“Oh my God! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“There’s nothing to tell. Cameron and I are trying, that’s all. I didn’t think it would happen so quickly. And I’m not even sure yet. I’m just late. But I don’t want to drink just in case.” Tessa smiled again. “I’ll probably take a test next week. Don’t say anything.”
“I won’t say a word,” Victoria said. She pulled Tessa into a tight, rigid hug.
That evening, Jasper ran to the market for steaks. Tessa slept soundly in a lounge chair on the patio. Cameron came down the stairs and Victoria met him in the hallway where Tessa had spilled her secret earlier in the afternoon.
“You’re a bastard!” Victoria said, bringing her hand up and slapping him sharply across the face.
“What the hell?” Cameron grabbed her wrist.
“She’s pregnant?”
“What?”
“Tessa is pregnant?”
“No.”
“You’re trying. She told me all about it.”
“Lower your voice! You want her to wake up?”
“I don’t give a shit. You’re a bastard!”
She tried to slap him with her other hand, but Cameron grabbed that wrist as well.
“Stop it,” he said, fighting to subdue her as she flailed against his grip.
“You told me you weren’t sleeping with her,” Victoria said.
“She initiated it. What was I supposed to do? Tell my wife I’ve taken a vow of celibacy?”
“So what’s happening here? You’re trying to get your wife pregnant? The woman you promised me you’re about to divorce, you’re now trying to impregnate?”
“You’re being irrational. It was the first time we’ve slept together in months.”
Victoria clenched her teeth together. “You made me get a goddamn abortion, Cameron. I aborted our baby because you convinced me the timing was not right. That it was too soon and that it would blow up our lives. Do you remember this?”
“Of course I remember.”
“But the timing is right with Tessa? You’re a fucking monster! And a goddamn liar!”
He put his face in front of hers, so their lips were just inches apart. “You know I love you. And you know I want to be with you.”
“Then why aren’t you?”
“What do you suggest I do? Walk out there right now and tell Tessa I want a divorce? Wait for Jasper to get home so we can all have a discussion over dinner about our affair, about how we’ve fallen in love and that we plan to leave them?”
“We’ll have to have that discussion at some point.”
“I know that. But I’d say over the Fourth of July while we’re all staying together is not the right time.”
There was a pause while Victoria looked down at the floor. “Is she really not allowed into your studio?”
“Hell no,” Cameron said, lowering himself so that he could look up into her averted eyes. “The studio is just for us. You can use it whenever you want. I love watching you write in there.”
Victoria kept her gaze focused on the floor, trying her best not to look into his eyes.
“Sooner or later,” Cameron said, “you’re going to have to let me read one of your manuscripts.”
He stood up taller and she allowed her gaze to follow him. Their mouths came together in a passionate kiss. He pushed her against the wall, and his hands cupped the back of her shorts. She bit his bottom lip and for a moment worried that things would go too far while they stood in the hallway, just a few paces from where Tessa slept on the patio chair. Just then, while tangled together, the patio door slid open and Tessa stepped into the kitchen. At the same moment, the alarm on the front door chimed as Jasper returned from the market. In a panic, Victoria pulled roughly out of the kiss and pushed Cameron’s body away from her as she twisted into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Cameron ran a hand through his hair, collected his breath, and walked into the kitchen.
“You shouldn’t have let me fall asleep,” Tessa said, patting her cheek with the palm of her hand. “I think my face is sunburned.”
“Sorry, hon,” Cameron said, clearing his throat. “You looked so peaceful, I didn’t want to wake you.”
Jasper walked into the kitchen holding a paper bag from the butcher. “Four rib eyes, thick cut. Plus asparagus and portabellas.”
“Good man,” Cameron said, forcing a smile.
Jasper looked at him with a thick crease cutting between his eyebrows. “What happened to your lip?”
Cameron reached up and touched his lower lip, still feeling Victoria’s teeth. When he pulled his hand away, his fingers were smeared with blood.
“Oh.” He swiped his tongue over his lower lip and wiped away the blood with the back of his hand. “I must have bitten it.”
“You nearly bit it off. Better put some ice on that bad boy,” Jasper said as he placed the steaks on the kitchen counter. “I’ll season these so they’re ready for tonight.”
“Good idea,” Tessa said, keeping her face stoic and her gaze leveled on her husband as she walked to the freezer, removed an ice cube, and handed it to him. “For your lip.”
CHAPTER 19
Manhattan, NY Friday, June 25, 2021
WALT TOOK ANOTHER SIP OF RUM AND QUICKLY TURNED THE PAGE. He was amazed at how quickly the details of the investigation were coming back to him. He realized that the memories had not so much faded and disappeared, but had instead been warehoused. Stored away and slowly covered by the dust of life—the accumulation of years and the distractions that accompanied them. But as he flipped through the pages of the file now, he was transformed back into that twenty-eight-year-old kid who had found himself in the middle of a homicide investigation that was about to capture the attention of the nation.
THE CAMERON YOUNG INVESTIGATION