Part 17
"Breakfast is ready." Tom placed a box of bagels and donuts on Cassy's
kitchen table.
"You know, Tom, when you suggested meeting for breakfast before work, I
didn't realize you meant here." She grabbed a donut and stared wistfully at
Tom's coffee cup. She couldn't remember the last time she had a cup of
coffee.
She poured herself a glass of milk. "So tell me Thomas, what brings you to
my kitchen at this hour of the morning?"
"Two reasons. First one, to bring you breakfast. You haven't been eating
properly."
"What are you talking about? I eat breakfast every morning."
"You eat a candy bar every morning. You needed something more
nutritious."
"You call donuts and bagels nutritious?"
"It was on the way here. At least it's better than a candy bar."
"Mmm." She grabbed another donut but put it back. No need to add on extra
weight when the baby was doing that just fine. "What was the other reason
for this early morning visit?"
"I had an idea for finding out if Dr. Sanchez is in this with Dr. Reed."
"Okay, how?"
"Denise Tucker."
"Denise Tucker? My old friend Denise Tucker?"
"Yes, one and the same."
"I don't get the connection."
"Denise works for Dr. Sanchez."
"She does? How do you know that?"
"How do you not know that? She works in your doctor's office."
"Tom, you don't see an Ob-Gyn every day. I have my yearly checkups with
her. Yearly, not weekly or monthly. Now with this baby and the more
frequent visits I might have run into her. I'm getting off the subject. How
did you come up with Denise? I haven't seen her in years."
"Denise and I have kept in touch."
"Really? How so?"
"We talk on the phone occasionally."
"Tom, why are you being evasive? Did you sleep with her or something?"
Silence.
"Tom, what exactly went on between you and Denise Tucker?"
"You won't like it."
"Probably not."
Tom braced himself. "We slept together once."
Cassy leaped from her chair. "You what? You slept with my best friend?"
She placed her hands on the table and looked Tom directly in the eyes.
"Did you sleep with her while we were married."
Startled, Tom jumped away from the table. "No, I did not. Jesus, Cass, how
could you accuse me of that?"
Cassy decided that getting upset was probably not good for the baby so she
took a deep breath. "I didn't accuse, I asked."
"That was not asking. That was accusing and no, it was not while we were
married."
"Then when?"
"Do you remember the day of our divorce when we went to court and signed
the final papers?"
"Yeah." Cassy hated to think about that day.
"Do you remember Denise coming to see you that morning?"
"Yeah, she tried to talk me out of divorcing you. But I wouldn't listen. I
was determined to do the right thing."
"The right thing," Tom muttered. "Anyway, she came over after I
returned from having my marriage dissolved. She came over to see if I
needed anything. By then I was in pretty bad shape. I was angry, sad, and
had decided to spend the night with my good friends Mr. Jack and Mr. Daniels.
She tried to cheer me up but I wasn't interested. She refused to leave. She
dumped my liquor in the sink and told me about her hell of a divorce. We
talked and at some point that night we had sex."
"She took advantage of you? How dare she. She was my friend."
"She did not take advantage. If anyone took advantage, it was me. My wife
had divorced me. The marriage I had such dreams for dissolved with two
signatures. I couldn't face being alone."
"So you slept with my best friend?"
"You went out celebrating," Tom yelled.
"Celebrating? What in the hell makes you think that?"
"You told Denise that when she offered to drive you home that day."
"I told Denise that because....oh hell I don't know why I told her that. I
did not go out celebrating."
"You didn't?"
"No, I went home and I crawled into bed and I stayed there and cried for
the next two days wondering if I had just made the biggest mistake of my
life."
Tom was stunned. "You did? All this time I thought about what I could
have done differently."
It was Cassy's turn to be surprised. "Tom, the divorce wasn't your fault
and it wasn't my fault. Although, at the time I was more than willing to
shift all the blame to you." She sat down beside him and held his hand.
"Since Harry forced us to work together again some things have become clear to
me."
"Go on."
"From the first time we were partnered, there was a spark between us. It
happened so fast. First it was long looks, then kisses and after a
while..."
"We were having little quickies behind Harry's back." Tom grinned at the
memory.
"Yeah but that wasn't enough. So we quickly got married and that's when it
stopped being fun. We were no longer lovers hiding from the world but a
married couple with bills to pay and in-laws to visit. That's when reality
hit me. I had pledged to spend the rest of my life with you and that scared
the hell out of me."
Tom carried his coffee cup over to the sink. "That is a really crappy
thing to say to me, Cass. It really is. I suppose the next thing you'll say
is that you never loved me either."
"Of course I loved you. Don't even think that. It's just that the idea of
being tied to someone for the next fifty or sixty years scared me. I wanted
to be with you, I just didn't want to be married to you."
"Your explanations leave a lot to be desired. Why didn't you ever try
and talk to me about this? As your husband, I thought I had achieved that
status."
"I know and I'm sorry. All I wanted was out of that marriage. I wanted my
freedom back."
"I never kept your freedom from you. You're weren't a child."
"I know that too. When I finally did tell you, you were so angry."
"Of course I was angry. My wife was leaving me after only seven months.
I never got to celebrate an anniversary."
"I began to rethink my decision, but you were so angry and hurt. You said
some awful things to me and I got angry and before I knew it, Ryan vs. Ryan
was on the judge's docket."
"So here we are, five years later. . .a little older and a lot wiser.
Do you think that our marriage could have survived if we had waited until,
say now, to give it try?"
"I don't know. I'm not the same person I was five years ago. You had a lot
to do with that." Cassy patted her tummy. "And now we have this baby. I
think things are pretty good. What do you think?"
Tom reached over and laid his hand over Cassy's. "I agree."
To Part 18