The Brand (25 page)

‘She’s all I have,’ he replied honestly.
‘Why?’

‘Please don’t get me wrong, Gary, but to make
you think twice before you can commit yourself to coaching Jansen
again must mean she’s no ordinary woman.’

Gary looked at her eyes, and this time did
not feel powerless under her gaze. ‘Most men foolishly spend their
lives chasing the wrong dreams. If you find someone that truly
loves you, the easiest thing you can do is love them back, and stop
chasing after the ones that don’t belong to you. If everybody could
realize that, the world would be a better place.’

With a mesmerized gaze, Joelyn sat back in
her chair and stared at Gary. ‘Those are the most powerful words
I’ve heard in a long time, and I don’t mean that lightly.’

‘It’s no gospel truth. Just my thoughts.’

‘But they are true. And I shall apply that
philosophy to my life from now on. It’ll make things easy.’ Without
elaborating, she dived into the purpose of her visit. ‘Gary, I’m
here to ask you to train Jansen again. It will mean a lot to me and
her if you do.’

‘I’ve already told Jan my position on that,
and if what you say about being informed is true, then you already
know my reasons and the difficulties I have faced making that
decision.’

‘
I don’t want to sound presumptuous, Gary,’
Joelyn said with a sincere expression. ‘But I think it’s possible
that you can train Jansen and live the life you want to live with
Sheila…I mean, I came here straight from New York, where I spoke to
several estate agents, and they have a number of ranches outside
the city on their for-sale lists. If money is an issue then I’ll
ask you to please allow me to put you up in a place of your choice
– with Sheila, of course.’ The dangerous smile surfaced again, and
as usual, it had the same pulverizing effect on Gary
Speckman.

‘Money is not an issue,’ he said, finding his
voice with some difficulty. ‘But it is commendable of you to do
this on behalf of Jan, considering your…er…unfriendly…past. It
makes me realize how badly she needs me, for her to forget the past
and ask you to come all the way—.’

‘She didn’t ask me,’ corrected Joelyn
suavely. ‘This is a favor I am doing for her unprompted. And I’m
praying she’ll thank me by forgetting this childhood feud she holds
over me. You have to understand, Gary, that I’m trying to turn over
a new leaf. I know I’ve been a bad bitch before, but that’s not how
I want the world to know me. When I fade out of the spotlight, I
want it to be known that I was kind, compassionate, caring, and
full of love.’

She noticed by the look in his eyes that her
mission was about to be successful. She was left with one last item
on her list of things to do in 2013; which was specifically to find
a man who was caring and loving.

By her own admission, Sheila was not a
city person. Whereas Johannesburg city life had intimidated her,
New York City terrified her. With the help of Joelyn, Gary and his
long-time lover found a place they loved in Hartford, Connecticut.
It was a double story house with 4 bedrooms, 3½ bedrooms, a
swimming pool and a tennis court. The house sat on 165 acres and
also contained a barn and horse stables. It was no different from
their place in Lanseria, South Africa, which they left under the
supervision of a caretaker.

Jansen, o
blivious of Gary’s presence in America, and that
he was actually very close to her home in New York, was “seriously”
looking for a professional coach – no easy task, not because there
were none available, but because Jansen had set her own criteria
and standards for hiring a potential candidate, conditions which
most of the applicants for the job found tough to
fulfill.

It took Gary and his partner two weeks from
arriving in America to purchasing a place to live. After that, Gary
picked up the phone and called Jansen on her private and very
confidential number, known only to a select group of people. It was
not answered on the first try. The second attempt proved
successful.

‘
Gary?’ she sounded surprised. ‘It
is
Gary, right?’

‘It is, kid. How’re ya?’

‘
Jesus! Gary!’ she screamed. ‘My God! Gary!
This is an American number…You’re in the States?...Wait a
minute…What are you doing in the States?’ The questions shot out in
rapid succession. ‘Gary, is it really you? When did
you—.’

‘It’s me, and I want to see you. When can we
meet?’

‘Oh my gosh, I’m so excited to hear your
voice, Gary…um…I’m in the middle of shooting a commercial right
now, but after that I think I can meet you…Lemme see, I’ll send you
the details right now.’

‘Okay, keep in touch, kid. I miss you.’

He heard her breath catch. ‘I miss you too,
Gary.’

He ended the call abruptly, not wanting the
conversation to get sentimental. In fifteen minutes, she sent him a
message on his phone to tell him that she would be at her condo at
the Trump Hotel International and Towers at 4PM.

Gary thought he had left Connecticut
early, but he was delayed by traffic within the grand city of New
York and actually arrived at her condo apartment at 4.39PM. He
found Jansen almost dying with anxiety. When she saw him, she ran
into his arms and enveloped him in a bear hug, shedding tears of
joy. After a long moment, she let go of him and wiped away her
tears. ‘Oh Gary! I am so glad to see you!’ Suddenly she frowned at
him. ‘How long’ve you been here? You don’t look like you just
arrived.’

Gary shook his head and went to take a seat
on a nearby couch. ‘Two weeks.’

‘
Two weeks!’ she exclaimed, and stared at
him with an astonished expression. ‘And you didn’t tell me you were
around?’

‘
Calm down, Jan, and sit down.’ She obeyed
him and came to sit on a chair opposite him. ‘I wanted our meeting
to be appropriate. Firstly I had to find a place to put Sheila
in.
You know she’s not
comfortable in the city—.’

‘Sheila’s here? In New York?’ she asked with
eyes wide open.

It warmed Gary’s heart to see her
enthusiasm…her gorgeous eyes…her beautiful face…Jesus! He loved
this kid! How could he have lied to himself that he would never
return to coaching her? ‘We found a place in Connecticut. It suits
her fine, and she’s happy as a kid with a candy bar.’

‘Connecticut?’ she asked, concern in her
eyes. ‘Gary, wasn’t it expensive?’

‘Joelyn put up half the money. She wanted to
pay the full amount for the place, but I wouldn’t let her, so we
eventually agreed to meet halfway.’

‘Joelyn?’ Jansen frowned, a look of profound
confusion on her face. ‘What does Joelyn have to do with this?’

‘She came to South Africa to ask me and
Sheila to move to America so that I could coach you, so here I am.’
Gary was smiling at her, but her face was unhappy.

‘I didn’t know she cared.’

‘She does,’ Gary responded. ‘And she means
well. My return to coaching you is based on a few conditions. The
first one is that you bury the hatchet with Joelyn. She did not ask
me to, but I want to reciprocate her kind gesture. I hope you
realize how important it is for her that you mend your relationship
with her. People don’t just go through all this trouble unless they
mean well.’

Round about that moment, in a different
time zone, in the showbiz capital of the United States of America
that was Los Angeles, California, another serious conversation was
about to take place. It was between two best friends, namely Joelyn
Smith and Samantha Ashford, upon the request of the latter. Joelyn
had absolutely no clue what Samantha wanted to discuss with her,
but she did notice her friend’s discomfort and general
restlessness.

They had their private conversation inside
Joelyn’s Malibu mansion’s main bedroom
suite, which also contained a set of canary-yellow
leather couches. They sat next to each other on one of the couches,
Joelyn eating from a plate of plums. She looked expectantly at her
friend’s face.

Samantha let out a heavy sigh. ‘Joe, I’m
pregnant.’

Joelyn was genuinely surprised. ‘How’d that
happen?’ Realizing how foolish that question was, she quickly added
another one. ‘You haven’t been with anyone since arriving here,
have you?’

Samantha shook her head. ‘No. I was already
pregnant when I got here, I just didn’t know. I’ve been to a doctor
and he confirmed that I’m in my third month.’

A woman with a quick mind, Joelyn did the
math in her head. ‘That means you conceived around April,
right?’

Samantha nodded silently, a troubled
expression on her face.

‘
Which eliminates your ex-boyfriend from
the equation…or not…’ She frowned quizzically at Samantha, suddenly
aware that there were things that best friends kept from each
other. ‘Sam, I’m confused. Have you been with somebody after your
ex and forgot to tell me, or did you get on the rebound with your
ex and not tell me? Girl, I’m dying with curiosity.’

Samantha could not bring herself to look at
her friend. She looked down and stuttered. ‘It’s co…I’m sorry,
Joe…um…it’s…it’s complicated!’

Suddenly she burst into tears and wept
uncontrollably.

Sympathetically, Joelyn hugged and comforted
her. ‘It’s okay, honey…It’s okay.’

Samantha, unable to reveal the truth about
her pregnancy, was searching for a way to escape when suddenly
divine intervention saved her from a lot of embarrassment. Joelyn’s
phone burst into song and she picked it up. She answered it,
listened for a few seconds and said to Samantha, ‘I have to take
this, it’s Jansen.’

She paced about the room as she held her
phone conversation. Jansen profusely apologized for her treatment
of Joelyn when the later had come to ask for forgiveness. The
apology was accepted unconditionally by Joelyn. Jansen, in a show
of maturity, suggested that the two of them should get together and
“have a dinner or something”. Joelyn warmed up to the idea, and
said she would visit Jansen in New York, but that brilliant idea
was quickly quashed by Jansen, who preferred coming over to Los
Angeles. ‘…I love LA, but I never get time to visit.’

Thus, it was settled between the two
ladies that the younger millionairess would visit the elder one at
her Malibu home sometime in the very near future. Her phone
conversation over, Joelyn returned to take her place next to her
friend.

Samantha was no longer in tears, but she had
an apprehensive face when Joelyn stared at her. Again, she sighed
heavily. ‘Joelyn, I pray and hope that you’ll find it in your heart
to forgive me for what I’m about to tell you…There’s no other way
for me to say it, so…’ Her voice trailed off as her eyes welled up
again. ‘I had a fling with Hudson!’ she blurted out and broke down
in a flood of tears.

To say Joelyn was stunned qualifies as an
understatement because in reality she was attacked by afflictions
of such intensely evil magnitude she did not know how to react. It
was like being hit by a fast-moving train – twice. Suddenly
breathing with difficulty, she rose to her feet and walked to the
glass sliding door. She pushed it open and a wave of fresh sea
breeze rushed into the room. Joelyn walked outside onto the terrace
and went to stand before the stainless-steel railing.
She gazed at the beautiful
scenery before her eyes…the beach…the ocean…the landscape of
mansions…She searched deep inside her soul and sought solace from
the evil turmoil of emotions afflicting her.

A fiery flood of anger was
threatening to engulf her whole
being, but she fought down the evil demon and forced it back to
where it had come from. She closed her eyes and felt her entire
body tremble. She controlled her breathing until she felt the
sudden rush of blood flow back to normal. She stood there on the
terrace for a long while until her madness was over. Then with
steely determination Joelyn walked back into the room to face
Samantha with a calm expression.

She sat down next to her best friend and
looked compassionately at her. ‘I am sorry, Sam, I didn’t get you
properly. Did you say that Hudson got you pregnant?’

Distraught, and looking like she had walked
through a blizzard of severe magnitude, Samantha nodded without
giving a verbal response.

‘Does he know?’ Curious how calm she sounded,
when inside she was still reeling from the shock.

‘No…not yet…I-I-I haven’t decided…’ Samantha
choked on her words.

‘Have you decided what you’ll do with…?’
There was no need to complete the question.

‘I want to keep it,’ said Samantha with a
tearful face. ‘I’m almost thirty, Joe…I may never have another
child.’

Joelyn nodded and looked down. The pain
churned in her heart. Betrayal. Lies. Secrets. And more lies.

To women, there is nothing as unforgivable as
the crime of a best friend who keeps secrets from the other best
friend. But that sin pales in comparison to the best friend who
sleeps with the other best friend’s ex-lover. And gets pregnant by
him…Indeed, it is a very strong woman who can forgive all those
things for the sake of keeping the friendship.

Joelyn took her best friend’s hands in
hers and squeezed them gently in a gesture of camaraderie. ‘Sam, I
may throw tantrums and do this or that, but it won’t solve
anything. I do feel betrayed and I am angry with you, but that’s
just a natural reaction to hearing stuff like this…it will pass.
When it’s over we’ll still be together. You got your life to live,
and I’m not going to stand here and judge you for the choices
you’ve made. You can decide to tell Hudson or not about this baby
you’re carrying…it’s up to you.’ She gave a smile of encouragement
to her distraught friend. ‘What I ask is that I be made god-mother
of my BFF’s baby.’