Page 47 of St. Lucia Escapades
“That’s what the publishing house says too. I think it went well. I had fun but at the same time I’m glad it’s over.” Moira replied.
“I imagine. If you’re looking for Cord, he’s at the owner’s table. Come on, I’ll walk you over.” Kat smiled.
Moira followed Kat through the crowd, the whole time just wanting to see Cord, hug him and kiss him. They hadn’t physically seen each other since August when Cord had gone to DC for the weekend. That had been two months ago, and it was the longest they had been apart since meeting on St. Lucia. Suddenly, Moira bumped into Kat who was frozen like a statue. Moira looked around her and saw why. There was some busty brown-haired woman in an O’Brien’s waitress uniform kissing Cord. What devastated Moira was the fact that Cord wasn’t pushing her away.
She took several small breaths to stay calm. As she did, she saw Cord push the woman away and jump to his feet. “What the hell were you doing?”
Moira stepped closer, “That’s what I’d like to know meself.”
Cord spun facing her, “Moira…”
“You know what, just save it boyo.” Moira hissed, walking towards the other woman, “And who the bloody hell are you?”
“I’m Karina Lomax. Cord and I dated back in college.” Karina answered with a smirk, glancing from Moira to Kat.
Kat stepped up to Karina, “Ah, so you what, thought you would horn in on someone else’s man? It’s obvious you didn’t mean that much to him if he pushed you away.” Kat stated, watching Karina clench her fists and teeth. “Let me give you a bit of advice, you better walk out of here right now. And if you’re REALLY smart you won’t come back.”
“You can’t fire me…”
“Actually bitch, I’m the co-manager here and yes I can fire you. Now, get the hell out of here and you better hope Mr. O’Brien’s lawyers don’t press charges for sexual harassment against you.” Kat growled.
Karina didn’t budge. She simply crossed her arms and glared at Kat. Moira turned from the stare down and looked over at Cord. Taking several deep breaths, she finally found the courage to speak.
“Why?” Moira asked.
“Baby…I…I…don’t know what happened. One second we were…” Cord began.
“You donna know? You donna know how you ended up kissing some tramp when you were supposed to be waiting for me?” Moira asked, surprised at how calm she sounded.
“I mean, I never even saw her move till she was kissing me…”
“Forget it. God, I was so stupid. I actually thought you were different.” Moira said, a half laugh, half sob escaping her.
“No! Moira, please don’t say that. I love you. I swear I didn’t…”
Shaking her head, Moira began backing away from him. Not wanting to make a bigger fool of herself, she spun on her heel and rushed for the nearest exit. Behind her she could hear Cord and Kat calling for her, and Karina saying something, but she didn’t stop. She had to get out of there and fast. About five minutes later, she had her bags from where she had left them at the coat check stand, and she was in a cab heading for Kennedy. At the airport, she booked the first flight to Reagan National, luckily it was in two hours. She felt hollow. Once again, she had let herself get played by a man. Well, never again.
From her purse, she heard the shrill of her cell. Pulling it out she saw it was Cord. She dismissed the call, turned the phone on silent and shoved it back in her purse. Maybe in a day or two she would talk to him and tell him it was over, but at the moment the numbness she felt since seeing that woman kissing Cord was turning into pain. A deep heart splitting pain and it took everything in her to keep the tears at bay.
When they finally called for her flight, Moira was relieved and quickly boarded the plane. She just wanted to get back to her apartment, maybe grab a hot scalding shower, and just curl up in her bed and cry. She wouldn’t cry until she was in the cocoon of her home. At least that’s what she told herself. Moira never felt or noticed the single tear that rolled from her eyes and down her cheek. It was the first of many that would fall over the next two days.
Cord
Cord sat in his office with his head buried in his hands. After Moira had run out, Karina had tried to comfort him, but Kat had stopped that and called security to escort her from the building. Cord had barely registered Karina warning him that she wasn’t finished and that he’d be hearing from her lawyer. Cord didn’t give a damn. All he cared about was Moira. He had called her nearly a dozen times, but she wasn’t taking them.
“Cord?”
Cord looked up and saw Collen standing in the doorway with Kat. “I’ve lost her. She won’t take my calls. I don’t even know where she is.”
Kat walked over and sat on the sofa beside him, “She’s okay. I called the airports and she boarded a flight from Kennedy to Reagan about two hours ago.”
“I also called her folks and her dad answered saying she had called them and that her mom was going to pick her up. I also explained what happened. Cord, there is more to this than you think.” Collen added, his voice taking on a steely tone that told Cord his little brother was pissed.
“What are you talking about?” Cord questioned.
“After Karina was escorted out, I went to gather anything she might have had back in the lounge. I found dozens of pictures of you going back to just before you went to St. Lucia. I gathered them up and called the police. A Detective Schultz is on his way here now. I think she planned this.” Kat answered.
Cord was now confused. “But why? I haven’t seen or heard from Karina since we graduated college. She had broken up with me three days before the ceremony. Why would she do this?”
