Tainted Love (Sweetest Taboo #2) (24 page)

A date? Someone he was expecting over for dinner?

I bit my bottom lip, trying valiantly to stifle the sob I felt clinging to my throat. Maybe it was innocent? Just a friend, a cousin, or even a babysitter? I’d never asked Tom what his co-parenting schedule was like and when he had custody of his girls, but I knew that he shared custody and that he did have them over several times a week.

When she stepped out of the car, though, my heart stopped. It wasn’t a family member, it wasn’t a colleague, it was a beautiful woman I had never seen before. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled up in a lazy ponytail, her long legs in fitted jeans, her voluptuous breasts covered by an oversized, off the shoulder sweater. I was too far away to tell, but I assumed this young woman had left her cheerleading skirt at home. One of the cheerleaders, I thought jumping to conclusions without even seeing her face. She glanced out toward the road, trying to decide whether any neighbors noticed her arrival, I either rightly or wrongly concluded, and then darted toward the front door. As she dashed off, she reached into her purse and took something out and held it in her hand until reaching the front door. What she had in her hand was a key to Tom’s house, to my house, to
our
house! She slid the key into the lock and let herself in.

Liz and I watched the scene unfold speechlessly, not knowing what to say, as the woman I assumed to be one of those cheerleaders that Vicky had told me about walked through the front door. The young woman’s shadow appeared at the window in the living room and into the dining room. There she met Tom’s shadow, which folded her into a hug, albeit a brief one. Moments later their shadows disappeared into the next room and they were out of sight.

My heart shattered into a thousand pieces as tears began to trickle down my stark-pale cheeks. Liz snorted. “Well you’d think he would at least be more discrete about it. I guess that answers that question!” She started the car, not bothering to ask me whether I was ready to leave. She knew, as I did, that there was no point in staying any longer.

“Iz, are you okay?” she asked quietly, pulling a U-turn and moving quickly away from Tom’s house and down the street.

I took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to control my thoughts and emotions. Of all the things I’d thought I would see here, this never crossed my mind. I had never stopped to consider that I might come back to find him… to find him…

A sob broke from my chest, and I clutched at my face, horrified. How could he have done this to me? Days ago, he was asking me to come home for Christmas, and now that he knew I had to stay in DC, he was bringing one of those cheerleaders over? He’d already replaced me, already moved on? And in
our
house, no less?

Finally I sat up, my shoulders shaking with my sobs, and tried to think rationally.

“I’ll be fine, Liz,” I sniffled.

She looked at me with that maternal care in her soft brown eyes, which were slightly moist from an escaped tear or two, “Izzy, what are you going to do now?”

The answer, I realized, was simple. If Tom was going to replace me that easily, I could do exactly the same thing to him, and I already had a contender waiting for me to signal him with a green light.

“I’m going to do the thing I should have done before coming back here…” I responded angrily, punching numbers into my phone. “Before I spent my money on a plane ticket, and nearly trashed my reputation and my relationship with my family for someone who obviously wouldn’t have appreciated it. For someone who probably never even loved me!” I held the phone up to my ear and waited for him to pick up. “Hello?” his voice asked.

Without thinking or offering any explanations, I blurted out, “Marcus, is it too late to take you up on that invitation?” I paused, listening, and smiled in relief. “Okay, I’ll catch the first flight out tomorrow morning.”

Epilogue

A
s I sat on the Southwest airliner, still shuddering from the sleepless night of sobbing, all I wanted was to be as far away as humanly possible from Tom. I’d cried all the way back to the airport this morning, and knew that I would start crying again at the drop of a hat. I’d taken one look at myself in the mirror of my compact and shut it immediately, unwilling to deal with the wreckage of my face. As soon as the plane ascended and the flight attendant offered the first round of drinks, I would be dulling the pain of being awake with another lovely pink Benadryl.

The last thing I wanted was to stay awake for the flight, thinking about Tom and Christine had been up to. That demure cheerleader, the one I had been unable to get out of my head, had gone into Tom’s house, and been led deeper into the interior by Tom himself. I felt like a fool for having had faith in him, for having believed that he would never be involved with a student or any other woman for that matter, when he had professed his love and commitment to me. But, the scene I witnessed the night before left little to the imagination. I couldn’t bring myself to believe in his innocence, not after that.

I signaled to the flight attendant and asked her to bring me a glass of merlot, and mentally thanked myself for having the courage to buy a fake ID during orientation week at Lincoln University. I wanted to sleep, and quickly. I didn’t want to entertain any more thoughts about Tom and Christine. I was on my way to meet Marcus in DC and to join him on a flight to Paris, and though I wasn’t completely sold on spending Christmas away from my family, I knew that it would be a more effective distraction than sitting at my parents’ house and wondering what Tom and Christine were up to in the next town over. I cringed at the thought.

Tom. The name brought with it a wide range of emotions, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t quite sort them out. I was in love with him, I knew that much. I’d thought that we were destined to be together, and that we’d find a way to make things work. I had come back to California to announce our relationship, to protect him from the rumors, and the fabricated allegations. And what I’d seen…

I gazed out the window, willing my eyes to close and for Benadryl to work its magic. What I had witnessed was too painful to think about and analyze, and the sooner I stopped thinking about it, the better I would feel and the sooner I would move on with my life.

***

Tom was annoyed that Danielle had let herself into the house with the spare key she had demanded
in case of an emergency
, she had said. He wasn’t completely satisfied with her justification for needing a key to his new house, but he had given her the key anyway, just to appease her. Tom and Danielle were divorced so he had to learn to stop giving in to her whims just to appease her, as he had done during his entire marriage. Irritated, he gave Danielle a half-hearted hug, for the benefit of the girls who were still having some trouble accepting the divorce, while leading her to the bedroom the girls shared. Fortunately, the girls were all packed and ready to go by the time Danielle greeted them in their room.

Tom ushered Danielle and the girls down the hallway, to the foyer, through the front door and to the driveway, their arms loaded down with presents. Once the girls were comfortably seated in Danielle’s sedan, he waved goodbye and walked back to the house, shutting the door behind him. Sighing, he leaned back against the doorframe, listening. With the girls gone, the house was deathly quiet, unnervingly so, and he felt more alone than ever. He couldn’t keep them any longer, though – he’d already had them for a full week, and the agreement with Danielle had been for them to alternate the holidays. This was his year for Thanksgiving and Easter, so he’d had to give the girls back to his ex-wife for Christmas.

Without the girls, Tom would be completely alone for Christmas. This would take some getting used to, he thought to himself. He opened his eyes and walked slowly into the living room, where he turned the lights on to the Christmas tree. Alone on Christmas, and no hope of anything changing any time soon. Tom had hoped that Isabel would be in town for the holidays, but she’d emailed several days earlier, telling him not to expect her. She had to work, and couldn’t get the holiday break off. This was nothing new or surprising since Isabel had blown other trips off as well, though he was still hopeful that she would change her mind. He even thought about calling the bookstore and speaking to her supervisor about giving her at least one week off to spend Christmas back home with her family, but that would have been crazy. Feeling dejected and lonely, he put those thoughts aside and focused on bigger issues. If only Isabel was here.

The dreaded cheerleader trio, led by their abrasive ringleader, had indeed gone to the school district representatives with their lies. As required by law, the police department launched an investigation and questioned not only Tom, but also his colleagues, district administrators, and students in his classes as well as girls on the cheer squad. Tom had spent over a decade committed to teaching, going out of his way to help every student who crossed his path, both in their academic careers but also by serving as a supportive mentor when the need arose. He had never received a single parental complaint and the majority of his students commended him for being one of the best teachers they’d ever had. And yet here he was having to face grave allegations, accusations that could ruin his career, because of the immaturity and senselessness of a group of cheerleaders. Mr. Peterson, the band teacher, was already involved in a messy case of his own. Like Tom, Mr. Peterson was maintaining his innocence and asserting that the girls making the allegations against him were being dishonest and fabricating stories.

Things had changed so much since his father taught high school several decades ago. The world was no longer the innocent, straightforward place it had once been. Tom didn’t know who he could trust, or who he could talk to about this mess. He was a good man, he thought to himself, a good father, a good provider and even tried to do the right thing by his ex-wife and Isabel, and yet he felt like he was being punished. Maybe I should be punished, Tom thought at times, knowing that the relationship he had with Isabel was illegal. But he always nixed those thoughts, because to Tom, his relationship with Isabel had been different, pure, and he had truly been in love with her (and still was!) in spite of the uncomfortable circumstances.

Isabel was his only strength and thinking of her now made him feel like he could almost face the next day of questioning, of ridicule, of rumors, and of torment. Tom’s world revolved around Isabel, around the plans he wanted to make with her, around the wedding they would one day have, the kids, the future…

Clearly that wasn’t going to happen now, Tom thought, as he walked impatiently toward the front window, looking through the curtains and down the street. No matter how many times he reminded himself that she’d refused to come, he couldn’t help hoping that Isabel would show up. As a surprise. As his Christmas present.

The street outside was depressingly empty, though, just as it had been before. He was still alone and still completely in love with a girl who was slowly distancing herself from him. There was nothing he could do now. The only person in his life he had ever loved, the only one he could not live without had shunned him – and over the holidays no less, which made it even worse. These were supposed to be happy times, but yet to Tom, the minutes seemed like days, the days seemed like weeks. They were all filled with despair, anger and hurt, and at the loss of his true love. Tom began to draw conclusions. Isabel was probably with another man, he thought. That disturbing thought and the impending criminal case against him were just too much to take. It had been a rough semester, one he didn’t deserve. Tom had never felt so unstable before; he felt like his life was falling apart. He now understood how his friend, accused of similar false offenses felt when he loaded that gun, and walked to the shade tree in the backyard of his childhood home and shot himself, forever ending his pain, his suffering and his life.  But that’s the coward’s way out, Tom thought, it only hurts those who are left behind. But the thought just kept creeping back in.
I’ve lost all that I’ve lived for and all that I love,
Tom thought,
and maybe, just maybe, life isn’t really worth living any longer.

Time After Time

I
n the final book of the
Sweetest Taboo Series
by Eva Márquez, Isabel learns the truth about Tom Stevens and her life is forever changed.

Visit the official author website at Eva-Marquez.com to read the first two chapters of
Time After Time
, available for download in September 2013.

About the Author

B
orn in Buenos Aires, Argentina, daughter of European immigrants, Eva Márquez has spent most of her life outside of her home country. At the age of five, Eva accompanied her parents to the United States, where the family settled permanently. After graduating from college, she went on to complete graduate studies in International Relations in Spain. Eva received her Master of International Studies degree from the University of Sydney and her Doctorate in Public Health from Flinders University in South Australia. She has worked in the global health field in Sub Saharan Africa and South East Asia for nearly a decade. Eva currently resides in Southern Africa with her young daughter.