Risky Investment Part 22

"Sam?" Chris asked.

"Yes, this is Sam."

"Sam, this is Chris. Is there any way that you can get Lynn to the phone, I'll wait if I have to," Chris said, sounding panicky.

"Chris, Lynn didn't come in tonight. Said she wasn't feeling well." Sam paused. After no response on the other end of the line, Sam asked, "Isn't she at home?"

"Umm* never mind," Chris said into the phone before slowly placing the receiver back on the base. She fed another set of coins into the device and dialed the number at the house. The phone rang on the other end*one, two, three, four, five times. Come on, pick up, Lynn, she said to herself. Chris heard the machine click on and waited for the beep. "Lynn, if you're there, pickup, please!" Chris waited for an answer and felt a surge of disappointment as she hung up. What was she going to do?

The two couples sat in a booth reviewing the menus. Chris had tried to give Matt "the look" when his parents had offered to buy dessert after the concert, but as usual, Matt didn't catch on. It didn't even seem to faze him when she declined on ice cream. He should've known that she was close to the breaking point from that gesture alone. Chris was having trouble keeping her mind on the conversation at hand, but the next sentence out of Marie's mouth brought her screeching back to reality.

"Matty, I hope that you can put up with us for a little longer!" Marie smiled and placed her hand on her husband's. "John and Barbara Murdock, you know, the couple that we ran into tonight? Well, it seems that they were going on a cruise with another couple next week, and the other couple had to cancel. They asked us if we'd like to take the couple's place!"

Matt gulped as he looked first at his mom, then at his dad.

"It's actually one of those three-day cruises down to Mexico and back. It doesn't actually start until Tuesday, and we get back late Friday," Charles explained.

"Yes," Marie smiled. "That means we have at least four more days to spend with you! Tomorrow, Sunday, Monday, and then next Sat.u.r.day*"

"Maybe we'll just stay until next Sunday, that way we'll have the whole next weekend with you," Charles suggested.

Matt looked at Chris and nervously smiled. "Great! Right, Chris?"

Chris tried her best to return the smile. Another week of this charade? Could this day get any worse?

Matt pulled up in front of the house and put the car into park. He could see the disappointment on Chris's face when Lynn's truck wasn't in the driveway. They walked into the house and Chris headed to the couch.

"So* Chris," Matt stuttered, trying to find a way to ask how she felt about playing his fiancee for another week. "About my parents staying for another week* I had no way of knowing. I couldn't tell them not to*"

"Matt," Chris softly interrupted. "It's okay. I know you couldn't do anything about it. What's another week?" she said resignedly.

Matt hugged her. He knew she was in pain, and this just added to her misery. Chris pulled away and plopped down on the couch.

"Aren't you going to bed?" Matt asked. "It's late."

"No, I'm just going to hang out here for a while," Chris replied, turning on the television.

Matt sat down on the coffee table in front of Chris. "She won't be home tonight, Chris."

Chris avoided his eyes. "I'm not waiting for her. I'll go in to bed soon, I promise."

Matt sighed, stood, and walked down the hall. He hated to see the most important women in his life in such pain.

Lynn lay on the leather couch in her hotel room and stared out the door at the city lights. She had kept the room in the city as a permanent second residence so that she had a place to stay when she was working. It was easier than a regular apartment as it was always kept clean, and due to room service, she never had to cook.

Getting up from the couch she wandered over and opened the doors out onto the patio. She leaned on the railing and looked down at the cars and the people below. Nothing had changed. Her life had stopped, but everything else had continued. She tried to take a breath of fresh air but breathed in only smog. She longed for the cool, clean ocean breeze.

Back at Lynn and Matt's place, Chris flipped through the channels unable to find anything that she wanted to watch. Maybe it was because she couldn't think of anything else but Lynn. Her mind was reeling with all of the new information she had uncovered today. Lynn Gregory an investment a.n.a.lyst? That explained the investment magazine in her bedside drawer. Chris walked to the bedroom, changed her clothes, and grabbed the magazine she had previously found.

With a full dish of ice cream in hand, Chris plopped back down on the couch and opened the magazine. She put the first spoonful in her mouth. It immediately brought back the memories of the other night and the feeling of Lynn's tongue on her bare skin. Shivering, she shook the feeling aside and flipped through the pages. What a boring magazine, she thought, until she came upon a very interesting picture, a picture of Lynn. At least the face looked like Lynn's, She read the caption under the photograph, "Lynn Gregory at the top of her game." No wonder Lynn had kept it.

Chris settled in to read the two-page article on Lynn. When she had finished, she sat in shock, for the second time that day. The article said Lynn finished college at nineteen, made full partner in her investment firm at twenty-three and, as they said in the article, was "on top of her game" at thirty. Lynn said she was thirty-two. This woman had it all. What had happened to the woman in the last two years to make her completely change her life?

The bowl of ice cream empty, Chris closed the magazine and thought about the Lynn Gregory that she had come to know. She wasn't anything like the headstrong genius she had read about. She wasn't even sure that she would have liked Lynn if she had been like the person in the article. Maybe Matt was right. Maybe she wouldn't have felt the connection with Lynn if she had known who she was in the beginning. Chris stretched out on the couch and drifted off to sleep pondering the question.

Back at the hotel, Lynn finished a drink. Turning down the comforter, she thought back to where she was just the night before. At home in her own bed, with the woman she loved lying in her arms. She climbed into the sheets, turned off the light, and lay there feeling entirely alone. She felt the first tear roll down her cheek. Rolling over, she softly cried herself to sleep.

Chapter Fifteen.

Chris awoke to someone gently rubbing her arm. She smiled and sleepily opened her eyes. "Lynn?" But as she focused she saw not Lynn sitting beside her, but Matt.

Matt shook his head. "I told you that she wouldn't come home last night. I don't know why you waited out here for her."

Chris stretched out after being cramped on the couch all night. Seeing the magazine on the table, she felt the pain of yesterday's events overwhelm her again.

Matt followed her eyes to the magazine on the table. Picking it up he said, "Where did you find this?" Without waiting for an answer he chuckled and threw it back on the table, commenting, "Totally different person now, huh?"

Chris nodded in agreement, "What happened to her?"

"I guess she just got tired of all the c.r.a.p. When her personal life fell apart, she made a choice to stop and smell the roses."

"She just gave it all up?" Chris questioned.

"Yeah, well sort of. She still works once in a while. She still has a few clients and she still looks into investments for my dad. She has to do certain things to keep up her status as partner," Matt explained.

"Well, I gotta go," he said as he stood and walked to the door, holding a cup of coffee. "See you tonight."

Chris reached over and again examined the picture of Lynn in the article. Then she let her eyes scan the photographs on the mantel. The exterior differences were obvious*her hair was shorter now; she had ear piercings; her body was much more toned and muscular. But the real difference was in her eyes. Lynn had been so right: you could tell a lot about a person through the eyes. The eyes of the woman in the picture were cold and shallow. She remembered the eyes she had looked into not more than two days ago*warm, sensitive, caring. Then, the eyes grew full of anger and hurt as Chris's memory from their encounter on Friday resurfaced in her mind.

Suddenly, Chris found herself rolled into a ball, occupying only a fraction of the large stuffed sofa. She curled her knees in even closer and softly cried herself to sleep.

The shrill ring of the phone abruptiy woke Chris from her dreams. Rubbing her face, she tried to wipe away the remnants of the tears that had dried on her cheeks. She rushed to the device, somehow hoping that it was Lynn. Chris tried not to show her disappointment as she heard Matt's voice on the other end.

"What'd you do, fall back asleep?" Matt laughed.

"Uh* yeah, I guess so," Chris answered, still rubbing her eyes.

"Well, get off your b.u.t.t and bring me something to eat, woman!"

"Excuse me?" Chris smiled at Matt's attempt to sound tough.

"Oh come on, I'm starving and I can't get away," Matt pleaded. "Please!"

"You're pitiful!" She chuckled. "You'll have to wait until I shower!"

Chris hung up the phone and ran her fingers through her hair. She shuffled down the hall to the shower, thankful to have a reason to climb out of the pit that she had fallen into this morning.

Chris watched Matt pick at his food. "You're sure not eating much for being starved!"

Matt swirled a french fry in the mound of ketchup as he looked up at Chris. "Yeah, well, the truth is, I had to get you out of the house. Lynn realized this morning that she needed a few things, her briefcase, laptop* I guess she left in such a hurry yesterday*"

Chris lowered her eyes, remembering Lynn's exit all too well. "Matt*" Chris began.

Matt put his hand up to stop her from continuing. "Stop. Don't want to hear it."

"I just wanted to say that I didn't mean all the things*"

Matt put his hand up again. "She didn't tell me what was said. My guess is that she didn't want me holding it against you."

Chris sat back in her chair. "I don't have to stay at the house, Matt."

Running his fingers through his hair, Matt sighed. "That's not what she wants, Chris."

Chris nodded. "So, where's she staying? With one of her girlfriends?"

Swallowing his bite, Matt chuckled at the underlying jealousy in the question. "No." He shook his head. "She's got a place in the city. Believe me, it's more than comfortable."

Chris sat back in silence, still trying to process all of the new information that had been revealed. Matt began gathering the trash from their lunch.

"So, what are you going to do with your free evening tonight?" Matt asked.

Chris shrugged. "Study, I guess. I've gotten behind, I need to catchup."

"Exciting Sat.u.r.day night, girl! You're welcome to come out with me and Paul," Matt politely offered.

"Oh yeah, let's see, going out with you on your date, or staying home studying. What a choice," Chris grumbled. A few days ago she would have loved a free evening, just to be with Lynn.

"But it's a choice," Matt suggested as he threw the trash into the can. "Well, I've got to get back to work. Paul's picking me up at six, if you're interested."

Chris rose from her chair and walked toward the door. "See you later."

Chris tried not to race back to the house. She set her expectations low, knowing that Lynn would have rushed in and rushed out. There would be no way Lynn would still be there. She was right. Lynn's truck was nowhere in sight. Upon searching the house, she could find no signs that Lynn had been there, except that the computer and the briefcase were gone. No note saying that everything would be okay. No card saying that they would still be friends. Just an empty house. Chris grabbed her backpack and pulled out a book. She would focus her energies on studying. Sinking down on the couch, she opened her book to Chapter Thirteen. She would need to get through Chapter Sixteen to catch up. She began reading, and then drifted off to sleep.

The slamming of the door woke Chris from a deep sleep. She glanced at the clock: it was almost six.

Matt looked over the edge of the couch. "I can see that you got a lot of studying done!" he chuckled. "Paul will be here anytime. Tell him that I'm running late. I'll try to make it quick!"

Chris rubbed her eyes and sat up. d.a.m.n, what a wasted afternoon.

The knock on the door startled her. Paul was early. Running her fingers through her hair, she walked groggily across the room and swung the door open.

"I take it Matt's not ready." Paul smiled.

"No," Chris replied as she motioned for him to come in. "He just got home. He said he'd hurry."

Paul entered the room and followed her lead in plopping down on the couch. He sat in silence, wringing his hands nervously. Chris watched the man, wondering if there was something wrong. Finally, she broke the tension.

"Is there something wrong, Paul?"

"Can I ask you a question? I mean, you don't have to answer if it makes you feel uncomfortable," Paul said with a bit of hesitation.

"What is it?" Chris asked.

Paul paused; looking down, he nervously asked, "Is Matt seeing anyone else? I just want to know. You see I'm kind of new at this dating thing. I wanted to ask him* but I didn't know if it was too soon*"

Chris sat down across from him. "What do you mean, new to the dating thing?"

"Well, I was with someone for a long time. He died in a car accident about a year ago. It's taken me a while to get over him. I've just started going out again."

"I'm sorry. How long were you together?" Chris softly asked.

"Seven years this month," he replied, and, running his hand over his face, began to apologize. "Sorry, I still keep counting as if he were still alive. I guess it's hard to get over your first love." He looked up at Chris and slighdy smiled.

"He was your first love?"

"Yeah, believe it or not, I had never even been attracted to a man before. But he was really special. He had this look in his eye that just made me melt, and his laugh*" Paul answered as if getting lost in his memories.

"Sounds like you have some great memories," Chris said sympathetically. Then, deciding to ask the burning question in her mind, she asked, "So if you had never been attracted to a man before, what made you decide that all of a sudden you were gay?"

Paul paused to gather his thoughts, then replied, "You know, everyone has so many labels* the plain truth is that you can't help who you fall in love with. I just happened to fall in love with a man, there was no aedecision' to make."

Chris was taken aback with his thoughts. It seemed so clear to him. She wanted to continue the conversation, so she asked, "Okay, so you fell in love with a man. Is it so clear to you now that you want to be with another man?"

Paul thought this question over carefully, and answered, "I've come to realize that there are certain qualities that I admire in the male s.e.x." Then, shaking his head, he reconsidered his answer. "No, I don't want to use that word aes.e.x,' that's the wrong word. It's not just a physical thing. I'm sorry, you know, I don't know how to describe it. I guess it's just a connection that I feel." Paul looked up and chuckled. "Does that make any sense? G.o.d, I must sound like a complete idiot!"

Chris found it hard to reply. It was as if he had read her mind.

Paul reached over and touched her knee. "Hey, are you okay? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no, I'm sorry," Chris forced out Paul smiled, knowing that he had planted a seed. "Well, did I pa.s.s the interview?"

"The interview?" Chris asked, a little confused "Well, I figured you were checking me out before you answered my question about Matt."

Chris smiled; did he really think she was that stupid? She answered, "No, Matt isn't seeing anyone else."

"Did I hear my name?" Matt called from down the hall.

Chris laughed out loud. "I was just asking if Paul's intentions were honorable!"

Matt stuck his head around the corner. "I hope not!" He smiled.

Paul's face turned red. Chris looked at Matt. "Oh yeah, and you wanted me to come with you guys tonight? I think that's where the saying aethree's a crowd' comes into play!"