YOURS TRULY
Page 18
“Ed Sheeran might see me!” Diana crowed, batting her eyelashes and wearing a sloppy, lovesick grin.
“I assume you’d leave me if he crooked his finger?” Travis asked, pretending to be heartbroken. “Or belted out a tune in your honor.”
“In a heartbeat!” Diana giggled. “Have you heard that man’s voice?”
“I can sing!” Travis defended, breaking out in his cracking, off-pitch voice a love song he knew Ed Sheeran sang.
“Oh, Lord, stop!” Diana cackled, looking around them as people turned their heads again. The couple was cracking up, and a few others around them were laughing as well. “People are staring.”
Travis rose and took a bow. “Thank you, kind audience, for letting my dying cat voice entertain you until my girlfriend told me to shut up.”
Applause rang out from the table close to them, everyone laughing at the antics of a silly couple so obviously in love.
“We have a whole new set of problems,” Michael announced on Monday when Travis walked in.
Surprised he was there, Travis jerked and nearly dropped his coffee. “Jesus Christ, you almost gave me a heart attack!”
Michael smirked briefly. “No coffee for me?”
“You’re never here this early. It would just get cold,” Travis reminded him as he sauntered past him to his office. He unlocked it, walked in, and set his coffee down. He looked at his friend, who had followed him holding a file folder. “I don’t like problems at eight in the morning.”
“Better than eight at night,” Michael observed as he sat down in the chair across from Travis’ desk. “After you told me about the paperwork that hadn’t been filed, I immediately started looking for my mistake. And when I found it, I drove over and handed the papers, signed and dated when they were supposed to be, to city hall and the powers that be.”
Travis smiled at him. “Sorry I was an asshole.”
“You shouldn’t be. I fucked up and had to fix it,” Michael dismissed, sitting up as he was getting to the important part of the story.
“Okay, so that was Friday. Today is Monday. How could we possibly already have a problem?”
“Before I tell you this, I’m starting with a warning. Part of my story is going to irritate you,” Michael told him. “The other part is going to piss you off.”
“I’m glad I had coffee before I left as well as this cup.” Travis sighed, sitting back in his chair so he’d be comfortable when he got the bad news.
“I was hanging around that city hall so much, one of the secretaries and I got to chatting. Then, of course, we got to fucking,” Michael said sheepishly, though he was grinning from ear to ear.
“Of course you did,” Travis grumbled with a raised eyebrow. “Is this the part that’s irritating?”
Michael laughed. “Yes. But don’t get your panties in too much of a wad. The girl in the background the other day when you called? Same chick.”
“You’re actually dating her?” Travis asked, shocked. The man rarely saw a woman more than a handful of times, and usually just once or twice.
“Yeah,” he replied, grinning as he ran his hand over his head. “We went out for drinks, and she invited me back to her apartment. And I asked for her number before I left so I could ask her out on a real date.”
“That’s great, man. Happy for you,” Travis answered, genuinely happy for his friend.
“Yeah, thanks, but we still have a problem,” Michael continued. “Sarah filed the papers herself the day I drove them down there. But, when I checked with the doctors the next day, they said the papers were gone.”
“Gone?” Travis sat up, concerned. “Are you sure your Sarah handled it?”
“Asked her myself, and she assured me they were in the proper file when she left the office on Friday. She carried the file to the city manager’s office, who took it, flipped through them, and said everything was in order.”
“What the hell?” Travis murmured.
Michael shrugged. “The doctors have a theory, which is rather unpleasant, but it makes me look good.”
Travis raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“The papers were in order the first time, and someone removed them. When I handed them over a second time, they disappeared again,” Michael recapped. “The doctors think the city manager is trying to stop the renovations.”
“What the hell for?”
“That was my question, and the answer is no one knows.”
“So what do we do?”
“We’re going to have to go down there and handle this, I guess,” Michael said.
Travis sighed loudly without responding. He sat back in his chair and thought about Diana. Although they had confessed their love for each other, their relationship was still on rocky ground. They trusted each other, but they still had to prove to each other they had both changed. If he had to spend an entire week dealing with this and couldn’t see her, she would think he hadn’t changed a bit. He’d just have to make sure he saw her at least once before he left town.
“All right, let’s leave this afternoon,” Travis finally answered.
“Why not this morning?”
“Because I am taking Diana to lunch before I leave town,” Travis told him, his voice clearly saying there would be no argument.
Michael sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I guess the two of you are serious now?”
“Absolutely.” Travis reached for his phone and sent Diana a text asking about lunch. “We see each other regularly, I stay at her place, she stays at mine. Definitely moving forward, which means this little business trip is going to be a bit of a problem.”
“Why’s that?”
“Former workaholic,” Travis reminded him, pointing at himself. “I don’t want Diana thinking I’m slipping back into that life.”
“One trip shouldn’t freak her out,” Michael announced, “and if it does…well, maybe some thinking needs to happen.”
“No,” Travis said roughly. “She’s the one. Always has been. She’ll understand this is one time out of the last six I’ve had to be out of town for several days.”
“I’m sure she will.” Michael rose to leave. “I have to run home and pack after I gather what we’ll need here. Pick you up at two?”
“Two is good. I asked if she could meet at 11:30, so that should give us plenty of time.”
Michael waved as he walked out of the office, and Travis’ phone dinged with a response to his text. She told him she could, and he offered to pick her up at the office, to which she said yes. He turned to his computer and began researching the city manager as well as his assistant and anyone who had contact with him on a daily basis.
Chapter 15
Diana was unhappy about the business trip because she wouldn’t get to see Travis until Friday before the concert. On Wednesday, she was so horny she could barely concentrate at work. That afternoon, she sent Travis a text message and asked if they could make a Skype date for eight o’clock that evening. His affirmative excited her, and she stopped by the same sex store she’d visited with Alyssa and bought a new vibrator. She had a plan for Travis’ Skype call, a plan that would knock his socks off.
At the apartment, she ran around like a madwoman, making her bed and cleaning her bedroom. She’d decided to put on a ton of makeup and do her hair, watching a YouTube video with a stripper explaining how she did her makeup for the stage. When she looked at the finished product, she nearly died laughing and immediately washed her face. She wanted to impress him, not terrify him and become a part of his nightmares.
After taking off everything but a matching bra and panty set, she donned a robe and walked to the kitchen for a glass of wine. She’d need a little courage and less nerves if she was going to pull this off. She hoped he was as into this as he had been the bondage, which they had planned to try this weekend on her. He’d come so hard he had been incoherent, and she wanted that pleasure. He brought her close often, but she was positive that when he tied her up and s
he was completely under his control, mind-numbing would be the only description for what she’d feel.
Chuckling to herself, she gulped her wine and grabbed the leftover baked chicken she’d made the night before, enough for at least three or four meals throughout the week, lunch or dinner, depending on her schedule. Because it was only six, she had two hours to eat and get a little tipsy before the new adventure of Sex Skyping began.
A knock sounded on her door just as she put her chicken and a salad on her plate. Frowning, she glanced at her phone though she knew she had received no text from anyone announcing their arrival. She peered through the door and sighed. She opened the door and her mother breezed in as if she came over every day, not waiting for an invitation.
“It’s awfully early to be in your robe, Diana,” Ellen said, her voice gravelly from years of smoke inhalation. She had one in her hand, lit and leaking the essence of cancer in Diana’s apartment. She wore a short skirt that was meant more for someone in their twenties, not fifties, and the top was tight and revealing. Her hair, the same shade of brown as Diana’s, was pulled back and shot through with gray, and the smoking had taken its toll on her mother’s face. She had a brand-new crop of wrinkles around her eyes.
Diana closed and locked the door and followed her mother to the kitchen. She reached over and grabbed the cigarette out of her hand, tossing it in the sink before speaking to her mother, who sat down at her table in front of her plate of food. “Mother, what are you doing here?”
“Hoping you’ll invite me to dinner. This smells good,” Ellen said, winking lasciviously at her.
Diana felt her face mold into an expression of disgust. “I think you invited yourself. Eat that. I’ll make myself another plate.”
“Thanks, baby.” As Diana turned away from her to make another plate of food, her mother dug in and hummed. “The chicken is a little dry.”
“Thanks, Mother,” Diana said monotonously, completely used to her mother finding nothing to compliment her daughter on. Diana watched as her mother drank her wine as well and, with a sigh of irritation, poured herself another while she waited for her food to warm.
“So, what’s going on in your life?” Ellen asked after Diana had finished making her plate.
Diana sat across from her and looked at her with narrowed, suspicious eyes. “Why do you ask?”
“I saw an interesting picture on your Facebook the other day,” Ellen announced, smiling around a bite salad, which she pointed at. “What is this dressing? It’s weird.”
“It’s a raspberry vinaigrette,” Diana answered automatically. She hadn’t begun eating. She wanted her mother to leave and decided answering her quickly would get her out. “And what picture are you talking about?”
“A picture of you with that handsome ex-husband of yours,” she said, tittering out a laugh that grated on Diana’s nerves.
Diana pursed her lips and lifted her fork to eat, yelling at herself internally that she had let her mother bully her into being friends on Facebook. That would be remedied as soon as this conversation ended.
“Yes. Travis and I are seeing each other again.” Diana’s answer was as sparse of useful information as she could make it without lying. Her mother used every scrap to get what she wanted.
“So, are you two getting close?”
“Yes.”
“Well, are you going to marry him again?”
Diana shrugged and ate a bite of chicken, her irritation flashing to anger. “We don’t talk about that.”
“Why not?” Ellen said, coughing at the sudden expulsion of air. “I assume you know he’s a millionaire.” Diana slammed her utensils on the table, nearly toppling her mother’s wine when the table jumped. They both instinctively grabbed their glasses, and Ellen glared at Diana. “What the hell are you doing, Diana?”
“Wondering how you know Travis is a millionaire,” Diana hissed, “something that is absolutely none of your business.”
“Hey!” Ellen growled, her voice rising as she pointed a lacquered nail at her daughter. “That man broke your heart. I’m here to make sure he doesn’t do it again.”
“Bullshit.” Diana stared at her mother as she pretended to be hurt by Diana’s disbelief.
“What?”
“Bullshit. You’re here because you’re hoping for a damn handout. I’m not stupid, and you’re not subtle,” Diana fumed, glaring at her. “You don’t show up in my life unless you want something.”
“That is harsh. I love you. You’re my only daughter,” Ellen sniffled, and Diana rolled her eyes and stared at her, waiting on her to crack. “Well, you are my only daughter!”
“And you’ve been such a great parent,” Diana grimaced as she rose and carried her plate to the sink, having eaten only a couple of bites. Her appetite had vanished.
Ellen shot to her feet, her hands slamming down on the table. The wine glasses bobbled again, but neither of them moved to protect them. “You watch your damn mouth! I took care of you when that piece of shit left us. I sacrificed for you, over and over again.”
“Sacrificed what?” Diana interjected, her voice rising as well. “You left me at the house alone more often than not, you stole money from me, you treated me like shit! And now that I’m away from you, you keep showing up when you’re desperate!”
“I’m not desperate for anything except my daughter’s love,” Ellen whispered, real tears starting to fall.
Diana crossed her arms over her chest, leaned against the counter, and harrumphed. “What a show. Your acting has certainly improved.”
“Acting?” she spluttered, a sob catching in her throat. When Diana simply stared at her, she swiped the tears away and blinked quickly. “Fine. I need some money. Got myself in a little bit of a bind.”
“Shocking,” Diana replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I don’t have any extra money right now.”
“You could ask your rich boyfriend for some,” Ellen hinted.
“Oh, my God!” Diana scoffed, shaking her head in amazement. “You are unbelievable.”
“Why can’t you ask him? He has plenty. It wouldn’t hurt him to help out his former mother-in-law,” Ellen whined.
“Oh, please. You barely even spoke to him,” Diana returned. “And he hated you because of the way you treated me. The answer is no.”
“You ungrateful bitch. After everything I did for you,” Ellen replied.
“My conscience no longer feels guilty when you try that shit on me, Mother.” Diana straightened away from the wall and walked to her door. She unlocked it and opened it. “You need to leave. And I don’t want you to come back. Ever.”
Diana had told her this before, but she had always backed down, had always found a little extra money to give her so she would leave. She meant it now, and Ellen’s wide-eyed expression told Diana she understood that.
“You’re not seriously throwing your mother out, are you? I’m your only family!”
“I don’t need family like you. Get out.” Diana’s resolve wanted to crumble as real hurt flashed across her duplicitous mother’s face. But she reminded herself that her mother was a talented liar and could convince almost anyone of anything. She hardened her heart and pointed a thumb at the door. “Get out.”
Ellen grabbed the bag she’d carried in and stomped past Diana, the smell of smoke following her like a cloud. She turned on the doorstep. “You were always such a disappointment, Diana. So stupid, and so ugly. I’m surprised you could even find a man.”
“Mother, I look like you, or what you would look like if you took care of yourself,” Diana reminded her. “So I guess we’re both ugly. But at least I’m not ugly on the inside as well.”
“Fuck you, we’re done. I hope I never see you again!” Ellen screeched.
“Same to you.” Diana slammed the door and locked it, hoping her mother would leave and not start banging on the door like a maniac. The woman yelled a couple more insults and left, and Diana slumped against the door and released her emotions.r />
Sobs tore through her body. She hated her mother and wanted nothing to do with her. But the woman was her only family, and now Diana was alone. She sobbed until her body hurt and her face was soaked. She let herself wallow in her sadness for ten minutes, and then she picked herself up off the floor.
You aren’t alone! she reminded herself as she cleaned the plate her mother had used. She dug out the matches she used to light candles and lit all five she had around the apartment, hoping to dispel the scent of cigarettes left by her mother. You have Alyssa and Travis, Cameron and Ronnie. You are not alone, she repeated internally as she loaded the dishwasher. She stared at the plate filled with her food and decided she needed to eat it. No use wasting good food over that woman.
She glanced at the clock and frowned. She still had an hour before her Skype date with Travis, but her excitement and lust from earlier had gone. Their chat tonight would be like the others, smiling and laughing. Except she didn’t feel like doing either of those things, and if she faked it, he would know. She would have to tell him about her mother’s visit.
“Fuck.” Travis was furious. What should have been a simple correction of paperwork had turned into a huge conspiracy that went back to the 1980s. Doctor Smith had won the heart of the woman the city manager had been in love with when they were young, and he’d held the grudge for forty years. When the doctors decided to buy the building, the guy had started working every avenue to keep them from buying it, and when unsuccessful, from renovating it.
It was already two o’clock, the Ed Sheeran concert was at eight, and there was no way he’d be able to make it. Telling Diana this only a few hours before the concert was going to be a terrible experience, but he had to do it. She’d told him about her mother visiting her, and he’d hated that he hadn’t been there with her. She’d needed his comfort. And now he was about to jerk the rug out from under her with this.
He was grateful he’d given her the tickets before he’d left so she could hold on to them. He tended to lose things like tickets. She would at least be able to take someone with her. Since he’d figured out he wouldn’t be able to leave, he’d been composing his reassurances that he was not slipping into his old habits. He’d missed several events while they were married, and he didn’t want her to think he would start doing it again.