CHAPTER 13:
Consequences
The Landing was Vanessa’s first destination when it came to finding Rex. It seemed likely that her father had deliberately misled them both so that Rex would think that was where they were having lunch. That way he would be alone with his daughter, while Rex went to the wrong place. Of course, there was always the possibility that her father had had words with Rex requesting him to leave, so that he could have time alone with her. The question was, would Rex agree to that, knowing that she wanted him there? She couldn’t imagine so.
‘Damn, I wish he had brought his cell phone with him,’ she muttered as she made her way along the street.
On reaching the restaurant, she could see no sign of Rex. She checked in at the reception where a woman in her late teens resided. ‘Hi,’ Vanessa said, trying to hide the anxiety in her voice. ‘I’m wondering if this guy, of about sixteen years old came in here. Actually, he looks more about eighteen. Oh, and he is the most gorgeous, hottest guy you’ve ever seen. You would have been having a hard time preventing yourself from jumping over that counter and ravishing him.’
‘Oh. You mean, Rex?’
Vanessa reeled. ‘Yeah huh. You know him?’
‘No, not really, but going by your description…’ She giggled. ‘He introduced himself. Very charming he was. Even asked for my phone number.’
‘That would definitely be him.’ Vanessa laughed. ‘Do you know where he went?’
‘Sorry.’
Vanessa hurried out of the restaurant. She glanced up and down the street, her heart beating fast. ‘Calm down,’ she told herself. ‘Take a chill pill. He’s fine. He’s probably searching all the restaurants looking for you right now.’
It didn’t seem to do any good. The constant dread that something had happened to him kept invading her mind, even though she knew deep down there was nothing to worry about. Her suspicions had obviously been correct; her father had deliberately set Rex up to go to the wrong restaurant. The worst thing that could possibly happen is that Rex would give up the search and catch a bus home.
She checked out each restaurant she came to, but most of them were down side streets. It was possible she could easily miss him. They could even now be only one block away from each other.
She stopped in at one and asked the woman on reception. ‘Has this drop dead gorgeous, ultra-hot and athletic guy of about eighteen been in here looking for his lunch date?’
‘No, sorry. Are you ok? You seem kind of stressed.’
‘I’m fine,’ she lied.
‘Are you sure? You look as though something’s wrong.’
‘No, honestly.’ She made a hasty exit.
No sooner had she stepped outside when a most welcome sight reached her eyes. ‘Rex!’ She ran towards him and slung her arms around him, embracing him as tight as she could. ‘Oh God, I was so worried!’
Rex returned the embrace and patted her on the back, ‘It’s ok.’ He relaxed his hold, but she continued to hold him tight, resting her face in his chest.
‘I thought something had happened to you.’
‘Nessa, it’s ok!’ Rex pulled her arms gently away and lifted her chin so that they were eye to eye. ‘Why were you worried, Ness? Why would you think something had happened to me?’
‘I… I don’t know,’ Vanessa said, suddenly feeling very foolish. She realised she had allowed her emotions to get the better of her and now her insecurities had been exposed.
Rex’s eyes softened. ‘Your dad sent me to the wrong restaurant, that’s all. He gave me a hundred bucks and asked me to buy your favourite perfume and to bring it wrapped.’ He held out a rectangular package in his hand, nicely wrapped with a red ribbon.
She took the gift, although had no interest in it. It just seemed like a bribe to her, nothing more. She still felt small and had trouble looking Rex in the eye. ‘I’m such an idiot.’
‘No, you’re not.’ He continued to touch the side of her face, but his eyes seemed sad. ‘But I’m worried about you. You can’t worry about me like this. It’s not healthy. I don’t want…’
‘I know! And it’s ok. I’m fine. It won’t be like it was, I promise. I’ve got it together now. It’s just that I got really upset at my dad and I said some things and now I’m worried about what his reaction is going to be.’ She knew she was making a lot of excuses, but they were valid ones to be upset, even if they had nothing to do with her concerns about Rex.
It was hard to know if Rex bought her excuses, but his eyes softened. ‘He sure must have had a good reason for wanting me out of the picture.’
‘He wants me to stay with him in Auckland during the holidays.’
‘Maybe you should?’
‘No! I couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing you, even for a week!’ No sooner had she said the words when she realised she had once again shown herself to be needy. ‘I don’t know. I guess I could, but I don’t know whether I should open myself up to more disappointment. He could just walk out on me again. And I don’t think my mother would be happy and I don’t even think he will want to see me again after today.’
‘Surely it’s not too late for damage control?’
‘Well that all depends on him and how much he wants to see his daughter. It’s all in his ballcourt now.’
‘Shall we go and find him?’
‘Nuh uh. I don’t really want to talk to him right now. Let’s go home. Let’s catch a bus.’
‘Ok. We’ll do that then.’
They said little to each other as they made their way home. Vanessa was content to just snuggle into Rex all the way home on the bus, enjoying the warmth of his body and the knowledge of his presence. He always knew when words weren’t needed. He could have asked for details about what was said between her and her father, but no doubt he already had some ideas about that. He seemed to know when all she wanted to do was just snuggle and think and this was one of those times.
Her anger towards her father had waned now, but she would still have plenty to say to him about how he had tricked Rex into going to the wrong restaurant. She wouldn’t let him get away with that. However, there was no guarantee she would even see her father again, especially not after the revelations she had made, revelations that had destroyed her parents’ marriage, when her mother had made similar ones, several years earlier.
One thing was for sure; her cell phone had remained silent. Her father had not tried to ring her. Was that an omen?
Once back in Te Arawa, the two still had some time to spare so they went back to Rex’s where they went for a dip in his family pool. All Vanessa’s concerns seemed to just disappear until it was time to return home.
Like the gentleman he was, Rex walked her home and they said goodbye at the doorstep, making it look as though they had just returned from school.
Once inside, Vanessa was greeted by her mother. ‘Ok, Vanessa. I want to know where you’ve been all day.’
Vanessa’s heart sank. Somehow, her mother had found out she was not at school.
‘Yes, I know you weren’t at school, the office rang me, concerned. Said you had disappeared at interval.’
Vanessa knew that others often secretly left school at interval, but rarely did word ever get to the office on that. Sure, there had been guards this time around, but they were confident no one had reported them, because Rex trusted the two female guards he had used his charms on to let them leave without a pass. And with Rex’s great friendship with Mr Harris, she doubted he would have minded anyway.
‘Why would the office ring you?’ Vanessa asked.
‘Because I have asked them to keep an eye on you. Make sure that you don’t do anything silly.’
‘Why?’ Vanessa had always believed her mother trusted her, but it seemed she was mistaken. ‘Don’t you trust me?’
‘It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just that I worry about your state of mind. I have to ensure that you are mentally able to cope with Rex back in your life. You know what the doctor s
aid. Your state is like that of an alcoholic or a drug addict. Even though they may appear to be clean, they can fall right back into their addiction again even if they just dabble in a little. I just need to have some assurance that you aren’t going to regress.’
‘I’m not, Mom! I’m ok now.’
‘So you say. And I hope you’re right. But you see how I need to put measures in place to assure that?’
‘Ok, so, I skipped school. I’ve done that before. You never make a big deal out of it.’
‘But this time it’s different. Not because you may have gone off with Rex, but because I had another call about an hour ago that shook me up quite a lot.’
Vanessa tensed up and stared wide eyed at her mother. ‘Who called? What was it about?’
‘Perhaps you might be able to explain to me where you were first and who you were with.’
Vanessa stared at her mother’s face. She had that staunch look where her brows furrowed and her eyes blazed. There was no way Vanessa could bluff her way out of this. She had to tell the truth. She sighed. ‘I was having lunch with Dad.’
Her mother’s eyes narrowed. ‘And when exactly were you intending on telling me you had been in contact with your father?’
‘I don’t know. I was going to tell you. I just didn’t know how. He tracked me down a couple of days ago. We talked a couple of times, that’s all and he asked me to come to town with him today. But Rex was with us. I wasn’t going to go with him on my own.’
‘Apparently Rex agreed to leave you with him.’
‘What?’
‘It was him who phoned me. Worried when you went storming out of the restaurant and didn’t return. He was worried about you getting home.’
‘He’s a liar!’ Vanessa snapped. ‘Rex did not agree to leave me with him. He tricked Rex, getting him to go to the wrong restaurant!’
‘That’s not what he says.’
‘And you believe him?’
‘Well at the moment I have little reason to believe anything you’re telling me.’
‘Mum, I have never lied to you. I have told you nothing but the truth about this, haven’t I? Did I try to deny anything?’
‘The fact that you would keep this from me is dishonest in itself. Don’t you think it would affect me knowing you were seeing your father behind my back?’
‘Yeah huh! And I didn’t take that lightly. I just wasn’t ready to tell you. I was going to tell you tonight, but you found out before I got the chance.’
Her mother simmered and her blue eyes saddened. ‘Why would you see him at all? He walked out on us? Why?’
‘I don’t know!’ Vanessa closed her eyes in anguish. ‘He’s my dad, you know? He seemed sincere. He wants me back in his life, but I knew you’d be upset about that, so I couldn’t just come out and tell you. Is it wrong for me to talk to my father? Is it wrong that I should want him back in my life?’
‘Vanessa, you know how much he hurt me? Do you have any idea what it’s like to be married to a guy for so many years and then have him dump you like yesterday’s garbage when he finds out your deep dark secret, a secret that for many years was simply a secret and nothing more, until one stupid mistake was made?’
‘Why keep it a secret at all? You don’t see me keeping it a secret. I’m open about who I am and I’m not ashamed of it.’
‘But Vanessa, you have to understand, for me I lived in a time where being gay was looked down upon. My parents certainly wouldn’t have understood. Your father is very homophobic too. When your father came into my life, there was something very special there and it enabled me to live a normal life, like everyone else. I repressed who I was so that I could continue to live that normal life. And look at it this way, Honey, if I hadn’t repressed it, I doubt you’d be here today.’
‘I guess.’
‘Vanessa, this is why I’m asking you now, please, for both our sakes, do not see your father again. Tell him to go and leave us alone. We’ve done fine over the last few years. We don’t need him around. You’ve seen how manipulative and controlling he can be. Do you really want such a person back in your life?’
‘But he won’t control me, Mum. I’ll see to it he doesn’t.’
‘What about the lies and the manipulation? You want that too?’
‘Surely I can give him a chance?’
‘Vanessa, no, if you continue to see him you are going to hurt me. Do you want that?’
‘No.’
‘Then please Vanessa. Think about it. Tell your father to go back from where he came from. Tell him you no longer want to speak to him. It will be better all around if you do. Oh, and another thing. I think you and I living in the same town as Rex is doing you no good at all. I can see that you are becoming way too dependent on him. I am looking at finding a job in another town well away from here. We will be moving as soon as I can get something.’
TAC Boot Camp Page 19