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I froze. No. No no no no. John was in the audience. With Chrissy. And Debra.
“He does look a lot like you,” Sidney Clare noted.
They showed two pictures, side by side, of Tyler and Dale. They’d chosen two pictures that were alike. Both of them were holding guitars. Both of them were smiling at the audience. Thick, dark hair, that dimpled chin. The audience actually gasped when they saw both of them like that, next to each other. I remembered Dale coming into my chemistry class the very first day. Rumors were already flying about how he looked and acted a lot like Tyler Vincent.
“Stay here.” Dale pointed a finger at me. “Do not move from that spot.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked as he headed for the door.
“He’s not doing this. I’m not going to let him do this.” Dale strode out of the room, slamming the door behind him. I stared after him, thinking I should follow. If he walked out on that stage… and then I realized, that was exactly what she wanted to happen. This was a setup!
“Well, looks can be deceiving, Sidney.” Tyler went on. “I can tell you with a very high degree of certainty that Dale is not my son. He’s a great kid and an amazing musician. And I do know him and his family, they’re wonderful people. But he isn’t mine.”
“The papers are saying you had an affair with his mother,” Sidney Clare prompted, crossing her legs and leaning forward on the arm of her chair. “Is that true?”
“I…” Tyler hesitated, glanced out toward the audience and then back at Sidney Clare. “Yes, that’s true.”
A collective gasp went up from the audience.
“How did it happen?” Sidney Clare prompted.
“It was a long time ago. I was teaching at a university in Maine and I met a man on the faculty named John Diamond. We became friends.”
The television flashed to John, in the audience, and my stomach sank. They knew. They knew everything. This whole show was being orchestrated. So why was Tyler lying? Then I remembered John telling Chrissy—he’d talked to Tyler, he said. They were going to fix it.
I couldn’t look away from the screen.
“John and I started hanging out, doing things together—boating, fishing. Our wives got along. It was great for a while. Then…”
“Then?” Sidney Clare prompted.
“Then John’s wife, Stacy… started coming on to me.”
“How? What did she do?”
The camera panned to the audience and they all looked like me—on the edge of their seats.
“What didn’t she do?” Tyler gave a short, bitter laugh. “At first it was just verbal. Telling me how much she admired me. Talking about how unhappy she was in her marriage. Then she started finding me alone, brushing up against me. Trying to kiss me. I was shocked at first. Then… flattered, I guess. And my wife and I—we were going through a rough time right about then. I guess it just all fell into place.”
o;Well, if you promise…” I could give him another chance. There was no harm in that.
“Cross my heart.” He did, which made me laugh.
Dale came back around the corner, slamming the phone down on the receiver.
“Uh oh, now what?” I groaned. I couldn’t stand one more thing.
“Greg says they’re presenting us with our platinum album plaques today.”
“Oh no, what a disaster.” Chrissy rolled her eyes.
There was the Chrissy I remembered. I looked over at her and she grinned, shrugging one shoulder.
Dale ignored her. “They want the band there at four.”
“Today?” I made a face. “We had dinner plans with Aimee and Matt.”
“I know. And the band’s got a show at eight. He promised we were supposed to get a little break this week.”
