Rumor Has It

by Cheris Hodges

  Two days later, Liza had a brainstorm for Robert’s campaign as she worked with her new client, Peaches Montague, a wannabe rapper looking to build a buzz for her single “Girls of the World.” Liza had talked her out of this thug image she wanted to portray, since the single had such a positive and uplifting message.

  She told Peaches that her real-life story—a foster child who’d gone to college and wanted to be a voice in the way women were treated around the world—would set her apart from other female rappers. A new-generation Queen Latifah. When she’d furrowed her brows in confusion, Liza had called her the Janelle Monáe of rap and that had made Peaches smile.

  After her client left, Liza decided that she needed to tell Robert that he should wrap his message in an idea that voters would get behind. His dip in the polls gave her pause. She wasn’t sure if Nic and Robert had plans for a late push, but they needed it if he wanted to win.

  She was about to leave her office when her cell phone rang. “This is Liza.”

  “Elizabeth Palmer, is this how we do?” Chante asked, then laughed.

  “No, you didn’t call me by my full government name,” Liza said with a giggle. “What’s up, girl?”

  “Other than needing my best friend to help me plan this wedding, I’m great.”

  “You just got engaged.”

  “And, a proper wedding takes time to plan and, unfortunately, I have no help. My fiancé is trying to win an election, you know.”

  “I heard about that. As a matter of fact, I was going to meet him and Nic.”

  “Forget them, I need you a little more,” she said.

  “All right, I’ll be right over with . . .”

  “Salted caramel brownies?”

  Liza shivered thinking of the last time she had the decadent treat. With Jackson.

  The very man she needed to be game planning against. The very man she wanted to get naked with and kiss all over. “Umm, if I bring those over and you say one word about fitting into a wedding dress, we’re going to fight.”

  “Thanks for the reminder. I actually have to watch what I eat now.”

  Liza rolled her eyes, thinking that Chante had a wonderful figure and would probably be able to buy any dress she wanted right off the rack. “So, you are going to be one of those brides?”

  “And you will be too, soon enough.”

  “I’m good on the dog and pony matrimony show,” Liza said with a snort.

  “I have a serious question for you.”

  “Go ahead.”

  Chante sighed. “Do you think Rob and I are rushing into this marriage?”

  Part of Liza wanted to say yes. But she also believed Robert when he said he loved Chante. “Love doesn’t have a timetable. Do you feel like you’re being rushed into something you don’t want?”

  “No. Rob is amazing.”

  “Then keep doing what you’re doing.”

  “All right. And just bring one brownie and we can split it.”

  “Absolutely not. I’m bringing two. You will eat all of it and I don’t want to hear a word.”

  “Only because you’re forcing me,” Chante said, laughter sneaking into her voice.

  “Whatever, girl. I’ll see you in a little bit.”

  After hanging up with Chante, she headed to Amelie’s and ordered the brownies. Though she knew she’d promised her friend that she was going to head her way to help with the wedding plans, she wanted to talk to Robert first about her idea for his campaign. And she had a gnawing feeling about his sudden need to be married.

  Or was it the bitterness inside of her rearing its ugly head? Liza would be the first to admit that she didn’t believe men when it came to matters of the heart, and as much as she tried to give Robert the benefit of the doubt . . . Stop it. He loves Chante. He wouldn’t use her to gain political points. Would he?

  Pulling up to the campaign office, she smiled when she saw Robert’s car. She admired his hard work on this campaign and couldn’t wait to see him as the next senator. Liza pushed her doubts aside and thought about the guy she shared political science classes with at UNC and remembered why she believed in him. Walking into the office, she was surprised that there weren’t any of the volunteers around. Weird, she thought, then immediately remembered there had been an event where they were passing out flyers.

  I thought Robert was going to be downtown too? She wandered through the dark halls and headed for his office. Liza paused when she heard moaning. Was someone hurt? More moaning. No one was hurt. Someone was having sex. Really? Grabbing her phone, she was going to snap pictures of the illicit lovers and send them to Nic and Robert. This couldn’t be going on in the campaign office. Anger heated her cheeks as she walked into the office and held her phone up ready to snap pictures. Her anger soon turned to disappointment when she saw who the lovers were. Robert. He stood there with some random woman bent over his desk pumping in and out of her as if he weren’t engaged to Chante—her best friend. Her sorority sister. The woman she’d just sold a fairy tale to. And Robert had turned her into a liar. She snapped the pictures, then cleared her throat. Robert looked up and locked eyes with his disappointed friend.

  “Liza,” he said as he dropped his hands from the panting woman’s waist. He pulled out of the woman and Liza turned her head, not willing to look at his wayward dick.

  “Bob, who is this woman?” his paramour asked as she tugged her skirt.

  “Bob? Bob?” Liza parroted. “Get this sack of trash out of here!”

  “Liza, you need to calm down. This has nothing to do with you.”

  “Nothing to do with me?” Liza slapped him three times in a row. “Have you . . .”

  Robert pointed to the half-dressed woman. “I’ll call you later. I have to handle this.”

  The woman rolled her eyes and adjusted her clothes. “Don’t call me at all. Married bastard!”

  She clicked out of the office, and when the door slammed, Liza slammed into her friend. “What was that? What in the hell?”

  “I messed up. This is just so stressful and then the wedding. I needed a release and she . . .”

  Liza punched Robert in the chest. “You are . . . I can’t. Who are you?”

  “I’m a man and this has nothing to do with you. What are you doing here anyway?” he asked flippantly.

  “Don’t use that tone with me. Maybe God sent me here so I can stop my friend from marrying you!”

  Robert shook his head and grabbed Liza’s arm. “You can’t tell Chante. I messed up but it won’t happen again.”

  “Says the drunk every time he falls off the wagon and doesn’t get help. And get your hands off me—I have no idea where they’ve been. Chante is going to be heartbroken.”

  “You’re not going to tell her. I need Chante.”

  “You need her so much that you’re banging random chicks on your desk?”

  Robert rolled his eyes and started pacing back and forth.

  “Oh. My. God! Robert!” Liza exclaimed. “Put your pants on!”

  Robert grabbed his slacks and pulled them up while Liza focused on his discarded boxers. How could he be one of those men? A man with a woman who loved him but spreading his seed like Johnny Appleseed? Did faithful men exist anymore or were they just a myth?

  “Did you at least use a condom? Oh my! Now my girl is going to have to get tested for sexually transmitted diseases. How could you do this to her!” Liza picked up a mug and tossed it at him. Robert ducked and faced his friend as the mug exploded against the wall.

  “Why are you in here acting like a jealous girlfriend? I’m not marrying you. Or maybe that’s the problem.”

  “Oh, please, Robert! Don’t you dare pull that crap on me! I don’t and have never wanted you. I believed in you, thought you were one of the good guys!”

  “Mind your business, Liza. This has—”

  “Chante is my best friend and sorority sister. You asked her to marry you in a public manner and I came here to talk to you about your relationship with her
and . . . I hate what you’ve done.”

  “Get out. Stop trying to give everyone else a fairy tale because you can’t keep a man.”

  She wanted to spit in his face. What a bastard! If he was trying to hurt her, he had. Liza thought Robert was her friend, but if this was how he handled friendship, she certainly didn’t need enemies. Storming out of the headquarters, she nearly bowled Nic over.

  “What’s going on, Liza?” he asked as she stomped to her car. She didn’t reply. Her mission was to get to Chante and show her that she needed to call this damned engagement off.

  Teresa smiled at Jackson as he finished up a phone interview with a reporter from the News and Observer. “Well, thank you for your time and I hope I’ve earned your vote as well,” he said, then clicked the phone off.

  “Great job,” Teresa said. “I love how even your clichés sound fresh.”

  “If that isn’t the most backhanded compliment that I’ve ever gotten.”

  “Get over it, Jackson. You’re leading the polls, people like you, and I don’t think we’re going to have to go negative, as you wanted. I believe you’re going to be the first senator of district forty-five.”

  “There’s still the general election.”

  Teresa pulled a file from the board of elections out of her desk drawer. “This is the general election. The filing date has passed and there is not a Republican nor Libertarian candidate to be seen. This really is a race between you and Montgomery. Voters haven’t really connected with him.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t count him out yet. He has a determined team around him that I’m sure will do everything possible to get him elected.”

  “Are you talking about the lovely Ms. Palmer?”

  Jackson was surprised that she knew Liza, for about five seconds, then remembered that she knew everything. “Yes.”

  “You know their history, right? I wouldn’t put it past them to use her assets to get knowledge about our campaign.”

  “She isn’t that kind of person.”

  “Oh Lord, Jackson Franklin, please tell me you aren’t seeing this woman.”

  “No, I’m not. We just ran into each other at Amelie’s one night.” He declined to tell her any more details.

  Teresa shook her head and pointed beyond her office door. “See all those people who believe in you and are working all these hours to get you elected?”

  “Your point?”

  “Don’t let the little head cost you what we’ve all been working for.”

  “That won’t be a problem. I know what’s important.”

  Teresa nodded. “Good. We don’t have much time left. Now, I have a plan to get out the vote. We need to enlist some drivers to get people to the polls and let them know that the voter ID law is not in effect in this election.”

  “I’ve heard some people talking about that and there are a lot of folks who are afraid that their rights are being trampled on.”

  “They are. I know you shouldn’t hate anything or anyone, but the GOP is close to making me hate them with the love of Jesus.”

  Jackson tilted his head to the side. “That’s pretty deep.”

  “I can’t stand the way this General Assembly and governor are disenfranchising a community of people.”

  “I know,” he said. “That’s why we need people in office who care about people and not the power.”

  “When you get a few years under your belt, I’m going to remind you of this conversation.”

  Jackson smiled, then looked down at his watch. “I have to go in to the clinic and check on one of my patients.”

  “I hate that you guys are going to have to shut down. I’ve called in every favor that I have and I can’t get what you all need.”

  Jackson rose to his feet and nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

  Heading to the clinic, Jackson felt a cold dread wash over him. If the clinic closed and he won the election, how would he be able to make a difference in the lives of soldiers returning home from war in need of help? Would all of this be in vain if VA centers were still shuttered?

  “Something has to change,” he muttered as he turned into the clinic’s parking lot.

  Chapter 10

  Liza knew this was going to be an uphill battle when she walked into Chante’s place and saw her friend sitting with one of Charlotte’s most expensive wedding planners, Jeanne St. Jean.

  “It’s about time you got here,” Chante said when she spotted her friend. “Come on over and take a look at these samples.”

  Liza couldn’t force a smile, couldn’t pretend that she was happy to see her making plans for a wedding. A wedding to a man who was a low-down lying cheater.

  “Chante, can we talk in the kitchen?” Liza asked. Chante took note of the look on her friend’s face. “What’s wrong?”

  Liza nodded toward the kitchen. Once the women were inside and out of the hearing range of the wedding planner, Liza grabbed Chante’s hand. “You can’t do this.”

  “Do what?”

  “Marry Robert.”

  Chante ran her hand across her forehead. “I don’t understand. We just had this conversation and you told me to follow my heart. Why the one-eighty?”

  Liza nodded. “That was before I . . .”

  “Chante,” Robert boomed as he burst into the kitchen. “Don’t listen to her.”

  As Chante looked from Liza to her fiancé, her face was a knot of confusion. “What in the hell is going on?”

  “Are you going to tell her or should I?” Liza asked as she pulled her phone out of her purse.

  “I really wish it didn’t come to this, Liza. I thought you were my friend,” Robert said.

  “And you thought I was going to let what I walked in on just slide on the strength of our friendship?”

  Robert crossed over to Chante and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “You know I love you,” he said. “And I thought Liza was happy for us. I mean, she’s the one who introduced us. But tonight she crossed the line and told me—”

  “Stop the lies!” Liza exclaimed. “I walked in on him fu—”

  “She confessed that she hoped she’d be the one I’d marry.”

  Liza blinked rapidly. “What?”

  “Liza?” Chante asked, her mouth dropping open. “Why?”

  “Robert, you’re a fucking liar.” She pulled up one of the pictures on her phone and held her phone out to Chante, who ignored it as she looked at Robert.

  “I’m a liar?” Robert said. “Nic heard everything and he’s waiting—”

  “Oh, I’m sure Nic will say anything you want him to say. Chante, look at the picture,” Liza prodded.

  She shook her head still ignoring the photo. “I don’t understand,” Chante said. “I thought you were happy for me, for us. Is this why you’ve been ignoring my phone calls, why we haven’t been hanging out and—”

  “Are you kidding me? Are you seriously kidding me? Chante, I was happy for you until I found out that he’s a cheating, lying bastard.” Liza held up her phone and Robert pushed it away.

  “She’s trying to cover up the fact that I told her I love you, Chante.”

  “You know what, to hell with both of you. And, Chante, you’re not that desperate. You had your own doubts, so don’t act like I’ve done something to hurt you because you want to get married.”

  “That’s not it at all. You’re still simmering in bitterness because Alvin cheated on you and you think every other man is going to do the same. Or maybe you’ve finally seen whatever you’ve been looking for in Robert now that he’s off the market.”

  That was it! Liza had been trying to be nice and save her friend from making the biggest mistake of her life. “Do what you want to do, but when you find out who you’ve put your trust in, don’t come crying to me! To hell with both of you!” Liza stormed out of the kitchen, refusing to allow a tear to fall from her eyes. She was hurt, angry, and disappointed in the people who were supposed to be her best friends.

  She wasn’t going to take t
his lying down at all! If Jackson Franklin wanted to win this election, then she was going to give him the ammunition he needed to beat the breaks off Robert Montgomery. She started to drive to Jackson’s campaign office, then remembered that she had no idea where it was. More than anything else, Liza needed a drink. Revenge will come tomorrow, she thought as she headed to Total Wine and More to get a couple of bottles of chardonnay and merlot. Tonight, she’d drown her disappointment and bad feelings in wine. Tomorrow she would reach out to Jackson and deal with the fallout of losing her best friends later.

  Jackson yawned as he looked at the recent headlines about the election. The race had tightened as Robert flaunted his engagement with the lovely lawyer. Jackson didn’t want to believe that he was that jaded, but he felt as if Montgomery was using his newfound love to get votes. And it seemed to be working.

  Powering down his iPad, Jackson crossed over to the breakfast island in the kitchen to brew himself a cup of coffee. He had about an hour before he needed to get ready and head to the campaign office. He couldn’t believe the big debate was less than a week away and the election was just two weeks out. Reaching for a banana nut muffin, Jackson was ready to relax for just a minute. Then he heard the doorbell ring.

  “Really?” he muttered as he put his muffin down and headed to the door. Looking out the window, he was shocked to see Liza Palmer standing on his doorstep.

  When Jackson opened the door, Liza expected to see him dressed in a business suit holding a cup of coffee with the latest copy of the Charlotte Observer draped over his arm. What she didn’t expect and was not ready for was a shirtless Jackson Franklin.

  “Ooh,” she said, blinking then quickly turning away from his chiseled abs and tantalizing pectorals. “I-I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

  “Just my breakfast. How did you find my address?” he asked.