Insane City (22 page)

22

Tina had gotten as far as the bar in the hotel lobby. She’d intended to go to her room but

decided she’d have a glass of wine to help her sleep.

She found an empty table and sat down. A waiter appeared immediately, as waiters always did when

Tina entered an establishment. She looked at the wine list and selected a glass of the most expensive

sauvignon blanc
. The waiter bustled off.

Tina glanced around and saw men at the bar noticing her, as men always did. She knew from

experience that eventually several of them would offer to buy her a drink and she would have to rebuff

their advances. This did not concern her. She was an excellent rebuffer. And although she would never

admit it to anyone, she took pleasure in the power that her looks gave her over men.

Her wine came; she sipped it, enjoying the temporary solitude, thinking about the next day, her

wedding day, mentally running down her checklist. All was going well, she decided. The rehearsal dinner

had ended a bit weirdly—her mom was
not
the kind of person to lie on the beach in dress clothes—but

Tina had decided the strange behavior could be explained by the wine. Aside from that, everything

appeared to be going smoothly, now that Seth had agreed to deal with the ridiculous situation with the

people in his room.

She frowned, thinking of her confrontation with Seth. She’d been troubled by his reaction when she

told him the Haitians had to go—the way he brought up the time she got arrested on the way to the Giants

game, throwing that in her face. As if he was saying she didn’t care about the Haitians.
Of
course
she

cared about the Haitians. She was infinitely more aware of the plight of undocumented immigrants than

Seth could ever hope to be. She had
marched in rallies
, for God’s sake. But there was a time and a place,

and this was neither. This was her
wedding
. And instead of understanding that, Seth had challenged her,

almost
lectured
her. That bothered Tina. That was a side of Seth she hadn’t seen. She would have to keep

an eye on that.

The waiter approached and said, “The gentleman at the bar would like to buy you a drink.”

Tina glanced toward the bar and saw him smiling at her—good-looking, in a Latin way, but not her

type. She gave him the barest of smiles, a smile that said
I understand, but: In your dreams
. “Please tell

the gentleman thank you but no.”

“Of course,” said the waiter, backing away.

Tina went back to thinking about Seth. She sincerely believed he was the right choice for her. He

was good-looking and funny, a nice guy, a thoughtful and sensitive lover. He wasn’t well educated, but he

was smart enough. And unlike the many highly educated guys who had pursued her—and who would have

made her parents much happier—Seth was not obsessed with succeeding.

This suited Tina perfectly. She had dated enough high-achieving, self-worshipping Law Review

assholes to know she did not want to be in a relationship with an ambitious man. She had more than

enough ambition for two, with a detailed plan mapped out in her mind for a career as a humanitarian and

leader of causes.
She
would be the achiever in her relationship. Seth’s role would be as supporter,

sounding board, confidant. Some day, at a banquet honoring her for some prestigious award—she had

pictured this in her mind more than once—she would dance with Seth, the two of them on the floor

looking great, everybody else watching, and the song playing would be “Wind Beneath My Wings,” and

she would kiss him, and everyone would agree that they were a terrific couple, perfect for each other. She

would make a gracious speech about how she could never have done it without him. Everybody would

cry.

Tina believed that Seth, on some level, shared her vision for their future; that he understood and

accepted his subordinate role as the price he willingly paid for a prize so many other men wanted,

namely, her. She was also confident that, once they were married, he would swallow his pride and leave

his stupid tweeting job for some position set up by her father. In time they would have children—

beautiful, smart, exceptional children—and Seth would be busy with his duties as father. He would be a

good father. He would be deeply involved with his family, and as a couple they would make new friends.

Seth would drift apart from Marty and Kevin and Big Steve, who were entertaining enough in their way,

but losers, not suitable for the long term.

The waiter, looking apologetic, approached again. “I’m sorry to bother you,” he said, “but there’s

another gentleman at the bar who would like to buy you a drink.”

Tina glanced over and saw another smiling man, even handsomer than the first, raising a glass

hopefully, looking at Tina the way men did, letting her know she could get them to do anything she wanted

them to do, anything.

“Tell him no thank you,” said Tina, turning away. She took a last sip of wine, signed the check and

rose to leave.

She had reached the doorway when she saw Seth on the far side of the lobby, emerging from the

hallway that led to the elevators.

He was with a woman. It was the same woman she’d seen him with the night before when he’d also

been with that hideous man with the snake. But the snake man wasn’t here now, just this woman. She was

still wearing the tight, short, low-cut dress she’d been wearing the night before. She was pretty enough—

Tina wouldn’t say beautiful—and she seemed to be in decent shape, although a bit too meaty for Tina’s

sensibilities.

As Tina watched, Seth and the woman went out the front door. Tina took a few steps into the lobby

so she could see through the doorway. Seth and the woman stood by the driveway, waiting, for about a

minute. A pimped-out black Cadillac Escalade pulled up, bass thumping. Seth and the woman got in, Seth

driving. The Escalade pulled away.

Tina, in shock, stood utterly still, trying to come up with an explanation. No good one came to mind.

She found it almost impossible to believe that Seth would be cheating on her—on
her
—on the night

before their wedding, especially with a cheap-looking woman like that. But why would he have left the

hotel with her? Where would they be going?

She took her phone out of her purse and dialed Seth’s number. She got voice mail. She hung up and

thought some more about what she’d seen. She still had no explanation, at least no acceptable one. The

more she thought about it, the unhappier she got.

Maybe it had something to do with the Haitians.
Tina turned that over in her mind. Seth had

promised he’d get them out of his suite. She assumed he’d done so, but now, suddenly, she wanted to

know for sure.

Walking quickly, she crossed the lobby, went to the elevators, rode up to Seth’s floor. She marched

down the hallway to his suite door and pressed the doorbell button.

Thirty seconds later, the door was opened by LaDawne.

“Can I help you?” she said in an unhelpful tone.

Tina looked past LaDawne’s massive form. She saw Wesley on the sofa with Stephane next to him.

Laurette walked into the room, carrying the baby.

“What are you people doing here?” said Tina.

“You people?”
said LaDawne.

“Yes. What are you doing in this room?”

“Who the hell are you?”

“I’m the fiancée of the person who’s the registered guest in this room. And you people have no

business being here.”

“Well, then, maybe you need to talk to your fiancé,” said LaDawne. “Because he knows
we
people

are here and he said it’s fine with him.”

“I don’t believe you,” said Tina.

LaDawne stepped closer. “Are you calling me a liar?”

Tina did not back up. “I guess I am.”

“Then I’m calling you a skinny-ass bitch,” said LaDawne, slamming the door.

Tina stared at the door for several seconds, her eyes suddenly burning, her brain not believing this

was happening. People simply did not,
ever
, slam a door in the face of Tina Clark. She turned and ran

back down the hallway to the elevators. She punched the down button furiously, over and over, until an

elevator came. She rode it down to the lobby, tears streaming down her face.

The doors opened. Standing there, waiting for the elevator, was Mike Clark. Behind him loomed

Castronovo and Brewer.

Mike looked at Tina’s anguished face, held out his arms as she stumbled toward him.

“Baby,” he said, his voice a mixture of concern and fury. “Tell Daddy what’s wrong.”

23

It took a lot of experimentation, but Seth and Cyndi had finally managed to subdue both the video

and audio systems in Wesley’s Escalade. They now rode in welcome silence, the windows down, letting

the cool and salty night sea air flow through the car.

“I really appreciate you going with me to do this,” said Seth. “After we get the suitcase, I can drop

you off at your house, if you want.”

“No, I’ll come back, if that’s OK,” said Cyndi. “At this point I really want to see they’re OK. I feel

kind of, like,
responsible
for them, you know?”

“Yeah,” said Seth.

“It was really nice what you did, letting them stay.”

Seth nodded. “I just hope Tina feels the same way.”

“I’m sure she will.”

“The thing is, I told her I’d tell them to leave. She’s really not happy, me having all these people

around, the distraction. But when I saw Laurette walking out the door, with those two kids, me sitting in

that big suite . . .”

“I know. You did the right thing. And Tina will understand. I know she has to be a good person or

you wouldn’t be marrying her.”

“Yeah.”

They rode for a while in silence, which was broken by Cyndi.

“This whole thing is making me think,” she said.

“About . . .”

“About me. What I’m doing with my life. Like, I’m almost embarrassed about how you met me.”

Seth frowned, trying to remember. It seemed like decades ago. He smiled when it came to him. “At

the Clevelander,” he said. “The Miss Hot Amateur Bod contest!”

Cyndi put her face in her hands. “I can’t believe I did that. And I didn’t even
win
.”

“Hey,” he said, “I’d have given you first place.”

Cyndi blushed. “Thanks, but that was stupid. I’m too old to be out there getting drunk and acting like

that. I think maybe it’s because of what happened with my marriage, my husband cheating on me . . . Like,

I have to prove it wasn’t my fault, that I can still look good.”

“You don’t have to prove that. You definitely still look good.”

“So why am I trying to prove it? I mean, the guys I meet on South Beach, going to clubs every night,

getting wasted . . . they’re not the kind of guys I want to meet anyway. I want to meet nice guys. Guys

like . . . OK, like you.”

This time they both blushed.

“Well, thanks,” said Seth. “But I have to point out that you met
me
over there on South Beach and I

was totally wasted. I was so wasted, I lost my suitcase, which is how come now we’re driving over to

Primate Encounter.”

“Right, but that was your bachelor party. That’s different. And besides, if you think about it, if things

didn’t happen the way they did, you wouldn’t have ended up on that beach last night, and you would never

have pulled Laurette and her kids out of the ocean. They probably would have drowned.”

“Maybe.”

“Anyway,” she said, “the point is, you’re a good guy. Tina’s very lucky to have you.”

“I hope she feels the same way.”

“I’m sure she does,” said Cyndi. She touched Seth’s arm, then pulled her hand away.