Chapter Twenty-one
The room was suddenly quiet as all eyes shifted between Phil and Kim. “Let’s get started,” Phil said, lifting the top page of the documents in front of him.
Kim wasn’t the lead attorney and she spoke very little over the course of the two-hour meeting, so Phil was able to ignore her for the most part. When they wrapped up right before lunch with a tentative agreement, he took one of his associates aside, advised him where to take the clients for lunch, and told him he’d meet them there shortly.
“Let’s talk,” he said to Kim, disregarding the curious stares. The damage had been done. After her stunt he had no doubt every person in the room assumed they were still having an affair. He followed her down a short hall to her office, his hands balled into fists at his sides.
She perched herself on the edge of her desk once they were in her office with the door closed. “What’s up?”
He let his gaze travel up and down the length of her. “My dick isn’t interested anymore.”
She parted her legs slightly. “I don’t believe you.”
He smiled, but his eyes were stone cold. “You really think it was you, don’t you? That I couldn’t resist you. The truth is you could have been anyone. You just happened to be the one there that night. And then I kept fucking you because it was easy. You were an easy fuck. And that’s all I see when I look at you—an easy fuck.”
Kim’s face heated. “You’re lying.”
“No.” He slowly shook his head. “I was always honest with you. You just lived in a fucking illusion.” His gaze again traveled over her. “There is only one woman I want, and she carries my name.” He walked past her and out of her office.
“Everything okay?” Tom Hendrix fell into step beside Phil as he walked down the hall toward the lobby.
“Yes,” Phil answered. He’d intentionally kept his voice low while he was in Kim’s office, so he knew no one had overheard him.
“Do you have a second?”
Phil glanced at his watch. “One.”
“I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that she has your son. You’re still with Lina?”
“Yes.”
“And she knows about the boy?”
“What do you think?” Phil asked, frowning in irritation. “Half the city knows. Do you really think I’m going to try to keep it from my wife?”
“No. No. Of course not. Look, when I assigned Kim to this case, I didn’t realize you still had her on the side.”
“I don’t,” Phil snapped. “Jesus, Tom, is this really what you brought me in here to discuss? What are we, fucking women?”
“Sorry. I just assumed. Sorry. The whole thing is just hard to comprehend. You would have been the last person I’d expect to stray. I mean…don’t get me wrong…I’d have a hard time resisting Kim if she came at me, but you have Lina. Lina’s—”
Phil held up a silencing hand. “I know what my wife is. You don’t have to sell her to me. And frankly this is none of your fucking business. And if you care at all about our working relationship, you’ll take her off this case and any others that involve my firm.” He wanted to punch him in the mouth, but instead he left his office.
***
The following week, Lina went into Dolmar Enterprises on Friday instead of her scheduled Thursday so she could attend an afternoon meeting. It was after five before it wrapped up, and she was gathering up her purse and computer when one of the women who worked in the sales office poked her head in her office and invited her to join her and several of the other employees for happy hour.
“Come on,” the woman implored when Lina hesitated. “Everyone’s coming. We’re a fun group. I promise.”
An hour and two drinks later, Lina was in the midst of a conversation with a group from the marketing department when a man sidled up to her and asked if he could buy her a drink. She politely declined but was instantly transported back to the few times during her separation from Phil when Adele convinced her to join her for happy hour and men would approach to talk to her or buy her a drink. Those were the nights that had her crying herself to sleep, knowing any other man would just be a substitute for Phil. Tonight, with the knowledge she’d be going home to Phil, she was actually enjoying herself. When the others in her group decided to go on to dinner, Lina said her goodbyes. It wasn’t until she was in her car and looking at her phone that she realized she’d neglected to tell Phil she was going to be late. She had two missed calls and four text messages.
At 5:00 Leaving work
At 5:45 I just picked up Liam. Should I order in? No one’s home so I assume it’s just us?
At 6:00 I ordered from the new tavern down the street
At 7:00 Call me
“I’m sorry,” she said as soon as he answered. “I went out with some of the people from work and I lost track of time. Are you mad?”
“No. I was just worried.” He sounded tired. “I guess Logan’s away for the weekend?”
“Yes.” She felt guilty for not being there to see Liam. By the time she arrived home, he’d probably be down for the night. “I’ll be home soon. Thanks for ordering dinner.”
The sound of the television greeted Lina when she came into the kitchen. She found Phil in the family room, leaned back on the couch with his knees spread wide and a beer in his hand watching a college football game. He shifted his gaze away from the television when she came around the couch, his eyes roaming over her.
“Come here,” he said deeply. He set his beer on the end table before holding his hand out to her.
“How long has he been asleep?” She let him pull her between his legs, clasping his shoulders when he pressed his face into her stomach. She kissed the top of his head, stroking her hands down his back. “I’m sorry I missed him. I didn’t realize how late it was.” She breathed in when she felt his warm palms sliding up the back of her thighs.
“How many men came on to you?”
“None.”
“Liar.” He cupped her butt.
“I’m not lying. One asked to buy me a drink. That was it.” She slipped off her shoes and straddled his lap when he leaned back into the couch. “You’re the only one I want.”
“Yeah.” He pushed up with his hips.
“When did you get so hard?” She sunk her fingers into his shoulders as she began to rotate her hips.
“As soon as I saw you in that dress.”
“Let’s go upstairs. Katie could come home.”
“She’s at a concert.” He lifted himself up just enough to push his lounge pants down around his thighs. “And I can’t wait.”
“Phil, what if—”
He covered her mouth with his before she could say more, his tongue stroking over hers. She moaned into his mouth when he continued to rub against her. She felt a small tug before her panties came loose and then he was clasping her hips and lifting her over him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her tongue tangling with his as she sunk down onto him, his body filling hers completely.
A few hours later Lina was on the verge of another climax, her fingers sinking into Phil’s muscled back when she heard Liam’s cry over the monitor. “Phil, stop,” she whispered. “Liam—”
“Ignore him,” he said, thrusting into her.
“I can’t. He’s crying.”
“He’s fine,” he growled.
“No. Go get him.”
“Fuck.” He turned his face into her neck, breathing in and out deeply, his body stilled over hers. “He can wait five minutes.”
“No.” She gripped his shoulders. “I can’t with him crying. Go take care of him.”
He groaned in frustration.
“Go,” she insisted. Moments later she heard his voice over the monitor.
“You have terrible timing, buddy…Come on…shh... What’s the matter?”
Lina rolled onto her side, listening to Phil comfort his son. It was a new dimension to him. He’d never gotten up with their kids. It was always Lina soothing them back to sleep.
“Do you want a bottle?” he asked before the monitor went quiet.
Lina couldn’t remember the last time one of the kids interrupted them during sex. She decided it was when Logan had the stomach flu in seventh grade. Megan had knocked on their door because Logan hadn’t made it to the bathroom and there was vomit on the family-room couch. In a minute Lina had gone from being entwined with Phil’s warm body to scrubbing vomit off their leather couch. She’d thought those days were behind them. With Liam in the picture they had another decade and a half to go.
“Dadda,” Liam’s voice came over the monitor a few minutes later.
“Shh…Go to sleep.”
“Dadda!” Liam shrieked. “Dadda!” He began to cry.
Lina was slipping on her robe with the intention of going to help calm Liam when the crying stopped. Seconds later the bedroom door opened. Phil entered with Liam in his arms.
“He won’t stay down,” Phil complained, frustration in his voice. “I changed him and gave him a bottle. As soon as I put him in the crib he starts to cry. I don’t know what the hell he wants.”
“First you need to calm down,” Lina said, stepping up beside them. “He’s sensitive.” She trailed her fingers through the back of Liam’s hair. “He thinks you’re upset with him.”
“I am upset with him. I want to fuck you and he won’t shut up.”
“Phil, stop,” she scolded before taking Liam from him. “It’s okay,” she whispered, jiggling him against her body. “Shhh.” It took about a minute for him to stop crying.
Phil followed her back to the nursery, standing in the doorway while she continued to rock Liam in her arms. Ten minutes later she was carefully laying a sleeping Liam back into his crib.
“You’re like a baby whisperer,” he said as he pulled the nursery door closed.
“No, I just have patience, something you could use a little more of. He’s a baby. He can’t help it.”
“I can’t either.” He swung her up into his arms.
“Phil,” she laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“What are you doing?” Katie asked. She was standing at the top of the stairs.
“Carrying Mom to bed,” Phil said, striding toward their bedroom. “Good night.”
***
The following Thursday the Ravens were hosting the Steelers at M&T Stadium in Baltimore. With temperatures projected to be in the twenties at the eight p.m. kickoff, Lina opted out, so Phil invited his brother to join him and Logan. After the first quarter with the Ravens up ten to three, Logan went off to get some more food.
“How’s Lina’s new job?” Mike asked.
“She likes it.” Phil took a swallow from the beer in his hand.
“And you?”
Phil shrugged. “I don’t know. I wish she didn’t have the commute. The days she goes in she’s out of the house before I’m even out of bed. It’s an adjustment. I’m used to having her around. But she’s happy, so that’s what I’m concentrating on.”
“Remember when Mom tried to work?”
Phil had a vague memory of his mother getting a job at the local library when he was in high school. “That didn’t last long.”
“No. Dad didn’t like having to fix his own breakfast in the morning. Jeanie’s idea of fixing my breakfast is setting the cereal box on the table next to a bowl.”
Phil chuckled.
“Funny to you. Your wife treats you like a king.”
“I’m not going to argue with that.” Phil took another swallow of beer.
“Have you brought Liam over again?”
“He was over last weekend. It went well. She’s a little reserved with him but she’s starting to warm up. She held him a few times. Logan’s the one I’m worried about. He won’t even look at him.”
“Give him time. How would you have felt if Dad brought home a son from another woman? I doubt we would have accepted him right away.”
The thought of his conservative, Catholic father having an affair was inconceivable to Phil. “That would never have happened.” Picking up the phone and calling his parents to tell them he had cheated on Lina was one of the most difficult things he’d ever done. And it was every bit as painful as he knew it would be. His mother cried and his father could barely speak. They’d raised him to be a better man.
***
“I feel like I haven’t seen you in months,” Diane said when they met for a pedicure the Saturday before Thanksgiving. “Oh wait, I haven’t seen you in months.”
Lina laughed. “It hasn’t been that long.”
“We met for lunch in September,” Diane said. “That was the last time.”
“You’re right,” Lina said, stunned it had been that long.
“I know I’m right, and I’m really starting to resent this career of yours.”
Hearing Diane say she had a career sounded so odd, and yet it was true. She had a career. “I’ll do better. It’s just been so hectic with the new job. Phil was right. Driving into Bethesda is a nightmare during rush hour, but I think I’ve finally figured it out. If I leave the house by seven, I beat most of the traffic and then I’m home before Phil in the evening. And it’s just two days a week.”
“What about Logan?”
“His girlfriend takes him to the stop on the mornings I go in. I’m back in time in the evenings to get him.”
“A girlfriend?”
“He doesn’t actually call her that and we haven’t met her yet, but I think that’s what she is. He’s suddenly attached to his phone, always texting, and he’s just different. I used to have to tell him to shower. Now he’s taking two a day.”
“That’s just the age—teenage boys love their showers.”
“No.” Lina grimaced. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant he likes to be clean for her.”
“Right. That’s what he’s doing,” Diane teased. “I raised two boys. They were extra clean at that age, too.”
“Let’s change the subject,” Lina begged, not wanting to think of Logan doing anything to himself in the shower.
“Is Katie still with Matt?”
“Yes. I don’t see that ending anytime soon, if ever. They remind me of me and Phil at that age—always together. She has zero interest in looking at colleges. She hasn’t said it, but I’m sure she’s planning to go to Maryland or Towson. I can’t see her leaving him. I’m sure Phil is going to have a fit. He likes Matt, but liking him and wanting him as a son-in-law are entirely different things. I know he’s hoping she’ll go away and the relationship will just fizzle out. I don’t see that happening.”
They went on to other subjects, talking about Diane’s upcoming trip to visit her son and his wife in California for Thanksgiving and the firm’s plan to have the holiday party at the Four Seasons Hotel. “Where did we have it last year again?” Diane asked. “I must be getting old that I can’t even remember.”
“I wasn’t there,” Lina reminded her. “A year ago Phil and I were separated.”
“Sorry.” Diane gave her thigh a reassuring squeeze. “I sometimes forget that the two of you were ever apart.”
“Me too.”
“Are you still looking over your shoulder everywhere you go? I can’t believe she lives around here. I always search for her when I go out.” She unconsciously looked around the small shop.
“To tell you the truth, I haven’t been. At first I was, but with the new job I’ve just had too many other things on my mind. And the convenience of having Liam closer means we’re no longer losing Phil one night a week. He just brings Liam to the house. I think she’s finally given up, thank God. I’m actually starting to believe she moved closer for Liam and not to wreak havoc in our lives. Things have been quiet since she left the receipt in his pocket.”
“I wouldn’t call them quiet exactly,” Diane said. “Not with the stunts she’s pulled on Phil.”
Lina’s heart dropped. “What stunts?”
Phil was using the leaf blower to clear off the front walk when Lina arrived home.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Kim coming to the office?” she asked, stalking up to him. “I shouldn’t have to find these things out from Diane.”
He turned off the leaf blower. “Calm down.”
“No. I’m not going to calm down. I told you when we were at the beach that I wanted full disclosure when it came to her. And here we are less than three months later having the exact same conversation.”
“It was nothing. I knew it would upset you, and I didn’t want to ruin an evening by having to discuss it.”
“You shouldn’t base what you tell me on whether it will upset me or not,” she fumed, her hands propped on her hips as she glared at him.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“It’s too late! You already brought her into our lives. You can’t undo it! I’m your wife, Phil, not your child. I don’t want you to pick and choose what you share with me based on what you think will or won’t upset me, especially when it comes to her. I had let my guard down, assuming incorrectly, obviously, that she wasn’t still trying to steal my husband. You trying to protect me makes me more vulnerable, not less.”