Secret Liaisons (10 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Terrance bit his bottom lip while sitting out in front of the receptionist area. Charlotte said to him, “This is good. If they weren't interested, they would have sent you home. Trust me. I've been to many of these type of meetings.”

Terrance looked at Charlotte. “I hope so. I love doing movies but to have my own show on television. It would be a dream come true.”

“It's going to happen.” Charlotte looked down at her phone. “I need to take this. I'll be right over there.”

Charlotte stood and walked out of hearing distance.

Terrance removed his phone from his pocket and turned it on. He'd received messages from his mom and other people, but there weren't any from Mona. He sent Mona a text message. A few seconds later, she responded.

He smiled. She loved the flowers. He'd ordered them online right before leaving the office. She sent him another text message inquiring about the meeting. He typed: It's promising. We're waiting to be called back in.

He sent text messages back and forth to Mona answering her questions concerning the meeting.

The same woman from before walked near him. “They are ready for you.”

“Thanks,” Terrance responded. He sent Mona a message to let her know he was about to go into another meeting.

Charlotte's back was towards him. He tapped her on the shoulder.

Startled, she jumped before turning around.

“I hate to interrupt, but they're asking for us,” Terrance said.

Charlotte ended her call and they walked to the conference room. This time there were only two people in the room. Charles and another man.

They took a seat right across from them.

Charles extended his hand across the table towards Terrance. “Terrance, welcome to the company. We're excited to have you onboard.”

Terrance shook Charles' hand. He then shook the other guy's hand.

“Which idea will you be going with?” Charlotte asked.

“We have two slots available but my team was really interested in the one about the sisters so we want to develop that one. And this here is David Anderson. He's from legal. We just need you to sign a few papers.”

David handed him one sheet of a paper and held on to what looked like a thick document. Terrance placed the paper in between him and Charlotte. He read it. He looked at Charlotte for guidance.

Charlotte said, “Terrance will sign this one so you'll know that he is serious and will not pitch this idea to any other network during our negotiation phase, however, we will need our legal team to read over the full contract before he'll sign the other agreement.”

“Sure. That's understandable,” David said.

David handed Charlotte the full agreement.

Terrance signed the one sheet. He handed it to David. Charles and David signed. David said, “I'll be right back with your copy.”

Thirty minutes later, Terrance and Charlotte were walking in the parking lot towards their cars. “Terrance, do you want to tell Mona or do you want me to?”

“Let me. I will tell her in person because I want to see the expression on her face.”

“I have a suggestion. Do you think you can wait until later? Let's surprise her. I'll have her meet me at our favorite restaurant. We can have a celebration dinner,” Charlotte suggested.

“Sounds like a good idea to me. It's going to be hard to keep it to myself, but let's do it,” Terrance replied.

Mona stared at the flowers on her desk. It was sweet of Terrance and her friends to do this for her. The sound of the ding indicating someone was coming to the door interrupted her thoughts.

There stood Terrance with a huge grin on his face.

“How's my favorite person?” Terrance asked. He walked to Mona's desk and leaned down and smelled the colorful floral arrangement.

“They smell good don't they?” Mona asked.

“What's that? I didn't order you roses. Are those from that mystery guy of yours?” Terrance asked with a curious look on his face.

“No. They're from Charlotte and Kem,” Mona replied.

“The ladies are making me regret not ordering the roses.” Terrance smiled.

“I love the floral arrangement. You did good,” she assured him. Mona attempted to get off the subject of flowers. “So what happened? Any news?”

“None right now.”

Mona's phone beeped. It was a text message from Charlotte. She read it. She looked at Terrance who was still smiling.

“You have a few calls you need to return.” Mona handed him a long, yellow sheet of paper.

“I'll take care of these calls. If you want to leave early, you have my permission.”

“Only if you're going to pay me for the full day.”

“You got it, sunshine.”

“You don't have to tell me twice. I have some things I need to take care of anyway, so I'll see you tomorrow.” Mona removed her purse from the desk drawer.

“Tomorrow. What about tonight?” Terrance asked.

“Maybe. I'll let you know.” Mona stood and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

Mona needed to take care of old unfinished business and tonight would be the night.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Mona left the office and made an emergency trip to the hairdresser. She wanted her hair to look fierce when she saw Garrett. She knew she shouldn't care, but she wanted to look so good when Garrett saw her that he would regret ending things with her.

While sitting under the dryer, Mona received a text from Charlotte asking her to meet her at Luigi's Restaurant at eight. Things were falling into place. She wanted to meet Garrett in a public place so Luigi's would be perfect. If she met Garrett at seven, it would give them an hour to talk and then she could send him on his merry way.

She waited until she was sitting in her car to call Garrett.

“I didn't think you were going to call me back,” Garrett confessed.

“Unlike you, I'm a woman of my word. You have one hour. Meet me at Luigi's at seven.”

“An hour's all I need. See you then beautiful.”

This time Garrett ended the call first.

Later that evening, Mona found herself changing in and out of outfits. Her bed was filled with clothes until she finally decided on a black pencil skirt with a lilac blouse and short black jacket that matched the skirt.

She draped a towel around her so she wouldn't get any makeup on her outfit while she applied her make-up. Satisfied with the appearance she saw reflected in the mirror, Mona left to go meet Garrett.

Mona valet parked her car when she got to the restaurant. The restaurant was busy with patrons. The hostess asked, “Are you waiting on someone?”

“I'm supposed to be meeting a man named Garrett.”

“Are you Mona?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“He's here. He wanted us to bring you to the table once you arrived,” the hostess stated.

“I'll be glad to seat you. Follow me,” another hostess directed.

Mona followed behind the hostess. She could see the back of Garrett's head. Mona felt her heart beat increase the closer they got to the table.

The hostess said, “Mr. Garrett, your guest is here.”

Garrett stood. All six feet and two inches of him. Mona could tell he was well fit under the designer suit he wore.

“Mona, it's so good to see you.” He reached out to hug her but Mona moved out of his way.

“I wish I could say the same to you.”

He cleared his throat. Garrett held out her chair as she took a seat. “At least let me hold out your seat.”

Mona tried to keep her old emotions at bay. The turmoil within her wouldn't allow her to put her guard down around him.

Mona remained quiet as she listened to Garrett fill her in on what he'd been doing for the last nine years. He'd made many strides in the area of medicine. He'd recently moved back to Los Angeles and opened a private practice. He'd become the doctor he'd always wanted to be. He'd followed his dreams and lived a fulfilling life from what he said and all without her.

“So what's been going on with you?” Garrett asked. “And you could have ordered something other than a salad.”

Mona stopped eating her salad and looked directly into his eyes. “I'm a grown woman and will eat what I want. I don't need for you or anyone else to dictate what I eat.”

“I'm sorry. I was just saying. I'm not trying to control you. I've never tried to control you.”

“No, because you always let your mother do that for you,” Mona snapped.

Garrett placed his fork on his plate. “That's what I really wanted to talk about. My mom did some things that she shouldn't have.”

Mona sat back and looked at him. “Does it look like I care about that now?”

Garrett looked down at Mona's hands. “I see you don't have a ring on your finger. So maybe I still have a chance?”

Mona laughed and then stopped laughing abruptly. “A snowman has a better chance of not melting in a fire than you have getting back with me.”

“Just hear me out please. I'm sure you'll change your mind,” Garrett pleads.

Mona glanced at her watch. She needed Garrett gone before Charlotte and Kem got here. “You're wasting time. Say what you have to say so we can go our separate ways.”

Garrett blurted, “I had no idea my mom was the reason why you gave me back my ring. She just shared that with me a few months ago. I've been trying to get in touch with you every since.”

“I gave her back the ring because you sent her to break up with me. You were a coward and didn't have the decency to do it yourself.”

“Listen Mona. Please. I never wanted to break things off with you. In fact, I loved you and had intent on marrying you. My mom was supposed to tell you I had to leave to go out of town for an interview for medical programs with John Hopkins Hospital not end our relationship.”

Mona sat confused. She recalled the day it happened. Garrett's mom knocked on her apartment door. She walked in with a smug look on her face. She looked at Mona as if she was nothing and said, “Garrett's moving to Maryland. He wanted me to tell you and he also wanted me to tell you he no longer wants to marry you. I'm sorry to be so blunt but it's best you find out now.”

After hearing those hurtful words coming from his mom, Mona felt like she had no choice but to give him back the ring. She removed the engagement ring from her finger and placed it in his mom's extended hand. His mom left out without another word leaving Mona alone to deal with her broken heart.

“Mona, did you hear me?” Garrett asked.

Mona snapped back into the present. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes but she refused to cry.

“So you didn't break up with me? This was all your mother's doing,” Mona spoke softly.

“Yes, that's what I'm trying to tell you. I wanted to marry you. I expected to marry you. After my interview, I flew back to LA. My mom met me at the airport. She handed me the ring I'd given you and told me the bad news that you'd broken off our engagement. I didn't want to believe her. When I went to your apartment, your roommate told me you'd moved.”

“I was devastated. I went to stay with Charlotte. Charlotte and Kem watched over me until I had the strength to move on.”

“I'm so sorry. I'm here because I want to make things right with you. Just give me the chance.” Garrett reached his hand across the table and placed it on top of Mona's.

Mona sat stunned. The pain from years before dissipated in the air with the revelation Garrett didn't abandon her as she had once thought. He had actually loved her as much as she'd loved him.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Terrance met Charlotte, Sean and Kem outside of the restaurant. They all walked inside together. Charlotte reserved a table and they were walking towards it.

Kem said, “That looks like Mona there.”

They continued to walk towards their table. Terrance got a clear view. It was Mona and she wasn't alone. That explained why she hadn't returned his call nor text messages he'd left thirty minutes ago.

They were near the table. Mona looked past her male guest and right at Terrance. It was no secret to Charlotte and Kem that Terrance and Mona were involved.

“Come on. She knows we're supposed to be here. She'll find us,” Charlotte said.

“Y'all go ahead. I'll be there in a second,” Terrance responded.

He refused to go sit down with Charlotte and the others until he found out the identity of the man sitting with Mona. He made a direct beeline to Mona's table.

Mona stuttered, “Terrance, what are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you that question.”

Terrance never took his eyes off the man sitting across from Mona who he'd seen move his hand from across the table.

The man introduced himself without waiting on Mona to make the introduction. “I'm Garrett, Mona's fiancé.”

“Fiancé.”

“He means ex-fiancé,” Mona chimed in and said.

“Well don't let me interrupt anything. Back to your cozy dinner,” Terrance said, feeling repulsed. Mona never revealed to him she'd been seeing someone other than the fictitious guy she met on the internet, Mona never revealed to him she'd been seeing anyone else; especially someone serious.

Terrance walked away leaving Mona alone with her ex-fiancé or whoever he was and went to sit at the table with Charlotte and the others. Tonight was supposed to be a celebration for them all but he didn't feel like celebrating.

“Was that Mona?” Kem asked.

“Yes. It was her,” Terrance snapped.

Mona came to the table and spoke. “Hi everyone.”

After everyone spoke, Mona looked at Terrance. “May I speak with you in private?”

All eyes were on Terrance. Terrance didn't want to cause a scene so he pushed away from the table. Without saying a word, he headed towards the front door. He walked past the patrons and outside in front of the restaurant. Mona stood by him.

“What you saw isn't what it looked like.”

Terrance turned and looked down at Mona. “You two looked mighty cozy to me, but you know what, I don't even know why I care. It's not like you've made a commitment to me.”

“I want to,” Mona said.

Terrance laughed. “Are you serious right now?”

“Terrance, stop tripping. The guy you saw me with is someone from my past. There's nothing going on between us. You got to believe me.”

Kem walked outside. “I came to make sure you two were okay.”

Mona said, “Garrett called. I met him here because I knew we had plans for dinner.”

“Jack ass Garrett. The one who broke your heart back in college Garrett?” Kem asked.

“Yes, one in the same.”

Kem said, “Terrance, trust me. You don't have to worry about Mona getting back with Garrett. I'm not sure what all she's told you but I was there. Their breakup almost broke Mona. I'm going to leave you two to finish talking. We're just order appetizers until you two come back.”

Kem hugged Mona and left them alone.

“So is Kem right?” Terrance asked.

“Yes. Garrett's my past. I want you.” Mona grabbed his hand.

“What were you doing here, talking to him? Things looked real intense from where I stood.”

“Let's get through dinner and I promise you I will tell you everything later,” Mona responded.

Terrance wanted to know now but agreed to wait. “Let's go back in. No need in keeping everyone waiting.”

Charlotte said, “There they are. The two people who we are here to honor.”

Terrance held Mona's seat out for her and then she took a seat. “What is she talking about?” she turned to Terrance to ask.

Terrance held the glass filled with champagne and turned to Mona. “Mona, the reason why Charlotte wanted you to meet them here for dinner is so we could celebrate our new TV show.”

“What do you mean by we?” Mona asked.

“The network wants me to produce your show about the sisters,” Terrance responded.

“Oh my goodness,” Mona exclaimed. Her hand shook. She had to put her glass down. “I've been dreaming of this moment forever. Thank you, Terrance.”

She wrapped her arm around his neck and kissed him, almost causing him to drop his glass.

Everyone around the table congratulated them. They drank champagne, ate food and talked over the next two hours. Terrance smiled and was happy to see Mona happy but he wouldn't be completely at ease until he knew the story behind Mona's ex.