He called me within seconds. “Hey, babe, you’re coming down here? When are you coming?”
“Hey, Friday night and I took off Monday too. So I’m probably leaving sometime Monday morning I would guess.”
“Oh, wow, that’s a long time!” he said. “I fly back early Friday night. I have a bunch of stuff to take care of over the weekend, but maybe we could get some lunch like before?”
“Sure, yeah. That would be great.”
“I thought Brooke was doing anniversary stuff this weekend?”
“Yes, it’s our anniversary apparently, the three of us. Don’t ask. I have no idea. But I’m not arguing.”
“Hmmm sounds interesting,” he laughed. “Good luck with that!”
I didn’t hear much from him for the next few days. I wondered why he wasn’t staying for the weekend in Miami. He usually did. It was getting close to the end of football season. I was thinking maybe he was coming back home early to watch the games with his son, but it seemed like he just would have said so if that was the case.
Stage 2 came out of nowhere and kicked me in the teeth that Thursday.
Chapter Seventeen
__________________________
From: Katya Batsevich
Sent: Thursday, January 24th. 2:10 p.m.
To: Wynne, Matt
Subject:
Can u send me the number of ur recruiter friend in FL again? Thx!
It took me precisely 0.2 seconds to completely lose my ever-loving mind and call Jules, screaming a string of obscenities that would make the devil himself cower under the bed. She was going to Florida. She had to be. Why else would she need to talk to a recruiter if she wasn’t, in fact, planning to work there? I knew it. I just knew it.
“Well, it certainly does seem a little suspicious,” Jules commented, waiting for me to regain sanity.
“What else could it be?”
“I don’t know, but Mallory, I don’t believe for one second that that crusty sonofabitch is ever going to leave his wife, so how do you figure he’s moving her to Florida? In their spare bedroom?”
“What if he plans to put her in a condo there? A mile away from work?”
“You really think Wonderbread Queen is going to settle for that?”
“Seems to have worked so far,” I said sadly. “What the fuck is wrong with him, Jules? Why does he keep me hanging on if he wants her?” Tears began dripping down my face. It happened so often now, I barely noticed them anymore. “And more importantly, what the fuck is wrong with ME?”
“There is nothing wrong with you, Mal, other than you care way too much about that stupid assweasel.”
This new information obviously put a huge damper on my trip. I was still going to go. I didn’t want to sit around all weekend thinking about all the possible scenarios behind this one stupid email. I could not, for the life of me, figure out why he was still playing these games with me. If Brooke was right about him just wanting a girl in every state, then why did he refuse to sleep with me several times when I was more than willing? That didn’t sound like someone who was only interested in sex. I felt like I was always asking questions that had no answers. But I was determined that I was going to figure it out that weekend. I was going to be prepared this time. I had already loaded Katya’s current address into my phone.
He was still in Miami when I arrived for Brooke’s anniversary weekend extravaganza. We kicked it off Friday night by taking her kids roller-skating. I had actually just rediscovered how much I loved it myself. I skated for years as a kid and it turns out, it’s sort of like riding a bike; you never really forget. I’ve taken my oldest quite a few times but was more than happy to go with Brooke when I could just enjoy it and not have to worry about helping anyone else keep their balance. It was a lot of fun, and for a while I forgot about my Matt angst.
Brooke’s son had an early morning basketball game so she forced me out of bed at an ungodly hour and we watched him play. After we got back to the house and showered up, I realized I hadn’t heard from Matt. It was his idea to grab lunch in the first place, so I was surprised he hadn’t already texted me that morning. I told Brooke I just wanted to talk to him. I needed a chance to clear the air once and for all.
“Remember we have the conference in a few days. Are you sure you want to make any sudden moves?” she asked.
“I know, Brooke, but what else I can do? I don’t want to go into this conference not knowing exactly where we stand. How am I supposed to sleep with him and pretend everything is okay if he’s moving his little girlfriend down to Florida?”
“I’m telling you, girl, I know you haven’t been wrong yet, so I’m probably barking up the wrong tree. But I’m just not seeing anything with those two at all. I really don’t think that’s happening.”
“I hope not, but we know he was seeing her before and was obviously into her at some point. Or acted like it anyway. I’m not sure that just goes away, does it?” Then again… in my case, maybe it did. “After I talk to him, I’m going over to her house. I want to see for myself if he’s there.”
“And what if he is? Then what?”
“I have absolutely no idea.”
I waited a bit longer and when I still hadn’t heard a word from him, I sent him a text. Hey, trying to plan the day out, you mentioned getting together, you still around?
Hey, I could do lunch somewhere near the office. Can you and Brooke meet me at Rosa Mexicano?
I showed it to Brooke. Why on earth would he think I wanted her to come with me? “Now he doesn’t want to be alone with me?!” I exclaimed.
“That’s weird, why would he want me there?”
“I don’t know,” I said. Then my stomach retched. “OH MY GOD!”
She saw my panic-stricken face, “What’s wrong?! What did he say?”
“It’s all making sense now. He’s definitely going to her house after.”
“What makes you so sure?”
He wants to meet ‘near the office’ because he’s going to go see her! Oh my God, Brooke, she’s less than a mile away from the office. Of course he’s going to see her after! I bet he tells Sandra he’s going to work and goes to see her every fucking Saturday!”
“You think?!”
“Oh my God!” It was really all I could say. This was the big one. Heart palpitations, chest pain, sweating. “Oh my God! I bet you every time he called me on Saturday he was on his way to her house! I bet they have a standing date every week! Afternoon Delight! Jesus! How did I not figure this out until now? I have to get out of this! I can’t bring you! Fuck it, I can’t eat! How do I do this!?”
“Okay, calm down! Tell him I can’t go because Travis made plans for us to go horseback riding and I have to leave by 11:00. Then tell him to meet you somewhere over here because you just want to talk.”
“Okay, okay, okay…” I was trying to breathe.
I texted again: Travis scheduled horseback riding for them early this afternoon. I would still like to see you, but would prefer to go someplace private that we could talk if possible.
Since I just got back in town, I don’t have a lot of time.
No, I bet you don’t.
Do I need to pick you up at her place? Maybe coffee at Starbucks? 1:30 works for me.
I didn’t want him to pick me up in case her kids saw him. They knew who he was and would wonder for sure why Miss Mallory was getting into a car with Mr. Wynne. How about if we meet in the parking lot of the Whole Foods over here on Briarcliff? I replied.
Ok. Got it, 1:30??
Yes.
See you there.
Travis and Brooke left and I stayed behind talking to Travis’s sister and trying not to freak out until 1:30. Travis was under the impression I was going to go riding with them so we just told him that I was meeting Cecilia for lunch. He was not aware of the Matt situation at all and we wanted to keep it that way. I suddenly wished I was not aware of the Matt situation either.
I pulled into the Whole Foods parking lot a
nd got a text from him that he was there. He parked right in front of the entrance. Way to be discreet, I thought, especially since he immediately kissed me hello as soon as I got in the car. I tried not to even feel it.
“Hey, sweetie”
“Hey.”
“So, where should we go? Should we get Starbucks, or do you want to get a beer somewhere? Where are you thinking, babe?”
“Matt, I don’t want to go anywhere public. I just want to talk. We can just find an empty parking lot somewhere, doesn’t matter.”
“Oh… okay.”
I guess he wasn’t expecting me to be so sullen.
“There’s a little field up here, would that be okay?” he asked timidly.
“Yeah, fine.”
He pulled into the parking lot of a small ball field, right around the corner from Brooke’s house, and stopped the car. It was unseasonably warm for January. He was wearing his blue jeans and a fitted black T-shirt that looked so damn good against his tan arms. He had trimmed up his hair a bit and had it fixed just so perfectly, for her, no doubt, that it reminded me of that gorgeous boy I was with in Greensboro.
“What did you want to talk about, babe?” he said, grabbing my hand.
“First, I want to know what your actual intentions are for the conference next week, as far as you and me.”
“Well, I thought we had decided that already. I haven’t really given it that much thought since then.”
“So, you planned to sleep with me again.”
“Well, I mean, I figured we’d sort of play it by ear. But yeah… I thought you wanted to…?”
“Forget what I want for a second. What do you want?”
“I don’t know, babe,” he said softly. “I’m still trying to sort through that now.”
“Well, I don’t want to see you there and get some false sense of hope again. I don’t feel like you should sleep with me if you don’t feel the same way about me as I do you,” I said. “I don’t know what I did or what happened to you, but I don’t feel like you care about me like that at all anymore.”
“Come on,” he sighed, “you know I couldn’t sleep with you if I didn’t care about you.”
“Yeah, you haven’t been, remember?”
He shot me a disapproving glance. How could I possibly doubt him? “Of course I still care about you. Come here…”
He leaned in to kiss me, placing his hand around my neck and smoothly gliding his way into my mouth with expert precision. I wanted to clamp down and bite him, but I still couldn’t manage to resist his kiss. It made every tense muscle in my entire body relax instantly, and I kissed him back with even more intensity.
“Mmm… I love kissing you, babe. You are a phenomenal kisser,” he murmured with that sexy southern drawl as he slowly pulled his lips away. Goddamn him.
“How often do you think about me, Matt? Once a week? Every few days?”
He paused like he was carefully considering his answer. “I can honestly say that I think about you every day.”
“Really. So you think fondly of me every single day, yet all you can manage is a text or call every few days,” I pointed out. “You’re just phoning it now. It’s not enough for me anymore, and you know it.”
He squeezed my hand. “I know, sweetie, and you deserve more. But all this stuff has just taken a huge toll on me. It’s stressing me out so badly. All I want to do lately is drink. It’s affecting my sleep, it’s affecting me… physically… I’ve got to figure this out.
I kept gazing out my window because it unnerved me to look at him. When I did, I just wanted him to love me. All I could think of was how many of my hopes and dreams rested on his shoulders over the last ten months and how he had crushed every single one of them every time he opened his mouth to lie to me. “I need to tell you something and I don’t want you to say anything. I just want you to listen.” I had never balked at mentioning her name to him before, but this time was different, because this time I was sure she was no longer just a figment of my jealous imagination. This time I couldn’t even bring myself to say it.
“Sure…”
“Matt, if it is your intention to bring that young girl to Florida with you, then I don’t need to be here anymore. You need to stop contacting me, and you two can have each other.”
His eyes got very wide but he didn’t say a word.
“You know, for someone who is constantly telling me how smart I am, you must think I am really stupid. You greatly underestimate me.”
“Mallory, I know you aren’t stupid.”
“So she’s enjoying Ukraine, then?”
“She DID go there, Mal, I swear. But she decided to come back.”
“For you?”
“There is nothing for her there. I don’t know. But yes, okay, okay… she does want me. She would marry me right now she could. I’ve been trying to stiff-arm her for months because I know that’s not a good situation for me, long term. I do care about her, though.”
Well, that was reassuring.
“You realize that when I need to know something, I make it my business to find out. I know when I’m being lied to. Always.”
He suddenly seemed very nervous. “Well then I’m sure you know this already, but she’s a very temperamental, very passionate girl. She‘s hot, but she’s also kind of crazy. She has severe anxiety and flies off the handle a lot.”
She was passionate and hot? What did that make me, exactly? I couldn’t believe we were talking about this. “Well, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but whatever. Are you really this much of a cliché? What is it exactly that you think a, what, 26 year old, with basically no life experience would want from a man like you, Matt?” I snapped. “That’s what you want? A trophy on your arm so people can look at you and think what a rich old fool!?”
“I know, I know. You’re right. But it doesn’t matter. I’m ending that, that can’t go on.”
“And so much for you liking bigger women, huh? She looks like she barely breaks a buck o’five. Just like your wife.”
“I do! I like curves! I’m like ‘eat a cheeseburger or do something that would make me attracted to you!’”
“You’re not attracted to her?!” I was confused. “Wait, are we talking about Katya or your wife? I can’t keep it all straight.”
“No, Sandy.”
“Oh, the non-crazy one. Got it.”
He rolled his eyes as if to agree with me. “No, my wife is not crazy. She’s very down to earth. She’s just boring.”
“So what exactly am I supposed to do with all this now, Matt?”
“I don’t know, Mal. I’m so torn up right now, babe. You just have to do what’s right for you.”
“Well, sucks for me, I guess, because I thought that was you. We could have really had something good.”
“I hope we still can, but not until I get my life in order. I’m more determined than ever. I’ve got to go home and handle this, like… today. This is ridiculous.”
“Oh, so you are going to do this today? Just going to go home and decide whether you are staying or going, huh?”
Bullshit.
“Definitely. I can’t handle the stress anymore, when I drop you off I’m going to go home and decide once and for all.”
“I think as soon as you drop me off, you are going to head over to see your girlfriend. That’s what I think,” I said, so coldly you could practically see my breath.
“Mallory, you’re wrong. I’m going home to figure out my future. My stomach is in knots right now. I need you to believe me…” He stared directly into my eyes. His pupils were almost shaking, anxiously pleading with mine. “I’m going to work this out.”
I just put my face in my hands, trying not to look at him.
The coach from the soccer game in the nearby field came over and told Matt he had to lock the gate, so we needed to go. He turned the car back on and headed back to the Whole Foods parking lot, this time toward the back where my car was waiting for me. We sat there in comple
te silence for what felt like forever. He had grabbed my hand again and held it, rubbing his thumb over my knuckle like a nervous tic.
“We really didn’t resolve anything for you, did we?” he asked cautiously.
“No, not really.”
“Talk to me. Tell me what you are thinking, Mal.”
“I think you run your personal life like you do your business.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I think you like the thrill of the kill. Chasing down new business. But once you seal the deal, you want to hand it off to someone else to handle maintenance. Because then it’s too much work. You’re already tired of it and have moved on.”
He instantly scowled, no doubt insulted by the comparison. “You cannot possibly think that, Mallory.”
“I absolutely do think that. I’m not sure I was ever anything more than a new challenge for you. But you won.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Maybe so. All I know is that I hate that I’m still this attracted to you. I hate that I still care about you like I do. You give me nothing but bullshit excuses and empty promises and yet here I sit, wondering what your next move is going to be and how it will affect me.”
He was silent, but he wasn’t denying that part.
I continued, “I know I need to forget about you. I know I do. I’ve been on at least five dates with other guys. I talk to other guys all the time. But I don’t like anyone else.” I started choking the back the tears. “I just want them to be you. In reality they are so much better for me than you, but they’re not you. You are all I have ever wanted since the day I met you.” One salty tear escaped into the side of my mouth and I brushed my hand across my face quickly to hide the others. “And I really, really hate that.”
He cocked his head and pierced me with his eyes. I had probably said too much. I never had any game with him anyway.
He didn’t say a word. He just grabbed my face tightly in his hands and pulled me to his mouth like he was going to eat me alive. My chest tightened as he probed past my lips, darting furiously, capturing my tongue with his, taking possession of my mouth and assaulting all of my senses in the middle of the Whole Foods parking lot. I sat there helplessly, just as confused as when I had arrived. How could he sit here and kiss me like that? And worse, would this be the last time he ever would?
The Other Other Woman Page 36