ONE GOOD THING came of Brett’s disastrous stop at the Bistro Saturday night. He was able to tell Jeff that progress was being made. That Chloe was in daily counseling and doing much better. He’d had to tell Jeff that, no, he hadn’t spoken to Chloe personally, and no, no one had said whether Chloe had asked about him.
They’d all agreed that Chloe would have this time to herself without contact with Jeff. And Jeff agreed that it should be left at that.
He and his college roommate had scheduled a golf game near Anaheim for the following weekend, and by the time Brett hung up Sunday evening, he was convinced that Jeff was doing better.
Work awaited him in his hotel room Sunday night. With a 6:00 a.m. flight out of LAX to New York, he didn’t have time to waste. Flipping open his laptop, he turned it on. Turned on his tablet, too.
And picked up his cell phone.
Ella might be out. He just needed to know.
So he’d quit thinking about her.
“Hello?”
“It’s me.”
“I know.”
The lights blazed brightly in his luxurious hotel room. He closed his eyes against the glare and was back on a boat, in the dark...
“I just wanted to apologize. If I made you feel awkward, I had no right...”
“You’re right, you didn’t.”
Okay, good. “So...you’re having a good weekend?”
“Yes.”
“Are you with Chloe?” It was a reasonable question. To know if, when she answered his questions, she had an audience.
“No. But I was going to call you tomorrow. Chloe would like to see Jeff, just for a visit, sometime in the next couple weeks.”
They arranged a meeting for a week from the coming Thursday—almost two weeks away. At Brett’s house. Jeff would expect Chloe to be coming in from LA. Chloe wanted the meeting to be someplace private, but also neutral.
And clearly, it couldn’t happen at Ella’s. Jeff would know instantly where Chloe was staying. He’d also know that his sister had been lying to him all this time.
So...fine. They’d had business to discuss. It was good he’d called. Now he could get to work.
“Why did you call, Brett?”
As he sat, bent over, elbows on his knees, staring at his shoes in the plush beige carpet, he measured his words. “Just to know that you’re okay.” He was sure about that.
“No, what do you really want? Clearly it bothered you to see me with Jason last night. You want to talk about it?”
The man had a name. It was Jason.
Not a bad name.
“It just...”
“Look, it’s okay to admit that you didn’t like seeing your ex-wife with another man. You’re human for God’s sake, Brett. You’re going to feel emotion every now and then.”
“I just...”
“Just tell me one thing.”
“If I can.”