When You Least Expect It (48 page)

             
In a monotone voice, Ray answered.  “I talk to the girls almost every day, Carrie.  What seems to be the problem?”

             
As it turned out, Carrie had a whole list of problems, all that had nothing to do with Ray, but she wanted him to fix.  She was on a tirade about what his responsibilities were, and how he was not living up to them.  Ray listened listlessly wondering if this was ever going to change.  He opted to change the subject.   “Our divorce hearing is next week, are you planning on attending?”

             
Carrie was stunned for a minute, but only a brief one.  “No.  That’s exactly what you want isn’t it?  Why, so you could cast me aside, replace me with Miss Internet?  Forget all about your children?  It’s not going to happen; I may never give you this divorce.”

             
The fact that she’d brought up Amanda was like a punch to his gut.  How dare she keep throwing this in his face?  It had nothing to do with her at all.  It infuriated him.  “Why do you keep bringing up that up, Carrie?  There is no Miss Internet.  That has nothing to do with our divorce. Our divorce is about the death of our relationship, if you can even call it that.  Stop trying to find reasons that have nothing to do with you when it’s definitely all about you.”

             
Carrie was ready with her comeback.  “Really?” She smugly asked.  “My boss said that he saw you about a week ago at Hooter’s.”  She stopped to give this bit of information time to sink in.  She smiled at his silence.  “He described what sounded like Diego, and a woman that didn’t sound like Jane.”   “Now I know that Diego didn’t have a date there, so who was she, Ray?  Does she know you’re married?”

             
Ray was stunned. He didn’t know how to respond.  He wanted to yell at her and tell her, yes, that was Amanda, and I love her!  But, that would be very bad for his divorce, very bad.   He searched for the right words.  He came up with nothing.  “She’s a friend.”  He hit his head with the palm of his hand.  It was out.  He’d opened a can of worms, a can of worms that he very well might have to eat.  What was worse, Carrie knew it.

             
“A friend, huh?  Do I know her?  Is she someone you work with?  Are you dating?”

             
“A friend, Carrie, don’t you know what friend means?”  Ray didn’t know how to get out of this without flat-out lying.  “Diego was in town and we went to Hooter’s, and she was there, so we invited her to join us.”

             
“She was there alone?”  Carrie started to laugh.  “You always sucked at lies, my friend.  I’m going to find out who she was, and then I’m going to destroy you.  That’s why I’m postponing the hearing.  I need more time.”

             
Ray had heard enough.  He was no longer going to be the doormat in Carrie's life.  He had to do something.  “Carrie, do you realize that I’m giving you money on my own free will?  There are no court orders, no one’s making me.  I’m doing it for the kids, and for you, to help you get on your feet.  I’m struggling here to make ends meet, supporting two households.  It’s been six months!   How long do you think I’m going to continue to be your patsy?”

             
Carrie snorted.  “As if you’d make your children suffer.  I know you better than that, Ray.”

             
“Do you?  Well, you’re wrong this time Carrie.  You aren’t going to play me anymore.  If you put off this hearing, I won’t give you one more red cent.  Do you hear me?  I won’t support your household anymore without a court order.  I’ll let my children know that if you can’t support them, they can come live with me.  In fact, I’ll make sure the court knows that.  That’s it; it’s over, Carrie.  Your manipulation of me stops today.  I want the divorce plain and simple.  It has nothing to do with Amanda, just with you.” 

             
Carrie was undaunted by Ray’s threats.  “Who’s Amanda?  Mandy40?  What a coincidence.  So was that who you were with?”  She was furious.  The same woman who emailed her was the woman he was with; she just knew it.

             
“That’s neither here nor there.  We aren’t together anymore; it doesn’t matter.  This conversation is over.”  Ray slammed the phone down, unwilling to hear anything else from her.

             
He was seething.  After everything he tried to do to be discreet, he’d been seen by someone he didn’t even know at the restaurant.  It was unbelievable!  Now, Carrie was going to try to stick him with adultery, even though it was far from the truth.  How was he going to explain it?  Amanda had been afraid of something like this happening, and now it was.   He decided to call his attorney and bring him up to date.

             
                                          ~~~

Carrie was beside herself.  Amanda?  Was Ray in love with her?  Where did she come from, and why?  She decided she’d call Diego, after all, they’d been friends for years too; surely, he’d help her this one time.  She looked up the number and dialed.

              “Hello?

“Hi, Diego, it’s Carrie.  I know you probably don’t want to talk to me, but I need to know who the woman was that you and Ray had lunch with at Hooters.”

              Diego feigned ignorance.  “Who’s this again?”  He refused to get in the middle of this. 

             
“You know damned well who this is, Diego.  Don’t play stupid with me.  Who was she? I have a right to know!” 

             
“Maybe you do and maybe you don’t, but it’s not my call.  Call Ray and talk to him, don’t call me looking for information; my loyalties lie with Ray, not you.  We never did have the best relationship, Carrie, in fact, most of the time you acted as if you hated me, so don’t try to throw our supposed friendship in my face now.  Goodbye.”  Diego hung up, leaving Carrie at her end with nothing but a dial tone coming from her receiver.

             
She slammed it down, outraged.  How dare he?  It was like a conspiracy against her, everyone protecting Ray.  Who was protecting her, and her best interests?  Who even cared? 

             
She put her head on the table trying to come up with a solution.  There had to be a way for her to get the information she needed.  She needed someone on her side.  She called her mother, and together, the two came up with a plan.  They were going to hire someone to find out who Amanda was.  Carrie gave her mother all the information she had on her, and her mom would take care of the rest.

                `

Chapter 34

Diego didn’t hesitate to call Ray.  He rarely called him at work, but this felt like an emergency.

             
“Ray Knight.”

             
“Hey, how’s it going, Ray?”

             
“Diego, hey!  What’s up?”

             
“Well, funny you should ask.  I just got a weird phone call from your soon to be ex-wife.  She was pumping me for information about Mandy.” 

             
Ray was incredulous.  Would she stop at nothing?  “Man, I’m sorry about that.”  He went on to tell his friend the sordid details.  “It looks like she’s going to stop at nothing.  I’m screwed.” 

             
Diego sympathized with his friend, but didn’t know how to help him.  “Anything I can do for you, Ray?” 

             
“Nope, we’ll just have to see what happens at the court hearing.  Hey, maybe when she strips me of everything, I can come live with you?”  Ray laughed, trying to lift the mood.

             
“Anytime, man, you know that.  Jane and I love you, you’re family.”

             
Ray was touched.  “Thanks, Diego.  I’ll keep you posted, and don’t worry, she’s not going to subpoena you or anything.  Even she wouldn’t go that far!”

             
“I dare her!  Keep it real, man.  I’ll talk to you soon.’

             
Ray hung up feeling defeated.  He didn’t have a good feeling about this.  He knew Carrie, if she fixated on it, she wouldn’t stop until she found out what she wanted to know.  He wondered just how much she would find out in the end.

             
                                                        ~~~

             
Carrie had received a phone call from her investigator last night.  She’d been able to get the information from the security desk.  Unfortunately, she had no idea what to do with it. She had her last name, and that she had stayed with Ray, and when. It might be enough to prove adultery.  She wasn’t too sure.  What she was sure about, was that she was going to find Mandy’s number and call her.

             
                                                        ~~~

Amanda was still moping.  She went through the motions of her day without incident.  She would feign happiness when around others, not wanting to give herself away, especially to Hilary and her kids.  She lived for the now nightly marathon phone calls from Ray.

              Fortunately, she had Alex’s graduation to keep her mind occupied.  She wanted it to be a big deal, her family would come down, and it would be quite the celebration.  She was planning to have a big party with a DJ, food, and all the fixings of a good time.  It would take a lot of preparation, and money, so she had to start early.

She had stayed home from work today.  She had a migraine and just didn’t feel up to going.  She was sitting in front of the television writing out Alex’s guest list when the phone rang.  She was in no mood to talk to what was probably a telemarketer, so she let the answering machine pick up.  She was surprised to hear someone leaving a message, as usually, it was a hang-up.

              “Amanda Herrez, this is Carrie Knight.  Yes, Ray’s wife, and yes, I have located you.  I know you were here, and I want you to know I will ruin Ray because of it. It is not okay that you sleep with my husband before we were divorced, but I just want to know one thing.  Are you the reason my husband left me?  I need to know this before next week.  You owe this to me!  You’re a woman, and you should be on my side.  I don’t want anything else from you except this information, and then you can have Ray, and good luck to you.  Please call me back.” 

             
Amanda listened as she left her phone number and hung up.  How did she get this phone number?  How did she know she had been to Maine?  Amanda held her hand over her mouth.  Ray!  He must be devastated.  She ran to the phone and called him at work.  She didn’t even let him answer before she started in.

             
“She knows”

             
Ray was stunned.  How did Amanda know?  “Who knows?”

             
“Carrie called me, Ray.  She knows I was there.  She plans to ruin you.  What are we going to do?”  She started crying.  This was what she’d been afraid of all along; being the other woman. 

             
“Carrie called you?  How?”  This was unbelievable.  How would Carrie know where to find her?

             
“She left me a message.  I'll play it for you.”  She turned on the machine. 

             
Ray paled.  It was over. 

             
“Ray?”

             
“I’m here.  I’m just speechless. This’ll ruin me, Mandy.”

             
“Ray, I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have come.  How did she know I was there?”

             
“Her boss saw us at Hooters with Diego.  I just wonder how she got your phone number.  Nobody knows your name except for Diego and my mom. Diego called today and said Carrie had called him, but he didn’t tell her anything.”

             
“Would your mother?” 

             
“No.  I don’t think so.”  Ray hoped this was true.  If she hadn’t liked Amanda, this might not be so farfetched, but she had claimed to like her.  He couldn’t’ figure it out.

             
“Maybe she hired someone to find me.”

             
Ray had an unsettling feeling that this was true.  “I’m going to call my attorney, Mandy.  I’ll call you tonight.”    

             
He dialed Mike’s number without even hanging up the receiver. 

             
“Ray, hi, I was just about to call you.”  Mike had heard from Carrie’s attorney. 

             
“Really?  Why, what’s up?”  Ray had a sinking feeling he already knew why.

             
“Carrie knows about Amanda.  She knows she signed into your security desk, she knows she lives in Texas, and she has her phone number.  She has tried to call her without success, and her deadbeat lawyer says that they might subpoena her.  The good news is that they have no address on her, so that might be hard.  I hope her number is unlisted, and please, tell her under no circumstances should she talk to them.”