My Sunshine (17 page)

“So which one is
John?” Chloe asked. It was the next afternoon, and she was at Jane’s house for a bridal luncheon for Shannon. The other guest had already left, leaving her alone with Jane, Shannon, Dana and Christine. As always, the conversation between the five women had turned to the men in their lives.

“What do you mean?”
Jane replied.

“You know,”
Chloe said. “In these groups there’s always a cute one, and a wild one, and a funny one. Which one is John?”

The other three glanced around at each other. “Well, he’s
not the virgin,” Dana said, joking. Everyone laughed, and even Chloe managed a smile. She was used to the cracks about John’s past behavior, but it still made her a little uncomfortable.

Will started crying and
Jane’s phone rang at the same time. “I’ll get Will,” Dana offered. Jane took her phone into the next room to answer it.

Shannon took her glasses off and laid them down on the
coffee table. “Listen Chloe, I know that we don’t know each other that well and all, but I just want to tell you that I try to tell it like it is. I generally don’t hold back much.”

“Yeah? Is there something you want to say?” She squirmed
and glanced at Christine, who also shifted uncomfortably.

“
John is a player, honey. I love him to death, but he’s more into quantity than quality. Tell, her Christine.”

“Well, he has been with a lot of women.”

“Are you saying that he’s seeing other girls?” Chloe asked.

Shannon shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t say for sure. It
would surprise me if he hasn’t.”

“I don’t know,”
Christine said, with a shake of her head. “I haven’t seen him with anyone.”

Shannon frowned at
Christine and waved her off. “She won’t say anything bad; she’s too nice.”

“I haven't,”
Christine argued. “I don’t see the point in this.”

Shannon ignored her. “I’ve never seen him go this long just
seeing one person. Even Dennis said that it was unbelievable.

And when something appears to be unbelievable it usually is.

He did go home with Benice Bakersfield after Mike’s party.”

Christine
stood up. “This is stupid,” she said. “You don’t know, Shannon. He said he nothing happened.” She stomped off in the direction Dana had gone.

Chloe
sank back in the overstuffed chair and thought about what Shannon had said. “So do you think I’m a fool? Do you think he’s going to make a fool of me?”

“I don’t know. But to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t get my
hopes up.”

Jane
came back into the room. “That was Mary.”

“See,” Shannon said, “the
re’s my point. He had sex with a married woman just for the thrill of it.”

“What are you talking about?”
Jane said. Dana and

Christine
came back in the room.

“She’s telling
Chloe all this bad stuff about John,” Christine said. “Now she wants to bring up Mary?”

“I’m not saying bad stuff. I’m telling the truth. Isn’t it true
that he was sleeping with several different women on the road crew while they were on tour? Not to mention all the groupies.”

She shook her head. “I just don’t buy that he’s being faithful
now.” She looked at Chloe. “It’s not you. John probably doesn’t even realize he’s doing anything wrong.”

“He’s not doing anything wrong,”
Jane argued. “Why are you saying all this?” She shot a glance at Dana who had been Shannon’s best friend since childhood.

“Shannon, stop,” Dana said.

Chloe stood up. “I think I’m going home now.”

“Don’t go,”
Jane said. “John loves you.” She sent a nasty glance in Shannon's direction. “Don’t go.”

Chloe
glanced at Shannon and shook her head. “I just need to go. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” She hurried out to her car
.
See stupid, Johndoesn’t care anything about you. He’
s
just using you for sex, but he was Smith enough to move you in so he could get it any time he wants it. His friends even sa
y
so.

By the time she got home, the voice had convinced her that
everything Shannon had said was true. She pulled her suitcase out of her closet and began packing.

“What are you doing?” John asked, coming into the room.

Chloe
was zipping her suitcase. “Where are you going?”

Chloe
looked at him, her eyes red and swollen. She had obviously been crying for a while. “I’m going home, back to Canton.”

“What? Why? Did something happen? Do you need me
to go with you?” He assumed her sudden departure would have to be because of some sort of emergency.

“No, I don’t need you to go with me,” she snapped, her eyes
suddenly filled with rage. “And if you really need to know what’s going on, why don’t you ask your friend Shannon.” A car horn blew outside. “That’s my taxi.” She pushed past John.

He grabbed her arm, causing her to drop the suitcase.

“What the hell is going on here?”

“It’s just not working,
John.” She pulled away from him.

“I’ll send for the rest of my things.” She left the house, leaving
him standing dumbfounded in the hallway.

He ran to the living room and watched the taxi pull away.

He ran out the door and jumped into his car and followed the taxi. He dialed Shannon’s number. Dennis answered.

“Let me talk to Shannon,”
John commanded.

“Why? She’s not here. She had to go into work for a little
while to finish up something before the honeymoon.”

John
clicked off the phone without speaking another word.

He followed the taxi up to the curb at the airport. He jumped
out of the car to confront Chloe again. He grabbed her by the elbow, making a nearby police officer take notice.

“Let go of me,
John, or so help me I’ll have you arrested.”

He let go. “
Chloe, what happened? Have you gone

crazy? What’s this all about?”

He called you crazy! John knows you’re crazy. You’re done now, banana-brain.

“Just let me go,
John. I need some time.”

He stepped back and held his hands up. “Okay. I love you,
you know that.”

She clenched her jaw to stop the tears. “Just go back home.”

A helpless feeling gnawed at his stomach as he watched her disappear into the crowd. He jumped back in his car and drove to the office building where Shannon worked.

He didn’t knock before entering her office. She was
standing at a table looking over some plans with her boss. John didn’t say a word and he stood near the door with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Can you excuse us for a minute, Mr. Lloyd?” Shannon
said, obvious confusion on her face.

“Sure,” the older man said. “It’s about time for a smoke
break.”

Shannon waited until Mr. Lloyd had left the room. “What
are you doing here, John?”

“What did you say to
Chloe?”

“What do you…”

John held up his hand, cutting her off. “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. What did you say to her about me.”

“I didn’t tell her anything that wasn’t true. Why? Is she
mad? Did y’all fight about it?”

“I don’t know if she’s mad or not, Shannon. She’s gone.

She left. She packed her stuff and she left me. I just watched her get on a fucking airplane. What are you trying to do to me?”

“I’m not doing anything to you,
John. I just think she

needed to be warned. She’s a nice girl. She’s naïve and
innocent and inexperienced. I just don’t want her to get hurt.”

“What about me? You don’t care if I get hurt? Besides,
I’m not going to hurt her. I love her. Don’t you get that? Now I’m going to lose her because you could keep your big fat mouth shut. Dammit, Shannon, what am I supposed to do now?”

Shannon shook her head. “So you haven’t been sleeping
with anyone else?”

“No! Jeez, no! Not since….” He paused. “Not since

September. Way before I even asked her to move in. I haven’t even thought about it.”

“Not even with
Benice Bakersfield? After Mike’s party? Or Monica Williams when you went to LA with her?”

“No!”
John shook his head. “You know, Chloe and I

were doing just fine. What the hell were you trying to fix? You
should have never butted in.”

“I know,
John. I’m sorry.” She rubbed her forehead. “I’m sorry,” she said again.

“Your being sorry is not going to fix this. I just wanted you
to know.” He left the building and got into his car. He dialed Christine’s cell phone number. Chloe would talk to Christine before anyone else.

“Hello?”

“Christine, Chloe’s on her way back to Canton. She’s at the airport. You have to stop her.”

“What? Why? Is it because of Shannon?”

“You know about that?”

“I was there,
John. I don’t know what Shannon was thinking. I tried to stop her.”

“Can you call her please,
Christine? Just tell her that I want her to come back. Tell her I love her.”

“Sure,
John. I’ll call you back.”

John
drove back to the house. His cell phone rang as he was letting himself into back door.

“I called her,
John,” Christine said. “She’s acted like she didn’t want to talk to me. She’s already on the plane and she said she’s not coming back.”

“Did she say why?”

“She said that you know why.”

“I don’t understand. What did Shannon say?”

“She implied that you were probably still sleeping around, and then Mary called and, oh, it was bad. Poor Chloe was just blindsided.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do?”
John cried. “I can’t change the past.”

“I don’t know,
John. I’ll try talking to her again.”

“Thanks.”

He clicked off the phone and sat down on the couch. The house already seemed so empty. He wanted to chase her, but something kept him in his seat. He threw his head back on the couch. “Oh Lord,” he prayed aloud. “Please help me.”

His cell phone rang again. The caller ID alerted him that it
was Bright. “Hey, man. What’s up?”

“Nothing good, man.
Chloe’s gone.”

“What do you mean, she’s gone?”

“She went back to North Carolina. She got mad and left.”

“Mad at what?”

“Shannon told her that I was probably cheating on her. I guess she believed her.” John shook his head. “It’s crap, man.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, Mike. Should I go after her?”

“What exactly happened?”

“Chloe was with at your house with the girls. Anyway, Shannon told her that I was more than likely cheating on her because that’s the kind of guy I am. She wouldn’t really say for sure what was said, but she mentioned Mary and Tommy somewhere in there. Then, she started packing her stuff and

left.”

“Have you been cheating on her?”

John
rolled his eyes, not that Bright could see it. “Damn, is that the impression you all have of me?” It was a rhetorical question. He knew what other people thought of him. He saw himself in the tabloids, and he was well aware of what his past said about him.