A.J. didn’t even bother to stop and explain to the guys what was going on.
Tucking the note into his pocket he stuck his head out in the hall, making sure that the rest of the guys had gone into their rooms before heading for the elevator.
Stopping briefly at the front desk he informed the clerk that he was going out and did not know when he would be returning. He would need the message relayed to Brian’s room but he wanted time to get far enough away from the hotel that they couldn’t drag him back.
“Give me fifteen minutes and then make the call.” A.J. instructed sliding a $20 bill across the counter.
Stepping out onto the curb A.J. let the concierge hail him a cab, climbing in he rattled off the address of Kevin’s hotel and prepared himself for what he was going to say to the grieving man.
* * *
Kevin ordered coffee from room service, showered and watched a few minutes of the guys hamming it up on The Today Show as he calmly tried to collect his thoughts.
He decided the best thing to do was to have the papers delivered to Kristin over at the hotel where she could sign them and return them to him without any contact. He had already booked an early afternoon flight home; he could take the papers with him dropping them off at his lawyer’s office on the way to see his son.
Standing Kevin stopped at he silver serving cart left in the doorway to pour himself another cup of coffee just as someone began knocking on his door. Setting down his cup he walked to the door opening it without bothering to check the peephole.
“You’re gonna listen to me man.” A.J. thundered through the door, teeth bared, eyes narrowed as he grabbed up two fistfuls of Kevin’s shirt taking the older man off guard as the two stumbled back inside the room the door closing slowly behind them.
“Let go of me.” Stunned Kevin could do nothing but go with gravity as he was plowed backwards into the sitting room, coming to a awkward landing in a chair A.J. on top of him.
“Shut up Kevin and listen to me. Your wife is gone.” Still holding Kevin down with one hand A.J. dug in his pocket coming up with Kristin’s letter, which he shoved in Kevin’s face.
“What the fuck to I care if she’s gone?” Kevin answered his eyes trying to focus on the wording that was less then an inch away from his face.
“She’s gone to talk to Leslie, she’s gone to get Nate.”
“What?” Once Kevin’s body began to relax with the confusion of the situation A.J. let his grip on Kevin’s shirt loosen as he slowly got to his feet.
“What the hell does this mean A.J.?” Reading the single line over and over Kevin shook his head.
I couldn’t wait; I had to take care of things right away. She’ll never get my son.
“Who the hell is she talking about? Who will never get our son?”
“You're fucking nanny that’s who.” A.J. sat down hard in the chair opposite Kevin.
“Leslie?”
“Yeah Leslie. And don’t play all dumb like you don’t know what I’m talking about Kev. She’s gone to great lengths to fuck up your marriage.”
“She’s my friend A.J., she’s done nothing but support me through all of this.”
“Jesus dude, listen to yourself? She’s my friend this isn’t some fucking after school special Kev this is your life, your family?”
Looking back down at the note in his hand Kevin was silent.
“Don’t you find it odd that all of your marital woes began when that bitch came into your lives?”
“We had problems long before Leslie.”
“Yeah like five years ago? You guys have been a glowing couple since you got married, and even stronger since you had Nate.”
“She cheated on me before A.J.” Rubbing at his temples Kevin tossed Kristin’s note to the floor. “And apparently when she was given the chance she did it again.”
“That’s Leslie talking.”
“That’s me talking A.J. I can speak for my own damn self.”
“Kris isn’t doing cocaine Kev.”
“Oh yeah,” Standing Kevin raked his hands through his hair irritated at the sound of the Price Is Right theme song playing loudly on the t.v. in the room behind him. “Like you would know if my wife is doing cocaine A.J.”
“If anybody would be a good judge of your wife’s so called addictions I would think it would be me you dumbass? Not some freak nanny playing house with your kid, in your home back in Florida.”
“Okay fine, you’re so smart A.J. and I’m so stupid.”
“Kev, that woman wants you-“
“She hasn’t even met me?”
Reaching for his cell phone on the couch Kevin dialed home.
“Who are you calling?” A.J. could hardly believe the dumbass would be making a phone call at a time like this.
“I’m calling Leslie, we’re going to straighten this out once and for all.”
* * *
Lily had just laid Nate down for his nap when the phone began to ring again. It had been well over an hour since Kristin had stopped her incessant phone calls to the house and Lily was enjoying the peaceful silence.
Glancing at the caller ID she smiled.
KEVIN
“Hi Kevin, are you at the airport, do you need me to come and pick you up?” Grabbing up a dishtowel she swiped it across the granite counter top pushing some stray crumbs into the sink.
“No Les I’m not at the airport. I haven’t left here yet.”
“Oh.” The disappointment was obvious in her voice. “Well, when are you coming home?”
“Listen Leslie, can we talk for a minute?”
A.J. huffed out an irritated sigh at the way Kevin was acting. He was treating her like she was a delicate piece of china.
“Sure Kevin. What’s going on?” Growing uneasy with the way the conversation was going Lily began to pace the kitchen floor.
“Are you really sure that Kristin is doing cocaine?”
“Kevin-“
“And this thing with Mark Caudiff, are you sure that you saw what you think you saw?”
“I-“ Stopping Lily forced tears to her eyes as her voice began to quiver slightly. “I can’t believe you would doubt me Kevin. Not after everything we’ve been through.”
“It’s not that I doubt you, I’m just trying to make sense of what is going on.”
“And that is exactly what I did Kevin before I came to you. You know how much I care about both you and Kristin, I would never come to you with these accusations about your wife if I didn’t know they were true.” Her voice was soft and sweet as she tried to erase any doubts that Kevin would have in his mind.
“Kevin you have to believe me.”
“I don’t know Leslie. I don’t know what to believe and now I can’t even talk to Kristin since she’s on her way back there to talk to you-“
“What?” Stopping Lily felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach.
“She’s on her way back home to confront you about what you’ve said about her.”
“Who the hell told her what I said about her? I told you that was confidential Kevin, you promised that you wouldn’t say a word.” Clenching her jaw Lily felt red-hot rage rising in her face.
“I didn’t say a word, it was A.J.”
“You told A.J.?”
“Yes. But don’t worry, I’ll get the next flight out of here and meet the two of you back there at the house and the three of us can sit down and talk this out like adults, we’ll get down to the bottom of whatever in the hell is going on.” Before Kevin could even ask Leslie if that was okay there was a dial tone.
* * *
“NO!” Slamming the phone down on the countertop over and over Leslie couldn’t stop the tears of rage that coursed down her cheeks.
This was not the way it was supposed to go this was not the fairytale ending she had dreamed about all of these years.
Apparently she would have to go to plan two.