known model, but the article continued to highlight the fact that no one could find any trace of her in the press.
There were ninety-nine comments on the article, and Hadley looked through them quickly. Several people claimed that they had seen Jack with the anonymous beauty, for the past several years. There were comments from across the U.S. and even abroad. How do people manage this so quickly? Hadley wondered, as three more comments popped up on her screen, taking the tally to one hundred and two.
One person guessed that she was actually his wife. Another claimed that she’d seen them skiing together in the French Alps. The third comment was congratulating the two on keeping the relationship a secret for so long, and wondering if the Jada Locklove story was just a front to keep his actual relationship hidden.
Hadley started to wonder the same. When the cafe’s door bell jangled loudly, and she heard the sound of crying, she
looked up. She recognized the woman who had just entered. It was Grace.
Hadley stood.
Grace was crying blatantly, and wiped her tears with her sleeve as she stood in the line. Hadley had never seen her in the daylight before, not dressed in her club uniform. She walked up to Grace.
Grace flinched when Hadley tapped her on the back of the shoulder.
“Hi… Grace? Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Hadley. I was waitressing at the club? For Jack?”
“Oh, right,” Grace said with a loud sniffle. “You quit yesterday, right?”
“Yes,” Hadley said. “Is everything okay?”
“I was fired,” Grace said, her eyebrow peaking up into a question mark as her nostrils flared and fresh tears surged into her eyelids. “I only got that job, what, like two weeks ago? It was the highest paying work I’ve ever had. I can’t believe it’s ended so quickly.”
“What happened?” asked Hadley.
“We were all fired. Everyone. Everyone except Roger, and I guess he’s been with Jack for ages. But all the girls, his whole staff.”
“Because of the photos?”
Grace nodded. The line inched forwards as Hadley thought. She was not sure if the photos had come from the camera she had placed, but if they did then she was to blame for Grace’s problem.
“What can I get for you?” the barista asked.
“A small coffee,” said Grace, her voice wavering as she placed the order.
“Room for cream?” the barista asked.
“I don’t care,” Grace said, with a wave of her hand. Her voice climbed in pitch with the last word, and then she crumpled into silent tears.
Hadley put her hand on Grace’s back and rubbed it. Grace was young, in her twenties, and suddenly Hadley felt sorry for her rather than the jealousy that she had felt when they were competing for Jack’s attention in the club.
“That will be two fifty,” the barista said, handing Grace a cup.
“I’ll get this,” Hadley interjected before Grace could pull out her wallet. She handed the barista several dollar bills and told her to keep the change. She guided Grace towards an armchair next to her own.
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