Fade to Black

by Unknown

  Marriage would be easy with Jesse. He was the only real boyfriend she’d ever had—the only one she’d ever need. He was kind, loving, and sexy. So sexy! Warm fuzzy feelings bubbled through her, causing her to sigh. His smiling face, an eyebrow raised in a suggestive way, entered her mind. Damn! He wasn’t even here and he could make her feel better.

  Her phone beeped…

  Hey, beautiful,

  I’m getting on the plane.

  I’ll call you when I land.

  I love you

  more than you know!

  Jesse

  She hit the reply button…

  I’ll be waiting.

  You forgot phone sex!

  Love you!

  Kate

  Wishing she could see the look on his face when he read it, she pressed send and got to her feet. She didn’t really want to go home, but there wasn’t anywhere else she could go since being social was out of the question.

  Kate made her way to the parking garage and disengaged the security system on the car, slid into the driver’s seat and turned the key. The CD changer spun to the next disk and a slow, sappy love song wafted through the speakers. She turned the volume down and leaned her head against the headrest.

  This was going to be an excruciating few weeks.

  She stopped at the grocery store and picked up some Ben & Jerry’s before heading home. She stood in front of their movie collection and debated her choices. Drama or comedy? Wallowing in her sorrow would only make her feel worse, she decided.

  Her fingers ran across the various titles and she smiled at the one with Kate Hudson and the ever delicious Matthew McConaughey, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Just thinking about the scenes she’d seen more times than she could count made her smile and caused the giggles to start.

  After donning a pair of sweats and one of Jesse’s t-shirts, she curled up on the couch. Her phone beeped, signaling a text message. She glanced over at the clock and realized it was too early to be Jesse. Curious, she opened the message.

  Kate,

  I’m sure you had a really hard day.

  Just wanted you to know I’m here

  if you need ANYTHING!

  Rich

  How sweet. She sent back a reply…

  Yes, it has been hard.

  Thank you

  for your offer.

  Kate

  In a matter of minutes, she had a response from him—not that she was surprised.

  I mean anything.

  Fix a flat tire

  Change a light bulb

  Connect the DVD player

  Check your oil…?

  Shaking her head, she set her phone back on the table next to the couch. It beeped again…

  Honestly, anything!

  Take out garbage

  Shovel the walks

  Snake your pipes…?

  Kate laughed out loud at his obvious double meaning. He was proposing more than either of them were in a position to act on. She considered texting back, but simply dropped the phone on the cushion instead. There was no need to encourage him.

  A few minutes later, it beeped again…

  Anything you need…

  Orgasm?

  Chapter Ten

  Alone in the News17 parking lot with the car in park, Rich’s fingers tumbled the cold metal of his phone while his other hand tapped the business card against his bottom lip. Could he go through with this? Yes, he had to, but not for Kate, he was doing it for himself. If Kate came around, then— An involuntary smile tugged at his lips. –then that was just an added bonus. He punched in the numbers and, as the phone rang, every muscle in his body went rigid. If someone touched him, he might just spring like a cable pulled too tight.

  “Good morning, Reynolds and Stratton, how may I direct your call?”

  Doubt flooded his conscious. Was he really ready to do this? To be divorced? To admit failure?

  “Hello?”

  “Um, is Claudia Reynolds in?”

  “One moment, let me connect you with her assistant.” Background music played in his ear while he waited. The thought entered his mind to hang up and put this conversation off—again. “Claudia Reynolds’s office, may I help you?”

  “Yes, is Claudia in?”

  “May I tell her who’s calling?”

  “Rich Spencer.”

  “Will she know what this is regarding?”

  “Yes,” he said quietly.

  The music that rivaled that of an elevator’s theme song started again, but only lasted for a moment before a familiar voice answered. “Rich, how are you?”

  “Fine, thank you. How are you?”

  “Good. How can I help you?”

  He hesitated, trying to find the right words. “Do you have a time when I could speak with you about…about Shea?”

  “Absolutely.” She paused as if she were looking at her calendar. “How does Friday at 2:30 sound?”

  “I have to work at 2:00. Do you have anything earlier?”

  “You know what, how about 8:00 tomorrow morning?”

  “That would be perfect,” he told her, sounding a little too excited. “Thank you, Claudia, I’ll see you then.”

  “Rich, if you want to discuss moving forward with a divorce, it’s important that you don’t talk about our meeting with anyone. We don’t want her to find out what we’re planning.”

  We. One little pronoun had never meant so much. For the first time, in a long time, Rich had an ally in the constant battle he was fighting with Shea. There was little doubt that Claudia would give him the advice he needed. Even more importantly, he trusted that advice—he trusted her—wholeheartedly.

  His eyes drifted closed and he rested his head against the headrest. It would take a few minutes to compose himself before he could go into the office. His mind was racing through everything that kept him from sleeping; Shea, filing for divorce, and of course, Kate. Always Kate.

  He’d definitely come very close to the line in the sand last night. The text messages were suggestive, maybe a tad desperate or pushy. She hadn’t responded, good or bad. Seeing her today would tell him volumes about how far she would let him push things.

  Jesse was gone. Not out of the picture, unfortunately, but Rich fully intended on taking advantage of Jesse’s father’s untimely health problems. There wasn’t a worse time for him to be out of sight, out of mind. A worse time for Jesse. For Rich though…

  A tap on the window caused him to jump. His already beating heart shifted into overdrive when he saw the face on the other side of the glass.

  Kate. And she looked pissed.

  His fingers fumbled with the window controls, rolling down the other three before finally finding the one that was right next to him. “Hi.” All the apprehension of seeing her could be heard plain as day in his voice. He may as well have just told her he was nervous, that he’d been stupid.

  Her eyes were hard and her normally full lips were pursed together in a flat scowl. “I got some rather interesting text messages from your phone last night. Shea didn’t get a hold of it again, did she?” The unreadable face stared at him.

  “No.” The word seemed to stretch on forever as he tried to figure out where this conversation was going.

  A twinkle flashed in her eyes as a smile spread across her lips which washed away his nerves like a light rain. “It was very thoughtful of you to offer to help me.”

  “I just…” His voice sounded like a frog had taken up residence in his throat. “I just figured there were certain things you might need a man for.”

  “Um hum.” She arched a brow and a grin lifted one of her lips while her cheeks tinged pink. “Yeah, if I need my oil checked or my pipes snaked, I’ll be sure you’re the first one I call. As for the—” Her face flushed crimson. “—orgasm, what exactly are you proposing?”

  His jaw dropped. He never expected her to broach the topic head on. “Um.”

  She waited, her smile growing as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “We
ll, Rich, are you offering your…assistance with that?”

  Wow! Was she really standing here asking me if I wanted to sleep with her? “Kate, I… I, um… Do you want…?”

  She started to laugh, lifting her hand to stifle it. “I’m so messing with you.”

  He shook his head. “Kate, there is nothing I would love more than to assist you with that.” It appeared as if she actually stopped breathing. Her eyes widened and she just stared at him without blinking. “I’m sorry. I’ve said too much and made you uncomfortable. There’s just something about you that makes me want to tell you the truth, whether you want to hear it or not.”

  The wind blew an auburn curl across her face and she tucked it behind her ear. She took a deep breath and exhaled in a slow, long breath. “We’d better get to work,” she said quietly, then turned and glided toward the building.

  Rich set new speed records as he jumped out of the car to hurry and catch up with her. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.” She didn’t turn to acknowledge him, just pulled the collar of her jacket closer around herself. “I just hate when you do that.”

  “Sorry.”

  She stopped and whirled around to glare at him. After a quick glance of the parking lot to make sure they were alone, her eyes returned to his. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me? How…conflicted you’re making me. This little rollercoaster ride you’ve got me on is hell. It’s killing me. I know that I love Jesse…”

  He should’ve fought his smile. “But…?”

  “But—” She started walking again. “—I love Jesse. Let’s just leave it at that.”

  “If that’s what you want. We’ll leave it at that—for now.”

  “For always. I can’t keep going back and forth. Dammit, Rich, you’re married. That’s a deal breaker for me, and it should be for you too. Until you’re ready to do something about it, you need to just keep your feelings to yourself.”

  “I can’t…”

  “You can. Please, I can’t continue to live in this turmoil.” Her chest was moving with intense breaths. Her high cheeks flushed an exquisite pink and her eyes flashed between frustration and…love?

  Standing so close, he wanted to take her in his arms, wanted to tell her about his conversation with Claudia and their meeting to eliminate the ‘deal breaker’. But he had promised himself that he would follow Claudia’s advice to the letter. They had a plan and he couldn’t do anything to jeopardize it. Even if it meant keeping something from Kate.

  Kate walked through the doors into the newsroom and Rich was only a few steps behind her. Laughter was coming from the photographers’ lounge to the right. He took a quick inventory of the room and noticed that Clayton was in Dale’s office—with the door closed. That was never a good sign. Dale believed in an open-door policy, and so the only time his door closed was during contract negotiations or if somebody was in really big trouble.

  “Kate, Rich, you guys missed it,” Nate said through his laughter. Olivia and Jordan stood next to him, holding his phone and laughing hysterically. “Greg. SpongeBob. Stripping.”

  Those three words were enough to already have Rich chuckling. “What are you talking about?”

  “There’s no way to describe this. You have to see it for yourself.” Jordan continued to laugh as he tossed him Nate’s phone.

  Kate and Rich put their heads together and watched Greg dancing, if you could call it that, on a table with his SpongeBob boxer shorts, pasty white legs, and black socks. He dipped into a bootie drop and Kate let out a hoot that melted Rich’s heart. Hearing her laugh was the greatest sound ever. She grabbed onto his arm and buried her face into his shoulder.

  Rich found it more than difficult to focus on the idiot dancing on the tiny screen. Kate was next to him, touching him. She smelled so good, like vanilla and coconut and…happiness. He wanted to fill his lungs with her. There was an audience though, and he forced his mind to come up with some kind of intelligent sounding response.

  “When did this happen?” Rich asked when Dale’s voice on the phone began to reprimand Clayton for his idiocy. Kate was still smiling as she pulled away from him. The sense of loss was instantaneous, and he wanted to feel her touch again—soon.

  “After you guys took off. There was only a few of us left, and he came over and was hitting on Roxy,” Nate explained.

  Rich shook his head and continued to laugh. “Does he have a death wish?” Jealousy was not an emotion Nate was able to control very well.

  “Are you kidding?” Nate threw his head back and belted out a boisterous belly laugh. His eyes jerked in the direction of Dale’s office. “Look at him, would you be jealous if he hit on…” For a second Rich was sure he was going to say Kate, but then he said, “Hit on Olivia, Jordan?”

  “Um, no, I guess not.” Jordan’s eyes registered that he’d been expecting Nate to say Kate too.

  “Nate,” Dale’s calm voice said from the doorway.

  All the eyes in the room turned to look at Dale. He was normally so collected, but he looked tired, frazzled—and it was only 10:30 in the morning. His hair was in disarray on his head, sticking up in various places as if he’d run frustrated fingers through it a thousand times—or gotten his finger stuck in a light socket.

  “Yeah,” Nate answered.

  “I have a favor to ask of you, Nate. You can tell me no, although, I really wish you wouldn’t.” He even sounded tired. “Your phone is your own, and that video is probably quite hilarious.”

  “But…” Nate sensed what was coming.

  “But, I have his image to protect, even if he doesn’t give a damn about it. I can’t afford for that to get out. I’ve told him that his reputation and the station’s reputation are one and same.” He looked disgusted over his shoulder, glaring at Clayton, who was pouting at his desk. “I think we have an understanding.”

  “What would you like me to do?” Nate asked.

  Dale ran his hand over his face. “Please delete it. Let’s just forget about his lack of judgment.”

  “Sure thing, Dale.” Nate smiled. “Make no mistake though, I’m not doing this for him. If it weren’t for the respect I have for you, this would be going on YouTube.”

  “Thanks, Nate, I owe you.” Dale nodded to each of them.

  “Hey, Dale,” Rich said, tossing him the phone. “Wouldn’t you like to see it first?”

  Dale’s lips turned up into an evil grin. He pushed the button and…laughed. He closed the phone and tossed it back over to Nate. He turned to leave and said over his shoulder, “Nate, if you accidentally dumped that to the outtakes reel, I’m not sure that I’d be all that upset about it.” Laughter broke out from everyone in the room. “Then, please, delete it.”

  **

  Rich arrived at Claudia’s office at 7:55, and the parking lot was completely empty. After double-checking the time, he opened the door and headed toward the building, fully expecting the door to be locked.

  His fingers wrapped around the handle and tugged. It opened easily and he walked into the dimly lit reception area. There was no one around; no receptionist, no clients, only a light coming from a room down the hall. He started walking toward it. “Claudia?”

  She came out of the doorway, smiling. “Rich, I’m glad you could make it.”

  He glanced quickly toward the deserted reception area. “Where is everybody?”

  She laughed softly. “Oh, the office doesn’t open until 9:30, but I wanted to get you in as soon as possible.”

  “Thanks, I really appreciate that.”

  She waved her hand toward her office, inviting him in. “Shall we get started?” She walked behind her mahogany desk and sat in her dark brown, leather wing-backed chair. He sat across from her and waited for her to take control. “I have to ask you one question before we move on to your options.”

  “Okay.” He suddenly felt as though he were in trouble, a kid in the principal’s office for fighting on the playground.

  “I can’t stress the im
portance of your honesty. We’re a team, Rich, and I need you to trust me.” Her eyes were searching him, but searching for what?

  “Of course,” he said, “I do trust you.”

  She took a deep breath and asked, “Why are you getting divorced?”

  His stomach flipped. “Um, I thought you understood why.”

  “Is there another woman?” She leaned forward as her fingers threaded through each other and she rested them a little closer to the middle of the desk.

  Damn, didn’t see that coming! His teeth began to gnaw on his bottom lip. Her eyes didn’t leave his face as she waited patiently for his answer. His mind was swimming as he tried to come up with what to say. Finally all he could do was go with the truth. “I don’t know how to answer that.”

  She smiled. “Honestly, the why of things doesn’t matter to me except that you are Nate’s friend. If this girl is the reason…”

  “Claudia,” he interrupted, “this has been coming for over a year. I won’t lie to you, Kate is a huge catalyst to getting my butt into gear, but she isn’t the reason my marriage went to hell. Shea did that all on her own.”

  Claudia picked up a pencil and began scribbling something, notes he presumed. Her eyes met his again, and she asked, “So you don’t think you’re at fault at all?”

  He swallowed hard. “I’ve been a good husband; loving, supportive, faithful.”

  “Completely?” she asked, pencil poised.

  He nodded. “Emotionally, up until the last few months, but physically, yes, completely.”

  Her pencil moved across the paper quickly. “I’m guessing that Shea suspects you have feelings for Kate?”

  A chuckle burst out before he could censor it. “Shea suspects the checker girl at Circle-K.”

  “Fair enough.” More notes made their way onto her notebook. “How is she going to handle being served?”

  “I can’t say for sure.”

  “Of course,” she said with a nod.

  “But I can guess that it won’t go over well. She’s chucked vases at me just for coming home late.”

  Claudia leaned back in her chair and tapped her pen on her lip. A few minutes of silence went by, and he could almost see the wheels turning in her mind, the questions forming. “How violent do you think she could get?”