Fifteen: Keeping Secrets

When they had finished lunch, Landon took her on a walk along the avenue. There were shops that sold clothes, bags and shoes. Even though they're not designer brands, those apparels were pretty pricey. Charlene went into a few of the stores and bought herself some dresses, and also something for her mom and sister. Landon waited outside most of the time, patiently, knowing that it was what he was suppose to do for her.

It was almost sundown when Charlene decided that she was done for the day, they have walked quite far to the other end of the avenue from where Landon had parked his car. They had to walk all the way back, Landon offered to carry all 8 of her shopping bags.

"You know, we look like a typical couple with all this?" he lifted both his arms decorated with 8 shopping bags.

"No we don't," she refused to admit it.

"It's true, why don't you take a look around, all of the guys who carries shopping bags are carrying them for their girlfriends," he walked closer to her side.

She looked, and he was right. Some couples were walking, some were sitting on the benches, some at the food stalls queuing for snacks. And then her eyes landed on one couple who just came out from one of the stores, holding hands, smiling and laughing. The man ran his fingers through the woman's hair and landed a kiss on her lips. Charlene stopped her steps and grabbed Landon's arm. He followed her gaze and was as stunned as she was to see what she was seeing.

The man was kissing the woman as she was wrapping her arms around him. But that wasn't why they were stunned, it was the fact that Bill Ludlow was putting his tongue inside Gayle Anderson's mouth that stopped them cold.

"That's my father!! What the hell is he doing?" she was screaming. Landon quickly turned her around and walked to the opposite way even though she tried to look back and made sure what she was seeing.

"I think it's pretty obvious what he's doing, let's just cross the road so they won't see us," Landon took her hand and half dragging her to cross the avenue.

"But ... Oh my God! How could he do that??" it was not sinking well with her, her heart was racing, she couldn't wrap her mind around it.

"Okay ... calm down ... let's think about this for a moment," he grabbed both her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

She was breathing fast, and tried to focus, but it was too distracting. "Charlene ... we can't tell anyone about this, nobody has to know," he said.

"What?? What do you mean? He's cheating on my mother! I think she deserves to know!" she was angered by the whole situation.

"What good does that do?" She didn't respond, she was fidgeting and flustered. "Your dad is about to become a Mayor in your hometown, if this gets out ... he won't be Mayor, he'll lose his wife and family, his reputation will be torn ... everything falls apart," he continued.

"How long has this been going on? I mean ... how could he do this? What an asshole!"

"I don't know about that, your dad had been coming here a lot lately, because of the business, of course," he wasn't so sure when he said that. "I know that Dean Gayle is a good friend of my dad's, maybe he introduced them ... I don't know, what does that matter though?" She didn't seemed to be listening to him, she was still in distress, he held her hand to give her comfort.

"What do you want to do now, Charlene?" he wondered what she was thinking in her silence. She had a cold expression on her face, her anger and shock seemed to have subsided.

"I just want to go back, I really don't like my dad right now, I don't know what I'll do if I see him," she said calmly.

Landon nodded, "Okay ... but think about what I said, if this goes out, your dad is not going to be the only one who'll be affected by it." She kept quiet and not responding.

"If I can keep your secret, I can keep another one, too," she glanced at him. There was something off in his tone of voice, something insincere and threatening.

**********

She was dragging herself through the week, avoiding contact with her dad. She didn't enjoy Landon's company but it was better than dealing with her cheating father. In one incident, it seemed she had lost a very large portion of respect that she used to have for her dad. She missed Tommy an awful lot and sometimes she wondered what he might be doing in Goldstone. When she remembered his kisses, his touches, how he felt inside her, she shivered. She covered her face with a pillow and screamed into it. All she wanted was to go home and be with Tommy.

"So what do we do now?" Landon asked while they were out drinking coffee at a coffee bar near campus.

Her mood had changed drastically since she found out about her father's affair. She wasn't smiling, distant and she was thinking a lot. She shrugged, "I don't care ... whatever ... what else do you do around here?"

"That's not what I meant," he held her hand. "You've been so distracted ever since that incident ... I get it, it's not easy finding out something like that, but I was looking forward to your visit here so I can show you what a great place Gastonburry is, I want you to look forward to your study here next year," he was nurturing, like an older brother.

She let out a long frustrating breath, "Now that is something I will have to reconsider, isn't it? I am not gonna be the reason why my dad would be travelling here more often than he should so he can be with his girlfriend ... and than I have to pretend like I don't know."

Landon exhaled deeply, "You can't change your plans for the future just because ... "

Charlene shook her head, "I don't know, Landon, I still haven't decide what to do ... this wasn't my plan in the first place, and after what I saw ... " she didn't finish her sentence, she took her hand away from Landon. She was done listening to her dad, she felt betrayed, and the idea of going to Law School in Gastonburry had become more unappealing to her than it already has.

Landon laid his back on the coffee bench and crossed his legs. "Charlene ... I really like you, not because your dad wanted us to be a couple, I hope you can see me pass that," it was not an appropriate moment for a confession, but it was coming from his concern over what Charlene must have think about her dad. "I want us to get to know each other better so you can see that 'us' together is a good idea," he went on.

She couldn't believe how cocky he was to brought up something like that in the middle of her problem. "I have a boyfriend, Landon," she avoided his eye contact.

"Is that the only reason? Because that never stopped me before," he leaned on the table and folded his arms on top of it. "Can we just pretend like he doesn't exist? 'cause nobody knows about him except you and me ... and I don't really care much for him if you're willing to pretend," he touched the side of her face.

"That's a terrible thing to say, Landon, I can't believe you actually think I would agree to that?" she pushed his hand away from her cheek.

He threw his hands dismissively, "Hey, I'm sorry ... I'm just saying, you're a loyal girlfriend, I respect that, but maybe because he's your first boyfriend ... but you're not his first, are you?"

She gave him a glare of annoyance, "What does that mean?" He gave her a sharp look in the eyes,

"Has he ever touched you? I mean ... have you been intimate with him?" Charlene was gaping in disbelief, she was appalled by his intrusiveness. "Okay ... okay ... that was out of line, but of course my point being ... he's more experienced than you, and it's very sweet of you to assume that he's committed to you as much as you are to him."

"I don't know what you're getting at, Landon, and at this point, I don't really care," she dismissed him.

"I'm just saying ... if your dad can surprise you like that, other men can too, you can too, and it'll be our little secret, I'm good with secrets," he spoke softly in her ear but she didn't bother to respond. He was being a total jerk for trying to use her father's affair to make her doubt Tommy's loyalty to her. He was manipulating facts to get what he wants, after all, he was going to be the best lawyer of his time.