Tom had just pulled away from Erin’s house when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the LCD, saw that it was Peg calling and cursed out loud. She was going to ream him a new one!
He flipped the phone open, brought it to his ear and said. “I’m sorry, honey. I’m on my way now.”
“You have got to be kidding, Tom! Do you realize that you were supposed to be home an hour ago? What have you been doing all this time?”
Her question caught completely off guard as he floundered for some kind of excuse. He realized that he couldn’t come up with one quick enough.
“Are you still there?” Peg snapped, absolutely livid now.
He finally said, “Yes, dear. I decided to stop off at the library and look for something decent to read. I guess I lost track of the time.”
“You are kidding, aren’t you? You are a horrible liar, Tom, and I don’t believe that for a second! Not only have you screwed up dinner but you’ve probably ruined the milk, too. That is if you even remembered to get it!”
“I got the milk and it will be fine, Peg. I’ll be home in five minutes.”
“Your cold, over-cooked dinner will be awaiting you-”
Click.
Tom flipped the phone closed and stepped down hard on the accelerator. He couldn’t blame Peg for being angry-he had gotten so caught up with Erin and his dream that he had totally lost track of the time.
It was scary how compulsive he’d become lately. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was screw up his relationship with Peg. They had had plenty of scrapes through the years but had always managed to keep it together and mend things if they ever got broken. Sometimes he wondered how she put up with him as long as she had, considering his absent-minded ways and crispy-fried memory. He meant well most of the time, but the old gourd just wasn’t quite as sharp as it used be.
A little too much partying in his former, single life?
Duh!
He nearly broadsided a car as he sped around a corner, prompting him to slow down his speed. What he didn’t need now was a car accident.
After he got home and cooled Peg down, he was going to have to come up with an excuse for driving down to Smithtown tomorrow. This was not going to be easy, especially on such short notice and with the New Year’s Eve party happening the following day. Whatever he came up with was going to have to be really good.
Should he invite her and the kids along? No, that wouldn’t work at all. There would be no way he could track down Mindy Conkel with his family there with him.
Whatever he schemed to do, he knew that Peg was going to be suspicious. After all, he no longer had any family in Smithtown since his parents had migrated south to bask in the Florida sun. So what on god’s green earth could prompt him to suddenly have to make the two-hour drive to his former hometown?
All of a sudden, he had an idea.
Frank!
Instead of making up an excuse for driving to Smithtown, he would pretend to be going somewhere with Frank for the day. He would ask his friend to cover for him so that he could take a very important out of town trip. Frank would no doubt assume that this had something to do the secret affair he had alluded to, which would be fine-he had almost seemed to think it was cool that Tom had played around on his wife.
So what could he tell Peg that he and Frank were going to do for an entire day? Then he remembered Frank suggesting that they drive up to Cleveland sometime and check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
Perfect.
Later on tonight, he would call Frank to see if he would be game for this scheme. The hardest part would be how to deal with Frank’s wife, Julie. Frank would have to make himself scarce for the day in case Julie and Peg touched base with each other-there was no way he could have him tagging along while he looked for Mindy Conkel in Smithtown. Maybe Frank would be willing to go to Cleveland by himself.
Tom realized that this would be asking an awful lot of his friend. Frank was as true-blue a friend as could be, but this just might be a bit more than he’d be willing to do. Lying was one thing; having to find a way to spend an entire day incognito was really pushing it.
But luckily for Tom, Frank Warren owed him a favor. A big favor. Earlier that year, Frank had run into some financial problems and covertly asked Tom to loan him a fairly large sum of money. Frank had a weakness for gambling and had lost a bundle in a real estate investment scheme that his wife didn’t know about. One day, the Warrens needed money for an emergency situation but Frank had all but drained their savings account dry. So Tom had saved the day, and Frank’s ass, by loaning him the money under the table.
Frank had only paid a fraction of the loan off so far. He had promised Tom that he would pay off the balance before the year’s end.
And the year was all but over.
Tom smiled to himself. If Frank was hesitant about helping him out with his plot, he would simply remind him of the debt he still owed him.
When Tom pulled into his driveway, more than the wheels on Peg’s car were spinning.