Chapter 23: The Show Must Go On

El Paso, Texas
January 28, 1996

Jake Kingsley and Greg Oldfellow sat at one of the tables in the Plaza Hotel’s rooftop bar on the seventeenth floor of the historic, 1930’s era building. A large picture window looked out over downtown El Paso, the site of tomorrow night’s Celia Valdez concert. The musician and the actor had flown in from Los Angeles on a commercial flight (first class, naturally) just an hour before, their plane touching down at El Paso International at 11:35 AM local time. Celia and her band had not checked in yet. Their late morning flight from San Antonio, where they had performed the night before, was still in the air currently. Jake’s plan was to hang out with the tour for a week or so, flying on the plane with them from city to city and staying in his wife’s hotel suites. Greg’s plans were still pretty far up in the air. He was here to tell his wife that he had cheated on her with Mindy Snow and gotten her pregnant (allegedly) and that Mindy was about to go public with this information, humiliating them both. It seemed unlikely that he would be hanging out for the same amount of time as Jake.

Jake was drinking a bloody Mary and munching from a plate of so-called ‘breakfast tacos’, which were reputedly a Tex-Mex specialty of the house. They were corn tortillas filled with a mixture of scrambled eggs, chorizo, cheese, and spicy salsa and they were quite delicious. Greg was sipping from a glass of Perrier. He had ordered no food, nor had he eaten or drank anything on the flight. He had no appetite to speak of and, though he desperately needed a drink, he felt that he should remain sober for the coming conversation with Celia. There would undoubtedly be time for getting plowed later.

“You sure you don’t want one of these?” Jake asked, pointing to his plate. “They’re pretty good.”

He shook his head. “My stomach is quite knotted up at the moment. I don’t think I would be able to hold it down.”

Jake nodded sympathetically. He could only image what the man was going through. Jake had had some painful conversations with romantic partners in his life—the breakup with Michelle Borrows (now Rourke), the confrontation with Rachel Madison after pictures of him cheating on her had been shown to her, and the wretchedly painful ‘we need to talk’ from Helen Brody came immediately to mind—but to have to confess to your unprepared and unsuspecting wife that you had cheated on her with an evil bitch and knocked said bitch up and that the story was about to be spread far and wide in the popular press ... that was an entirely different level, an entirely different plane of existence.

Greg’s cellular phone—a top-of-the-line Nokia flip phone—began to chime out its irritating ring from inside Greg’s sport coat. He reached into the pocket and pulled it out, flipping it open. “This is Greg,” he said into it. He listened for a moment. “Hey, C,” he said, his voice monotone. “Yeah ... we’re here now. Just sitting in the bar ... Yes ... Yes, we did. Right. Okay, we’ll see you then.” He flipped the phone shut again and put it back in his pocket.

“They’re here?” Jake asked.

Greg nodded slowly, the miserable expression on his face becoming a little more miserable. “They just landed at the airport. The limo is waiting for them. They should be here to check-in in about twenty minutes or so.”

Jake nodded solemnly, figuring that Greg was now feeling like he was standing in his cell overlooking the gallows on the morning of his execution and had just been told that the hangman had clocked in for duty. “Are you sure you shouldn’t have given her at least a hint that something serious was in the works?” he asked. “Just so she could get a little bit braced for this?”

“I’m sure,” Greg said. “If I’d hinted I had some bad news to share she would have pestered me until I spilled it.”

“Yeah ... I suppose,” Jake allowed. He took another bite of his taco, another swig of his bloody Mary. “Uh ... I hate to bring this up, but ... you know ... I would just like to remind you of ... you know ... the bro code.”

Greg nodded. “The bro code,” he said. “I understand. I will mention nothing to Celia or anyone else that you knew about Mindy and me before I told you about it in Oceano the other day.”

“I appreciate it,” Jake said, feeling relieved. He had no idea how Celia might react if she found out that Jake had known about Greg’s affair with Mindy for two months and had told her nothing about it, but it would likely not be an understanding kind of reaction. Women, in Jake’s experience anyway, did not appreciate the gravity of the bro code or sympathize with its rules.

The minutes ticked quickly by. Jake finished his bloody Mary and his breakfast tacos. The waitress removed the dishes and Jake ordered a second drink. Greg continued to sit morosely and mostly silently, sipping from his sparkling water every now and then and frequently looking at the time on his Rolex. Finally, thirty-two minutes after Greg received the phone call, Laura and Celia appeared in the bar’s doorway.

Jake’s libido cranked up a bit just seeing his wife standing there. She was dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and a pullover T-shirt with a cartoon chicken on it, her hair down, her eyes tired-looking. She was beautiful and, despite the pending doom atmosphere currently pushing down on the reunion, he could not wait to go to her suite with her and take her in his arms and get naked with her.

Celia was similarly dressed, though her top was a button-up blouse, and her hair was in a ponytail. The two women smiled broadly when they saw their men sitting at the table. They headed over, moving not quite at a run, but not dawdling either.

Greg closed his eyes for a moment, as if trying to keep from panicking. “All right,” he said. “Here we go.”

“Uh ... you’re not going to tell her right here and right now, are you?” Jake asked nervously.

“No,” Greg assured him. “I’ll wait until we’re alone in the suite. Hopefully, there are no sharp or heavy objects in easy reach up there.”

“Hopefully,” Jake agreed.

The two men stood up. A moment later, each had a wife wrapped up in their arms. Jake relished the feel of Laura’s body against his, the touch of her lips on his as she smothered him with kisses. He returned the embrace warmly, feeling Little Jake already starting to wake up and get ready for work. Greg, on the other hand, was noticeably unenthusiastic in returning Celia’s affections. He put his arms around her and gave her a few taps on the back. He returned her kisses in a perfunctory manner, without any real affection.

Celia picked up on this quite easily. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“Of course,” he said. “Extremely happy. Ecstatic. It’s just ... uh ... been kind of a long day. You know ... the flight and all.”

She raised her brows a bit. “Oh yes,” she said. “That torturous trek from Los Angeles to El Paso in a first-class seat. I’ve heard horror stories about it.”

Greg flushed a little. “Well ... you know ... I had to get up at six o’clock in the morning to get to the airport on time. The time zone change, you know.”

“I see,” she said carefully. She then seemed to shake it off. “Well, anyway, I’m glad to see you.” She gave him one last, lingering kiss on the lips. “Very glad, if you know what I mean.”

“Uh ... yeah,” he said. “I know what you mean.”

They broke the embrace. Jake and Laura were still entwined in theirs, Laura whispering in his ear. “I took a long shower this morning ... and made sure I shaved everything that needed to be shaved.”

“Nice,” Jake whispered back.

“And I have a story to tell you ... a story about a certain friend I made last week.”

“I can’t wait to hear it,” he assured her, hoping that the coming hammer-blow from Greg and Celia would not fall prior to he and Laura finishing their business.

“Should we ... uh ... go to our rooms now?” Greg asked when Jake and Laura finally broke apart.

“Hell no,” Celia said. “I want a drink first. This is an extended travel day; the first one we’ve had in two weeks! No autograph sessions to go to! No radio station interviews! No sound checks to do! I want to get hammered.” She looked at Greg with a gleam in her eyes. “In more than one manner.”

“Me too!” Laura said, sitting down at one of the chairs. “Is that a bloody Mary?”

“It is,” he confirmed.

“I want one,” she said. “Maybe even two.”

“That sounds good,” Celia said, grabbing a seat as well. She eyed Greg’s drink. “What’s that you’re drinking?”

“Perrier,” he told her.

“Perrier,” she said, shaking her head a little. “Don’t ever let it be said that you don’t know how to party, hon.”

Jake chuckled a little, but still felt uneasy. Celia was in a very good mood, obviously happy to spend some time with her husband. And he knew that that mood would soon go crashing harshly in the other direction.

They ended up spending an hour in the bar before heading down a floor to their assigned suites. Jake, Laura, and Celia all swilled down three bloody Marys. Greg finally gave in and ordered a scotch, neat, which he sipped from sparingly for a few minutes and then gulped down. He ordered another and did the same. The alcohol did not improve his disposition much, but Celia made no further comments about it.

Laura’s suite was 1603, Celia’s 1601, right next door. As Greg followed his wife into the luxury room, he now felt like the hangman was on duty and ready for action and he himself was climbing up the gallows steps.

Celia tossed her travel bag in the bedroom and then turned to Greg, who was standing in the doorway. She smiled at him in a come-hither manner. He did not return the smile.

“Let’s get reacquainted,” she told him.

He did not step forward. “Uh ... well ... before we do that ... there is ... something I need to tell you.”

“I don’t want to hear it right now,” she said matter-of-factly.

“But it’s important,” Greg said. “And it’s something that you need to know as soon as possible so that ... uh ... we can start figuring out what we’re going to do.”

“It’s bad news,” she said. It was not a question.

“I’m afraid it is,” he confirmed.

She nodded. “I can tell,” she said. “The way you’re acting, the way you have trouble looking at me. I know that whatever you have to say is going to be horrible, and I don’t want to hear it right now.”

“But ... but...”

She walked across the room and stood in front of him, putting her arms around his neck. “Right now,” she said, “I want to get naked and I want you to eat my pussy out and then I want you to fuck me and give me the best fuck you are capable of. After we’re done doing that, then you can tell me your news.”

“Uh ... well ... the fact of the matter is, that I’m not sure I’ll be able to ... you know ... achieve an erection under the circumstances.”

She looked at him pointedly, keeping her arms around his neck. “That bad, huh?”

He nodded. “Yes,” he said, feeling tears forming in his eyes, feeling adrenaline flooding his bloodstream.

She nodded but kept the smile on her face for now. “Well then,” she said. “I guess the only thing to do is try to jump start your little friend.”

“Jump start?”

“It’s a figure of speech,” she whispered.

With that, she took her arms from around his neck and slowly sank to her knees before him. Her fingers went to his belt and opened it. She then unbuttoned his pants and let them drop around his feet. Next, she pulled his underwear down. His little friend, despite the circumstances, was already starting to rise to the occasion. When she put her mouth on it and began to suck gently, it kicked fully into gear. After all, Greg had not been laid in more than a month either.

And so, they performed their act of love. Greg enjoyed it immensely, but he knew that it was very likely the last he would ever have with Celia Valdez.

Meanwhile, in the suite next door, Jake was on his back on the King-sized bed, his shirt still on, his pants and underwear pulled down to his ankles, his shoes and socks still on his feet. Laura, naked from the waist down but still wearing her shirt and bra, was impaled on his erection, moving her hips up and down while Jake gripped her by the hips.

“Oh my God, I’ve missed your boner so much,” she panted at him, giving a little grind to increase the pressure on her clitoris.

“And it’s missed you too,” Jake panted back.

They continued to fuck against each other in this position. Jake reached up at one point and pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it on the floor. Laura herself then reached behind her, unsnapped her bra, and pulled it off, tossing it down atop the shirt and her pants and panties. She did not so much as break stride during this maneuver. Once it was complete, Jake pulled her body down a little, keeping Little Jake firmly buried inside of her, but angling his head down so he could suck on her nipples.

When he felt his control starting to slip a little—as it tended to do when he had been a long time without real sex—he used his hands to slow Laura’s pace.

“What’s the matter?” she panted, good-natured frustration in her tone.

“This feels too good,” he panted back. “I don’t want to come just yet.”

“Aww,” she whined. “You’re good for at least two, aren’t you?”

“At least,” he agreed.

“Then let it go, sweetie,” she encouraged. “I want to feel you lose control. It’s sexy.”

“Well ... if you insist.”

“I insist,” she said, her voice husky. It was obvious that she was telling the truth.

He took his hands off her hips and moved them to her breasts. She began to rise and fall atop him again, her pace increasing, her grinds getting more firm, more aggressive. Jake’s control mechanism, already fighting a losing battle, gave up any pretense of remaining in the game. The machine of orgasm kicked into gear and soon he was thrusting erratically back at her as the waves of pure pleasure began to build rapidly within him. He pulled her down against him and put his mouth to hers. They exchanged hot, passionate tongue kisses as he exploded and shot a large pent-up load deep inside of her body.

She collapsed onto him and they shared a few more kisses. Finally, she rolled off of him, his now wilting member popping free of her body in a drool of their combined juices. Jake finally kicked off his shoes and socks and then pushed his pants and underwear off, letting them fall to the floor at the foot of the bed. He then pulled the shirt over his head, tossing it over there with them.

“Mmmm,” Laura sighed, looking up at the ceiling fan spinning above them. “I just love the feel of your stuff shooting inside of me...” Another sigh. “ ... and dripping out of me.”

“There will be more for you in just a bit,” Jake promised, dropping his hand onto her smooth upper thigh.

“I’m counting on it,” she said, snuggling into him. She turned her head and nibbled on his earlobe a little. “Do you want to hear the story of my ... uh ... friend?”

“Absolutely,” he said.

“It was last week,” she said whimsically. “After the show in Birmingham. I put in a ... you know ... a request with Dan.”

“The pressure was starting to get to you?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I was getting very horny, and tuning my own instrument wasn’t cutting it anymore. That’s what I was supposed to do, right?”

“That was the agreement,” Jake confirmed. “What was her name?”

“I don’t remember,” Laura said, speaking honestly.

Jake smiled. “And that was the unspoken part of the agreement,” he said. “Tell me about her.”

“She was kind of emo. You know what I’m talking about?”

“I do,” he said. “Are we talking fringe emo or hard core here?”

“Hmmm,” Laura said, considering. “She was a little bit more than fringe, but I wouldn’t really call her hard-core either. Let’s say ... oh ... medium core.”

“Medium core?” Jake said, pondering this concept. “Okay. I can get behind that. What did she look like?”

“Her hair was purple,” Laura said.

“Purple hair?”

“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “It was cute, in a punk-rock kind of way. Good size boobs, natural, with big fat nipples. She had a stud through her left nipple.”

“That sounds painful,” Jake said.

“Apparently it was,” Laura said. “She said it hurt even more than the one in her clitoris.”

“A clit stud, huh?” Jake said, intrigued. He had seen such things in internet porn but never in real life. “Did you get a look at it?”

“Yeah,” Laura said. “A real good look.”

“So ... you mean ... you went down on her?” he asked, surprised.

“Well ... I wasn’t going to,” she said. “It seemed like maybe that was something I shouldn’t do with a groupie ... you know ... like how you don’t kiss them?”

“I’m aware of that rule,” Jake acknowledged. “Does it still apply to lesbian groupies?”

“It does,” she said. “Dan made that clear when I made the request. Anyway, I didn’t kiss her on the lips, but I did suck on her boobs for ... well ... a long time.”

“Yeah?” he asked, feeling a little blood start to flow down below despite the refractory period.

“Yeah,” she said. “And then she sucked on mine. She really got into my boobs. She liked squeezing them and suckling like a baby on the nipples.”

“Nice,” Jake said, picturing the scene.

“And then she went down on me,” she said, breathing a little heavier now. “She was pretty good at it. Almost as good as you, better than Molly, although Molly was sexier because ... well ... I knew her name.”

“I understand.”

“She made me come twice. And ... well, this is kind of kinky.”

“Oh yeah? Do tell.”

“Well ... I kind of liked ... uh ... pulling on her pig tails while she was eating me.”

“She had pig tails?” Jake asked, feeling another surge of blood heading south.

“She did. Didn’t I mention that?”

“You did not.”

“Oh ... well she did, and I really liked pulling on them, bringing her tighter up against me. And she liked it too. I could tell. Anyway, after I came the second time, I told her to take off her pants and panties. I wasn’t going to go down on her, but I wanted to see her pussy, to finger her a little, maybe trib her. I told you how much I liked tribbing with Molly, remember?”

“I remember,” he said.

“So ... she took off her pants and panties. That’s when I saw she had the stud in her clit. And her hoo-hoo ... oh sweetie, it looked so ... so appetizing. Her lips were all pink and swollen and she was shaved clean. It was obvious that she was really turned on by doing it with me ... that it wasn’t just an act, and then I smelled her ... that musky smell of ... you know...”

“A hoo-hoo?” Jake suggested.

“Right,” she said, a shine in her eyes. “And so ... I touched her with my fingers and felt how wet and slippery she was ... and ... I just couldn’t help myself. I put my face down there and ate her out.”

“That’s fuckin’ hot,” Jake said, his erection now at about three-quarters staff as he pictured the scene.

“It was,” she said. “I made her come two times. And licking the clit with the stud in it ... that was just ... I don’t know how to describe it. It was hot!” She saw the state of his erection and moved her hand over to it. She began caressing it, bringing it up to full-blown diamond-cutter status. “Why don’t we fuck some more?”

“I think we should,” he agreed, rolling toward her. A moment later, they were kissing hotly, getting ready to engage for round two.

Forty-five minutes later, they were once again lying side by side on the bed, still naked, their bodies now covered in a layer of drying perspiration and sexual musk. Both were now reasonably satiated.

“What’s the deal with Greg?” Laura asked.

“You noticed, huh?”

“It would have been pretty hard not to notice,” she said. “He was very morose. He was acting like his dog had just died or something and not like a man who was about to get laid after a month or so without it.”

“Well,” Jake said, “I’m afraid that he has some rather bad news to share with Celia.”

“Something to do with her family?” Laura asked, alarmed. “Did someone ... you know ... die?”

Jake shook his head. “No. Even worse.”

“Worse? What could be worse?”

He sighed. Jake really did not like being the bearer of bad news. It was not a happy thing to have to do. “He ... uh ... cheated on her again.”

Laura looked up at the ceiling and shook her head. “That idiot,” she said. “What is the matter with him?”

“It would seem he suffers from a lack of self-control in certain situations,” Jake said. “I can sympathize to a degree.”

She looked at him sharply. “But you’ve gotten over that ... right?”

“Right,” he agreed, successfully keeping thoughts of a snowy Portland night from emerging into his conscious mind. “Greg, however, apparently has not.”

Laura sighed, shaking her head a little more. “Celia is not going to be happy about that,” she said. “Why is he telling her? Guilty conscience again?”

“No,” he said. “Well ... I mean I’m sure he has a guilty conscience, but that’s not why he’s telling her.”

“Then why?” she wanted to know. “When he did this before, he did not do her or himself any favors by telling her about it. I’m not an advocate for infidelity or anything, but in that case, he should have just kept his mouth shut.”

“I agree,” Jake said. “This situation is a bit different though.”

“How so?”

“The whole world is going to know about it in a week or so whether he tells her or not. He’s giving her forewarning that the shit is about to hit the fan.”

“Ohhhh,” Laura said knowingly. “The entertainment media knows about what happened?”

“Not yet,” he said, “but they will.”

“Who is going to tell them?”

“Mindy Snow,” he said.

“Mindy Snow?” she asked. “What does she have to do with this?”

“She’s the one he cheated with,” Jake said.

Her face took on an expression of horror. “He fucked Mindy Snow?”

“He did,” Jake said.

“That asshole!” Laura said, outraged. “Of all the women he could have fucked ... God in Heaven, Celia is never going to forgive him for that.”

“Nope,” Jake agreed. “I don’t think she will.”

“She’s going to kill him!”

“Yep,” Jake agreed. “I think that entirely possible.”

“When did all this happen?” she asked. “While they were filming the movie?”

“You mean ‘the film’ or ‘the project’,” Jake reminded her. “And no, that was not when it happened—according to Greg anyway. He says she made it clear while they were filming that she was his for the taking but he kept his self-control back then and didn’t take her up on the offer.”

“The premier,” Laura said. “When they flew back east! Celia kept saying that he was acting weird after he came back from that trip. That’s when he did it, right?”

“Right,” Jake said. “She got him drunk on the flight to Chicago and then even more drunk at the premier that night. She managed to get him to let her give him a blowjob in his hotel room after the premier. That’s what opened the door.”

“Opened the door?”

“Yeah. The next night she got him drunk again and offered to let him ... uh ... uh...”

“Let him what?”

“Uh ... she let him ... uh ... perform anal sex with her,” he said, lapsing into a semi-Nerdlyism. As far as he knew, his wife did not even know that anal sex was a thing. While she did enjoy having her little bunghole tongued out on occasion (Jake would only perform this act for her in the hot tub or immediately after she had taken a hot bath), she had never expressed an interest in having his penis up there and Jake had never asked her to give it a shot since he had had more than his share of this particular act back in his younger days and had long since determined it was not really all that pleasurable once you got over the novelty of doing it.

But Laura surprised him. “He fucked Mindy Snow up the ass?”

“Uh ... yes,” Jake said. “Eloquently put. Anyway, that opened the door a little more. After that, it was pretty easy to get him to go conventional fuck the next night.”

“Wow,” Laura said in angry amazement. “And then what? Have they been having an affair ever since?”

“No,” Jake said. “Again, this is according to Greg, but that was the only time he fucked her.”

“That was the only time?”

“That’s what the man says,” Jake said. “And, for what it’s worth, I believe him.”

“But ... but ... I don’t get it. Why is Mindy Snow telling the entertainment press about this now? What’s her game? Is she just doing it to destroy him?”

“No ... not exactly,” Jake said.

“Then why?”

“She’s pregnant,” Jake said.

Laura’s eyes got wide again. “Pregnant? And ... and ... it’s Greg’s baby?”

Jake nodded. “That’s what she says,” he told her.

“But he only did it with her that one time? How does she know it’s his? That crazy bitch fucks anything with a boner, doesn’t she?”

“Apparently not since she broke up with her trainer boyfriend a few weeks before reporting for filming duty in Chicago.”

“And Greg believes that?”

“She doesn’t really have any reason to lie about it,” Jake explained. “She knows that Greg will demand a DNA test when the baby is born, and he said she does not seem the least bit worried about what the results are going to be. You see ... this was not a spontaneous thing from Mindy’s perspective. This was all part of a carefully plotted plan.”

“What do you mean?”

And so, he explained about how Mindy wanted to have a baby fathered by Greg in particular and had engineered everything to accomplish this. He explained her reasoning for why she wanted Greg’s baby. Laura listened in disturbed awe at the depth of Mindy’s depravity and sociopathy.

“Jesus God,” she whispered, stunned, when the tale was told. “She is ... is ... beyond evil. She’s the antichrist.”

“I can’t disagree with that statement,” Jake said.

“And so ... just like that, she’s going to destroy his marriage and his reputation?”

“Just like that,” Jake said. “It’s what she does.”

Laura opened her mouth to say something else, but she never got it out. At that moment, the sound of angry yelling and Spanish profanity erupted in the suite next door, a bit muffled but with a few phrases coming clearly through. Jake heard the word ‘puta’ and ‘cabron’ coupled with tenses of the word ‘chinga’ repeated multiple times. And then there were several bangs against the wall, one of them hard enough to cause a painting on their side to come loose and crash to the ground.

They looked at this impassively for a moment.

“I think maybe he just told her,” Jake suggested.

Laura nodded. “You may be right,” she agreed.

There were a few more angry outbursts of Celia’s voice, half in Spanish (the profanity and bile), half in English (they could not really make out what she was saying in English). There were a few more thumps on the wall and, on one occasion, the sound of glass breaking accompanied the thump. They heard Greg’s voice every now and then, but it was lower, incomprehensible, and with a pleading, apologetic tone to it. Greg’s voice was usually what preceded the thumps and the outbursts. Finally, they clearly heard Celia loudly exclaim, “largate de aqui, cabron!” This was repeated several times, each louder than the previous, and then the sound of the front door opening and then slamming shut reached them. After that, they heard no more.

“I guess Greg left?” Laura asked.

“That’s my guess,” Jake agreed.

“I wonder if I should go check on her?”

Jake shook his head. “I wouldn’t advise that. Let her cool down a bit.”

She nodded. “I was kind of hoping you would say that.”

“I’ll go downstairs in a little bit and see if I can find Greg in the bar. I’m guessing that’s where he’ll be.”

“Probably.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Laura asked the question. “How long have you known about this?”

Jake looked her straight in the eyes and said, “He just told me about it the other day.”

She nodded, no sign of disbelief in her face.

Jake felt no guilt at his lie. Sometimes the truth simply could not be told, even within the bounds of a marriage.

Greg spent the night on the couch in Laura’s suite. Laura avoided him, mostly because she was angry with his betrayal of her best friend, but also because the thought of speaking to him under the circumstances was awkward. He booked a private flight back to Los Angeles the next morning and left for the airport before Laura even woke up. Jake, however, accompanied him downstairs to have a cup of coffee in the café and wait for the limousine.

“What now?” Jake asked him.

Greg looked even more miserable than he had the night before. He was hungover and pale, his face a mask of misery. “Now, I go home and get together with my agent and we start preparing our press release for when Mindy breaks the story.”

“Are you going to deny the accusations?”

Greg simply shook his head. “There’s really no point,” he said. “I have to assume that the baby really is mine and come clean with the public. I’ll just stick to the facts, say that it is true, that Mindy and I had a one-time encounter, that I regret that it happened, that I apologize to Celia and everyone else I let down, and that I will do the right thing.”