Ted checks his watch, the one that was given to him by his father as a gift on his graduation from college. He recalls John’s comment about his fancy lighter, the one he’dbought. John is greedy and ruthless, he thinks, with a chip on his shoulder. And then he realizes that he himself is greedy and ruthless and had a chip on his shoulder too; that’s why he’s here. They are not so different.
John is late. Is it a power play? Ted spins around, his eyes sweeping the park, and up and down the path, and sees no sign of him. Ten more minutes pass, and Ted grows worried. He checks his phone for a message. Nothing.
After well over a half hour has passed, Ted, standing chilled at the edge of the pond, realizes that John isn’t coming. He’s playing with him, as if he’s holding all the cards. Right now, heisholding all the cards.
Ted doesn’t want to go home and admit to his frightened wife that John Burnley stood him up– the arrogant son of a bitch. He’s unnerved and freezing in the late autumn chill. He heads out of Central Park and walks to a nearby coffee shop, slides into a booth, and orders a coffee, wondering what the hell to do now.
Chapter Thirty-One
JILL IS INthe kitchen when the doorbell chimes. She goes rigid. Ted hasn’t returned home; she’s alone here. What if it’s the person who has been texting them? Watching them? She walks slowly down the hall and sees through the glass of the door that it’s Lara. She doesn’t want to talk to her right now. She fixes a fake smile on her face and opens the door anyway; she can’t hide from Lara. But she must be on her guard. Maybe Lara is behind all this. It frightens her. What if she is?
‘You look worn out,’ Lara offers, stepping across the threshold with a sympathetic expression.
Jill knows she looks like shit. She got virtually no sleep last night after they’d discovered the cameras. She doesn’t know if she will ever sleep soundly again. She realizes she’s staring at Lara.
‘Are you okay?’ Lara asks with concern.
‘I’m fine,’ she says, turning away. ‘Yesterday was hard,’ she admits, ‘for both of us. It really brought home to Ted that he’llnever see Greg again.’ She has her back to Lara as they head down the hall to the kitchen. ‘It was exhausting, talking to all those people.’
‘I figured,’ Lara agrees. ‘I thought you might need a shoulder.’
She regrets having told Lara that she was going to stay home from work today. She can’t do this right now. ‘Coffee?’
‘Sure,’ Lara answers. ‘Nadya’s not here today?’
‘I gave her the day off,’ Jill says. She starts making their coffees, trying to pull herself together. ‘We never really got a chance to talk, yesterday, at the memorial. How are things with you and Ben?’ She doesn’t want to talk about her and Ted and Greg and Ramirez.
‘Oh, you know, much the same,’ Lara says. She pauses. ‘With one small exception.’
‘Oh, what’s that?’ Jill turns to look at her.
Lara smiles at her and confides, as if reluctantly, ‘We’re thinking of trying for a baby.’
‘What? Really?’ Jill is surprised. She thought Lara and Ben had decided against having children. ‘What made you change your mind?’ she asks, grateful to have something else to talk about.
‘Oh, I don’t know. Hormones maybe? Seeing cute babies in cute outfits everywhere? Ben wanting to carry on the family name? That’s a big one. He doesn’t have any siblings.’
‘Are you sure?’ Jill asks. ‘It’s a big step.’ She can do this, she tells herself. But she finds it hard to concentrate on what Lara’s saying– she’s thinking about what’s on those cameras.
‘I know.’ Lara accepts the cup of coffee she offers her. ‘I wasn’t sure how you’d react. I know how you feel about kids. I used tofeel the same way. But something has changed. And you know, it’s not so bad if you have money. We have enough room for a live-in nanny. So I’ll be able to escape whenever I have to.’ She gives a little laugh. ‘I don’t suppose I could convince you to be its godmother?’
‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ Jill says. Surely Lara can’t be the one behind the cameras and the texts if she wants her to be her child’s godmother.
‘And we could stop at just one. Lots of couples are doing that now,’ Lara patters on, ‘although I think Ben wants two.’ She takes a sip of coffee. ‘But you know what, it may never happen. Maybe we’ll have fertility problems.’
Jill gets out a box of cookies and arranges some on a plate. They take their coffee, and Jill leads them toward the front room, remembering the camera with a sickening feeling. If Lara is the one behind the cameras, if she watched a live feed of them panicking yesterday when they found the camera here, in this very room, she shows no sign of it. It can’t be Lara, she tells herself.
They sit down on the sofa. ‘Seriously though,’ Lara says, picking up a cookie, ‘Ben doesn’t want to be the last of his line. Doesn’t Ted worry about that?’
‘No.’
‘But if you don’t have children, what are you going to do with all that money?’ Lara says, smiling.
‘There’s no way we’re having kids, you know that. We’re not going to change our minds.’
‘So will you donate it all to charity after you’re gone?’
‘I haven’t given it any thought,’ Jill replies. And she hasn’t. She doesn’t care what happens after they’re dead. It’s been allabout her and Ted living their best life. And now their lives are probably ruined.
