The Contingency Plan (The Lonely Heart Series) (12 page)

“Can’t do it,” Robert said with such finality it made Sully burb.

“Well, there is nothing to talk about right now. Sorry I bothered you so late,” Sully said, about to hang up.

“Hey Sully, before you put me on your
do-not-call
list, I have to tell you that the real story brewing is about the In Vitro Fertilization process.  You’ve opened up a can of worms on this.  How about you give me the first story on it? I could make light of it and cover a piece of it on Benny.”  He dangled the opportunity in front of Sully hoping that he would bite.

Sully wasn’t stupid.  He wasn’t interested. “No, I’ll pass.”

“Well, it won’t just go away,” Robert insisted. “People want to know.”

“Know what?” Sully asked.

“People want to know who she is.  The word is that it is an old intern from your days in Miami.” He waited for a response.

Sully knew that he was cornered. “Tell you what.  Give me a few days to figure out how I want to couch the story and I’ll give you a call back.” 

“Days,” Robert gasped. “Days equal eternity in my field, Sully. You know that. Give me something…a quote at least to tweet about.” 

Sully growled. “This is my life you’re talking about, Bob. I’ll give you a call when I know that it’ll benefit me.”  Hanging up the phone, he threw his head back and groaned.  “So it begins,” he said, kicking off his boots. 

What he needed now was a hot shower and food.  At least then, he’d be able to think straight.

***

Charlie couldn’t help but pull the number out again and look at it.  Even as she sat in the board meeting, she couldn’t focus.  After a short convers
a
tion with Dane Withersby, he had given her the cell phone number of Sully Orrin and all she wanted to do in the world was call him, but first she had to make it through this meeting.

Sitting on the left side of the chairman of her board, she snapped out of her daze and smiled.  Fake as it was, it gave credence to the conversation that she had completely ignored.

“So what do you think?” the chairman, Dr. Hanna Campbell asked, blinking quickly at Charlie.

There was hesitation.  “I think it’s a great idea,” Charlie said, realizing that she should have asked her friend and boss to repeat the question.

“Excellent,” Dr. Campbell said, clasping her hands together.  The Hope
diamondesque
ring on her finger flickered across the board room.  “There you have it.  We will ask Sullivan Orrin and his daughter to grace us with his presence at the benefit next weekend.  Let’s get him on the line tomorrow and confirm his avail
a
bility and fly him and his family up from Virginia the day before on Wayne’s private jet.”

Charlie almost fell out of her seat.  Gripping the table, she swallowed hard. “Sullivan…” She looked around the room at all eyes on her, “may not be available with such short notice.”

“But he is a friend of the organization. I’m sure that he’ll make arrangements,” Dr. Campbell said with bright eyes. “He’ll be perfect to speak about our IVF program.  He’s the perfect advocate, possibly our new poster child, if we play our cards right.”

Frank set a cup of coffee in front of Charlie and stepped back.  His eyes were glued to her, hoping that she wouldn’t have a nervous breakdown right then and there.

But Charlie kept it together.  Nodding, she scri
b
bled something on a notepad and then looked around. “Excellent suggestion, Dr. Campbell.  We can always count on you to think outside of the box.”  Her voice cracked.  “We’ll get right on the details.”

“Very good,” Dr. Campbell said with an optimistic, confident smile. 

The rest of the meeting was lost on Charlie.  She sat in a daze, almost catatonic until the end.  As the people pushed back from the table and stood from their chairs, she finally came to.  Frank stood behind her, ready to catch her body if she fainted and then offered a hand.

“Charlene, are you alright?” another board me
m
ber asked, seeing that she had become peaked.

She almost wanted to laugh at the question, b
e
cause it was so ridiculous.  “Just a little under the weather. I’ll be fine,” Charlie said, standing up. 

“Great.  Well, I’ll see you at the benefit,” the old Jewish man said, tucking his folder under the arm of his tweed jacket.  “Good job as normal.”  Bowing out gracefully, he exited out of the board room with the processional in front of him.

Charlie watched each one disappear beyond the hall in amazement. They did not even know that they had severely altered her life forever with their bright idea. 

When everyone was gone, Charlie turned to Frank and laughed condescendingly. “I’m ruined,” she said, opening the refrigerator to pull out a bottle of wine.  “When they find out that I’m the mother of those children…”

Frank stopped her. “You don’t know that for ce
r
tain. You haven’t even talked to the man. For all you know, he found some other sucker to give him eggs.”  Biting his lip, he tried to rephrase. “Sorry, that didn’t come out right.”

“No…no. I couldn’t have put it better myself,” Charlie said, pouring a glass of wine.  “And you’re right. I could not be the mother.  But nine times out of ten…”

Frank brought a glass over for her to pour him some.  After today’s rat race, he needed a drink too.  He could actually go for something stronger, but he didn’t feel like going down to his office to retrieve his flask. “Do you think that you really are the mother?” he asked, frowning.

“Yes, obviously I do.  Would I be in this
state
if I didn’t?” she asked, looking down at herself. “I’m a wreck, and I won’t feel better until I call him and find out for myself.”

“Well, I have to admit that this is the first conve
r
sation that I’ve ever had like this.”  Frank grabbed the phone from the corner of the board table and brought it over to her. “Why wait a second longer?” he asked, hoping that she would make the call in front of him.  There was no way he wanted to miss it. 

There was a long pause.  Charlie stood looking at the phone with a glass of Chardonnay in hand.  “Now?” she asked Frank. 

“Now,” Frank said, pushing the phone in her face.  “There is no better time than the present. You could walk outside and get hit by a car. 
Live in the m
o
ment
,” he stressed. 

Charlie sat back down.  “Maybe you’re right,” she said, pulling the number back out.  Pausing, she looked up at him. “But maybe you’re wrong. Sully and I agreed that upon giving him those eggs, we would never contact each other again.”

“You agreed
then
, but
now
things have changed, haven’t they?  Do you really want to run into him at the benefit for the first time with his kids and let everyone see your reaction unrehearsed?  You’ll bomb.  Trust me.  Tears, snot...” Frank waved his hand di
s
missively. “It won’t be pretty.”

“You’re right. I won’t be able to control myself.  I’ll probably start hugging them and trying to explain…”  She was starting to become frantic again.

Frank put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Set up a meeting before the gala.  Talk to the man.  Surely you two can come to some arrangement about this new development.”  His voice was soothing, but his eyes were urgent. 

Grabbing the phone, she dialed the number slowly, feeling butterflies erupt with each digit, until finally when she thought that she would keel over from a heart attack, the phone rang and Sully picked up.

“Hello, Orrin residence,” Sully said, sitting in the office of his home returning emails to media outlets.

“May I speak with Mr. Sullivan Orrin, please,” Charlie said, holding on to the receiver of her phone like it was her life line.  She looked up at Frank who nodded approvingly. He mouthed to her, “You’re doing great,” and then gave her two thumbs up. 

“This is he.  May I ask who is speaking?” Sully asked, ready to hang up if it was one more reporter.

“This is Charlie, Sully,” she said, blinking hard.  Her voice was soft now, all professionalism gone. 

Sully stopped typing and sat up in his chair.  “Charlie Meadows?”

“It’s Mendoza now…actually,” she quipped. 

“Yeah, I heard about the wedding.  How are you?”  Nervousness clenched his stomach.  Standing up, he walked to the door and closed it.  He definitely didn’t want anyone to hear this conversation. 

“I’m fine,” she said, trembling. “Look, I know it’s late…”

Sully cut her off. “I’m good. I’m just up returning a few
hundred
emails.” He laughed nervously and ran a hand through his hair. 

“Because of the White House selection?” Charlie asked. 

“Yeah, Charlie’s a star.”  Suddenly, he didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. 

Charlie giggled at her daughter’s name.  She never thought that she’d be the one with a name sake. 

“I mean,
Charlize
.  That’s her name. I call her Charlie…after you.”  He shook his head. 
Why was he acting like a school boy all of a sudden?
  He tried to straighten up, behave more like his age.

“Well, I just saw the news and her and your son…my son…” Charlie didn’t know what to say. “Oh, Sully, are they mine?”  She slumped over in her chair and put her elbows on the table. “I’m dying to know, and I can’t wait a second longer.  I mean they really look like me, but they…”

“Yes, of course they are yours,” Sully laughed.  “Biologically.” 
In every other way, they are mine
, he thought to himself.

“I know that we agreed that we wouldn’t ever co
n
tact each other, but Sophie’s Choice is going to invite you to the gala with Charlie and Benjamin and…”

“I understand.  You want me to decline,” he said, disappointed.

“No,” Charlie said, nearly jumping out of her seat.  “I just…wanted to maybe see you before the gala.  I didn’t want there to be a reunion at the event. It might be too obvious.”  She realized that she was now standing. 

“You want to see
me
?”

“I want to see all of you, if that’s okay.”  She heaved a heavy sigh. “If you don’t want to, I complet
e
ly understand.”  She walked over to the window and looked out over the Manhattan skyline. 

“Charlie, I’d love to see you,” Sully said in a warm voice.  “I just don’t know how I would introduce you to the kids.  They are very smart, especially Charlie, not to take anything away from Benny, but she’s like a super spy.”

Charlie laughed.  “Tell them that I’m just an old friend,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.  It wasn’t a lie.  She sort of was an old friend.  “I could come down to Virginia for a day trip.”  She waited on his answer.

“Sure.  I’ll tell them that we’re just doing a bit of an introduction before the gala.  That way you could ask them as many questions as you’d like…you know get to know them without confusing things.”

“No, I wouldn’t want to confuse them,” she said sincerely.  “I’d just like to see them.”

“I can understand that,” he bit his lip.  Even though it had been ten years, he still had to try. “Care to see anyone else?”

“You too,” she said, looking over at Frank who couldn’t help but smile deviously.  “I think it would be nice to see you again.”  She wasn’t sure if that was too much to say over the phone, but it was true.

Sully couldn’t help but smile. “I can’t wait.  What day were you thinking?”

“I have some availability on…” she looked at Frank.

“Monday,” Frank mouthed quietly.

“I have some availability on Monday. I could come down on Sunday, stay at a hotel and meet you all for dinner.”  She waited again.

“Why would you stay at a hotel?” Sully asked, moving in on her without her knowing it. “I have three guest bedrooms and people barely visit.  We’d love the company.”

Charlie had to admit that that sounded better.  Ev
e
ry minute that she could spend with the kids would be valuable.  “Okay, but can we keep this really quiet?  I’m married with kids of my own and…”

Sully cut her off again.  “This is between us, just like everything else.” 

Charlie shook her head. “Of course it is.”  She lif
t
ed her brow.  “Great, well, I’ll see you on Sunday. I’ll call you with my flight arrangements later or have my assistant Frank call you.”

“Sounds good.  I’ll either answer or my assistant Sullivan will,” he joked.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to get all
business
on you,” she apologized. 

“It’s cool. I used to be all
business
myself,” he said, just glad that she had agreed. 

“Okay, well, good night,” she said, not wanting to hang up the phone.

“Wait,” Sully said, grabbing a pen. “Give me your cell, and I’ll text you mine.”  There was no way that he was going to lose contact with her again. Who knew, maybe he’d be able to get a few more conversations out of her before she came down.