Chapter Seven #2
I notice the slight shake to her hands as she tries opening the cap, so I reach out to help her. She accepts the bottle and cap graciously, pouring two pills into her hand and swallowing them with her drink.
Clearing my throat, I squirm in my seat. “I have an NDA that tells me I can’t speak to anyone about your husband,” I explain slowly. “Not even spouses or next of kin.”
The chortle she gives me is half-snort, half-laugh as she dumps the pill bottle back into her bag and settles in her seat.
“I figured as much. But don’t worry, I wasn’t going to try making you give me any information on him.
Actually, it’s me who wants to offer you some intel that I think can help. ”
I blink at her. “Like…For revenge?”
That has to be what this is, right? The scorned wife goes to someone to feed them information on their cheating husband.
But if she really wanted to do that, why not go to the press directly?
Media would have a field day with any information she’d share with them on Moskins.
I’m sure TMZ has reached out to her numerous times before to offer her a good payout.
Her grin widens. “I can see why you’d think that, but no.
Our situation is a bit complicated. And I’m not really at liberty to say how because that goes deeper than we have time for me to explain.
But I want you to know that he’s more than he seems. He comes off as a dick, but he’s not. Not really.”
Should I be entertaining this? It can’t be good, considering it’s a conflict of interest. Or is it? He’s my client, who I’m tasked to get into people’s good graces. Who better to help me with that than his own wife?
So, I bite. “He wears a mask,” I reply.
It’s not a question, but an observation. He was good with everyone at the soup kitchen. He did something nice for me. But he’s snarky. Unfiltered. Sometimes, I can’t tell which version of him is the real one. Can she?
Emaly nods. “I blame his manager and agent for a lot of that. Ever since he was a rookie, he’s had to present himself in a certain way in public.
And when you’re young, it’s easy to mold yourself into what people think you are.
And people see him as a closed off, entitled playboy.
He’s run with his reputation because it’s easier than convincing people otherwise. ”
Is she saying that his reputation is false? I’ve seen the proof. “If that’s the case, then I feel bad for him. But my job isn’t to deep dive into his psyche, it’s just to make him look…better than he has been.”
You know, where it looks like he isn’t cheating on you?
Is she really not going to say anything about that?
You’d think she would. If I were in her shoes, I’d be livid.
Once, when a guy broke up with me, I’d let my emotions win and posted that he had a small penis on an anonymous forum.
Kourtney and my first taste of alcohol may have influenced that decision.
Needless to say, he’d been pissed about it, and I took down the post a few days after the damage was done.
But Emaly doesn’t seem like the type. According to the articles I read and the research I dug into, she’s never commented on his affairs or scandals.
There’s nothing about her opinion regarding their relationship that paints him in a bad light.
I’d bet money, as little as I might have, that it’s because Moskins’s agent convinced her not to.
“I can see it on your face,” she says gently, watching me a little too closely. “You believe the side of him that everybody else does. I get it. He’s a great actor. But you’ll see. He’s not that way. He’s different.”
“They always say they’re different, Win,” Kourtney says, passing me another tissue so I stop using my shirt to dry my tears. “Men will literally say that two seconds before sticking their dick into another woman. Trust me, he isn’t worth it.”
Those words hit me like a brick. I’d sworn to my sister that my ex, my first real love, was different.
It’d been a rocky relationship that ended with him cheating on me because I wouldn’t sleep with him and me drunkenly posting online about his penis.
Which I’d never actually seen. But I had thought, naively, that he was the infamous one so many people seek to find.
Turns out, he was just a douchebag who wound up getting another girl pregnant while we were seeing each other. They had three kids, got married not long after, and are divorced now.
Karma is a bitch.
“Look,” I tell Emaly. “It’s not my position to see him a certain way. He’s my client. So whether he is one way or not doesn’t matter to me.”
Thomas Moskins is a paycheck.
A means to an end.
He’s not my friend. Not my confidant.
I don’t owe him any benefit of the doubt.
Emaly frowns. “It’s not my place to say, but I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised if you get the chance to know him.”
This whole conversation is giving me whiplash. Why does she even care? Why would she want me to get to know her husband? So I won’t judge her? So I won’t wonder why she stays with him? It’s none of my business.
“That’s the thing, Emaly.” My smile wavers as I sit straighter. “I don’t want to.”
She nods, looking down at her drink.
Did I upset her? I shouldn’t care, but I do.
Her sigh is light. “Okay. I just wanted to say that he’s a good guy. Not many people see the soft side of him like I do. Maybe not teddy bear soft but…” A tiny smile plays on her lips as her eyes brighten. “But more like a cute bear cub.”
Her comparison makes me snort before I can stop myself. “Sorry,” I apologize, covering my face when I see her grin. “I wasn’t expecting you to say that.”
She shrugs. “Like I said, Thomas is a mystery to a lot of people. But he’s transparent to those he lets get to know him.”
Well, that won’t be me. “We’ll only be working together for a short amount of time before he starts his season. Hopefully, my job will be done by then.”
She hums thoughtfully before reaching into her purse and pulling out a piece of paper and a pen. I watch curiously as she writes something down before sliding it to me. “If you decide you ever want to know more, that’s my number. And his.”
Her lips twitch upward as mine part in shock at the two lines of digits in front of me.
If Janel knew I got a client’s number, even indirectly, she would not be happy. God only knows what would happen if Cody found out. Although I haven’t seen him at work lately, I know he would use this to fuel his accusations that I got this case because I’m sleeping with Moskins.
Emaly slides off her seat and squeezes my arm once lightly. “It was nice formally meeting you, Winter. I’ll see you around.”
She says it so confidently, it makes me wonder where we’d possibly see each other.
Emaly starts walking away and stumbles slightly. I’m able to catch her arm to steady her, earning me an apologetic smile form her. “Sorry,” she says, squeezing her eyes shut. “Got up too quickly.”
Her voice sounds off, and her lips fight a frown as she rolls her shoulders, releases a deep breath, and rubs her temple.
“Are you all right?” I ask.
She nods, wetting her lips. “I will be” is the last thing she says to me.
She’s still rubbing her temple when she disappears from the coffee shop. I glance down at the paper, wondering what to do. Then, despite my better judgment, I slide it into my purse.