Chapter Sixteen
Brent
His day went from bad to worse. Brent started by trying to get through a litany of inane conference calls and budget checks at his office. He had a 1:00 p.m. meeting with Allen, which he was both dreading and resolute about. Brent didn’t relish telling one of his closest friends what was going on, how he’d violated Allen’s trust with Jessica. At the same time, he knew now that he couldn’t live without the vivacious woman in his life. He needed her.
More importantly, Cara needed her.
If he was against a wall trying to figure out how to win Jessica back and stop her from leaving town, then he needed to talk to Allen, come clean and find a way to patch everything back together. Fuck his father for doing this and, yeah, Brent needed to be socked in the face a few times himself for ever falling so steadily under his father’s command. He’d believed, foolishly that his daughter needed her grandfather. But she never had.
No one needed a rancid monster like that in their lives. He was certain of that.
As Allen approached, Brent set the massive pile of work he hadn’t finished aside. But Allen didn’t just walk into the office like usual. Oh no. He ran into the office like the hounds of hell were after him and slugged Brent across the jaw. Brent jumped to his feet and was barely following anything going on in the office when Allen punched him again.
This time, Brent spit blood.
The third blow was an uppercut aimed for his nose. Brent dodged that and grabbed Allen by the elbow and twisted the arm up against his back.
“What the hell, Allen?”
“You think I don’t know finally what you’ve been doing?” His partner and friend – was Allen still his friend? – fought against the hold. His skin was turning purple fast from his agitation. “You’ve been having sex with Jessica.”
Brent tried to swallow, but his throat tasted like ash. Still, he held his firm grip on Allen’s arm. He had a few meetings to still make today, and he had no time for the ER. Also, he’d rather not have a broken nose, even if after last night he probably deserved it. “I’m going to let you go.”
“Are you? Then great. I’m going to pound you into the concrete you goddamned son of a bitch!”
He twisted Allen’s arm a bit more, letting the pressure spread up his elbow. His friend yowled with pain. Brent shook his head. “I’m going to let you go now, and you need to not punch me. I can keep you pinned tighter and longer, but I don’t want to hurt your arm. Now, can you be reasonable or do I have to call security?”
Allen’s breathing was ragged and exhausted. “Fine, but I still might kick you in the balls, you ass.”
Taking the chance, Brent dropped Allen’s arm and quickly made sure his desk was squarely between them. “Now, can we talk like rational adults?”
A vein in Allen’s forehead was pulsating, and it looked like being rational was the absolute last thing on his (former) friend’s mind. “I don’t know, Brent. If in ten years someone in this office was having an affair with Cara, could you keep a civil tongue?”
Brent’s own heart raced at the thought of his precious girl, even a decade from now, being pawed at by one of the production assistants or vice location scouts. He’d hate it. Hell, he’d lock that man up in a room – no, a dungeon – and never let the bastard out again.
“I couldn’t.”
“Then you get how good we were as friends that I’m not leaping across this desk and strangling you right now!” Allen raked a hand through his thinning hair. “How could you do this? To me? Was that the whole plan? The moment I sent Jessica to you for one of my errands, you were going to seduce her?”
Brent shook his head and held up his hands in a supplicating gesture. “No, you have to believe me. At first, it was all about Cara. Jessica was so kind to her. The children at school were bullying my daughter. She had no friends, and then Jess came along like an angel. Everything else fell into place after that. It just happened.”
“So, no setup?”
“Jesus, what kind of a monster do you take me for?”
“The kind who’d have sex with his close friend’s college-age daughter. The kind who’d lie to his closest collaborator for months with a smile on his face. The kind who leaves that daughter he claims to love oh-so-much in tears for over a day.”
“About that. I have to talk to Jessica.”
Allen balled his hands up into fists at his side. “You’re never seeing her again.”
“Did she come to you?”
“No, you idiot – I saw some paparazzi photos from the event, and she’s been wearing that necklace nonstop for a few weeks. I knew exactly what was going on even with a mask and wig. Damn it, don’t you think I know my little girl. The second I saw it come up on a site, I booked a flight here from NYC.”
“Yeah, I can say both you and my bruised jaw are a surprise.”
“I called her but was screened, so I talked to her roommate, Ashley, who said that Jessica was too embarrassed to talk to me, but I could hear her crying in the background. I don’t know what you did to her—”
“I’d never do anything to harm her.”
“So you say, but she sounded like a wounded animal. You leave her alone. Jessica and I are none of your business ever again. In fact,” Allen added, his nostrils flaring wide, “you’ll never see either of us again. I quit.”
“Allen, please. I need her.”
Allen shook his head and stormed for the door. “She never needed you. Maybe you should think about that.”
***
He’d begged his father’s housekeeper, Cecile, to take some extra time that night and babysit Cara after school. So far, he’d hidden the fact he’d fucked up royally with Jessica by having Cecile spin some lie for his daughter about Jessica traveling for vacation. Cara was smart enough to know that made no sense at the beginning of a college semester. However, it was the best he could do to buy time and to have an eye on his daughter.
Right now?
Right now, he was getting shit-faced at the Ace of Clubs, a bar a few blocks from their offices. He hoped that with enough vodka in his system, he wouldn’t care that he had just lost the best thing in his life. Originally, his plan was to go there and think of another way to get Jessica to speak with him. Instead, his brain had come up with nothing. As a result, getting blotto seemed like the best analgesic he could come up with.
“Another!” he said, waving at the bartender. He’d had four so far, and the bartender was going to cut him off eventually. However, as another martini was poured out before him, Brent knew that, currently, he hadn’t reached the cutoff point. “Thanks,” he said, saluting the bartender. Then he brought the drink to his lips. “Congratulations, everyone, I really managed to fuck everything up.”
“I’ll say.”
Brent turned and looked at Carl who was slipping onto a bar stool himself. “You’re here to go, ‘I told you so?’ If you want to rub it in today, then I’m not in the mood. I’m painfully aware of how badly I messed everything up. My life just turned Chernobyl today. So, if you’re here to get joy out of being right, then soak it up.”
Carl sighed and ordered a club soda. “I don’t drink on weekdays. My wife’s rule.”
“Good you still have someone to go home to.”
The other man took his drink and took a small sip before replying, “I came to see how you were. Obviously, everyone in the company knows what happened. Allen is the best, smartest financial manager here or in L.A. We won’t get far without him, and you know, I liked having a job.”
“We’ll figure something out.”
“Maybe, but this isn’t the way things should be, man. We’re friends, and we work even better as a production team. I don’t want this to be the end of how things are.”
Brent rubbed his rapidly purpling chin. “I don’t want it to be either, but I’m pretty much out of ideas. I can’t get Jessica on the phone. Her roommate threw me out of her apartment building, and her father isn’t exactly going to be a way to offer an olive branch, is he?”
“You and Allen have been friends since before LeeAnne died.”
Brent drained his martini and then bit into his olive. “Believe me, I know. It’s like a double loss. Look at how I fucked this whole thing up. No girlfriend, no friend, and a company in shambles. You did try to warn me, and I wouldn’t take no for a fucking answer.”
Carl shrugged. “I saw things from a common-sense angle, knew the blow up I saw coming, but I didn’t expect the change I saw in you.”
“What?”
“Man, you light up around Cara. I know you’re happy when we’re at family picnics outside of work or whenever you talk about your daughter. But since LeeAnne died, if you’re not focused on Cara, you look like a zombie. At least you did.”
“Huh?” Brent blinked. He had expected Carl to show up and berate him, to make him feel like the utter pile of shit he was.
“The last four months, you’ve been happy. You smile at little nothing texts from Jessica. You whistle in the office. You’ve never done that. You had this light, man, and it’s been gone since your wife died.”
“Believe me, I know.”
“I thought, at first, you were just… I dunno… having a midlife crisis. Maybe you were sewing some wild oats, whatever. I saw Jessica as being set up to be the one hurt in all of this because for you it was just a phase. But I see how wrecked you are now, and how happy you were before, and I know how much bullshit that all was. You love her.”
“I loved her.”
“No, you love her now. You really are all in with her, aren’t you?”
Brent hiccupped and pushed his glass aside. “What does it matter? She won’t fucking talk to me.”
“Maybe she would. I… You have to keep trying. I saw what losing LeeAnne did to you. You’re not going to make it if you lose Jessica too.”
“Great so if you have a plan…”
Carl shrugged and passed him a piece of paper with an address in San Francisco scrawled on it. “Maybe I do. A little birdie told me that she’s going to her mother’s for a while.”
“She’s what? She doesn’t even talk about her mom.”
“Maybe she just wanted out of ‘So Cal’ – who knows? But this is where she’ll be. If you want her back, I’d get on your jet and think of a way to convince Mama Bear to let you in to see her cub.”
Brent pocketed the napkin, his heart thudding gratefully. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I don’t just want the company back as it was or my best friends to stop fighting. I can see what we can be – who you can be with her – and it’s worth it, man. So, if you really do love her – go fight for her. Be better.”
“I will.”