Honesty - SF8 (27 page)
The bar was nearly deserted, as it should have been this early on a Friday night. She approached the bar, and made eye contact with the bartender, who was watching the early evening news. "Hi. Irish whiskey. What have you got?"
"Mmm," he pondered. "Jameson’s, and Laphroig."
She smiled, assuming he had not been tending bar for long, since Laphroig was as Irish as Sean Connery. "Jameson’s, neat. Water back."
He delivered her drink quickly and she took both glasses onto the warm, still sunny patio, which was completely empty. Grabbing a chair, she straddled it, sipping her drink for a long while, enjoying the warmth of the whiskey as it slid down her throat. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting there, but the bartender appeared and inclined his head, silently asking if she wanted a refill. With her shrug of acceptance, he departed, returning a few minutes later to set another pair of glasses in front of her.
Her stomach was still so tense that she felt like she had done 1,000 sit-ups, the muscles gripping painfully. The alcohol had actually served to relax her enough that she was starting to feel her equilibrium return, and she leaned back in the chair to let the setting sun warm her face. A swish of motion caused her to look up and see the bartender place a third round in front of her. "You look like you could use it," he whispered, giving her shoulder a little squeeze.
Boy, when they start handing out free drinks it’s time to head home
, she mused, tossing the whiskey back in one long swallow and leaving a generous tip for the bartender.
In the nearly two hours that she had been gone, the house had filled with the various members of her family, and when she entered, Martin, Brendan, Conor, and Jamie were all sitting at the dining table, obviously waiting for her. Rushing in, she ran into the kitchen to wash her hands, offering up a mumbled, "Sorry about that. I went for a walk and lost track of time."
When she returned to the table, she was met with puzzled glances from everyone, Duffy included. She held her breath as she brushed her lips against Jamie’s cheek, hoping to keep her partner from smelling the whiskey. Additional kisses and additional breath-holding nearly made her pass out, and after kissing her father she turned her head to draw in a massive breath.
When she took her seat, a gentle hand reached under the table to grasp her thigh. Jamie asked softly, "Are you all right?"
Ryan nodded briefly, giving her the most sincere smile she could fabricate. "Yeah. Fine. Just walking around thinking. You know how I get."
Jamie nodded, unsatisfied with the answer, but deciding to wait until after dinner to grill her recalcitrant partner.
Dinner passed with the routine family conversation, Ryan not participating to any significant extent. Jamie shared slightly worried glances with the ever-vigilant Martin, neither wanting to press the issue at the moment. They had nearly finished the meal when the front doorbell rang, startling everyone slightly—Ryan and Duffy severely. Conor hopped up to answer as Jamie watched the blood drain from her partner’s face. "Sweetheart," she urged, a very worried look on her face, "what’s going on?"
"Jamie, it’s for you," Conor called, walking back into the room. "Some guy has a delivery that you have to sign for."
Shooting another look at Ryan, who had paled even more, she got to her feet and went to the door, her partner right on her heels. A rather rumpled young man, his bicycle propped against the porch railing, extended a triplicate form towards Jamie, and instructed, "Sign on the ‘X’."
She did so and accepted the envelope, turning to Ryan as the man left. Waving the item towards her partner, she asked, "I take it that you know what’s in here?" The same wary look that had covered her face so many times during their big fight was once again firmly affixed to Jamie’s face, and Ryan knew that she had to take her downstairs and tell all. Grasping the smaller hand, now clammy with tension, Ryan descended the stairs to their room, assuming her family would forgive their abrupt departure.
Ryan sat on her desk chair, thinking that her partner would choose the bed or the love seat. Instead, she was surprised to find the smaller woman astride her lap. Less than a second passed before Jamie sat up straight, a look of pure astonishment on her face. "Ryan, you’ve been drinking!"
"Yeah, yeah I have," she admitted. "It’s been a tough afternoon, Jamie." She dropped her head against her partner’s chest and breathed in her reassuring scent, saying, "I think we’d better call your mom. I have a feeling that we need a family conference."
Try as she might, Ryan could not persuade her lover to wait for her mother to arrive before she opened the envelope. After Ryan gave her a general idea of the contents, the blonde gave her a fiery look and said, "I thought you had learned your lesson about trying to protect me."
Ryan’s dark head shook slowly, a sad look on her face. "I’ll never stop trying to protect you, Jamie, but I have learned not to try to keep things from you. I swear that’s not what I’m trying to do, Babe. I just want your mom to be here too. This is going to upset you both, and I’d like to get it all out in the open at once. That’s all."
Blinking slowly and regretting her tone, Jamie said, "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that like it sounded. I’m just more anxious waiting than I could be from seeing the contents of this. Is it okay if I look now?"
Ryan gave her a small nod, doubting that her partner was correct but acceding to her wishes. Holding her breath, she waited in tense silence while Jamie tore open the envelope, letting the pile of photos drop onto the desk. She sorted through them, a small frown furrowing her forehead. "Wow, what an exciting life you lead," Jamie mused dryly. Tossing the picture of Ryan kissing Jordan aside, she added, "Little does the photographer know that when you’re serious about kissing a girl, you always lead with your tongue."
Chuckling slightly at her partner’s attempt at humor, Ryan nuzzled her face into Jamie’s chest. "Well, they always say to present your best attributes first," she mused thoughtfully.
Once all of the pictures had been tossed aside as so much rubbish, Jamie started to read the enclosed document. A folded slip of paper dropped onto the table, and she picked it up, reading,
Jamie,
I know this will be hard for you to accept, but I think this evidence makes it clear that not only is Ryan incapable of entering into a committed relationship, she has already been unable to remain faithful in your short time together. I don’t know how old that young girl is, but I’m certain that the child welfare authorities would be interested in looking into this if you so choose.
I fully expect that you will be angry with me at first for having this investigation done. I just hope and pray that you eventually realize that it’s Ryan who deserves your wrath, not me for merely pointing out her betrayals.
Love always,
Daddy
Looking up at Ryan with pain-filled eyes, the smaller woman tossed off, "Well, what did you do? Kill Jon Benet Ramsey?" At Ryan’s light chuckle, Jamie added, "This should be fascinating." Taking the report in her hands, she climbed off Ryan’s lap and began to pace across the floor, reading to herself as she did so.
The report started off dealing with every aspect of Ryan’s financial situation, even going so far as to include information on Martin’s salary and the average monthly expenditures of the family. As expected, the report cast not a single aspersion on anyone in the family, stating that the entire O’Flaherty clan was beyond reproach when it came to money. The author of the report gave commentary on his findings, and he clearly stated that Ryan seemed like the kind of woman who was not overly swayed by money, and seemed like a very honorable person financially.
That’s my girl
, Jamie smiled, happy--and a little surprised--that the investigator had taken his time to learn the truth about her partner.
Next came Ryan’s academic career and again, nothing of surprise was found in that area. All of the investigator’s sources agreed that Ryan was incredibly gifted and could pursue a career in any of ten fields. The investigator commented that Ryan’s ability was surpassed only by her hard work, and once again Jamie was pleased with the commentary.
Jeez, is a lot of sex the only thing this guy found? I could have told him that!
"I’m going to go upstairs and tell Da that we’re okay," Ryan said, breaking into Jamie’s reverie. "We are okay, aren’t we?" she asked slowly, a wary look in her eyes.
"Of course we are," Jamie assured her, gracing her with a wide smile.
Ryan took off and Jamie bent her head to concentrate again. The first two sections had been about ten pages combined, and it looked as though the rest of the voluminous report concerned Ryan’s sexual history.
Oh boy
, Jamie mused,
now Daddy knows about every little dalliance my poor sweetie has ever had
. She paused for a second thinking,
In the long run, he’ll probably be really jealous. Ryan got hot girls without having money or power!
The report started right at the beginning, giving a condensed but relatively accurate review of Ryan and Sara’s encounter.
My God, who told this guy this stuff? I’m amazed that he got the details pretty correct! Sara would flip!
Next came some gossip about the women that Ryan had started dating in high school, giving scant detail, but allowing plenty of room for innuendo. Jamie started flipping through the pages almost idly, realizing that some of the information came from people who obviously bore some sort of grudge against her partner. Even so, most of the information was not very damaging, and for that Jamie was grateful.
Even when they don’t like you, they can’t find much mud that will stick, can they, Buffy?
When she got to a page concerning Tory Knight, Jamie slowed and started to read every word.
This is a new one
, she mused, her eyes growing wide as she read the details. She spent a long time on the few pages that concerned Tory, then skimmed through the recitations of Ally, Alisa, Carolyn, and all of the other casual and semi-permanent buddies that Ryan had told her about. When she was finished, she returned to the pages on Tory, still deep in thought when Ryan brushed by her.
The dark woman tossed a long leg over her desk chair, straddling it backwards, as usual. Blue eyes peeked out from long bangs and asked, "We still okay?"
Jamie nodded, not quite as enthusiastically had she had before Ryan had departed. The perceptive woman noticed the difference and rolled her chair around until she could read over Jamie’s shoulder.
"Tory Knight," she mused aloud, shaking her head a little as Jamie turned her head to lock eyes with her. "The name sounds familiar…"
Wordlessly, Jamie handed her the report, watching Ryan’s rapid eye movement as she speed-read the several pages, her face visibly paling. "Oh, my God," she murmured, handing the report back to Jamie with a shaking hand. "I had no idea!" She got up from her chair and went to her window, looking up at the bright moon. After several long minutes had passed Jamie interrupted her reverie.
"What didn’t you know, Ryan?"
Turning to face her partner, the dark woman blew out a breath and revealed, "Well, hardly any of it." She ran her hands through her hair, settling it as she straightened her shoulders and said, "I’ll tell you everything I know."
Jamie perched on the edge of the loveseat, tilting her head in anticipation.
Taking another breath, Ryan began, "I met Tory at the gym. I liked her—we hit it off, and we got together a few…well, quite a few times," she admitted. "I always went to her house, like I did with everybody I saw, but one time she insisted that we had to go to a motel—just for a little spice, she said. I didn’t think much of it, until one afternoon—we always met in the afternoon—we were in her apartment, and we’d been…at it for a long while. We must have looked like the wrath of God, and we were both pretty exhausted. Obviously we had fallen asleep, because we hear this noise, and she grabs me and shakes me really hard, and starts throwing my clothes at me. I heard a man’s voice calling out, 'Tory, Tory,' and I realize that I’m not supposed to be there."
Jamie’s eyes were wide, and Ryan wryly agreed, "Yeah, I felt like a deer in the headlights, too. She lived on the third floor, so there was no way I could go out the window. Luckily, the apartment ran down a long hall, and we could hear him go in the opposite direction, towards the kitchen. She told me to go into the next room, so I dashed next door, stark naked, holding my clothes and shoes." She rolled her eyes, still amazed at the lengths she went to have sex with relative strangers. "I opened the door and ran in and started to get dressed, only to step on some little toys that were littering the floor. I almost screamed in pain, but I managed to keep my mouth shut." She shook her head, slightly disgusted with herself. "Shit, Jamie, she had a kid. Not only was she married, she had a kid."
"I know," Jamie agreed, having learned that from the report. "What happened, Honey? Did her husband find you?"
"No," Ryan said, shivering in memory. "He went into the bedroom and obviously found her trying to make herself presentable. I could hear his voice starting to get louder and louder, and I took off and ran out of there as fast as I could. I didn’t even have my shoes on," she recalled. "I must have run five blocks barefoot, with my underwear stuffed in my pocket. Damn," she breathed out wearily, "that was so fucking stupid."
