I glanced at the clock on the dashboard of the rental. The time I had to wait for the auto service to arrive was almost up. I mentally calculated how long it would take me to get back. “Tell her I want to meet her at 8 PM.”
“I’ll ask, sir.’
I interrupted. “Just tell her it’s important. It’s about my book, and I won’t take no for an answer. She’s used to that.” I tried to chuckle to get Stella on board.
“Okay, I’ll do that. Where should I say to meet you?”
“Shorty’s. We’ll grab a burger and a beer.” Depending on what Gloria’s response was, I night need something stronger, but I’d deal with that when I saw her.
“No problem. If she can’t make it, one of us will call back. Have a great rest of your day.”
“You, too,” I said, and then rang off, finalizing my game plan in my mind.
First, I’d go by the office and see if I could get a copy of whatever was sent there, before my meeting with Gloria and then, depending on the outcome of that, I’d see my editor tomorrow. I ran an impatient hand through my hair. How could this happen? I clenched my teeth and my lower jaw jutted out. I could feel the angry muscle moving inside it. I shot off a text to Luke.
I’m coming to my office to get whatever it is you and Addison saw. Either be there with it or leave it on top of my desk.
It only took a couple of seconds for his response to land on my screen.
I can’t. I don’t have it. Addy took it with her.
“That’s just fucking great,” I mumbled to myself. “Of course not!” The day was getting worse by the second.
I’d told Luke it was a mistake, but my gut burned with the suspicion that is was deliberately submitted to the publisher under my name. Gloria was not above doing something so devious, only what did she expect me to do when I found out? I had to get to the truth before I called my editor and straightened this whole mess out. I’d give Gloria the benefit of the doubt, but I couldn’t wait to confront her. I’d be able to tell if she was lying. We’d been through too much for me not to be able to read her.
Yellow flashing lights appeared on the horizon.
“Thank God,” I said, shoving my phone back into my pocket. I forgot about the snow holding the door closed for a moment and tried to get out of the SUV, again. The door jammed as before. “Open, you bitch!” I yelled.
It seemed like forever as the tow truck in the distance came slowly closer, until it stopped in front of my vehicle. The driver cautiously pulled up, backed away and turned the tow truck around aligning the back of it with the front of the SUV. He hopped out of the cab and made his way around to the driver’s side door. I rolled the window halfway down.
“Mr. Michaels?” he asked.
No, my mind screamed. Do you see any other black SUV stuck in the snow? “That’s me.”
He looked the situation over. “Seems like you’re in a bit of a pickle,” he said unnecessarily, handing me something to sign. He was in his early twenties and wore a uniform and coat with the logo of the service station emblazoned on the left side front. I took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair, before replacing it and walked most of the way around my car before coming back to speak to me.
“I gotta get out the shovel and dig out enough snow to be able to connect the wench to the axel. Can you shut off your engine, please? Hang tight.”
“Thank you,” I nodded, complying. ‘Hanging,” I muttered, too softly for him to hear me. I rolled up the window as I waited, trying to keep the heat inside. I felt idiotic sitting in this car, stuck in the fucking snow as someone else dug my ass out. My world was about to implode, and I couldn’t do a damn thing about that either if Addison wouldn’t answer her phone.
My world, I thought, watching the younger man dig and finally get his wench connected to the front of the car. I realized that I now conflated my life… my entire world, with Addison. This morning I was planning my life with her; unable to see my future without her in it, and now she thought I’d betrayed her without even asking me to clarify. I shook my head in disbelief as the SUV jerked when the wench on the tow truck was started. The car creaked in protest but was soon free of its icy prison. I had to admit it made me angry and more; it hurt like a bitch. Maybe we weren’t as inevitable as I believed.
I paid the driver with cash and turned the engine back on. “Take it easy, now,” he said as if he were an old geezer and I was some clueless sixteen-year-old. “The roads up ahead are more of the same. If you’re going into Knoxville, you can follow me. Highway 321 is about ten miles ahead. You take it until you hit 441 and just follow the signs.”
I knew where I was, I knew the way to Knoxville. I’d traveled it dozens of times. I bristled but I only smiled and nodded. “Got it. Thanks.”
After I’d straightened this fucking debacle out, I’d face Addison, and after I set her straight on exactly what happened, I’d demand to know why she didn’t trust me… because one thing was certain, if we didn’t have trust… we had nothing.
23
I was a nervous wreck.
I hadn’t gone home to shower or shave after the drive and flight back to New York. I was wearing the same worn jeans and light grey Henley I’d had on since morning. I’d shoved the long sleeves halfway up my forearms and I glanced at the gold Rolex on my wrist. Sure, it was more avant-garde to use my phone as my time piece, but this was my grandfather’s, it still worked, and I loved it. As usual, my agent was late. My frustration reached a boiling point.
I was on my second beer and the waiter had been by three times to see if I wanted to order. My stomach was grumbling, but I felt too sick inside to eat. The beer was leaving a subtle burn inside its empty hollow.
I threw down some bills without looking what they were and grabbed my coat before heading out of the bar and hailed a cab before I’d even thrown it on. I absently gave the cab driver the address to Gloria’s apartment. At least; I thought it was still her address. I hadn’t been there for years. Once the affair ended, I made sure we always conducted business at the agency or a public place.
Twenty minutes later I was walking through the lobby and taking the elevator up several floors. When the doors opened, everything seemed familiar, and I walked automatically to the apartment I remembered. I used the flat of my hand to hit the dark wood four times.
What the hell was I thinking coming all the way down here, when the person I wanted to speak to was Addison? I chastised myself, then faced the answer. I wanted to get this shit straightened out before I saw her so I could tell her the situation was already fixed. I ran a hand down my face; the thick layer of stubble scratched my palm and tried to center myself.
If Gloria had stood me up at Shorty’s, then I knew she had to be guilty of something nefarious. I leaned on the door frame and sucked in a deep breath to center myself.
I’d let her get away with going behind my back with publishers before, and it was finally biting me in the ass. I slammed a closed fist hard against the door once more before I whirled on my heel and started back down the hall toward the elevators. Anger burned like acid inside my gut and my heart sank to my stomach. Heat, like fire, seeped up under the skin of my face.