The Trophy Wives Club

by Kristin Billerbeck

  I punch a few buttons in my phone. “Bette?”

  “Yes, Haley.”

  “It’s time I was baptized. Don’t you think?”

  “Absolutely, I do.” She rambles on excitedly about plans and I watch the waves roll in, as if they are seeking me out. God never gives up, they say to me.

  Chapter 17

  Haley!” My boss yells and then focuses on my foot. “What did you do now?”

  “I fell on the beach. I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” I pad over to my desk and sit down.

  “How does one fall on the beach?”

  “I just did, all right? You have two meetings this morning, one at CMG’s boardroom, that one is in ten minutes and one at eleven thirty at the Ivy. Don’t you ever go anywhere else for lunch?”

  “I do it to taunt you.” He goes through his messages and hands one to me. “I can’t read this.”

  I roll my eyes. “You don’t want to read it, it’s from your ex-wife, she says you owe Dr. Sanders $2,200 for your son’s therapy, and he’s stopping all sessions until it’s paid. Your wife’s exact words were, ‘Don’t make me come down there.’”

  He shivers. “Don’t worry, I won’t. That woman is going to be the death of me yet!”

  “That woman is raising your son alone, and that is no easy task.” I speak to him like my mother always preached at me. “He is your son, and if I were you, I’d get that bill paid today, or I’m going to arrange for you to take him to Hawaii this summer. Which I think you should do anyway. Boys need their fathers in a special way.”

  “Call my credit card into the guy and get it paid today.”

  “Have I mentioned that I like your ex-wife and that she is phenomenal with Jack?”

  “You, and all the shopkeepers on Rodeo, love her.”

  I shrug. “Lonely people shop. They’re bored, and they’re looking for something to fill the hole. She could be three hundred pounds, but instead, she shops. You probably never went home, and she used shopping as a Band-Aid. That’s what I did.”

  “I’m your boss, Haley, and I do not need a shrink.”

  “Well, that’s debatable.”

  “You women blame everything on us men, and you don’t have the first sign of guilt over it. You shop too much, and, somehow, you manage to make it our fault. It’s because we’re out earning the money to keep you in that lifestyle. And is anyone grateful? No, you say you’re lonely. I tell you, we can’t win.”

  I roll my eyes. Like Mrs. Seligman is winning anything, raising that troubled boy all by herself. Give me a break. The phone rings, so I keep my opinions to myself. But really, if all he’s going to contribute is money, why should she maintain a home for him?

  Ack! Sounding bitter again. “Bud Seligman’s office.”

  “Haley, it’s Lily. Can you meet me in the cafeteria? I have to talk to you.”

  “Can you give me ten, so I can get Bud off to his first meeting?”

  “No, I can’t. I’ll be right up. We’ll use Bud’s office. Usher him out as soon as possible.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “Be creative.” She hangs up on me, and Bud comes out of his office, perusing some notes.

  “That was your meeting. It’s been moved up a few minutes.” I stand up fast, so fast that I fall over onto the desk. “Balance isn’t what it used to be.” I laugh, pointing to my wrapped foot.

  “Haley, what is the matter with you today? You didn’t get a brain injury with that fall, did you?”

  “No, that happened long before today.” I pick up the files he’ll need for his meeting and tuck them in his arms. “Better get going. The best donuts will be gone if you’re not there on time. You’ll be left with a tofu twisty or an apple soy muffin.”

  “They’ll wait for me, Haley. I’m the boss.”

  “All the more reason why you should set a good example.” I grab his jacket. “You’ll want to look professional, too. Tells everyone what they should do to get in your position.”

  “Haley, what on earth? Are you sneaking a man in here?” He points at me, wagging his finger. “I know. You met the underwear model.”

  “Bud, give me a little credit, would you?”

  “He’s a good-looking guy.”

  “He poses in his chones for a living. I do have some aspirations in life, and it’s not to have my man plastered across Times Square in his skivvies. Call me ambitious—”

  “You’re fresh off a divorce, you’re ready for a tryst, you know, to get the confidence back again. Where is he?” He opens the coat closet. “He’s not here yet, huh?”

  “We are not having this conversation. You know, you are textbook sexual harassment. I should get one of those programs set up and force the whole staff to attend.”

  “Sure, hon.”

  “Go to your meeting. And if I’m going for one of your clients? I’m holding out for Hugh Jackman, not some second-rate male model.” I laugh lightheartedly. The truth: If I wanted a good-looking man with the absence of love, I’d try to get my husband back.

  Lily walks in and sees Bud standing there, then looks at me and frowns. “Oh, Bud, you’re still here. I think they may have started without you downstairs,” she says, as calm as you please. “Isn’t that your meeting?”

  “I start the meetings!” He rushes out the door, tossing his sport-coat at me. “They wear a jacket for me, not the other way around. Got it?”

  I salute again, and he jogs out the office. “Hold that elevator!” I hear him yell.

  Lily shuts the door and leans against it. “Hi,” she says breathlessly. “I thought he’d never leave.”

  “Lily, what could be so important?”

  She takes in a deep breath and walks toward the window. “I know you told me that you didn’t want to know who fathered Rachel’s baby.”

  “And nothing has changed. It’s just like getting caught up in a soap opera, what’s next? I find out she’s really a man?”

  “She just thinks like one.”

  “I still don’t want to know, Lily, so if you came up here to gossip…”

  She shakes her head. “When have I ever gossiped? This relates to you directly, or I’d mind my own business. I thought she might settle in with Jay and that would be the end of it and you need never know.”

  I can’t help but wonder if Rachel tried to pass this baby off as Jay’s, or if he told her straight out about the vasectomy. “How could it relate to me? I’m done with Jay, and more importantly, he’s done with me. I got the last of the money from Hamilton. You told me yourself I should dare to dream. Well, I’m not dreaming about either of them, let me tell you.”

  “What did you do to your foot?” She focuses on my wrap.

  “I fell.”

  “Again?”

  “I think I got a date out of it, though, so it may have been worth it.” I meet her gaze. “Soccer players don’t make any money, do they?”

  “David Beckham does. Haley, stop changing the subject, I have to tell you this before it’s plastered on Entertainment Tonight.”

  She has my attention. “You say this relates to me?” Gosh, I hope whoever he is, he makes Kevin Federline look like a slice of heaven. “How could this relate to me?”

  “Let me rephrase. It relates to your settlement.”

  “I got all of my settlement. I just have to cash the check. For some reason Hamilton sent me the balance.”

  “Go. Cash it now. Don’t pass Go. Do not pause to look in any shop windows. Get it cashed and in some sort of CD where no one but you can touch it.”

  “Lily, what on earth? It’s my money, it’s all laid out in the agreement.”

  “The baby’s father…” She looks to make sure the door is shut and my stomach tightens. I close my eyes and wait for it, praying it’s not Jay’s. I know what he said, but I can’t help my prayer, it’s guttural. “…is Craig Lynchow!”

  My body relaxes. “No, Lily, he’s Jay’s business partner. His name is just on all of Rachel’s contracts bec
ause of the business. I’m sure someone read something and got confused.”

  “No, Haley, he’s the father of the child, and more importantly, he now wants to be the father. He and Rachel claimed that they tried to refrain from one another, but the baby was the cement. They’re in love.”

  I have to find myself a seat. “Anna’s husband?” I think back to all her cackling laughter about how it would cost him too much to leave. Apparently the price came down. I can’t help but see Anna’s reaction to the news play out in my head. There will be no laughter, no callous treatment of the divorce. Her life will be torn apart, and the fact is, she was always more comfortable in her role as a trophy wife than I was. This will devastate her. “How could one woman cause all this havoc? What’s her point, Lily? First my marriage, now Anna’s…”

  “To tell you the truth, I think originally it was a business move. She thought Jay was the controlling partner in the production company when she first got involved with him, but apparently doing the more artistic film cost Jay quite a bit privately. There’s not nearly as much in an art house film as there is in a good on-screen belch.”

  “So let me understand this. Jay took the hit for a movie I suggested he make. Rachel, an unlikely choice, gets cast as the star, and she walks off with an award and his business partner?”

  “Jay got into some financial trouble to make that movie for Rachel and borrowed pretty heavily from Craig privately to make it work. He couldn’t find investors for it, but he believed in the film strongly and wanted to see it made no matter what.”

  I know this is completely selfish, but the first thing to hit me is that I’m a terrible producer. That was my idea. My film. Maybe Jay will remember that small fact now that it’s tanked at the box office.

  I don’t feel the pain in my foot any longer. How can people be so cruel? How can they think only what they want matters and whoever gets hurt is simply collateral damage? “Does Jay know?”

  “Rachel and Craig are telling Jay today. She wanted to make sure she was covered legally, as Craig plans to dissolve the business.” She pauses and comes over to stroke my shoulder. “I thought you should know to cash your check immediately in case Craig tried any funny stuff.”

  I shake my head. “Craig can’t do this, Lily. That business is everything to Jay. It’s his life’s work!”

  “Apparently, this agreement has been in the works for some time. Jay thought he’d like to do more artistic work, and so he thought it best. Craig and Rachel have made Jay believe this is his idea.”

  “Jay never thought any such thing until Rachel won that award and he got suckered into thinking he’d have more value if Hollywood didn’t laugh at him. Laughing makes money, Lily! What’s wrong with making people laugh?”

  “Nothing, Haley. But I seem to remember a young woman who didn’t believe in herself too strongly, and it wasn’t all that long ago.”

  “You girls believed in me, and I found my worth. Maybe, despite the way he’s treated me, I need Jay to find his. Lily, what can I do?”

  “You can brace for impact and cash that check before it isn’t any good.”

  “But I can’t just do that. So…so is Craig’s marriage over, too?”

  “Unless his wife wants to share him with Rachel. I think so.”

  “Why would she have led Jay to end his marriage? My marriage? If she really wanted Craig?” I drop my head to my desk. “This makes no sense, Lily. No woman could care that little for her fellow woman.”

  “That’s what you might think, but you’re a strangely naïve woman for all you’ve been through. Listen”—Lily lowers her voice—“I shouldn’t have told you a word of this, but as your sister, I need you to protect yourself. There might be nothing left of that business when Craig is through with it and I don’t think Jay understands that.”

  I shake my head. Protecting myself is not remotely on my mind. “I’m fine. My worst fears already came to fruition. I’m better for it, Lily, but Jay’s ego has never had a blow like this. He’s not a strong person. He only acts cold-hearted and callous, but he’s like a little boy who has been hurt so many times, he has stopped feeling altogether. This business is all he has. I honestly believe he won’t feel anything with the betrayal of Rachel. He probably expected it, but thought they’d make the next great Hepburn and Tracy films together.”

  Lily pulls her long ponytail around to her chest and fiddles with it like a child. “It’s time he handled things for himself. He won’t ever change if he’s not forced to. How can you possibly worry about him now?”

  “Because I know where his business is on his life scale. This will utterly devastate him, and he was my husband. I loved him as best I could, and I don’t want to watch him be destroyed. Just last night, I read a proverb about a beautiful woman. It said that beauty was fleeting and charm was deceiving, but a woman who loves the Lord shall be praised. I want to be that woman, not someone who happens to be tall and blond. There’s no real value in that.”

  “The Bible also says to be as shrewd as serpents and as gentle as doves. Don’t allow yourself to become ensnared in this trap again.”

  “She took my marriage down, Lily. I’m not letting her take my husband there too.”

  “Ex-husband. I’ve got to get back to the office. The board should be discussing plans for the clients working with Cutler & Lynchow as we speak.” Lily brushes her hair back. “I can’t believe I told you all this. I could get sacked if it ever comes out. I’ve never broken a work confidence like this, but I can’t watch you get hurt anymore. God forgive me, but cash the check for me, will you?”

  “I’m going to find Jay.” I hobble up onto my feet and pull my handbag from the drawer.

  Lily stands in front of the door. “I can’t let you do that, Haley. I told you this in confidence. If it gets out that I leaked it, our business could be devastated, and we’d both lose our jobs.”

  “Get out of the way, Lily. I’ll do what I can to protect the information.”

  She presses her palms to the door. “You’re not going anywhere but to cash that check.”

  I pull the check out of my purse and crumple it up in a ball before stuffing it back in the outside pocket.

  “Haley, don’t be crazy!” I run out the door, as quick as my lamed foot will carry me.

  I press the elevator button, but with all the bigwigs in the meeting downstairs, it’s not coming. Lily follows me out of Bud’s office.

  “Lily, you girls taught me about sacrifice. You showed me why I have to leave room for God, and now that’s real for me.” I’m convicted by my very own words. “I don’t want Jay to hurt like I did. I don’t want anyone to feel that way if I can do something to stop it.”

  Lily smiles. “Now you’ve come a long way, baby. But you can’t stop this, and I could lose my job and you could lose $20,000. As wise as a serpent, Haley.”

  “I won’t say anything to harm CMG, but I’ve got to go to him.”

  She nods. “God be with you, Haley. You’ll need Him.”

  “He is,” I say. “He absolutely is.”

  “Haley, hi.” I turn around to see the dancing stalker with a large bouquet of flowers.

  I point at him. “Singing stalker boy.”

  “Right,” he says enthusiastically. “Actually, the name is Jim Lewiston.”

  “I can’t stop now, Jim!” I tell him. “Urgent business.” As I hobble onto the elevator, the door closes on my shoulder and knocks me inside the doors.

  “These are for you,” he calls out as he jumps in the elevator with me. “Your advice worked.”

  “How did you get up here?” I ask.

  “I took the stairs. Your elevators are ridiculously slow.”

  “No, I mean past security.”

  “I signed with the agency this morning. Your advice worked. I’m a dancer. More importantly, I’m about to be a paid dancer. I got work in the new production of Hollywood’s latest musical, so I wanted to thank you.” He thrusts the pink tulips and spring mix a
t me again.

  “Fabulous news. I knew you could use that stalker intuition for good.” As the elevator moves, I lose my balance and fall into him. “So I suppose dancing really helps you with balance, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m sort of in need of someone with balance at the moment. Are you free? And more importantly, do you have a car here?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  I put my arms around his shoulder and maneuver him out of the elevator past the meditating wannabes in the lobby. “Jim, I do believe that you may have something to teach me in regard to stalking prey.”

  Chapter 18

  My friendly stalker and I arrive at Cutler & Lynchow at precisely 10:28 A.M. and I look to him. “Should we synchronize our watches?”

  “I don’t have a watch,” Jim says. “But I do believe I’ll come with you. I never did trust producers, and, besides, perhaps my presence will help them be on their best behavior.”

  I’ve become quite the praying sort. Maybe it’s because I’m alone all the time, but I find myself praying for every little thing throughout the day. I tell God that I cannot go into detail at this very moment, but He knows what I need and would He please supply it. Whatever that might be.

  As I go to pull the office door, it’s locked, and I struggle with it a few more times before it registers. I begin to pound on the metal frame. “I know you’re in there, Craig! Let me in!” I pound some more until Craig and Rachel appear in the doorway, and they look at each other with all the telltale signs of guilt. Good. At least they still have some.

  How could you, I say to them with my eyes, and they both avert their gazes, so I know it’s true. I know I’ve given my life to God now, but I can barely stand the amount of hatred I feel for the two of them. It reminds me how very human I still am and will always be. Money. How could money ever be worth ruining people’s lives for? As it is, the two of them could do anything they wanted in this lifetime. And instead of vacationing in Tahiti, they choose to destroy lives and steal what belongs to others. Power and greed are two truly heinous desires.