The Life List (The List Trilogy) (37 page)

Normally the thought of my co-workers knowing I’m an adulterer would bother me but right now it takes backseat to the fact that once Megan finds out about my marriage, she’ll tell Leo about it. It’s definitely not the way I wanted all this to go down and trust me, since the Megan interview, I’ve toyed with the idea of telling Leo I’m married myself just to beat the bitch to it. But I can’t find the right words. I mean, the night of my surprise party, the only truth Leo knew was that Kurt threw it for me and that was cause enough for him to reject me. If he knew I was married to the man, how could I hope for a better reaction than the one he had that night? I can’t, and so it looks like Megan will have the last laugh after all. Maybe I’ll get lucky and Leo will punch her in the face for being the bearer of bad news! Fortunately for me, I have another week to contemplate the fall out of Megan’s arrival, and right now all I want to do is enjoy how temporarily uncomplicated my life is. And what a nice uncomplicated four hours it was.

As I’m leaving the office to pick up some lunch, a sharply dressed man catches my eye and not because I’m looking for some action. He just seems out of place. He’s in the parking lot with another interesting looking dude, and they’re talking to a girl who works in the production department. They clearly aren’t associated with the garment industry, as they’re not Jewish or Chinese. These guys have on expensive suits, dark sunglasses, and drive a black Range Rover with the most tinted windows I’ve ever seen. Once in the car, the guy in the passenger seat rolls down his window and gives something to the production chick. Then he turns to look at me and stares at me until the car makes a left turn and drives out of sight. I follow his gaze until I nearly fall over.

“Hey Chrissy, do you have a minute?”

“Only a minute, what’s up?”

I love acting busy when I’m not.

“That guy I was talking to wants you to call him.”

“
The black guy
?! Sorry, but I’m not down with the brown. I mean, I like plenty of black people. You know Oprah, Denzel, Chris Rock… they’re all cool, but I wouldn’t date any of them. Well, maybe Oprah because she’s loaded…but no, no not even her. Sorry.”

“No, not the black guy. The other one. He asked me to give this to you.”

She hands me a business card and it reads:

Mark Wisely, Attorney at Law Beverly Hills, California
.

On the back he wrote:

I’d love to have a drink with you. I’m in town ‘til Tuesday
.

“Uhhhh…first things first, what do you need an attorney for?”

“I’m trying to keep it hush-hush, but I got my third D.U.I. last month. The black dude’s my lawyer, and he works for Mark’s firm. Mark’s in town for a bigger case. I think he’s the defense lawyer for that pre-school teacher who was drunk at work and killed a three-year-old.”

“Jesus, who’d wanna defend someone like that?”

“I don’t know, but he’s hella fine. Hey, I’m not gonna get fired because of my D.U.I.’s, am I?”

“Only if you go to jail and you can’t do your job.” And then I drove off.

By no means is Leo a thing of the past to me and trust me, I’ve been resisting every urge to enroll in an economics class at St. Mary’s, join his gym, or pop into The Round Up for a beer just to catch a glimpse of him. Even though I know he’s mad at me and he has some kind of super ability to cut people out of his life, I don’t think he can cut me out. I’m special to him. He told me so. He showed me so. And I think if I found him, he’d give me another chance. But I also think Taddeo’s right; I have too much baggage and way more baggage than he’s even aware of…for another week anyway. Yes, yes, yes, staying away is what’s best for Leo. But it’s also really hard to convince myself of all that when I live so close to him now. And to compound the torture of being so close, yet so far away from him, I remind myself that he’s probably seeing other people. That’s usually about the time I open my second bottle of wine and break out my vibrator (yeah, picked up one of those bad boys a while back). But not tonight. Tonight I break out Mark Wisely’s card and give him a call.

Mark’s an interesting guy. He’s a big time criminal defense attorney and has defended some super bad people and right now he really is defending a woman who killed a kid because she was drunk. It’s all reprehensible stuff, but I can’t help but be curious about all of it and that’s why I take him up on his offer to meet for a drink… tonight…at eleven. I pull up to the Lafayette Park Hotel and valet my car at the same time his chauffer-driven Town Car pulls up. I immediately second guess my nonchalant decision to wear a baseball hat, jeans, and old college sweatshirt because everything about Mark is put together like he’s James Bond or something. I’m instantly intimidated
and
intrigued.

“Just so you know, I don’t usually get out of bed to meet someone for drinks at eleven on a Tuesday.”

“Just so you know, I don’t usually ask women to do that, and I appreciate you working around my schedule. I’m tied up in court for the next two days, and then I have to head back to L.A. I really wanted to meet you before I left.”

“
Okay
…Why?”

“You’re beautiful, but not L.A. beautiful.”

“Whoa!” His comment makes me look at my boobs.

“No, no I mean that in a good way. There are plenty of beautiful women in Los Angeles but not many
smart
beautiful women. The girl who works for you… she said some impressive things about you.”

Nice save. I think.

Turns out Mark’s thirty-five and doesn’t date a lot and not because he’s too busy. He’s kinda shy. He has a house in Beverly Hills, one in Palm Springs, and one in Maui. He also has a Harley, a Porsche, an Escalade and some other new fan-dangled hybrid car (whatever the hell that is). The dude’s loaded. This is about the time most girls would get all wet and giddy about the gold mine of a guy sitting across from them. They’d be adding up the assets and already excusing his inevitable adultery. But Mark’s money isn’t what I find intriguing; it’s what he does
to get all the money
that I’m curious about. He defends the worst of the worst, people
he has to know
are guilty, just for the thrill of the win and the money. He has no problem with any of the negative connotations about his profession, and he’s quick to say, “If I didn’t do it, someone else would”. He’s brutally honest and he kinda reminds me of an older Leo, which makes me sad. I don’t want to be sad, so I drink…heavily. Soon I’m feeling pretty comfortable around Mark and I spill the beans (and a few drops of my drink) about being recently separated from my husband who I was cheating on. It’s the first time I blurted out the truth to anyone other than my friends and THE DUDE DIDN’T EVEN BAT AN EYE. Gosh, maybe I
could
date him. Maybe Mark and I could be the happy piece of crap couple who shamelessly does shitty things to innocent undeserving people because we’re selfish and greedy. Of course, I’d rather be a happy piece of crap couple with Leo but that toilet has long since flushed. And with that thought, I’m sad again. So I tell Mark it’s time for me to leave.

“Would you like to have dinner with me this weekend?”

Can I really do that?

“I think I can do that.”

“Would you be interested in having it in Maui?”

“
Excuse me
?”

“I was planning on taking a long weekend.  I could just fly you up.” I’m fairly certain it looks like a broom just got shoved up my ass because he’s quick with a comfort comeback.

“Don’t worry, you’d have your own room and everything! You can even bring a friend if it makes you more comfortable.”

“Mark, I just met you like five minutes ago. I can’t accept a plane ticket to Maui!”

“I’d fly back here if I could, but I already have some meetings lined up there. You don’t have to let me know right now. Think about it.”

As he walks me to the valet, he loosens his tie, and like a meteor crashing into the hotel, a blast of red, yellow, and orange stops me in my tracks.

“Holy crap, what’s that?”

“Oh these- tattoos.”

“On your neck?”

“And on my torso and back too. Does it weird you out?”

Fuck yeah it does.

“No, not at all.”

He explains that the monstrosity all started with one small tattoo when he got his Harley and soon they became an addiction. He’s not really sure when or if he can stop getting them. I can relate; I’m an addict too. When the valet pulls my car up, he gives me a weird kiss, and I hope to all that’s Holy, he can’t tell how shocked I am. I’d like to be sorta cool about this. Dude’s got cash and wants to fly me places! I watch him get into his car and shake my head. I can’t go to Maui with a rich guy this weekend,
can I
? This is madness, I’m still married
and
in love with someone else. Dr. Maria would have a field day with this! I tuck myself into bed, and all I can think about is the funny conversation about tattoos I had with Leo the night we met. It makes me laugh and cry all at the same time.

Aloha

December, 1998

“Hell yeah, you’re going!”

“I can’t.”

“Tell me one good reason why you can’t go.”

“I’m in love with Leo.”

I regretted saying the words the minute they left my mouth.

“Hunny…sweetie…he moved on. Has he called you in the last three months?”

“No. But maybe--”

“For fuck sake, would you listen to yourself? You’re holding out for something
that’s never gonna happen
. Maui though, that can happen!”

“Gimme a break, what kind of guy takes a girl he barely knows to Maui?”

“Duh, a rich guy who thinks you’re hot! Didn’t he email you and ask you for the correct spelling of your name?”

“Yeah…so?”

“So he probably needed it to buy an airline ticket!”

“The whole thing is nuts.”

“
Ummmm
, did he also ask for the name of a friend you might want to bring?”

“Uh-huh.”

I want to slap her six ways from silly to get her to stop bouncing up and down on the chair.

“Did you give him my name?!”

“What do you think?”

“Omigod, this is gonna be so awesome!”

“Keep your yoga pants on, that was like two days ago, and I bet L.A. boy forgot all about it by now.”

Just then, my assistant knocks on my door and attempts to hand me a FedEx envelope, but Slutty Co-worker snaps it from her before I can even get my hand in the air. She’s waving it around like a possessed woman fanning herself at a hot Baptist Church in the deep South.

“Looky here, it’s from a Mr. Mark Wisley! Open it! Open it!”

“Oh for the love of God, give it to me.” I rip open the envelope and out floats two first class tickets to Maui and a note.

Chrissy, I want to get to know you better. Meet me in Maui.

Aloha, Mark

“Holy shit, this is insane! Does he think I’m some kind of Los Angeles Playboy hoochy koochy who will put out for a free trip to Maui kinda girl? Seriously, what would it say about me if I went?”

“
Ummmmm
, it would say you’re fun and spontaneous! Jesus, you don’t have to marry the guy. Oh wait, can’t do that anyway, you’re already married. Okay, you don’t have to sleep with him, although I would. I mean, look at all the expense he’s going through just to have dinner with you. Yep, you should definitely sleep with him.”

“I’M NOT SLEEPING WITH HIM! He’s covered in tattoos from his dimples to his dick!”

“Fine, I’ll sleep with him if you take me with you.”

“I have no doubt. Look, give me some time to think about this, and I’ll call you tonight to let you know if you should pack.”

“Yay!”

“Now get outta my office!”

Holding the tickets in one hand and tapping the fingers of the other on my desk, my gaze turns to the phone. It’s been about a week since I listened to Leo’s messages, and no doubt I’ve been better off without the torment it so often causes me, but like always, my curiosity gets the best of me. I dial his number and enter the secret code.

“
You have one new message, sent today at two twelve p.m… Hey, it’s Ho-Bag. I’ll be at The Round Up around nine. Later
.”

Fingers still tapping, I have a thought. I press Slutty Co-worker’s extension.

“What are you doing tonight?”

“Duh.  Packing, remember?”

“I’ll tell you what. You come with me to The Round Up and if we don’t see Leo, we’ll go to Maui.”

“Oh, cripes, what if we do see him?”

“I’m not sure, but I’ll tell you one thing, I won’t be in any mood to go to Maui.”

“What is it with you and that boy?”

“I don’t know, ask my grandpa.” And then I hang up on her.

I get home from work and have two messages from Kurt. I have to stay at the house next weekend to watch the dog and I have to cut him a check for half the bills. I feel terrible that I left him with an entire household to take care of, but even so, I hate getting pulled back into the responsibility. I’M SO SICK OF RESPONSIBILITY. That being said, maybe I should be spontaneous and go to Maui. I’ll let Leo be the answer to that. A shower and a glass of wine later, a very annoyed Slutty Co-worker arrives to pick me up. Ten minutes later, we park at The Round Up right next to Leo’s jeep. Slutty Co-worker is not a happy girl.

“Great. So I guess this means no Maui.”

“Would you like to go to Korea instead?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“The Ho-Bag’s in there with him.”

“Very funny. So what’s your big plan?”

“I don’t have one. You wanted me to be spontaneous, right? Come on, let’s go.”

Okay, The Round Up is quite possibly the grossest bar I’ve ever been in. Once inside the saloon doors, we’re stared down by a couple of fat girls with pierced belly-divulging tee shirts. They’re trying to sing
Baby Got Back
on karaoke and the vision is quite scary. I’m gonna take a moment away from my quest to find Leo to ponder the horrific style choices of today’s youth. Who the hell is giving these kids the idea that it’s okay to be fat and expose their flesh? In the fashion industry, we don’t glamorize chicks like these by calling them “curvy” or “real women.” We call ‘em what they are. FAT! Anyway…