Contingency (Covenant of Trust) (12 page)

*******

As soon as
Chuck walked through the front door at Benton, Davis, & Molinsky he spotted the redhead in Walter Davis’ office. No surprise the old man was handling her case personally.

“
Mr. Molinsky, Mr. Davis wants to see you.” Christine Gardner nodded toward the office.

“
Now? He’s in with a client.”

“
Not a client. New attorney.”

“
He didn’t tell me ...” Chuck knocked on Walter’s door before easing it open. “Christine said you wanted to see me.”

“
Yes, come in. Chuck, this is Tracy Ravenna. I’ve hired her to take some of your load off.”

She uncrossed her long legs, and stood to shake Chuck’s hand. “I’m pleased to meet you.” She locked her eyes on his and shook his hand with firm confidence. Her eyes, almost the same deep, dark brown as Bobbi’s, danced when she smiled.

“
Tracy comes to us from Anheuser-Busch by way of University of Virginia.” Walter slid a folder toward Chuck. “She has tremendous credentials.”

“
What made you leave Busch?” Chuck flipped through the papers in the folder.

“
I love business law, but frankly, I got tired of the beer industry. I wanted some variety.”

“
We don’t do anything on that scale.”

“
No, but this firm has an excellent reputation, and I like new challenges.” She smiled and sat down again, smoothing her skirt across her lap. Her suit, what Bobbi called winter white, perfectly complemented her hair. He caught himself before his eyes drifted to that hint of a curve in her tailored suit jacket.

“
Chuck, I want Tracy to work with you on the Beckham case to orient her to our system.”

“
Sure. Let me get settled, and I’ll brief you.”

“
I look forward to it.” She pushed her hair behind her ear and flashed that smile again.

Chuck walked to his office. Was she flirting with him? Of course not. Professionals didn’t flirt.

*******

Chuck knocked on
the doorframe of Tracy’s office and she looked up and smiled. “Finally, a friendly face.”

“
Bad day?”

“
Just dealing with idiots all day. What’s up?”

“
Thought you’d like to see these.” He crossed to her desk and handed her a folder. “Beckham’s resolved. The cease and desist was enough. Your instincts were right.”

“
They usually are.” She scanned the pages, then straightened them, and flipped the folder closed. “We make a good team.”

“
I’d like to take you to lunch, you know, to celebrate. If you’re free.”

“
I’d like that. Give me about twenty minutes to wrap up a couple of things.”

Exactly twenty minutes later, she stood in the doorway of Chuck’s office, pulling her coat on. He grabbed his suit jacket and followed her through the lobby. He waved to the receptionist on his way out the door. “Christine, we’re gonna grab some lunch. I’ve got my cell.”

He led Tracy around to his gleaming black Lincoln Navigator and unlocked her door. “I’m surprised,” she said as she climbed inside.

“
Why’s that?”

“
I would’ve figured you for something sporty, a convertible even.”

“
Funny you should say that. I’m looking to trade, just waiting on a deal.” He pushed her door closed and walked around to the driver’s side. Bobbi would kill him for trading a year-old car.

“
What are you in the mood for?” he asked as he started the car.

She blinked slowly and smiled. “For lunch? How about Mexican?”

“
Santiago’s?”

“
Perfect.”

“
So, you’re not from St. Louis. How long have you been here?”

“
I worked at a firm in Charlottesville until I passed the Virginia bar, then I took the job with Anheuser-Busch.”

“
You’re from Virginia, then?”

“
No, just went to school there. But you’re a local boy, right?”

“
Yeah. Went to Missouri, then law school at Northwestern like my dad.”

“
The founding partner?”

“
One of three. Dad, Walter, and Jim Benton started the firm. They could see St. Louis growing as a business center and realized very few companies could afford a legal department. No one ever questioned that I’d follow him.”

“
I think it’s your calling.”

“
How so?”

“
You get this ... intensity whenever you talk about anything to do with law. Even saying ‘my dad started the firm,’ your voice changes, you sit up straighter.”

“
I do not.”

“
You do. I bet you’d make an incredible trial attorney.”

“
No desire. Crooks are enough for me. No real criminals, thanks.”

“
You don’t work for crooks, do you?”

“
Not on purpose.”

“
I was going to say ...”

Inside the restaurant, he held her chair for her before taking his seat. “Listen, I don’t drink, but if you want a margarita or whatever, feel free.”

“
Not on a work day,” she said, flipping the menu open. “Want to split this fajita deal?”

“
Sure, that’ll simplify things.”

She laid her menu aside and took a long sip from her water. “So, I bought my first house.”

“
That’s exciting.”

“
And frustrating.”

For the next hour, all through the meal, they talked about tile and wainscoting, skylights and countertops. It reminded him of the easy, no-pressure conversation he used to have with Bobbi. The third time the waiter asked to take their plates, Chuck pushed away from the table. “I guess I should take the hint.”

“
I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed lunch.” Tracy held out her hand and Chuck reached to shake it. Her fingers folded around his and she looked into his eyes just as she had that first day. That was no business handshake. He hadn’t imagined it. She was interested in being much more than a colleague.

Monday, August 1

“Something changed last night, Chuck, even before you spoke. What happened?” Phil Shannon sipped from a cup of tea.

“I had a little reality check.” Chuck shifted in his seat. He couldn’t recall ever being in Phil’s office before this moment. “I never intended to confess, exactly. I planned to say what you told me Bobbi needed to hear.”

“But you meant it. You weren’t negotiating your way out of a divorce, after all. You sacrificed your reputation and credibility to win back the woman you love.”

“That pure in heart stuff you said ... that got me.”

“For the record, God said it, not me.”

“Thing is, once I got started, it didn’t matter as much that Bobbi wasn’t there. I wish she had stayed, but I wasn’t trying to impress her anymore.”

“You have hit the core issue for everything we are going to do.” Phil set his cup down and leaned forward in his chair. “This is about you and your relationship with Jesus Christ.”

“I thought this was about my marriage.”

“The trouble in your marriage is a symptom. I asked Bobbi to give me some time to work with you alone so we can establish a foundation for everything else.”

“I messed up, but adultery doesn’t take away my salvation.”

“I’m not questioning that, but if you’d been where you should have been spiritually, this would have never happened.” Chuck shifted and frowned. He preferred interrogations to lectures. “I’m not going to pull any punches with you, and I expect you to be completely honest with me.”

“I know,” Chuck mumbled.
Nobody’s pulling any punches on me.

“Tell me about this other woman.” Phil picked up his cup and took a long drink from his tea. “When did the attraction start?”

“I can’t nail it down to a specific event or anything. I just gravitated towards her.” Chuck looked down at his shoes, avoiding Phil’s eyes. “Pathetic as it sounds now, she reminded me of Bobbi.”

“You can’t ignore Tracy if she’s in the room. There’s ... something about her that draws your attention.” Phil scowled. “Did I say something wrong?”
If Phil frowns every time I mention Tracy—.

“I don’t want you to think that I have any lingering feelings for Tracy. Because I don’t.”
I never had any feelings ... I didn’t.
“I only got involved with her after I stopped by her house to fix a light.”

“I don’t know. She flirted with me all evening, but the instant she kissed me, it didn’t matter that I had a wife and kids. Nothing else mattered. When I got home, I swore I’d never be around her again.” He dropped his voice and looked away. “I couldn’t stop thinking about her, though.”

“Then you saw her again that same week?”

“Yeah, I, uh, left my toolbox at her house, and I thought it would start gossip if she brought it to me at work, so I arranged to stop by her place and pick it up.” Phil shook his head, and Chuck felt perspiration bead in the small of his back. This sounded so bad. “She, uh ... she met me at the door looking like a ... a lingerie model.” The heat of guilt swept over him. “Bobbi and the boys got home from Detroit that night.”

“What did you say to your wife?”

“Nothing. She was so tired from her trip. I was always working late, crazy hours. She never questioned it.” Chuck swallowed hard. “Walter put Tracy on a new case with me. I asked her to work late the Thursday before my last trip to Kansas City and waited for the building to clear out.”

“What about Bobbi that night?” Phil asked. Grief replaced any trace of accusation in his voice.

“She, uh, asked me if I got everything finished. I said ‘yes’ and kissed her goodnight.” Chuck wiped his eyes. “Then I laid there beside my wife and wondered how I could see Tracy one more time before I left town.”

Admitting this, saying it out loud, made Chuck’s stomach roll. He couldn’t blame Bobbi if she filed for divorce. “How did I get to that point? I was a good husband, Phil. How could I slide so fast?”

Phil said nothing for several long moments, then he leaned forward and dropped his head, almost apologizing. “There are a number of factors involved, and we’ll get into them in much more depth as we counsel. The one thing that strikes me, though, is how God protected you through this.”

“Protected me?”

“Don’t you see? It was God’s grace that this blew up in your face before it destroyed your marriage, and maybe even you. Bad as this is, your wife is willing to forgive you, and to restore the marriage. That may not have been the case after a year, or two, or five. Things could have been much, much worse.”

“I don’t think I could have stopped the affair.”

“Very few people ever do until they’re found out,” Phil said. “Even if you ended things with this woman, you would’ve been tangled up with somebody else very soon.”

Chuck shifted in his chair. If Phil was right, then his affair wasn’t just a case of giving in to a temptation. It was an indication of who he was as a man, a deeply flawed, failed man.

“Are you still with me?” Phil asked.

“I was thinking about what you said.”

“Believe me, there is a ready supply of women who wouldn’t think twice about getting involved with a married man, especially one with your income and position.”

“It had better be.” Phil took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. “I lost my train of thought ... What about pornography?”

How much do I have to admit today?
“Not long after I met Tracy, I started surfing the Internet. Except for that, I hadn’t bought any magazines or anything since college.”