Jay grabbed the remote and flipped our big-screen TV on. It was almost noon and he wanted to see what the news was reporting on us.
We both stood and watched as the noon newscasters recapped all that had happened. I was so grateful to be done with this mess that I didn’t even care that the anchor was talking about Jay’s “alleged affair with the deceased.”
“You know there’s no way Vonda killed herself,” I said when the news story went off.
“We both know that, but I guess when you’re powerful like the senator, you can get a death report to say whatever you need it to say,” Jay replied. “All I know is, I don’t care about the details and I don’t care to know the details. The bottom line is a suicide means we’re off the hook.”
Bradley was definitely a powerful man. Just that fast, he’d been able to make this go away. No, he was definitely not someone I ever wanted to cross, but I knew my business with Bradley Bell wasn’t quite over yet.
“I can’t believe we were able to get him to cooperate just like that,” I said.
“Yeah, but we know he was desperate to keep that information from coming out.”
“Do you think he’ll still move forward with his plans now that he knows people know?”
Jay shook his head. “I’m not sure. But men like that think they’re unstoppable. So he may just be arrogant enough to move forward like nothing ever happened.”
I didn’t know how I would stop it, but I knew I couldn’t let that happen.
Jay let out a long sigh, then glanced around the room, like he, too, was relishing being there. He’d been staying at a friend’s condo and I could tell by his expression that he missed our home.
Finally, he said, “Well, I guess I’ll go start getting some more of my stuff together. I know you wanted me gone as soon as we got back.”
I hesitated as I stared at him, a mixture of emotions running through me. “You don’t have to go right now. It’s been a long few days. You can get your stuff tomorrow. And honestly, I… I don’t want to be here alone just yet.”
His eyes roamed up and down my body and his face bore an expression that almost looked like one of love. I shook that thought off. If anything, that was nothing but lust. After all, we’d been through a lot. “Nah, as much as I would love to stay, it’s probably best.”
I nodded, pained by his words. As Jay headed upstairs, I made my way into the kitchen to pour a glass of pinot grigio. Yes, it was still early, but after the week I’d had, I felt like I deserved a glass of my favorite wine, no matter the time.
Holding my wineglass, I made my way back into the living room, once again savoring my surroundings. I wondered if this place would feel the same when Jay left for good. My thoughts were interrupted by the ringing cell phone.
“Hello,” I said, answering it.
“Shannon!” Nicole exclaimed. “Girl, I saw the news. You just don’t know how happy I am.”
“Not half as happy as me.” I sighed.
We made some more small talk, and of course Nicole pushed for details on the New Orleans situation. But the last thing I felt like doing was rehashing everything right now.
“Okay, I’m going to give you some time to pull yourself together,” Nicole said, giving in after begging for details for a fifth time. “Besides, I was calling because Riley wants to see you and Jay pronto.”
Riley was the radio station manager and he was the most anal-retentive man we knew. He was probably reeling that Jay and I hadn’t bothered to make contact with him over the past few days. It was bad enough Jay and I had been off the air for over a month. I knew Riley was furious about everything.
“Dang, we’ve barely had time to process anything,” I said. “Can he give us time to recover?”
“He’s heading out of town in the morning, so he said it was imperative that you guys come in and see him or you, and I quote, ‘may find yourselves without a job.’ ”
I rolled my eyes. That was an empty threat. With all the money we made for that station, Jay and I weren’t going anywhere unless we wanted to go. Unfortunately, little did Riley know, but our show might very well be on its way to ending permanently. Still, I decided we did owe him a conversation.
“All right. I’ll get Jay and we’ll be there shortly.” I gulped down the rest of my wine, then went upstairs to get my husband.
twenty-eight
Jay had not been thrilled about the idea of us going to see our boss. He kept fussing about how we needed time to recuperate from our ordeal, but I’d managed to convince him that we needed to go in and update Riley on everything that had happened.
Now I wasn’t so sure that had been a good idea. We’d just finished running down the nightmare that had been our life for the past week and all Riley was worried about was us getting a divorce.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m glad you’re safe,” he said once Jay had finished explaining how we’d gotten away. “But please tell me the rumors that I’m hearing about you two getting a divorce aren’t true,” he said.
Riley was the consummate radio man: overweight, disheveled, and with graying hair that was thinning on top. He sat behind his desk, looking at us like we were crazy.
“Riley—”
“And when were you going to talk to me about it?”
“We just now started moving in that direction,” Jay said.
“Moving in what direction? That’s not an option,” Riley said matter-of-factly. “The Lovejoys are a team. I’m selling the couple. I’m not selling Jay Lovejoy. I’m not selling Dr. Shannon Lovejoy. I’m selling the Lovejoys, with an s, the couple.” He was flustered, like the idea of us separating would be devastating to him personally.
I cut my eyes at him, waiting to see if he was serious. He was.
“Well, we’re sorry to burst your bubble, Riley, but we aren’t for sale,” I said.
“Yeah, Riley, it is what it is,” Jay added.
“No, it is what you make it,” he corrected. “And I need you guys to make this work.”
“If only it were that easy.” I sighed. The wave of his hand dismissed that thought.
“You’re a therapist. I know you have some therapist friends you can go talk to. What’s the problem? It can’t be money, because you’re rolling in that.” Riley shrugged like he was really bewildered. “Infidelity? Everybody cheats. Man wasn’t meant to be monogamous. If Jay screwed around with this Vonda woman, God rest her soul, go get you some on the side and call it a day.”
That comment made Jay grimace, but Riley didn’t notice, as he continued.
“If it’s failure to communicate? Go away for the weekend and talk the whole time. Whatever it is, work it out.” He sat forward in his seat like he’d solved all our issues.
“Riley, we appreciate your concern,” Jay said, shaking his head, “but we’re doing what’s best for us.”
“Are you miserable?” he asked Jay bluntly.
Jay looked down. “No, but—”
“Are you miserable?” he said, turning to me.
“No,” I said.
“Is he beating you?”
“Of course not,” I said.
Riley threw up his hands in exasperation. “Then what’s the problem? And don’t give me that irreconcilable differences baloney. That’s a cop-out for people who think it’s easier to give up than fight for their marriage.” He took a deep breath, then turned around a five-by-seven picture of him and his wife, Sarah, that sat on his desk.
“Do you see that?” he asked.
“Yes, Riley, we know you and Sarah have been married for thirty years,” I said, wondering what his point was.
“Do you think it’s been all peaches and cream? No,” he answered for us. “Sometimes I watch her sleeping and wish that she would just stop breathing in her sleep. Hell, half the time I don’t even like her, but at the end of the day, I love her, and I know there’s nothing better out there for me. My wife is good to me. She’s good for me. There’s no obstacle we can’t overcome. That’s wh
at marriage is all about. Now, I know you think I’m just worried about my moneymakers, and honestly… I am. But I’m shooting to you straight: work it out. You two are good together. You belong together. I know you’ve been through a lot. We’ve been running repeats for several weeks and having guest hosts, but people want the real deal. So take a little more time off, pull yourselves together, and I’ll see you two the day after tomorrow.”
I couldn’t help but laugh for the first time in days. “Wow, we were kidnapped, fugitives on the run, wanted for murder, and we get a whole day off. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. I’m a generous man,” Riley replied, ignoring my sarcasm.
He stood and headed toward the door, where he paused, looking back at us.
“Just go home, have some hot, steamy sex, talk about your problems, and work it out.” He turned and walked out the door, his words drifting in the air.
twenty-nine
While Riley’s words had touched me, they obviously hadn’t done a thing for Jay, because on the ride home, he’d told me that since he was so tired, he’d wait and leave in the morning. His not leaving at all had never even come up, and I’d found myself wishing morning would never come.
It had been a night of tossing and turning. I had lain awake for most of the night, watching the red digital numbers inch closer to 8 a.m. I knew that was the time Jay usually woke up. And this morning would be the last time he woke up in our home.
The thought tied my stomach in knots.
I was so full of regrets. Granted, I’d never be able to reconcile Jay cheating on me, but just like he’d driven me to cheat with Ivan, had I driven him to do the same with Vonda?
And did it even matter now?
I pulled myself out of bed, catching sight of my reflection in the full-length mirror. My hand immediately went to my stomach. I hadn’t wanted to wait a few more years for a child. That had been the whole reason for my change in attitude. Now, who knew how long I’d have to wait. And unless I was willing to have a baby out of wedlock, my biological clock would be all ticked out by the time I found another man, fell in love, and got married.
I shook off that thought. I wasn’t trying to marry another man. I wanted the man I was already married to. That hard reality slapped me fully awake.
“Then tell him that,” I mumbled to myself.
“Are you in here talking to yourself?” Jay said, startling me.
I glanced up at my husband. He was wearing his running gear. I frowned. He only ran when he was stressed, when he needed to clear his head. We were out of the woods. So what was he so stressed about now?
“You went running?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Yeah, you know I’m dealing with a lot and, um, just needed some fresh air. Figured I would go for a run, then, ah, you know, come back, and, um, get my stuff together.”
We stood in awkward silence for a minute; then Jay said, “Well, I’m going to go ahead and get to moving my stuff. I need to go grab the suitcases.”
I didn’t reply as our eyes met.
“Umm.” Jay shifted uncomfortably. “I shouldn’t be too long.” He turned to leave and my heart began to race.
“Jay,” I said, stopping him.
He slowly turned to face me. “Yeah?”
Just tell him, tell him you want to try to make it work! “I, ummm, I… do you need any help?” I asked.
He looked at me like he’d been hoping I was about to say something different. “No. I’m good. I think I can manage.”
“Okay” was all I replied.
He looked like he wanted to say something more, but turned and walked out the door instead.
I went into my closet to throw on my running clothes. I needed to get out of there, go clear my head. The way I was feeling right now, I’d have an emotional breakdown watching him pack his stuff, then walk away from the home, the life, that we had built.
I took off running down the street and around the corner. I inhaled the brisk D.C. air as my feet connected with the pavement. I had just passed the neighborhood newsstand when a newspaper caught my eye. I stopped in horror as I read the headline. “Senator Bradley Bell Bombshell!”
An angry-looking picture of Senator Bradley Bell was front and center. It had obviously been taken as he walked into his congressional office. I read a few lines of the story, quickly paid for the paper, then raced back home. I must’ve made record time as I went barreling through the front door.
“Jayyy!” I screamed.
Jay came racing downstairs, his eyes wide like he was bracing for the worst. “What is it?”
“Look at this,” I said, thrusting the paper toward him.
Jay looked at the newspaper. “What is this?”
“What does it look like? It’s an article on the senator,” I said, my voice laced with panic. “He’s being questioned on the land deals in New Orleans.”
Jay quickly scanned the story. “How did the newspaper get this information? Do you think Nicole said anything?”
“We haven’t given Nicole any details. Besides, she wouldn’t do anything without talking to me first. And she dang sure wouldn’t give this information to the newspaper. She’d be doing a special report herself.”
Jay shook his head in stunned disbelief. “Then where did they get the story?”
“I have no idea,” I said, my heart racing. “It didn’t come from us, but I guarantee you, Senator Bell is going to think it did. This man is dangerous. This puts us right back in danger.” I actually found myself shaking in fear. “I thought this nightmare was over.”
Jay continued reading the article, his mouth open in shock. “We didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“You know that and I know that, but he’s not going to believe it,” I cried.
Jay stomped over to the bar and snatched up his cell phone off the counter. “Well, we just need to tell him we didn’t have anything to do with it. I don’t want him sending any of his goons over here to mess with us.” Jay spoke into the phone, “Siri, call Senator Bradley Bell’s office.” After a brief pause, the phone connected and Jay said, “Yes, I need to speak with the senator…. I understand that, but can you please patch me through to his cell or something? Tell him it’s Jay Lovejoy. He’ll want to take my call.”
I watched my husband pace back and forth across the living room as he waited. Finally, he said, “Senator Bell, thank God you took my call. Look, I’m sure you’ve seen… No, I just wanted to call and assure you that neither my wife nor I had anything to do with that information being leaked…. Maybe Vonda told someone else.” Jay stopped talking and pulled the phone away from his ear. “He hung up.”
Fear filled me. Were we being thrust back in the middle of this mess? Were we going to have to go on the run again? No way could I continue to live like that. “We have to convince him that we had nothing to do with this.”
“He was livid. He’s not trying to hear anything we have to say.” Jay picked up the paper again. It was a short article, without many details, but it definitely contained enough to cause trouble for the senator. “This says the newspaper received an anonymous call that the senator was involved in some shady land deals in New Orleans. But they keep saying it’s unconfirmed.”
“Well, why would they report it if it’s unconfirmed?”
“Because the D.C. Dispatch is a tabloid paper whose publishers don’t care about the facts. They report rumors all the time.”
“But now that the story is out there, the legitimate press is going to jump all over it.” I shook my head as the severity of the article sank in.
“Exactly, and that’s probably what whoever gave the Dispatch that tip wanted.”
“The question again: who would do that?”
“I have no idea, but I think I know who does.”
We looked at each other as if we were thinking the same thing.
“Keri,” we said in unison.
“I told you there was something shifty about her,” I said. “I bet she
did this.”
Jay grabbed his keys. “Come on. Let’s go talk to her and find out what the hell is going on.”
It took less than twenty minutes before we were back in front of Keri’s apartment. But as we pulled up, I saw a carpet-cleaning truck backed up to the stairwell. Hoses were running into the apartment and the door was wide open.
Jay knocked on the door, but the man cleaning the carpet obviously couldn’t hear over the whir of the steamer, so Jay eased into the room and tapped him on the shoulder.
The man jumped, then removed his headphones and cut off the machine.
“Sorry, dude, I was in a world of my own,” he said.
We looked around the empty apartment.
“We’re looking for Keri, the woman who lives here.”
The man shrugged. “Obviously, she doesn’t live here anymore.”
“Do you know where she went?”
He put his headphones back on. “Nope. I just got the order to come and clean the carpet. You might want to check at the front office.” He turned the steam cleaner back on and resumed cleaning.
“This is definitely not a good sign,” I mumbled, as we turned and headed to the building’s leasing office.
Jay led the way into the small office. “Excuse me, we’re looking for Keri, from apartment 1112,” he said to the man sitting behind a big desk looking frazzled as he reviewed some papers.
“Yeah, you and everybody else,” the man said without looking up.
“Do you have any idea where she is?” Jay asked.
The man released an irritated sigh and looked up at us. “If I did, I’d have my money. She just bailed. And she owes me two months’ rent. Just left in the middle of the night. So if you find her, do me a favor and let me know. She left the apartment in shambles.” He went back to sifting through his papers.
It was obvious the leasing agent couldn’t help us, so we thanked him, then made our way back to the SUV. Inside, we sat contemplating our next move.
“Let me try to call Keri again,” Jay said, tapping the screen of his cell phone. “Her number’s still here from the other day,” he said when he caught me side-eyeing him.
A Little Bit of Karma Page 17