by Karen Gordon
I hear Dom clicking away on her keyboard. “I’m sending you pictures of all of Luis’s cute friends and cousins who are single. My wedding has now become operation get V laid.”
I have no idea what I would do without her in my life.
“Ok, I’ve put stars on the ones that I know are good in bed.”
“Wait, what? How would you know?” Dom and Luis have been together since junior high school and I know she doesn’t cheat.
“Gossip, girl. My ears are always open and girls talk.” The keyboard clicking stops. “Oooh, here’s one, Antony. Danita said he’s amazing in bed, tongue from the gods.”
I laugh, partially because she’s so funny, but also because I’m actually interested in her plan. A wedding set-up with the tongue god might be the best thing I can get as long as I’m working for Jack.
Chapter Ten
I wait for word from Jack, any word, all day Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I still have a bag packed, ready to go. I cart my bags from home to work every day just in case he wants me to fly to Durham and do god-knows-what. I’m still taking care of all the marketing department work in his absence and he’s not calling to check up on any of that either. It’s radio silence from his end.
As Dom and I expected there is also nothing in the press about him. I would guess that each of the guys involved is wealthy enough to afford a good lawyer. The fact that Jack isn’t home tells me that the girl has a good lawyer too and that she is still going ahead with the suit. I silently cheer her on every day.
I take advantage of the Jack-time-suck being gone and devote myself to Dom and her wedding. I leave work on time and meet her to pick up her dress and our bridesmaid dresses. I have dinner at her house every night, loving how relaxed I am without Jack around.
It all ends Wednesday night. I’m at Dom’s helping make pew bows when the menacing sound I’ve assigned to Jack’s texts blares from my phone.
Fly down tonight. I’ll need you here for a few days.
A few days! What if this goes into the weekend? I’ve told him about Dom’s wedding, and put it in his electronic planner just to make sure he remembers. Of course, I’m making a huge assumption that he actually looks at his planner occasionally. Chances are he doesn’t because he has me around to tell him where he has to be and when. I know where I want to tell him to go today.
I’ll be there tonight. What hotel?
For possibly the first time in our lives, my rock-steady best friend looks worried and it’s killing me. I try to reassure her.
“If I have to fly back commercial late Friday I will. I will be here early Saturday morning. There’s no way in hell I’m missing your wedding.”
Always pragmatic, she states the obvious. “It’s your job.”
She’s right, but I don’t want to think about having to choose between being Jack’s ass-wiper or Dom’s maid of honor. “I’ll cross that bridge if I come to it, but I will be here.”
Jack finally texts back.
21C
I beat my head with the phone in frustration.
No, the name of the hotel, not your room number.
He replies immediately.
That is the name of the hotel. Did I just know something you didn’t?
I send him a gold star emoji and I’m tempted to add, “Good Job!” with clapping hands but I’m too irritated to spar with him right now.
I cut off the conversation.
I’ll text you when I land.
I’ve got a lot to do to make sure everything is in place for when, not if, I get back here Saturday morning.
✈✈✈
Proving that she is the best friend in the world, Dom offers to find this 21C Hotel for me and book me a room while I contact JetStream and get a ramp crew to ready a plane. I tell the pilots that I will be returning on Friday night figuring I can use that as leverage to get me back to Savannah if Jack complains.
Two hours later, I’m in the air over northern Georgia and still have no clue why Jack wants me to come to Durham for his possible trial. I’m not even sure how to broach the subject considering he still hasn’t admitted it might happen.
When we land, I remind the pilots that we have a return flight booked for Friday night. I’ll wait until the last minute to tell Jack about it, and insist that I have to take it if he asks me to stay over the weekend.
The Durham FBO has a rental car waiting for me and I use my travel app to help me find the 21C in downtown Durham. I should have known it would be a beautiful hotel. I check in and laugh when I realize that Dom has booked me into a suite. I had her use my company credit card that’s tied to Jack’s expenses. I won’t be surprised if she sent a room service dinner and goody-basket gift to my room, compliments of Mr. Rockhurst, of course.
As I turn to find the elevators I see Sass, the bartender from AJ’s, across the lobby. She’s sitting in one of the chairs near the bar, sipping a drink, looking a little bored and lost. I’m guessing Jack brought her down with him to keep him entertained.
I don’t know if she’ll remember me, but I approach her. She may have a clue what’s going on. I have to remember not to call her Sass. I don’t know if Jack calls her that to her face, but I’d rather not.
“Hey Savanah.”
Nope, she doesn’t remember me.
“It’s Vivienne, Jack’s secretary. We met at AJ’s one time.”
I still don’t think she remembers me, but she nods politely.
“So, is Jack around?”
She looks irritated when she shrugs. Then she focuses on taking another sip of her drink, and I wonder if she’s trying to blow me off.
“If you see him, could you, well, could you tell him I’m here. I texted him when I landed, but he hasn’t replied.”
Her, “Sure,” is curt and I wonder why she’s being a little bitchy. I’m about to leave her alone when I hear her sniff, and catch her trying not to cry.
Fuck! I should not get involved. This is Jack’s personal life and I’m trying to stay out of it as much as possible, but shit, I feel for her. And to be honest, I still want to see if she has any info that could help me prepare for whatever I’m here for.
I sit on the edge of the chair next to her. “Is he being a dick to you?” I talk quietly, trying not to draw attention to us. “Because if he is, I have ways to make his life hell.”
She sniffs again, but laughs a little. “I shouldn’t have come.”
“Have you been here with him all week?”
“I took the train up on Monday. I worked this past weekend.” She shakes her head. “Like I said, I shouldn’t have come. It was stupid.”
“Wait, you took the train? Jack had you come on the train?” What the hell, he has access to a fleet of jets and can easily afford a commercial flight ticket and he makes her take the train?
“No, I came up the train by myself. I wanted to be here for him.”
Holy crap, no! This sweet girl spent her own money to come here to be with Jack. And he let her!
“So, are you staying here with him?”
She gives me a noncommittal shrug. “I have, but he’s been in a bad mood and…he got pissed at me and kicked me out a few hours ago. I don’t have another room so I was just sitting here drinking until either he comes back or I can figure out what I want to do.”
I check my phone. It’s almost midnight. “Look, I have a suite. Come up to my room with me and we’ll try to find him and sort this out.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” She gets up and grabs her purse then pulls a suitcase from behind the large armchair she was sitting in. Damn, he really did kick her out. “Have you had dinner? I’m kind of hungry and I think Jack owes both of us a nice dinner.”
✈✈✈
In my room Savanah and I order up some lovely steak dinners with a great bottle of wine to accompany them. I’m not sure if we are going to find Jack tonight and the truth is I don’t really care. Tomorrow will be soon enough for me to have to deal with him. I unpack
and set the room up to my liking. Savanah sits on the couch looking uncomfortable.
“I’m going to change into my pj’s.” I tell her. “Raid the mini bar if you want to.”
She smiles. “I might have a coke.”
I check my phone one more time, still no Jack. He’s probably out tying one on, avoiding any women he would have to answer to.
Our dinner arrives and we get comfortable. I pour us each a generous glass of wine and dive into my steak.
“So, feel free to stab me with your steak knife if I get too personal.” I get a small smile for my joke. “But, can I ask about you and Jack?”
She takes a drink of wine and breathes in the incredible bouquet. She knows her wine. It’s a damn good and expensive bottle. “Sure.”
“How long have you known him?”
She finishes chewing a bite of steak that she moans over. “This is good. I guess I haven’t eaten since breakfast.” She cuts another bite then pauses to answer my question. “About a year, I guess. He started coming into the restaurant when he moved to Skidaway.”
“And you two are…” I hope she’ll fill in the blank for me here.
“I’d say we’re friends with benefits, fuck-buddies. Jack’s pretty cool.” She reconsiders this based on today. “I mean normally. We have fun.”
I nod. I get it and I’m glad she does too. I was so hoping she wasn’t pinning any hopes on Jack for much of anything.
“He didn’t ask me to come up here. He’s just been really down about it and I thought I might cheer him up.”
I pour us each another full glass of wine and almost drain the bottle. “Oh, look at that. It looks like we need to get another one of these and keep cheering ourselves up.”
It’s nice to see her laugh. I call down to room service, and order another three hundred dollar bottle of wine, and throw in dessert. We might be talking for a while.
She asks me what I know about Jack and I have little to offer. I doubt she’d care about his work so I tell her the few nice things I can think of. “He’s laid back and generally pretty easy to please at work. He’s never really gotten mad at me and he gave me a fantastic bonus.” I like her but I would be stupid to tell her anything that could get back to Jack.
Our dessert and second bottle of wine arrives and we’re both feeling very relaxed. Savanah giggles over a mouthful of whipped cream. “Have you ever slept with him?”
I almost choke I’m laughing so hard. “Oh hell no.” I don’t care if that gets back to Jack.
She dips her finger in her salted caramel sauce and licks it off. “He thinks he’s so wild and kinky.” She laughs some more. “But, he’s so not.”
I shouldn’t. I really should just let this go and not push her for more info, but hell, I’m only human. I can’t resist. “What? Is he a two pump-chump?”
That really gets her laughing. “Sometimes, I mean, he drinks a lot, I mean a-lot, and he gets whiskey dick, but even when he’s not drinking…” She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “He’s got no game. Nothing. He’s never made me come. Not that he really tries.”
Oh, so much TMI, but I asked for it. “So, why be his fuck buddy then?”
She swings her spoon in an arc, indicating the room and she flings ice cream across the floor. We both laugh hard. “Stuff like this…boats, fast cars, great parties, he makes up for it in other ways.”
I pour the last of the wine in our glasses. “You’re too good for him.” I really don’t care if that gets back to Jack. She is. “You spent your own money to come here and be with him. The boy, and I do mean boy.” We both snicker at that. “He is made of money. He should have flown you down. You can fly back with me.”
“Really?” She’s getting comfy on the couch now and I’m feeling the pull of my bed. It must be around two a.m.
“Really.” I get up, but stop before I go in my bedroom when I realize I never asked her about the trial. “Did he tell you why he’s here?”
Her head pops up off the couch pillow. “Yeah, the trial.” Well at least he confides in her, unlike me.
“Is it still happening?” I try to sound like I’m aware of what’s happened up till now.
“Yeah, that’s why he was in such a shitty mood today. It starts tomorrow.”
“And he’s out drinking?” I say it before I realize that I’ve turned into his mother. “Never mind, he can do whatever he wants.” I check my phone one more time. Still no reply from Jack. I guess he’ll contact me tomorrow, or more accurately, later today.
“Hey, Vivienne, thanks for letting me stay here. You’re much nicer than he said.”
What the hell! He’s been dissing on me to Savanah. That little shit. I let it go, because I realize she didn’t mean to say it, it’s the wine talking.
“Thanks.” I turn off the light. “Night Savanah.”
Chapter Eleven
My phone buzzing wakes me at eight a.m. I don’t recognize the number, but it has a local Durham area code, so I answer it.
“Hello.” I try to disguise my morning-hangover voice.
“Is this Vivienne Ramsey?” Whoever it is sounds official.
“Yes.”
“Ms. Ramsey, this is Quentin Alfonse, I’m Mr. Rockhurst’s lawyer. He told me that I could contact you to serve as a character witness for him.”
“Uh.” Is he kidding? “I guess I could do that, yes.” But only, so I won’t be fired.
“Great. I will need to meet with you later this morning to go over what you might say on the witness stand concerning Mr. Rockhurst’s character. Can you be at our offices by ten thirty?”
“Sure. I’ll need the address.”
I write it on the scratch pad near the hotel phone and confirm that I will be there. Before hanging up he informs me, “Now there is a chance we will not need you. We are still working on avoiding this case going to trial.”
This is where I could play dumb and tell him that Jack has never told me anything about the trial, but I’m not in the mood for a lawyer’s-length explanation of what I really already know. When I hang up, I can hear Savanah moving in the living room.
“Did I wake you?” From my doorway, I can see that she’s trying to clean up our dinner party mess.
She stops when she sees me. “No, the sunlight did.” We didn’t close the curtains last night and the floor-to-ceiling windows have flooded the room with light. Despite our late night and the amount of wine we had, she looks pretty perky. I offer to order us both some breakfast and the use of my shower and she gladly accepts both. I tell her about my wake-up call and we both have a good laugh deciding what we can say about Jack’s character, none of which would be appropriate for a courtroom.
While I’m at the lawyer’s office, Savanah decides she’s going to check out a mall she saw downtown and possibly get a new pair of jeans. She didn’t know how long she would be in Durham and hadn’t packed much. We’re in the hallway outside my suite when another door at the other end of the hall opens and Joel Rockhurst comes out of it. There’s no way I can pretend not to see him, so I put on my best perky, I-know-what-I’m-doing smile.
“Good morning, Mr. Rockhurst.”
We’re all walking toward the elevators and meet midway. “Vivienne, good morning, when did you get in?” He seems genuinely happy to see me, possibly relieved.
“Late last night.” I’m about to tell him that Jack asked me to come, but I hold back. I’ve gotten used to offering as little information as possible when it comes to Jack and his dad.
We all enter the elevator together, but Joel doesn’t acknowledge Savanah. “Well, I’m glad you were able to be here.”
Did I have a choice? “Yes, sir. I’m glad I could help.” Luckily, we don’t have to stand in uncomfortable silence for long before the doors open on the lobby. Being a gentleman, Joel waits for Savanah and I to exit first. We walk quickly toward the front doors, both visibly relieved to be away from him.
Savanah says, “I don’t think he knows who I am.” I want to te
ll her that’s not a bad thing but I hold my tongue.
“I’d have introduced you, but I never know what to say around him.”
She seems very surprised by this. “Really, you?” If she only knew my failure rate for small talk and witty conversation, especially with someone like Joel.
“Yeah, I try to say as little as possible.” I pull out my phone to check on my Uber car. It’s arriving. “Alright, I’ve got your number. I’ll call you after the meeting and let you know if we are leaving today or tomorrow and we can get some lunch.” I can now add rescuing stranded dates to my list of duties as Jack’s assistant, but I really don’t mind. This trip turning out to be much more fun than I thought it would be with her around.
✈✈✈
It’s not easy for Mr. Alfonse and I to come up with the best words to describe my relationship with Jack in a way that might make him seem like an upstanding young man. Even though we both have considerable vocabularies we still need to use a thesaurus. Around one p.m we have a statement that I can deliver under oath and without laughing. It’s also taken a while because he left at least six times to take calls during our meeting. They are definitely still in negotiations with the girl even though the trial is due to start in two hours.
Jack is nowhere to be seen and still hasn’t responded to my text from last night. I’m guessing he’s sleeping off a hangover in his suite at the hotel. Maybe I’ll pound on his door after lunch. I’m about to call Savanah as I Uber back to the hotel from the lawyers office when my phone rings. It’s Mr. Alfonse.
“Good news, Ms. Ramsey, we won’t be needing your statement.”
“So, no trial?”
“Correct. Thank you again for meeting with me. It was an unnecessary pleasure.” I laugh at his exaggerated Southern charm which I imagine he uses very effectively in court.
I’m smiling when I tell him, “Not a problem. It was nice to meet you.” I’m sure I’m not the first woman he’s charmed so well she happily thanks him for torturing her with litigation.
