MADversary (21 page)

When he stopped kissing her, he pulled her in an embrace, resting his lips on her forehead.  She hadn’t noticed until that moment that her arms had betrayed her, had wrapped themselves
around his torso, holding on for dear life.  That was all she needed to find the strength to extricate herself.  She shook her head, pushing away from him, and he let her.  But she could see the ache in his eyes.  “I can’t trust you, Tyler, and I don’t believe you.”  As she turned, looking for a safe place to dodge, the tears started streaming out of her eyes.  And then she found the one place she hoped he wouldn’t go—the women’s restroom.

She pushed on the door and rushed in.  There was another woman inside, and she was at the sink washing her hands.  Megan dashed into a stall, closing and locking the door, pulling tissue off the roll and wiping underneath her eyes.  She heard Tyler’s voice, and based on the clarity, she knew he’d opened the
outer
door
and stuck his head inside
.  “Megan, please come out here so we can talk.”

The woman at the sink said, “Get out of here, you pervert, or I’ll sic security on you.”

“Can you just ask the young lady to come out here?”

“Mister, it’s pretty obvious she doesn’t want to be around you.  Just leave her alone.”

“Come on, Meg.”  Megan didn’t say a word and heard the door to the hallway resound as it closed.  She leaned against the metal side of the stall and shook her head.  God, why had she ever agreed to come to this stupid reunion?  Why?

Chapter Twenty-five

AFTER HALF AN
hour, Megan peeked outside the bathroom.  She’d long since gotten her tears under control, but she was ready to
leave
.  She hoped Lisa had finished her breakfast, and
Megan
was glad her friend hadn’t tracked her down.  She’d needed the time alone.  As she walked back into the ballroom, she heard Penny at the mike again, talking about memorable events from their high school years.  God, Megan was sick to death of the nostalgia.

As she walked across the room to their table, she felt the eyes on her.  Fortunately, Penny kept talking and didn’t draw more attention to her.  Mike was
still
sitting
right next to Lisa, but Lisa had an empty seat on the other side.  Megan sat there and Lisa leaned over and whispered close to her ear.  “Where
have you been
?  I tried calling your cell a few times.  Did you and Tyler work things out?”

Megan couldn’t stop the look that crossed her face.  “What makes you think there was something to work out?”  She lowered her voice, not wanting to interrupt Penny’s show.  “He’s a liar and a cheater.”

Mike leaned forward so Megan could see him past Lisa.  His voice was low.  “Megan, I hope you don’t think I’m too presumptuous, and it’s probably none of my business, but are you still convinced that Tyler is the father of Tamara’s oldest son?”

Megan didn’t like the way Mike
had
worded
his sentence
.  She wasn’t worried about any sort of presumptuousness on his part.  Instead, she felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her core.  “Well, yeah.  She showed me the paternity results.”

Mike winced.  “You know that stuff’s easy enough to fake with good software, right?”

That pissed Megan off. 
That
statement
was
presumptuous and condescending to boot.  “Yeah, Mike, I know that.  What she had, though, looked to be ten years old.  She’d obviously been carrying it around for a very long time.”

Mike sighed.  “I don’t doubt that, but you missed
what happened
last night.  We all found out that Brad Prescott is the father of Tamara’s firstborn.”

Megan closed her eyes, focusing on the ringing of her ears.  She was having a hard time processing what Mike had said.  Brad Prescott, the
“
beloved
”
quarterback of her class, was the father of Tamara’s child?  Brad, a guy
who
would never have been caught dead with someone like Tamara in public, had slept with her?  And Tyler had been telling the truth the whole time?

As Megan slowly opened her eyes again, she saw Lisa’s face, confirming what Mike said was true.  As if in slow motion, Megan heard Penny announce Lisa’s name over the mi
ke
and her friend got up to accept her booby prize.  Before Lisa reached the front of the room, though, Mike said, “You missed a hell of an encore last night.  Brad was already drunk, and
Tamara
was waving around that doctored letter, trying to make anyone and everyone convinced that Tyler was the
kid’s
dad. 
Tyler asked to see it but she wouldn’t let him.  Then
Brad took offense to it, especially when she started attacking his manhood.”  Lisa reached the front and Megan smiled and waved at her, then jumped out of her seat and rushed out of the ballroom once more.

Suddenly, her heart felt light and alive.
  There was hope.
 
She had to find Tyler. 
She knew
he
would probably be angry
that she hadn’t believed him
, but it was okay.  She could apologize for her skepticism.  She ran to the elevator
s
and began punching the up arrow with her index finger, as though more than one
jab
would make
one of them
arrive faster.  As she waited, forced to be trapped with just her thoughts, she realized why
Tamara had had such an easy time
convincing her
. 
Megan was having a hard time believing
Tyler would still want her, still love her after all these years.  She’
d said
as much on Friday n
ight when they were catching up, that she found it hard to believe he wasn’t relishing his rock star life
.  Surely he’d be
reveling in all the women ready and willing to give themselves up to whatever he wanted.  But he’d told her it wasn’t anything like what she thought it was, that “making a connection” was something he would have
better
appreciated.

And she’d been too insecure to believe it.

The elevator door made a
ping
sound and then the two sides slid open.  A well-dressed older couple exited, and Megan had to force herself to be patient once more
as they stepped off
.  At last, though, she was able to get inside and pressed the
button that would take her to the third floor.  She believed now.  She
believed
, and she wanted to tell Tyler she was sorry.

The elevator climbed up the building, but it took its sweet time.  Megan didn’t remember it moving this slowly Friday night, and she’d been a wreck then too. 
Finally
, though, the doors slid open once more on the third floor.  She turned to the right in the little elevator alcove, then turned left in the long, well-manicured, indistinguishable hallway. 
What was his room number?
  She couldn’t remember, but she
knew she’d figure it out by feel.  His room was close to the end of the hall where it turned, and the door was set off by itself somewhat. 

She passed a cleaning cart in the hallway.  Housekeeping was already making beds and vacuuming floors, and two doors she passed were wide open.  When she got to Tyler’s room, number 324, she knocked on the door and waited.

Too much time had passed with no answer, so she knocked again.  This wasn’t good.  Either he was ignoring her or he’d already left.  So, after waiting a little longer, she walked back down the hallway toward the elevator.  She’d check with the front desk, but she was afraid she’d already missed him.

Still, Megan wouldn’t let herself give up hope.  Not yet.  When she got to the desk, she asked if Ty
ler Green had checked out.  The clerk
told her that information was confidential.  “Look.  I was just outside his room.  I just need to know if I can come back later
to see him or if I’m too late
.”

“I can call his room.”
  The clerk started to pick up the phone, then
changed his mind when he
said, “Oh, no, I guess I’m mistaken.  He
did
check out.  Quite some time ago, in fact.”

Megan’s heart sunk.  It made sense.  Tyler had probably checked out
before the breakfast.  And when she’d refused to talk to him, he
’d just
left.  She
felt her chest heave with a sigh
and she muttered, “Thanks.”

As she walked back around the hotel to the ballroom, she tried to convince herself that it wasn’t any worse than what she’d been feeling before, when she’d thought Tyler had cheated on her.  But this feeling
was
worse…much worse, because she’d done it to herself.

Chapter Twenty-six

AFTER ALL WAS
said and done and there were gushing and hugs and goodbyes, Mike, Lisa, and Megan stood in the parking lot talking.  Megan was mostly quiet, but she noticed that Mike and Lisa were a little friendlier than they’d been earlier in the day.  Well, she thought, at least her drama had given them reason to talk with each other. 
And Lisa didn’t seem to mind the fact that Mike was getting a little too close.

Megan hadn’t been paying much attention to their conversation, was instead internally berating herself, but Mike repeated himself, looking squarely at Megan.  “Really, don’t you think that’s weird?”

Megan blinked twice.  “I’m sorry.  What?  I was off in my own little world.”

Mike shook his head.  “That’s cool.  I was just saying I thought it was weird that Tamara would go to such lengths to convince you that Tyler was the dad of her
kid, that
he’d slept around on you such a long time ago.”

Lisa shrugged.  “Yeah, it’s weird, but Rhonda…Harper—I don’t remember what her married name is now—she said she’d heard Tamara had been in and out of mental institutions.  I guess she’s got a lot of
psychological
problems.”

Megan sighed.  “Well, now I feel bad for her.  It’s hard to be angry at someone when you know it’s not their fault.”

“You’re a saint, Meg.”

“Oh, no, I’m not.  I said some pretty mean things to Tyler.”

“Well, he knew Tamara better than you did.  He should’ve said something.”

Megan smiled.  “He didn’t necessarily know she was a mental case.”

Lisa started giggling.  She continued tittering and Mike and Megan exchanged glances.  Finally, Megan said, “What the hell,
Leese
?  What’s so funny?”

“Oh, it’s bad.”  She laughed again,
then
pressed her fingers against her lips.  “I was just thinking Tyler should have known from the get-go, because she’s turned out to be your
Madversary
.”  Megan felt her brows furrow and she scrunched up her lips.  She didn’t know what Lisa was hinting at.  “You know…
mad
versary
? 
Mad adversary?
  Isn’t that Tyler’s area of expertise?”  Megan smiled and shook her head, feeling a little better even though Lisa’s joke was horrible.  “I guess it loses something when you have to explain it.”

* * *

Megan laid out the paper cups and set out two pitchers of iced tea.  She knew most of her group preferred coffee, but she just couldn’t bring herself to serve coffee in July.  It was too hot.  Iced tea was a smooth summer drink that would help cool them off.  Of course, the library basement was already cooler than the rest of the building as it was, but the day had been unbearable.  It had rained all day Wednesday and so Thursday had been hot and humid
.
  She’d make coffee in September.

She arranged twelve chairs in a circle, hoping everyone would show up.  Her book club attendance was less reliable in the summer, because of vacations and other warm-weather obligations.
  She hoped she’d have good attendance tonight, though, because they were going to finish up their discussion of one of her favorite books—
Paradise
by Toni Morrison.  She hadn’t read it in years until now, and they’d been discussing it the last two weeks.  But the real discussions came when they finished
the whole book
and could talk about
it
in its entirety.  They
already had their next book planned as well
—one of them had suggested
The Hunger Games
, so Megan had already picked up copies and was going to distribute them tonight, whether or not they were done discussing
Paradise
.
  It was never too early to start reading the next selection.

Ten minutes later, her early birds started chec
king in, pouring tea in
paper cup
s
and talking about their week.  Megan sat down and listened to the friendly chitchat but
felt
eager to begin discussing the book.  They always started on time.  Sometimes people were late, and that was okay, but most of the time, everyone was excited to share ideas about the most recent book.  When it was time to start, six people in addition to Megan were scattered about the room.  Some had Post-it notes stuck here and there in their books, but others relied on the old-fashioned dog-ear.  Still others brought spiral notebooks with notes, and others had nothing other than their book
supplemented by
their memory.  But Megan knew they’d all share fascinating insights.  She
smiled,
glad to be in her favorite place.  After a whirlwind weekend followed by a week of feeling sorry for herself, Mega
n was ready to be herself again, and the book club always brought out the best in her.