His doorbell chimed and he groaned. He had a meeting with Kylie in twenty- minutes, a meeting he was looking forward to. He finished pulling on his shirt and went to answer the door. The sight that met his eyes floored him.
"I told you I would be here." It was Jackie. Her hair was caught up in a messy ponytail and she was dressed to the nines in one of her pinstripe suits. She was a combination of sophisticated and girly, and her presence on his doorstep was so unexpected. He had not heard a word from her since that one phone call a couple of weeks ago. A part of him had not thought that she was serious.
She marched past him because he seemed frozen, his mouth in an ‘O’, from shock, and his hands unable to release the door handle. He closed his mouth and eventually managed to close the door. He leaned on it, looking at her helplessly. Her floral perfume filled the air and tickled his nostrils, bringing back memories.
"So, aren't you even going to say hello to your long lost wife?" Jackie asked, smiling. Her perfect eyebrows rose in question and then she laughed softly at his shell-shocked expression. She walked over to him and placed her lips, painted with the deepest berry lipstick, on his.
Gareth pushed her away and Jackie laughed. "It was worth a try."
"Nice place." She looked around. "All nice, heart-warming earth tones—my kind of thing."
"Jackie," Gareth sighed and glanced at the full-length mirror on the wall near the door; he had lipstick on his lips. He headed to the kitchen for a paper towel.
"You have to get out of here. I have a meeting."
"I have not seen you for nearly two years and that's how you greet me?" Jackie asked, walking around the apartment and touching everything.
She stopped at the center table where there was a picture of Gareth and a girl. The girl had long shoulder length hair with tight wavy curls. She had gentle eyes and a wide smile. She looked so innocent and sweet that Jackie hated her instantly.
So, this was who Gareth is moving on to? Her hand tightened over the picture and she moved away when she heard Gareth approaching. She did not want him to see her jealous.
She sat down in one of his leather chairs and crossed her legs. "Gareth, it's so good to see you. I really mean it. While I am here, I want to atone for some of my sins against you."
"Atonement?" Gareth ran his fingers through his hair. "Jackie, two years ago I begged you to let us work on our marriage and you said I was too boring for you, remember?"
"I was wrong." Jackie batted her long eyelashes and looked at him. "I realized after you left that I love you, okay. I never stopped. I know I was stifling it while I pushed myself up the career ladder. I hope it's not too late for us, Gareth. I gave up the all-consuming job. I followed you to Jamaica. What else do you want?"
Gareth leaned on the door. He looked at Jackie; she hadn't changed much. She had the same classically beautiful face, exotic tilted eyes, hinting at her Asian heritage, and warm olive skin. He had gone crazy over her in the past. He had been crazy enough to marry her.
He closed his eyes, hoping that she would disappear. He was disappointed when he opened them again and saw that she was still there. "This is not what I want, and frankly I'm tired of jumping through your hoops and putting my life on hold to accommodate yours. That's how it has always been and I am tired of playing games. Please get out, I have to go."
Jackie got up from the sofa slowly so that he could see her at her best. She took her time smoothing out her skirt that had ridden up to show her legs.
"I am not giving up so easily, Gareth. I am staying at the school's guesthouse by the way. So if you are interested we can go have a drink sometime."
Gareth opened the door and watched as she walked ahead of him. His day did not seem as bright as it once did. When she got into her car and tooted her horn, he remembered that he was smack in the middle of a police investigation for the disappearance of Lauren James. He sighed and headed to meet Kylie—no longer filled with anticipation, but a nameless discomfort that he couldn't shake.
Chapter Eleven
Gareth was distracted all through the coding. He felt uneasy, as if an underlying fear was lodged somewhere in his stomach. There was Jackie and her return. It was barely five weeks since she had announced that she was coming to Jamaica, and here she was. He was also semi-anxious about Lauren James. According to the president, she had left correspondence indicating that he was the last one to have seen her. What on earth could have been in that correspondence?
He knew that Lauren had a thing for him and was constantly trying to draw attention to herself. He had to admit that at one point he had found her attractive, but there was always Kylie in the background, quietly drawing him to her with her unassuming attitude and quiet manner. It was not easy for him to resist the charms of a man hungry Lauren, but Kylie had snared him, hook, line and sinker, with her passionate love for coding and her beautiful innocence.
He watched her as her fingers flew over the keyboard writing code. She was building a simulated world mystery game. The graphics were giving her some problems. Usually this sort of coding would take several persons, not just a girl and her boyfriend.
He liked the sound of that. He was Kylie's boyfriend. They spent huge chunks of time together. They talked a lot and had so much in common.
He desperately reminded himself of this because Jackie's arrival had upset his equilibrium, if he was to be honest.
This morning, for one bright moment, he had remembered how much he had invested in her. How much he had loved her. It was a whisper of a feeling but it was still there, faintly. He had not wanted their marriage to end when it did.
He wondered if he was resisting Jackie because of his pride. Was something still there? Every time he thought about how she had tied him in knots, he remembered how she had chewed him up and spit him out, all because of her job and her need to get ahead.
"You are distracted." Kylie looked at him contemplatively. "What's wrong?"
Gareth shrugged; should he tell her that Jackie was here? He looked in her big brown eyes. They looked so guileless and innocent. She shouldn't have to put up with his baggage. He suddenly felt like a dirty old man compared to her wide-eyed innocence though he was just six years her senior.
"I got a call from your Dad this morning." He decided to omit talk about Jackie until another time, "Lauren James was reported missing."
"Missing?" Kylie frowned. "She hardly comes to group discussions and her contribution was not that significant. What do you have to do with it?"
"I was the last person to have seen her, says the police."
"The police?" Kylie raised her eyebrow. "It's that serious?"
Gareth nodded.
"She had the biggest crush on you," Kylie said, always calling you in class to check out her computer screen. Wearing those low cut blouses. Even so, I hope she's okay." Her belly rumbled, and she looked at Gareth sheepishly. "Do you want to come to my new place for lunch?"
Gareth shook his head. "I have a class in two hours. Want to catch a bite in the Business Center instead, at The Cha?"
"Sure." Kylie got up and pulled off the heavy sweater that she usually wore in the lab. She rarely ate at The Cha, the Chinese restaurant on campus, so it was a treat.
"Are you teaching today?" Gareth asked, getting up. "You look business like."
"I am supposed to report to HR for an appointment to formalize my standing as adjunct lecturer. I thought I would dress smartly." She grinned, "I am really dreading dressing up everyday."
Gareth hooked his hand in hers. "Don't worry; we techies don't stand on ceremony. I don't know if you noticed but I wear jeans 90% of the time, unless of course I have a department meeting."
They headed to his car and took the short drive to the Business Center together. Three restaurants were there: the regular cafeteria that most of the students patronized because of their reasonable prices; the Chinese eatery run by an Asian couple, which students dubbed ‘The Cha’—it was popular with lecturers and the more sophisticated
students who could afford it, being the nearest thing to fine dining that they had in the hills; the third restaurant was run by the hospitality department—students cooked and waited on tables; it was called ‘Kaleidoscope’ and offered a variety of meals.
They headed to the Cha. Kylie, who was walking behind Gareth, almost collided into him as he suddenly stopped in the doorway, his body tensing.
"I can't believe it; she is here! Let's go somewhere else."
"She?" Kylie looked up at him, confused. Then she saw a lady sitting in the waiting area reclining on the black leather settee. She looked as if she stepped off some magazine cover. Shiny long jet-black wavy hair tumbling around her face in waves, smooth skin, slanted eyes. She had her feet crossed and was lazily tapping them. She looked up when Gareth froze in the doorway and smiled widely.
"Gareth!" she got up, "I don't know if you read my mind or what? I was thinking about having lunch with you just now."
Kylie stiffened. Who was this? She glanced at Gareth, who seemed as if he was still in a trance.
Kylie shoved him and he cleared his throat.
He looked from one woman to the other and groaned. "Kylie, this is Jackie."
"It rhymes!" Jackie said, overly bright. "My name is actually Jacqueline Beecher." She rolled the Beecher off her tongue smoothly. "I am Gareth's wife. Are you his student?"
Kylie looked at Gareth, confused and shook. "I am Kylie Bancroft. His girlfriend."
"And that's ex-wife." Gareth snarled at Jackie. "Stop going around and telling people we are still married."
Jackie shrugged. "Forgive me, Kylie," she looked at Kylie insincerely, "I still feel as if I am Mrs. Beecher." She chuckled while gazing up at Gareth.
"Remember when we got married barefoot on the beach, it was early morning..."
"Jackie, stop it!" Gareth said. "That was a long time ago."
Kylie was hardly hearing the blatant attempts to make her jealous. She was completely bowled over by Jackie's presence. It was too soon for her to be here, her mind screamed. She glanced at Jackie's slim toned figure. She was oozing sex appeal. She couldn't compete, and Gareth looked as if he was not protesting strongly enough about her referring to them as still being married. She bit back a groan.
"Oops, sorry," Jackie turned to Kylie, "I am just so happy to see Gareth again. I could just overflow with it. I have an idea, let's all have lunch!"
She turned to Gareth before he could protest. "You owe me at least a little welcome to Jamaica lunch, and your student is right here to make sure that I don't devour you."
"She's not my student." Gareth gritted out. "She's my girlfriend."
Kylie who had been bubbling up with insecurities breathed a sigh of relief inside. At least he had not just taken one look at his extraordinarily pretty ex-wife and decided that he wanted her back, and he was referring to her as his girlfriend in front of her.
"Okay," Gareth said after a long pause. "I am only having lunch with you this once." He clasped Kylie's hand to his in solidarity. "Is that okay with you Kylie?"
Kylie's head nodded but her heart was saying no.
The clasped hands did not escape Jackie's notice, and Kylie realized that she had a sinister gleam in her eyes when she looked at their linked hands.
"Oh, that's all I ask." Her laughter was shrill and insincere.
When they were seated around the table, Jackie started talking non-stop. "Do you remember Marvin Hilton?" she asked Gareth. She was all but ignoring Kylie, and Gareth was tapping his fingers on the table impatiently.
"Yes, vaguely." he said, glancing at Kylie's set expression and wondering if this would hail the death knell to their budding relationship.
"Well he was your best man at our wedding, dear. You know he was a general practitioner. What you don't know is that he now has his specialty in plastic surgery," Jackie said primly.
She glanced at Kylie. "Maybe he can fix your nose. He can give you a friend discount because of Gareth, since you are his girlfriend."
Kylie touched her nose involuntarily. "What's wrong with my nose?" she asked anxiously.
"Oh, sorry," Jackie said, feigning a mortified expression. "From certain angles it looks a bit broken or was it fixed by an incompetent surgeon?"
Gareth rolled his eyes. "There is nothing wrong with your nose, Kylie." He kissed her on the tip of it.
Jackie sipped some water and prepared another barb for Kylie. "I had a very rigorous meeting this morning with one Dr. Bancroft." She looked at Kylie. "Is he a relative of yours?"
"My father," Kylie said reluctantly, still smarting over the nose barb.
"Seems like a forceful man," Jackie said, "I like that. Apparently, my first task as associate legal counsel in the office of general counsel is to accompany one Gareth Beecher to a meeting with the police at five this evening."
Gareth groaned. "I forgot about that. You are the replacement for Valerie Ennis that Dr. Bancroft was talking about.
"Um, yes." Jackie paused, and they all gave their orders to a waitress.
"Remember that time when we used to be at university together as under grads and we couldn't afford to pay for food?"
Gareth nodded. "Those were lean times, but fun."
Jackie turned to Kylie. "Gareth was a boy genius. Got a scholarship to attend MIT. I went there to do women and gender studies."
Her eyes turned misty. "We literally crashed into each other one day in the pool hall. Before the end of the month, we were living together. My parents were strict Christians so they were frothing at the mouth at that, but, as I said to my Mom, when you know you just know."
Gareth was scowling at Jackie. She was spouting this tale of grand romance to make Kylie feel excluded, and it was working. Kylie was hardly eating. She had her head down in her plate and was pushing her food around. That was her defensive pose; he knew it well. He could feel her emotional withdrawal from him. There is no damper like somebody from a past relationship spouting off about the grand old times to someone you were starting a new relationship with.
He wished that he had not agreed to have lunch with Jackie. He wished that he had taken up Kylie on her offer to go to lunch at her place.
Jackie stuck her fork into the mallah chicken and looked at Kylie's somber face with glee and at Gareth's scowling non-responsive face with a tingle of joy. Things were going just the way she wanted them. If she could just drive a wedge between these two, she'd be fine.
She felt a tiny bit of sorrow for Kylie; she had no idea it would have been so easy to destabilize her. She looked like a kicked puppy or a child whose favorite toy had been taken from her.
"Of course," she continued, "we both became Christians together. Remember that Gareth? We kept getting invitations from Gareth's mom, a lovely lady who still keeps in touch with me."
She said this smugly, and inwardly smiled when Kylie slumped further in her seat. "We went to these church meetings, got baptized, and then got married in our third year of college. You know," Jackie said to her silent lunch companions, "I thought that since we weathered graduate school, a miscarriage and demanding careers that we would still be together."
"You wanted a divorce." Gareth pointed out to Jackie, without heat.
Jackie smiled inwardly; that statement hit Kylie squarely between the eyes. The poor girl looked shattered. She deliberately set up Gareth for that one.
She paused for the effect of it, waiting for Kylie's dreams of forever with her ex-husband to fall apart before she said softly. "I was so wrong. I have since changed and I am ready to have another go at our marriage. Don't you know that what God has joined together, no man can put asunder? Not even the divorce courts."
Kylie looked up at Jackie when she said that. This was no ordinary foe. She could feel the determination coming from Jackie in waves. Yasmin was right about her. This was going to be war.
Gareth laughed sarcastically at Jackie's passionate speech. "You have not changed one bit, still dramatic and still colorful and still restless."
>
He got up. "Ready, Kylie?"
He did not have to ask twice. Kylie jumped up, almost knocking the table over. "Sure.” She did not want to be dishonest and tell Jackie ‘nice to meet you’. In fact, she wished that Jackie could just vanish. They walked out of the restaurant together after settling the bill at the front.
Gareth looked around, pulled her into the alley beside the restaurant, and kissed her roughly.
"Remember this before you go off thinking about today, okay," he said, touching her lips, before he whispered, "Just remember."
Chapter Twelve
Kylie drove straight to her new apartment after class. She was still smarting from that lunch with Jackie. It was painful listening to her talk about a past with Gareth. It had finally hit her that there was so much more to Gareth that she didn't know. He had shared a life with this woman. They had a barefoot wedding, a miscarriage, and so much history between them. They went to school together, were baptized together, and had all sorts of fun times together.
She had only started going out with him six weeks ago, and already she was dying from insecurity. While she wanted to fight for a place in Gareth's life because she believed he was her perfect match, she was not so sure anymore. Did she really love him anyway or was she just infatuated? She spent a whole year drooling when she saw him and was happy that she was finally getting to have something meaningful with him, but now she had reservations, especially in light of the recent development.
She opened the apartment door and stepped into her new place. It always gave her a sense of accomplishment when she thought that she was living on her own. Glancing around the spacious room, she nodded to it as if the inanimate objects could see her or respond. She loved the apartment. Apparently, Natasha had gotten it newly furnished because the furniture still smelled and looked new, and the place had shiny new fixture and fittings.
Her mind snapped back to her woes, and she slumped in the settee. She was no match for Jackie, in looks or otherwise. She imagined that in the dictionary, Jackie’s picture would be beside the word ‘woman’, while her picture would be beside ‘mouse’.
Goodbye Lonely (The Bancrofts: Book 4) Page 8
