13. Chapter Thirteen
~Gabriel~
Going through all the steps of cutting my ties with Celine made me a little paranoid about staying at my own house. What if she had a way of watching me? If I called Jen, would she be able to listen in? The idea of her spying on me made my skin crawl, so I texted my sister in the afternoon.
Can I crash at your place tonight?
Her answer came back nearly instantly.
Of course. As long as you need to. I’m actually heading out of town this weekend, so it’s all yours if you want it.
I would be heading out of town too, but she didn’t know that yet. No matter what, my sister had my back, and I’d never appreciated it more than during this confusing time in my life.
I picked up Vietnamese food on the way over, Monica’s favourite, and we ate in front of the TV in her apartment while I filled her in on what happened the day before with Jen. Most of it, anyway. I didn’t go into detail about what happened in Jen’s hotel room, but I said enough that Monica understood we’d gone a little further than just kissing.
“Maybe you need to slow things down a bit,” she suggested gently, taking a long slurp of her noodles. “Your marriage isn’t even cold in the ground yet. Don’t get me wrong: I’m the first person in line to cheer for you moving on from Celine, but this thing with Jen seems pretty fast. ”
“I know,” I assured her. “If I take a step back, it looks like a terrible idea, but when I’m with her, it doesn’t feel that way. It feels right. I can’t explain it.”
At that moment, my phone buzzed with a text from Jen, sending a rush of warmth through my chest and a smile spreading across my face.
Monica rolled her eyes and teased me, “Can’t guess who that is.”
Ignoring her, I read the text, my smile fading as I took in the words.
This weekend might not be such a good idea. Call me when you can.
“Excuse me a second,” I mumbled to my sister before pressing the call button next to Jen’s name. Before she could even say hi, I blurted out my question. “What’s going on?”
“Hello to you too.” Her warm chuckle helped to ease my worry, making it clear I hadn’t done anything wrong to make her rescind her earlier invitation. “Are you free to talk? It’s about Celine.”
“My sister’s here, but she knows all about you and all about Celine, so she’ll probably end up dragging it all out of me later anyway.”
Ducking, I narrowly avoided the pillow Monica tossed at my head before muting the TV. “Put it on speaker,” she whispered, and I did: Since I would probably tell her all about it anyway, she might as well hear it straight from the source.
With the phone held in my hand in front of me, I repeated my earlier question. “What’s going on?”
Without mincing words, Jen shared the message she received that afternoon, the additional ‘evidence’ that Celine had, and her conversation with my lawyer. “I went to her because you were at work and I didn’t want it to wait until tomorrow,” Jen explained. “I hope that’s okay.”
“It’s fine.” If anything, I appreciated her taking the initiative. Now that we’d heard her news, I turned off my phone speaker and left the room to continue our conversation, ignoring Monica’s mimed protests. In the kitchen, I looked out the window at the street below, watching other people go about their lives which had to be less complicated than mine at the moment. “So, you want to cancel this weekend?”
Jen sighed, and I could almost feel the soft rush of her breath against my skin, the memory of holding her close to me so vivid. “I don’t want to, but I’m not sure it’s worth the risk to go ahead. We can say that I went to San Francisco yesterday to share information with you for the divorce proceedings, which has some truth to it, but I’m not sure how we could spin you coming here for a whole weekend. If Celine managed to get security footage from the Four Winds, I don’t know how far she’ll go.”
Neither did I, and where did she get the money for all this investigating, anyway? If Jen hadn’t paid for the PI, I would have struggled to afford it. I could only buy the plane ticket to LA because of the air miles I used. We hadn’t had extra money in ages, so where did all Celine’s disposable income come from?
“As much as I hate to say it, maybe you should cancel the flight.” Jen’s voice pulled me out of my questions and back to the more immediate matter. “Save your air miles for another time?”
Despite her being the one to suggest it, I could hear the disappointment underpinning her words, the same disappointment that lodged itself in the pit of my stomach. I had really been looking forward to spending time with her and getting to know her better without Celine being the main topic of conversation. Somehow, my wife managed to insert herself right back into the thick of things.
Ex -wife. I’d have to start thinking about her that way, since in every way that mattered to me, she’d earned that title.
“Yeah, I guess I should,” I agreed, my voice sounding hollow. “Thank you for letting me know about all of this. Is this campaign of hers going to affect your business?”
“I’m not sure yet. For now, I’ll stay out of it and see how things play out.”
“That’s probably smart.” She seemed to be taking the whole thing pretty well, her concern much more for me than for herself, which only reinforced the impression I already had of her. “I better get back to my sister before she gets a crowd together with pitchforks to track Celine down.”
Jen’s laugh helped to ease a tiny bit of my disappointment. “I think I’d like your sister.”
“I think you would too. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Have a good night.”
We hung up and I returned to the living room to find Monica tapping away on her phone, her thumbs flying across the keyboard.
“What are you doing?” I asked with some trepidation as I sat back down beside her.
“Saving your weekend,” she replied airily. “I planned to leave tomorrow morning, but now, I’ll wait until you’re done with work. I let my friend know that I’ll be arriving a little later.”
She’d completely lost me. “Back up several steps. What are you talking about?”
With an exasperated sigh, she lowered her phone. “I told you I’m going away this weekend. I’ve recently made friends with this woman down in LA and she invited me to visit.”
“LA?” I perked up immediately, starting to get on board her train of thought.
“Uh-huh.” She grinned at me before continuing. “I’m going to drive down and I’ve got room for a passenger.”
Tentatively, I ran through the scenario in my head. “How does that help, though? If Celine’s having me followed, they can follow your car as well as they can track my flight.”
Monica’s eyebrows raised in mock offense. “Really? You don’t think I can lose a tail?”
“Alright there, James Bond, calm down.” She threw another pillow at me, but I caught that one in mid-air. “How are you going to lose them?”
“I’ll take a diversion or two along the way, down quiet roads. If someone’s following us, we’ll know. Way easier to spot someone on a deserted back road than in a busy airport. ”
That actually made some sense, or maybe I was just desperate. Either way, I found myself agreeing. “I’m willing to give it a shot, but I’m not going to tell Jen I’m coming until I get there, just in case it doesn’t work out.”
Monica shrugged. “That’s your call. My only request is that if I’m going to all this trouble, I get to meet her.”
That seemed fair, and I really did think Monica and Jen would get along. “Deal. I can’t wait to see your spy skills in action.”
“You’ll be blown away,” she predicted with a laugh as we settled back in to finish the show we’d been watching, the disappointment I’d felt after Jen’s call vanishing into a steady drum of anticipation.
~Jennifer~
After spending way too much of my time on Thursday and Friday dealing with questions from clients and potential clients who saw Celine’s posts about me and wanted reassurances that I wouldn’t actually be attempting to seduce their partners, I went to bed early on Friday night.
At least I tried to. Just after midnight, a phone call woke me up.
“What’s going on?” I mumbled into the phone after seeing Eda’s name on the screen. “Are you okay?”
“Physically, yes,” she reassured me, knowing that after Matt’s death, I still had a fear of out-of-the-blue phone calls that no amount of time would ever truly erase. “You still haven’t told Gabe about me getting dirt on his marriage through Monica, right? ”
“You called me at midnight to ask me that?” I groaned, rubbing my eyes with my free hand as I tried to focus. “No, I haven’t told him, but only because there hasn’t been a natural opportunity. I will.”
“Well, I think it’s gonna have to happen sooner rather than later,” she said in a hushed whisper. “He’s currently in my living room.”
“What?” The remains of my sleepiness drained away as I sat up, pinching the skin on my wrist to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Since it stung, I figured I must be awake. “What are you talking about?”
Her voice still low, she offered an explanation. “My roommates are both out of town, so I invited Monica down for the weekend to see a show that we’ve both heard good things about. She texted me yesterday to say she’d be arriving late because she needed to give someone a ride. Fifteen minutes ago, she showed up with her brother.”
“You’ve actually seen him? Spoken to him?”
“I have,” she assured me. “And I’ve got to say: nice , Jen.”
Her appreciation of Gabe at a time like that made me giggle despite the tenuous nature of the situation. “What is he doing there?”
“Apparently, he came to town to see someone. I assume that ‘someone’ is you. They got here later than planned because they took some long-ass detour, so Monica asked if he could crash in my living room tonight, probably because showing up at your door in the middle of the night would be creepy as hell.”
I couldn’t find any flaws in her logic, and the idea that Gabe would have endured a six-hour car ride after we both agreed flying to see me would be too risky made my heart melt. How could Celine not return the love of a man who would go to so much effort for someone he cared about?
Now, I just needed to figure out how to explain to him how Eda and Monica knew each other.
“Alright. Here’s what we’re going to do: first thing in the morning, I’ll come down there and I can explain everything in person.”
“Are you sure? It’s going to be awkward.” I could picture Eda biting her lip like she did ever since we were little, whenever she got caught doing something she shouldn’t have. “Monica might be really pissed off at me.”
“And Gabe might be upset with me too,” I admitted. “We kind of crossed a line, both of us. It makes sense to own up to it together. If they storm out, at least we’ll have each other.”
Although I tried to keep my tone light, another confrontation with Gabe wasn’t at all the way I wanted to spend the weekend when I invited him to come visit in the first place.
Hopefully, it would be the last thing I had to apologize for keeping something from him.
“It’ll be a big ol’ family reunion.” Eda gave a half-sigh, half-laugh that perfectly encapsulated the way I felt. “Okay. I’ll keep him from leaving until you get here. Go back to sleep. See you tomorrow.”
“See you then.”
After hanging up, I looked around my darkened bedroom, knowing the chances of getting back to sleep after that conversation were pretty slim. Not quite sure what to do with myself, I started scrolling through my texts with Gabe from earlier in the day, looking for any hints that he might have dropped about coming to see me. Try as I might, I couldn’t find any.
Seemed I wasn’t the only one good at keeping a secret.
Are you still up?
The text notification startled me, and I scrolled back down to the bottom of the conversation to find the new message from Gabe waiting there.
I am. Why are you awake?
You don’t get to ask me that when you’re up too.
I could practically feel the warmth of his smile in the words on the screen before he sent me a real answer.
I’m not at home and I don’t have the most comfortable bed.
Having slept on Eda’s pull-out couch before, I could sympathize. Curious about how he would answer if I questioned him about it directly, I asked the obvious follow-up question.
Where are you?
With my sister.
Technically, he didn’t lie, but he left out a few details too, I noticed.
Thinking about you, though.
The warm feeling returned to my chest with his sweet, simple statement, and I grinned as I teased him.
Well, I would hope you’re not thinking about your sister.
Is that the razor-sharp wit all the guys fall for?
Usually. Is it making you swoon?
Not as much as the thought of having you in this bed with me.
That’s not a nice thing to say when you just told me how uncomfortable it is.
I’d let you lie on top of me.
Oh, yeah? Would that make it softer?
Nothing about me is soft when you’re around.
Fuck. My body had begun to ache, a combination of his words and knowing only a short drive separated us. Would he be in this bed with me the following night? Would I be able to resist the chemistry between us when we were together again in person?
Did I even want to?
That sounds concerning. You might want to get it checked out.
That’s a good idea. Next time you see me, you should check it out.
The flirting and teasing went on for another half hour before I told him I needed to get some sleep, knowing that I had an early morning ahead of me.
Even with one more awkward conversation ahead of us, I held out hope that the next day would be the first day of our new start, one less about his past and much more about the future I was beginning to see for the two of us.
~Gabriel~
As soon as the California sun began to light up the living room of Monica’s friend’s apartment, I got up and put the sofa bed away, staying as quiet as I could while I had a quick shower. Logically, I knew it made sense for me to stay there when we arrived so late the night before, but after texting with Jen and realizing she was still awake, I wished I’d made the trip to see her. I couldn’t wait to head out that morning and surprise her.
Monica had been as good as her word on the drive down, and sure enough, the first time she pulled off the interstate for a restroom break, several cars followed us to the gas station we’d seen from the road. Unable to tell if any of those might be Celine’s investigator, she took us on a long detour down one of the secondary highways. One car stayed resolutely with us, sending a chill down my spine the longer it followed us.
How far was Celine willing to go to get her way, and how had I never known before just how ruthless she could be?
“Hold onto something,” Monica muttered, pressing the gas pedal to the floor as the two-lane highway stretched ahead of us. “This is where we lose him.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I warned, but she only grinned as she accelerated until we could no longer see the car in the rear-view mirror.
“Sharp turn!” she called out.
As we rounded the next bend in the road, I saw what she’d already noticed on her GPS: a side road that led into Pinnacles National Park. She pulled a sharp right off the main road, and as soon as we were out of sight of the highway, she slowed right down and pulled over on the side of the road.
For several tense moments, we waited, anticipating the car passing us at any moment, but no one else came.
“You are insane,” I breathed out, finally releasing my grip on the door handle. I couldn’t even remember grabbing it.
“But I lost him,” she crowed triumphantly before returning to the highway and turning back the way we came until we could reconnect with the I-5 interstate.
After literally putting my life in my sister’s hands, I was more determined than ever to make this weekend with Jen count, and that meant not wasting a second more than necessary before going to see her.
However, just as I’d located a piece of paper and a pen to write a short thank you note to my hostess, the woman herself appeared from her bedroom.
“Good morning, Gabe.” Eda gave me a warm smile before her eyes swept the room, taking in the folded sheets and my packed bag and her smile faded into concern. “You’re not leaving already, are you? ”
“I am. I don’t want to intrude any longer than necessary. You and Monica have plans, and so do I, but I really appreciate you letting me stay here last night. Thank you for your hospitality.”
Assuming that would be the end of it, I picked up my bag and turned towards the door, but Eda rushed over, nearly tripping over the rug in the middle of the floor, and blocked my path.
“You can’t leave,” she blurted out, staring up at me with wide hazel eyes that, in the early morning light, reminded me of Jennifer’s. It had been dark when we arrived the night before, the apartment lit only by some floor lamps, and I hadn’t gotten a very good look at her then.
“I… can’t leave?” I repeated, my eyebrows drawing together in confusion.
“Not yet, I mean,” she said, letting out a nervous-sounding laugh. “I’m going to make breakfast.”
“That’s kind of you, but I’m okay. I’ll pick something up on my way.”
I tried to step around her but she moved again, straight into me. “Coffee, at least?”
How much clearer could I make it? “Not necessary. Have a good day, Eda.”
“Wait!” She grabbed my arm when I went around her, and I started to get concerned. How well did Monica know this woman? With her strange behaviour, I didn’t know if I felt comfortable leaving my sister alone with her.
Before either of us could say anything else, someone knocked on the apartment door, and Eda sighed in relief. “Finally.”
What the fuck?
She dropped my arm and headed to the door while I glanced around the room, looking for something I might be able to defend myself with in case the person on the other side of the door had some kind of unfriendly intentions. Had we been lured there so we could be robbed, or worse?
I managed to get my hand on a heavy candlestick holder just as Eda turned the knob, making me feel like some kind of Clue villain, but all thoughts of self-defense flew out the door when the woman on the other side walked through it.
“Jen?”
I blinked a few times in rapid succession, sure that my mind must be playing tricks on me, but each time they opened again, she still stood there, looking casually elegant in a pink blouse and cream capris with strappy sandals that showed off her pretty pink-painted toenails, her honey-blonde hair hanging over her shoulders.
What in the world was she doing there? How could she be there?
“Hi.” She offered me a soft smile before turning to Eda and embracing her. “I got here as early as I could.”
“You were almost too late,” Eda admonished her. “I thought I would have to tie him to a chair to keep him from leaving.”
My eyes darted back and forth between the two of them, trying to make any sense of the situation as Jen’s gaze returned to me.
“I know you’ve got questions. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I’m afraid there’s a hidden camera somewhere and someone’s going to jump out and yell ‘surprise’,” I told her bluntly. “What are you doing here? How do you know Eda?”
She answered my second question first. “Eda’s my sister.”
As soon as the words left her lips, I could see it. Aside from the similarities in their eyes, which I’d already noticed, they had the same full lips and narrow nose, but that still barely scratched the surface of the explanation I needed.
“What’s all the commotion?” Monica grumbled as she walked out of the guest room, still in her pajamas. “And where’s the coffee?”
“Coming right up,” Eda proclaimed as she stepped into the corner kitchen to turn on the machine.
Never one to be shy, Monica walked over and gave Jen a once-over, looking her up and down curiously. “Who are you?”
“Let’s start from the beginning,” Jen suggested. “Everyone take a seat. Please. ”
She turned a puppy-dog look on me that I couldn’t resist, even though her sudden appearance there unnerved me more with each passing second. Just when I thought she’d been totally honest with me, more ‘coincidences’ occurred.
Monica and I sat down on the couch where I’d spent the night and Jen sat across from us, looking so ridiculously beautiful that even if she did turn out to be a complete psychopath, part of me thought I could find a way to accept it.
She turned to my sister first. “I’m Jennifer Bradshaw. I’m the woman Celine hired to try to tempt Gabe into cheating. You must be Monica.”
For once, my sister seemed to be too stunned to speak. Her head swivelled slowly between Jen and me, as if I might be able to offer some kind of explanation, but I had nothing to add. We were as lost as each other.
“Eda, whose apartment we’re in, is my sister,” Jen continued. “And it’s because of me that Eda and Monica know each other in the first place.”
“What?” Monica managed to squeak out one word just as Eda returned with two cups of coffee. Greedily, my sister took it from her and took a long sip while Eda sat on one of the other chairs with her own cup.
“You already know how Celine hired me, right?” Jen asked her. “I don’t want to repeat things you already know.”
“I do,” Monica confirmed.
“So, after I started getting suspicious about Celine’s refusal to accept Gabe’s pass, I told Eda the whole story. It didn’t make sense to me, but I couldn’t understand what her motive would be for the whole charade. Eda offered to get in touch with some San Francisco friends and see if she could dig up any dirt on Celine, on the off-chance anyone knew her. Obviously, she hit the jackpot.”
Monica gave Eda a shrewd look. “You wanted advice about your sister-in-law. ”
Eda shrugged sheepishly. “She doesn’t exist. I made her up so you would talk about yours. I didn’t think it would go this far, I thought we’d just talk that one time and that would be it.”
“What did you tell her?” I asked Monica, chagrined to know that my sister would have divulged any personal information to a complete stranger.
It was Monica’s turn to look repentant. “I may have mentioned that I thought she married you for your inheritance.”
Pieces of the puzzle began to slot into place as I turned back to Jen. “You knew about the inheritance before Napa?”
“I did,” she admitted. “You asked me the other day if I was convinced Celine was cheating on you by the time we hired the PI, and I said yes. This is why I thought so. Nothing else made sense given the information I had. Everything else I told you is true; I just didn’t mention getting this information because I didn’t want to get Eda in trouble.”
“ Am I in trouble?” Eda blurted out, her attention focused on Monica rather than me. “I know I lied, but I only wanted to help my sister. I could tell as soon as we talked that you cared about your brother too. You might have done the same thing for him if the situations were reversed.”
Remembering how my sister risked both our lives and a speeding ticket the day before just to get me down to LA, I had to agree with that, and Monica conceded it too. “I probably would have. You’re a damn convincing liar.”
She sounded almost impressed, and I shook my head in disbelief. It seemed our sisters had a lot in common, but the fact remained that Jen hid this from me. Even when we cleared the air a few days earlier at the café, she held this information back. How many other things hadn’t she told me?
If Celine managed to fool me so thoroughly, maybe I was truly a terrible judge of character. In which case: how could I trust Jen at all?