Feb. Sucks - It Must've Been Love 02

This is PART 2 of the story. Part 1 ended in a cliffhanger; it was not an unfinished story, just a tried and true (if overused) storytelling device. I welcome comments and I do learn from critical remarks.

The story begins with the last words of Jim's newscast:

February Sucks -- It Must Have Been Love...

...But It's Over Now Part 2

"And it's a hard winter's day, I dream away...It must have been love, but it's over now. It must have been good, but I lost it somehow." --"Roxette" 1987

..."According to witnesses, LaValliere's black Lamborghini was travelling over 90 miles an hour on North Lake Drive when he ran a red light and T-boned a compact car already in the intersection. The driver of the car and one passenger were also killed and at this time, we do not know if there were any other occupants. Police are investigating drugs or alcohol as a contributing factor in the crash. This video of emergency crews using the 'Jaws of Life' on LaValliere's car was just sent to us by a viewer. We will have more details as they become available. Stay tuned to Eyewitness News for updates throughout the evening and on our eleven o'clock report. Again, Heisman Trophy winner and Sharks tight end Demarcus "Marc" LaValliere is dead following a high-speed crash that killed the driver and one passenger in another vehicle and critically injured LaValliere's female companion. For all of us at Eyewitness News, I'm Jim Carlson...good night"

Bob, the Director, was on the IFB immediately, "Jim...Did you just pull half of that story out of your ass? The News Director is going to kill me -- kill both of us probably."

"Fred is going to hug us and give us both a raise when we win the local Emmy and probably an AP award too. Trust me, that story was 1000% accurate. I checked it with the source -- me!"

One of the production assistants was talking in Jim's ear now, "Jim, Deputy Police Chief Harding is here to see you. Says he can give you a ride, whatever that means."

Jim walked off the set and saw Warren Harding waiting for him.

"Jim, I've got bad news for you, but I heard your newscast, so I know you know at least part of what's happened, right?

"I guess Linda went to Memorial? Can you give me a lift?"

"That's why I'm here. I'll fill you in on the way."

Warren and Jim went way back to when Jim was on the police beat and Warren had just made detective. As they drove with the fruit salad of lights flashing, Jim explained what Linda was doing with the jock.

"She spent the night with Ass...LaValliere. I got her on the phone late last night and she agreed to come home right away, but I guess her plans changed. Do you have any more info?"

"Looks like LaValliere was going over 90. He blasted through a red light and T-boned a Kia Sol, killing a pregnant woman and her 3-year old daughter. Linda's still in the OR right now. I last heard from the hospital about 20 minutes ago and it's still touch and go.

"I do know from the call I had with Linda that both she and Lavalliere had used coke, in fact there may be some in what's left of his car."

Harding dropped Jim off at the front entrance to the hospital. Jim thanked Harding for his help, and he replied, "Anything I can do or the department can do, just let me know, Jim."

At the hospital, Jim called his folks and asked them to keep the kids for the next few days. The kids would be in bed before he could get out there, so Jim promised he would come over in the morning before they left for church to talk to them about their mother. He asked his mom and dad not to have the news on until after Emma and Tim were asleep. Then he called Linda's parents. They had just heard Jim's newscast and had also received "Linda's" text earlier and were deathly afraid that it was Linda he was talking about. He told them everything he knew up to that point. They would be at the hospital within the hour.

The night before, Jim was afraid he was wussing out by not dumping all of Linda's stuff on the front lawn in trash bags. He could not help feeling that he went soft on her by even offering to take her back, albeit with conditions including a post-nup. It would never have worked but now it doesn't really matter. At some point, there will be a divorce that will not go well for Linda, but there's no hurry now. He wasn't sorry he sent her the screenshot of the cancelled Hawaii trip tickets, though.

There wasn't much news at the hospital. After several hours, a doctor came out with some information. They had to amputate Linda's left leg at the knee and she had serious internal injuries: she lost her spleen, and one kidney. Thanks to the airbag, her face was very bruised, but not disfigured. The jury was out as to any brain or nerve damage and she was still in a coma for now. Linda's parents, Bruce and Anna, arrived at the hospital soon after, but there wasn't much they could do except provide Jim some company. They said they didn't have any place to go that was more important than here.

Jim called his boss, Fred Thompson, the News Director for the station. Fred asked, "I was steaming mad and ready to fire you for a couple minutes but then I figured out your newscast...it was Linda, wasn't it?"

"It was, I'm sorry to say. I would be packed up to leave the house by now, but it will have to wait. Everything in the story was true. Warren Harding told me on the way over here that the driver of the car that LaValliere plowed into was pregnant and her 3-year old girl was killed too."

"We have all of that info now. This is turning into the local story of the year -- you can see how many angles there are to it. I'm just sorry you are caught in the middle of it all. Your newscast tonight has gone viral and the network will use it as part of their reports tomorrow. Expect a call from Good Morning America tomorrow to do an interview Monday. Oh, since you, the "next of kin" have now been notified, Linda's name may be released to the press any moment. Do you want us to wait until it's official, or go ahead, since we know what's up?"

"Might as well go with it"

"Thanks, Jim. Take the whole week off for sure; no one is expecting you here anyway, and we can touch bases after that. Don't worry about anything, Jim."

The next thing Jim would need to do would be to talk with his kids, and he dreaded having to explain what happened. At 14 and 12, he would need to walk a fine line between telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth and hurting them. He realized that the whole mess was now in the news and when they went back to school they might be caught in the middle of a lot of gossip, so it was best they heard everything from him. Emma and Tommy are old enough to be told why their mom is in the hospital and in the news.

Jim stuck around the hospital overnight, stopped at home to change in the morning and then headed to his parents' house for breakfast before church. He arrived before Emma and Tommy were up. Jim felt it better to tell them right off so they could pray for their mom at church and be supported by their friends. He also worried if he didn't tell them, some well meaning friend, or parent of a friend might say something like, "We are so sorry about your mother."

After they had finished their pancakes and eggs, and the adults were on their second cup of coffee, Jim began by telling the kids their mom had been in an auto accident and was in the hospital in a coma. After church, they would all go over to the hospital and one-by-one, each of them could spend some time with her. Tommy asked, "Were you in the car Dad? You didn't look hurt at all." Jim replied that it was somebody else's car and the man driving was killed in the crash and their mom was lucky to be alive. Emma asked who the man was. Jim said he was a pro football player and that he and their mom were friends (he left out the benefits). He answered most of the questions from both the kids and the grandparents, but he couldn't answer the biggest question--why? He could tell that Emma had her suspicions about the whole mess. He told everyone to pray when they got to church.

At church, a lot of folks -- some that Jim knew and some that he didn't -- asked about the accident and how he was holding up. It wasn't easy to talk and harder still to not tell the whole story. After the service, when Jim shook Pastor Ray's hand, Ray asked if Jim had time to come to his office and talk. His mom and dad took the kids over to the Fellowship Hall for snacks to give Jim some time with the minister.

After the usual questions about Linda's condition and how the rest of the family was doing, the pastor got down to business and asked Jim to share as much as he felt comfortable. Figuring that the pastor had probably heard stories worse than his, Jim didn't sugarcoat what had happened and how he felt about it. As they finished, the pastor stressed the need for forgiveness, with the understanding that might take some time. Jim couldn't help but think "yeah, when Hell freezes over," but he kept that to himself.

Emma and Tommy rode with Jim to the hospital. His parents followed and they joined Linda's parents in the waiting room. The hospital allowed family members in the ICU, but one adult at a time and only for 5 minutes each. Jim escorted each of the kids. On the drive over to the hospital he tried to tell them what to expect, but they were still shocked when they saw their mom. They couldn't see the amputated leg, but her head was bandaged, her good leg and right arm were in casts. Linda remained in a coma. After visiting was over they had some pie in the cafeteria and then Tommy and Emma went with Jim's parents back to their house. Jim made sure to call them before bedtime.

On Monday, Jim began a different home life. Around dawn each day, he got up and after warming up, ran until his lungs hurt. At that point, he walked home, showered, got dressed, grabbed something to eat for breakfast, and headed to the hospital. The kids would stay at their grandparent's house a few more days at least.

At the hospital, it was hour after hour of sit, wait, talk to a doctor or nurse, visit with Linda's parents, sit some more, grab a Coke or coffee out of a machine, and wait for any updates. After visiting hours, Jim would go over to his parent's house and have dinner and visit with the kids. After a few days of this "no-news-is-good-news" routine, the nurses let them all come in together but only for a few minutes. Linda did look calm in her coma.

On Tuesday, while he was sitting quietly in the hospital chapel, his phone vibrated and the caller ID said it was Dave. Dave had called a few times Friday night after Linda's seduction, and a few times each day since. Jim ignored every one, but decided to take the opportunity to get a pound of flesh out of at least one of the enablers. He stepped out into the corridor and answered, "What the fuck do you want, Dave? It better be good and it better be quick! The floor is yours, my former best friend..."

Dave replied, "Jim...it's not what you think, at least some of it isn't...please hear me out -- I'm on your side, believe me. First off, I'm so sorry about all of this, both Linda's accident and everything that led up to it. If I had known then what I know now, I would have grabbed a wine bottle and smashed it over LaValliere's head, or taken one of his knees out. Dee lied to me and to all of us, Jim. Linda did not know anything ahead of time. But Dee has been working on Linda to, in her words, "stop being a 50's mom and live a little." Dee knew that LaValliere would be at Morrison's and that he got off on seducing married women right in front of their husbands.

Dee led the rest of us to think she had set up a practical joke. Dee told everyone that LaValliere was going to come over to our table and ask Linda to dance. They would have one or two dances and then come back to the table. LaValliere would take selfies with everybody and head out. Then the rest of us would get to what we all planned to do in our hotel rooms. You were the only one not in on the joke.

"Evidently, Dee knows Marc from her charity work. Turns out she knows him VERY well. After two hours of arguing, I finally told Dee that I was out the door as soon as I could pack unless she told me the 'whole truth and nothing but the truth.' I told her that her schemes put her best friend in the hospital and crushed my best friend at the same time. She finally fessed up that she had been to bed with Marc more than once.

"The kicker -- sorry for the pun -- is that Marc told her that what really got his rocks off was to pull this off in a public setting, and with as much humiliation as possible to the unsuspecting husband, who he called 'the cuck.' He pulled this when he played for the Browns, the Eagles and the Panthers too. He told Dee he knew he was responsible for at least seven divorces in Cleveland, five more in Charlotte and some in Philly too. That was the part that really turned him on -- he got to be in control of both the wife and her whole family!"

"When the girls' plans for the end-of-February get together started to jell, Dee knew that would be the perfect time and place to for Marc to take Linda away for a thrill of a lifetime and take you down a peg at the same time. I'm so sorry man, I thought this was just some innocent fun with a couple dances and some selfies, but Dee was up to no good the whole time, and, no disrespect to your wife, I think Linda was too flattered and star struck to know what hit her!

"Even after Linda left out the backdoor I hoped this was still some sort of practical joke and Linda would be waiting at the hotel when we all arrived, but on our walk back to the Madison, Dee confirmed that Linda really was going off with Marc for a night of sex. I was seething mad and when the door shut on our room, I lit into her. I cussed her up and down, but the reply I kept getting was 'But it's Marc LaValliere.' Like that makes any difference!

"As I kept on ripping her a new one, Dee had this little smirk on her face and I knew it was over for us. Needless to say, we had a night to remember all right, but not what I was planning on, that's for sure. Phil and Jane had words as

well -- Phil up and left Jane at the Madison. I haven't been able to reach him since

"I think this whole thing was a big power trip for Dee. She was Linda's best friend, but Dee was always envious -- Linda was too perfect, had the perfect house, the perfect kids, the perfect husband. If Dee's game worked, Linda would be knocked off her pedestal, and so would you.

"I'm totally on your side Jim. The only thing I was ever told was that this was going to be a harmless practical joke--nothing more."

Jim asked, "What's your next move, Dave?"

"Like the country song says: D-I-V-O-R-C-E. The sooner the better. We don't have any kids, and we rent the house, so it should be pretty cut and dry. My folks moved to Tampa, and I just might see if I can get a transfer to my company's office down there. How about you, Jim?"

"I had an appointment Saturday morning with a friend of mine who is a family law specialist. We drew up the divorce papers and I was all set to have Linda

served the first day she went back to work."

You sure moved fast!"

"I was mad as hell and ready for a real scorched earth campaign, but now there's plenty of time to make decisions while Linda recuperates. I now know that she has no loyalty to me, and would have ridden off into the sunset Saturday morning if Asshole had said the word. But I owe it to the kids to see this through until she recuperates, at least. One question, Dave: Do you think Linda ever met LaValliere before Friday night?"

"It doesn't look like they ever met each other before. I told Dee from the very beginning that I did not like her idea of a prank, but she pouted for a few days and I gave in. God, I wish I had stuck with my gut feeling. I'm really sorry, Jim...truly sorry. I had no idea what they were really up to."

"Neither did I! Thanks Dave."

Wednesday came and went without any changes in Linda's condition. Jim's parents came in the afternoon with Emma and Tommy and the kids sat with Linda for a while. They thought if they just talked to her and said out loud how much they missed her, she would wake up. Jim took the kids home for the night so that they could gather some more clothes and things for the next few days. He decided to look for a nanny/sitter so that the kids could sleep in their own beds and be taken care of until he got back from work. Jim laughed when he realized if Linda gets better and can come home, he will have to hire a nanny for her too.

On Thursday, after he dropped the kids off at school and got back to the hospital, Jim had a run-in with the Devil herself -- Dee.

Dee had been to the hospital every day but Jim successfully avoided her every time. Each visit she told Linda's parents how sorry she was that Linda was injured and how sorry she was for Jim, Emma and Tommy. But she never had a word of remorse for killing a marriage. This time, she was heading Jim's way as he was walking toward Linda's room. Jim took a deep breath and quickly turned on the recorder on his iPhone.

"So, Dee, home wrecker extraordinaire and accessory to vehicular manslaughter, what happened Friday? What part did you play? And, what was Linda really up to? Don't lie about anything. A TV reporter could do an interesting story on a conspiracy led by a certain suburban housewife and a celebrity athlete and how many lives they managed to ruin. So spill it all right now, Dee!"

Dee looked down at the hospital's institutional linoleum and replied, "It just happened, Jim. Marc picked Linda at random and asked her to dance. After he got her all turned on, he asked her to leave with him, but she didn't know how she could possibly do it with you right there, so I told her it would be an experience she would be a fool to pass on. I offered to run interference. It was just a spur of the moment thing."

"BULLSHIT!!! You planned all of this ahead of time -- it didn't 'just happen' that's for damn sure. I already know more than you think I know. So, let me ask this a different way -- did you know that asshole personally before Friday night?

She hesitated, but finally replied, sheepishly, "Yes, I guess I did."

"Have you ever fucked Asshole?"

"If you mean Marc, yes. I don't know where to begin. Marc is a real stud with a huge cock and staying power. And, there is almost nothing he hasn't tried. I met him while at a girl's night out about six months ago. I got a little tipsy, Marc was there and asked me to dance, and I went home with him. I phoned Dave and told him that all of us girls were going to stay until closing time and not to expect me until 3 am or so. Marc did things to me that I had never felt before..."

"TMI...please DO NOT give me any more mental images as to what Linda's night was like."

"What I mean is that Marc is an expert in the art of seduction. When he wants to, he enjoys a one-night stand, but sometimes he will hook up four or five dates. That's usually his limit. A week later, Marc wanted to see me again. I made up an excuse for Dave and drove to Marc's place. It was smooth and sensual, but after we shared a joint, we did bondage, spanking, blindfolds, leaving his mark, nothing too brutal, but I sure knew I had been thoroughly fucked.

"Date three was a threesome. He bought in a teammate. I was already flying high from the sex, but at 'halftime' he brought out coke and some pills and some really good weed. By the time we were finished I was sore, high and happy! The next week Marc and I met up with six other guys on his team. I pulled a train with each guy having a one-on-one turn with me, after that it was threesomes, airtight foursomes and lots of coke and X until dawn. I forget what excuse I gave Dave.

"Then, for Date five, Marc took me to dinner -- actually room service in the top floor suite at the Saint Kate followed by hours of champagne, fucking and drugs. Before the sun came up he told me that this would be the end of the line. Nothing against me, just his rules. I knew that much going in, but now, I really wanted this life forever -- great sex, good drugs and fine dining. I just wish I could entice him into something more permanent. I would have left Dave in a heartbeat -- Marc would only have to give the word.