Chapter 6: Betrayal

Barry spent the next weekend like so many previous ones. On Saturday he put on his working clothes and tried to tackle the smaller chores on his list. The big one – getting out the ladder and cleaning the gutters – was the one he had been deferring for weeks. He was thinking that was one task he’d hire someone to do in the next few weeks.

After the chores Barry thinks he’s had his exercise for the day and heads toward the shower. He second guesses himself as he enters the bedroom and instead of turning on the hot water he gets his running shoes from the closet and and heads back to the front door. He is already warmed up due to the chores so he starts off at a very brisk clip. By the end of his route he is feeling gassed, but very pleased with himself when he looks at his watch and sees that he has set his best time in recent memory – 39 minutes.

This time there is no second guessing his pathway as he makes a direct line to the bathroom and a hot shower. He finishes washing and takes a towel to dry, finishing by wrapping it around his waist and tucking in a corner.

In the bedroom he picks up his phone and isn’t surprised, but disappointed, to see no messages from Tammy. He decides to act preemptively.

“Can you call it a day by 7:00? We’ll grab dinner and a movie.”

He continues, “I can come pick you up and then we can shoot over to the area by the mall for both dinner and the theater. Would save you some time without having to come home and then backtrack.”

He doesn’t get an immediate response so he assumes it is a no-go. He drops his towel as he collects boxers and socks from the top drawer and then finds a t-shirt and shorts in the next. He’s just pulling his t-shirt over his head when his phone beeps.

“Sounds great,” starts Tammy’s message, “but I don’t know if I have the time.”

Dejected Barry starts to reply when another message comes in.

“I’ll shoot for 7:00. If I can’t make it, plan on picking me up at 9:00. We can at least go somewhere for drinks.”

Not quite what Barry envisioned, but right now he’d take anything he could get.

“Sounds like a date. See you at 7:00 or 9:00. Let me know.”

Barry returns his towel to the bathroom rack and then heads to the kitchen. He doesn’t want to eat a meal if Tammy miraculously finishes by 7:00, but he’s also a realist and places the odds that she’ll be ready by then at less than 50-50. He hedges his bets and grabs a protein bar to hold him over either way.

With nothing that has to get done Barry settles into his recliner and turns on Netflix. He finds a series that some coworkers have been raving about and starts the first episode. It’s watchable, but certainly not the must-see series he was expecting. By the third episode he is fighting to stay awake and debating whether or not he should just give up.

At 6:45 his phone rings.

“Surprise, surprise,” he says to himself before speaking into the phone, “Hello?”

Tammy is whispering. “Randolph just showed up at the building a few minutes ago and told all of us that were still here that he wanted us in the large conference room at 7:00.”

“Why is a managing partner in the office at this time on a Saturday night?” asks Barry.

“No one has a clue. I’ll call or text you once I know more. Plan on 9:00 unless you hear otherwise. Gotta go.”

Tammy disconnects the call without saying goodbye, leaving Barry to wonder what could be so important that a managing partner shows up at the firm this late on a Saturday night. With no way to resolve his question, Barry clicks on the remote to start the next episode of the almost-must-see series.

At 8:30 there had been no further word from Tammy so Barry puts on a pair of jeans and a fresh shirt. He hops into the Mustang and points it in the direction of Tammy’s office. He leaves the house a little earlier that he needs to so he takes the long way which includes a mostly deserted stretch of highway. Barry romps down on the accelerator and feels the car throw him back against the bucket seat. It still gave him a thrill every time he got to open the throttle of the powerful car and let her sing.

Even as he drove Barry expected the phone to ring any minute to be told Tammy needed to finish something very urgent and they would need to postpone. Instead, he makes it all the way to her office without a sound from his phone. As he pulls into the lot he sees Tammy standing by the front door waiting for him. When she sees the car approach she jogs out to meet him and then drops heavily into the passenger seat.

“Hey stranger, where you headed?” he jokes. He then realizes Tammy’s mascara has run and she is a bundle of nerves.

“What the fuck happened in the meeting with Randolph?” he demands.

“Just drive,” Tammy snaps. “Find a place that serves alcohol.”

Barry takes a second look at his wife. He really can’t read her body language. He does know, though, that she is pissed and she won’t talk until she’s ready. As he pulls out of the parking lot Tammy lowers the visor and flips open the vanity flap to ignite the small light as she peers into the little mirror. She uses the emergency makeup she keeps in her purse and by the time they reach Applebee’s she has made herself presentable.