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“At four,” I replied.
“I'll be at your house waiting,” he said.
I nodded again. He left without another word. My mind instantly filled with questions: what was I going to tell him and how had he figured this out? I was distractedly sorting through the file folders on my desk when Jill poked her head into my office. I waved her in.
“Okay, spill,” she said, “who was the hottie?”
I was reluctant to share too much. “He’s someone that I used to go out with,” I told her, which was true.
“Why did you stop?” she asked.
“It’s complicated,” I said with a sigh. Jill smiled knowingly and shut my office door.
I had to keep busy or the day would move all that much slower. I input the new cases into the database and printed out the customary letters requesting payment prior to commencement of further legal action.
Finally, it was 4 p.m. and I closed down my desk for the day. I told Jill I'd see her tomorrow and left. True to his word, Trey was waiting in his rental car when I pulled into the driveway at home. He came up to the porch a puzzled look on his face.
“Tylar, where is your Mercedes?” he asked.
I swallowed nervously as I fumbled to fit my house key into the lock. He brushed me aside, quickly turning the key, releasing the lock. As I put my hand on the door handle, he stopped me.
“I’m waiting for an answer,” he demanded.
“I traded it in,” I answered, “it wasn’t practical with the baby coming and all.” He said no more on the matter, hopefully realizing that I'd taken the practical approach. “I got money back from the trade,” I said, not wanting him to think that I'd taken advantage or profited in some way as a result of my practicality. “I’d be happy to give it back to you,” I offered.
He gave me a look that said, ‘oh, puleeze,’ as he opened the front door, holding it open for me so that I could enter before him. Once inside, he gazed around the sparsely furnished house. I felt sort of embarrassed as I tried to figure out where our conversation was going to take place. In the living room, there was just the love seat. The kitchen table might be better.
“Would you like something to drink, Trey? I have iced tea, or I could make coffee?” I offered.
“Nothing for me, thanks. You go ahead though,” he replied as he made himself comfortable on one-half of the loveseat. I guess the decision had been made as to where we were going to have our discussion. I poured myself a glass of iced tea and joined him in the living room. I sat down on the love seat at an angle, sipping my iced tea then setting it on the end table.
“So, you wanted this discussion,” I stated flatly.
“Tylar,” he began, carefully choosing his words to mask his irritation, “why didn’t you tell me that I'm to be a father?” His eyes were intense. It was clear to me that Trey believed that he was the injured party in all of this. How very typical of what a spoiled, arrogant man might feel. I felt my response begged a question of its own.
“Trey,” I asked tersely, “why is it that you didn’trememberthe occasion, and how is it that you remembering itnow?”
Trey leaned forward on the loveseat, resting his forearms on his thighs, clasping and unclasping his well-manicured hands, occasionally picking at the band on his Rolex watch. Trey spoke gently and humbly, looking into my eyes.
“Tylar, I realize that it’s despicable that I’d have the occasion to be with you and not recall it. I apologize for that. For me to sit here at this moment and tell you that I thought I’d dreamed the incident in the stable sounds ‘convenient,’ I know. You of all people could agree that sometimes, given the right frame of mind and circumstances, it can be difficult to distinguish the reality from the fantasy. Please know that I'm not comparing this with what you endured in your past. My situation was self-imposed.”
He stopped, raking his fingers through his gorgeous hair. He turned then, and took one of my hands into his, brushing my fingers with his thumb.
“Go on, Trey,” I said, my heart racing with anticipation as to how this was going to play out.
“I hadn’t seen you in awhile. It was driving me nuts. It seemed like when I'd spot you even from a distance, you were always with Mark. You were working with Mark, going somewhere with Mark in his truck. One day, I saw you and Mark pass by going out the driveway by the manor. You two were laughing about something. It made me fucking crazy.”
Trey paused to collect his thoughts. “As my 31st birthday approached, I decided to throw myself a pity party. I only invited one guest, Jack Daniel’s. I don’t usually drink like that, ever. I started the day before, drinking well into the morning hours of my birthday. I remember being in the stable, talking to Derringer. I thought I'd passed out and dreamt of you. When I awoke, I was still in the stable, dressed and lying on a pile of straw. Actually, Charlie is the one who woke me that morning.” His eyes clouded with anger.
“Okay,” I said, “that doesn’t explain how you found out.”
“A week or so after you were ordered to come back to Washington County to meet with the C.A. on the case with Charlie; I was called in by the C.A. to be interviewed.” A hint of a sardonic smile crossed his lips. “I got the distinct impression that Ms. Denniston suspected I was somehow involved. To what degree, I wasn’t sure. She volleyed between making me feel like a co-conspirator to possibly a co-victim, it was a very strange interview.”
Trey frowned; obviously irked that he'd been considered a potential candidate for either. “During this meeting, I was given an opportunity to review the evidence, and I was questioned as to what, if any, pertinent information I could offer. Ms. Denniston wanted information pertaining to how you obtained your job at Sinclair Stables, noting that most of the others were from local or semi-local colleges. She delved into our personal relationship as well.”
That part about getting my job at Sinclair Stables struck a chord with me. The fact was, my mom had told me a friend or relative of someone she worked with at the law firm had connections with someone at Sinclair Stables. She went so far as to promise me that whoever this connection was would use their clout to help me get the summer position. I filed this information away for future reference.
Trey continued with his explanation, “Ms. Denniston allowed me to read through the transcribed interview that she'd conducted with you the previous week. I read what Charlie said to you during his assault. It was about...” Trey stammered. I'd never seen him struggle for words. “…about apparently what he saw.” Trey shifted a bit, letting go of my hand. He stood up, and turned to face me on the love seat, nervously raking his right hand through his hair. “There was another interview with Charlie after you left, Tylar. The C.A. wanted to determine what he knew about your mom and the trust, to establish whether he co-conspired with her to defraud you. The C.A. offered him a reduction on one of the charges currently pending in exchange for his cooperation in revealing everyone involved as well as your mother’s whereabouts.”
