Perfect Timing

by Brenda Jackson

  “It’s not uncommon for some married women to take lovers, Christopher.”

  “I don’t like being used that way, Gabe, and I’m going to find out what the hell is going on.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Try contacting her. I don’t know her home number but I’m sure I’ll be able to track her down through her employer.” He took the photograph back from Gabe. “I plan to get to the bottom of this immediately.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  “Getting upset won’t do you much good at this point, Christopher. Calm down and let’s analyze the situation to see what we’re up against. It may not be as bad as it seems,” Gabe said encouragingly.

  “I disagree, Gabe. It is as bad as it seems. I slept with another man’s wife,” Christopher said with barely contained anger. According to the person he had spoken to at CNN, Victoria Smithfield had decided to become a freelance journalist since her marriage eight months ago. “Dammit, she should have told me.”

  “But the fact of the matter is that she didn’t, so you didn’t know. Stop kicking your own butt for it. What we should be doing is trying to figure out what’s motivating the person who sent that picture to you. Chances are Tori Smithfield received a copy of that photograph as well. And if she really is married, she has more to lose than you. Maybe her husband suspected she’s been cheating and hired a private detective to prove it.”

  And that was what Christopher was afraid of. Just how far would this suspecting husband go to prove his wife’s unfaithfulness? For reasons Christopher had never shared with Gabe, the last thing he wanted was to become involved in any sort of scandal. Because of his mother, he had been part of a scandal before and the depth of it had had a lasting effect on him. No one knew how he’d felt being a part of such negative publicity. He had made a pact with himself never do anything that would put him in that sort of situation. For the past ten years he had worked hard to establish decency and honor to the Chandler name, something his mother had never thought of doing.

  For nineteen years he had witnessed a good number of the married men in Savannah being constant visitors to his mother’s bedroom. He had sworn he would not be like those men who did not respect the marriage vows they had taken. He had also gone a step further and decided never to marry.

  It had been hard for him to watch those men sneak into their house at night then see them in the daylight with their wives and children. Such was the case of Mayor Potter who somehow had gotten exclusive rights to his mother’s bed during the beginning of Christopher’s junior year of high school. It had been an affair that had lasted two years. During that time Christopher would go to school every day and sit in Mrs. Potter’s class remembering the sounds of her husband screwing his mother’s brains out the night before. And the sad thing was that Deborah Chandler had fallen hopelessly in love with Will Potter and had believed his lie that he would one day divorce his wife and marry her. How his mother had been so gullible, Christopher didn’t know. All he knew was that when the scandal broke out, in an effort to save face with the community and with his family, Potter had further trampled his mother’s already tarnished name as well as her heart. One night after having drunk an entire bottle of Johnny Walker Red, she had gotten the nerve to ingest an entire bottle of Valium while Christopher slept in the other room. He had been the one to find her the next morning, lying on the sofa with the most peaceful look on her face. At first he had thought her merely sleeping, until he had found the letter she had written to Potter.

  “Christopher, are you okay?”

  Gabe’s question reeled Christopher’s thoughts back to the present. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was lost in my thoughts for just a moment.”

  At that moment Mary sounded the buzzer on Christopher’s desk. “Yes, Mary, what is it?”

  “Tori Smithfield is on the line, sir.”

  Christopher released a deep sigh. He watched as Gabe silently excused himself and left his office, closing the door behind him. “Put her through, Mary.”

  As soon as he heard Tori’s voice on the phone, he lit into her. “Why didn’t you tell me you had gotten married, Tori?”

  Tori bit her bottom lip. She could feel Christopher’s anger all the way through the phone lines. She wondered how he had found out about her marriage. “I had planned to tell you that night, Christopher, but then, later, afterward, I didn’t think it was important.”

  “Evidently your husband doesn’t feel that way since he’s having you followed.”

  Tori’s breath caught. Panic seized her. “I don’t understand. What do you mean? My husband is not having me followed.”

  “If you’re so sure it’s not him, then it’s someone else. Somebody sent me a photograph of the two of us together. It was taken the last time we saw each other as we stood in the open doorway of your hotel room, kissing. “I take it that you haven’t gotten your copy of the photo yet.”

  “No, but I just got back in town and haven’t gone through my mail.”

  “Then I suggest you do so. And what makes you so sure your husband didn’t send it?”

  She paused for a moment before replying. “He trusts me.”

  “If he does then he has a case of bad judgment.”

  Although he had spoken the truth, Christopher’s words hurt nonetheless and she reacted. “What makes you think that photograph came from someone that I know? It could be from one of your former girlfriends who has a jealous streak, especially since I didn’t get a copy. I would think if I was the intended target I would have gotten a copy before you did. How do you know it isn’t someone trying to hurt you?”

  Christopher didn’t say anything for the longest moment. She did have a point. A man couldn’t make it to the top of his profession without making some enemies, and he would be the first to admit that he had made a number of them. But still, he couldn’t see any of them going to this extreme to ruin him with this sort of scandal. “Who did you marry, Tori?”

  “I’d rather not say.”

  Christopher balled his hand into a fist at his side. “Look, Tori, this isn’t getting us anywhere. I can find out the information if I want to, so you may as well go ahead and tell me. Unfortunate as it may seem, we’re in this mess together and it’s going to take the two of us cooperating to get to the bottom of it.”

  “He’s not behind this, Christopher,” she said with strong conviction.

  “Well, somebody is and whether that person intends to damage your reputation or mine is the issue right now and my main concern.”

  Sighing defeatedly, she said. “All right. I’ll contact you again.”

  “When?”

  “The first of next week. Will I be able to contact you at this same number then?”

  Tori’s question made Christopher realized that he had planned to be off the first couple of days during the beginning of the week. “Yes, you can contact me this time next week. If I’m not here my secretary can forward your call to me.”

  All right. Goodbye.” She then hung up the phone.

  A short while later Gabe entered Christopher’s office. “I was able to get that information that you wanted, Christopher. Tori Smithfield is married to Adam Benedict.”

  Christopher turned from where he had been standing, looking out the window for the past half hour or so. “Adam Benedict?”

  “Yes, the Adam Benedict, retired senator from California. I’m surprised Tori Smithfield wasn’t more discreet.”

  Christopher shook his head. “I can only assume she thought me coming to her hotel room was being discreet enough.”

  “Not when she’s married to Adam Benedict. I’m surprised you didn’t recognize her face on television when they first got married. It made news since he’s so much older than she is.”

  If that was eight months ago it was during the time I went on that monthlong cruise to Alaska, remember, trying to get that Landmark Deal.”

  Gabe nodded. “Yeah, it was about that same time and by the time you returned all the se
nsation about their marriage had died down. The media had turned its attention to the September 11th tragedy. Well, at least you know the photograph wasn’t taken by anyone in the media. With the senator’s long history in Washington, news of his wife having an affair would have been plastered in all the tabloids.”

  Christopher inhaled deeply. “It still might. We still don’t know who we’re dealing with here.”

  “And she doesn’t think it’s the senator who’s having her investigated?”

  “No, she doesn’t think that it’s him. She even suggested it may be someone I know.”

  Gabe gave that some thought. “In that case, have you considered Pamela Carlyle?”

  “Pamela?”

  “Yes, she is a photographer and you did piss her off that time you came home and found her naked in your bed.”

  Christopher nodded, remembering that day and Gabe was right. Pamela had left pretty mad at him, and he hadn’t seen or heard from her since that night. She was a freelance photographer who worked for a number of major magazines. Her profession would place her in the company of a number of high-profile individuals. And he knew for a fact that she had worked exclusively in the California area a year ago. Had she seen him and Tori together and had remembered Tori as being the senator’s wife and this was her way of getting back at him?

  Christopher sighed deeply. “I need a few days off to make a trip to Savannah.”

  “To see, Maxi?”

  “Yes. She deserves to know what’s going on.”

  “Why? This has nothing to do with her.”

  “Yes it has, especially since she has indicated that she plans to let others know that I’m the father of her child. Just think of the major mess if a copy of that photo is sent to the press. I learned the hard way that any sort of a scandal has far-reaching effects on people, and I don’t want Maxi affected by any of this.”

  Gabe shook his head. “It’s not like you’ve assassinated the president or slept with the First Lady.”

  “No, still, I refuse to place Maxi in an embarrassing situation.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Mya slipped into a pair of jeans and pulled a tank top over her head, grateful to be home a day earlier than planned. She was to have remained in Orlando to meet with Robert Noble today but he had called and left word with Simon Prentice that his trip from Miami would be delayed. He suggested that Mya return home then make plans to meet with him again in Orlando in a few weeks. Although she didn’t relish the thought of having to return to Orlando any time soon, she was glad to be home.

  She had arrived just before the boys’ nap and they had been happy to see her. Since Garrett had already left for practice when Mr. Prentice had gotten word to her that she could leave, she had no way of letting Garrett know she was returning home a day early. She hoped he would be happy to see her. She knew he was going through a bad time about Mark being cut from the team and regretted she had not been here for him.

  She checked her appearance in the mirror. She was going to surprise Garrett and show up at practice hoping to catch at least the last two hours of it. Then maybe later they could go someplace to eat like they’d done the other time. She was determined to resolve the problems they were having in their marriage, not sure how much more she could take of his attitude regarding her job.

  Less than thirty minutes later Mya was pulling her Lexus SUV into a parking space. She quickly grabbed her purse and got out. She met Nathan Phelps, one of Garrett’s teammates, coming toward her to get into his own vehicle that was parked nearby.

  “Hey, Nat, practice over already?” she asked smiling at him.

  “Yeah, the coach let us out earlier than expected and I’m glad. Today was one grueling day. If you’re looking for Garrett, he’s still in the locker room but should be heading out in a few shakes.”

  “Thanks.”

  Mya walked toward the vicinity of the locker rooms and stopped at a distance when she saw Paige Duvall standing in front of the doors as if she was waiting for someone. Mya couldn’t forget the fact she had seen her openly make a pass at Garrett that time at the party. So instead of joining Paige in her wait for whomever it was she was waiting for, Mya decided to hang back near the trees and wait for Garrett to come out. That way she wouldn’t have to make phony conversation with the woman.

  Moments later Mya smiled when Garrett walked out. A frown then covered her face when it was apparent that Garrett had been the person Paige Duvall had been waiting for, too. Mya watched as the woman smiled radiantly at him before reaching out and grabbing him around the waist, getting all in his face. Mya then watched as Garrett walked the woman to the side of the building, away from prying eyes, and stood there talking to her. She blinked back tears as she turned and headed back to the parking lot. Before starting her vehicle she ran a trembling hand down her cheek to wipe away her tears. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes she would not have believed it. Garrett was cheating on her.

  “Mya, please calm down. You may have misread what you saw.” Maxi’s soft voice tried to coax Mya into calming down. She had called her, crying and upset, and had told her about the incident she had witnessed at the stadium.

  “I know what I saw, Maxi. How could he do this to us?” Mya asked fighting back more tears. She felt so hurt her body felt numb. She had barely made it home without having an accident, she’d been crying so hard. Once she had let herself inside the house she was grateful that Mrs. Butler had taken the boys to the park. She would not have wanted anyone to see her in such a pitiful state.

  “Just give him a chance to explain, Mya. You may have jumped to the wrong conclusions. Garrett loves you, you know that. Please give him a chance to explain.”

  “There’s nothing to explain. I know what I saw. Look, Maxi, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Mya, what are you going to do? Where are the boys?”

  “The boys are fine. They’re spending the night at Mrs. Butler’s house. I told her I wanted to spend the evening alone with Garrett.” Mya smiled to blink back more tears. “She thinks I’ve planned this romantic evening for just the two of us. Boy, is she wrong.”

  “Promise you’ll call me later, Mya, no matter what. Promise me.”

  “I promise. I got to go. I want to have myself together when Garrett gets here.”

  After ending her conversation with Maxi, Mya just sat there for a long moment before she rose wearily from the chair and went into the bathroom to wash her face and reapply her makeup. She then went back and sat in her favorite chair in their bedroom to wait. By her estimation he was an hour late in coming home already.

  No sooner than she thought that, she heard the sound of his key rattling in the door. She heard him call her name but she refused to answer him. Then suddenly he appeared in the doorway.

  “Mya, I didn’t know you were coming back today. Welcome home.”

  She lifted her eyes and looked at him and she felt a sharpness cutting at her heart. She loved him so much and he had trampled her pride. She wondered if anyone else had seen him and Paige together the way she had. Just how long had it been going on? “You’re late,” she said softly as she continued to look at him.

  Her statement seemed to take him aback since she had never in all the years they’d been married kept tabs on his comings and goings before. The smile on his face wavered somewhat. “Yes, I stopped by Mark’s place to see how he’s doing.” After a few moments when it became apparent she didn’t have a comment to what he said, he asked. “Where are the boys?”

  “They’re with Mrs. Butler. They’re going to stay overnight.”

  Garrett lifted a brow. “Really? Why?”

  When Mya didn’t say anything Garrett continued to look at her. He walked closer into the room. He had known her long enough to know when something was wrong. “What is it, Mya? Something is going on here. You’re not yourself.”

  She made herself respond to the question in his eyes and the question that had come from his lips. “No, I’m not my
self, Garrett.” She then stood and crossed the room to stand in front of him. “I arrived back early today and thought I’d surprise you and show up at practice again.”

  She watched his brow lift. “Really, I didn’t see you.”

  “But I did see you, Garrett. I saw you and Paige Duvall together.”

  He looked at for a few brief moments then asked in a low voice. “What are you accusing me of, Mya?”

  “You tell me, Garrett. Should I be accusing you of anything?”

  “No, and if you’re insinuating that I’ve slept with the woman, you’re wrong. I’ve told you countless times not to pay attention to women who come on to me. You’re the only woman I love and want.”

  “And I have always believed you all those countless times. And no, I’m not accusing you of sleeping with her, although I may be wrong about that, but I do know something is going on between the two of you.”

  “You don’t know anything, Mya.”

  “Yes, I do. Trust me, Garrett, a woman knows. And I know what I saw. She was all over you, all in your face. And she touched you in a way that she felt comfortable with doing. She touched you, my man, in a way that only I should touch you. In a way that only I have a right to. But you let her do it, Garrett. You let her get into my space. Space that should belong only to me, your wife, the mother of your sons, your former girlfriend, your best friend. And whether you admit it or not, Garrett, there is a reason she felt that comfortable with you, and it’s more than you sending out some pretty strong signals that you may be interested in her. It’s more than that, Garrett, admit it.”

  Mya’s words echoed loudly between the walls of their bedroom. Garrett looked at her as a bout of guilt tore into him. He reached out for her and his heart ripped in two when she took a step back as if his touch was poisonous. “It’s not what you think, Mya. It meant nothing.”