by Beth Rinyu
Dailan
I walked into the restaurant where I was meeting my dad for lunch. I really didn’t have time to be doing this, but he was insistent when he called and I knew he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. I spotted him right away and sat down at the table with him.
“Well, I almost didn’t recognize you. I haven’t seen you in so long.” I rolled my eyes, not much in the mood for his jokes today. “So, how are things?”
“Fine.”
“Are you sure about that?”
I knew in that split second that he had talked to Nicole. “Yeah, Dad, everything is okay,” I said trying to dismiss the topic of conversation, but he wasn’t letting go.
“Well, when I find your wife crying to another man, I wouldn’t say that’s okay.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nicole was having coffee with a friend of hers from high school and was in tears over you.” I shook my head. What the fuck was wrong with her? Why did she have to broadcast our problems to anyone that would listen? “Dailan, Nicole is a beautiful girl with a great personality. Someone would love to scoop her up in a heartbeat. Don’t make her turn to someone else because you’re not there for her. Break that O’Maley curse.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Well, your mother left me because she couldn’t handle me putting my job first all of the time. Your brother; well, you know –” I put my hand up to stop him and looked away. It still hurt too badly to think about my brother and what had happened. “Don’t be like that, Dailan. Show your wife that you love her; don’t make her need to turn to someone else to share her problems with. You and Nicole were made for each other. I knew that from the first day that I met her. Don’t ruin the great thing that you guys have together.”
“I love the way that I get portrayed as the bad guy just for doing my job. Nicole has it in her head that I’m banging this girl Rachel and she just won’t let it go.”
“Well, maybe you’re giving her a reason to think that?”
“How?”
“When was the last time that you two spent time together, just the two of you? Going out to dinner or to the movies?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, maybe that’s what you need to do. Start dating your wife like you used to when you were trying to win her over.”
I ran my hand through my hair and shook my head. “I don’t have time even to sleep right now and you expect me to take Nicole out on a date?”
“She’s your wife, Dailan. She and those two kids should be your first priority.”
“And they are.”
“Really? Because when I saw Nicole today, she sure wasn’t feeling that way.”
“I can’t help how she’s feeling. I love her and she knows it. I’m doing this for her and Ryan and if she can’t accept that, then we are better off just being apart for now.”
He shook his head at me. I cut him off before he could say anything else. “Dad, can we please just change the subject because this one is really pissing me off. I would really like to have lunch with you, but I’m about two seconds away from walking out of here.”
“Okay, I said what I had to say. So what else is new?”
I could tell by the look on his face that he had a lot more to say, but he abided by my wishes and didn’t mention Nicole anymore for the rest of our time together.
We headed out of the restaurant. “I’ll see you tomorrow, for Ella’s birthday?” my dad asked when we reached the door. I nodded. “Well, it was nice to finally spend a little time with my son. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See ya, Dad.” As I headed back to work, I couldn’t get my mind off of what my father said about Nicole, confiding in some other guy. Even though I acted as if I didn’t care in front of my dad, I was pissed as hell that she would turn to someone else to confide in, and just exactly how close was she to this friend? I pulled into the parking lot at work and dialed her number. I was surprised when she answered; I had just assumed that she wouldn’t after how she had hung up on me earlier.
“Nicole, look. I don’t want to fight with you over what happened earlier.”
“Oh, I don’t think we’re fighting. It’s either you go or you don’t. I don’t really care anymore, Dailan. I’m done trying to get you to act like a husband or a father. If it’s not what you want, then go do whatever it is that you do want.”
“Goddamn it, Nicole! I’m trying here and you just won’t budge.”
“You’re trying? Really? When was the last time you saw Ryan and Ella?” She didn’t even let me answer before she was spewing out the answer. “Four days ago, Dailan! Or better yet, when was the last time we had sex, even before you decided that you hated me so much that you had to leave? So don’t give that bullshit that you’re trying.”
She began to cry and I really started to feel like shit for making her feel this way. “Nicole, I promise –”
“Please, Dailan, stop! Just stop! I have to go get Ryan and I don’t want him to know that I’ve been crying again. I’ll just see you tomorrow, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.” I didn’t want to hang up. There was something else wrong. I could hear it in her voice. I sat in my car for a few more minutes. If I could get out of work early enough, I needed to go talk to her face to face. I didn’t want to become my dad or my brother. I loved Nicole too much to let our love go by the wayside. My attention was broken when my phone began to ring. I looked down to see that it was Debbie.
“Yeah, Debbie.”
“Are you on your way back? I can’t find the spreadsheet that you were working on anywhere.”
“I’ll be right up.”
I had been asking Debbie to do a lot more for me these past couple weeks, just because I didn’t trust Rachel. I got out of my car and watched Rachel as she walked out of the building and got into a black Lexus. Even from a distance, I could tell it was the scumbag, Jonathan. She gave him a quick kiss as she got in and they drove off. If I had any reason not to trust her before, I had double the reason now. When I got to my office, Debbie was in full-blown panic mode. “It’s not there, Dailan!”
“Calm down. I have it saved on my computer.”
“I’m telling you, I just looked on your computer and the file is there, but it’s blank, like everything has been deleted.” I looked on my computer just to see it with my own eyes and she was right.
I went out to Rachel’s computer and checked. The file was showing up the same way there as well. “What the fuck!”
“When was the last time you backed it up to a flash drive?” Debbie asked.
“Three nights ago when I was working on it from my laptop, but I entered tons more shit in there since then.”
“She deleted it, Dailan. How else could this have happened?”
“Where did she go?” I could feel my frustration level going through the roof.
“She’s gone for the weekend. She won’t be back until Wednesday,” Debbie said. Debbie picked up the phone and tried calling Rachel. “It’s going right to voice mail.”
“Ah, fuck!”
I clicked onto her emails to find most of them from JC Caldwell. The majority of them were her emailing him and what she had planned to do with him sexually. I was just about to close it when Nicole’s name popped out at me. Nicole is still a little bitch. I will be happy to help you with whatever you need, whether it’s seeing your son that the little bitch is trying to keep from you, or helping you and your dad’s company with this case.
“Oh my God!” Debbie said. I didn’t even realize she was standing over my shoulder.
What an idiot this girl was, emailing him from her work email. I took a deep breath, knowing the work that I had ahead of me. I had to have this spreadsheet done by Monday morning. “Dailan, I can help you? Just let me know what you need me to do.”
“I don’t even know where to start. That was hours of research that’s gone. It’s my fault for not backing it up each time.”
&nb
sp; “Oh, this is not your fault. It’s that little bitch’s fault, and I sure hope something is done about it when she gets back.”
I couldn’t even think about that right now. I had to save my energy for the amount of work that lay ahead of me. I went into my office and pulled out my laptop. I pulled up the file that I had saved three days ago and took a deep breath. It was going to be a long afternoon and night. I looked at the picture of Nicole on my desk. I was hoping that tonight I would have been able to put back together the pieces of our marriage, but instead I now had to try and put back the pieces of this damn spreadsheet.
Chapter 52
Nicole
Ryan fed Ella her cereal while I whisked away the lumps in the pancake batter that I was making him. I was so glad that I had opted to have just family over for cake and not a full-blown party. I felt like someone had stuck a needle in me and sucked out all the energy. Everything was finally taking its toll on me. I could see it on my face. When I looked in the mirror, I almost didn’t even recognize the girl staring back at me. I had made my appointment for my mammogram for Monday. Even though I knew that should be my main concern right now, it wasn’t. The only things consuming my thoughts these days were Ryan and this custody case and Dailan and our marriage. I missed him so much that it hurt, yet I was so angry with him every time we would speak to or see one another.
I poured the batter onto the hot griddle and stared at the teeny tiny holes as it began to cook. I felt a ping of triumph as I flipped my first one over, perfectly. Ryan got up from his seat to put Ella’s bowl in the sink. “Look at the perfect pancake,” I said proudly.
“Hey, you should just make one big giant one, like Uncle D does.”
“No, silly, then it doesn’t cook all the way.”
“I kinda like them that way. Besides, every time he tries to make them your way, he always burns them and then, well, you know how that goes - curse words.”
We both began to laugh. I took my normal-sized pancake off the griddle and placed it on the plate. Ryan looked at me in shock when I poured the rest of the batter onto the hot griddle. I had to prove to him that I could be just as much fun as Dailan was. His smile was a mile wide as he watched the batter slowly begin to cook. “Cool!” he said.
“Oh, Ryan, look out the window and see who that is,” I said upon hearing the doorbell ring.
Ryan ran to the front window. “It’s Aunt Renee, Joey, and Christopher,” he shouted as he opened the front door to let them in.
“Hello, beautiful girl!” my sister said to Ella as she walked into the kitchen. Ryan was so excited to show my nephews his new video game that he almost forgot about his pancake.
“Um, excuse me, but did you forget about something?” I asked as I carefully placed the pancake on the plate. “Joey and Christopher can help you eat it.” My sister looked at the giant pancake and raised her eyebrows. “Don’t ask,” I said.
Ryan ran to the refrigerator and grabbed the can of whipped cream. “What the heck is that for?” I asked.
“This is how you eat a pancake.” Ryan smiled. I shook my head and smiled back, watching the three of them dig into the monstrosity of a pancake.
My sister poured herself a cup of coffee and removed Ella from her high chair, allowing her to toddle around the kitchen. “I can’t believe how well she’s walking,” my sister said.
“Yeah, I know. Time is going by way too fast,” I said sadly.
The boys finished up their breakfast and headed up to Ryan’s room. “Well, we were just on our way to Mom’s, and I thought I would stop over to see how you were doing.”
“I’m good.” I tried playing it off.
“I know, Nicole. Tommy told me.”
“Renee, please don’t say anything to Mom and Dad. I just don’t want everyone knowing.”
“I won’t. But what the hell happened? I mean, I really don’t think Dailan would ever cheat on you. But then again, I never thought Mark would do what he did to me either.”
“It’s so much more than that, Renee. He can tell Tommy that’s the reason why all he wants, but he knows there’s more to it.”
I went on to tell her everything about the case, how Jonathan was involved, and how Dailan had tried to keep it from me, and lastly, all about Rachel. I couldn’t believe that I had actually sat down and had a heart-to-heart conversation with my sister. This was the first time ever.
“Rachel Wiser; she was that girl that was on the cheerleading squad with you, right?”
“Yeah,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Oh my God, it’s funny that you mentioned her. I saw her the last time I was down here. She was having lunch with Jonathan’s mother.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, they were leaving just as we were going in.”
Wow! She still keeps in touch with Jonathan’s bitch mom. The last I had heard, he cheated on her right after graduation and they broke up. “Well, they are the perfect pair; two evil bitches!”
“So Dailan will be here for Ella’s party today, right?” my sister asked.
“He knows when it is. Don’t know what his schedule is like for today and, you know what, I really don’t care anymore.” I had to turn around and look away; I didn’t want my sister to know that I was telling a bold face lie.
“Well, if there’s anything I can do to help with today, just let me know.”
Wow, Tommy was having a positive influence on my sister. She was usually never this nice to me.
“No, I’m good. It’s just cake and you guys. Not a big deal.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, Tommy said that Dailan is absolutely miserable without you.”
It didn’t make me feel any better; it just made me angrier at him. If he was so miserable, then he should be home where he belonged, not running away from all of our problems.
***
I had to do some quick thinking when Donna and my parents arrived for Ella’s party and Dailan wasn’t here. I told them that he was stuck in a meeting, which probably wasn’t too far from the truth. Deep down inside, I was hoping that it had to do with work and not something or somebody else. I was glad that I had already spilled my guts to Jack; that was one less person to which I had to fib. He appeared to be just as angry as I was at Dailan for his absence. I didn’t bother texting or calling him to remind him. He knew what time it was, and if he couldn’t make an effort to be here for his daughter, then that was on him.
I was just lighting the candle on the cake when Dailan decided to make an appearance. He looked exhausted. “There’s Daddy!” my mother said to Ella. Ella immediately reached for him and covered him in kisses. I went out of my way to avoid looking at him. Even though we were both completely ignoring one another, I couldn’t help but notice Dailan’s demeanor to everyone else. He was cordial, but seemed like he could only be bothered with Ryan and Ella. The few times that we did have to communicate were very tense. I could tell that his dad had noticed right away and I was hoping that no one else had.
Jack and Annette stuck around a little bit longer than everyone else, finally leaving Dailan and me alone when they took Ryan out for ice cream. I had just come downstairs from putting Ella to bed and I was surprised to see that Dailan was still there. He picked up my phone and handed it to me. “Your friend wants to know how you’re doing today,” he said as he read the text that just came through from Jason.
I snatched my phone from his hand. “Yeah, well at least someone wants to know!” These were the first words that were spoken between the two of us in hours.
He sat down at the breakfast bar. “Don’t you have somewhere you need to be? Perhaps buried in your laptop somewhere? Then again, it is Saturday night; your newfound single status should have you going out and doing something.”
“Just shut up, Nicole!”
“Well, I’m right, aren’t I? Apparently, your wife and kids aren’t exciting enough for you anymore?”
He stood up and came closer to me. I could see the anger in h
is eyes, but I didn’t care. “Every fuckin’ time that I actually want to sit down and try and talk to you, you have to open your mouth and make me regret it.”
“Just leave, Dailan!” I went to turn around and walk away. He grabbed my arm and roughly jerked me toward him. My chest collided into him.
“Is this the game you want to play, Nicole?”
I bit my lip and looked down at his hand, which was still tightly grasped around my wrist. “What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.
“Accuse me of something that I’m not doing, just to alleviate your own guilt.”
“Oh, screw you, Dai –”
His lips came crashing down on mine, leaving me breathless. He pushed me up against the kitchen counter and eagerly ran his hands up and down my body. It felt so good to feel his touch again.
“You are my wife. So you can tell that asshole to stop texting you because I’m not sharing you with anyone.”
He went to kiss me again and I pulled away. “Why is everything a competition to you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t even know I existed all day long until you saw that text message. Well, I’m going to make it easy for you; Jason is nothing but a friend! He knows where he stands and how much – for some unknown reason – I love you. So there – you win! Now do you still want me as badly? Or did you just have a momentary lapse of reason that actually made you want to have sex with your wife for something other than just a stroke of your own ego?”
I was pinned between the kitchen counter and Dailan. He had his hands braced on the cabinets. His eyes had softened a bit as he stared down at me. “I always wanted you, Nicole. I never stopped wanting you. You’re the stupid one that has it in your head that I don’t.”
I looked away and closed my eyes. I pulled it together when I heard the front door open, and Jack and Ryan walked into the kitchen. “Uncle D, I just ate the mega sundae all by myself,” Ryan said proudly.
“Did you?” Dailan asked, trying to regain his composure. “Well, hopefully your stomach can handle it.”
