Part 22 - Chapter 1 - Temptation

"Can I have your attention, everyone?" Lawrence asked as he stood in the middle of the office. Once the other employees had stopped what they were doing and gathered around to listen, Lawrence continued, "I have good news. The new projections are in and it looks like we've turned a corner. We're doing very well. The company's profits for this quarter are ahead and we're doing better than R.J. and Associates. Congratulations. Good job, everyone."

As the other employees congratulated one another, Hector noticed that only Amanda seemed unimpressed and quietly went back to her desk.

He decided to wait a few moments for the excitement to calm down and the others to return to work before he approached her.

After the announcement was made, Andrew followed Lawrence into his office.

"These numbers are very good," Andrew said, adjusting his glasses as he glanced over the papers. "This is just the news we needed right now."

"It's what we've been hoping to hear," Lawrence agreed.

"I think we all owe you congratulations as well. Without your leadership the company might have been lost."

"I don't know about that," Lawrence replied.

"I do. I mean, if Hector had been given the job, I'm sure we'd all be out of work right now. I'm glad the board was wise enough not to elect him to either of our positions. I think we ought to find a way to get him out of here."

Andrew was cut short by the ringing of a telephone, an interruption that Lawrence was grateful for.

"Lawrence Arrendale," he spoke into the phone. "Thank you for returning my call. Could you hold for a moment?"

Lawrence put his hand over the mouthpiece of the receiver and looked up at Andrew. "Do you mind, Andrew? This is an important call. It might take awhile."

"Sure, no problem," Andrew answered cheerfully and showed himself out of the office.

As soon as the door was closed with Andrew on the other side, Lawrence spoke into the phone again, "Is there any news?"

"Yes . . . we've got a problem."

"Amanda, when you have a minute, could you take a look at the coffee maker? It's not working right."

Amanda looked up at Hector, confused. "It was fine this morning. What happened?"

Hector shrugged. "I don't know. I was hoping you would be able to figure it out."

Amanda rose from her chair with a sigh and went into the break room to take a look.

When she entered the room and looked at the coffee maker she didn't see anything wrong. "It's working fine now. What was wrong with it?"

"Nothing."

Amanda turned quickly to see Hector standing in front of the now closed door to the break room. She took a step backwards and eyed him suspiciously. The fact that he was blocking her only way out of the room made her slightly uncomfortable.

"There's no problem with the coffee maker. I just wanted to talk to you a minute . . . in private."

"About what?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her. As far as she was concerned there wasn't anything for them to say to one another. She glanced at the closed door as she spoke, eager to get away.

Hector stepped forward slowly, his posture more relaxed. "I just noticed something recently . . . you really don't like Lawrence, do you?"

"Says who?" she asked, avoiding the question.

"You do. I saw those little snide looks you've been giving him. You don't like having him as your boss, do you?"

"He shouldn't even be the boss," she mumbled.

"I agree," Hector replied eagerly. "But the real question is, would you be willing to do something about it?"

Amanda hesitated, first trying to decide what Hector was hinting at, then considering the possibility.

He waited patiently as the emotions crossed her face while she came to a conclusion.

"I might, except for one thing . . . You're forgetting, I don't care for you either, Mr. Burgess," she said and walked quickly past him and out of the room.

Part 22 - Chapter 2 - Temptation

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Zara lowered the sign she was holding and turned around to see Thomas standing behind her. "Hey, where have you been? We had to start without you."

"Can we talk?" he asked, motioning away from the group.

Zara nodded and followed him down the sidewalk a few feet away from where the rest of their group was chanting slogans and waving signs.

"Have you found anything yet?" he asked.

"No," she reluctantly admitted. She wasn't sure which was worse, admitting she had doubts about this plan or looking like she wasn't able to handle it, but either way she hated to let Thomas and the cause down. "Honestly, I'm not exactly sure what we're looking for."

"Anything. Everything. There must be something in one of these guys' past that they don't want anyone to know about. Something that is worth more to them than the money they're going to make on this project."

"Right," Zara said doubtfully as she looked down at the ground. The only secret that she could think about was her own. What would the others think of her if they knew one of the men they were protesting against was her own cousin?

"Listen, Zara, if you aren't serious about this tell me now and I'll put someone else on the job. I can't have anyone on my team who isn't 100% committed to the cause and to their own beliefs."

"No, I'm serious," Zara insisted. "I'll keep looking, but so far, I haven't had much to go on."

"This is it," Quentin said as he rode with Edward and Lawrence towards the protest site. "They've been at it all morning and they've already been to the planning commission to voice their complaints."

"How bad is this for us?" Edward asked.

"It depends. If there is enough opposition from the public, the commission might be pressured to reject the proposal. If these protestors can't get enough support, they might dismiss them as a bunch of kooks and let the proposal go through."

Lawrence looked out the back window at the booing crowd and noticed a familiar face. He knew that Zara recognized him too when she lowered her sign and stared directly at the back window of the car. He turned to the men in the front seat. "Maybe we can find a way to compromise."

"Hello," Vanessa greeted her sister cheerfully as she entered the apartment. "I brought you a housewarming gift," she said, handing Alma a vase of flowers. "Good thing I did," she remarked, looking the over the apartment. "This place could use a feminine touch, couldn't it?"

"I'm working on it," Alma said, taking the gift from Vanessa and setting it on the end table. "We won't be living here long anyway, just until our house is built."

"How is the building going?"

"Not bad. We've gotten the plans drawn up, so as soon as they get the building permit they can start construction."

"How exciting!"

"It's hard to believe this is all happening," Alma replied absently as she adjusted her wedding ring.

"I'm sure it must be. I remember what a huge change it was for me when I got married. Well, for me, it was mostly adjusting to suddenly having two teenage daughters. At least you don't have that to worry about." She smiled, but Alma seemed to be in a world of her own. "Alma? What are you thinking about, hun?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. You can ask me anything."

"Why did you decide to get married?"

"Well, I was in love. When I met him, he was so charming and suave. He swept me right off my feet."

"That's the way it should be, shouldn't it?"

"Not necessarily," Vanessa assured her. "Look where marrying for passion got me, a husband who lied about his very identity . . . Of course, I know I'm the one-in-a-million, rare exception, but looking back I wish I had been more practical about things. But then again, I never have been the most practical of people."

Alma looked at Vanessa skeptically. She could hardly imagine being anything but practical. She had never been a passionate person herself and the sooner she accepted that she wasn't and probably never would be, the happier she would be with her life.

She mulled over that thought as she answered the door.

"Hi Alma," Amanda greeted her sister from the other side of the door. "I hope you don't mind that I just dropped by. I've been wanting to see your new place and with the day I've had, I need someone to talk to about anything besides office politics."

"It's fine. Come in," Alma welcomed her inside.

Amanda stopped in her tracks when she saw that Vanessa was already there. "Oh. I didn't know she was here." Amanda waited for Alma or Vanessa to say or do something, but when the only response she received was a friendly hello from Vanessa she looked back and forth between them suspiciously and asked, "What's going on?"

"We're just visiting," Alma answered. "Have a seat and join us."

"I don't think so," Amanda said hesitantly and backed away. "I guess the next time I feel like dropping by I'll have to call first and make sure you don't already have company."

"Don't be ridiculous. You're welcome to stay."

As Alma's tone became more scolding, Amanda's grew more bitter.

"No, no, I don't want to interrupt. I'd like to spend some time with my sister, but I don't want to butt in where I'm not wanted," she said with a pointed look Vanessa.

Feeling uneasy with the tension in the room, Vanessa moved towards the door. "I really should be going anyway."

"No, don't go," Alma insisted, before turning back to Amanda. "I've had enough of this. I'm not arranging my life just to suit you. You aren't going to get everything your own way this time."

"I do not get everything-" Amanda started to protest, but she'd already gotten Alma started and Alma wasn't going to back down.

"I don't understand why you're being so childish about this. You never cared about how much time we spent together before. Why are you acting like we're suddenly so close?"

Amanda gasped, shocked that Alma could say something like that. She had to fumble for her next words, "If that's what you think, I'll go."

Exasperated Alma called after her, "Amanda," but Amanda marched out of the apartment without looking back.

After the door slammed shut, Vanessa asked, "Shouldn't one of us go after her? What you said was a little harsh, hun, and she seemed pretty upset."

Alma shook her head. "Amanda's just being over-dramatic. She'll get over it."

Vanessa wasn't so sure, but given Amanda's opinion of her, she was afraid any gesture she made would only make things worse.

Part 22 - Chapter 3 - Temptation

Amanda stormed into the apartment to find Andrew sprawled on the couch in front of the TV with snacks and empty drink bottles on the floor next to him. "Hey, you're home early. What are we having for dinner tonight?"

"It looks like your dinner is on the floor next to you. Andrew, you've got crumbs all over the place! What are you thinking?"

"Sorry," Andrew scoffed as he sat up and dusted off the crumbs.

"This apartment might not be much, but we can at least keep it nice."

Andrew groaned and rolled his eyes. "Why are you getting so upset over nothing? It's just a few crumbs."

"Just a few crumbs? You just don't get it, Andrew. You never get it." Amanda stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

She sat down on the corner of the bed and buried her face in her hands. How could everyone around her act like nothing was wrong, when everything was wrong. This wasn't the way things were supposed to work out. By now she thought she and Andrew would be living in their own house with a baby of their own or at least one on the way. When in reality, no matter how much they tried, she still wasn't pregnant and they were still living in this apartment while people like Lawrence and Vanessa had everything handed to them. Even Alma was married now and doing better than she was.

Worst of all, she was the only one who seemed to care. Andrew seemed perfectly content in the role of vice president. He probably wouldn't care if they lived in this apartment until they were old and gray and he probably wouldn't care if they never had a baby. Amanda looked up when she heard the front door shut as Andrew went out.

"Thanks for coming over," Lucy said as she let Justin into the house. "I'm sorry we couldn't do this at the country club, but it's the nanny's day off and I couldn't get anyone to watch Stuart."

"It's no problem. I'm just glad you could find the time to meet with me. There are some details we really need to discuss."

"Come into the dining room and sit down," Lucy said eagerly. Since the phone call to Craig's hotel room the night before she had been glad for any distraction to keep her from thinking and worrying about her marriage.

"Thank you. This won't take long," he said stiffly as he followed her into the dining room. He wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

Justin stared down at the papers in front of him, avoiding eye contact with Lucy as he spoke. After being snubbed by her at the country club he was determined to keep this visit just business and not get work confused with something else.

He looked up when the telephone rang, but Lucy seemed to completely ignore it.

"Aren't you going to answer that?"

"No. If it's important they'll call back."

"Anyway, as I was saying, about the budget . . ."

Justin continued talking, but Lucy stopped listening. All day she had been dreading hearing from Craig. She knew she needed to confront him, but she wasn't sure what she was going to say. Yet, as the day passed and there was no call from him, found herself getting angry that he hadn't called.

When Lucy didn't respond to his question, Justin looked up to find her staring blankly across the table. "Are you alright, Mrs. Sexton?"

Hearing him call her by her married name, nearly made Lucy break down and cry. "No, I'm not . . ." she hesitated, wondering if she should tell Justin everything. It might be inappropriate, but she needed someone to confide in. "Craig and I had a horrible fight and when I called his hotel room afterwards a woman answered. I think he might be cheating on me."

Justin wasn't sure what to say. "I'm so sorry."

"I don't know, maybe I should have done what he wanted. Maybe I should have dropped everything to go be with him. I hate being by myself in this big old house. He's off with who knows who and I'm all alone."

"You aren't alone," Justin objected. "You have your son, your friends, the maid, the nanny. My apologies, ma'am, but you don't know what it is to come home to an empty house every night."

Lucy was startled. She felt terrible for not thinking about how he felt or what his situation was like. "I'm sorry, Jordan. I didn't realize. Are you really that lonely too?"

He considered the question a moment, choosing his response carefully, "Sometimes you don't realize how accustomed you become to having someone else around until they're gone."

"And sometimes by the time you do realize how much you miss them, it's too late," Lucy replied, leaning closer to him and touching his arm.

As their eyes meet across the table, they couldn't deny how much they needed each other. Unable to resist temptation any longer, they fell into each other's arms and kissed.

Part 22 - Chapter 4 - Temptation

"Oh, ok. Some other time then . . . Me too. Bye," Eileen said before hanging up the phone and collapsing onto a chair in the living room.

"I take it your date is cancelled," Veronica guessed.

"Yes, something came up with work that Lawrence has to take care of."

"Well, if you're going to be involved with a man who's serious about his work, you'll have to get used to cancelled plans once in awhile."

"Yes, I know."

"What's this?" Arthur asked, catching the end of their conversation as he entered the room. "I wasn't that neglectful of you when I was working, was I?"

Eileen and Veronica exchanged a look before Veronica answered, "No, dear, you weren't. I've never felt neglected by you. I've always understood how important your work is to you and I understood when you had to cancel plans because things at the office had to come first. Of course, I'm just as dedicated to my own work and there were times when I had to put my career and my patients first too."

Eileen listened with interest, picking up on that last point especially. With her career as a psychic phone friend cut short and her days as the life of the party on campus behind her, she really needed something else in her life. As strongly as she felt about Lawrence, her life couldn't revolve around him and she didn't want it to be all about him.

"Now that I'm out of business, I should start making up for that lost time," Arthur declared. "I'm here for you both any time you need me with nothing to call me away."

Veronica smiled. The therapy must be helping. Arthur was finally starting to seem like himself again.

"Since none of us have any other plans, why don't we spend this evening out as a family?" she suggested. "We can go out to dinner. As long as I don't get an emergency call from a patient we should have no interruptions."

Zara opened the front door of the house she rented on campus, to see Lawrence waiting on the other side. For a moment she was too surprised to say anything.

"Hi, I was wondering if we could talk," Lawrence said.

"Sure, come in." Zara stepped aside to let him in.

"I'm sure you know why I'm here, so I'll get straight to the point. I saw you protesting at the building site and I want to know why your group is so opposed to it."

Zara never would have thought that he would want to hear their point of view. Pleasantly surprised, she decided to make the most of the opportunity. "Autumn Lake is a pristine natural area. We don't want to see the beauty of the area destroyed and the wildlife displaced just so you and your friends can build some fancy, exclusive place to live. There isn't a shortage of housing in Bay Pointe, there's a shortage of natural areas and once the natural areas are gone they can't be rebuilt as easily as a housing division."

"The housing board has done an assessment of the area. If our plans were disruptive to an area that needs to be protected, they would reject our proposal."

"Just because they should, doesn't mean they will. People in power have been known to take bribes."

"Not in this case. There is no bribery involved and no pulling of strings. We are doing everything we can to make sure everything is done correctly. I want everyone to know that."

"That's not really the point," Zara said. "We really just want to make sure the area is protected. We don't want it destroyed by a big housing division."

"The main reason we want to build there is because it is a beautiful area and we definitely don't want to do anything to destroy that. I wanted to talk to you to find out if there is some way we can work together to reach a compromise. There must be something we can do to make this project acceptable to both sides."

"I'm not sure what that would be, but I'll talk to the others and see what they think," Zara promised.

Lawrence thanked her and said goodbye. He drove away just as Thomas was walking up to the door.

"Was that Lawrence Arrendale I just saw leaving here? What did he want?"

"You won't believe it. He actually wanted to listen to our views and he's interested in working out a compromise. Isn't that great news? We actually caught their attention and we're getting something accomplished."

"Don't get ahead of yourself. Nothing is accomplished until we put a stop to this proposal."

"But with the right compromise-"

"Don't be so naive, Zara. This isn't a situation that can be compromised. It's all or nothing." Thomas looked thoughtful for a moment. He didn't trust Lawrence's reasons for approaching Zara. "What exactly did you tell him?"

Part 22 - Chapter 5 - Temptation

"Hello, darling," Edward greeted Alma as he arrived home from the hospital. "I brought you a little surprise, something to brighten up the place."

"Thank you," Alma looked up from her book to smile at him. "They're very pretty."

"I see someone beat me to the idea," he said, nodding towards the sunflowers in the corner as he set the vase of roses on the coffee table.

"That was Vanessa. She stopped by this afternoon to visit and brought them as a housewarming present."

"That's nice. Did you have a good visit?" he asked as he sat next to her on the sofa.

Alma frowned. "We did until Amanda showed up and threw a fit. I can't believe she's still so angry about the inheritance and Vanessa selling Mother's house. I know it was a shock at first and I know she hates the apartment they're living in now, but surely she and Andrew could afford to buy a house by now if they really wanted to . . . I wish she would just get over it already."

"Right . . .How do you feel about living here, Alma? Do you hate living in an apartment instead of a house?"

"No, the apartment is fine."

"That's good, because I have some bad news. Construction on our house might be delayed. I don't know for how long, but there's some opposition to the building proposal that might delay things. If you were really unhappy here, we could look at other options."

"I'm fine living here, really."

"Good. I just want to make sure you're comfortable. I hope if you're ever unhappy with anything, you'll let me know."

"I will. You don't have to worry so much about me."

"I can't help it. I'm your husband, that's my job now, darling." He kissed her on the cheek and went into the bedroom to change.

When the kiss ended, Lucy leaned in to kiss Justin again, but he pulled away.

"I'm sorry," he apologized quickly. "I shouldn't have- I'm terribly sorry."

"Don't be. I'm not," Lucy insisted.

He backed away nervously. "I spoke too much. That was entirely inappropriate of me."

"It wasn't. I'm glad you did. I needed someone to talk to and I needed someone to open up to me. You didn't do anything wrong. I wanted to confide in you and I wanted to kiss you."

"But you and I- we can't do this. We shouldn't be so . . . intimate with each other. It isn't appropriate. I've worked for you, you're married, we can't let this happen."

"If we both want this, if you want this as much as I do, then why not? You don't work for me anymore, we work together. My marriage vows are a lie . . . they always have been a lie."

Justin looked doubtful. "But they're still vows."

"Well, at least, can't we be friends? I think we could both use a friend, someone to talk to."

Justin shook his head, convinced that solution could only be worse.

"I think it's best if I just go. I'll leave these papers with you and you can drop them off at Pheasant Run when you've had a chance to look over them." Before Lucy could protest, Justin was out the door.

Part 22 - Chapter 6 - Temptation

"This is nice, isn't it?" Veronica said as she, Arthur, and Eileen chatted while waiting for their meals at the restaurant.

"Yes, it is. We should do this more often," Arthur agreed.

Veronica reached over to hold her husband's hand. "If I get to see you this cheerful more often, we definitely have to make a habit of spending more time together as a family."

"Hello," a voice called out. The Townsends looked up to see Hector approaching their table with a drink in his hand. "What a surprise seeing you here tonight. Out for a family dinner?"

"Yes, how are you, Hector?" Arthur asked.

As Arthur and Hector made small talk about Arthur's health and how things were going at the office, Eileen stared down at her plate silently, hoping Hector would just go away. Seeing him here talking so casually with her father, knowing what he had done, made her feel sick.

"You're quiet tonight, Eileen. How have you been?" Hector asked.

"Excuse me," Eileen said, without looking up. She retreated to the ladies' room, planning to hide until Hector was gone.

After leaving Alma's, Vanessa stopped downtown to do some shopping before going home. On the way back to her car she spotted Andrew coming out of a restaurant.

"Andy," she called out as she walked towards him. He didn't seem to realize she was there until she was right next to him. "Hi, what are you doing here, hun?"

Andrew seemed to put a lot of thought into answering the question. "Just having dinner."

"Where's Amanda?" she asked, looking around suspiciously. Something seemed odd.

Andrew shrugged his shoulders, "Don't know. Home, I guess."

From his slurred voice and his off-balance gestures, Vanessa knew what was wrong. "Andy, how much have you had to drink tonight?"

Andrew thought a moment. His cheeks puffed out before he exhaled the breath he'd been holding. "Uh, I don't know. Didn't keep count."

"Well, come on, hun. My car is right here. I'll give you a ride home."

"To your home?" Andrew asked, swaying as he walked. "You're so good to me, not like Manda. Nothing's ever good enough. I wish I'd married you."

When Andrew leaned towards Vanessa, as if he was about to kiss her, Vanessa gently pushed him away and helped him into the car.

"Hold on. Don't do something you might regret, hun. I'm sure things will seem different in the morning . . . when you're sober." As she got into the car, she wondered what she was going to say to Amanda when she got Andrew home. She was sure no matter how she handled it, this situation wasn't going to do anything to help her relationship with her half-sister.

"Is everything alright, Eileen?" Arthur asked as they returned home from the restaurant. They had been having such a good time together until Hector showed up. After that, Eileen seemed completely distant.

"Yeah, I'm ok."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Veronica asked. "It's not easy seeing an ex unexpectedly."

"It's not that. I'm over that."

"Are you upset that he told me about your job? You shouldn't blame him for that. He was concerned about you and I'm glad he told me," Arthur said.

"No," Eileen scoffed. She wished it were over something so trivial. How could she tell them what the real problem was, especially when her father still believed Hector had good intentions? "I don't want to talk about it."

On the way up to her room, Eileen paused at the window and looked out at the Burgess's house next door. It was hard to believe someone she had known for years and who had lived next door to her for most of her life, someone she thought she knew, was capable of murdering another human being.

Even worse, he was getting away with it. He was free to come and go as he pleased, to eat out at the same restaurants as she and her family, to sleep in the house right next door. He was always going to be around as a constant reminder of the secret she knew and that no one, at least no one in a position to do something about it, believed.

He had gotten away with murder and there was nothing she could do about it.

Vanessa drove Andrew home without incident. She walked him to the door to make sure he got inside safely, as prepared as she could be for another confrontation with Amanda, but when Andrew opened the door, the apartment was dark inside. Not wanting to press her luck, Vanessa said goodnight and went back to her car.

As she drove home, she realized she was faced with a dilemma. Should she tell Amanda about what happened or let it go? She didn't want to cause any more problems in Amanda's life, but she thought her sister had a right to know what was going on with her husband. Amanda probably wouldn't listen to what she had to say anyway, but Vanessa hated to stand silently by when saying something might help their marriage.

Vanessa tried to put it out of her mind. She didn't have to decide on anything right now. She hoped things would look clearer in the morning.

When Vanessa returned to her apartment, she was surprised to find the door unlocked. She tried to remember if she had locked it before she left or if she had given Cassie or Zara a spare key.

Cautiously, she opened the door and stepped quietly inside. The room was dark. If one of the girls had stopped by, they weren't here now. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she noticed the state of the room. Desk drawers had been pulled out and papers thrown across the floor. Books had been knocked off the shelves. Someone had been here while she was out and torn the place apart.

Afraid that whoever did this might still be inside the apartment, she quickly backed out of the room and went next door to call the police.