by Amanda Aksel
I gazed into his eyes looking for a trace of guilt or dishonesty, but I didn’t see any.
“Really?” I asked.
“Really. I came close before, but I didn’t do it.” He gave an assuring smile, and I couldn’t help but believe him.
“Didn’t do what?” Jennifer asked as she approached from the backdoor. She put her arm around Michael’s shoulder and he looked slightly panicked.
“Sky diving,” I said. Jennifer threw her head back in a good laugh. It was a believable save. Michael was a dare devil in the lab, not so much in an airplane.
“Everyone ready for fireworks?” my dad shouted with his arms full of an assortment of Fourth of July paraphernalia. The kids howled in delight. James and I watched from the deck as the kids held sparklers and my dad illuminated the backyard with colorful explosions, red, green, purple, blue, and yellow. No matter how old I get, fireworks are always enthralling.
James stood behind me as I leaned on the deck rail. He wrapped his arms around my waist and whispered in my ear, “This was a really fun day. Thank you for bringing me.”
I didn’t know if it was the relaxed last eight hours with my family, the fireworks, or the little buzz I got from the few beers I drank, but in that moment my heart leaped. Something about being there with him, with them, felt right. I called off the guards of my own fight, at least for the night.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Working Late
Fourth of July weekend was eye opening. Between my brother’s affirmation, my family’s positive reaction to James, and their new compassion toward me, I felt different, hopeful. Maybe there were good guys out there. If decent men existed, then James would definitely be one of them. Over the next few weeks, I felt myself relax. I maintained my guard, but I wasn’t so obsessed about catching him cheating. I spent more time enjoying his company, his laughter, his handyman skills, and his skills in bed. Yes, things were good.
That was until one afternoon in August when I had a sudden jolt back into reality, and my summer romance came to an end. James and I were taking our usual conditioning jog around the park. Out of nowhere, I heard a woman yell for James. We turned around to see a stunning woman in her running gear, which included skintight pants and matching Nikes. She could have easily been shooting a magazine ad with all the make up she had on. James ran ahead to greet her.
“Hey, Shanna. How are you?” he said.
“Great. You?” she said in a sensual tone, breathing heavily. Heart rate up or not, it was uncomfortably seductive.
“Great!” James stared at her a moment too long and I cleared my throat. “Oh, uh this is Marin,” he said. No “girlfriend” this time, huh? “Shanna’s a patient of mine.”
“Hi,” I said. She looked me up and down as if she were giving me a mental veto.
“Well, got to go. See you Friday.” She waved bye to James and ran in the opposite direction.
“Bye,” James waved and turned to watch her jog away. Her perky little ass bounced with each stride, and I swear I felt my own droop with resentment. I scoffed and crossed my arms. Was I really jealous? It was the first time I had seen James act slightly suspicious. Something was up. I could feel it and not like last time when the other woman turned out to be his sister. No, there was definitely something to discover, and I was going to find it.
Later at James’, I perused his appointment book while he was in the shower. Shanna Costa was entered for four o’clock on Friday. A late day appointment, huh? I put the book away and opened the bathroom door, steam covering my face.
“Hey, you wanna go to dinner on Friday?” I asked over the sound of running water.
“Wish I could babe, but I have a late appointment,” he said.
“How late?”
“Um, like eight.”
“Eight? That’s a little late for work, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, but sometimes I have to work around my patient’s schedule. Let’s have dinner on Saturday.”
I agreed and didn’t say another word about it. There was no eight o’clock appointment in his book. I double-checked. Shanna’s four o’clock appointment was the last one. Now why would he want to give himself an extra four hours? Because he’s sleeping with her! I knew he was too good to be true.
When I got home later that night, I called in for back up.
“Do you have a black outfit?” I asked Telly after she answered my call.
“For what occasion?” she asked.
“Spying.” It felt almost as exciting as it sounded.
“I’m listening.”
I told her the whole story, and she agreed to accompany me on a special spying expedition. There was only one Shanna Costa listed in San Fran, so it was easy to find her address. I only hoped it was the right one.
Telly pulled up to my apartment on Friday afternoon. When I opened the door, I saw she was dressed in head to toe black with sunglasses and a black beret. I was also wearing black, but opted for a ball cap with my hair tied in a ponytail.
“What’s with the beret?” I asked.
Telly whipped her head in my direction and in a phony French accent said, “It goes with le spying out-feet.”
I raised my brow. “We should get le going.” Within seconds, we sped off.
If James, in fact, had a four o’clock appointment with Shanna then it would be ending by five, which is exactly when we pulled up to Mayberry Street with its series of beautiful Victorian style townhomes on a steep hill. The kind of picturesque neighborhood revered on San Francisco postcards. Hmm, there was no sign of James’ SUV.
“Shit, he’s not here.”
“Do you think we missed him?”
“I don’t know.” I glanced at the house. Shanna was carrying a bag of groceries inside. Alone. “That’s her,” I whispered and ducked down in my seat.
“Why are you whispering?” Telly said, trying to pull me upright. I surveyed the street again, thinking I missed his SUV, but it was nowhere to be found.
“Well, at least we know it’s her house,” Telly said.
“Yeah.”
“If they had a four o’clock appointment she wouldn’t have just come back from the store,” she said.
“True.” I was trying to get a handle on the discrepancy.
“Unless,” she started slowly, “she just got back from their appointment at his office.”
“Maybe, but he primarily does house calls.” I checked my watch again. It was only five after.
“Didn’t he say her appointment was at eight?” Telly asked.
“Yeah.”
“Let’s get something to eat, then come back later. Besides the sun will be down and we’ll be able to go up to the house without being noticed.” I stared at Shanna’s house, hoping that if I looked long enough James would suddenly appear like one of those magic eye pictures. Reluctantly, I agreed with Telly and we left for dinner.
We returned to Shanna’s neighborhood by eight with two large, or rather, Venti lattes from Starbucks. Telly drove up the street to look for James’ SUV. This time it was parked right in front. She pulled forward and parked about half a block away. I retrieved a pair of binoculars from my purse and studied the outside of the house. The first floor lights were on, but the second floor lights appeared to be off.
“So, what do you wanna do?” Telly asked, waiting for an assignment.
“Nothing yet.”
“You don’t wanna go up to the house and get a better look?”
“No, I think we should stay here and see if anything happens.”
“Like what? Watch James leave? That won’t prove anything.”
“It will if they leave together.” The truth was I really didn’t have a plan. I figured when I arrived I would know what to do. My hope was that Shanna and James would emerge from the house with their hands all over each other. Then, I would have undeniable evidence, but who knew how long that would be. I was prepared to stay all night.
“Okay, you’re the boss,” Telly said as she
sipped her latte. I sighed and relaxed in my seat.
“So, how’s Will?” I asked, trying to pass the time.
“Good. We’ve actually been spending a lot of time together.”
“It’s not serious though, right?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to put a label on it. It is what it is.”
“Which is?” I drew out the question.
“Like I told you before. We’re having fun and enjoying each other’s company. Nothing more, nothing less.” She gave me a stern look as if to tell me to stop with the questions.
“Okay. That’s cool.”
“Can we talk about something else?” Telly asked.
“Sure.” I kept my eyes steadily on the house. Telly scooted around in her seat and curled her knees to her chest. “You know what this reminds me of?” she asked.
“What?”
“The night we spied on my landlord. Do you remember?”
“Yes!” I snapped my fingers, recalling that evening.
Telly and I went out to a gay bar one night, and it happened to be the same night as their weekly drag show. We were having a blast—cocktails, sexy chiseled gay men, and drag queens galore. Telly recognized one of the drag queens introduced as Fuchsia Turner. She was convinced that he was her landlord, but didn’t want to approach him in case he was private about it. ‘I’m not going to shit where I sleep,’ I believe were her exact words.
The following night, after dinner and cocktails at her house, we took the opportunity to spy on her landlord who lived in the same building as Telly. He left his apartment around eight-thirty. We followed him by car keeping a safe distance until we finally ended up at the same gay bar. He entered through the back of the building with a duffle bag. To me it was enough evidence to convict, but Telly needed more. “Reasonable doubt,” she said. Lawyers.
We waited until we saw another guy enter the back of the building and stopped him before he made it inside. Telly asked if he knew Charlie Jones, her landlord’s name. He said he did and that he would be performing tonight as a she. He asked if we wanted to go backstage, but we refused.
To this day, I don’t know why Telly was curious enough to follow her landlord to prove he was a part-time drag queen. I only wanted to support her, which is exactly what she was doing by dressing like le spy, sitting in a dark car, and watching an unknown house.
After about forty-five minutes, I became restless. “Do you wanna go up to the house?” I asked.
“Yes. Let’s go.” We climbed out of the car trying not to make any noises that might trigger a nosy neighbor or barking dog. We made our way to the fenceless yard, walking like ninjas in the night, and found a deck attached the back of the house. It was completely dark except for the light coming through the windows. Telly kept a look out while I made my way up the deck. The windows were too high for me to see into. I climbed the back stairs, leaning over to the window, but it was still too far away.
“Can you see anything?” Telly whispered.
“No, it’s too far.”
“Try that lattice.”
To my left was a vine-covered lattice attached to the house much closer to the window. I walked down the steps and gave the lattice a good pull to see if it would hold. Seemed sturdy enough. Putting one foot in front of the other, I climbed up about three feet to see the window. I peaked in through the kitchen, which had a view of the living room. Trying to keep my head low, I saw James rise up as if he was getting off of the ground or getting off of Shanna. He appeared to be dressed, but I couldn’t see much more. I climbed another foot higher and saw Shanna lying on the floor fully clothed. He was doing some kind of floor work with her. I waited to see if he or she would make any sexual advances, but I waited too long. There was a snap and the vines rustled.
Uh oh . . .
The lattice detached from the house. My body slammed against the deck.
“Oh, shit!” Telly whispered. She ran over and pushed the lattice off of me. “Are you okay?”
I winced in pain but mostly shock. “Yeah, I’m okay.” Telly helped me to my feet.
“We have to go. Now,” she said.
We rushed out of there as fast as we could and sped off in the opposite direction of the house in case they heard us, which I was pretty sure they did. On the way back to my apartment, I told Telly everything I saw, which was nothing of note.
“Well, it was a good try,” she said.
“Yeah,” I sighed. My hand was burning and I noticed that I had a pretty gnarly scrape that needed attention. I hissed at the sight of it. Telly grimaced, and I wasn’t sure if she was more concerned with my scraped hand or getting blood on her upholstery.
“Spying is fun and all, but next time let’s leave it up to the professionals.”
I thanked her and told her I would call her later. Safe inside my apartment, I tossed my hat somewhere in the living room and went to the bathroom to shower and clean my hand. I imagined washing the events of the night away as I washed my hair. Looking back, it wasn’t the best situation to be in. I wondered how long I would have to keep it up.
Exhausted, I settled in my pajamas and made a cup of hot tea. My body was a little sore from the fall, and I knew it would be worse in the morning. At almost ten, there was a knock at my door and I had no idea who it could be. I peered into the peephole to find James and opened the door. He scooped me into his arms and gave a relieved sigh as if he hadn’t seen me in months.
“Are you okay?” I asked, his hold as tight as possible.
“Yeah. I’m glad to see you.”
“What happened?” I asked, wondering if it was guilt he was feeling.
“I was in the middle of my appointment when we heard this loud bang coming from the back. I went to investigate and saw that her lattice was broken. I think I got a glimpse of someone running away.”
“Oh, my God,” I said, genuinely looking stunned, but for a different reason.
“We called the police and answered a few questions, but they said there wasn’t much to go on.”
I continued to gape at him. “Someone tried to break in?” I asked.
“Looks that way.”
“I wonder who it was.” My nerves were in overdrive, but I calmed myself down by remembering that I wasn’t in any criminal database.
“Who knows? It shook me up a little, and I wanted to check on you to make sure you were okay.” He hugged me tightly again.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He pulled back and took my hands, then looked a little closer at my left one.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I, uh, tripped when I was running earlier. Just a scrape. You know me, I’m a klutz.” I smiled innocently and he returned it.
“I can’t stay. I have the children’s hospital in the morning.” He kissed me and told me that we would catch up the next day after he got off work.
That night, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, then at my scraped hand. That had been a close one. Too close. Who knew this venture would be so dangerous? I guess in this game you have to get your hands dirty sometimes . . . and scraped.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Man Test
The Shanna incident convinced me to take a break from my spying gig. Though I waited patiently for the opportune moment, nothing presented itself. I researched other methods only to discover one dead end after another. Three weeks passed and I was running out of options, forcing me to weigh in on the only two I had left—wait it out or give it up.
One afternoon, I wandered out of my office for a break after completing a session with a violently arguing couple when I ran into a sobbing woman in the hall. She was in her late forties, perhaps an executive in her tailored suit and bobbed haircut. She was alone, and as a therapist I felt compelled to stop.
“Are you alright?” I asked. She glanced at me from behind her tissue.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay.” She waved me on as if I shouldn’t bother with her silly tears, but there was something all too familiar about her c
ry.
“Is there something I can do? Would you like me to call someone?” She blew her nose into the tissue.
“No, really I’ll be . . .” Then she lunged at me, letting out a resounding cry. I caught her in my arms while she sobbed on my shoulder, and I tried to comfort her as best as I could. Minutes later, she calmed down and pulled herself together.
“I’m so embarrassed. I don’t even know you,” she said sniffling.
“Don’t be. I’m a therapist. I see a lot of crying,” I said with a sympathetic smile. “What happened?”
“I’m getting a divorce.” She struggled to restrain new tears.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah,” she inhaled her sadness. “He had an affair.” Surprise, surprise. “And the worst part is I have a complete written account of what happened.”
“Really?” Go on . . .
“It’s so detailed. I keep reading it over and over again. The things he did with her are unbelievable. I can’t believe I was married to someone like that for sixteen years.”
“How is it that you have a detailed account of this affair?”
“Man Test,” she said with a straight face.
“Man Test? What’s that?”
“It’s a service that sends a woman to seduce your husband. If he falls for it, you get a complete report the next day.” My jaw dropped. What a brilliant idea! How did I not know about this? The wheels in my head were spinning so fast I could no longer focus on her or her situation. “That bastard,” she whispered under her breath.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Connie.”
I handed her my business card. “I’m Marin. I work in this building. If you need someone to talk to, please give me a call.”
“Thank you.” She accepted the card.
“Hang on, I have another one,” I said pulling out Telly’s card. “If you need a divorce attorney, this one is great.”
“I really appreciate this. Thank you, Marin.”
“You’re welcome.” She took the cards and turned to walk away.
“Connie,” I called after her. “You wouldn’t happen to have a business card for that Man Test service would you?” As luck would have it, she did.
