All Falls Down

Matt didn't expect to spend his morning looking for his best friend's wife. He had hoped that he, Val and Trent could go to the zoo. Granted Trent was a little young to actually pay attention, but he wanted the three of them to do something together as a family. It was very rare the three of them did anything together besides share a meal. Usually it would just be he and Trent at home and Val would take him out with her. When he first told Val of his plan to go to the zoo that morning she was ecstatic. He knew that she had her heart set on going. He hoped that after they helped Brian look for Regina they would still have time to do something.

He walked around the beach showing the picture around to a few people. A few people knew of her, being she was Brian's wife, but no one had recently seen her. He wasn't entirely sure why Brian asked him to check the beach in the first place. Regina was a California native and not once did she opt to go to the beach. She didn't even know how to swim. It was like a rite of passage as a Californian that you learned how to swim. How she managed to go twenty-eight years without learning amazed him.

He looked along the stretch of beach and saw a group near the pier pointing him out. He knew that they were fans and from the experiences he'd had today he wasn't sure if he wanted to ask them for help. A few were helpful, but others were a pain. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't have minded posing for pictures and signing autographs. He loved his fans, but some just didn't understand that he was just a normal person.

“One last try,” he thought as he looked toward the group. He stalked through the sand towards the pier immediately regretting his decision.

“Heads up,” he heard a woman's voice yell, but it was little too late. Her frisbee collided with the back of his head with a loud clunk. Matt yelled out in pain and rubbed the back of his bare head certain that there was going to be a small knot forming from the thin plastic toy.

“Sorry about that,” she smiled as jogged over to him her long brown hair flowing in the cool ocean breeze, “I hope you're okay.”

After spending his morning in the hot sun dealing with fans and unpleasant people in general Matt was ready to snap at the young woman. However, his brain and mouth weren't working on the same circuit as he looked at the woman. She was wearing a blue bikini that complimented her tan skin very well., “N-no, I'm fine.”

“Are you sure? I can take a look at that for you. I'm a nurse.”

“Really, I'm fine. If you'd like to make it up to me tell me if you'd seen here around lately,” he said showing her the picture, “Her name's Regina Murray-Haner.”

“Hmm, nope. Never seen her before. She your wife?” she asked pointing out his wedding band.

“My best friend's wife actually.”

“I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry. I was just curious. You probably think I'm a creeper or something.” she started to ramble her cheeks flushing profusely. It was kind of cute.

“No problem. Thanks for trying to help,” said Matt as he started to walk away. He headed toward the group of fans that were still near the pier. As he walked away he turned to get another look at her. He wasn't sure what prompted him into doing so, but he did. His hazel eyes met with her honey brown eyes a deep heat rushing into his dimpled cheeks. He swiftly turned back to the pier and continued on his way.

Although Matt was having a bit of luck on the beach below Val was completely lost. She walked around the pier shoving a picture of Regina at any person that passed her. Some people dodged her while others looked, but weren't really interested in helping her. She strolled into a few shops that the two of them went into religiously hoping that a few clerks had seen her. Again, no such luck. Her cellphone rang and she quickly answered it hoping that it was Reggie.

“Reggie?”

“No such luck,” said Jimmy, “You and Matt having any luck at the beach?”

“I'm not, but I'm sure that Matt's doing a bit better. How are you and Brian going?”

“Nothing here either. Brian doesn't know I'm calling you, but I think it's best you two go home to Trent. We'll keep looking around, but I know she's not going to be on some beach,” said Jimmy.

“Thanks Jimmy,” she said before hanging up the phone.

She sat down on a bench watching helplessly as he walked away from her. Val knew that the chances of finding someone who had seen Regina near the beach was slim to none. Regina didn't frequent the beach much and when she did she spent most of her time in the small tourist trap shops looking for small knick knacks and t-shirts. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh as she took in a few rays of warm sunlight. In the middle of her impromptu sunbathing Val felt the coolness of shade. Her eyes fluttered open and she expected to see an irritated Matt hovering over her, but instead she had the misfortune of seeing Warren B. Staggs.

“Leave me alone,” she spat as she stood up abruptly.

Warren only chuckled as he gently tucked her hair behind her ear affectionately. Val swatted his hand away from her brow furrowed with a scowl, “ I said leave me alone Warren. You did me dirty and now you expect me to be all buddy buddy with you.”

“I thought you liked it dirty,” he laughed, “No, I'm just here to say that I'm sorry.”

“You should be sorry. You almost cost me my marriage, but then again that's what you want right?,” she said as she crossed her arms across her chest, “I thought you were my friend, Warren. I confided in you the problems I was having with my marriage and you used it against me by telling my husband.”

“Wait a minute little missy, you said you were unhappy that you weren't sure about things working out. You were the one lying about where you were at all hours of the night. Not my fault that Max caught you,” he said with a sly grin on his face.

“His name is Matt. Besides everything you told him was a lie. I had to admit to an affair that I never committed so that he would take me back. I've finally got his trust again and I'm not letting you get in between us again,” she said as she pushed past him roughly.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him, “I don't have to do anything. How do you think Matt's going to feel when he finds out you lied to him about where you were yesterday, huh? Where you've been going every weekend? He'd never have anything to do with you when he finds out that you're still seeing me. How do you think he'd feel when he finds out that the son he cherishes so much isn't even his.”

“Matt is Trent's father. We never slept together.”

“I know that and you know that, but Matt believed me once. I think with just the right details he'd believe me again,” he smirked as he let her go. He leaned down and kissed her cheek before walking away.

Val scrubbed the skin where he kissed her trying to wipe it away. She thought Warren was her friend. He was so helpful to her when she got cast in an indie film as lead actress. They would often have dinner together after rehearsals and chat in each other's trailers between filming scenes. It was innocent fun. She went to him with her troubles with Matt because he was supposed to be an unbiased third party. He didn't know Matt and he wouldn't immediately jump to defend him like Brian or Jimmy. He would just offer a man's opinion which was just what she needed. But when he told Matt that the two of them had been having an affair she caught a glimpse of who he really was. He had used the intimate details of their conversations against her to ruin her marriage.

She wanted to believe that Matt would choose to believe her if Warren made good on his threat, but she couldn't be that lucky. After the last lie that Warren told Matt he had moved out of the house and wasn't planning on returning. It put a tremendous strain on their relationship. She had accepted the fact that her marriage was over. That was until Regina suggested to her that she and Matt go to marriage counseling.

It was the best thing that ever happened to the two of them. For once she felt like she could approach Matt with her issues and not be drowned out by the sounds of his video games. He was forced to see that he had started neglecting her and their marriage. Slowly things started looking better for them. Matt was talking to her more and he even moved back into the house provided that she not have anymore contact with Warren. It meant nothing for her give up all contact with him to have Matt back in her life. They worked on rebuilding their marriage and even created the most beautiful child as a result. Things were looking up for them, but now that Warren was back she knew he wasn't going away.

Val walked along the pier trying to forget about her encounter with Warren. She just needed to focus on finding Regina. She began flashing the picture around, but she still wasn't having any luck. She stopped a young couple and asked them if they had seen Reggie. The girl vaguely remembered seeing her at a jazz restaurant with Brian the night before. It wasn't much, but it was the best she had. She looked away from the couple and she saw Warren staring at her across the crowd. There was a mass of tourists exiting one of the shops when the crowd cleared he was gone. Her heart began to pound as she searched the crowd for him. She couldn't see him amongst the flood of tourists and began to panic. She almost jumped out of her skin when Matt wrapped his arms around her waist.

She grabbed her chest trying to regulate her breathing when she pushed him in the arm, “Don't fucking do that.”

“Sorry,” he chuckled, “Are you okay?”

Val thought about telling him about seeing Warren, but she didn't want to bring him up at a time like this. They were just starting to work things out and she didn't want to risk upsetting him. But she couldn't keep a secret from him, “I just saw Warren. He tried talking to me, but I told him to leave me alone. I was asking a couple if they'd seen Regina and he was glaring at me through the crowd. He just disappeared.”

Matt's jaw clenched as he studied Val's face. He didn't want to write off what she said as a lie, but his head told him to. His heart, on the other hand, told him otherwise. He grabbed Val and hugged her tightly, “Don't worry about him, okay?”

Val nodded as she pecked his cheek, “We should get going. Jimmy called and said that we were relieved of our duties.”

“They found her?”

“No, but he was saying we should get back to Trent. I agree, we should get him and do something as a family. We both know Reggie isn't here and we can still show her picture around,” said Val as Matt grabbed her hand gently.

“You're right.” he said kissing her temple as the two of them walked to their car.