Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love) (22 page)

She would have refused to believe it if Dan had not assured
her he’d verified all the claims made in the article.

She closed her eyes, trying to make sense of this.
Trent
proposed to me three months ago!
While she said yes, she’d asked for a long
engagement, because his Jekyll and Hyde personality continued to worry her.

And for good reason! Mr. Hyde had been seducing everyone he
knew and promised himself to Coco the same month Dr. Jekyll gave her a ring.

Coco, a woman he claimed to detest.

Dear God, when did he have time to romance, much less become
engaged again to a woman he hated? Did he play some sick game called How Many Lives
Can I Devastate in a Single Month?

It made no sense at all.

She returned to the other pictures. All proved Trent had
regressed to some horrible Don Juan of the worst kind. She counted thirty
pictures of him seducing infatuated, beautiful woman, and not one shot of Trent
and her.

Unable to endure anymore pictures, she turned the page and
began to read. Some paragraphs she had to read several times before she could
even make sense of the words.

He had broken up Jon and Patty’s marriage. Patty now lived
in New Jersey, one town over from Carrie, in a house Trent bought her. She
stared at a picture of the house, a mansion in Mountain Lakes.

What about Jon’s children? All those sweet little boys
would grow up without their father because of Trent. And after this article, they
would be tormented at school. Their lives would be damaged forever.

And poor Jon. He tried to help Trent become a normal
person, and, as his reward, he got his life ripped to pieces.

She made a note to locate Jon. She needed to make sure he survived
the travesty.

According to the article, Carrie had left Lancaster Chairs when
she learned of Trent and Coco’s engagement.

The more she read, the less she hurt. Her entire body numbed.
She relived her childhood. Her parents would pretend to love her, but their
actions always said different. They only wanted people to think well of them.

Her college boyfriend had often told her he loved her, but
his letter, left on her bed, assured her otherwise. She’d been a convenience,
nothing more.

She continued to read the article, her heart deadened, safe
from further blows.

Angela claimed the Lancaster Chairs female sales staff was
little more than prostitutes on salary.

She stopped reading and wrote another note to check on her
friend Jenny, whom Trent had hired as a salesgirl. She could believe the other women
would exchange sex for a contract—which is no doubt why the clients called them
Trent’s harem. But not her friend.

Jenny didn’t show up in any of Trent’s romantic shots. Carrie
would call her tomorrow and see if she wanted to leave Lancaster Chairs. And if
Trent didn’t like Carrie poaching his staff, he could complain to his new
fiancée. Maybe she’d give a damn, because Carrie sure as hell didn’t.

By the time she’d finished the four-page story, her brain
had become anesthetized. The world could have blown up around her and she
wouldn’t have even flinched. She felt like Spock, without those debilitating
encumbrances called feelings.

She stared at the iPad. What else did she need to do?

Heaviness weighted her left hand.

Ah…return Trent’s engagement ring.

Someone knocked on her door, but she ignored them.

What else? Sure
ly,
when her entire world fell apart, she should have more
than three things to do.

She could write a letter to the editor complaining Angela
got the facts wrong. After all, Carrie had not left Trent after discovering his
engagement to Coco. No, she had remained stupid and gullible, even up to this
morning, thinking her and Trent a happy couple.

And by writing such a complaint, she’d be like those people
singing off key on American Idol.

The article had dismissed her as insignificant, as if she
had meant nothing to Trent.

A shard of pain broke through the numbness.

Was it true? Had the great love of her life been nothing
but a delusion, a minor moment in Trent’s egocentric world?

The possibility almost brought her to tears.

Spock. Channel Spock!

She sucked in a deep breath and re-numbified herself.

Who could answer her question? Mars might know, but his job
would prevent him from telling her.

Sam might be able to, but he wanted nothing more to do with
her.

She steadied herself and called Trent.

“What?” he yelled.

“Did I ever mean anything to you?”

Silence answered her question. She hovered her thumb over
the end-call button, tempted to preserve her last ounce of dignity.
Just do
it. End this debacle.
Then he spoke.

“I’ll call you with the answer in a half-hour.”

The line went dead.

Her attempt to get answers
only
made her feel
worse.

Now what?

She glanced at her short list and called Mars’ private
number.

“Mars, here.”

“Hi, it’s Carrie.”

“How are you?” The sympathy in his voice almost broke
through her numbness.

“A bit bewildered at the moment. Trying to make sense of my
world. Would you by chance have Jon Javit’s phone number or address?”

“Yes, of course.”

As she waited, she realized why so many off-key people
humiliated themselves. Their friends no doubt tried to tell them they couldn’t
sing, but they wouldn’t listen.

How many times had she corrected people ‘in the know’ who
thought she and Trent had broken up? She never once considered the possibility they
might be speaking from Reality, while she stood in Delusionland.

When her last boyfriend ended their relationship, at least he
had the decency to leave her a letter on the bed. Trent couldn’t be bothered.
He allowed her to keep singing her song of love, even when everyone knew it a
lie. Everyone, but her.

Mars returned with both an address and number.

“Thanks.” She wrote the address in her tablet. “Sorry I
kept scolding you for thinking Trent and I had broken up. You must have thought
me the stupidest person on earth.” Again, pain pressed against her chest.

“I’ve never thought you anything but the finest woman of my
acquaintance. If you misunderstood the situation, then Master Trent purpose
ly
misled you.
And there is no excuse for such behavior.”

“Do you have any suggestions on how I should send the ring
back to Trent?”

“If it were genuine, I would suggest you hock it.”

“It is real. It’s a fami
ly
heirloom.”

“I am aware of the ring’s heritage. However, I am also
aware the authentic version resides in Miss Coco’s possession.”

She turned to the photo of Trent and the she-bitch. Sure
enough, the rock on her finger looked exact
ly
like Carrie’s.

He’d given her a fake token of their love. “Why would he do
this?”

“I cannot fathom what possesses Master Trent to do anything
these days.”

God! Everything about our relationship was a lie.

Spock!
She breathed in and pushed the pain away, so she could at
least end this conversation with dignity.

“This may be the last time we speak. Let me assure you, I
will always think of you as my friend, and I’m so sorry I fed you a narcotic
turtle.” And the tears flowed. She could numb herself to Trent’s inconceivable
deceits, but not to losing a friend.

“You may call me as often as you like, Carrie. I would take
great pleasure in hearing from you. To be honest, I need to know you will get
beyond this debacle and thrive in life. So do not lose your old friend’s
number.”

His kind words stopped her waterworks. “You’re not old,
Mars.”

“All butlers are ancient. It comes with the job.”

“Maybe other butlers are, but not you. I’ll have to call
and make sure you remember your real age on a frequent basis.”

“I would great
ly
appreciate it.”

“Thank you for saving me from a heartbreaking good-bye.
Instead, I’ll talk to you soon.”

Once she hung up, a faint happiness stirred in all her
numbness. Mars still wanted to be her friend. She remembered how Sam had dumped
her as a friend the moment Trent did.
Only
she’d been too stupid to know she’d been dumped by Trent.

Her cell phone rang. Trent.

She re-numbed herself and answered the phone.

His angry voice barked in her ear. “I’m downstairs, in my
limo. We can talk in the car.”

Before she could reply, he’d hung up.

His offer to meet her face to face surprised her, but then
she didn’t have Tiny’s knockout skills. Good thing because right now, she might
kill Trent.

She locked her office and took a side hall to the lobby, escaping
without either Dan or Destiny seeing her. They would insist she not go, and
they would have logic on their side, but she had to do this. She had to look Trent
in his eyes and understand how she could have been so wrong about him.

***

Sam didn’t bother to open the door for her, and Trent
wouldn’t think of doing such a thing, so she opened the car door herself and took
the backward seat facing him. The moment she got in, the car moved.

“Hold on. I didn’t agree to go anywhere with you.”

Trent rubbed his eyes with his palms. “I gather you’ve read
the article.”

Anger fueled her response. “If I hadn’t, did you plan to
continue our farce of an engagement? Does my stupidity amuse you?”

His head popped up and his anguished gaze met hers. “No! I’ve
been in hell for three months. You are the
only
good thing in
my fucking, miserable life. I deceived you because I couldn’t let you go.”

Damn it all. His misery still pulled at her heart. Even now,
when by all rights she should hate him, a part of her wanted to ease his pain.
She shouldn’t have met him. She needed time for her delusional love to die.

She remained quiet as she fought her softening feelings.
It’s
habit! You’ve been doing everything for this jerk for years. He never loved you.
The images of his loving gaze on all those women, even Coco, flooded her mind
and gave her strength.

“If you wanted to keep me, Trent, you shouldn’t have become
engaged to Coco. You know how much I hate her. Now…one or two of your other
twenty-three women I might have been able to overlook, but not Coco, not Patty,
and not the whole damn sales force!”

“I did it to get rid of the bitch,” he growled. “But she is
determined to marry me this time.”

“So you used all those other women to exorcise Coco?”

“Yes.” He leaned back, as if relieved she understood his
actions now.

She did, and it sickened her. “And you led me to believe we
remained engaged because you wanted me on the hook in case Coco broke off her engagement?”

“Yes!” His eyes showed a hint of hope now.

“And we would live happi
ly
ever after: Prince Charming and
his clueless, stupid wife.”

The hope died and he covered his face, unable to meet her
gaze. “You’re far from stupid, Carrie. You loved and trusted me with your whole
heart. It’s why I could deceive you.”

For him to say it aloud
only
made it more
horrible. She couldn’t even pretend he didn’t know what he had done. He had
purpose
ly
betrayed her. He didn’t give a damn about anyone but himself. God! He ranked
lower than her parents.

She leaned forward. “So, you used my love to perpetrate a
deception you knew would
damn near kill
me
when I discovered the
truth.” A surge of anger hit her hard. Needing a physical action, she yanked
the fake ring from her finger and flung it at him, hitting him in the chest.

His eyes flared with outrage. “I did this for you. For us.”

She regretted she hadn’t aimed at his face. “You didn’t do anything
for me! You did it because you’re a coward
ly
child. You didn’t have the decency to put down one toy
before you picked up another.”

Placing the ring in his vest pocket, he rubbed his chest as
a sulky pout formed on his face. “All I’ve ever wanted was you.”

“You
had
me!” Tears of anger and outrage flowed down
her cheeks. “You had me, heart and soul, and still you picked up Coco!”

“I had no choice,” he yelled in return. “She’s pregnant and
refuses to abort the child. And if you think Coco’s formidable, you should meet
her father. He assured me he would lay waste to everything I loved if I let his
grandson be born out of wedlock.”