Chapter 26 #2
Her smile grows bigger as she reflects back on how they met.
“Chase and I attended the same acting class, and one day afterward, he asked me out. He really was so cute. If I didn’t know better, I would have said he was nervous.
There he was, a big star already, and he was scared I’d say no.
I didn’t, and four months later, we got married.
Mariah was born a year later, and the rest is history. ”
I file away the detail that he cheated on her after only three years of marriage, which makes me question if he did it before and simply didn’t get caught.
I obviously can’t ask her about that, so I smile and nod as I type in a few notes, just in case we need to use their early history to our advantage.
“So you were interested in being an actress?”
Cheyenne nods. “Oh, I always wanted to act. There’s something about being up on the big screen that sounds so incredible. I still want to, but now I have Mariah and my business, so I don’t know if I’ll ever achieve that goal.”
“Okay, I mentioned this to your husband, so I want to mention it to you too. There’s no way of getting around the fact that whoever the interviewer is, they’re going to ask him why he slept with the nanny.
You’re going to be seated right next to him, so that may be hard for you to hear in that instance.
Have you considered what that’s going to be like? ”
Her expression falls even as she nods again.
“I know. It’s going to be like reliving finding out all over again.
When I saw that article online as I stood at the counter to get my Starbucks, I thought I would die, Salem.
I was sure everyone had read it and saw the pictures of our nanny and Chase sneaking out of that hotel.
To be honest, I wanted to crawl into a hole and die at that very moment. ”
Letting my professional mask slip a little, I ask, “How did you do it? How did you get to where you are today after finding out what happened?”
She stares at me for a long moment before smiling.
“Oh, I see what you did there. It’s very likely the interviewer will ask me that very question, and you want to see how I’ll handle it.
Well, the truth is I did a lot of soul searching once I found out and Chase admitted everything.
I had to ask myself if I had any part in what happened. You know, it takes two, after all.”
The way she says that makes me think she doesn’t actually know what she’s saying. I’m more than a little irritated that she’s taking even a tiny bit of responsibility for her husband banging their nanny, though.
“Tread lightly with that idea right there,” I advise. “Twenty-first century women, for the most part, aren’t really big fans of wives saying they have any blame in being cheated on. I’d focus more on the love you feel for him and your willingness to forgive. That always works.”
Cheyenne listens to my suggestion and nods. “Okay. I can say that. I do forgive him, so that’s not a lie. Not that it’s been easy, but I do. Our marriage means the world to me. I want the world to know that.”
“Good. That will come through in the interview if you say it like that.”
As I type more notes for myself, Cheyenne says, “I bet someone like you thinks I’m a real fool, don’t you?”
I look up from my laptop and shake my head. “No, not at all. When you love someone, it’s almost like you have to forgive them. It’s just hard. That’s the truth of it. It’s hard, but if you love him, you probably feel like you have to forgive him, right?”
“We have a child together, so all my friends told me I have to find a way to move past what happened. You’re right, though. It’s been hard. I promise I won’t let that come through in the interview, though. You and Chase can count on me.”
I want to say to her that she doesn’t have to even do this interview if she doesn’t want to.
It wouldn’t help my job at all if she bowed out, but if she did, I’d make it work anyway.
I don’t say anything like that, though, because it’s not my place to tell someone’s wife to let him hang in the wind for what he did.
Even if I would respect her even more if she chose that path.
“To be honest, I’m not worried about you or what you’ll say at all.
You’ve shown yourself to be a forgiving wife who loves her husband.
People will understand that. It’s Chase I’m concerned with.
Cheating men have become a cliché in modern American society, particularly when the situation involves a nanny, so the public is going to want to see some real guilt and real desire to fix things in that interview.
I’ll work with him before that, though, so don’t you worry about it.
Leave this to me. I promise it will work out. ”
My reward for my comment is a warm smile. “I appreciate that. You know, I knew the moment I saw your picture when his agent said Chase needed to hire you that you’d be great. I saw in your eyes you have a real sharpness to you. You see things clearly. That’s what Chase needs now.”
I nod as if I agree, but after spending time with dear old Chase, what he seems to really need now is a good smack in the head.
He may be a decent guy overall, but something about him makes me want to slap some sense into him.
He has a beautiful, loving wife and a little girl.
He should never have even thought about looking elsewhere for anything, even if he was lonely at times.
My phone vibrates on my desk, so I excuse myself to take it since I see it’s my sister. She’s visiting a client who got caught up in a sex scandal with a prostitute last week, so I’m surprised she’s calling me now.
“Ever, is everything okay?”
My sister sighs, which is never a good sign since she likes to keep her emotions under wraps as much as possible. A heavy sigh like the one that came through the phone tells me something happened.
“Well, not so much. My client decided to go out last night and hire another prostitute, so you might say we’re behind the eight ball now. I love it when men make my life twice as hard as it has to be.”
I look over at Cheyenne, who also has gotten a call, and whisper, “Someone saw him last night too? Does this guy send up the damn bat signal every time he steps out to be with a hooker?”
That makes my sister laugh. “Thanks for that, Salem. I needed something to make me smile. I have to go back into that hotel room and tell him we can help him fix this now. Personally, I’d love to tell him to forget ever getting his wife back because he’s a scumbag, but that’s not what we do, is it? ”
I can tell she’s wishing we could do that with clients, but she and I are alike. We understand we don’t have to like our clients to do the job we’re hired to do. Sometimes, that means spending time with people we would never speak to outside of work.
As I try to make her smile again and hopefully give her what she needs to go back into that hotel room with the client, I hear part of Cheyenne’s conversation. I don’t want to eavesdrop, but she’s not trying to be discreet at all.
“Yes, I know. Don’t worry. I’ve got this. All I have to do is put on a brave face. From what I’m told, that’s all people want to see. Forgiveness and sweetness.”
She stops for a minute, presumably because the person on the other end of the call is speaking, and then says, “I know what I have to do. I’m not a fool.
You forget I’m an actor too. Chase isn’t the only one who can pretend.
I know what’s at stake here. Our business can’t succeed without the influx of cash that Chase is going to give us.
I never forget that. Trust me. It’s the only thing that gets me through the day lately, so you can count on me to not blow it. ”
“So much for true love,” I whisper into the phone.
Of course, Ever has no idea what I’m talking about, so she asks, “What do you mean? I never thought this guy was in love with his wife in the first place.”
“No, not yours. Mine. Let me go. I have to get back to my meeting. Try to stay calm, but tell your damn client to stop hiring women for sex, at least for a few days, for God’s sake!”
Ever sighs again. “Do you think I haven’t? I think I might have to go with the sex addiction angle with this one. He can’t seem to stop himself.”
“Well, I’ll talk to you later. Try to keep calm, even though I know it’s hard.”
That makes her laugh. “Was that a sex pun?”
“No. Goodbye.”
My back to Cheyenne, I screw a smile onto my face and turn around to deal with her again, even though I’m completely disillusioned by what I heard her say on her call. She’s no more in love with him than Ever’s client is with his wife. It’s a goddamned epidemic with these married people.
How Kellen thinks we should join the ranks of such lying sons of bitches is beyond me. I was right all along. Marriage isn’t some great achievement or sign you’ve grown up. It’s nothing but a sham.
And I have no intention of getting married, even to Kellen, who I love more than anything or anyone else in the world, if it means I’ll be grouped in with the likes of Chase, Cheyenne, and Ever’s sex-crazed client in that hotel room a few blocks away.
No thanks.