Truth (58 page)

“
I’ve never seen you
drink, like this.”

“
I’ve had a shitty day.
Would you like a glass? Or has your day been all parties and
private drivers?”

She saw herself in the mirror at Tony’s
penthouse. How could he not see that she’d been crying? Claire
could feel her swollen eyelids. Did he think she looked like
someone who’d had a great day?

“
No, thank you.” She
answered dryly. “Harry...” Claire began. Then she stopped. Her head
pounded with her internal debate. Was she mad, sad, defensive or
wounded? Abruptly she stood and walked toward the door. “I can’t do
this.” The tears resumed. Claire honestly wondered how she had any
tears left. “I can’t do more confrontations.”

Suddenly, Harry was out of the chair and
standing before her. She looked up at his expression. Behind the
anger she saw hurt.

She had been wrong; hurt was worse than
anger. The smell of whiskey burned her nostrils as his breath blew
warmly toward her face. Her stomach clenched, but undeterred she
strived to maintain the eye contact.

She attempted to explain, “You deserve to
hear everything. I didn’t do anything without thinking of you and
of Amber. I did it for you! But I can’t talk to you about it when
you’re like this.”

She reached for the door handle as his words
cut into her heart, “Did you sleep with him?”

Claire wanted to be angry and then she
remembered her dream -- that wasn’t a dream. She settled for
offended, “I can’t believe you just asked me that. No. We didn’t
sleep together tonight.”

He seized her shoulders and stared down into
her red swollen eyes. “Why?”

“
Because, he blackmailed
me! With you. And with Amber and SiJo.
He
was responsible for the problems
you had tonight at SiJo.”

Harry interjected, “No, he
wasn’t. We found the problem, it was internal. I tried to call you;
hell, I was on my way to San Francisco when Amber called me. She
saw the news release, and after witnessing our
moment
in her living room, she
thought I should know.”

Claire’s stomach twisted. She wanted
desperately to make Harry understand, “But, he did know about it!
He threatened to make your problems worse if I didn’t concede. And
he had that press release issued before I even spoke to him.”

Harry released her
shoulders and stared incredulously, “I can’t fathom how you can
continually believe he has that much power. Our computer engineers
are top notch. Your ex-husband,” Harry struggled with his words,
walked to his glass, took another drink, and continued, “or should
I say
the man you’re working to reconcile
with
can’t just snap his fingers and bring
down our firewall.”

“
Firewall! That was the
word he used. He said it was incompetent. And I didn’t answer your
calls because he took my phone.”

Harry rolled his eyes, “Our firewall is
secure. Our people had everything cleared and secure by eight
o’clock. I could have been there with you by nine.” He took another
drink and chuckled, “Now, that sure as hell would’ve been fun!”

“
You had it cleared
by
eight
?” she
repeated dejectedly.

“
Yes, why?”

Claire closed her eyes. She remembered
Tony’s words. He told her the problem was resolved by eight. It was
clear, Harry wouldn’t believe her. She made her way to his sofa,
and collapsed. The night would never end. “I know I sound
ridiculous, but don’t you see? Now I’m trapped. He took my plans
for public revelation and used them against me.”

“
How are you
trapped?”

The words flowed with
welcomed release as she tried to explain. She told him about being
summoned to the penthouse, the revelation of their supposed
reconciliation, the gala, and their confrontations back in the
penthouse. Admittedly, her recollection contained a few omissions.
Specifically, she excluded the kiss and the disclosure about her
dream. She explained to Harry that the news release was a public
disclosure. According to public knowledge, she and Tony were
now working on their
relationship
.
Public failure wasn’t an option
.

His shocked expression renewed her stream of
tears. After waiting for him to comment, she finally whispered,
“You and I aren’t official. We haven’t even told Amber about
us.”

“
So you’re ending this,”
he waved his arm around, “us... because of a news
release?”

“
No! I don’t want
us
to end. For the time
being, we’ll just keep it the way it is, under wraps.” She tried to
smile, “You know, like they say: friends with benefits.”

Harry contemplated her
words. “So
I’m
friends with benefits and you’re going to be out publically
with
him
?”

“
I have to talk to him
about it. I’m supposed to meet with him tomorrow before he leaves
for Iowa. But that’s my current concession, public only-- no
private.”

“
Well, obviously when it
comes to Mr. Rawlings your negotiating skills are stellar! After
your little meeting tomorrow you’ll probably move back to Iowa.
Hell, you won’t even need to pack your things. I’m sure he’ll
gladly buy everything new.” Harry’s sarcasm saturated words stung.
The pain endured from a physical slap would pass faster than the
hurt she felt growing in her chest.

Claire stood and turned toward the door. Her
dry tone resumed, “I’m going home.” She paused, still facing the
door and asked, “Unless Amber no longer wants me?”

“
She didn’t say that. It’s
your home. No one is kicking you out.”

Claire exhaled in relief. After a few steps
she turned back, “What about us?”

His blue eyes paled as his
broad shoulders sagged, “What
us
? We aren’t official. You see, I
didn’t realize I needed to inform the Associated Press. Maybe, you
could devise a handbook?”

She squared her shoulders
and stared at him through swollen lids, “
You
are letting him win.” After a
prolonged silence she lowered her eyes and turned toward the
door.

As she stepped into the
hall, she heard him say, “No,
you
forfeited... ”

Walking toward Amber’s condominium, Claire
grasped the magnitude of Tony’s current victory. In one critical
move he completed a double attack. He exposed a weakness at SiJo
Gaming. Even if Harry didn’t believe her, Claire knew Tony was
responsible for their problems. If she hadn’t done as Tony asked,
those problems would have become worse. It also proved he could do
it again.

Next, in a bold and critical move, he
publically exposed their bogus relationship. While risking negative
public opinion, he took control of the situation. He effectively
removed any power Claire previously believed she possessed. And as
a bonus for forcing her moves, Tony damaged her relationship with
Harry.

As she opened the door to her dark, quiet
condominium, Claire wondered about Amber. How would she behave
toward Claire tomorrow? Was Tony systematically removing her
external support, in essence whittling away her chess pieces?

Lying in her cool bed,
Claire’s tired mind tried to regroup. Did she still have any power?
Could she fight him? The questions and answers processed slower and
slower as she tried to debate her options. Sleep overtook her.
There was no doubt. To paraphrase a book her mother used to read to
her as a child, it
had been a terrible,
horrible, very bad, and very long day
. She
couldn’t even rise triumphant over sleep.

You cannot make the same
mistake twice.
Because the second time you make it, it is not a mistake,
it is a choice.
--
Unknown

Chapter
38

The incessant ringing of
her alarm jolted Claire from her sound blissful sleep. Her mind
reeled with
why
she’d set an alarm. Rarely did she need to wake at a definite
time. Besides, she didn’t get to bed until almost three the night
before. As she sat up to turn off the noise, her stomach twisted,
and she fell against the pillows. Closing her eyes she willed the
rapid onset of nausea to pass.

The alarm continued to assault the silence
of her normally peaceful room; nevertheless, Claire feared moving
to stop the ringing. Perspiration beaded her entire body. Suddenly
her light silk nightgown moistened and plastered against her clammy
skin. Slowly she tried to remove the covers from her sweat drenched
legs. Her focus increased with each movement. Claire prayed if she
earnestly concentrated, she could keep the contents of her stomach
in-check.

Exhaling repeatedly, she stared at the
bright ceiling. Mindlessly she realized she’d forgotten to close
the blinds the night before. Through the wrenching intestinal pain,
her eyes squinted against the added assault of the unrestrained
morning sunlight flooding her room.

Suddenly, Claire remembered the reason for
an alarm. She was supposed to meet Tony at ten. Could her impending
meeting be the origin of her current illness? Perhaps, even her
body didn’t want to see him again.

The knock at her door caused Claire to jump.
The jolt intensified the nausea, propelling more beads of
perspiration to adorn her skin. “Come in.” She managed as her face
contorted in pain, and she concentrated once again on
breathing.

Claire didn’t turn her head to see her
roommate enter. Nevertheless, she heard the door open and Amber’s
footsteps approaching the alarm.

“
What the heck? It’s
Saturday morning. Why do you have a damn alarm...?” As Amber turned
from the now silenced clock, she beheld her roommate’s ashened,
perspiration drenched complexion, and her tone mellowed, “Claire,
what’s the matter?”

Claire didn’t speak, but gently shook her
head from side to side. The movement was too much. Gathering
strength Claire reached for her blankets, threw them back, jumped
from the bed, and ran to her bathroom.

It had been a long time since Claire Nichols
had been physically sick. The last time she remembered vomiting was
when she learned of Simon’s death, which seemed ironic, now that
she was living in Amber’s home. The heaves came in waves.

Amber stood supportingly holding Claire’s
long auburn hair away from her face, as Claire rested her heavy
head on trembling arms and waited for the next upsurge. When it
came, Amber remained quiet while Claire’s body racked with
convulsions. Even after the contents of Claire’s stomach were gone,
the heaving continued.

In time, the lull between occurrences
lengthened. Finally, her body stilled, leaving only a weakened and
shivering Claire.

Amber helped her roommate sit on the closed
lavatory lid, wetted a washcloth with cool water, handed it to
Claire, and directed her to wipe her face. Next, Amber helped
Claire to the sink where she repeatedly rinsed her mouth with
water. After Amber helped Claire back to bed, Claire closed her
eyes and prayed that whatever this was, it was over.

“
It could be food
poisoning.” Amber offered, after Claire’s color returned and her
breathing normalized. “Maybe you ate something at the gala last
night. I wonder if anyone else is having problems. ”

Claire nodded her head. Her strength was
returning, little by little. “You’re probably right. With as bad as
last night was, food poisoning would be a highlight.” She grasped
the hand of the woman now sitting on the side of her bed. “Amber,
we need to talk about last night.”

Amber visibly bristled and regrouped. “We
do,” her tone was comforting not harsh, as it had been when she
entered the room about the alarm, “but, not right now. Can I get
you something? Maybe some toast? It could help settle your
stomach.”

“
What time is it?” Claire
asked, panic threatening to disrupt her current non-vomiting
state.

“
It’s a quarter ’til
eight. Why did you have that alarm set anyway?” Amber asked as she
replaced the cloth on Claire’s forehead with a fresh cool
compress.

“
I have to meet someone at
ten.”

“
Well, I think you’re
rescheduling.”

Closing her eyes she
assessed her current state and said, “I can’t.” She was truly
feeling better. Hopefully the offending food was gone. She
wondered,
could Tony possibly be sick
too?
A weak smile floated across her face.
She responded, “I’ll take that toast, if you don’t
mind.”

Amber stood, “Sure thing. Do you need
anything else?”

“
A glass of
water?”

Amber squeezed Claire’s hand and replied,
“Coming right up.”

Once she was gone, Claire reached for her
phone. When she completed the task requiring movement successfully,
Claire reassured herself she was definitely feeling better. If the
toast stayed down, she was good to go.

Claire needed to text Tony
a meeting location. She wondered
where she
wanted to meet him.
Her first thought
was
nowhere
. But,
that was unacceptable. She remembered a cute cafe in Redwood
Shores. It wasn’t far, and it wasn’t Palo Alto. She Googled the
cafe and forwarded the information to Tony, with a text: