Angry that he would even try, Shannon marched out to the full trash bin in her driveway, put the flowers on top of the pile, and went about her day.
After a twelve-hour flight, made longer because of delays both leaving China and arriving in Los Angeles, Victor felt like the walking dead. Much as he wanted to surprise Shannon with a midnight call, he fell into bed after a much-needed shower and didn’t wake until ten the next day.
When he did, there was a stack of magazines and newspapers on his doorstep. They were tied in a big purple bow with a handwritten note.
She doesn’t love you!
Victor spread the papers on his dining room table and looked at the pictures.
He had to be missing something.
Shannon and her ex-husband looked as if they were rekindling a flame.
Something didn’t feel right. He looked at his calls and didn’t see her number in the log.
A message from his brother saying “Call me” caught his attention.
“Hey, Vic,” Justin said, picking up on the second ring.
“Is everything okay?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing.”
Victor could hear the busy noise of a machine shop in the background.
“I flew in last night.” He glanced at the tabloid on his table, closed his eyes, and shook his head.
“I thought as much. Hold on . . .”
Victor heard the noise in the background start to fade and then go away altogether. “I couldn’t hear you.”
“That’s better.”
“I wanted to see how you were doing.”
Victor scratched his head. “I’m fine.”
“And Shannon? Are you guys okay?”
Okay, none of this was in Justin’s normal conversation. “I think we’re fine.” He thought of the papers, purposely put space between him and the images of Shannon and her ex.
“I’m not one to pry, but Mom called me, said she saw Shannon in a newspaper at the grocery store. Have you seen it?”
The reason for the call cleared in his head. He sighed. “Yeah.” He picked up the handwritten note that was left with the papers. She doesn’t love you. “I don’t know what’s going on. I haven’t talked to Shannon yet.”
Justin paused. “Are you going to be okay?”
“You think the papers are telling the truth?”
“I think you jumped in really fast after Corrie.”
Victor ran his hand through his hair, suddenly more nervous than he had been before calling his brother back. “It’s probably bullshit.”
“And if it isn’t?”
His heart fell into the pit of his stomach with the thought. “She and her ex were a long time ago.”
“Looks like they saw each other while you were in China. At a political fundraiser. That couldn’t have been an accident.”
No denying that.
“Listen,” Justin said. “I don’t want to add to your stress, I just wanted to tell you I’m here if you wanna talk, or get drunk, or whatever. Twice in one year is a lot for anyone.”
“Yeah . . . okay.” This was not happening again.
“Love you, bro.”
“Yeah. Love you, too.” He hung up.
Instead of picking up the phone and calling Shannon, he dressed and went straight to her house.
He pounded on her door and called her name. When she didn’t answer, he glanced through the front window.
Nothing.
His palms started to sweat.
Oh, who was he kidding? His heart rate had soared the second he’d seen the pictures, elevated even more with Justin’s phone call, and now might need some serious drugs to find a normal pace.
He started to dial her number before he noticed the trash at the end of her driveway.
The roses he’d sent her sat on top of the garbage.
His step faltered.
Something inside of him started to chisel away and break.
This was not okay. Not again. Not with Shannon. Was he so easy to leave, to forget?
He finished dialing her number.
“You’ve reached Shannon, please leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”
Hearing her voice made his heart shatter.
He didn’t bother with a message.
He wished now he’d put her on Friend Finder so he knew exactly where she was. Only the thought hadn’t occurred to him.
It was Sunday morning . . . afternoon. He’d forgotten to set his watch to the current time. The last time they spoke she was excited about the loft, so that’s where he headed.
Victor tried to calm down, talk the caveman off the ledge. He was still half-dead from flying and cautioned himself against jumping to conclusions. But damn if he was going to ignore the pictures he’d found. Maybe Justin was right. Maybe he was jumping too fast with Shannon.