“I think she’ll be afraid not to.”
It was a springlike day, and the clumps of purple and pink along the highway added to the illusion. Rain was predicted for the following week, but you wouldn’t know that now. She’d dressed accordingly in white and a floral print top and the wonderful bandanna Christopher had to buy for her that horrid day at the hotel gift shop.
“Maybe Tania Marie’s going to withdraw,” he said. “She’s suffered enough embarrassment.”
“So have I, but neither one of us is a quitter, and I doubt that Rochelle is, either.”
They drove a few miles more, and Gabriella knew he was chewing on something, as her grandmother would say. Right after San Juan Capistrano, he cleared his throat.
“What is it, Christopher?”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s something on your mind. The air in this car is thick with it.”
“As a matter of fact, there is, but I want to wait until we stop.”
“So, let’s stop.”
“Not until we get closer. I want to hear what Tania Marie has to say first.”
“What difference should that make? I’m more interested in what’s bothering you, and I don’t want to wait. After all we’ve been through, we shouldn’t be keeping secrets.”
“It’s not my secret. It’s yours. How much do you really want this Killer Body thing?”
She leaned forward in the seat. “It’s not Killer Body I want. It’s the talk show and the wherewithal, of course. I’ve got a really good chance if I gain some exposure, and Killer Body will do that for me.”
“Why don’t you go straight for the job, don’t even mess around with Killer Body?”
“You know why.” She couldn’t even speak the words, so shamed she was by her financial situation. “I just can’t bear living like this any longer. And I can’t keep begging Alain for money. I’m not going to give him that kind of power.”
“I don’t think it’s power he wants.”
“Of course it is. He loves to see me beg. Thinks it’s what I deserve for cheating on him in such a public way, regardless of what he did to instigate said cheating.”
Long Beach. They were getting closer. Finally Christopher coughed again.
She leaned forward over the too-cold air, on the wide console that separated the two seats.
“You might as well just tell me.”
“I can’t lie to you, Gabby. I talked to Alain.”
“What do you mean you talked to him? How did he find you?”
“He didn’t.”
“You mean you contacted him? Oh, Christopher, you didn’t.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do.”
It was impossible to get angry with Christopher. This was the closest she had come. “For starters, you could have talked to me about it first.”
“I knew what you’d say. I know how proud you are.”
She pulled the bandanna down over her eyes, sinking into the seat with a moan. “You didn’t ask him for money, Christopher. Please tell me you didn’t do that.”
Gabriella spotted Rochelle right before they got to the beach.
