CHAPTER 16
The next afternoon, Lainey ordered a rideshare service with Vivian in tow to retrieve her car at the restaurant. She’d promised Vivian a trip to the pirate ship park on that side of town after they picked up her car.
It was a cool but sunny fall day. The Tylenol she’d taken before they left the house had barely touched her hangover.
She sat on the park bench, letting the radiant sun warm her body.
Viv climbed the plastic sea creature outside the jungle gym fashioned to look like a pirate ship.
Lainey breathed the brisk air in through her nostrils, hoping to relieve the pressure from the headache.
In the next few weeks, the weather would grow colder. Frigid days of sleet as winter claimed hold. Bleak, cold and miserable — that's how she felt after last night’s margarita binge and run-in with Robert.
Tomorrow would be Sunday. The first day of the week and the perfect day to start a fresh new chapter. She’d resume her ordinary life. Hopefully, she'd be able to move on without the gnawing feeling she’d made a mistake.
Her sister would be coming for a visit next weekend, and they’d be attending the fall festival with the boys and Viv.
She dug Geoff’s phone out of her purse. In her drunken haze last night, she’d pulled it from a box in her closet. She had tried turning it on last night, but it was completely dead. Before bed, she'd plugged it in to charge up.
Last minute, she’d tossed it in her bag before walking out the door when the rideshare came.
Now was the time. She woke up the screen and typed in the code the mortician had written for her after he’d reset it with Geoff’s face. When the time came to contact friends and family, Cora was the one who’d taken it to the funeral home and had them help her get access to it.
Lainey searched the contacts and missed calls.
Sam, Sam, Sam. There was that name over and over in text messages, incoming and outgoing calls.
When she’d first seen the name three years ago, she’d assumed it was a male colleague, but now she questioned if it was the sinister blonde from the restaurant she’d met last night.
She opened the text string labeled Sam. She went back to the day of the fire.
Geoff: U working 2nite?
Sam: Yes
Geoff: Wife and kid in KC for the nite. I’ll come in for dinner.
Sam: My place afterward? Need help packaging. Make it worth your while. ;) (Wink
face).
Geoff: Why don’t you come to my place? Bigger bed. ;) (Wink face back).
Sam: It’s weird seeing your fam pics everywhere.
Geoff: Come on? .... Never bothered U B4.
Sam: But I really need help with packaging.
Geoff: I’ll treat U 2 breakfast tomorrow at that place U like, then go 2 UR place and
knock it out B4 I’m due at the station. K?
Sam: U just want me in YOUR bedroom.
Geoff: Yes, I wanna jack-off later thinking about you there.
Sam: U R so bent, but I’m game. I’ll see you later.
Geoff: (Tongue out emoji).
Lainey froze. She couldn’t believe what she was reading.
That day, she’d been happy. None the wiser with her daughter in Kansas City at Lego Land.
All the while her husband was... her headache worsened.
She felt dizzy. She couldn’t breathe. The world turned sideways, and she felt herself falling, then, darkness.
“Lainey?”
She heard the clack of opening and closing metal cabinets.
“Lainey?”
She recognized the voice calling her name. It was familiar.
“She’s coming to. ... Lainey?”
The voice was Mac’s. She fluttered her eyes open, but the light stung them. She winced, her headache instantly returning full force.
“Lainey?” Mac said again.
“Yes.” She lifted her head, surveying her surroundings. She was in the back of an ambulance. “Where’s Viv?”
“She’s right outside with an officer. She’s okay.”
She relaxed back against the gurney.
“I think you fainted. Another mom at the park called it in. Your blood pressure’s a little high, but everything else seems ok.”
Lainey rubbed her forehead.
“I think you need to get checked out at the hospital, though? I can take Viv to Geoff’s parent’s place or his sister’s?”
Lainey rubbed her eyes. It was coming back to her. Everything. “Did you know Geoff was having an affair?” Her gaze locked on Mac. Her eyes were now completely open.
Mac, evidently stunned, motioned the EMT to take a hike. Once he exited, Mac asked, “How’d you find out?”
“So you knew! And you’ve been hiding it too?”
Mac settled back with a sigh. “Lainey, he was my best friend. What was I supposed to do?”
“I can’t believe this.” She swung her legs off the gurney and started towards the back door.
Mac touched her shoulder. “Lainey, he never wanted to hurt you. You were his priority. You and Viv, I promise you that.”
She scoffed, “You probably know where the five-hundred thousand came from too?”
“What? What five-hundred thousand?”
“The money he donated to the church before he died.” She scoffed, “Mr. Saint himself.”
Mac’s face was confused. Obviously, this was news to him too.
“Never mind.” She shrugged off his hand. “Just leave me alone.”
Mac’s face softened. “I think you need to get checked out, Lainey. Let them take you to the hospital.”
“No, I’m fine!” Pushing past him, she jumped out of the back door of the ambulance. They were in the parking lot of the park.
“Mama!” Vivian shouted, running towards her.
“I'm fine, darling,” she said, embracing her, kissing the top of her head.
Jake followed behind Vivian. “Are you okay? It was end of shift, but heard your name come over the radio.”
“I’m okay, only dehydrated.” Looking down at Vivian, who was clinging to her waist.
“Can I drive you both home? I can drive your car. I’ll get a patrolman to follow us and give me a ride back.” Jake appeared not only tired but worried. Lainey saw he was ready to hit the sack, but concern for her took precedence. “At least let me do that for you?” he pleaded.
Lainey looked around, getting her bearings. Mac was standing beside the ambulance talking to the EMT he’d kicked out earlier. Disgusted by Mac’s confirmation of Geoff’s infidelity, made her want to get as far away from him as possible. She looked back at Jake. “Yes, I’d appreciate it.”
* * *
“Look at you, in the round-brown,” Parks grinned, greeting him.
Robert saluted first before shaking his hand. “What brings you to the middle of the United States, Colonel?”
“You, of course.”
Colonel Dean Parks was Robert’s last CO when he was in the Unit. He’d traveled to Fort Riley specifically to see Robert. The MPs had escorted him to the exact location where Robert had the trainees doing field drills.
From seventy yards away, Robert recognized Parks when he exited the MP’s jeep. Tall and rigidly postured. Parks had a distinctive gait from sustaining shrapnel to one leg from an IED explosion years prior.
He hadn’t seen him for nearly two years when he signed his transfer paperwork.
At the time Robert was nervous, thinking Colonel Parks would try to talk him out of the transfer of duty request, instead he signed it and simply said, “Lane, I can tell your mind’s made up, so I’m not going to try to talk you out of this.
When and if you get your head straightened out from what happened, call me.
” Then he signed the paperwork and handed it over.
Robert had appreciated the Colonel’s no-fuss, no-muss attitude.
Robert asked the other DS to cover for him, and he walked over to meet the Colonel near the entrance to the training field.
Robert stood at ease awaiting further explanation for the Colonel’s visit.
Today the Colonel stood in front of him looking just as he did when he’d last seen him.
Stern faced and with no time to waste. “Listen, I know you’re not coming back to the Unit,” he said.
Colonel Parks must have given up when he hadn’t heard from Robert after completing his first year as a DS.
He had the option then to go back but requested to serve another year at Fort Riley. “But it’s the senator’s daughter.”
Robert pulse upticked. “What about her, Sir?” he asked, now understanding why the Colonel had come in person. News of any kind pertaining to Lyla Payne was a sensitive subject for all involved.
“I wanted to warn you in person. She did an interview with ABC, an exclusive. It’s airing next weekend.”
Robert blinked and showed no other response, but Parks’ trained eye caught it.
“Don’t worry, we possess a copy of the Broadcast, and it doesn’t compromise you.
But she’s got a book coming out, and our legal team is stopping the publication until the manuscript meets our approval.
It goes into more detail, and we don’t want ops procedures or your identity getting into the wrong hands. ”
“You could have called to tell me this or emailed. Why the in-person?” Robert wanted to seem like this wasn’t a big deal. He didn’t want, nor did he think he deserved any special treatment.
“I wanted to see how you’re holding up,” Parks said. “I know your reenlistment papers are due at the end of the year, and I wanted to see where your head’s at?”
“Haven’t made any conclusive decisions yet, Sir.”
“You know you’re welcome to be an instructor in Arizona for Army Intel.”
Yes, that was probably the assignment to take and spend the next eight to sixteen years fulfilling. But after dealing with trainees for the past couple of years, he was losing interest in any instructor role. Standing in front of a classroom day in, day out had no appeal.
“Your government has put a lot of money, time and training into you. We don’t wanna lose that investment,” Parks said.
“But if you want to stay in Kansas, be discharged, live a civilian life,” the Colonel paused, as if he was waiting for Robert to deny his preference to be closer to family.
When he didn’t react, Parks resigned, “I could make some calls.”
This comment was unexpected and piqued Robert’s interest. “What calls?”