Part Two - How It Fell Apart
Carrington House
Searcy, Arkansas
The following day, all three girls were excited when they found out that Rosie was staying for the day.
That meant she would get to go to the movies with them.
No one mentioned to the girls that a reporter was expected.
Instead, Poppy, Greer, Ben, and Ella loaded up in two cars and took the girls for breakfast before the movie.
After breakfast, Ben and Greer took the girls to the Rialto to see the movie.
After the show, they walked over to the Soda Jerk and got them ice cream.
While they did that, Poppy took Ella on a whirlwind tour of the town.
Bennett had sworn her to secrecy before telling her about the baby.
The thought of her son and his family staying in California terrified her.
It was going to be really hard to Mimi from a thousand miles away.
Family was the most important thing. She was making it her mission to get them back to Arkansas as soon as possible.
She hoped that by showing Ella what Searcy had to offer with adorable shops like DoorFrames, YA!
YA!, The Boutique, Sassy Stitch, Stotts, Bliss, and more, Poppy might help her fall in love with the city.
She even bought her a cute tea towel with “Searcy Has My Heart” on it as a gift.
She was unashamedly selling Searcy because she truly believed that the old Searcy motto was right.
It truly was where thousands lived, but millions wished they could.
At the Carrington house, Bennett and Taylor waited for the reporter to show up.
At first, being in their old home felt weird with just the two of them.
They had not been there alone since the night before Bennett resigned years earlier.
Neither knew exactly what to say. They stuck to superficial conversation, but the awkwardness was there.
Just before 11:00, Harvey Cox, a freelance reporter from Little Rock known for his work with national online political magazines, local news, and lifestyle publications, arrived.
Tall and lanky, he was in his mid-forties with shaggy dark hair and black glasses.
He brought scones from Wild Sweet William’s to help break the ice.
He had heard about the amazing bakery and gotten into town early to try it.
After introductions, Harvey offered them a scone. Bennett took one, but Taylor was too nervous to eat. Bennett offered them something to drink. Both asked for water. After providing that, Bennett ushered them into his office and then excused himself so they could get down to business.
Harvey Cox's first impression of Taylor was one of surprise at how young and beautiful she still looked ten years after the last publicity photo of her had been published. If anything, she was even more stunning than she was then. A new marriage and motherhood agreed with her.
Opening his laptop, Harvey looked at Taylor and said, "I have been doing a lot of research, and I have a strong understanding of you and Bennett's background until he announced he was resigning as senator.
What I, and frankly no one else, seem to know is what led up to that moment.
What can you tell me about what caused you two to break up and what led to the end of Carrington's political career?
Chewing nervously on her bottom lip, Taylor took a deep breath and let it out.
She silently prayed that she was making the right decision in publicly sharing the whole sordid story.
Wishing she'd asked for liquid courage, she took a deep breath and said, "Well, I guess we should start at the beginning of the end.”
Searcy Country Club
Searcy, Arkansas
March 2012
Pulling her white Mercedes into the Searcy Country Club, Taylor Carrington looked down at the buzzing cell phone in the console and ignored it.
She could not stem the flare of irritation that rippled through her as she saw Bennett's name flash on the screen.
How many calls did this make? Three? Four?
She made no move to answer the phone this time, any more than she had last night or earlier this morning.
Instead, she just let it go directly to voicemail.
Bennett would be quite ticked off at her by now.
He had left several messages, but she had yet to listen to any of them.
It was childish and petty not to answer.
Bennett was being Bennett, the responsible, good husband he was.
But, as rude as it was, Taylor was just not up to another surface conversation between two polite people talking about absolutely nothing.
In a classic Bennett move, he had Joules start calling her when she did not answer. She has ignored those calls and texts as well, except for letting Joules know she was okay and asking that they all stop texting her. She will be in touch soon.
It was not that Taylor had not expected the calls.
She had. As had been his habit since he had brought her back from Scotland as a lost twenty-two-year-old over a decade before, Bennett always checked on Taylor at least once every day, even before they married.
After their wedding, he continued the tradition whenever they were apart overnight.
A common occurrence once Bennett won his first US Senate seat almost ten years earlier.
Since then, he spent nearly six months a year in Washington while Taylor often remained in Searcy.
In the early days, Taylor, who was still teaching then, had looked forward to those calls. Back then, she used the calls as a way to try and connect with Bennett. She had seen them as a bridge that would allow them to stay connected while apart. Somewhere along the way, that changed.
The calls now felt forced and scripted. Each call followed the same sequence.
It would begin with Bennett apologizing for calling too late.
Then he would explain that he only had a few moments to talk as he had a late meeting with one group or another.
This would be followed by the perfunctory questions about her day.
These end-of-day calls had become a boring dance that had lost its rhythm.
Some nights, Taylor fantasized about telling Bennett some wild tale to see if he was even listening.
She never did for fear that no matter how she answered the question about her day, he would still say, "Great, I am glad you had a good day," before telling her he loved her and wishing her a good night.
Instead, she played her part in this charade, and the calls continued in their expected fashion.
He'd call, and she would tell him everything was fine, even when it was not.
She never said that she was sad, lonely, or bored, though she often was.
She was unable to share almost anything with the one person with whom she should have been able to share everything.
As the phone continued ringing, Taylor realized that at that moment, being sad, lonely, and bored pretty much summed up life for the last several years.
But as she always did when such emotions threatened to overtake her, Taylor quickly pushed them down.
Now was not the time to start thinking about that.
If she had learned anything over the last decade, it was that life keeps moving no matter what happens to you.
You had to keep moving with it. So, she had become a master of hiding her true feelings.
She put on a happy face each morning and forged ahead.
What else could she do? She had done it with her family.
She had done it with her babies, and she was doing it with her marriage. Right now, life was not about her.
Bennett had a campaign to win. He was counting on her to help him do that.
She owed him so much. Maybe when the campaign was over, they would have the time to talk, really talk.
To reconnect. To fix the unspoken, broken parts of their marriage.
But not today. Today required her to play the part she had perfected over the years as the caring, supportive wife of the junior senator from Arkansas.
With her emotions checked, Taylor took a final peek in the rearview mirror to ensure her makeup was flawless.
Confident that she had effectively masked her internal turmoil, Taylor reached for the doorknob just as she heard the familiar ping on her phone alerting her she had a voicemail.
Ignoring it, she threw her phone into her purse.
What could missing one more call hurt? They would still be waiting on her when her afternoon event was over.
Slipping out of her car, Taylor made the short walk across the parking lot to the entrance to the local country club that she had been a member of her whole life.
She had grown up within the walls of the stone and marble building.
It never ceased to amaze her that such a beautiful club was located in her small Arkansas town.
Many times over the last ten years, as the wife of Bennett Carrington, she had had the opportunity to attend events across Arkansas and other states.
She had been in some of the swankiest, most exclusive private clubs across the country.
Yes, most were bigger, cost more, and had more amenities, but not one was more special to her.
It was her personal history with the place that endeared it to her.
Many of her cherished memories had taken place there.