Chapter 24

A wise man once said, 'Life is like the weather, sometimes unpredictable and always changing. Some days can be filled with sunlight, while other days a storm could blow through. And every so often, natural disasters like a hurricane can occur. You won't remember how you made it through, or how you managed to survive. But one thing is certain, when you come out, you won't be the same person who walked in. Life can be sometimes cruel like that. Not everyone who goes through these harsh challenges, these hurricanes, comes out unscathed; you can only hope to persevere and triumph despite the odds.'

Randy squinted as sunlight invaded his slumber. His mouth felt like he had swallowed a pound of sand and his head felt like it was run over by Mack truck. Between the effects of the alcohol and the car accident, ripping his head off his body would be quite an improvement to how he currently felt. And regardless of the amount of alcohol he drank, and the fact that he had no idea where he was, he still was not able to destroy the heart wrenching realization that he was not Alanna's father.

He sat up and looked around the room, focusing on his surroundings until he saw Trish. She had just pulled the blinds in the room open and had an unexplainable expression on her face. She walked up to him and handed him a glass of water and a pain reliever. "Here, take these. It's not going to take all the pain away, but it's a start."

She sat down on the bed next to him, "Oh my God, you smell like Jack Daniels…what the hell is going on with you? And how did you get that nasty cut on your head?" She assumed it was from a fight, perhaps with David?

He broke down and began crying instantly. Trish was caught off guard, he had never cried in front of her before. Not many men in her life have…and it deeply affected her. Its one thing to see a woman cry, for some reason, it's expected. But, men rarely cry…and when they do, you automatically know something is terribly wrong.

He inhaled in deep breaths, trying to slow down his sobbing to form a complete sentence.

"Alanna isn't my daughter."

Trish sat there shocked for a second; she was not expecting this…not one bit. She had prepared herself and thought of positive reinforcement to tell Randy in the case that Sam was cheating on him…but she wasn't prepared to hear those words. She swallowed hard, wrapping her head around what he had just told her.

"How do you know that? Did Sam tell you that?"

He rubbed some of the tears out of his eyes. "Our blood types are completely different…to the point where it is scientifically impossible."

She shook her head, becoming confused, "How did you find that out? Did you do a DNA test or something?"

"No, we were in a car accident last night. Al was in surgery and I had tests run. The doctor noticed the differences in blood types when she stopped in for her rounds. She thought we had adopted Al." He started crying again.

Trish's eyes grew wide with shock and concern. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug. She could feel his whole body shake with every sob he took.

"Oh my God Randy, is she ok? Are you?"

"She's fine…at least she was when I walked out. They had to repair a tear in her liver. And my test results came back good…no concussions or anything like that."

"You walked out?" Trish gave him a sympathetic look.

He nodded, "She's not my daughter and I was two seconds from actually hurting Sam."

"So you talked to Sam?"

His blue eyes, bloodshot and puffy, looked into Trish's eyes, "You were right…this whole time. I'm such an idiot for not seeing it sooner." He broke down again, "She's been cheating on me for four months." He contemptuously laughed, "It took me four months to figure it out…and to make matters worse, she cheated on me two weeks after we were married. Two weeks Trish…not a year, or even a month! Two fucking weeks!"

Trish didn't know what to say, if she should even say anything. Did Sam have no morals? The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Randy didn't deserve this…he would do anything for Sam and Alanna. Sam truly was a monster to put him through all this. She gave him another hug and ran her hand down his back, letting the tips of her fingers do most of the work to try and soothe him in any way she could, though she realized this was definitely the worst day of his life.

"It was with David. They met at a bar randomly two weeks after we were married and she slept with him. She claims she didn't know he was the father of Alanna. She said it only had happened once. He was only in town for business…until recently away. He moved to St. Louis about 5 months ago."

He paused for a long time, before continuing, "She said he doesn't know Alanna is his daughter. I told her she needs to tell him or I'm going to. And I told her I want a divorce."

Trish nodded, thinking about the implications now lining his life. "Are you sure that's what you really want?"

He pulled away from her and looked at her incredulously. "Yes, I'm sure! Our entire marriage has been a lie! I can never trust her again…ever…especially with the travel demanded by our jobs."

Trish bit her bottom lip, "But Randy, I'm not sure you'd get any custody rights to Alanna…can you simply walk away from her?"

He looked at her blankly, realizing what she was saying. "You're saying if I get a divorce, I'll lose my rights to see Alanna because I'm not her biological father? But my name is on her birth certificate!"

"Yeah, incorrectly! All David has to do is prove he's the father of Alanna and they'll re-issue a corrected birth certificate. All I'm trying to say is that you've raised Alanna for almost five years now. She knows you as her father…a piece of paper isn't going to change that. Think about her, Randy…she's a victim in this just like you are."

He stood abruptly and began pacing, "You don't think I know that? I'm sorry, but I can't forfeit my happiness in life just to save Alanna's happiness. I can't stay in an unhappy, unwanted, and hostile marriage just so that Alanna has a father. I mean, what the fuck am I even saying? She has a father! It's not like Sam has no idea who the father is! He needs to take responsibility for his actions in this whole mess!"

"Ok, ok, please don't get worked up. I see your point, I'm just trying to open you up to a different point of view."

He sighed, "I know…I sound so extremely selfish right now." He sat down on the corner of the bed with his back to Trish and ran his hands through his hair. "To be completely honest, I don't know if I can look at Alanna and not dwell on Sam's indiscretions. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get over it."

She crawled across the bed and sat down next to him again, "Look, I'm not the one in your shoes, so I can't understand the emotions behind your anger and I may never understand. But, I'm here for you…in any and every way I can be. You don't have to make this decision right away..."

He stood up again, and began pacing. She could see his chest rising and falling with each deep breath he took. She saw the tears threatening to fall again and at that moment she felt completely helpless. Nothing she could say was going to help him.

"You don't understand my emotions? I'm angry, I'm confused…I'm miserable, heartbroken, betrayed, conflicted, and extremely damaged! Just thinking about Sam and what a lying, conniving bitch she is makes me want to puke! And then there's Alanna who is completely innocent in all of this, that I still love to this day more than anything in the world! I want to be known as her father, but David has a right to know he has a child! If the roles were reversed, and I had a child that I had no idea about, I would want to know too. But she can't have two fathers!"

He started to cry again and this time dropped down to his knees. Trish walked over to him and began to help him up. "Come on, let's lay down for a little bit…you need to get some sleep and try not to think about things. I'll lay with you…I don't have to get over to the arena just yet."

He lay down with her, resting his head on her stomach as he sobbed. Trish soothingly tried to run her fingers through his hair in an effort to help him fall asleep. She still couldn't believe Sam could do this to Randy. This type of stuff was only supposed to happen in movies…not to good people who don't deserve it. It wasn't fair. She wished she could jump inside of Randy and take away all the hurt and anger he was feeling. She also wished she could take a baseball bat to Sam's head.

Trish looked at the clock. It was close to 5:30 PM and she needed to get to the arena. Randy had finally fallen asleep about 2 hours after they laid down and was still sound asleep on her stomach. She really didn't want to move, she was afraid that she would wake him, but she really had to go. As she wiggled out from underneath him, she replaced the void of her stomach with a pillow. He stirred slightly, but continued to sleep. She wrote a quick note, telling him she had to go and that she would be back as soon as possible bringing food with her.

John found Trish as soon as she entered the arena. "There you are! I've been looking for you all day! I tried calling you, texting you…I called Randy, texted Randy and I get nothing!"

"I'm sorry John, I turned off the ringers on our phones…Randy finally fell asleep about two hours ago…he's still sleeping."

"So what the hell is going on? Is Sam cheating on him?"

"Yeah, it turns out she is…"

"Shit, when he told me about things, I had this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach that she was."

"Yeah, well I wish that were the worst of the news, but it's not…"

John looked at her expectantly, looking her right in the eyes, "What is?"

She hesitated, unsure if she should be the one to tell John. But he was Randy's best friend, if anyone could help Randy through this, it was him. "Alanna is not his daughter. Sam cheated on him two weeks after they were married...with the infamous David."

John looked legitimately shocked. He ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. It was as if he was in disbelief that Sam could ever do anything so downright low. "Has she been cheating on him this whole time?"

"Sort of, it supposedly only happened once five years ago and then recently it started again. She's been cheating on him for the past four months."

"Did she know the truth about Alanna from the start?"

Trish shook her head, "No, she honestly thought Alanna was Randy's as she only slept with David one time."

"Well, at least she didn't keep the lie from him for five years."

A bitter look crossed Trish's face. She tried to hide it, but she always was one to show her emotions. "Come off it John. When are you going to start acting like Randy's best friend instead of Sam's?"

"What the hell does that mean?"

"What does that mean? There is no way Sam wouldn't have had any type of thought resonating in the back of her mind that the child she was carrying could have possibly had another father! Any woman who was sleeping with two people at the same time would worry about that! She was too much of a coward to admit her mistakes and learn the truth! And yet, here you stand defending her still! Stop defending her! She doesn't deserve it!"

John looked down at his shoes, he couldn't meet her eyes. She was right…he was being a terrible friend to Randy…and to Trish for that matter. "You're right…I suck. I owe you and him both apologies. I should never have judged him…or you."

"Look, it's in the past. What matters is that you're here for him now. I'm going to take food back to him after I'm done tonight…do you want to stop over when you get back to the hotel? I'm sure he'll want to see you."

John nodded, "Yeah, I can do that. Phil is the final match tonight so I should be able to sneak out earlier."

Trish wrestled with hotel key card until she was able to slide it into the slot, her hands full of take out containers. She was able to nudge her foot in the crack and squeezed through. She didn't know what Randy would be in the mood for, so she ordered a whole bunch of stuff. She walked further into the room to find it empty. She looked to see if he left a note, but there wasn't one…and he left his cell. If this was his way of telling her he needed to be alone, she got the message loud and clear.

John stopped over about an hour later and knocked on the door. Trish jumped up off the bed and ran to the door, hoping it was Randy on the other end. She threw a disappointed look when she saw it was John.

"Wow, Trish, you really need to try and mask your facial expressions better! I'm obviously not the person you were expecting!"

Trish threw a hand through her hair and sighed, "Sorry John, I thought you were Randy."

"He's not here?"

"No, he was gone when I came back…and he left his cell and no note. So he obviously wants to be alone. Should we go looking for him?"

"Are his car keys still here?"

Trish started looking around the room for his keys and found them on the dresser. "Yup, they're still here…so that means he couldn't have gone far."

John shook his head and looked her in the eyes, "Betcha twenty bucks he's back at the bar."

Trish and John walked into the hotel bar and found Randy between two scantily clad women, along with Nick and two more barely dressed women.

Trish was taken aback; it was like she had gone back in time six years. The man standing before her was not the Randy she had gotten to know and developed feelings for. It was as if he had gone up in flames and what was resurrected out of the ashes was the pompous, angry, addictive Randy.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to join the party!" Randy said, turning around and motioning towards Trish. "There's always room for one more beautiful lady next to me!"

Trish could smell the alcohol on Randy's breath, even though she stood about 2 feet from him. John stepped between the two of them, noticing the hurt look on Trish's face. "Hey there Romeo, how about you come back upstairs with us and grab a bite to eat. Trish brought all kinds of grub back."

Nick turned and acknowledged them. "Why they hell would he want to go upstairs with your ugly ass when he has two mighty fine specimens on each side of him?"

The girls giggled uncontrollably. John rolled his eyes at the intelligence, or lack thereof, oozing out of the tramps. He looked at Nick, "You obviously didn't waste any time getting back on the market…how long have you and Brie been broken up for? All of about two hours?"

Trish hid her shocked look; she didn't know Nick and Brie broke up. Just what Randy needs…a wing man.

She looked at Randy, "Randy, we all leave for San Diego tomorrow. Our flights all leave early. You're going to have to go home and deal with this…you can't keep drinking until you forget…cause I promise you, tomorrow morning the truth will be staring you right in the face again."

"Thank you, Dr. Phil, for your wonderful poetic insight, but I'm not going home. I'm headed to the sunny state of California too! I can't leave Nick alone to bask in the attention of the beautiful blondes of Califonia, now can I?"

"That's right my man!" Nick said, giving Randy a high five. "Bartender, another round of shots here!"

John shook his head, "Man, you know you need to go home and take care of things. You can't just run."

Randy narrowed his eyes at John. "You don't know anything about what's going on John, so just shut your fucking mouth…unless you opened your big trap." He looked at Trish accusingly.

Trish looked at him shocked and hurt, as long as she's been traveling with Randy, he's never been disrespectful to Trish….until right now. She crossed her arms and became the bitch that she rarely ever had to be. "Yes, Randy…I opened my fucking big trap and told your best friend who's been worried sick about you what is going on with you. I also drug your drunk ass into a bed last night, took care of you this morning, listened to you ball your eyes out, laid with you until you fell asleep, and rushed home after the arena to bring you food. And now, I'm calling you a fucking douche bag and walking away. I deserve better than the way you're treating me right now. So you better find yourself another room to sleep in tonight, cause you're not coming back to my room…but by the looks of it, I'm sure you'll have no problem shacking up with one of your whores. Be careful rats, he's a lousy drunk."

She turned on her heels and stomped out of the bar. John turned and watched her leave as Randy turned around and slammed his hand on the bar. The two girls on each side jumped at the noise and slowly rose from the bar seats, eager to get away from the self destructing Randy. "Thanks for the drinks…we're going to get going." John had never seen two girls leave a bar so quickly. "Wow Rand, you really know how to charm em!" Randy didn't respond…he continued to stare straight ahead.

John sighed, "Ok, I get the point. I'll leave you alone." He started to walk away, but turned around quickly, grabbed Randy by the arm and spun him around. Randy began to struggle but John grabbed him with both hands by the shirt and pulled him off the seat. He violently began to shake him and raised his voice at a last attempt to get through to him. "Look, Randy, I know from experience…whatever answers you're looking for - you're not gonna find 'em like this. Trust me! Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up…The darkness doesn't have any answers…you know this! Don't turn back into the bad Randy."

He let go of Randy's shirt and looked him in the eyes. "Don't turn back into the bad Randy…because this time, you've just pushed away the two people that care about you most in this company." John's eyes became watery, "And neither of us will be around to the call 911 the next time you over dose on pain killers." He released Randy's shirt and quickly made his way out of the bar.

Randy sat back down at the bar and put his hands over his face, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. He thought back to the time that he overdosed on pain killers. It was so easy for him to forget about, but it still felt just like yesterday. If it wasn't for Sam, he wouldn't be here today. She had called 911 before he was too far gone and saved his life. Back then, Sam was the only one who stuck by his side. He had pushed everyone else in his life away, but she was the only who put up with his shit.

A sense of bitterness erupted from his body as he continued to think of Sam. She only put up with my shit because she had no where else to go and she loved the comfortable life and expensive things I provided her. If David lived in St. Louis back then, she would have left me in an instant.

"Randy, fuck both of them. They are so self righteous…don't listen to their holier than thou speeches." Nick slid a shot down to Randy, "Here, a shot for you…and you can crash in my room tonight. You can keep Amber company while I make sure Mandy doesn't get lonely!"