The Truth About Air & Water (Truth in Lies #2) (13 page)

“Not true,” I say fiercely but then the barrage of questions hurl from all directions like arrows from a thousand bows.
Holy shit. I’ve stepped into hell.

Kimberley Powers comes to my rescue. “Ms. Landon will have no further comment. Yes, she and Lincoln Presley are still engaged and plan to marry when Linc is feeling better. Can you give the woman some space? She’s had to put her whole life as well as her wedding plans on hold; back off.
Please
.” Kimberley smiles sweetly at the reporters and ushers me through a side entrance to the hospital.

“That was bad,” I say in the growing silence as we navigate our way to the ICU.

She gives me a hard look. “Don’t talk to them, Tally. Ever. Like never. You’ll never satisfy their curiosity. They’re under a constant deadline, and they want the story any way they can get it. You think Candy Baxstrom was bad? She was a walk in the park compared to most of the reporters out there. Don’t talk to them. Send all the inquiries to me. You’ve got my card.
Use it
.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.

“Okay.”

“God what a flipping nightmare,” she says more to herself.

Now, she won’t meet my gaze and I’m left to wonder what we are really talking about here.
Yeah, it’s bad. Linc is a wreck. So am I. But we’ll get through it.
I know she’s upset about Linc; we all are. However, I sense there’s more. I ask her as much, but she shakes her head at me and gets a tired smile and asks me if I’ve eaten. My food intake is a constant quest for everybody around here. I just roll my eyes and refuse to answer.

Now, some part of me already knows my personal problems are about to get worse. I look over at Kimberley, silently soliciting her support. Her green eyes flash with anger and notable sympathy, but then she shrugs as if it’s out of her hands and gives me with the familiar everything-is-going-to-be-fine smile. I know that smile. I use it all the time for every bad or uncomfortable situation I find myself in. Then, it dawns on me.
How gullible am I? How naive?
She works for Davis; she works for Linc as his publicist too. Money will sway and talk and carry the day even in this room. Future wife status be damned. I don’t pay her, Linc does.

“Davis, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Kimberley’s soothing tone in an obvious attempt to take over before things spin out of control completely. Her gold wedding band catches the light. It is the only sparkle in this cold room.

Minutes ago, Kimberley had walked in here just beaming as the giddy, newly-married bride of only a month or so, but then her smile slid from her lovely face at Davis Presley’s opening salvo. “He doesn’t remember you at all, Tally.”

Actually, the smiles slid from all of our faces at his cruel choice of words.

But it wasn’t a lie. It was the truth.

And sometimes, the truth hurts.

Linc doesn’t remember me at all.

True.

Kimberley’s sadness mirrors mine in every way. This is a nightmare of epic proportions, and I just want to wake up from it.

I met up with her in the restroom just before we were summoned by Davis to this very conference room. I don’t know why I was so surprised to see her here in the first place. Of course, public relations would be involved. Linc’s image centering around baseball was always at stake, at least from Davis’ perspective and probably Kimberley’s too. I thought we were past all of that. I should have known we would never be past all of that. Never.

Our small talk consisted of:

“How was Cara?”

“Fine.”

“Congrats Again. You two eloping. That would have been nice.”

“Thanks. There’s been so much turmoil I haven’t really even had a chance to think about that anymore.”

“I know. So when
was
the big wedding planned?”

Was
she said.
An interesting choice of word. “We booked the Hollins House for November as plan B or C. After the World Series.”

“How’s Linc?” She asked in a guarded tone.

“Linc is a longer and very complicated answer,” I said with a little sigh. “He doesn’t know me. He doesn’t remember the last six years of his life. None of it.”

The light in her eyes dimmed at that moment. A crevice formed in the middle of her forehead. This brilliant woman was thinking. I didn’t register it at the time because I was just happy to see her, to have an ally. She’d taken a step back from me and looked even more uncertain. Then, she seemed to recover, nodding slowly, and finally smiled. “Everything will be fine. I just know it.”

Only Marla had been serving as cheerleader for me. The truth was I needed to hear it from someone else. I needed Linc to say it, but Kimberley Powers would have to do.

That was two hours ago, and now we are here.

I helplessly watch as Kimberley gets up from her chair and takes over the room, and motions over to Davis to sit down. Marla grabs for my hand from under the large conference table. Charlie squeezes my left one from the other side. I take these gestures as a good sign. I bow my head down for a few seconds and then glance up and over at Kimberley and just wait.

Somehow, I know this is going to be bad.

Will it be worse than the past two weeks?

That seems impossible.

But, is it?

“There’s millions of dollars at risk. His contract. I’ve read through it. So has his agent. And, please remember Nika Vostrikova works for the Giants. She is
not
our friend, not Linc’s anymore, not one of us. Capiche? And we really need to circle the wagons and ensure she doesn’t get past security. The Giants don’t need to know about his memory loss yet. And they’re focused on baseball and the playoffs right now if they can pull those off without Linc.”

This is the Kimberley Powers I know and admire. She is so incredibly smart. I am beholden to the idea that she will set all of us straight, so I do not see it coming.

She turns. “The thing is…” She forces a smile and looks directly at me. “Tally, the most important thing right now—as Linc’s dad has been saying—is that Linc fully concentrate on his recovery and baseball.” She’s nervous. But Kimberley Powers is never nervous or afraid or shaken, but now her hands tremble as she talks. “We don’t know what his pitching is going to look like. We don’t know what all he remembers. From what Gina has said we need to reassure him and keep him calm and protect him from unnecessary stress and—”

“From me,” I say feeling queasy all at once.

“We need to keep him from unnecessary stress.
Yes.
Right, Gina?” Kimberley glances over at Linc’s aunt. I don’t miss the uneasy look they share.

“Yes.” Gina Masterson levels a steady gaze my way. The chill runs through me at the sympathetic look Linc’s aunt is giving me. “Tally, I just want you to know how sorry I am about all of this. I know how terrible this feels for you. I just think, speaking as his aunt, not his psychiatrist, it would be best not to overwhelm him right now. Let’s just let him concentrate on his recovery and baseball. We need to keep him away from the press and let him get his balance back. Life balance, I mean.”

She smiles. I attempt to return it even though I can feel parts of me actually shatter inside as I begin to comprehend what she’s really saying.

You’re out.
You’re out, Tally.

You’re out. They don’t want you here.

They don’t want you around Linc confusing him or stressing him out.

You’re out.

“Mom, do you really think that’s the best thing for Linc?” Charlie glances my way; his face is full of empathy. I return his gaze with a small smile of gratitude. “He and Tally are…
epic
in every way. What happens when he suddenly remembers who she is to him and you all have effectively shut her out of his life? What is he going to feel like then?”

“I would be ecstatic if that happened, Charlie. Truly, I would.” Gina Masterson reaches out to me from across the table. I release Marla’s hand and squeeze the older woman’s, but feel uneasy as I do so. “Tally,
trust
us. We all want what is best for Linc. Right now? That’s his recovery and baseball, concentrating on his career, and eventually getting his life back. We probably have, what, three months, Davis?”

“Three months. Then, spring practice begins and they’ll be looking at him hard. I want to take him to Beau Wilson’s camp in LA with private workouts and without the press. In a few months we can see where we are.” Davis looks directly at me. “I think we can safely say a wedding of any kind is off. For now,” he adds as an afterthought.

“You never liked me.” Whoa, a brave salvo that I haven’t quite thought through as I say this. Somehow, it seems like I need defending here.

“It’s not that.”

“Oh, I think it is. You think I’m just in it for Linc’s money but you should know I
love
him very much. Ask anyone here.” I glance around feeling confident at soliciting support from the others, but only Marla and Charlie actually meet my gaze. Feeling more uneasy, I turn back to Davis. “I
love
him. You can’t change that regardless of what you do.”

“I think I can,” he says quietly. “There’s the other matter of the six million dollar signing bonus Linc got from the Angels. We’ve checked all of his accounts.” He glances at Chad Masterson who slowly nods and then both men are looking at me with suspicion, even Gina Masterson begins to look as grim as her husband. “We can’t find it. Tell us about the money, Tally. The six million missing from Linc’s account. Tell us about
that.
”

The room goes deathly quiet.

Everyone looks at me, while the accusation behind the man’s words wends its way toward me like a reprisal of the line drive that hit Linc. I actually start to duck before I get my act together and stammer an answer. “You think…I took his six million dollars from him? I don’t have his money.” I break from Davis Presley’s accusatory gaze and look around the conference table noting the sudden distrust that appears on the faces of just about everyone here. “I gave Linc a cashier’s check months ago.” My words sound hollow even to me as the shock of being accused settles in. “Rob Thorn made it out to him. This was after Nika took Linc’s bonus in the first place.
Unauthorized
, I might add. Why don’t you accuse
her
?” I glare at him but he remains resolute. He’s just standing there like he’s already won. “Like I said,” I say again. “I returned all six million of his signing bonus to him when I got first got here in San Fran at the end of July.” I shrug attempting to appear nonchalant, but my shoulders shake as the fear deep inside begins to reverberate with me.
They don’t believe me.
“I assume Linc cashed the check after I gave it back to him. We didn’t talk about the money after that. We didn’t—”

“You’ve been known to lie.” Davis’ eyes narrow as he attempt to stare me down.

True.

I swallow hard and look only at him while I can feel everyone else staring at me. There have been a number of times I lied in the past. To Linc. To everyone.

So this is what payback feels like.

I take a shallow breath, willing myself to keep it together and try to defend myself.
He hates me. He really hates me.
The realization makes me shudder and I struggle to control it.