Chapter Twenty-Two
(Wednesday Morning – The Day After the Concert)
After
talking to Laurie the previous night, JC had felt all the tension drain out of
him and he was considerably more relaxed.
He had also made a decision while he was talking to her, though he
didn’t voice it. He wanted to get
Lance’s opinion first. He threw some
clothes on and headed across the hall to his room and knocked on the door.
“Hey
C,” Lance said cheerfully. “Come on
in.”
JC
entered the room and laughed to himself.
Lance had contracts and papers spread all over the place, but he was
willing to bet that Lance knew where everything was.
Lance
watched JC carefully as he surveyed his room.
He knew something was bothering him, but he also knew that he would tell
him when he was ready.
“Lance…”
That was fast.
“I want a
divorce.”
Whoa.
“JC…”
“Lance,
I’m serious. Marrying Alexandria was a
mistake.”
“And
you’re just figuring that out now?” Lance exclaimed. Damn… way to stay neutral.
JC
pushed his hands through his hair and sat on the bed.
“It’s…
I think married her because I was afraid of being alone. Maybe I saw her as a substitute for Laurie…”
“A
poor one,” Lance mumbled.
“A
poor one… you’re right.” He sighed. “I
just don’t know what I’m going to do.
What would you do if you were in my position?”
“Well
I wouldn’t have married Alexandria, that’s for sure.” He stopped when he saw the look on JC’s face. “It doesn’t matter what I would do C, because it’s your
life. You’re angry with Alexandria
now and that’s only natural. But maybe
you should wait until you’ve cooled off a little. Give it a month and see what happens. And then if you still feel the same way… broach the subject with
her.”
“Yeah…
thanks Lance.”
**********
Chris
rolled over and reached for Michelle only to find her side of the bed
empty. He rubbed the sleep out of his
eyes and looked around the room. His
bleary eyes landed on the door to the balcony that was slightly open and the
curtain was breezing lightly into the room.
He got out of bed and stretched before shrugging into his robe. He made his way out onto the balcony.
“Hey,”
he said quietly and rested his hands on her shoulders. “What are you doing?”
“Admiring
the Toronto skyline,” she sighed. “I
had forgotten how much I love looking at the CN Tower.” She turned around. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You
didn’t,” he shrugged. “What are you
brooding about?”
“I’m
not brooding,” she frowned.
“Yeah
you are… and you’ve been like this since we left the club last night.”
“Joey
told me about Justin’s arrangement with Stacy.”
“Oh.”
“You
knew about it?”
“Yeah,
we all know about it. I just didn’t
mention anything because I’m minding my own business. What Justin and Stacy do is none of my concern.”
“But
what’s the agreement?”
Chris
sighed. “Shelle, it’s eight o’clock in
the morning, do we have to get into this now?”
“Well
considering I’m leaving in an hour, it might be helpful.”
“Fine.”
He sighed again. “As far as I know,
Justin flies Kristina out whenever Stacy can’t be with him, like if she’s
working or something. Stacy knows about
it and has told him that she doesn’t want to hear about it when he does fly her
out. I’m sure it will stop after they
get married.”
“I
can’t believe Stacy would agree to something like that! That’s just… wrong.”
“It’s
none of our business,” Chris turned to go back inside.
“Chris?”
He
turned back to face her.
“You
wouldn’t…” she hesitated. “Do something
like that to me… would you?”
Chris
glared at her. “I’m insulted that a
thought like that would even enter your head Shelle.”
“I
know, it’s just…”
“I
would never do something like that to
you.” He told her vehemently and walked back into the room.
Michelle
bit her bottom lip and lowered her head.
She didn’t want to fight with Chris right before she left. She stepped into the room and closed the
door behind her. Her eyes immediately
landed on Chris who was sitting on the bed and staring at the wall.
She
climbed onto the bed and crawled over to him – it was her turn to place her
hands on his shoulders and she rested her head on one of them.
“Chris,
I’m sorry.” She whispered.
He
turned around and pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her
before burying his face in her neck.
“It
really hurt to hear you ask me that,” he murmured into her neck. “I thought we had more trust in each other.”
“We
do, Chris. I trust you implicitly. Chris, please look at me.” She waited until
his eyes met hers. “I love you so much…
and I always thought Justin and Stacy were solid. I never imagined either of them having an outside relationship,
and I thought if Justin could do it…”
“Shelle…
Justin and Stacy are solid. And that’s something they’ve chosen to
do. It should have no ramifications on our relationship. I love being with you. It’s as simple as that.”
Michelle
wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t
have asked.” She tightened her grip. “I love you.”
“I
love you too, baby.”
**********
(Los Angeles – Four Hours Later)
Laurie
was sitting at her desk going over some figures that Dave had given her earlier
that morning and he concentration was interrupted when the phone rang.
“Laurie
Williams speaking.”
“Hey
babe, are you busy?”
“Not
really Craig, I can take a short break.”
“I
actually can’t talk long. I just ducked
out of a meeting so I could call and hear your voice.”
“Thank
you,” Laurie smiled despite herself.
“But
I don’t think you’ll be very happy with what I need to tell you.” He
paused. “I’m not going to be able to
come home this weekend… I’m sorry.”
“It’s
all right Craig,” she smiled to herself.
“I’ll just spend the weekend relaxing with a good book.”
“Are
you sure? I feel really bad that I keep
doing this to you. I don’t think we’ve
spent five days together since we got married.”
“We
haven’t,” she replied. “But you do what
you need to do this weekend. I’m
actually looking forward to spending some time by myself.”
“Ok,”
Craig hesitated. “I love you Laurie.”
“I
love you too, Craig.” She replied automatically. “You’d better get back to your meeting before you’re missed.”
“Bye
Laurie.”
Laurie
hung up the phone and couldn’t help but feel relieved. Perhaps even a little giddy. A husband free weekend was exactly what she
wanted and she was grateful that it was one more weekend that she could avoid
having sex with him. And if she could
see Josh, it would make it absolutely perfect.
She leaned back in her chair and actually laughed.
“Someone
is certainly in a good mood,” Michelle said from her position in the doorway.
“Hi…
when did you get in?”
“About
two minutes ago,” she laughed. “So are
you going to let me in on your little joke?” She teased.
“Well,
it’s not really a joke,” Laurie blushed.
“I just got some news that made me happy.”
“Oh
really,” Michelle smiled. “Do tell.”
Laurie
bit her tongue. She wasn’t sure how
much she wanted Michelle to know about her marriage to Craig. After arguing with herself for a couple of
minutes, she decided to be honest.
“I
just got off the phone with Craig… he was supposed to be home all weekend, but
something came up. So now I get to
spend the whole weekend relaxing by myself.” She grinned. It wasn’t exactly a lie.
“That’s
perfect!” Michelle exclaimed. “You can
fly to Minneapolis with me on Saturday!”
Laurie
shot Michelle a confused look. “There’s
not a signing this weekend… is there?”
“No,
not until the sixth… but you really don’t want to spend the whole weekend by
yourself, do you?”
“Well
no, I’d have a lot more fun hanging out with you and the guys… but you just got
back, why are you flying out again so soon?”
“Actually,”
Michelle blushed. “Saturday in as
anniversary of sorts for Chris and I.
It’s three years since the day we met.”
“Aww,
that’s sweet.” Laurie smiled. “I’m
actually envious of your relationship with him.”
“Really?”
Michelle sounded surprised. “You aren’t
happy with Craig? Oh my gosh, I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”
“That’s ok,” Laurie
laughed. “To be honest, I don’t that I am happy with him. And even though he’s the sweetest, most
caring man… I’m not in love with him.
And I don’t think I ever have been.”
“Oh wow. Laurie, I’m sorry, I had no idea.”
“I'm
pretty much used to it.” She shrugged and thought about spending the weekend
with JC. “So what time do we leave?”
“I
had a feeling you’d agree,” Michelle said slyly. “Our flight leaves at seven o’clock Saturday morning.”
“What!”
Laurie choked on her iced tea. “Why so
early?”
“Time
change,” she sighed. “It’s a four hour
flight and we should land around two o’clock.”
“Good
grief… JC had better appreciate this.”
Michelle’s
head snapped up with interest. “What?”
Laurie
was furious with herself.