“Get out of my building and do not step foot back inside these walls for any reason. Security is being notified.” As soon as I gave the order, I moved to charge my cell and picked up the office line to inform security that Fiona was no longer welcome, and all her building access codes should be removed immediately.
Fiona refused to budge as she listened to me give those directions. “She has five minutes to clear out of the building, and then I want her charged with trespassing, possibly assault, and maybe even rape.”
Fiona’s eyes bulged and then she ran from the room, and presumably out of the building.
I picked my cell phone back up and thought to call my wife, but no. That would not go over well. I needed to get home, but I was in no way able to drive myself there. My thoughts were still foggy and sluggish at best.
I ordered an Uber and managed to stumble my way back down to the ground level. The entire ride, I sucked back a bottle of water and prayed like I never had before that my wife would listen to reason. In all honesty, it was the first time I prayed that there wasn’t a reasonable response to the pictures I’d seen. The minute I thought about that, I sent a text to my cousin. Then I tried to call, but it went straight to voicemail. He was probably pissed off over the ruined surprise party, too.
In an act of desperation, I called his fiancée, Gabby.
“Hello?” she answered groggily.
“Were you at my surprise party?”
I could almost hear Gabby’s smile over the phone. “No, how did it go? From the sounds of it, you enjoyed every minute of it.”
I wished that was the case. “Why weren’t you there?”
“Um,” Gabs sounded unsure of herself then. “Shouldn’t you know that? Surely, someone at the party told you.”
“I wasn’t at the party, Gabby. I need to know where Moreland is and why you weren’t there.”
“Are you serious?” There was more than surprise in her voice, I could sense a bit of alarm, too.
“Yes, where were you?”
“Ridge, Moreland is out to sea. They got called up almost two weeks ago for some incident off the coast of Africa. Maybe it was South America. I don’t honestly know because he couldn’t tell me, but I saw some news about a hostage situation with pirates, so I thought maybe that’s where he was sent.”
“He’s been out to sea for two weeks? What about before that?” I asked desperately.
“He’s been here, except when he went up to Clear Lake to help your wife plan your party. Speaking of which, why aren’t you at the party they worked so hard on?”
“Gabby, they’re having an affair.”
Gabby laughed at me. I could almost picture her with her head thrown back as she leaned into a full belly laugh. “You have lost your damn mind.” I sent her the pictures that Fiona had forwarded to me via text.
“Who in the hell sent these to you?”
“My assistant saw them out on a romantic date and thought I might want to know.”
“Oh God! Tell me you didn’t believe her and do something stupid.”
“You’re looking at the pictures, Gabs. Candlelight dinner while snuggled up close and personal. A kiss.”
“You’re a moron, if you believe that. Fiona did one hell of a job doctoring it, but here’s the selfie they took, which was why they were so close. The caption they sent with it was: We put our two beautiful minds together and came up with the perfect party plan for Ridge’s 35th.
I looked at the picture she texted me. They were wearing the same clothing, and in a slightly altered position, since one of them held a camera out to take a selfie, but the lighting was completely different. It was broad daylight, probably mid-day. There were no candles. I could see the remnants of a meal they shared on the table, but more importantly, Violet’s party planning book sat there in front of them, too.
“It was fake.”
“It was fake,” Gabby mocked. “Of course, it was fake. You would have to be off your ass drunk to have believed they were cheating, even based on those stupid photos.”
“She’s been behaving strangely. I swore that I saw Moreland in town a few times, but then he kept dodging my calls, and then no one – not one single person – said a word to me on my 35th birthday – our 9th wedding anniversary. What was I supposed to think when I saw those pictures?”
“Shoot. I guess I can kind of understand,” Gabby offered in a softer voice. “Oh my God, this was the perfect setup that bitch needed. Please, tell me you didn’t do anything stupid.”
“She brought me cake and birthday gifts to the office. One of the gifts was a bottle of bourbon.”
