In Between Lies Read online

  Naomi, already dressed and ready was standing in her spot, waiting for her que. Savannah smiled at her, gesturing for her that she was ready to begin as well. She wondered if Jazzy had any real reason to not like her. Then she thought of Richard. Didn’t he tell her about a woman he was seeing named Naomi? Also, she noticed that Naomi’s portfolio was filled with pictures shot by Richard.

  “Lunch is here,” Lydia announced as she carried in a few large brown paper bags. “Dig in while its hot.”

  As Lydia was leaving through the double doors, Richard stepped in. Savannah smiled and went to hug him as he approached. “Hey, Richard,” she said as she wrapped her arms around his. “What brings you this way?”

  “I came to meet my lady friend for lunch and also get a peek of the caliber of work she does.”

  “Oh? Who? Naomi?”

  “Yes, the lovely Naomi, who I just happen to see standing right over there.” He pointed in Naomi’s direction.

  “I knew it! So she’s the one you wanted to introduce me to that day you came over?”

  “Yes, I wanted you to take her out, show her a good time.”

  Naomi saw Richard and walked towards them both.

  “Naomi, you have a visitor,” Savannah announced, then left the couple to talk.

  The rest of the day, the shoot went flawlessly. However, Savannah did notice the slight coldness and icy tones that escaped from Naomi’s voice as she repeatedly voiced her lines. She was not the warm Naomi from yesterday. Something had changed, but she had no idea what it was or what brought the change on. Naomi had sent Richard away pretty quickly and both Savannah and Jazzy noticed the change took place around then. Savannah didn’t want to pry, but Richard was her best friend, and she wanted nothing but the best for him. Jazzy, on the other hand, could have cared less about the attitude change.

  “And that’s a wrap!? Again, the crew dis-assembled, but this time it was because they completely finished the shoot. Savannah had pulled it off. They were not only finished, but a full day ahead of schedule. This called for a small celebration dinner…of course at Savannah’s suggestion.

  Naomi had agreed to go. Jazzy wanted nothing to do with it since Naomi was attending. “I don’t want to go again with her. I can just pass on that. And if you were smart, you’d just get her paid and be rid of her.”

  “I will pay her this evening. Before we finished, I called the Accounting department and had her check cut. So this is the second and last day that we work with her. I think we could at least show our appreciation. I want to keep this professional.”

  “Whatever. She will appreciate that check. She don’t need nothing else. I will go, but only because you asked.”

  “And Kevin suggested that we all meet for dinner anyway. You know, a little celebration of sorts.”

  “So, I should call Gio and make it a double date then? He is a partner too, you know.” Jazzy reminded her.

  “If that is what you want to do. That’s fine… but it won’t be a double date, because I assume that Richard is also coming. Make it a triple.”

  *****************************

  “Hey babe, can you give us a few minutes to get the set cleaned up?” Savannah asked Kevin over the cell phone.

  “Sure, I am already here so I will go ahead and get us a decent table. Table for four right?” he questioned.

  “No, we need a table for six,” she explained.

  “Six? Ok, I will be here waiting for you.”

  Savannah gave Naomi her check and thanked her for her professionalism while she was obviously upset about something.

  “Well, now that we are no longer working together and you are seeing my best friend, we should get to know each other better.” Now that they were back in her office, Savannah offered a seat to Naomi. Jazzy had went to Gio and advised her that she would just meet them at the restaurant.

  “What do you want to know?” Naomi said as she put the check in her purse.

  “So what was the matter with you today? I noticed that you were struggling through a couple of parts in the shoot and seemed a little distracted.”

  “Nothing that you would want to hear. Listen, I have to go. Thanks for the check and it was nice working with you,” Naomi lied.

  “Go? Go where? No, Naomi we are having dinner again this evening. Have you already met the owner of The Blue Horizon?” she questioned.

  Naomi’s eyebrows raised. “Yes, I know Kevin. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him…on many occasions,” she added.

  “Oh really? Were you there opening night?”

  “As a matter of fact I was.” Naomi spat out, then caught herself.

  “Well, we are meeting him for dinner this evening. And he is a really nice man. I don’t know how well you know him, outside of watching him on the nightly news or the club, but since this commercial was for his place, he insisted on treating us to dinner, provided he gets to meet the local talent in the commercial.”

  “So…I’m going to dinner with Mr. Kevin Styles…and you?” Naomi questioned.

  “Yes. Do you have any reservations about that?”

  Naomi smiled, “Not at all.”

  “Then let’s go…you can ride with me if you’d like.”

  “No thanks, I will drive. I don’t want to put you out of your way by having to bring me back here afterwards.”

  “Suit yourself.” Savannah gave her the specifics and location and they agreed to meet there.

  Chapter 14

  Savannah, Jazzy, and Gio sat at the table while Kevin stepped out to take an important phone call. She was in a good mood and ready to let her hair down to enjoy the evening. She was sure that being there with Jazzy and Gio, there would be ample amount of entertaining comments they would make to choose from.

  “Kevin returned to the table for a moment. “I will be a little longer than expected,” he said, referring to the phone call he had taken. “So, go ahead and order the drinks. Make sure and get one for our invisible guest.” Kevin took a sip of water, then disappeared again.

  Savannah watched him as he turned around the corner. “I’m sure she will be here shortly, sweetie,” Savannah answered in Naomi’s defense.

  “Maybe she won’t,” Jazzy said, in fact hoping she didn’t come.

  “Look, Naomi, I have already told you this before. There is nothing more I can say about this situation. I don’t know how to make it any clearer without being rude and I am not here to hurt your feelings.” Kevin explained. “This is the last phone call that I am taking from you on this subject.”

  “Well, Kevin, I’m sorry you feel that way. But I can’t just let you walk away again. I loved you then and I still love you now.”

  “What part of what I said did you not understand?”

  It was obvious that Naomi was not going to take no for an answer.

  “I understood everything you were saying and doing to me when you slept with me a couple of weeks ago. And I hear what you are saying now. So what could have changed your feelings that quickly?”

  “Naomi, you are a beautiful woman, just not for me…Oh, and don’t beg. It’s not becoming and a complete turnoff. I have to go.” Kevin hung up.

  As Naomi was pulling in the parking lot, she realized that he was indeed seriously not trying to hear what she was saying. Rage coursed through her veins as she contemplated even going inside. Since he started this, she decided she was going to finish it. Getting out of the car, she headed towards the restaurant.

  “Kevin, is everything ok?” Savannah asked. “You have not said a word since you got back here. Anything I can help you with?” She rubbed his back to try to get him to relax. She could feel the tenseness in his back. His muscles had tightened and felt like raveled, twisted, thick cords.

  “No, I’m fine,” he lied. He knew that Naomi wasn’t going to let things go so easily.

  “Gio, talk to your boy. There is something obviously wrong.” Jazzy nudged Gio.

  “And it’s not our business,” Gio added.

/>   Jazzy shot him a glance. “Your friend, I guess you know best.”

  Savannah cut into what sounded like an argument in the making. “There she is,” she pointed to Naomi as she made her way to the table.

  “Hi all. I am sorry to be so late.” She stopped short of the empty chair that sat before her. That same chair was also directly across from Kevin’s seat.

  Gio jumped up and pulled the chair out so that she could sit.

  “Thanks, Gio,” Savannah stated. “I’d like you to meet Naomi.”

  They were silent. No hellos, no handshakes, …nothing. Naomi was the only one smiling as she sat and got comfortable. Savannah continued her introductions, oblivious to the heavy tension that now loomed in the room. The joyous moment that was meant to be shared had quickly turned grey, murky, and overbearing.

  “..And Kevin, this is –“

  “Naomi Sanders,” she interrupted as Savannah was introducing her.

  His stare was completely frozen, as if in shock. His speech was stuck in his throat, surprised to see her. He saw a hint of anger, along with spite, flash through her eyes. She was beautiful, he thought, but not to him anymore. She looked like the devil incarnate. At that moment, he knew there would be trouble.

  “Nice to meet you,” Naomi extended her hand.

  Kevin didn’t shake it. Instead he smiled.

  Savannah, now realizing that there was something wrong, but unspoken between the two, sat next to Kevin and couldn’t help but feel the tension that had just been exchanged and continued to build.

  “What’s the matter, babe?” she asked Kevin.

  He didn’t answer.

  Savannah continued, “Didn’t I tell you she has the look? What do you think?”

  “Savannah, can I speak to you in private?” Kevin grabbed her by the elbow and practically drug her away, leaving Naomi, Gio, and Jazzy sitting there. He was sure she was throwing daggers in his back as he walked away. Naomi inwardly smiled.

  “This is the woman you were talking about?” Kevin asked as he ran his hand across his head.

  “Yes, what’s the matter? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Well, Savannah, I know this woman. I knew her from way back when… college days. She’s unstable.”

  “What do you mean, unstable? Unstable how? And how do you know her?” Savannah questioned.

  “Just trust me on this one. She is not what she seems. That’s all I’m going to say about that.”

  “What is she? An old flame of yours or something?”

  “Something like that,” he answered.

  “Well, that was a long time ago…right?”

  “Yes.” Beads of perspiration formed on his forehead as he thought of all the times he’d slept with her AND with Savannah too, within the same time frame. There had to be a way to keep Naomi away from her, as she was sure to tell everything and then some. Anything to break them apart. He pretty much counted on that. With Savannah coming from a cheating relationship, and just now getting to the point of where she was beginning to trust, there was no telling how she would take what Naomi would say. He was concerned, though he and Savannah were not officially a true couple, they acted like it and he was sure that she felt that they were. Hell, he felt that way too when he was with her.

  “Listen, babe, from what you have just told me, and correct me if I’m not understanding this right. But what I am hearing is that she is an old fling,” Savannah emphasized old, to get her point across. “Right?”

  “Yes.” He spoke the words through clenched teeth.

  “So what is the harm of having dinner with her? Though I do have to admit, I’m not exactly thrilled to find out that she used to be your woman.”

  “Believe, me, I’m not thrilled about it either.”

  “But she does have a man now that she has been seeing, so I don’t feel threatened at all with her.”

  “She does?”

  “Yes, my friend, Richard. He is the one that took her pictures for her portfolio that she used to get this part.”

  “And she told you this?”

  “No, I just found out today. He stopped by the studio while we were shooting.”

  “Okay, but make it a quick dinner. Also, let me just warn you, she may still have a thing for me even though she is with this Richard character, so don’t be surprised about anything you hear come from those lips of hers.”

  “What?”

  “Just a fore warning,” Kevin said, thinking that statement would help to cover his tracks. It was his intention to make her look as unstable as possible in Savannahs eyes so that when and if she decided to burst, Savannah wouldn’t buy it.

  “Is everything okay?” Naomi asked.

  Neither one bothered to answer. They just sat.

  She had already sucked down one drink while waiting for them to return. There was another empty cocktail glass before her, indicating that she was prepared to get relaxed and stay for a while.

  “Well, now with that out of the way, let’s get this party started,” Naomi stated as she waved the waiter to the table.

  They sat in an awkward silence until the food was served. In an effort to make small conversation, Jazzy asked, “So, Naomi, how did you get into acting?”

  “That is a passion that I acquired back in my college days.” She took a bite of food. “I actually had a passion for a lot of extra curricula activities back then,” she stopped chewing and glanced at Kevin.

  Savannah cleared her throat. “So just how did you two meet? Did you know when you tried out for the part that Kevin was part owner of The Blue Horizon?”

  “Well, we met back in college, actually.” Her eyes lit up as she spoke of the past. “He was a full year ahead of me, but we actually met in a drama class. I never really said much to him at first back then because he had his hands full with a lot of women. He got a lot of attention back then.”

  “Uh, yeah, we met in school. It really wasn’t anything though,” Kevin quickly added.

  “I assume he gets a lot of attention now. A handsome weatherman, single, living alone, probably has a revolvin-“

  “That’s enough, Ms. Naomi,” Kevin interjected. “I think we get the picture you are trying to paint, which I can point out to be totally untrue.”

  It all of a sudden became uncomfortable.

  “Revolving door, like he did back then,” Naomi finished her statement.

  “I think we have heard enough.”

  Savannah soaked in every word Naomi was saying. “Wow, Kevin, was it like that? Is it still like that?”

  “You know, Savannah, every night he wasn’t with you, he was with me!”

  “Whoa! Listen to this bitch,” Jazzy spit out.

  “Were there days where he just disappeared and called with some lame excuse of where he was?”

  Savannah dropped her fork, looked at Kevin, then back at Naomi.

  “What about phone calls that he ignored while he was with you? Did you notice that too?”

  “What the fuck is she talking about, Kevin?”

  “Baby, I told you she was unstable. She will say anything.”

  “But why after all these years would she make up stuff now? At this moment?” Savannah no longer had an appetite. Her stomach churned from the heat of not only from the embarrassment of Naomi’s statements, but also from the slight fact that she may have been telling the truth.

  “You know what, Savannah? I’m out of here. And if you want to sit here and listen to the lies that she spits out, then you can do it by yourself.” Kevin excused himself from the table.

  Savannah glanced at Naomi but didn’t say a word. She also followed Kevin out of the door. By the time she reached her car, both Jazzy and Gio were in tow as well, leaving Naomi by herself at the table, holding the bill.

  Naomi gladly paid the bill. She sat there for a moment and reveled in the thought that her comments completely ruined Kevin’s evening.

  Savannah sped off behind Kevin. Her cell phone rang. Blind with tears
, she could barely see to answer it. “What!”

  “Savannah don’t listen to the lies, she is a master at them.” Kevin plead through the phone.

  “Sounds like to me she may have been telling the truth.”

  “I will meet you at your house in an hour. I need to stop by the station first. Oh, and pull that commercial. I don’t want it.”

  “Tell me one thing, Kevin, are you still seeing her?”

  “No, I told you she is from the past, where she has been and will stay” he lied. “I will see you.”

  Savannah was filled with rage, pain, felt lied to, and ashamed that she had fallen for Kevin and his smooth games. She was more upset with herself for not seeing any tale tell signs that he was not true. He’d seemed so sincere, so into her, and never really gave her a reason to doubt anything that he said or did. Not once. Or maybe she wasn’t looking because she was thrilled to finally have a man in her life that treated her right, or so she thought. According to how Naomi approached the subject, they still were not finished. Her cell phone rang again.

  “Hello?”

  “Did he tell you about the baby?”

  Savannah slammed the phone down. “I can’t believe this! A baby?! What the hell?” she yelled in her car.

  Chapter 15

  Savannah sat in the middle of the floor in her living room. Her trust in Kevin was pretty much shattered. Although she didn’t want to believe anything that Naomi said at that table, she could have been telling the truth. All of her hard work at learning to trust and love again just went down the drain.

  The house seemed dark and empty, right along with her heart now. She had known from the beginning to not put her whole self into him, yet she did in the hopes that he would be the right one. She had given him that benefit and had to admit that she wanted, not needed, to have a man in her life.

  “Baby?” Savannah re iterated to herself. “How could he have gotten her pregnant, then just dropped her the way she had implied. That didn’t seem like his character. To have a child and just leave it and the mother to fend for themselves. Kevin seemed to be to warm hearted to do that. But then again, he didn’t seem the type to cheat.