Tunnel of Love Pt. 04

Wombert will have to wait. Jennifer...I have to finish this with her, somehow.

"So it was a set-up," Mike said, sitting down.

"Yes."

"How did you find out?"

"As I was leaving James' apartment building that night...well, I found Peter on the stairs. It seemed an impossible coincidence. Plus, he couldn't get his story straight. Eventually, I got the truth out of him—the whole story."

Mike looked at Jennifer with amazement. After what she'd been through that night, at the hospital...and with Coltez...she'd had the wherewithal to confront Wombert and force a confession out of him?

"Is that why you cut things off with Peter a week or two later?"

"Yes. But I used him first. I used him to take a shot at James, to hurt his pride. And I made him pay James' fee—twenty-five thousand dollars, if you can believe that. He didn't earn it; or maybe he did. Why else are we here tonight...but no, I take that back. We're here because of me.

"Look," she continued, "none of this business with Peter matters, Mike. You're going to divorce me. You have to divorce me. You have to find someone else. After last night, I know you can...and that you should."

"I'll make my own decisions in this," Mike said, to no one in particular. He was seething with anger and barely heard what Jennifer had said. Riding his tiger, he was focused on the hunt.

"So you tried to get a little payback on...Coltez? The man you...the man you loved?"

"Loved, yes—past tense. I hated him once I found out he was a fraud. Only, there was some...overlap...between the love and the hate. It wasn't easy, Mike, to get over what we experienced...what I thought we experienced. But it was really only me who experienced anything. I was just a target to him; a job."

Mike let out a sound that sounded like a growl. His fists were clenched tight. He was barely able to sit in his chair. He had a vision of walking up some stairs, to an apartment, with his large trail-blazing knife...

It's good for cutting down weeds. But no, you're going to have to wait too, Coltez. If Jennifer had told me this on Black Sunday...either I wouldn't have believed her, or one of us—you or I—would probably be dead right now. It might still turn out that way, but not tonight.

Mike dismounted from his tiger and held it by the tail.

"So Coltez was done with you that night," Mike said, "which means...it was Peter, all those weeks later, who sent that DVD to me."

"Yes, Mike."

Mother fucker.

"How did you convince him to give you the rest of the video?"

"I didn't, Mike. Like I said before, I took it from him. I tried, first, to convince him to give it to me. First I tried to charm him, then I begged, I...I debased myself, Mike. But it didn't work. He figured he had leverage over me because of it. So he...blackmailed me. That's why I asked you to take Mikey last night. Peter insisted that I have dinner with him...alone...at his house."

Mike felt lightheaded, nauseous, and on the verge of a heart attack, all at once.

"So I went to his house," Jennifer continued, "last night. He made me dress...inappropriately. And he...did things to me. But it was nothing like when I was with James, Mike! I've been honest about how I felt with James. But with Peter, it was pure disgust and fear."

"Jennifer!" Mike cried, his head falling into his hands. "You didn't have to...oh god, don't you know how infinitely worse this is to imagine, to live with, than what you did with Coltez? I can't live with it, Jennifer... Shit, I should just go over there, right now, and get it over with. Kill the bastard, and then...and then..."

"Mike, that's not what I meant. Peter felt me up a little, and it was awful...but that's it."

Dropping his hands, Mike looked up at her. "Huh?"

"He didn't have me, Mike. He started to touch me, but then I made him show me the video. And then, like I said, I...attacked him."

Mike looked on quizzically.

"I knocked him out, Mike. Hit him in the back of the head. Kicked him...kicked him in the crotch, to put him down all the way."

"You knocked...but you couldn't have known for sure you'd have a chance, and my god Jennifer...to go alone! If he meant to..."

"Oh, he meant to."

"Then he might have..."

"Yes. It was a risk, Mike. A horrible risk, but I had to get that video. I didn't know if I would browbeat him into letting me have it, or if I would grab it and run, or if I'd have to fight for it. I didn't know, Mike, but I went. I had to get that video."

"Why?"

"To show you, Mike. To show you that I didn't lie...not about everything. Maybe so you'd take me back, but if not...at least you'd know the truth and be able to get on with your life, get away from the nightmares. You must have had them, Mike... I've had them too."

Mike nodded, slowly but affirmatively.

"But now," Jennifer continued, "I've had to face the reality of what's on that video. What I did, what I said, what I felt. This was my trial, Mike. My trial, and now...

"Mike, I'm sorry to have hurt you again, with what you saw on the rest of that video...with everything you know now. I hope, after the pain eases, the truth will somehow...you know...set you free. Free you from me. I'm so sorry, Mike...so sorry..."

Mike looked away for a moment, then felt something bubble up inside him. It was a laugh.

"You really...you really kicked Wombert's ass?"

"I guess I did," Jennifer replied, allowing herself a weak smile. "I hit him in the head three times with that thing he bought in Africa that he would never shut up about. Then I kicked him in the balls, twice, until he was curled up on the floor...and then I kicked them again. I never meant to do so much, but once I started..."

Mike thought again about Collette and what he'd said to her the previous night.

"You were a victim, Jennifer. You made some mistakes, but given what you were up against...and you're taking responsibility...and to take on Peter like that..."

"But Mike, in a way—the way that counts—Peter has nothing to do with any of this. That's why you have to leave me."

Mike and Gayle looked at Jennifer with incomprehension. Of course Peter had everything to do with the couple's predicament. Why would Jennifer suggest—

"Mike," Jennifer continued. "You know everything that happened at James' apartment that night, but there are more things I need to tell you. Things I've known, deep down, but didn't grasp—or simply wouldn't face—until last night. Things that horrify and disgust me even more than what's on...that," she said, pointing towards the DVD player.

Mike reared up in his chair.

"Jennifer, enough with the punishment already. We've talked for weeks about what happened before...that," Mike said, nodding to where Jennifer had pointed. "Your bad judgment in letting your sister, that whole trauma with her, lead you to deceive me about the hospital. That stuff's not any worse than what I saw you and heard you say in that video. Why go over it again? Besides, now that I know how Wombert and Coltez were out to get you—"

"But that's just it, Mike," Jennifer interrupted. "You asked me earlier about James' advances—"

"Yeah. And now I can imagine it even more. This heat-seeking missile, this hired player comes up to you at the gym—"

"No, Mike, no."

"No...what?"

"He didn't come up to me, Mike. I...I approached him."

* * *

Gayle was reeling from the double-whammy.

First, there'd been Jennifer's disclosure of a connection between this Wombert fellow and Coltez. Gayle had suspected all along, however, that there was more to Coltez than Jennifer knew or had revealed. As incredible as the story sounded, to Gayle the pieces fit; of course, the phone call, captured on the video, confirmed it.

For a moment, it had seemed Jennifer had emerged from the fire Mike had lit—scarred and blistered, sure, but still alive. Yet her emergence had seemed reluctant; it was as if Mike was pulling her out, against her will. Indeed, she had just stepped back into the fire, while Mike looked on in horror.

She approached James?

* * *

Mike wanted off this train. Too many curves, taken too fast. He was trying to be the engineer, but the controls were not responding. The brakes weren't working, and Jennifer had just shoveled more coal into the firebox.

The revelation that Coltez had been a set-up, orchestrated by Wombert, had been like a lifeline. Surely that changed things, he'd thought. It put a new spin on Jennifer's deceptions and her emotional entanglement with Coltez. Whatever love she'd felt for him, or thought she'd felt for him—it had been a contrived love. He hadn't earned it. To Mike, that made it seem...phony. Not real.

Not a marriage breaker...maybe.

The revelation of Peter's scheme wasn't a cure-all, but it was something Mike thought he could work with. Definitely, in fact. Finally, there was a light—a pale light, but a light nonetheless—perhaps signifying the end of this dark tunnel he'd been traveling. But now, Jennifer was trying to extinguish that light.

She approached Coltez?

* * *

"I noticed him, Mike. The day I met him...I noticed him, before he ever seemed to notice me. He was getting ready to bench press, and he'd set a lot of weight. I noticed him, and I...I went over to him and offered to be his...spotter, I think you call it."

"But you..." Mike stammered. "You were just...trying to be nice, I suppose."

"I told myself that. But I'd been at that gym for a year, and I'd never tried to help any men lift weights before. And you've seen him—he's ripped, Mike. Why would I randomly choose him to be the first guy I would think to try to help? No, I'd noticed him, he was really good-looking...he seemed to be alone...and when he seemed to need help, I approached him."

"At which point," Mike said disgustedly, "I'm sure he was all over you, sweet talking."

"No. He acted embarrassed, called himself an idiot, and told me he didn't want to trouble me. I could have walked away, Mike. But no, I insisted that he let me help him! So I stood behind him, my shorts right above his head, while he did his set. I teased him! And the whole time...the whole time I was thinking about how attractive he was."

"But that's how he operates," Mike said, his voice betraying doubt. "He gets noticed, because he can."

"Maybe, but I didn't have to approach him, just because he was handsome. I wasn't drunk, or on drugs, or hypnotized, Mike. I made a choice."

"A choice..." Mike said, his voice trailing before regaining some strength. "But if you hadn't approached him, eventually he would have approached you. He would have found some excuse, some opportunity. That's why he was there."

"Yes, but that would just have presented me with the same choice. I get hit on all the time, Mike. Right at that gym, even. I'd always ignored it. But for him...obviously I would have made the wrong choice."

"Okay...but then he played you, Jennifer. Having gotten your attention, he dipped into his bag of tricks. He hit on you, got something going..."

"I guess, Mike, but it was pretty oblique. I told him I was married. He looked at me like I was accusing him of something, and he told me he wasn't looking to date. I felt bad, like I'd insulted him; I even thought to myself, 'This man's not hitting on you!'"

"So he was sneaky..."

"Maybe, but so was I. Next thing, we were on the treadmills, and I kept checking him out and thinking about him. I even...compared him to you, Mike. And I thought...that you were handsome, but he was...like a fine painting."

Mike looked down and swallowed hard. "That's hard to take, Jennifer, but he is...well, good looking. And I have to admit, as beautiful as you are, I can't always help but check out...pretty women who come into my field of view at that gym. The thing is, I don't act on it, and with you and Coltez...it would have stopped, right? Except that he kept after you?"

Jennifer sighed and shook her head.

"No, Mike, that's not what happened. I restarted the conversation. Yes, me! I apologized to him for making him feel awkward, and I...complimented him. He smiled at me, and it made me feel...flush. Oh god, Mike, I'm so ashamed...I just want to curl up and die!"

Mike was starting to feel the same way. He swallowed hard again.

"Alarm bells should have been going off, Mike. Maybe they were, but still, I kept talking to him. I asked him about his job. That's when he told me that he volunteered at hospitals. I gave him that opening, Mike. And...I complimented him, again. He brightened at that. He said he would be coming to gym a lot and asked if we could keep each other company."

"See!" Mike exclaimed, suddenly feeling a little better. "That was his plan in action."

"Yes, Mike, but I had a choice. I could have blown him off, but I told myself it would be nice to have someone to talk with, so I said, 'Sure, I'd like that.'"

Mike opened his mouth but seemed to struggle for something to say.

"I knew it was wrong, Mike. I felt guilty that night. That's why I woke you up and gave you...you know...that blowjob."

"Well, it's not like I didn't enjoy it," Mike said, forgetting that Dr. Seymour was in the room. "And I'm sure the next time you were at the gym, he made a point of finding you, hitting on you, showing off for you."

"No, Mike...just the opposite. Even after feeling guilty that first night, you know what I did when I went back that Thursday? I wore my skimpiest workout clothes, Mike. I wore them for him.

"I was hurt that he hadn't hit on me the time before, and I wanted to...you know, make him notice me, to salvage my pride. So I looked around for him, found him, and I...checked him out. I stood there, admiring his body; then, I went up to him."

Mike wanted to offer an excuse, a justification; but nothing came to mind. He looked on with concern as Jennifer continued.

"I went up to this man whom I found sexually attractive and who was not my husband, and in my skimpiest clothes I said, 'Good to see you again!' Then I bent over and gave him an eyeful...an eyeful of my breasts. And it—excited me."

Mike struggled to keep things in perspective, but fresh feelings of inadequacy, insecurity, and betrayal stabbed at him. "S-so you flirted with him...just a spontaneous thing..."

"No, Mike, I planned the whole thing. And after flaunting my body, I just kept talking to him. I thought about you, how you wouldn't like it if you had seen me; but I did it anyway, Mike. I put my vanity, my pride, and my interest in him first...and you last."

Mike hesitated, at a loss for what to say. Then, with a look of hope, he said, "And that's when he told you a sob story about a kid dying at the hospital, right? He pushed your buttons, Jennifer. He knew you had a soft spot for children. Maybe he even knew about your sister. Wombert could have told him."

"Yes, Mike, I'm sure James knew. But so what? When he asked me to go with him to the hospital, I could have chosen to say no. Or I could have said that I'd have to talk to you first. In fact, I did think about what I would tell you, Mike. You know how I answered myself? 'It doesn't matter.'"

Mike winced and nearly brought his hands up to cover his ears.

"And so I accepted his invitation. Just like that! Then I went home...and lied to you. I flat-out lied to you. I did it again, the next morning. Then that night, when I arrived at the hospital...my heart fluttered when I saw James. I felt flushed when he shook my hand.

"We went in, and after it was over, I was shaking with emotion. James came over, and I...collapsed against him. I let him comfort me...let him hold me. I cried on his shoulder."

"But it was emotional for you," Mike interjected.

"Yes, Mike, but a wife isn't supposed to lie to her husband, sneak out to meet a man she finds attractive, and put herself in a position to have an emotional experience with him! Or give him an opportunity to impress her; he impressed me so much with those kids, Mike! After it was over, I was in the parking lot, we were saying goodbye, and I realized I might be falling for him!"

Jennifer hung her head. "I realized it, Mike! And what did I do? Did I run like hell? When he asked if I would do it again, did I say no? Wrong! I said 'yes,' Mike...I said 'yes'...

"And then...he drew near me. I thought he was going to kiss me. It...drove me wild, Mike. I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted it so badly. He didn't kiss me; he just said goodnight; but he got so close, it left me shaking. All the way home, I worried about it."

Mike fidgeted in his chair, his eyes searching the room for some sort of comfort or distraction.

"But what did I do when I got home? Did I confess that I'd lied to you, beg your forgiveness and promise I'd never see him again? No, I covered up again, Mike. Then I ran off to bed, leaving you alone.

"And while I was in bed, Mike, I regretted it all. But did I change my mind? No. I kept going to the hospital with him. I kept flirting with him at the gym. And I kept lying to you; kept covering up what I was doing, for weeks. I didn't mean to disrespect you by it, and I wasn't trying to...start an affair with him...but still..."

Mike's head was in his hands now. "But Coltez made moves on you; it's what players do. He sweet-talked you, probably derided me..."

"No, Mike. James sometimes mentioned you; he...acknowledged you. I think that was...expertise on his part. I think he knew that if he put you down, I would react so strongly, it would break the spell...so he never said anything bad about you. He never suggested that I not tell you about him, that I not tell you about the hospital. He never said I shouldn't invite you to come with us."

Jennifer clenched her teeth and grimaced.

"I did all those things, Mike! I covered everything up! And I made all the excuses for it...that my feelings for him would pass in time, that if I told you, you would try to stop me from going to the hospital and I'd have to quit on those poor kids. Then came that night that Kevin died and...well, we've been over that.

"You know everything that happened, now, Mike, and I'm so sorry. I'm not asking you to forgive me. I know you can't forgive me. And even if you could...I wouldn't let you, Mike. I don't deserve you. I can't let you waste your life on me. To see me every day, and feel nothing but pain."

* * *

Mike hesitated. It had gotten so incredibly complicated.

Yeah, she made a lot of bad choices—some of them, extremely selfish. If she weren't admitting to them...I'd be done with her. But she sat there, took everything I threw at her...didn't put her hands up, didn't duck or dodge. And when I was done, she took the flamethrower out of my hands and turned it on herself.

"I don't know, Jennifer. You say the guy is a professional. And...look, I don't like saying this, but he's also...a stud. Add to that skills, and knowledge of your weak spots...hell, you could call him The Seducer, with capital letters.

"Am I supposed to divorce you, because after twelve perfect years of marriage, Wombert hired this guy, and he got to you, for a little while? Divorce you despite everything you've done to try to make it up to me, and what you've put yourself through?"

You ended things with Coltez even before you knew about his game. You went through counseling with me. You went through hell to get the video. You've gone through hell again here tonight...

"Fine, Mike, call James 'The Seducer'—but you're still missing the significance of what I did."

Mike braced himself for another unpleasant surprise.

* * *

Gayle marveled at the reversal of her patients' initial roles. The prosecutor was now the defense attorney. The defendant...well, she was now her own prosecutor, judge, and jury.

And something told Gayle that Jennifer's self-immolation was far from over. As Mike reached out to her, Jennifer called in the bombers for a napalm strike. Somewhere in town, the first notes of a Doors song began to play. The apocalypse was...now.