Because of You (11 page)

However Jill didn’t hear her. Her mind, reeling with confusion and a half-dozen other emotions, simply blocked everything else out. She could not comprehend how Adam could be so tender and loving the night before and yet come here with another woman, obviously having an affair. Reality opened her eyes wider. Had all his business trips been legit? Had she been oblivious to the signs of his infidelity?

Finally Robin shook her arm hard enough to gain her attention. The tumult of emotions in Jill's head stopped swirling momentarily as she turned back to face Robin.

“Jill, sweetie, what's wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost and you’re trembling.”

Jill’s eyes flitted back to the table where Adam sat before returning to Robin. Robin turned quickly to see what Jill was looking at. Then she asked again, “Are you all right, Jill?”

With quivering lips, Jill shook her head. Determined that Adam mustn’t see her, she rose abruptly from her chair, her napkin falling off her lap to the floor. “I can’t stay. I've got to go—I've got to get out of here.”

Jill grabbed her purse and messenger bag, fleeing before Robin could react.

There was no use trying to stop Jill, so Robin let her go. She’d call her later to check on her. Then Robin turned once more and looked at the couple sitting at the far table. She had an awful feeling that the man sitting there with the blonde woman might be Jill's husband, Adam. And, if so, she felt sorry for Jill, because it certainly did look like he was cheating on her. God! How she hated men who cheated on their wives. Couldn’t they ever be satisfied? Especially when there was a beautiful woman like Jill at home?

Chapter Twenty-One

Jill ran from the restaurant as tears began to fill her eyes. She hated crying in public and fought her emotions as best she could. The few stray tears that did escape from her eyes were swiped away quickly. Outside she hailed a passing taxicab and instructed the driver to take her to Penn Station. Hopefully she would be able to grab an earlier train out of Manhattan than the one she had planned to return on.

Why couldn't things ever work out long enough for her to enjoy them? It seemed that every time something good happened, something else had to happen to make her miserable. Why? Who had she pissed off in the heavens above to cause this? It just wasn’t fair. Then she remembered someone telling her that fair was a word for children.

It also reminded Jill of a story she once heard in Sunday school when she was a little girl. According to the Sunday school teacher, God has sent an angel down to earth with a bag of joy. However, when the angel reached earth, he saw how badly the people were behaving and this made him cry. He cried so hard that some of his tears fell into the bag of joy. That was why there was sadness always mixed in with happiness. However, she was no longer a child, nor did she accept fairy tales as reality. And this pity party was over!

The blare of the cab’s horn interrupted her thoughts.

Jill had to decide what to do now. There was no way she could forget or ignore what she had seen. She would have to confront Adam when he got home that night. He could then confess the truth or concoct a lie. Whichever way he chose to go, Jill wasn't certain she was prepared to handle either. Infidelity added a new dimension to their relationship problems—one that she hadn’t truly considered.

Because Adam traveled often, the uneasy thought that he could easily cheat on her had occurred to Jill, but she’d brushed the thoughts aside. And now that she had been confronted with his infidelity, she hardly knew what to do. Certainly, there were options. She could divorce or choose to forgive him. All well and good. The problem was she didn't think she could rationally make such a major decision at this time. She was still having a difficult time just wrapping her mind around the implications of what she’d seen and wasn’t certain how she now felt about Adam. Worse, suppose Adam loved this woman? Despite the explanation he’d given about changing jobs, suppose she was the
real
change of direction he was planning?

The taxicab driver turned around and said,” Penn Station, ma'am.”

So absorbed was she with working through her personal disaster, Jill hadn't even noticed they’d reached their destination. She paid the man and joined the crowd moving into the huge station. Having purchased a round-trip ticket earlier, she proceeded to the huge board to see when the next train on the Oyster Bay line would be departing. Her tear stained, blurry eyes read: 3:27 PM. That would put her into Locust Valley at 4:36 PM.

She purchased a coffee and sat down to wait. For the first time since she had run out of The Palm, she thought of Robin Wyckoff and what the woman must've thought of her behavior. Her actions had to have seemed bizarre at best. She would have to call Robin and apologize. But at the moment that was the least of her problems.

There was another approach Jill could take with Adam. It was the easiest and, of course, what she'd always done best—avoid dealing with problems. Though it was the cowardly way, by doing so, she could delay the lies and deceit for now until she was ready to deal with them. Jill needed time to sort out her feelings first. Her sister, Lynne, was always a good listener, as well as good counsel. She needed both of Lynne’s skills now.

She suddenly missed Lynne and her niece, Chloe, desperately. Now, more than ever, it was time to go to Phoenix.

When Jill got home, she took off her coat, dropped her purse on the kitchen table and powered up her laptop. While she waited, she made herself a cup of coffee.

Now that she had chosen a course of action, she felt more in control and began scouring the schedules of airlines that flew to Arizona. Leaving the same day, she knew would reduce her choices, but she still wouldn't take anything but a direct flight. She was in no mood to add a stop to a five-and-a-half hour flight.

The only viable flight was on JetBlue, which left JFK airport at 8:28 PM and would arrive at 10:47 PM in Phoenix. It would take five hours and nineteen minutes, which she could live with. Glancing up at the time, Jill realized it was nearly 5:30 PM. Traffic was going to be a bitch going westbound on any major highway at this hour so she needed to give herself enough time to get to the airport and go through security. That meant she had to pack as quickly as possible and get on the road.

Putting her coffee cup into the sink, she rushed upstairs to change and pack. Noticing the overcast sky as she drove home from the train station, Jill hoped it didn't rain. Inclement weather only served to snarl traffic and tack on travel time. And she was cutting it close, as it was.

Late November in Phoenix, the temperature was usually in the low 60s, so she packed accordingly, taking enough clothing for at least a week. She'd purchased a one-way ticket, leaving her options to return home open.

Descending the steps, luggage in hand, Jill tried to think of anything she might have overlooked. She placed her laptop into its padded sleeve and zipped it. Shouldering it, she took one last look around. Satisfied she had everything she needed, Jill got into her coat, scooped up her keys, grabbed her purse, and closed the door behind her.

It had started to rain. Jill sprinted to the car, opened the trunk, and put the suitcase inside. Then she got in the car, placing her laptop and purse on the passenger seat. She started the engine and pulled out of the driveway. By the time she reached the end of her block, the rain was pelting her windshield.

The roads on the north shore of Long Island were narrow, dark, and sometimes serpentine with heavy foliage on both sides. Jill would have loved to put her brights on to see better, but they would blind anyone approaching from the opposite direction, not to mention the car in front of her. She’d been driving a short time when she’d remembered that she hadn’t called Lynne to tell her that she was coming.

Technology is a wonderful thing and Jill embraced it. The Bluetooth in her car enabled her to make phone calls and adhere to the “hands-free” cellular phone law passed in New York. She glanced down a fraction of a second to engage the call button on her steering wheel. As the mechanical voice said, “Say a name or call a number,” she looked up and out the windshield as bright, reflective, yellow eyes were caught in the beam of her headlights. She turned the wheel sharply to the right to avoid hitting the animal, but skidded on a slick, wet patch in the road. A second later, she was airborne as the car’s tires left the road and hydroplaned over the embankment.

Seeing the blackness of the night swallowing her up as she became airborne, Jill knew these were her last moments on earth. She never expected to spend them this way. Ironically, she had always envisioned those final minutes to be with Adam, but because of him, she was going to crash and die alone.

The car hit the ground with such force that it bounced and rolled. Jill’s head slammed against the door on the first impact, and she was unconscious by the time the air bags engaged and the Sonata came to a complete stop on its roof.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Robin Wycoff left the restaurant shortly after Jill and went directly back to her office. She was troubled by Jill’s abrupt departure after seeing the man with the woman at the other table and wanted to make certain Jill got home safely. Jill had become more to her than just an edited manuscript. She was genuine—not egotistical as some of their other top-selling authors were—and a delight to work with.

Taking out her cell phone, Robin scrolled down her list of contacts until she came to Jill Stone. Then she hit call. It rang and rang until she heard Jill’s personal message. Because it was Jill’s personal phone and not her home phone, Robin felt it was safe enough to leave a message.

“Hey Jill, it’s Robin. You ran out of The Palm as if being chased by a hungry bear. Just checking to make sure you outran the bear and are okay. Please call me back and let me know you’re all right.”

The stack of manuscripts waiting on her desk to be edited called to Robin, and she was forced to put her worries about Jill aside.

***

Adam got back to the office still seething from the horrid lunch he had been forced to endure with Anna Revere. He wasn’t certain how much longer he could endure her advances. Thank God he was going out to Phoenix in a couple days to meet with the SB&T management team to finalize his move. He was done here. Let Anna Revere come on to a guy who desired her.

He grabbed his leather Louis Vuitton messenger bag, a birthday gift from Jill, and went to see his last client of the day. Afterward, he’d head straight home. After the rotten day he’d had, he couldn’t wait to see Jill. He smiled.
Yeah, things with her had become so much better, lately.

***

“What the hell!” The man in the car behind Jill’s cried out as he saw her car go over the side. He immediately pulled over and called 911 to report the accident. Rushing to the spot, he looked down and saw the car at the bottom resting on its roof, its tires still spinning. It looked like a giant turtle stuck on its back.

He was getting soaked, so he got back into his car and waited for help to arrive. The rain was coming down harder again, and he knew it would make the rescue more difficult—if the driver was even still alive.

Sirens could be heard several minutes later. He got out of his car to flag them down. A police car pulled off the road, stopping not more than a yard away from him. It was followed by a fire rescue truck. The man told the officer what he’d seen and took him to the spot where the car had left the road. The policeman looked down and uttered one word. “Jesus!”

The firemen joined the two men peering over the edge. Despite the inclement weather conditions, the firemen had been trained for emergencies like this. Two were lowered one at a time by rope to the bottom of the ravine. They approached the car. Noting there was one occupant inside, they tried the doors, but they were too badly bashed in to open. The windshield was buckled and shattered, but still was attached. They radioed up for the equipment they’d need, and then the firemen went to work as quickly as humanly possible.

***

Adam got home around 6:30, surprised not to find Jill’s car in the driveway. He got out of his car and went inside. After wiping his feet and taking off his coat, he dropped his messenger bag by the hall table and went into the kitchen to see if she’d left a note. As far as he knew, all she had planned for the day was a business lunch with her editor, Robin Wycoff. Seeing no note, he began to worry. This was so unlike Jill—totally out of character.

He hit the speed dial for Jill’s cell phone. All he got was her voicemail. He didn’t like this one bit as he went upstairs to get out of his suit. Walking into their bedroom, the first thing Adam noticed was Jill’s blue suit lying on the bed. She’d been home and changed. So where had she gone? He undressed and put on jeans and a sweatshirt before going to the bathroom.

While there, he glanced at the counter and noticed that Jill’s hairbrush was gone. So was her makeup case. Her toothbrush was no longer in the rack next to his. The spot where she kept her birth control pills was empty, as well. Wherever she went, she intended to remain at least overnight.

Adam checked further and discovered that one of their suitcases was missing. Gone, as well, was Jill’s laptop. A bad feeling began to fester in his gut and started to spread through him. The only place he could see Jill flying off to on the spur of the moment was Arizona. Had something bad happened to Lynne, Haywood, or Chloe?

He rushed over to the landline and hit the speed number for Lynne. There was no answer at home. Then he remembered the time difference and called her cell. He still got no answer, but this time left a message for her to call him. He’d follow Jill out there if something had happened.

“Jill, where the hell are you?” he said aloud to the empty house.

Not knowing where she had gone was nerve-wracking. Adam didn’t know what to do until he heard from Lynne. He made himself a cup of coffee and sat down. As he sipped the hot beverage, it suddenly occurred to him that Jill had most likely felt the same way he now did while waiting for him to come home all those late nights. Not knowing where your loved one was had to be one of the most awful feelings. It had never occurred to him until now.

What was that saying: something about walking a mile in my shoes? And when Jill had complained, what had he told her? He’d insisted she fill those empty hours with a hobby. He shook his head with self-disgust.
What the hell was I thinking?

The doorbell chimes rang interrupting his thoughts. He put the cup down and went to answer the door. His heart immediately dropped to his knees when he opened it to find two policemen.

A lump caught in Adam’s throat and he swallowed hard to dislodge it. “Can I help you, officers?”

“Are you Adam Stone?” The taller of the two policemen with the name tag, Tilles, asked.

“Yes.”

“May we step inside a moment and out of the rain?” asked Briggs, the other policeman.

Adam opened the door allowing the men to pass. He was about to ask what was wrong when Officer Tilles spoke. “Do you own a silver Sonata, Mr. Stone?”

“Yes. My wife, Jill drives it—did something happen to Jill?”

“She had an acc—”

“Is she all right?”

Officer Tilles tried again. “Mr. Stone, if you don’t let me speak, I can’t tell you what happened.”

Adam nodded, but clenched his fists by his side.

“She’s on route to Glen Cove Hospital. We’ll escort you there.”

“Is she all right?”

“We have no information on that. She was alive when we left. We came as soon as we ID’d you as the owner of the car,” Briggs replied.

“Where did the accident happen?”

Briggs continued. “Only a few miles from here. Her car went off the road into a ravine. As soon as it is recovered, it will be towed to the police pound where it will be inspected for any evidence of malfunction. All recoverable personal effects will be removed and given to you.”

The term personal effects sounded so cold and final to Adam, it caused him to shiver involuntarily, but before the police officer could say another word, he grabbed a coat, his wallet and keys. Then remembering his cell phone he went back to the kitchen to retrieve it and turned off the house light.

As Adam drove to the hospital, he tried to tamp down his fear that Jill was going to die. He remembered the time when the police had come to tell his mother that his father had driven his car into a tree. She had burst out laughing. The cops had looked at her as if she had lost her mind. In a way she had. His mother had served as his father’s punching bag for years—when she’d been home. Many a night she was elsewhere, most likely drinking, doing drugs, and selling her body to pay for the drugs. Who knew what went on in her scrambled mind?

Adam had often wondered if his parents had ever even loved one another. However, he loved Jill and would do anything, including bargaining with the devil, to make her all right. It was because of Jill he rose each morning to meet the day. If she didn’t pull through this, he didn’t know what he might do.

The police car parked by the emergency entrance to the hospital and the officers waited until Adam parked his car. Officer Briggs got out. “I hope your wife will be all right. Good luck.”

Adam thanked the officer and went inside. He found the triage window and identified himself. All he was told was that Jill had been rushed into surgery and was still there. He would be notified when she was out of surgery and in recovery. No matter what he asked, he felt as if he were talking to a robot programmed to give only certain answers.

The waiting room was nearly full with other people either waiting to hear word about their loved ones, or waiting to be called to see the doctor themselves. Looking around him, Adam noticed sickness and pain did not discriminate between the sorry-looking people sitting on the hard plastic chairs. It appeared that the only thing that got you in to see the doctor faster was the severity of your illness. An Asian man sat in obvious pain holding his arm, while a Latino father cradled a crying, red-faced baby in his arms. A blond five- or six-year-old child had his head in his mother’s lap as she gently stroked his hair.

If he didn't hear news about Jill soon, Adam felt he'd surely go mad. Not knowing whether or not she would be all right frightened him more than anything. He seemed to be in the dark about everything. Lynne hadn't called him back, either. He had no idea what was happening in Phoenix—if anything, because he wasn’t even certain that was where Jill was heading.

Adam needed something to do with his hands, so he went over to the coffee machine and purchased a cup. He sat down in the back of the room and slowly sipped it. A hodgepodge of thoughts swirled around inside his head like portents—unfortunately, all bad. His cell phone rang and he nearly spilled the coffee. He put the cup down and fumbled for his phone.

It was Lynne—finally. “Hey, what's going on?”

“That's why I called you, Lynne. When I came home from work, Jill was gone, suitcase and all, and I thought she was going to you.” He started to choke up. “But she had an accident—”

“Adam, where are you?”

“The emergency waiting room at Glen Cove Hospital.”

“How is Jill?” Lynne asked in a voice filled with apprehension.

“I don't know a damn thing, and I'm worried.”

“So you haven't spoken to the doctor yet?”

“No.

“Adam, why did you think Jill was coming to visit me—especially if she hadn't told you? Had you two had a fight?”

“No fight. I thought something had happened to one of you guys.”

“Jill would have called and told me her flight details if she was heading to Phoenix. Something's not right here. Are you sure things are good between you two?”

“They couldn’t be better. Ever since she returned from her book promotion tour we couldn't have been any happier. I swear it!” Adam insisted as he ran a hand through his thick hair.

Lynne sighed. “Look, I'll fly out there as soon as I can. As to where Jill had been going, I'm sure there's a simple explanation. Hang on, Adam. I'll see you soon.”

***

As Adam waited to hear news about Jill's condition, time seemed to have slowed, taking two minutes backward for every minute forward. Over and over again, he tried to understand what would have been so important to make Jill leave like that. He'd told Lynne the absolute truth. His relationship with Jill had gotten better. They had smoothed out the rough edges concerning her writing and were growing closer once more. The only troublesome spot was his job, but he hadn't really gone into any detail about that with Jill. He hadn’t even told her that he was on the point of finalizing a move to the SB&T Agency in Phoenix. Even if she found out about that, surely she would have been okay with moving closer to Lynne.

So what the hell happened to make Jill take off like that without leaving a note? That woman left a note for everything.

Adam heard his name called and rushed over to the triage window, hoping it was word about Jill.

“I'm Adam Stone. How's my wife?”

“Your wife is still in surgery, but a policeman dropped this off for you.”

Adam was handed Jill's laptop case and a plastic bag. He took the items back to his chair and sat down. He had truly hoped to hear something—anything. Inside the plastic bag, he found Jill's purse, keys, sunglasses, GPS, and registration and insurance cards from the car. He was truly surprised to see the laptop in one piece. A folded paper stuck out of the outside pocket of the case. He pulled it out and opened it to discover it was a printout of her airline ticket. She had been scheduled to fly out of JFK to Phoenix, as he had suspected. Perhaps she had meant to call Lynne from the car, but the accident occurred before she had the chance. But that still didn't explain
why
she was going to Phoenix in the first place—especially without telling
him
.

He had an idea. Perhaps Jill had made or received a phone call that could explain her actions. Opening her purse, he found her cell phone. The first thing he noticed was an unanswered voicemail.

Adam listened to the message. It had been from Robin Wycoff, her editor. “Hey Jill, it’s Robin. You ran out of The Palm as if being chased by a bear. Just checking to make sure you outran the bear and are okay. Please call me back and let me know that you’re all right.”