Page 30 of Just One Chance
Davidpulledhissunglassesonto his face and sank low in the driver seat of his car. He didn’tthinkTucker knew what he drove, but better safe than sorry. Not that Tucker had reason to suspect David might be lurking around his downtown office. Guys like Tucker didn’t worry about getting caught. They waltzed through life believing there wasn’t anything their money or influence couldn’t buy.
An image of Avery snuggled up against Tucker flashed through David’s mind and his jaw clenched. He’d told Avery he’d be nice to Tucker if he ever saw him around, and he’d hold true to his word. It might even help him in the end. If he was nice to Tucker, maybe Tucker wouldn’t suspect he was being set up. Well, eventually he’d be set up. David was still in the information gathering stages of his whole entrapment plan.
He’d nearly given up on the whole stupid idea. He was an Ivy League educated, top of his class, highly qualified physician.Medical News Monthlyhad named him the most promising young doctor of the year. And yet, here he was, parked behind a huge crepe myrtle outside Tucker’s office, hoping he’d catch him leaving so he could follow him home.
It maybe wasn’t his proudest moment. But he’d sacrifice his pride if it meant leading Avery to the truth.
Still, David wasn’t exactly sure what he expected to find even if he did follow Tucker home. What would he do then? Watch his house all night?
David sighed and clicked on his phone, watching the time flip from 6:59 to 7:00 PM. His hand hovered over the gear shift. The whole plan was dumb. Avery had made her feelings clear. If forced to choose, she’d choose Tucker. The thought stung more than it should. Avery didn’tknowTucker was a cheating jerk and she did have more history with the guy. She hadn’t meant her choice to feel like an insult. But Daviddidknow what Tucker was, which made Avery’s words feel like a direct attack on his pride.
David retrained his gaze on the door of Tucker’s law firm. He’d see this thing through and figure out a way toshowAvery the truth, even if he couldn’t tell her.
Minutes later, the hour David had spent waiting and watching finally paid off. Tucker walked out the front door of his firm, his keys jangling in his hand. He walked half a block down the sidewalk, away from David, before climbing into a fancy looking sports car David couldn’t identify. A Jaguar, maybe? It looked European. It for sure wasn’t the truck David had seen parked in Avery’s driveway. Which was maybe intentional? You couldn’t exactly visit your secret girlfriend in a car as conspicuous as a red Jaguar.
David eased his car into drive and pulled out, following a few hundred feet behind Tucker. His best hope was discovering some sort of routine. Did he and Jessica go to dinner at the yacht club every week? Did they go to the gym together? If he could figure out some pattern of where they were at a specific time of the week, all he had to do was figure out a way to get Avery to the same place, at the same time.
All the way across the Cooper River bridge and into Mt. Pleasant, David tried and failed to convince himself he wasn’t being ridiculous. Momentum and righteous indignation propelled him forward anyway, right up until he watched Tucker pull up to the front of a gated neighborhood where a security guard opened the gate and waved Tucker through.
No way David could follow Tucker into his neighborhood, so he kept going, pulling off a mile up the road into the parking lot of a sleek-looking coffee house. He stared at the Velvet Undergrounds sign, recognizing the chain as one he’d frequently visited during med school. He and his girlfriend, during a particularly long study session, had visited three different times. The third time, the barista behind the counter had given them their drinks for free.
It was a life that felt millions of miles away. He’d been a good boyfriend to Melissa. At least, he thought he had been. He’d tried to be attentive and present. He’d respected her, remembered her birthday, gone to multiple dinners and holiday events with her family. Their relationship had been fine. Normal. But in retrospect, wasfinereally what he should have been going for? Fine was boring. Fine was safe.
Nothing about Avery felt safe. Which is maybe why he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Why he’d just driven twenty minutes outside of the city to see the neighborhood where her jerk of an ex-boyfriend lived. Because being around Avery made his life feel exciting in ways that he’d never imagined possible.
David grabbed his cell phone from the center console and pulled up the text message Avery had sent him that afternoon. It was a picture of a baby seal recently born at the aquarium. The text that came in with the picture read:Obviously I’ve gotten tons of work done today. *Readjusts phone and takes seventy-fifth picture of most adorable baby seal ever.*
He smiled, happy that she’d felt like texting him even after their semi-tense conversation the morning before, when she’d told him to be nicer to Tucker. He’d hoped sharing his breakfast had helped to smooth things over; it was nice to have the text validate that thought.
David shifted in his seat. Following Tucker home and plotting a way to entrap him in his cheating probably didn’t qualify asnicer. But David knew more than Avery did. He was doing this for her.
He responded to Avery’s message.That IS adorable. I could send you a picture of the patient that came in with a steak knife embedded in his leg, but I’m not sure it would have the same effect.
She replied almost instantly.Yeah, probably not. I’m glad you get paid well.
Before he could come up with another reply, Tucker’s red car slowed and stopped at the red light, just beside the coffee house parking lot. David’s heart jumped in his chest, and he tossed his phone back onto the console, ready to follow Tucker wherever he was headed.
He didn’t have to go far. Less than a mile down the road, Tucker stopped in front of a row of posh condominiums. David pulled in behind him, parking several cars down so as not to be noticed. Tucker left the car running, only getting out long enough to knock on the door of the second condo from the end. Jessica emerged almost immediately, locking the condo door behind her before following Tucker to the car.
David didn’t follow them when they left. He’d already pushed his luck following Tucker as far as he did. He didn’t want to give himself away. But he still called his expedition a success. After all, he’d figured out where Jessica lived, and she was the most important part of the whole plot. Because for Avery to figure out what Tucker was up to,Jessicaneeded to be present.
***
Two weeks and four trips to Mt. Pleasant later, and David was mostly sure he’d picked up on a pattern. Tucker frequently went over to Jessica’s after work. Sometimes they stayed in, more often they went out. Two Tuesdays in a row,outhad meant the Charleston Yacht Club.
One more Tuesday, and he’d know for sure it was a pattern he could count on. He’d already swung by the yacht club on his way to Jessica’s condo and hadn’t seen Tucker’s Jaguar. His truck might have been there, but so far, he’d always driven the fancier car when taking Jessica out. David wasn’t proud that he knew this information about Tucker. He wasn’t proud about much of his behavior over the last two weeks. But he was too far in to back out now. Seeing Tucker’s car parked in front of Jessica’s front door, David pulled into his customary spot at the end of the row of parking spaces. He’d only wait a few minutes. Dinner at the yacht club started at seven, which meant if they were headed that way, he wouldn’t have long to wait. If they didn’t leave, he’d have to adjust his plan, see if he could find somewhere else he might set up a confrontation with Avery.
It had killed him the last few times he’d seen Tucker at Avery’s house. They never seemed to go anywhere, which was surely intentional on Tucker’s part, but Avery didn’t seem to care. She’d rather grill out and relax on her back porch anyway. She probably hadn’t even noticed Tucker never wanted to be seen with her in public.
The last time he saw them together, they’d been in the driveway when David arrived home from work. It had been a long day, punctuated by a car accident with multiple victims, only one of whom David had managed to save. His emotions were raw and close to the surface and Tucker kissing Avery right as David got out of his car was almost enough to send him careening across the strip of grass that separated their driveways to punch the guy right in the nose.
David had never been a violent man, but Tucker was making him think that maybe he could be.
After a few months of personal training.
And some classes on boxing.
And maybe also a personality transplant.
