Broken Trust (Missing in Action Trilogy Book 1) (7 page)

“Why did you stay with him this entire time then?”

“Who would want me after what he did? Who would want a woman who couldn’t carry a child? I had been with him since I was a teenager and I was hoping the man I fell in love with would come back, but he never did. The Martin I knew – he is never coming back.”

“That bastard has already filed for divorce,”

“Great, then you don’t have to. You can now prove he is in fault of their agreement.”

“Getting his money is not what I am after,” Sasha said. “I want to get back the part of me that he took away! I want to be the woman I was before he violated me. That is something I will never get back!”

There was nothing he could say to that. There was absolutely nothing he would be able to do for her. Sheila walked in. She had a large brown bag in hand and she looked at all of them. She seemed surprised to see them all there in the main part of the office and scurried to her desk setting the food down. It was obvious she didn’t know what was going on, but she did know what was transpiring.

John turned towards Sasha. “That is something that we all know you will never be able to get back, and we know it isn’t fair, but there is nothing more we can do.”

Sasha was wiping the tears from her eyes and nodded. “I know that, but I wish it was a possibility. I want him to know what he did. I want that
bitch
to know what he did. I want to ruin his life – I want him to hate himself the same way I hate myself.”

Nancy moved closer towards her and she had her hand on her shoulder. “We should go and finish this. We don’t need this divorce to drag out any longer than it needs to be. I’ll go ahead and take everything you have found.”

John got to his feet and walked to his office. Nancy was close behind him. Sheila was sitting behind her desk and she still didn’t know how to help out. They were in his office and Nancy shut the door behind them.

“You haven’t changed a bit John,” she said.

“You have, and I didn’t even realize you were in Primer. I thought you had moved back down south.”

“Originally yes, but I got a better position out here and that’s why I came back. Would it be too much trouble to ask if we go out sometime, just to catch up?”

John handed her the file he had and looked her in those blue eyes. He finally looked down and realized she was wearing a V-neck. He immediately looked back to her eyes. She bit her lower lip.

“I – I suppose that would be alright. Uh, when would you like to go out?”

“I am staying at the Morton Hotel. I will make a reservation for tomorrow evening.” She took the file from him and she stepped forward as well. “I hope you dress well.”

She walked out and he stood there strangely confused about what was going on. There seemed to be something she was hinting at and he was not too sure what it was. He had been friends with her, but they were not very close. He wondered why she was not asking Sasha, but then again she had a lot going on in her life.

Finally, stepping out of his office he saw that they were both leaving. Sheila seemed to understand everything going on. She walked over towards him after several seconds had gone by.

“Is everything alright? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

He looked at her and he shook his head. “Nancy Shaw is the last person I was expecting to see here.”

“Do the two of you have a past?”

John felt the immediate urge to deny having a past with her, but it was not the same sort of past she was insinuating. “We were friends in college. She was dating Rodney and she became my friend, but Rodney broke it off with her and we stopped talking as much. We spoke every now and again but we were never more than that.”

“It seems as if she feels something towards you.”

“I doubt it. She hated me after I dumped her best friend and she refused to even say hi to me after that.”

“What did she ask you when you were in there?”

“She wanted to meet me for dinner tomorrow.”

“I see,” she said and he realized that she was somewhat upset. “Uh, well you should not let your food get cold.”

“Thank you,” he said as he grabbed his out of the brown bag. He always got the same thing and so did she. John looked up at her and noticed she was playing with her necklace. He wanted to let her know there was nothing between him and Nancy. He wasn’t entirely sure why she wanted to talk to him anyways.

“Sheila, is there something wrong?”

“No,” she lied. “I was just curious about what was going on. I know that it’s none of my business, so I would like to apologize Boss.”

“You don’t need to apologize. Sheila there is absolutely nothing between me and Nancy. I don’t have any intentions of being with her.”

She seemed bewildered by what he was saying and shook her head. “It is none of my business,” she said. “I hope you don’t think of me as being jealous.”

John couldn’t help but be confused and looked at her. “Sheila, I am sorry if I said something out of line, but I just – I don’t know what to say. I am bad with this.”

She was using a plastic fork with her food and shook her head. “Boss, there is nothing you should be apologizing for.”

Walking towards his office he nodded and shut the door behind him. He seemed to always know how to make things awkward. Putting his food down on his desk he only looked at it. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to go out there and tell Sheila how often he had been thinking about her. He wanted her to know she was special to him and that she made everything so confusing for him.

Taking in a deep breath he was prepared to go out there and tell her everything. He wanted to admit that he had feelings for her and as he was getting the nerve to do so, the phone rang.

***

He was sitting at the pizza joint with Rodney across the way from him. They both had open beers and Rodney knew now what was going on. However, he only knew his sister was getting a divorce and that was the extent of it. John realized it was not his place to go ahead and say anything to him about what Martin had done to his sister. Rodney finally cleared his throat.

“We have been attempting to hold a conversation, but we have proven that this is just awkward. Now can you tell me why you really picked up the phone and called me?”

“I don’t know what is going on with my life.”

“What do you mean? I thought you were set with what you were going to be doing. You seemed so psyched to get out there and start working these cases.”

“I didn’t think my line of work would be as dull as it is,” John said as he was taking another sip of beer. He knew he could not disclose anything to Rodney. He wanted to, but he had to keep everything confidential. “I want something more from my life than what I currently have.”

“You have freedom and success. You can make your own hours and you don’t need to answer to anyone other than yourself. How does that make anything dull?”

“The types of cases I work are predictable and I want something more than that.”

“You will eventually get what you want, but you will have to wait for that to happen,” Rodney moved slightly and shook his head. “Is there something else that you want to talk about?”

“Yeah. I want your opinion on a girl.”

Rodney was intrigued and swigged some more beer.  He smiled. “I never thought you would talk to me about a girl again. You know, not after Shannon anyways.”

“Well Shannon and I were not really serious. We had a fling together that lasted a couple of months and that was about it. – And speaking of a fling did you know that Nancy was in town?”

“Yes, I know she is back. She just got a job in my office. How did you know that she was back?”

“She stopped by my office earlier and she invited me to dinner tomorrow.”

“Please tell me that you didn’t accept. Man! Is that the opinion on a girl you were wanting?” He didn’t even wait for a response before he spoke again. “Look Nancy is beautiful, especially now, but she is not what you need. She is too; what is the word I am looking for? – Ah! Impulsive and just over all crazy. She is also self-absorbed and just not the girl you should be with.”

John shook his head and glanced at the beer in his hands. “Alright, I will take your advice. Anyways how have you been with Emma?”

“I am thinking about marrying her.”

“Really? You have been with her for not even a year now. You don’t think you are rushing into it?”

“Nah. She is one of those girls that makes you want to lock in, that way she can’t move on. She is one of those girls that make you feel as if you aren’t good enough for her. I want to give her everything and she is worth everything.”

“Maybe I should meet her sometime.”

“You should, but when you do meet her just keep in mind that she is only mine.”

John smiled and leaned back in his chair. “So how has business been for you at the firm?”

“Lucrative to say the least. I mean a lot of the cases that come into my office are spouses that you have helped separate. If it wasn’t for you my firm probably wouldn’t be as successful as it is now. That is why hearing you aren’t happy with it is somewhat depressing.”

“There are other investigators that I’m sure would love to take that business. I have not made a decision to close up shop though. I might take another case or two.”

“But that is not what you want. Why would you want to continue working on cases that drive you crazy? – Oh,” he said as if he understood. “There is someone you want to keep around. Is it that secretary that works for you? She is gorgeous. Is that the girl you wanted advice on?”

“I do like her, but she is my coworker and I ought not to indulge in my feelings for her because that could ruin our working relationship.”

“There are some people that are worth the risk, but it is up to you to make the decision if she is worth it.”

“How do I make that decision?”

“I can’t answer that for you because it is up to you. You will just know one day if it is worth the risk.”

John sat there and wondered if he had already made that decision, but he knew he hadn’t. He wasn’t too sure he was going to ever make that decision. He wasn’t too sure what he was going to do at this point. He looked at Rodney. “Do you think that I’m crazy with wanting to close up shop?”

“No I don’t think it’s crazy. I think you want to get something more from your life than this and you should go for it. Do what makes you happy and never make decisions for your life because of someone else. That is all the advice I can give to you.”

John sat there and thought on it. He had never put anyone else ahead of him before and now he wondered if it was wrong of him. Rodney had always put everyone else ahead of him and he was still rather successful. Maybe John needed to change.

***

He met Nancy that following night, she was wearing a revealing black dress. Now that she had the body she was able to use it to her advantage. She was beautiful when they were in college and now she was just breathtaking. She walked over towards him and put her hand into his.

“I am happy that you showed.”

“Well I did tell you I would be here. Did you expect anything less?”

They walked past one of the fountains to a small table and sat down. She smiled at him and took in a deep breath. “I didn’t, but I wasn’t too sure if you would stand me up. I mean I was dating Rodney after all and I am sure he didn’t have too many good things to say about me.”

John had remembered the sort of things Rodney had said about her when they were in college, and they weren’t bad things. The things Rodney would tell him were the sort of things he would never repeat and smiled. “Rodney doesn’t like talking poorly about other people.”

“I know. So what is new and exciting in your life?”

There was nothing much for him to talk about, all he was able to do was shrug. “Nothing really. It has been completely dull and predictable at work. Once something like that happens I guess you start looking for something more exciting to get into.”

Nancy smiled and the waiter came to their table. He took their drink orders and had brought them a menu. “So are you happy to be back here?”

“Sort of. I moved back for various things. The pay is better and the town is much smaller. I am happier and have more people I know here.”

“Yeah? Well that is good. Everyone needs a support system.”

“Yes we all do. So, is there someone special in your life?”

John moved in his chair, he was becoming rather uncomfortable and he shook his head. “I want there to be, but I don’t think it will work out.”

“You have that as your flaw,” she said as the waiter came around with their drinks. She unwrapped her straw and took a sip of her lemonade. “You think about
if
it would work out verses attempting to see if it actually will. All you need to do is throw yourself at a woman and not think about the long term.”

“Well thinking long term is sort of what I do.”

“I know and that is why you and Shannon never worked out. You wanted more than she did. I mean in college people want to experiment and you were ready to settle down.”

“I have no idea what Shannon told you, but that is completely false. I was into a fling.”

“Sure John. – Do you know why I really asked you here tonight?”

He looked over the rim of his glass at her and watched as she played with her straw. It seemed somewhat seductive but he was sure he was just reading into it.  He shrugged. “To catch up?”

She bit her lower lip and he could not help but feel something. “Would you mind if I showed you?”

There was hesitation on his part. He didn’t want to go with Nancy anywhere because in the back of his mind he was thinking about Sheila. He shook his head. They were coworkers and they would never be together in that way either. And of course he could not deny how attractive Nancy was. He finally nodded. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt anything.”

Nancy smiled and they got up from their seats. She threw down twenty dollars and he followed behind her. They were heading for the elevators and there were people in there with them. John wished the elevator would move quicker. Nancy took him by the hand and led him out on the third floor.

They walked towards a room and she took out her card key from her bosom and his eyes could not help but look. She was big breasted and always had been. Even with the weight loss her breasts didn’t seem to change in size. She pushed open the door and he followed her.