Gym Buddies Ch 17

Tom awoke before 5 Monday am. As he sat up, he resolved that he would focus on work, purge Her from his head. He took down the picture from the front hallway, the sign on the fridge, the cup and napkin, and all her underwear from the bathroom and threw the lot, including the red string, into a cardboard box in the front bedroom, then rolled the massage table in for good measure. He tossed her toothbrush into the trash and moved his shampoo and soap to the other bath where he showered, shaved and got ready for work. He drove towards the office, for once dreading going to work -- not because of his job, but because She would be there. 'Damn, wish I hadn't connected her with Marjorie.' He resolved to concentrate on the job, push her out of his mind.

*****

Kelli drove to work, grimly resolved to focus on her new job, not think about the man working downstairs who she'd taken as her lover, then rejected for her husband.

*****

Monday evening Patti visited her mother and laid out the almost-whole story of Kelli and Tom, withholding some of the details that were too graphic even for Connie.

"I thought there was more to it than what she told me at lunch. This guy, Patti -- is he the real deal?"

Patti nodded. "Oh, definitely. He's perfect for her, in every way. I've spent some time with him -- he's a good man, and he's just crazy about her. She never talked about a male like she does him -- she just lights up. Inside she knows he's the one for her, but she's suppressing being in love with him, trying to be loyal to Richard, feeling guilty for cheating on him".

"You think Richard can keep it up, not spend all his time with his buddies?"

"He says he will. But I'm skeptical, Mom."

*****

Patti checked in with Kelli every night. Normally the sisters could chat for an hour, but this week Kelli was short, giving her sister one-word answers. She finally got Kelli to have lunch with her on Wednesday, where she opened up a little bit. "Richard is very attentive, home before I am every night, making dinner for me -- he's trying so hard. And I'm reciprocating. He's not taking any calls from his work friends while we're together. So, things are much better."

"How are you doing, physically?" Kelli knew what her sister meant.

"Richard and I have made love every day this week."

Patti raised an eyebrow, and Kelli knew what that meant.

"No, it's not the same as being with Tom."

"Have you talked with him?"

Kelli's stomach clenched at hearing his name. "No." It was obvious to Patti that her sister was barely holding it together. 'Time for me and Tom to have a chat. I need to know for sure.'

*****

Patti called Tom repeatedly that afternoon, with no response. Determined to talk with him, she stationed herself on his front porch at about 6:30 that evening with a bag of pretzels. It was most of an hour before he pulled up. He got out, saw her, and just stood there, expressionless. She strode over, planted herself in front of him, looked up and studied his eyes and face intently, for a full minute, sensing, feeling a great sadness.

'Why is she here -- what could we possibly have to talk about? Here to rub it in?'

"Do you hate her?"

Long pause. "No."

"Do you love her?"

His eyes narrowed, the question totally unexpected. 'What else could make it hurt so bad?' After another long pause, he looked down and nodded his head, just slightly, shuffling his feet, not able to look at Patti.

'I was right. Damn. Have to know this.'

"When did you fall in love with her?"

Tom thought for a full minute, a minute that seemed an eternity for Patti, then answered in a very quiet voice. "Wednesday night. She sang to me." She could see his eyes moisten with tears.

'Oh, yea, that would do it.' Patti's eyes narrowed and she touched his shoulder -- just as Kelli had done on Sunday. He flinched, pulled away.

"You're a good man, Tom Meadows. You take care."

She left Tom standing in his front yard, drove away and called her mother. 'This isn't over.'

Connie, expecting the call, picked right up. "So?"

Patti sighed. "It's just as I figured. The man's hopelessly in love with her. Poor guy, It's like somebody let all the life out of him. Do you know she sang to him?" Patti clenched her teeth. "What was I thinking, telling him about her singing? Damn. I made it worse for him.'

"Oh, my. No man could not fall for Kel singing to him. She doesn't know the effect that would have on a guy she's intimate with."

"Not a clue. She's a blonde, all right."

Patti's blonde mother replied. "Hey!"

She drove in silence for a while, thinking.

"Patti, should we tell her? I think not."

She shook her head. "No, we can't, mom. She's strong, but she'd have a complete breakdown if she knew. She's already torn up with guilt, and physically she's in something like withdrawal. She's a mess inside, barely holding it together."

"So, what do we do?"

Patti thought for a long while, tapping her chin with her index finger. "We wait."

*****

Tom struggled through the week, grimly focused on work. He could not figure out why Patti had confronted him, but at least he'd realized that he was, or had been, in love with Kelli. By the end of the week most of his team and coworkers observed -- and talked about - that Tom wasn't the upbeat, cheerful guy that made him fun to work with. He worked late every night, digging into everything, mainly to avoid going to the gym and going home to a house full of Kelli memories. He'd made a decision about how to deal with that.

By Friday he was starting to feel a little better, but knew that was going to be short lived, as he'd have to put in an appearance at the CEO's mansion that evening. He thought about it as we made his way from his office to the bank parking deck late Friday afternoon. 'Great, don't want to hang out with work people on a Friday night, tired from busting my ass at work all week, I don't have a date so I'll be about the only single person there, and I'll have the pleasure of seeing the woman who just dumped me and her smiling husband. What could be more fun?' He thought seriously of not going, but couldn't think of a way out, and his boss had made it clear his presence was expected. Fortunately, he had a 'ball-out' plan to justify his immediate exit if needed.

******

Kelli called Patti at dinnertime Thursday. "You're calling early."

"Richard had an unexpected work dinner come up this afternoon, so he's out."

Patti detected a slight hardness in her sister's voice. 'She's not happy with that. Best not to pry and make it worse.' "So, you and Richard have that work dinner tomorrow night, right?"

"Yep."

"Tom will be there, right?"

"I guess."

'She's still in a bad place. This may be the new normal. Shit.'

"What're your plans for the weekend?"

"We're planning to picnic on Saturday, like we tried to on my birthday. But they're forecasting rain."

"Aunt Clara will be in town visiting Mom -- will you be able to stop by?" Clara was their favorite of Connie's four sisters -- the sisters called her their second mom.

"Yea, we'll meet you there for dinner."

Patti had a second call beeping in. "Hey, have to take this -- later, sis."

"Bye 'T."

Kelli tossed her phone on the sofa, laid down and curled up into a ball, wondering if she'd made the right decision, wondering what Tom was doing -- and missing him, his touch, terribly.

*****

On Thursday morning Marjorie was concluding a meeting with Kelli and a couple others. 'She been very quiet all this week -- so different then last week.' Like every manager who hires someone who turns out to be even better than they thought, Marjorie hoped Kellie would be happy with the job and company. She wondered if she should ask Kelli if anything was wrong, but decided to give it a few more days. 'I'm her boss, not her mother.'

*****

'Well, this sucks even more than I thought it would.' Tom surveyed the crowd at Angelo's palatial home. Kelli wasn't there when he arrived, offering some hope she and her husband wouldn't show, sparing him that pain. But fortune declined to smile on Tom Meadows as they showed up about ten minutes after he arrived. 'Marvelous.' He planned to be seen by Angelo and all the other important people and quickly make a discreet exit through the bushes on the street side of the patio, which he figured was just a bit larger than his entire lot.

Celestine, Angelo's wife, walked up, introduced herself and engaged Tom in conversation. He found her to be very down-to-earth for a rich woman and he was surprised at how much she knew about the people at the bank. Marjorie strolled up, looking fantastic, and Tom could see they knew each other. "So, heard you hired someone really good to replace Sam Endicott?"

Marjorie smiled and looked around the room for Kelli. "Sure did -- her name's Kelli and I have Tom here to thank -- he referred her and convinced me to interview her even though her resume wasn't what I was looking for. She's off to a great start. I'll introduce her." Marjorie spied Kelli and Richard across the room, caught Kelli's eye and waved them over.

Tom's stomach clenched and he looked away from Kelli and Richard as they joined the group. 'Shit.' He set his drink aside and discretely slid his hand into his left jacket pocket, found his 'burner' phone and pressed the speed dial button. He'd turned the volume down to zero so it was silent.

Kelli was anxious and nervous as Richard drove her to the party, dreading the potential contact with Tom, not hearing a word Richard said. 'Should I try to talk to him, should I avoid him, will he be mad, rude, faking politeness. Will I even be able to talk?' For a moment she was stricken with fear. 'What if he confronts Richard, tells him about us?' Her stomach was in a knot by the time they pulled up to the CEO's mansion.

She had seen Tom as she and Richard walked in and her anxiety went up another notch. 'Best if I avoid him.' That plan failed as Marjorie waved her over. 'Shit, he's right there.'

Celestine introduced herself to Kelli as Marjorie extended her hand to Richard. "And you must be Richard."

He smiled and responded. "Nice to meet you, Marjorie!" Kelli introduced her husband to Celestine, and Tom gritted his teeth, knowing he was next.

'Damn phone, call should have gone through. Fucking technology. Come on....' Richard smiled at Tom and extended his hand. "Richard."

Marjorie noticed the smile on Kelli's face tighten, almost imperceptively. 'Hmmm, what was that?'

Kelli felt nauseous. 'Oh god, they're going to meet, talk, shit, shit.'

Tom shook the hand of his recent former lover's husband and managed a curt "Tom." as the phone in his right jacket pocket finally rang, loudly, drawing everyone's attention. He extracted the phone and everyone could see 'FB CISO ALERT' on the screen. He looked up at the group. "Sorry -- work -- if you'll excuse me, please." He turned and walked out towards the patio, pretending to have a conversation with nobody. Once out of sight, he hung up and fled the scene through the bushes.

Marjorie knew that any alert directed towards the company's 'CISO' - Chief Information Security Officer -- as of some ten days ago, Tom -- on a Friday night was probably not a good thing and made a mental note to ask Tom about it on Monday. Tom's boss, Ted, standing nearby, would not be much help as he had taken serious advantage of the open bar.

Kelli was relieved that Tom and Richard's meeting had been uneventful and her nausea dissipated. She'd happened to notice Tom's hand holding what appeared to be a second phone in his left pocket, and quickly figured out his scheme. 'Clever, very clever, Tom.' She reflected that he did it as much for her as him, and her anxiety was replaced with guilt. 'He's still protecting me, even after I dumped him. I am a truly awful person.'