Chapter 3
"Thanks for coming in Jason. We appreciate you taking the time," Ria greeted the man.
"Hey, if the Raptors want to pay my boss to let me out of work for a few hours, I'm more than happy to oblige."
"You don't like them."
"No. I don't. Bunch of rich jerks from rich families. Most of them don't even have real jobs."
"Yeah, I'm hearing that a lot."
"You still think one of us gave them food poisoning or something?" he asked with scornful amusement.
"Not sure. We asked to speak with you because you seem more angry about your own team winning," Cal said, getting to the point.
"I thought you were looking for someone who wanted our team to win."
"Why didn't you? Why didn't you want your team to win?" Cal asked, "If you hate them so much? Besides, it's nearly unheard of for someone to want their own team to lose. Did you mean to poison your team instead?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, I played my ass off in that game."
"You played alright from what I hear. About as well as the rest. But, you're still upset at the final result. How'd you do it?"
"I didn't do anything. Maybe you should be asking them why they threw the game. They could beat us in their sleep every day of the week. They're the best team in the league, by a long way. We were lucky to get to that final and everybody knows it. We needed a miracle to win that game. Don't you think it's a little weird that we got one?"
"We were hired by the Raptors. They want the same answers. But it's hardly a miracle that they all came down with the same bug. So who was it? You must have an idea. You didn't want to win, clearly. Who wanted it more than anyone else? Did anyone get upset with you for not being as excited as the rest when you won?"
"I was excited, okay? I wanted to win."
"But?"
"We didn't stand a chance. Everybody knew it," Jason glanced down before looking up with shame through his eyelashes, "I put a bet on the Raptors at the start of the year to win the league, okay? I put a thousand dollars on it, before the odds were slashed. By four games in, they stopped accepting bets on them. The pay-out wasn't much, but it was guaranteed money. And then, we won."
"You bet against your own team."
"No! Not when I placed the bet. We suck, man. We should have never been in that final."
They thanked Jason for his time and assured them that they had no obligation to report his gambling to the authorities or the league organisers. Should it become relevant, or should they be asked to investigate beyond the question of who poisoned the team, they would have to divulge what they had found. Jason was worried but left with a thanks and an agreement to inform them of anything relating to the case should he learn anything that might help.
"We should see if anyone recorded the match. Get a look at anyone else who might have had a bet on or might have held a grudge. There was a small crowd at it. Might be something in there," Cal instructed.
"Yeah, I'm not sure if it was anyone on the Cheetahs team anyway," Ria added.
"Seems unlikely at this point. There's nobody that we've spoken to that seems guilty. Keep digging though. If we can have a look at them during the match, we might find something then," Cal replied on his way to the door.
Cal ambled his way towards Gillian's office slowly and maybe with a little hesitation. Looking through the glass wall he could see the two of them standing, their jackets still on. Gillian removed hers and hung it up on the coat hook that she kept near the door, and then turned to him and gestured to take the long light coat that he was removing. She placed his coat beside her own and then moved towards her desk to sit down. Her companion sat opposite the desk while she checked her emails and messages, and once she was satisfied that nothing required her attention that couldn't wait, she redirected herself back around to face him.
As she turned, she noticed Cal snooping through the window. Her face transformed from a softly relaxed smile with a hint of tension, she had been about to start a conversation by the look of her, into an indulgent smirk, with flared nostrils and a shine to her eyes that she could never quite conceal when she looked at him. She inclined her head fractionally to indicate to him that he should come in.
The Judge, still dressed in his immaculate pressed suit from earlier, caught her distraction and her motion. He turned his head to the door with interest.
Cal opened the door and took a tentative step in. He was nervous all of a sudden. He was more used to being on the other side of these meetings.
Cal nodded to Gillian and uttered a softly spoken, "Hi." Then he turned to give the older man in front of him his full attention.
Gillian had stood up when Cal moved to approach them, and so her visitor did the same.
Cal extended his hand in greeting and Gillian said, "Dad, this is Cal Lightman. Cal, my dad."
Cal didn't even notice the breath he took in to steady his nerves. He shook the man's hand and said, "Judge Taylor. How do you do?"
"Ah, finally," Neil replied in friendly greeting, "the famous business partner. It's a pleasure to meet you Dr Lightman. It's quite a place you've got here."
Cal felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He shot a quick panicked glare at Gillian's cringing face before turning back to her father with his best impression of normal.
"Yeah. Well, I just wanted to stop in to say hello," he said. He knew that only Gillian could hear the devastation in his voice. Only Gillian could see the hurt behind his mask.
"I was about to ask dad if he was free for dinner tonight. I thought maybe the three of us could head out?" Gillian was trying her best to appease Cal, but she could feel the monumental fight that was threatening. He tensed up and was about to say something that she was certain would be meant as a get out clause and would sound so petty that she would be forced to apologise to her father for his behavior. She tensed in anticipation of cutting him off when her father spoke up.
"I can do something early. Around six, if that works. I have another couple of engagements to attend to while I'm in town," her oblivious father said, unknowingly saving the day.
"Sounds great. I'll book something," Gillian said with a smile and an unconscious gulping swallow.
Cal was staring at her quietly. He wanted to storm away, but he didn't want to cause her any upset and embarrassment. If she were inviting him to dinner instead of trying to get rid of him, he would play along. But he wouldn't make it too easy for her.
"Sounds great," he repeated her phrasing, turning to Neil. "Judge, how long are you in town for? You have somewhere to stay?"
Neil was mildly confused but answered pleasantly, "I'm just here for the night, heading back tomorrow afternoon. The governor is putting me up in a hotel. And please, you can call me Neil."
"Okay. It's 'Cal' then," he answered, indicating himself with his open palm. "Well, no need to set up the spare room then, eh?" he finished with a stare at Gillian that screamed 'I dare you to say something'.
She let out a breath of nervous laughter, her father turning his mildly amused confusion to her while Cal politely excused himself from the room with a promise to see them later and a final look of hurt towards his partner.
Gillian sat back down in her office chair. Her distraction and upset was obvious even to her father.
"Did I miss something?"
"No, dad. I did. I'll tell you later. You still haven't told me why you're in town."
Neil seemed willing to let go whatever it was that he had noticed for the time being. He was curious about the interaction with his daughter's business partner, but they would get to that. For now, he owed her an explaination.
"Right. Yes. I wanted to give a bit of a heads up on something. I mean, I was in town anyway, but the reason I'm in town is for the thing I need to tell you…. If that makes sense," he finished with a laugh.
Gillian continued to look at him without saying anything. She was unsettled by the faux pas with Cal a moment ago, and it was limiting her patience with her father through no fault of his own.
"You may have some people looking to ask you a few questions. About me. Maybe looking into you a bit too. In the coming weeks."
Gillian's brow furrowed at that.
"It's nothing bad! Don't worry. I mean, it's nothing… I'm on the short list for the next nominee for the California supreme court, Gillian."
Gillian now found that her unwillingness to speak had become an inability. She was momentarily stunned, but pleasantly so.
"Wow. Dad, that's huge," she declared when she finally managed to find her voice.
"Yeah, listen, don't worry though. You know, the usual vetting process and all that," he said with a carefree shake of his head, "There are going to be people digging into my past. Which means people will probably track you down and want to ask you about me. About our relationship, and your childhood. God knows what. I just wanted to let you know to expect it. And also, to just see you Gillian!"
She smiled again at his words but worry clouded her eyes. She knew exactly how intrusive these vetting profiles could be.
"Sweetie, it'll be fine. Be honest with them. Whatever they need to know. If they don't like what they hear, I just won't get the nod. It's okay," he spoke kindly.
Gillian wasn't quite convinced that it was okay, but she nodded agreeably anyway.
"Now. Tell me why your business partner just offered me his spare room," Neil pushed with an amused stare.
Gillian froze like a deer in headlights for a second. She braced herself for the awkwardness that was bound to follow and through gritted teeth replied, "Because technically it's also my spare room," and held perfectly still while she waited for his reaction.
Gillian opened the door to Cal's office without knocking and walked in with her head bowed and her shoulders slumped in the most clearly apologetic posture he'd ever seen on her. She was looking at him with wide worried eyes and chewing her bottom lip.
Cal reclined fully back in his desk chair and returned her look with one of sadness and disappointment.
"Hey," she breathed out.
"He gone?"
"Yeah, we'll meet him at the restaurant later."
"Everything okay?"
"Uuum, yeah," she sighed, "yeah. He's being looked at for the state supreme court, back in California. Just wanted to let me know to expect some questions."
Cal's eyes widened in surprise at the news and then switched to concern before he remembered that he was mad at her.
"I'm sorry," she said simply.
"For what?"
"You know what. I'm sorry. I just hadn't found the right time to tell him."
"Why didn't you tell him before?"
"I haven't spoken to him since Christmas, Cal. There wasn't anything to tell."
"I don't know if that's true."
"Sure, right. 'Hey dad, I think I might be close to being ready to starting a relationship with Cal'. Might have been a weird conversation."
"You didn't talk to him on your birthday? Or you didn't think that maybe moving in with me might warrant a call?"
Cal was becoming more agitated by the second, the more he thought about it, the more upset he got.
"No, Cal. I didn't speak to him on my birthday, because when he called, I was probably in bed with you. I never got around to calling him back. And no, I didn't think to call him when I moved in with you. We don't have that kind of relationship. We talk a few times a year."
"He's your father, Gill. Do you know what it felt like to walk in to that room and have him call me 'the business partner'?"
"You are my business partner," She said calmly.
"Yeah. And the rest," he shot back with an increasingly animated tone.
Gillian rounded the corner of his desk and perched herself on the edge. Cal continued his long vertical lean back in the chair, but angled his body now so that he could still face her.
"I'm sorry," she repeated.
"Do you have doubts about us?"
"No!"
"Then why would you not tell your dad about us?"
She hesitated, and that was enough to set him off. He jerked from his seat, standing abruptly enough to send the chair flying back into the unit behind it, startling Gillian. She took a deep reflexive gasp inwards and jerked in her place. In his already agitated state this only served to rile Cal up more.
"I felt like a right idiot in there Gillian," he persisted relentlessly. He was now determined not only to make her see how she had made him feel, but to make her feel bad about it as much as possible. "I thought I was walking in to your office to meet my partner's father. My girlfriend's father. I was actually nervous about it. I was stressing about it. Would he like me? Would he give me the third degree?" his voice was getting louder with each point he made to her.
Where he had been walking away from her, with no destination in mind other than to put distance between them, he now stormed in long strides back towards her, "Instead, I arrive to meet a clueless man who thinks I'm nothing but your mate you started a business with. Or, actually, did he even know we were mates? He looked rightly confused when you said about dinner."
"He looked even more confused when you offered him your spare room to sleep in," she shot back. She had planned on keeping things calm. She had planned on making him see that everything was okay and she just hadn't gotten around to mentioning their relationship. That it was fine. That she had made things right, for the most part. But his hostility had gotten to her in a way that she could normally resist. She was already on high alert and she had let the effects of the day get under her skin, and now she was escalating a fight that should have never been.
"It's our spare room. Ours! And he should know that already, shouldn't he? If you had even told him this morning, or when you two went out to lunch! Why didn't you?"
"I don't know. It didn't come up," she knew immediately that she had said the exact wrong thing.
He visibly flinched at her words. "Yeah. Not like it's important, is it?" he asked, then mimicked their imagined conversation, "'Hi sweetheart, how are you? Anything new in your life?', 'Oh no dad, nothing at all, moved house recently, nothing more to report on that one,'" he mocked.
She had no answer for him, and so she stayed silent.
"What did you talk about today? You didn't talk about the reason he's here. You didn't tell him that you and I are together now. Must have been a quiet lunch."
"We talked about… I don't know. About him. And about me. We talked about you and about Emily, and about work. Small talk. I didn't even think to say anything. Cal… I just… I don't know. I guess I'm so comfortable with us, with the change in us, that I didn't think to clarify that things are different now. The transition, the move to being what we are now… It went so smoothly, so natural. I hadn't spoken to him in the early days, after Christmas, when it was all new and we were getting used to it. And then it was just how it was. And he already knew you, sort of. I've been talking about you for years. The only major change is that we see each other naked now, and I don't think I want to talk to my dad about that."
Her speech and her conciliation had calmed him down somewhat. He was still angry about what had happened, and he didn't really understand it, but he was able to see through the mist of fury now, and he hated being angry with her. Unlike with his ex-wife, he hated fighting with Gillian. He loved the playful bickering, sure, but this kind of fight he hated. While it had been the fuel for his relationship with Zoe, his relationship with Gillian was built on a solid foundation of friendship. He and Zoe had never been friends. Just lovers, and then married. And he and Gillian didn't need to fight like he and Zoe had to keep the passion going.
"Why can't Emily be more like that, eh?" he joked.
It broke the tension. She released a laugh and relaxed her shoulders, finally reaching out to touch him. She placed her hand flat against his chest and moved into the warmth of his body.
"I'm sorry, Cal. I really am. I'm 100% sure about us, you know that. I would never have taken the gamble if I wasn't. I love you."
He wrapped his arms around her and leaned into her words. He kissed her on the side of the head.
"Did you at least tell him after I left?"
"Yeah, he asked why you were so weird," she joked to lighten the mood, as he had done. Then she paused and he allowed the silence, knowing that she had more to share. "I just want him to get to know you. I think maybe I wanted him to know you first, you know? Before I told him we were together. I want him to like you."
"What makes you think he wouldn't like me if he knew about us first? Aside from the obvious first impression issue that I have, that is."
"He can be a little protective."
"And now you've told him? After he's met me but before he gets to know and like me?"
"He won't like you."
Cal recoiled but held a firm grip on her forearms. "Is that why you didn't tell him?" he said suspiciously.
"Not consciously."
He narrowed his eyes at her pointedly.
"He hated Alec."
"He was right to. I hated Alec."
She laughed at him and slapped his arm. "Well, he knows now. So we do dinner, and you'll be on your best behavior, and we'll go home and I'll make it up to you. And then he's heading back to San Fernandino tomorrow, so at least it'll be over."
"It'll be alright, Gill. I just wish you'd told him before."
