Driving Heat (24 page)

Friday came and with it the opportunity to relieve the crick in her neck from dodging the knives Margo aimed at her back. Now, however, they were a little less sharp. Her rival had chosen the day after Cynthia went to Vegas, retrieved Leah, settled down the parole officer, thus helping her client avoid jail, and get commendations on the way she’d handled the situation to do a tell-all with Tracy about her “dating” the client’s relative. That the only date Margo knew of was the time she’d spotted her and Byron at the art show in Santa Monica, an outing that in no way seemed inappropriate or even necessarily romantic, did not help her cause. Nor did the “blood relation” card Cynthia finally played. The bottom line? Deciding to voice a claim to have “very damaging” information on Cynthia that could prove “traumatic” for the agency on the day after Cynthia had returned from an agency success story made Margo come off looking petty and sounding ill-informed.

Not that her accusation hadn’t presented a problem. While Cynthia had admitted her evening with Byron, she’d stopped short of admitting the relationship status she’d only recently admitted to herself. This decision may come back to haunt her, but she’d had to take her chances. By the time she broke this news to Tracy, she hoped Leah would be well on her way to receiving her diploma and becoming not only a successful case in the files of Cynthia Hall, but a closed one.

Having promised Byron a night of “celebration,” she placed a call to Stewart through her car’s Bluetooth. She was relieved when the call went to voice mail. “Stewart, this is Cynthia. I’m sorry to have to cancel tonight’s discussion, but something came up that cannot be helped or avoided. Please accept my apologies and give me a call tomorrow. I should be free any time after nine.”

Mission accomplished, she turned up the radio and sang out of key, hurrying home to spend time with Jayden before he went on his play date, and she invited hers over.

By seven-thirty Jayden had been safely delivered to Bobby’s house for a night at the skating rink, and Cynthia had showered and changed for a casual evening that at Byron’s insistence included dinner at a restaurant. She would have been fine with one pizza and two climaxes and not necessarily in that order. Byron assured her that he’d not leave her hungry. Cynthia assured him that he’d have his work cut out. A month had passed since their last encounter. She was starved.

She’d just sprayed on cologne and reached for her purse when the doorbell rang. She almost skipped down the steps with the glee of a child meeting Santa. Had anyone asked, Cynthia would have had to tell the truth—Byron’s candy cane was quite a present.

“Hello, there—ah!”

Before she could finish the greeting, Byron had swept her off her feet, closed the door with his heel, deposited her on the couch, and begun undoing all the work she’d done in the previous hour: hair mussed, makeup smudged, clothes . . . coming . . . off. This rough and tumble taking without so much as a hello turned her all the way on and within minutes she was singing.

“I thought . . . you were . . . after we ate.”

Byron answered her to the beat of his thrusts. “I. Changed. My. Mind.”

An hour later, two freshly showered, hungry lovers left Cynthia’s condo in search of food. They were giddy from the aftereffects of a good sexing, so much so that they didn’t notice they were being watched, and recorded.

Early the next morning, Byron received a call from his attorney requesting a meeting. Cynthia joined him in the shower. She planned to pick up Jayden, take him to breakfast, and then spend the day doing whatever he liked. She also wanted to talk to him about his father, so she’d have a clear direction of where to take the conversation when Stewart called. Five minutes after Byron had kissed her good-bye, the doorbell rang.

She walked over to let him back in, unlocked and opened the door.

It wasn’t Byron.

“Stewart?” She looked beyond him, wondering if his and Byron’s paths had crossed.

“Oh, he’s gone. And a good thing, too.”

“Stewart, what are you doing in Los Angeles?”

“Will I be forced to explain while standing at your front door?”

“No, of course not.” Cynthia moved aside. “Come in.”

Stewart quickly scanned his surroundings. “Came to surprise you, and to meet my son. And from the looks of what I saw leaving your condo, I got here just in time. What street corner did you pull him from?”

“Excuse me?”

“You know, holding a sign, will work for food.”

“Your snide remark is closer to the truth than you realize. Except I was on the street corner when he picked me up.” She had more to say but was frozen silent at the words “bet I beat you,” followed by the sound of tennis shoes pounding up the stairs.

She raced toward the door but stopped midway. Did she open it? Try and hide Stewart? Somehow prevent Jayden from entering his own home. Her attention went from the door to Stewart and back again. Her body followed. A step toward the door to, what, tell her son just a minute while she try and hide a grown man. Then toward Stewart. And back at the door as Jayden ringing the doorbell was followed by a knock. “Mom! It’s me. Let me in!”

“Don’t say anything,” she warned Stewart. “Hang on, Jay!” She opened the door. Jayden scurried past her and stopped short.

The look on her face must have telegraphed horror. Bobby’s mother picked up on it at once. She prevented her son from following Jayden inside. “No, Bobby, we’ve got to keep moving. Good morning, Cynthia.” The woman looked at Stewart, then at Jayden, and again, and once more before she said in a tone that was full of apology, “You didn’t get my message? My sister went into premature labor and just gave Bobby a cousin. We’re headed to the hospital now.”

“It’s okay,” Cynthia said as brightly as possible. She hoped that Jayden wouldn’t suspect anything wrong, even though at this moment everything totally was.

Cynthia took a moment to gather herself before turning around, a little self pep talk to regain control.
You can do this, Cynthia. Just act normal, introduce Stewart as an old friend who popped by for a visit, and then politely thank Stewart for his visit as she saw him out the door.

That was the plan. But everything changed with a comment and a question.

“Hi, I’m Jayden. Are you my dad?”

Cynthia had her girls’ attention. From her mother’s presumptive wedding preparations, to Byron spending the night, to Stewart arriving the next day, to Jayden showing up totally unannounced, barging into the living room and coming face to face with his father, a better script could not have been written. For a blockbuster catastrophe, that is. It had been the worst possible scenario for how Jayden would meet him, yet she had to give it to Stewart. He’d handled the question with a calm assurance, followed up by a sincere, age-appropriate conversation with Jayden that reminded Cynthia of the good qualities that Stewart possessed.

“Girl, I can’t believe all this happened in one single weekend. The only thing missing was a fight with Byron and this would have been a movie worthy of taking first place at the box office.”

Dynah chimed in. “Lisa, you probably shouldn’t say that with so much relish.”

“Honey, the only thing I’m missing is the popcorn and chocolate-covered raisins. I just want to know about the sequel, because you know it’s coming.”

“Seriously, Cynthia,” Gayle said, very seriously, “I can understand your being upset, but I’d like to offer another perspective. Since most of what occurred had to happen eventually, at least it all happened at once. Jayden met his father. Great! They hit it off. Even better! Your mother is planning the wedding. Takes the pressure off of you. For everything else your mother might be, she’s an excellent planner of social events. Your wedding will be stunning.

“It’s time to end the fling with Byron and accept the offer to try and rekindle passion with the type of man of whom most women can only dream. And I’m not just saying this because Byron’s a bus driver and Stewart is a business mogul, although that in itself is a fairly significant detail. I’m saying it because Stewart is Jayden’s father and the type of man you should marry.”

“How can you sound so sure?” Cynthia asked this not because she’d planned to change her mind, but because Gayle seemed so sure of how her life should be lived.

“You’re a Hall who grew up a certain way, are used to a certain lifestyle, and quite frankly have an obligation to allow your son the same privileges your upbringing afforded. We all know that’s more than money. It’s connections, and the right schools, and the right clubs, and attending the right parties to not only smooth your son’s path but to ensure you’re a shining star in society. I did a little research on Stewart and I must tell you he has a stunning portfolio. Quite the catch.”

The old Cynthia would have agreed with anything Gayle said. The new Cynthia knew otherwise.

Dynah spoke up. “Cynthia, you know I’ve always advocated that you err on the side of love but at this point, I must agree with Gayle. Not so much because of materialism and status, although some of what Gayle said, particularly about connections and schools, is important, but because Jayden has a right to a healthy, ongoing relationship with his father.”

“I agree, Dynah. But I don’t have to be married to Stewart for that to happen.”

“Jayden’s relationship with Stewart will be much different if you’re married and living in the same household and traveling in the same circles than if you live on opposite sides of the country with Stewart getting every other holiday and a month during the summer.”

“No matter what we think it’s Cynthia who’ll be living with whoever she chooses, which is why it should be her choice.”

“Thanks, Lisa.”

“You’re a smart woman, Cynthia,” Gayle concluded. “Which is why I’m not going to contemplate anything other than purchasing monogrammed linen emblazoned with the letter
M.
”

Cynthia actually laughed at this comment. “Be sure and keep the receipt.”

Shortly after ending the call with Lisa, Dynah, and Gayle, her phone rang.

“Hey, sexy.”

“Hi, Byron.”

“How’s my pretty lady doing today?”

“That’s a good question.”

“What’s going on?”

“A saga of epic proportions, but in short, Jayden met Stewart. The two of them are together right now.”

“Whoa, how’d this happen?” She told him. “I think that’s great, babe. I’ve always been for Jayden meeting his dad. As long as he stays out of the way of what’s happening between us, Stewart and I will get along just fine.”

“Wow! You’ve got a swimming pool, Dad? Mom!” Jayden turned to Cynthia, eyes shining. “Dad’s got a pool! I’m going to love it here!”

“Champ, why don’t you go check it out and afterward see if you can figure out which of the upstairs rooms belong to you?”

“Thanks, Dad.” Jayden walked over and gave his father a fist bump.

Two weeks had passed since Stewart showed up in LA unannounced. He’d returned to the east coast after returning with Jayden from their trip to the mall, but father and son had talked almost every day. There was no way Cynthia could deny it. Jayden had blossomed as a result of meeting and getting to know his father. He was a lot like Stewart in ways she hadn’t noticed until seeing them together. To say he idolized him would be accurate, even the word
worship
wouldn’t be much of a stretch. It helped that Stewart had purchased two of the games Cynthia had planned to hold until Christmas or some other special occasion. It also didn’t hurt that in their years apart Stewart had secured a pilot’s license and took Jayden up in a snazzy Cessna and for a few seconds let him pilot the plane. Hard to beat that with a baseball game.

In watching Jayden investigate the beautifully landscaped backyard, she hadn’t noticed Stewart walk to her side. His cologne crossed her nostrils just before he hugged her from behind, placing tiny kisses on her earlobe and pressing her against him.

“Um, it feels good to have you in my arms again. You don’t know how many times I dreamed of this moment.”

“At one time, so did I.” Jayden was watching, so slapping Stewart’s face was out of the question. Instead, she calmly stepped out of the embrace, smile in place, and put distance between them. “But time goes on and things change.”

“Yes, fortunately for us they’ve changed for the better. We can finally be together, the way I’ve always wanted.”

“You and your wife are finally moving forward with a divorce you say you’ve wanted for ten years. Good for you. But you keep forgetting that there is someone in my life now whom I care about.”

Stewart tsked as though preparing to scold a naughty child. “Seriously, Cynthia. This nonsense about carrying a torch for this Bryan guy, a bus driver you’ve hardly known six months, for Pete’s sake, is getting old. It’s time to end it.” He pulled out his phone. “Why don’t you do it now?”

She crossed her arms. “You don’t get it, do you? You can’t believe that I, Cynthia Eileen Hall, would turn down the great and powerful Stewart Monihan. How could any woman ever resist your charms, and how could any man compete with all you have to offer?”

“Exactly.” Stewart beamed with a satisfied smile.

“I’ll tell you who, and I’ll tell you how. The woman who can say no to you is one who values herself before her possessions, who understands what true character looks like, and who has experienced what it feels like to be number one in a man’s life. That isn’t the woman you met all those years ago, but it’s the one in this room right now.

“I’m the one who now knows how another man can compete with you. It’s by displaying the character I just mentioned, valuing me for me, and not my social standing. A man can compete with you by having too much integrity to turn his back on a child whose DNA runs through his veins, even though the thought is one he doesn’t want to entertain.

“The man who can compete with you is the man I’d love to marry, if ever I was fortunate enough for him to ask me. Considering that fact along with what I hope to be your continued presence in our son’s life even though I’ve turned you down, you might want to keep his name straight. It’s Byron, not Bryan. Byron Carter. And, yes, he is a bus driver, line 53 in case you’re wondering. A savior if your car stops and you can’t get a cab. And one of the best movers of human cargo in Metro LA.”

This declaration was the end of Stewart’s beaming arrogance and the beginning of Cynthia making yet another decision.

By evening, she’d removed her belongings from Stewart’s home and into a hotel. She’d stopped by her parents’ home to ask her father to take Jayden for his visits with Stewart, to tell her mother there would be no marriage to Stewart, and to tell them both about her bus-driving beau. As expected, her dad had been quiet and tightlipped while Anna Marie had acted as though her decision to date a working class man would affect global warming.

“I will never accept him!” she declared, after wasting a half-hour worth of breath attempting to get Cynthia to change her mind. “He will never be welcome in our home!”

“That’s unfortunate,” Cynthia had calmly replied before gathering her purse and preparing to leave. “Because should he and I marry and you maintain that attitude, you’ll never be welcome in mine.”