Her Perfect Revenge (39 page)

Bill smiled at the doctor then, "Thanks, doc. And I'm sure the credit card thanks you too." He tried to cover the awkwardness of the moment with a joke.

The doctor left and Bill reached for her arm. She pulled it out of his grasp.

"What are you doing?" she said indignantly.

"I'm taking you home. What does it look like?"

"I can make my own way, thank you. You can leave now. You heard the doctor. Some rest and some pills and I'll be fine."

Suddenly, Christina wanted him gone. Every second she was in his presence was one more second she was being reminded of what she'd lost and could never have again.

"I'm driving you home."

"And I said no."

"Then, how are you getting home? You're not going in a cab, that's for damn sure."

"I'll call Jenny. She'll pick me up. So you see, your services are no longer required, Mr. Havenwood." Christina lifted her chin and stared him down.

"No. I brought you here, I'll take you home." Bill was being equally defiant.

Christina paused and gazed deeply into his eyes. "Tell me something, Bill? Have you forgiven me for what I did to you?" There she'd said it. She'd mentioned the 800-pound gorilla in the room.

He turned his green eyes onto her beautiful face and stared hard at her. But he didn't respond. He just kept looking at her.

Christina answered her own question, as she nodded to herself. "I thought so. I think you'd better go."

They both continued to stare at each other as a few more seconds ticked away. Suddenly, he lowered his eyes and half turned away from her.

"I'll leave your parcels at the nurse's station," he said, then turned and walked out.

And he was gone—just like that.

Christina let out the breath she'd been holding and sank deeper into the chair she was sitting in. So, now she knew where things stood between them. But she wouldn't cry. No—she was too tired and too numb and too sore to do that. And she had cried enough tears over him. No more.

A very worried Jenny showed up at the hospital to pick Christina up and drive her home. On the way, Christina told her friend about her accidental meeting with Bill and what had happened.

Jenny was shocked but not surprised. She still felt those two belonged together and if they were both too stubborn to see it, well then, fate would intervene and force them together to deal with their issues.

Back at Christina's apartment, Jenny helped Christina undress and get into bed. She made her friend some tea and made sure she'd taken her pills. She told Christina to call her at any hour if she needed anything at all and she, Jenny, would come right down. She also insisted on taking Christina's spare apartment key in case Christina couldn't get up to open the door and Jenny had to get in for some reason.

Jenny was a true friend—and even better than Christina knew because a devious plan was starting to form in Jenny's mind. Those two, Christina and Bill, belonged together and it was about time that bull-headed Bill Havenwood realized that.

Maybe, all he needed was a little shove? And maybe, she, Jenny Lewis, was just the person to do the shoving.

* * *

After leaving the hospital, Bill couldn't stop thinking about her—not that he'd ever stopped really. He didn't think there was a day that had gone by since their split that her beautiful face hadn't popped into his mind at one point or other.

And that one night, a few months back when Jenny had invited him over to her apartment for dinner with Jake and her daughter, Bill had spent the entire evening thinking about Christina, knowing she was only a couple of floors below in her own apartment—so close and yet so far.

Every instinct in his body had been urging him to go down there, pound on the door and push his way back into her life but his anger had kept him at bay. That entire evening had been torture for him, although he'd put on a happy face for the sake of his hosts.

And now—today—this had happened? Meeting her again? Like this? And she'd asked him if he'd forgiven her, and he hadn't answered. What could he say? That he still hadn't, not completely? That he was still angry with her?

He had dealt with some of those feelings for her in rehab. But when he'd got out, his feelings for her were still there and they were too painful to look at. So he'd buried them and had resolved in his mind not to look at them and not to deal with them and not to think about her. But he had thought about her—almost everyday. He knew he still loved her but he was still mad at her and he just couldn't get past that.

God—he needed a drink. But he knew he would never go down that road again. It had nearly destroyed him again last year and it hadn't solved anything.

It was time to put her plan into action, Jenny thought to herself. She had learned from Jake that Bill had started dating again. He'd gone out a couple of times with a woman named Linda who worked at the GME offices.

According to Jake—after Jenny had prodded and pried him for specific details—Linda had practically thrown herself at Bill during the previous months. The whole office knew how she felt about him. She had flirted and smiled and complimented him, all the while wearing short skirts and low tops—anything she could do to attract his interest. And it had worked. He had asked her out—well actually, she'd asked him out—and she'd caught him in a lonely moment and he'd agreed.

They'd only had a few dates together—and it was about time the guy started getting on with his life again, wasn't it, Jake had told Jenny. Jenny had smiled and told Jake he was right. There was nothing wrong in going out with someone new. Bill needed that.

But deep down, Jenny knew the time was now to do something about this situation between Christina and Bill before he really did find someone new and truly moved on.

And she, Jenny, was the one to do it. But she didn't say any of this to Jake. She just smiled and humored her sweetheart, all the while pumping him for more information about Bill.

And she didn't mention any of this to Christina who would have had a fit if she knew what her friend was planning behind the scenes.

* * *

Jenny was sitting behind her receptionist's desk at work.

A week had passed and Christina's back had healed nicely. It was no longer sore and her friend was back to normal.

According to Christina, Bill Havenwood had not called her once all week to ask how she was feeling but Jenny had told her friend that he had called Jenny instead—calling every single day asking about Christina. And in fact, those first few days right after Christina's fall, he had called Jenny twice a day for updates.

He had sounded worried about her condition and he'd given Jenny all of his office, home and cell phone numbers in case Christina's back got suddenly worse. He had instructed Jenny to call him immediately, day or night, if anything happened or if Christina needed anything at all.

Jenny knew he was still in love with Christina and she knew her friend was still in love with him. So what was the harm in putting a little secret plan together to bring those two together?

Sitting at her desk, Jenny saw Stanley Moore walk in. He was the thirty-something lawyer Streetwise Magazine had retained for any legal issues or questions that cropped up and today he was here for a meeting with Giselle, the editor.

And Jenny also knew that Stanley Moore had a major crush on Christina.

"Hi Stanley, how are you?" Jenny asked.

"Busy. It seems everyone has legal problems that always come up at Christmas time." Stanley shrugged the snow from his coat as he took it off.

Jenny watched him with a cagey look on her face. "Giselle will be with you in ten minutes, if you want to take a seat," she told him.

"Thanks but I think I'd rather come and talk to the prettiest girl in the room," he joked, as he approached her desk.

Jenny laughed. "Since I am the only girl in the room right now, I'm not sure that's exactly a compliment."

Stanley was suddenly, flustered. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way." Stanley was sweet, conventional and not a player—which were points definitely in his favor.

"Oh Stanley, I was just teasing you. Don't worry about it,"

Jenny laughed again. "You know, someone was asking me about you the other day. Christina." She crossed her fingers, which were hiding, under her desk and prayed for forgiveness for all of the lies she was about to tell.

Stanley was immediately interested. "Really? Christina? She was asking about me?"

Jenny nodded. "Yes, she was. She said she hadn't seen you in awhile and wanted to know how you were."

Stanley was clearly taken aback. "Christina Matteo? She was asking… about me?"

Jenny motioned him to come closer and he complied. "Stanley, I'm assuming you know all about her broken engagement from last year?"

Stanley nodded. "I know that she was supposed to get married to Bill Havenwood and then didn't."

"That's right. Christina's my good friend and I have to tell you she's had it rough this past year and a half. She's finally getting on with her life though but she needs to… go out more… with different people, know what I mean?"

Stanley didn't really but he nodded anyway. He was clearly interested in anything to do with Christina Matteo.

"Anyway…" Jenny continued, all the while keeping her fingers crossed underneath her desk, "She's been hinting lately that she wants to go see the opera Parzival… Christina loves the opera but I don't and none of her other friends do, so she has no one to take her and…" Jenny let the word hang in the air.

"And…?" Stanley prodded, not knowing what Jenny meant.

Oh brother! Jenny wanted to roll her eyes up to the heavens but didn't. For a smart lawyer, Stanley really was obtuse when it came to matters of the heart. She would just have to spell things out for him.

"And… I was thinking if you got tickets to Parzival for this Saturday night and you called her up and asked her to go with you, I know she would." Jenny gave him a wink to seal the deal.

"Me? She'd go out with me? You think?" Stanley was so unsure of himself. In the courtroom, he could be a tiger but not in the bedroom.

Jenny nodded. "Yes. If you ask her, she'll say yes. I can almost guarantee it. She's been asking about you, you know and you'd be doing me a big favor because she'd stop pestering me about going with her to this stupid opera. Think about it."

Stanley clearly was thinking about it. "Oh well… maybe… I guess… but I… have to see what my schedule is like first."

"Oh of course, I understand. I'll leave it with you. But in case you are free, I'll give you Christina's home number and you can give her a call," Jenny quickly wrote the number on a piece of paper and handed it to Stanley. "But please Stanley, do me a favor. Don't say anything to Christina that we had this conversation. If she finds out how I tried to pawn her off on you because of how much I hate going to the opera, she'll be really mad at me. So please, don't say anything."

"Jenny, of course; you can count on my discretion. I won't say a word," Stanley quickly promised.

Of course, he wouldn't say anything to Christina, Jenny thought to herself. He'd want to make it appear that asking her friend out was all his idea, not Jenny's. She knew she was safe there. Satisfied, she sat back in her chair as Stanley went into the offices for his meeting.

One down, one to go, she mused.

* * *

After work that night, Jenny stopped off at Christina's apartment before heading home herself. They were sitting at the kitchen table and Jenny had just finished asking Christina about her back, which was now completely healed. Now was the perfect moment to drop the bomb, Jenny thought to herself.

"Someone was asking after you today down at the office,"

Jenny cagily threw out.

"Who?" Christina was curious.

"Stanley Moore. He came by today for a meeting with Giselle and he was asking how you were doing. You know he has the hots for you, don't you?"

Christina laughed. "You've told me often enough."

"Well, he told me today that he's got tickets for this Saturday night to go see some opera… Parzival, I think he said, and he's going to ask you to go with him."

"Jenny, no! I'm not ready to start dating again. I hope you told him that," Christina adamantly decreed.

"I told him no such thing! Christina Matteo, it's been over eighteen months since your breakup with Bill Havenwood. You've got to start going out with other men now. It's time. Now, I'm not saying you have to get serious with Stanley Moore. Or even keep going out with him. But you should go out with him this once. Think of it as a practice run, to get back into the swing of things. You don't even have to kiss him goodnight after your date if you don't want to. Just go out somewhere with a man on your arm and have fun. You need this."

"Jenny, I don't feel up to it."

"Well, force yourself then. Stanley is sweet. He won't try to take advantage of you and he'll treat you like a lady. Just this one time, go out with him. You'll definitely make his week."

"Jenny, I don't think it's a good idea… I don't know."

Jenny sighed. Time to bring out the big guns. "Chrissy, I didn't want to tell you this but Bill has started dating again."

"What?" Christina was stunned as a jolt of anger shot through her. Even though she had suspected as much—after all he was a man and he definitely wasn't a eunuch—it was still surprising to hear your fears confirmed.

Jenny nodded. "Jake told me it's some chippy that works down at the office. So if he's moving on, you've got to move on too. And Stanley's the perfect guy to test the waters with again. He's safe and sweet and a gentleman."

So, Bill was seeing another woman was he? Well, maybe Jenny was right and it was time for her to start seeing other men too.

Christina nodded. "Maybe you're right, Jenny."

"Of course, I'm right. Now, Stanley's going to be calling you to ask you out for this Saturday night. And you're going to say yes. You're going to get dressed up like a lady, you're going to get your hair done and you're going to enjoy yourself at the opera. It's time, Chrissy."

"Yes… it's time," Christina agreed.

Jenny was secretly thrilled. Who knew she was so good at scheming!

And why was Jenny so adamant about having Stanley take Christina to the opera this Saturday night? Because Jake had told her that Bill had box seats to the event and was taking that little harlot, Linda from the office. And guess who else was going to be there—Christina and the new man in her life, handsome lawyer Stanley Moore.

Take that, Bill Havenwood!