Inner Circle (37 page)

“Eve, give me a chance to explain.”

“Explain?” Eve probed. “How in the hell do you think you can do that now?”

“I can start with the truth,” Chase stated.

“The truth?” Eve said sarcastically. “That’s rich. Funny, because after eight years of lies, I don’t think you know what the truth is.” She paused, then continued. “Tell me this, since you want to be so fucking honest . . . Were you
ever
going to tell me the truth?” Eve realized she had made two trips around the airport already. She pulled over near the Delta terminal while waiting for Chase to respond. His silence lingered longer than Eve would allow. “I didn’t think so.”

Eve felt her tears threaten to return.

“We thought we were doing the right thing by not telling you.”

Eve was startled by the tapping of a police officer’s hand against her window. “Ma’am, you can’t park here,” he shouted out.

Eve held up her finger as a gesture for the officer to wait a moment while she finished her conversation with Chase. “If you thought that lying to me for eight years was the
right
thing to do, then you and that bitch Amber were dead wrong.”

The officer tapped Eve’s window again. “Move your car or get a ticket. It’s your choice, lady!”

“Eve, there’s got to be something I can do,” Chase pleaded.

The officer tapped at Eve’s window once more before he began
writing her a ticket.

Eve gave him an evil glance, then focused her attention back to Chase’s original question.

“Evie . . . I’ll do anything to make this right. Just tell me what to do.”

Eve watched as the officer tore off a ticket and placed it on her windshield.

“Get a lawyer,” she replied matter-of-factly, then hung up the phone.

Eve exited the car and stood face-to-face with the officer. Within seconds, she realized she had been spotted because a cluster of people surrounded her car. Her identity had been revealed as someone in the crowd shouted out her name.

“Eve Landon! How do you feel about your husband going to the Champion Bowl?”

A look of embarrassment crossed the officer’s face as he looked Eve in her eyes. “Mrs. Landon? I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you.”

Eve looked around at the growing crowd. She couldn’t imagine what she must’ve looked like, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized she didn’t care. She moved past the officer without saying a word, making her way into the airport.

“Ma’am, you can’t leave your car here,” the officer shouted.

Eve ignored him and kept walking.

“Mrs. Landon, if you leave your car unattended, we’re going to have to tow it,” he pleaded.

Eve stopped short of the entrance doors and turned back to the officer who was now standing directly in front of her prized Bentley. She looked down at her keys, then back at him, then down at her keys once more, then back to him. With one swift motion, she tossed the keys in his direction.

“Fuck the car,” she shouted, then turned and sauntered away.

Without
looking back, Eve made her way into the terminal. It was turning out to be a day of “walk-aways,” she thought as she had
already walked away from her husband, her best friend, and now a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar Bentley.

Eve noticed that a few curious onlookers had followed her into the terminal, and she quickly searched the signs trying to locate the restrooms. Finally spotting the familiar symbol of the stick figure in a dress, Eve lowered her head and headed for the women’s restroom.

It was exactly what Eve expected of a ground-level bathroom. It was crowded, and there was a line waiting for the six stalls that were clearly occupied. A woman was changing her baby at the changing table while restraining a toddler between her legs. Two impatient children were darting in and out of the line playing tag. There was a strong stench of stale piss, and as she waited in line, Eve retrieved a scented hand wipe from her purse and held it under her nose.

Finally making it to the front of the line, Eve heard the sound of simultaneous flushing, and three stalls were suddenly free. She quickly made her way to the stall farthest from the door and while still shouldering her purse, eased her pants down and peed.

As she exited the stall and looked into the mirror above the sink, Eve realized more than ever that she would have to clean up if she wanted to make it upstairs without being questioned. She washed her hands and grabbed enough towels to wash her face. She retrieved her brush and brushed her hair vigorously, allowing it to fall about her shoulders. Not satisfied, she gathered her hair and worked it into a tight braid that she let hang down her back. She searched through her purse, frustrated that she had no makeup, and settled for a generous coat of lip gloss. Then Eve slid on her sunglasses, shouldered her bag, and exited the restroom.

Eve glanced at the flight schedule clock which read 6:30
P.M
. With not a clue as to where she was going, she checked the departures that were scheduled to leave soon. Brandon was in Hawaii, she thought, Andrew was in London, and she had been dying to go to the Bahamas. She shrugged and with destination still unknown, she headed for the ticket counter.

With ticket finally in hand, she rode the escalator to the second level where she made a phone call. When no one answered she hastily sent a text.

Saddled with only her purse, Eve breezed through the screening process and made her way to the departure gates. Her flight was already boarding as she made her way to the plane. Once inside it, Eve took her seat against the window, turned off her cell phone, and leaned her head back against the headrest. Not interested in the flight attendant-hype or the information regarding the weather she would encounter once she landed, Eve closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep before takeoff.

Eve
had slept through the entire flight, awaking only when she felt the sudden jolt of the landing gear touching the ground. It had taken her a few moments to get her bearings and remember where she was, but once her head had cleared, recollection of the day’s past events came rushing back like a tsunami. Despite the hours upon hours of sleep she’d managed during the flight, she still had a nauseating ache in the pit of her stomach, and her head hurt like hell.

Nothing she did seemed to alleviate the pain she felt both inside and out. Although what happened between Amber and Chase happened before her and technically couldn’t be considered an affair, Olivia was the product of a lie in which Eve wasn’t sure she could ever forgive either of them for.

Waiting until the last passenger had exited the plane, Eve rose from her seat. She walked down the aisle and out of the plane, oblivious of the young flight attendant who encouraged her to have a great stay. Inside the terminal, she slowly made her way through the crowd of tourists, past the boarding gates, down the escalator, past baggage claim, and finally out to the arrival curb.

Eve was still wearing her sunglasses, which she adjusted when she noticed a group of women pointing in her direction.

“Nosy bitches . . .” she mumbled under her breath, quickly realizing she didn’t have the strength to actually confront anyone else.

Now a celebrity, she had accepted the fact that she was vulnerable to the public attention she had fought so hard to avoid, even though at the moment, she really just wanted to be left the fuck alone.

Eve glanced at her reflection in the terminal window. A BeBe jogging suit, Prada bag, and no makeup, really? In fact, she looked exactly like she did just a few years ago when she was caught fashion slipping in LAX. Right now, however, she didn’t give a shit about how she looked or what anyone thought about how she looked. With her heart aching like it was, she knew that if anyone was really paying attention, the only thing they’d truly notice was the pain that covered her entire being—an outfit that was ultimately universal.

Eve rubbed her temples in an effort to distract the pain. She pressed harder, thinking how perfect it would be if she could rub away her thoughts until she eventually erased the memory of the day altogether. She would like to forget that she had attacked her husband and her best friend. And she would definitely like to forget that she had handed the keys to her prized Bentley to a perfect stranger and boarded a plane without so much as packing a pair of underwear. But even more important, she would like to erase every recollection of the fact that her husband and best friend had a seven-year-old daughter together!

“What a fucking nightmare,” Eve sighed.

Once outside the terminal she watched nervously as cars pulled up to the curb and left. It suddenly dawned on her that she had no idea what kind of car she should be looking for. Eve turned on her cell phone, and it lit up like a Christmas tree. She had eight missed calls and eight messages. Chase, Jai, Callie, and Jackie were obviously trying to find her. There was no call from Amber, but then again, she hadn’t expected one.

Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, Eve peered over her shoulder. She had mixed emotions. Up until now, Eve was notorious
for keeping herself guarded and protected from any sort of pain. Her wall of life was as tall and strong as an oak tree, which Amber and Chase managed to just chop down. Although she fought them, her stubborn tears managed a victory she couldn’t deny.

Quickly she wiped them away. She didn’t want to be standing there looking like a soggy bag lady, but at the same time, she was not looking forward to another confrontation.

In deep thought, Eve didn’t notice the white Range Rover when it pulled up to the curb. Nor did she notice the slender well-dressed driver and woman as they exited and made their way around the vehicle. Eve had no idea how long she had been standing there, but her heart skipped a beat as she saw her. Eve was sure that nothing would ever make her happier than the sight of Nadia Inez and the welcoming smile that was on her face. She would soon prove to be wrong, however, as her whole body trembled with joy at the sight of her mother’s outstretched, forgiving arms.

Eve walked the short distance to her mother. With each step she remembered every word her mother had ever spoken to her about love and loss. For years, she quested to prove her mother wrong as it related to dating or dealing with an athlete, and, as she thought about it, perhaps what her mother was saying wasn’t about athletes at all.

“Love is about divine order. It starts with God, then with you, and opens itself up to others. In order to have true, unconditional love, you’ve got to follow that order precisely. Anything else with anyone else will never work.”
Eve’s face flushed with tears as she remembered her mother Nadia’s words. All this time she’d gotten it wrong!

As she came face-to-face with Nadia, she realized she was at a complete loss. She tried to speak, but for the first time, the tough, self-assured, hard-hitting words didn’t come. She was tired, tired of being in charge, tired of being in control, tired of being the rock. Eve had given her heart and soul to her husband and The Wives Association, and she was exhausted, both emotionally and physically. One by one, she had been there for them, but when her world had come crumbling
down, she had not been able to trust that they would be there for her. For years, her mother had tried to instill an unshakable strength in her for such a time as this, and instead of embracing it and her, Eve deprived herself of her mother’s wisdom as well as her presence.

Eve took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly, fighting to find an inkling of bravery she prayed existed somewhere inside of herself. When she opened them, she realized that try as she might, deep down and in this moment she did not want to be brave. She did not want to be tough, hard, or any of the words associated with strength. Eve wrapped her arms around her mother, allowed the floodgates to open . . . and cried.

As she clung to her mother, she prayed Psalms 30:5, a prayer she’d learned as a child. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Eve recited those words over and over again in her head.

There was no making sense of anything. As protected as she prided herself on being, nothing could have prepared her for the level of betrayal she’d just experienced. With the battle lines already established, loyalty had been breached and every line of trust and love, honor and truth had been crossed. She’d lost!

“I promise you,
mija,
you
will
be okay!” Nadia whispered into Eve’s ear.

She nodded and wept some more, hoping her mother’s words and those from Psalms 30:5 would somehow ring true. If weeping was said to last only for a night, she hoped that joy would fulfill its promise and find its way back to her . . . in the morning.

Epilogue

Eve
arched her back to stay in rhythm as her body slowly began to remember the familiar waves of ecstasy she was experiencing. It had been way too long since she had felt this much passion, and she wanted it to last forever. She closed her eyes, still trying to believe that this was happening. Her mother was right, she thought, as her mind drifted to their recent conversation.