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“You are still very beautiful. Tyler is a lucky man,” I tell her, making it perfectly clear that I fully condone the two of them being together.
“Tyler doesn’t even know who I am.” She sighs, blowing out a long breath. “Did you see the way he looks at me? It’s totally creepy.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty strange, especially since Tyler was never a smiley person.” I laugh, thinking back to his facial expressions. “There is a good chance that his long term memory will come back, though. He’ll be fine.”
“I hope so,” she says, looking down at her stomach. “I suppose I better go check in on him.” She gets up off the couch and stretches.
“Yeah, you should,” I concur. “I think you should stay at your parents place for the next few nights and I’m going to have Mom stay at Dad’s place. That way a security guard can keep an eye out for both of you.”
“That’s a good idea,” she says reflectively. “My parents are never there, so someone might as well enjoy the view. Maybe we should all have a slumber party and the security guys can just hang out in the common area.”
There was a time when I would’ve jumped at the suggestion, but right now I am more interested in getting some alone time with Mandy. “We’ll see. I’ll have to talk about it with Anthony once he gets here. He might want to keep us spread out.”
“I suppose that would make more sense,” she says, sounding a little disappointed. I’m sure a part of her would love to hang out like old times so she could tell me all of her problems and I could console her. Unfortunately, I have too much on my plate at the moment. “Talk to you later,” she mutters with a subdued smile as she heads out of the room.
Chapter 3
Trey
As Vanessa walks away, I reflect on how much has changed since the day Dad died. For some reason, I don’t feel nearly as much anxiety when Mandy is around. Even with complete chaos around me, I no longer find myself reaching for a Xanax. Although, I do feel a little twinge of nervousness as I press Aileen’s number to call her back. Who knows what I’m about to learn.
“Hello?” a shaky, quivering female voice answers my call.
“Hi, is this Aileen?”
“Yes, who’s calling?” she asks nervously.
“This is Trey,” I reply. “You just talked to my mother and she told me to call you. Are you all right?”
“No!” she instantly bursts into tears. “There is no way Dad committed suicide…” she gasps and continues to sob. “There’s just no way.” I sit silently for a moment waiting for her to regain her composure.
“So, what happened?” I ask, wanting to find out why she blames herself.
“I… I was the one who insisted that we do the deal with Tommy,” she says before completely losing it. “It’s all my fault.” She is crying so hard that it’s difficult to even make out her words.
“What deal?” I ask, not having a clue what she is referring to. I stand up and walk over to the other side of the room to grab a more comfortable chair. This could take a while. “What deal, Aileen?” I repeat after sitting through an extended pause.
“Nolan was having trouble finding steady work and I knew he would be the perfect replacement for Tommy on the show,” she blurts out before losing it once again. “It’s such a mess and now Dad is dead!” She begins to sob so hard that I know our conversation is over.
“Can I talk to him, please?” I ask, hoping to figure out what the hell is going on. “Nolan is with Mom. They are talking to the medical examiner,” she whispers, unable to speak normally.
“Have him give me a call when he’s free, will you?” I ask, hoping will be able to provide some answers.
“Yes. I’m sorry I’m such a mess,” she sobs.
“It’s completely understandable and I’m sorry about your father,” I tell her realizing I hadn’t even acknowledged his death. “He always seemed like a great guy.” She tries to respond, but is unable to get the words out. “Have Nolan call me as soon as possible,” I reiterate before hanging up.
Apparently, they were involved with the buyout of Tommy’s company. “Who else would know about this? Tyler, Dad and Bill all probably knew what was going on and the only one still alive is my lobotomized brother,” I mumble, talking to myself like a crazy person.
“You really shouldn’t refer to him as lobotomized out loud,” Mandy teases upon entering the room. “Why don’t you join me over here, so you don’t look like a crazy man talking to himself,” she adds, coaxing me to join her on the couch. I stay put, content to watch her strut. She sits down and gives me a seductive look as she crosses her legs. “What are you thinking about?”
