MADversary (19 page)

“No, you’re not, Lisa.  You want to believe the best in people.  And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

“I can’t read people, Meg.  It gets me into trouble.”

“Don’t blame yourself for the fact that he’s a cheating
, lying
asshole.  He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, and he never indicated that he was married.  You can’t blame yourself.”

Lisa sniffled.  “I guess you’re right.”

“I am.”  Megan inhaled a deep breath.  “
You’re not the only one dealing with a cheater.”

“What?  Tyler?”

“Yeah…I guess he was cheating on me with Tamara back in high school.”

“You don’t believe anything that skank says, do you?”

Megan looked at the street light halfway down the block, not wanting to
make eye contact with
her friend, even though it was dark.  “I wouldn’t
ordinarily
.  But she had the paperwork to prove it.”

“What?”  Lisa had stopped crying and was in protective mode.  She sat up, barely on the bumper, and asked, “What kind of paperwork?”

“She had a baby…and Tyler was the father.
  The paper said so.”

Lisa stood and moved in front of Megan as though to get her attention.  “What paper, Meg?”

Megan blinked and swallowed.  “It was a…
a paternity test.  It said
they were 99.99 percent certain Tyler was the father of Tyson, Tamara’s son.”

“What?  When did she have his baby?”

“A few months after graduation—eight, I think she said.  That means he was fucking around on me.”

“Motherfucker.
  They’re all cheaters, Meg.”

“I’m beginning to think so.”  She sighed.  “What do you say we get the hell out of here?”

“Yeah, let’s.”

* * *

The two women were curled up on Megan’s couch watching
He’s Just Not That into You
, sharing a bowl of popcorn.  Megan had taken the keys and drove
them away from the high
school
, giving Lisa a break. 
They’d been flipping cable channels and found one of their favorite movies.

Halfway through, Megan paused.  “See?  Bradley Cooper cheated on his wife
too
.
  And I don’t care how sweet and cute he is; he’s just not worth it.
  I guess they
are
all cheaters.”

“Yep.
  I’m over it.”

Lisa drifted off on the couch before the movie was over, and Megan went to her bedroom, getting a sheet and extra pillow off the top shelf
of her closet
.  She tucked her best friend in and then went to bed where she cried in earnest for the first time that evening.

Megan awoke earlier than usual the next morning.  Her sleep had been disturbed by dreams of Tyler, and she didn’t want to dream about him.  Enough was enough.  In fact, she had decided she was going on hiatus from
all
men for a while.  She wasn’t going to let herself get hurt anymore.

When she started a pot of coffee
in the kitchen
, Lisa stirred on the couch.  “Shit,” her friend said.

“What’s wrong?”

“My arm fell asleep.  I think I must have fallen asleep on it.”

“Ooh.  Sorry.  I tried to make sure you
were
comfortable.”

“Oh, it’s okay.  It’s not your fault.  I woke up and stretched out in the middle of the night.  Thanks for the sheet and
pillow
.”  Lisa padded over into the kitchen, continuing to rub her arm with her other hand.  She sat at the table and Megan joined her while the coffee brewed.  “I had an idea.”

Megan didn’t like sounds of that.  “What?”

“I think we should go to the breakfast.”

“No. 
In fact,
hell
no.
  I am
done
with this shit.”

Lisa shook her head.  “I know you didn’t want to do any of it, Meg, and believe me when I say I appreciate all you’ve done so far.  But I need to do one last thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to tell Randy’s wife exactly what he’s been up to.”

Megan felt her brows furrow. 
“Oh, no,
Leese
.
  Don’t do that.”

“If it were me, I’d want to know.”

Megan got up, walking over to the cabinet.  “I think that’s a bad idea.”
  She pulled out two mugs and set them on the counter, waiting for the coffee pot to stop sputtering.  She looked over at Lisa.

Her friend ran her fingers through her blonde hair as she jutted out her chin.  “Look, I’m going with or without you.  But I really would appreciate your support.”  Lisa started doing her little puppy dog face, her eyes begging Megan to give in.

Megan sighed.  “Jesus.  I don’t know how you do it.”  She shook her head, turning to the coffee pot and sliding the carafe out. 
“Fine.
  I’ll go.”

Lisa squealed and stood up, running over to Megan and hugging her about the waist.  “Thank you!”

Megan let out another sigh.  “I don’t know how you fucking
manage to
do that.”

* * *

God, she was such a sucker.  Megan frowned as Lisa drove her car into the Sedgwick parking lot once more.  She still couldn’t believe she was doing this.  She was going to have to give some serious thought to seeking out therapy to learn to be more assertive with her friend.  But Megan knew Lisa would have understood if she’d said no.  Lisa was the best friend she’d
ever had and, honestly, Megan would do anything for her…including come back to this goddamned reunion that had done nothing but seriously
fuck
with her emotions
and mental well-being
.

Megan looked out the side window
, view
ing the gathering clouds that indicated showers were imminent,
and smiled in spite of
herself
.  One thing she could say for certain:  She hadn’t felt this many
strong
emotions—good or bad—in a long time.  So, even though part of her wished she could take back the whole weekend, she had Tyler to thank for waking her back up.  She’d been so complacent, so neutral,
so
diplomatic for so long, she had forgotten what intense emotion felt like.  For better or worse, Tyler had stirred up something deep.

Her mind shifted gears. 
She knew there was a good poss
ibility of running into Tyler
at the breakfast
.

Oh, that was bullshit.  There
was one-hundred percent certainty, unlike the 99.99 percent of the paternity test.  There
was no way she’d be able to
avoid
Tyler.  She already knew he’d be looking for her, unles
s, of course, he discovered she’d learned
the truth
last night
.  But she’d prepared by dressing for the occasion.
  She wore a three-piece suit she hadn’t donned in years, not since her last job interview.  It was a dark gray matching jacket and slacks.  She wore a
red satin shirt and black one-inch heels and minimal jewelry.  She also
wore
her hair
up
.  At first she’d pulled it back into a stern-looking bun, but it was too severe, even for the look she’d wanted to pull off.  So she’d loosened it and pulled a few stray hairs out to frame her face.
  Somehow, though, the suit empowered her, made her feel tough.  There would be no crying in this get-up.

So Megan put on a stone face when she and Lisa got out of the car and marched up to the revolving door. 
As she walked inside the air-conditioned hotel, she felt the butterflies begin stirring in her stomach.  She had really hoped she wouldn’t see Tyler, but she was afraid she would.  The only thing that might happen that could save her would be one scenario that she was holding out for—
the one where
he’d probably confronted Tamara, but she would have told him she’d
spilled everything to
Megan, along with the proof.  When he realized Megan was gone
last night
in spite of promising to see him later, surely he had to know he’d blown it.  And, knowing that, wouldn’t he have just gone off with his band buddies to score some easy, fresh pussy?

Megan scowled during the walk down the hall to the
ballroom where the reunion activities had been taking place
.  That didn’t sound like Tyler.  No, what sounded more like him would be that he’d be here wanting to talk.  And that knowledge was what was causing the butterflies in the pit of her belly to flutter.
  She just wanted to be done with it.

They walked into the ballroom
for what Megan hoped would be the last time
.  Unlike the previous two nights, the space was bright. 
To
Megan
,
the
area
had looked
bigger than it was when the lights were dim.  It wasn’t a small
room
by any means, but being dark and crowded with people, it looked bigger.  On this dismal morning, the place was still crowded, but it was laid out differently.  There were families there, classmates with their spouses and children, and the place smelled like her mother’s kitchen.

Megan noticed a buffet table where people were already lined up, piling hot breakfast foods on their plates.  There was also a long table behind the buffet against the wall where there were coffee, juice, milk, and hot water, toasters
next to
bread and bagels, cereals, muffins, and fruit.  But Megan’s eyes caught those details in just a glance.  She was already scoping the room.  If Tyler was there, she wanted to know where.  She didn’t want to be surprised by his presence again.  She wanted the upper hand.

Lisa was scanning the room too, but she was looking for Randy.  Megan hadn’t seen him either and was probably dreading that encounter even more than her own potential confrontation.  Lisa accosting a woman with the information she planned to? 
That was
gonna
be ugly in an epic way.

The two women stood just inside the room for well over two minutes.  Megan finally said, “Look, he’s not here.  Should we just go?”  She hoped she could talk reason into her emotional friend.

“Oh, hell no.
  That just means we’re going to eat breakfast first.”

Megan inhaled a deep breath, willing back the butterflies again.  She didn’t know that she could eat breakfast
,
and if she did, she doubted she could keep it down.  One thing she knew for certain:  It was going to be a long morning.

Chapter Twenty-three

MEGAN AND LISA
made it through the buffet table unscathed.  Megan had grabbed a little fruit and some coffee
and wanted nothing else
, but Lisa asked if she would go through the buffet with her too.  Lisa couldn’t
say
no
to
the blueberry pancakes and
put
two
on her plate
but resisted the bacon.
  As it was, Megan knew Lisa would be eating salads for two straight weeks to atone for the empty carbs she’d consumed over the long weekend.

As they worked their way down the table, two children, probably four or five years of age, played just behind them.  The two kids were chasing each other, giggling, unaware of anyone else.  One of the kids ran into
the back of
Megan’s legs and she turned around to watch them.  The
young
boy hadn’t noticed he’d run into her, was
instead laughing and taunting the
other little boy.  The two were more than likely twins, Megan thought—same pure blonde hair,
same green eyes, same height.  Lisa turned and looked a
t the kids too and started chuckl
ing.  The two children were bobbing in and out of people’s legs.  Megan wasn’t sure if they were playing hide-and-seek or tag or if they were just enjoying each other’s company, running around and playing peekaboo.

And the
n it felt like Megan’s throat sa
nk into her gut.  She realized these children
must be
Randy Butler’s progeny.  When she scrutinized their faces, she could tell he was their father, and that meant he was somewhere close by.  Megan wondered how long it would take Lisa to realize it.  And that’s when she noticed Lisa was already gone, storming across the crowded ballroom.

Megan snapped to.  She rushed to an empty table where she nearly threw her plate and coffee down.  She hurried over to
her friend
, knowing she’d need to be there for as much damage control as possible.  But by the time she caught up, she held back.  Yes, Lisa was standing in front of Randy Butler and a woman Megan assumed to be his wife, but she wasn’t making a big scene.  In fact, Megan couldn’t hear a word.  She wanted to get closer so she could overhear what Lisa was saying, but she was afraid of being too obvious.  The only clues Megan had to the conversation were the faces of Randy Butler and his spouse, and their expressions weren’t giving up a thing.  Randy looked nervous, and he should be, but Megan couldn’t tell a thing from his wife.  She looked curious and on the verge of something…that turned out to be a warm smile.