Secret Liaisons (13 page)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Terrance allowed his ego to get in the way of common sense. He should have gone behind Mona.

“Let her go, son,” Sara said, trying to console him.

“No. Mona's right. Mom, she's important to me so you will not insult her if you want me to come around.”

“You're taking her side over mine.” Sara's smile faded.

“No. I'm just trying to do what's right and that means I should be going after Mona instead of standing here talking to you. I need to go make this right.”

Without waiting on his mother to respond, Terrance rushed out the front door and down the stairs looking for Mona. He looked around and saw other people getting in their cars. The light of a black Maybach caught his attention. On the passenger side was Mona and Garrett was the driver.

Terrance's head fell because he'd just lost his woman to her past. He'd handed Mona to Garrett on a platter. “Damn...damn...damn,” Terrance said out loud, not caring who was around him.

Terrance didn't bother to go back inside of the house. He didn't want to face his mother. He walked to the limousine. The driver noticed him. “Mr. Beckham, I saw your guest leaving but she'd left her purse in the car so I tracked her down and gave it to her.”

“Thank you,” Terrance whispered.

The driver opened the back door and Terrance got inside. Frustration, anger and disappointment set in. Terrance popped the cork off one of the bottles on the bar and poured himself a drink. He placed the glass down on the little table and drank directly from the bottle.

By the time the driver got to Terrance's house, Terrance had drunk the entire bottle. Mona's car was parked outside of his house. He opened the front door and yelled, “Mona! Mona!” but got no response.

He staggered from room to room looking for her but she wasn't there. He went to his liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Hennessey. He plopped down at the bottom of the stairway. He leaned back on the stairs and sat there in silence waiting for Mona to come. He sat there hour after hour staring at the doorway but Mona never showed. He didn't know when he drifted off to sleep. The empty bottle lay beside him. The next morning, the pain in his back woke him.

Terrance stood. He stretched out his back hoping the pain would subside. He walked to the front door. He'd left it unlocked hoping Mona would return but she didn't. Terrance caught a glimpse of himself in a nearby mirror. His shirt was hanging out and his eyes were puffy.

He went upstairs and directly to the bathroom. He turned the water on as hot as he could stand and got under the showerhead. The thought of Mona being with her ex-fiancé was more than he could stand. He beat the shower wall out of frustration. He stayed in the shower until the water ran cold.

Terrance dried off. He found some eye drops in the medicine cabinet. He tilted his head back and placed some in each eye. He held his eyelids tight. He opened his eyes and looked in the mirror as the redness in his eyes dissolved.

He dressed in a pair of slacks and a Polo shirt. He stopped when he heard a noise outside. He ran to his bedroom window. He noticed Mona's car pulling away. He didn't see any other vehicles so he was curious to see if she'd had Garrett drop her off this morning.

He dialed her cell number but she didn't answer. He finished getting dressed and decided to go into the office because he needed a distraction from his problems.

Terrance felt some comfort when he saw Mona's car parked in front of the office building. He pulled beside her car. He strolled down the walk way not knowing what he would say when he saw her.

He opened the door and Mona's back was to him. She was wearing a purple skirt and white blouse so he knew she'd been home to change. She was fidgeting with the coffeemaker.

“Good morning,” Terrance said.

“I just got here so your coffee should be ready shortly,” Mona responded without ever turning around.

Terrance walked behind her. “Forget the coffee. We need to discuss last night.”

Mona turned around and their bodies were so close they were almost touching. He had to reach out to grab her because she almost stumbled when she turned and noticed he was so close.

She eased away from him and walked to her desk and took a seat.

“I think we both said what we had to say last night.”

“Why did you leave with him?” Terrance asked.

“Who I'm with and how I get home is no longer your concern,” Mona said.

“We're a couple so it will always be my concern.”

“I couldn't tell we were a couple the way you allowed your mother to treat me,” Mona snapped back.

“You lied to me, Mona. What did you expect me to do?” Terrance threw his arms in the air out of frustration.

“You should have waited until we were by ourselves but instead you aired our business in front of your mom, Garrett and everyone.” Mona's eyes darkened as she talked.

Terrance remembered what started the whole mess. Garrett. “Did you sleep with him?” he blurted out.

Mona blinked her eyes a few times. “Excuse me?”

“Did you sleep with him?”

Mona laughed. “You're sounding like your mother.”

Terrance slammed his fist down on Mona's desk causing her to jump. “This is not a game. Did you sleep with your ex-fiancé?”

Mona slid her chair away from her desk increasing the distance between them.

“I'm going to give you some time to cool off and then we will revisit this conversation.” Mona retrieved her purse and keys from her desk drawer.

“Mona, you don't have to leave. The thought of you sleeping with another man is driving me crazy.”

“You should have thought about that when you left me to fend for myself.” Mona walked out the door.

The coffee maker buzzed. He turned to see some of the coffee overflowing. “Damn,” he said out loud. “This just isn't my day.” He rushed to clean the mess.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Mona sat across from Charlotte's desk. She'd explained to her what had occurred. Mona was furious with Terrance yet upset with herself at the same time for not being honest about Garrett's appearance at the office.

“So do you see my dilemma?” Mona asked Charlotte.

“You did lie to the man.”

“Whose side are you on?” Mona pouted.

“I'm always on your side and you know that.”

“I tried explaining to him. When his mom started talking, it just got to me. If I didn't get out of there when I did, I would have punched her in the face.” Mona imitated what she wanted to do.

Charlotte laughed. “Yes, in that case, it was definitely best for you to leave when you did.”

“I can't help it that Garrett was there to drive me home.”

“And you're sure that's all he did?” Charlotte asked.

“Oh, he tried to get me to go back to his hotel but I wasn't having it.”

Charlotte leaned back in her chair. “Things do happen for a reason. I can't believe I'm saying this but maybe you should explore things with Garrett to make sure that door is closed. The mention of Garrett's name still gets you upset so something must still be there.”

Mona tilted her head as if in deep thought. “I love Terrance. I loved Garrett at one time too. A part of me probably always will but this feeling I have for Terrance is much deeper. I hate what happened to Garrett and me but I can't go backwards.”

“That's good to hear. So what are you doing here? You should be reassuring Terrance and then maybe he can stop bombarding my email with all these unrealistic requests.” Charlotte laughed. She shifted her computer screen.

Mona looked at the screen and saw Terrance's emails. “I'll go make up with him and keep him out your hair but in the meantime, I suggest you get busy and do your job.”

“I'll take care of my business if you can just handle yours.”

Mona walked around the desk and gave Charlotte a hug. “I love you too, bestie.”

Mona left out of Charlotte's office feeling better. She'd stopped at a little bistro on the way back to the office with food for her and Terrance.

She wasn't expecting to see a huge bouquet of flowers on her desk. She smiled. Carrying the bag of food, she went to Terrance's office and he gave her a cold stare.

“Your boyfriend sent you some flowers. I guess you two must have rekindled things last night,” Terrance stated through clenched teeth.

“Last time I checked you were my man, so when did this change?” Mona placed one hand on her hip.

“The moment you slept with your ex.”

Mona slammed the bag of food on Terrance's desk. “I came back to make a peace offering but I see you're still tripping. I didn't sleep with Garrett. But you can think what you want to. And there's your lunch because I know you haven't eaten anything all day.”

Mona pranced out of Terrance's office with tears flowing down her cheeks. She threw the flowers on her desk in the trash. She retrieved her cell phone from her purse and scrolled down until she found the number she'd been looking for.

She leaned on her desk and tapped her foot as the phone rang. She got the person's voicemail. “Garrett, I don't know what kind of game you're playing but it needs to stop right now. I got your flowers but I threw them away so please stop wasting your money.”

Mona sat behind her computer. She dove into work but knew eventually she would have to say something to Terrance because there were a few messages he needed to respond to.

Mona calmed down enough to do her job. She knocked on Terrance's door.

“What?” he snapped.

Mona held a folder with printouts in it towards him. He took it.

“These require an immediate response. Inside you will also see your confirmed interview schedule. It's an aggressive schedule. It should keep you busy for the remainder of the week. If you need help with Skype for the Roland Martin News One Now interview, please let me know.”

“I'm sure I can handle it.”

“Fine. If there's nothing else, I will be working on outlining additional episodes for the sitcom.”

“That will be all for now.” Terrance refused to look at her.

Mona poked out her lips and walked out.

She sat behind her desk and opened her screenwriting software. She stared at the blank screen for over an hour. The ringing phone snapped her out of the trance.

“TNB Productions, how may I help you?” Mona answered.

Sara's irritating voice was on the other end. “I'm surprised you're still there. Terrance should have gotten rid of you.”

Mona wasn't going to entertain Sara and her nasty disposition. She placed the call on hold. She hit the intercom button. “Your mom's on the line.”

She didn't wait for Terrance to respond. She placed the phone on the receiver and turned her attention back to her computer screen. Her anger seemed to break her writer's block. She began visualizing scenes in her head and started typing her outline for an episode.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Terrance halfway listened to his mother. This was supposed to be a happy time for him but he was far from being happy. He'd lost the woman he loved to her ex-boyfriend and Sara wouldn't stop nagging him.

Mona's apologies may have been sincere but why would Garrett be sending her flowers and leaving her a note saying thanks for last night if they hadn't slept together? She'd lied about him visiting the office so he didn't believe her when she said nothing happened between them.

He could kick himself because he thought Mona was different from the other women he'd encountered. A part of him now regretted the network went with Mona's idea because even if he got another assistant he would be forced to work with her.

He leaned back in his chair and tried to figure out a way to minimize his interactions with Mona. First order of business was to find another assistant. Terrance dialed Charlotte's number.

“Terrance, I haven't forgotten about you,” Charlotte said from the other end of the phone.

“Those things can wait. I need your help. I'm looking for a reliable assistant, do you have any suggestions?”

“So you've promoted Mona?” Charlotte asked.

“She's going to be working on the series. I'm sure when she gets the check for the signing bonus she'll want to quit.”

“I would suggest that you have Mona find her replacement.”

That's not the response Terrance was looking for. “Okay. I'll do that. Thanks anyway.”

He disconnected the call. He didn't want to talk to Mona so he opened his email and sent her an email with his request.

Less than five minutes later, Mona stormed through the door. “Oh, so now you want to fire me and have the nerve to ask me to find someone to replace me.”

“Calm down, Mona. You're not getting fired,” he tried to assure her.

“Then what's with the email?” She crossed her arms, tilted her head and tapped her right foot.

“You're going to be the head writer. I'll need you to work on the scripts and also help me find other writers to work with you.”

She walked closer to Terrance's desk. “You should have said that to start off with. The email came across as if you were firing me.”

“You're transitioning into another role. I've already contacted some other people that I work with on film to see if they will be interested in working behind the scenes with me. That will include payroll etcetera.”

“Looks like you have things covered on your end.”

“Our goal is to have our show greenlit for several seasons. This deal is for one season and based on the ratings, we will re-negotiate. So let's put our personal issues aside and get it done. Do you think you can do that?” Terrance asked.

“Can you?” Mona stared at Terrance without blinking.

Terrance looked away. “Now that we've come to an understanding, will you please start looking for your replacement?”

“I'll get it on right away,” Mona responded.

Terrance pretended to be looking at his computer screen. Mona's spunky attitude was a turn on. It almost made him forget her betrayal. He looked up and Mona was gone.

This time Terrance actually read what was on his computer screen. He opened the email from Mona. She'd typed, “Thanks for breaking my heart. Hope you enjoy being single again.” She ended it with several exclamation marks.

Mona came back into his office. “When you come to work tomorrow, please bring my bag I left at your place.”

“Why don't you come by and get it tonight?” Terrance asked.

She shook her head. “Under the circumstances, I don't think it will be a good idea.” She looked at the clock and then back at him. “You better go. You have an interview on The Foxxhole. If you leave now, you'll be there on time.”

She walked out without saying another word. Terrance felt like a heel. Even though he'd been harsh with her earlier, she still managed to take care of him. He had forgotten about the interview. She'd given him the schedule but he'd barely looked at it. His phone beeped to alert him of the appointment. Mona had thought of everything. She'd synched his appointments to alert him on his phone.

He gathered everything he would need to read over at home later and left out of his office.

Mona seemed to be in a deep conversation on the phone so he waved at her, she didn't wave back and he left out.

Two hours later, he was laughing and ending his interview with Jamie Foxx. Terrance enjoyed sharing his news with Jamie's audience. It was good to have respect from the award winning actor and singer.

Terrance soon felt the weight of his decision to end things with Mona. Maybe he had overreacted to the situation. He was now second-guessing his decision as he drove home.