AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Yet.
I step through the door of my waiting area and I’m not surprised to see Vanessa typing away on her computer outside of my personal office. “Dr. Montgomery, welcome back.” She stands immediately and makes her way towards me. “I’ve left coffee on your desk as well as your mail.” She has a stack of notes in her hand, which I assume are my messages. “Your mother called, twice,” she gives me a smile as if to saydon’t kill the messenger, “and Dr. Tucker called.”
“Did you tell Dr. Tucker where I was?”The last thing I need is him on my ass about my weekend in Destin with Charlotte, my brother, and far too much alcohol. I can already see that vein pulsing in his forehead.
“No, sir.”
“Great, if he calls again, just go ahead and put him through. If my mother calls, tell her I’m in a session.Even if I’m not.” My mother started calling me yesterday, presumably after she’d spoken with my father. I’d already dealt with one Montgomery parent yesterday, I certainly wasn’t about to take on the other. So, I proceeded to send her to voicemail…six times.
I move towards my office door, closing it behind me immediately. I run a hand through my hair as I sit down at my desk preparing to go through the stack of mail sitting on top, in a neat pile. Vanessa is orderly and meticulous. Keeping my secrets aside, she is truly the best assistant I’ve ever had. I bring the piping hot cup of coffee to my lips, coffee that I know is from Starbucks, but Vanessa always insists on putting in a mug because“it tastes better this way.”I scan through the mail, tossing some aside without opening it, when I find a plain white envelope with the wordsUrgentandConfidentialmarked across the front. There is no return address, and my information is printed as if done with a typewriter. If I hadn’t spent the last three days in Charley’s arms, and knew she wasn’t home in my bed sleeping soundly, I’d half expect this to be some sort of ransom note.
I rip open the contents to find a USB flash drive and nothing else.No note. Nothing. I lean back in my chair, fiddling with it in my hands wondering what in the world this could be. A part of me wonders if this is the tape that my father had forced Matt to hand over that had been evidence of Charlotte’s and my affair, butwhat would be the point of that?
What if it’s someone who has footage of who threw the brick?
Or perhaps it has nothing to do with Charley at all?
Good one, Will. You know your life lacked any real excitement until Charlotte Pierce came strutting into it.
I shake my head, not prepared to deal with whatever is on this drive when I hear commotion in my office and then in the flesh, is my mother, walking through the door, yanking her signature white gloves from her hands angrily.
“WILLIAM PATRICK MONTGOMERY!”
Shit.
Diana Montgomery is known for her composure. She is calm, cool, and collected even in the most tense or hostile situations. She’d suffered through at least four of my father’s affairs and yet a smile is planted firmly on her face whenever she’s in public. In true WASP fashion, she’d hidden her pain and resentment under fake smiles and luncheons that are infamous amongst Atlanta’s elite. Once when I was fifteen, I’d watched her find a pair of underwear in my father’s coat pocket—underwear that had not belonged to her—launder them, put them back into his pocket, and then prepare a dinner for twelve of her closest friends.
My mother is stoic, almost cold, with a poker face that could bring down Vegas. The only emotion that my mother really can emit is judgment which is currently radiating off her as she slams the door behind her.Chanel Number 5 and judgment:the true essence of Diana Hamilton Montgomery.
“You can’t call your mother back? Honestly, William, I raised you better than that. It’s quite rude.” She slams her gloves into her bag before setting it down on the table. She walks towards me, wearing a tailored, long sleeved pants suit despite the warm temperatures, and her auburn hair is pulled into her signature chignon. “Your father has told me everything that has been going on, and frankly I am shocked that you kept this from me for so long! A married woman, really, William? You’re a marriage counselor!” The condescension drips from her voice as her hazel eyes bore into mine.
“Now is really not the time, mother. I have a session in twenty.”Try an hour.But I certainly wasn’t about to entertain her for the next sixty minutes.
“Darling, I’m on your side, but you have dug yourself into quite a hole, son. What are you going to do if that woman’s husband goes to your board, or heaven forbid the press?! Your name will be dragged through the mud.” She shudders, and I truly believe she’s spooked. My mother believes that perception is reality and appearances are everything.
“He’s not going to be talking to anyone. J.R. and I handled Charlotte’sex-husband.”
“Fornow. Things like this don’t go away. Not at least without…a hefty compensation.”
“He does not want to risk going to jail.”
My mother presses a hand to her chest, a gasp falling from her lips. “Jail, my goodness, Will, what have you gotten yourself mixed up with?”
I ignore her question, opting to speak the language she knows well. “And he’s certainly not interested in causing a scandal and ruining his reputation. He does well at his job.”
My mother nods in complete understanding, as if everyone treated life as if it were a chess match. As if she believed that people weren’t slaves to their emotions and didn’t respond accordingly.As if everyone had it together all the time.“Well…that makes sense. If only my son thought the same way. Do you have any water, dear?” I make my way over to the refrigerator when she stops me. “Sparkling, please.”
I roll my eyes as I pull thePerrierfrom the fridge and begin to pour its contents into a glass, knowing that my mother would never drink from a bottle. I hand her the glass and she smiles just before she takes a tentative sip. “As I was saying, it seemsyoudon’t seem to care about your reputation as a marriage counselor or causing a scandal.”
I shoot her a look, knowing that the truth probably won’t move her as much as I hope, but I go for it. “I fell in love with her.”
I expected a scoff, an eye roll, for her to fiddle with my grandmother’s string of pearls that were always perched proudly on her neck. What I hadn’t expected was for tears to flood her eyes.
My mother is showing—emotion?
“I was afraid you’d say that.” She clears her throat, probably remembering herself and effectively removing the emotion from her voice. “Will, you are my son and I love you. So, I feel it’s my duty to tell you, all love will do is ruin your life.”
The words hit me hard, hearing the pain so evident in her voice making me believe that perhaps my mother stayed with my father out of love…and not just appearances. My eyes dart to the opened envelope on my desk, and the USB sitting on top of it, as if the knee jerk reaction to hearing her words is to suspect that what’s on that drive would test the love I have for Charlotte.
