Tarnished Armor
Part 122

Belinda’s car. Half an hour later.

Belinda pulls up to Chandler Mansion.

Adam opens his door.

Liza leans over to Belinda.

Liza: I’ll be over later.

Liza opens her door.

Adam: This isn’t necessary.

Liza: Shut up.

Liza gets out of the car and comes around to Adam’s side. She helps him out of the car.

They go to the door. Liza takes out her key and opens the door. They go inside.

Adrian: Those people are crazy, Belinda.

Belinda: What happened tonight? Who was that man?

Adrian: That man was a poor excuse for a human being.

Adrian is silent for a moment.

Adrian: When Liza was nineteen years old, that man raped her. And nothing was ever done about it until now.

Adrian looks at Belinda.

Adrian: What was it you said? She brings him to his knees and he brings her to tears? But the love they share --

Belinda: Everything’s different now.

Adrian: Why?

Belinda: I don’t know.

Belinda looks at the mansion for a moment, and then pulls away.


******


Chandler Mansion. The living room.

Hayley is pacing the floor.

Adam and Liza enter. Hayley looks towards them.

Hayley: Dad?

Hayley rushes over to Adam. She studies his face and then turns to Liza.

Hayley: What happened?

Liza holds out her hands.

Liza: You can check. My manicure is immaculate. This wasn’t my work.

Hayley: I’m not so sure.

Adam: Don’t be ridiculous, Hayley.

Liza: You can go, Hayley. I can take care of this.

Hayley: I’m staying.

Liza: We need to be alone.

Hayley: Dad?

Adam nods.

Hayley: I’ll be right upstairs.

Hayley goes up the stairs.

Liza: I’ll be right back.

Liza goes into the kitchen.

Adam makes his way to the couch and sits down. He winces.

Then he holds his head in his hands.

Liza returns from the kitchen with an ice pack and a first aid kit.

She goes over to where Adam is sitting on the couch and sits across from him on the coffee table.

Adam: You don’t have to stay. I can take care of this myself.

Liza hands Adam the ice pack.

Liza: Hold that under your eye.

Adam lifts the ice pack to his black eye.

Liza opens the first aid kit and removes a bottle of alcohol and a packet of gauze. She opens the packet of gauze and removes several pieces. Then she opens the bottle, and pours some alcohol on a piece of gauze. She places the gauze over the cut under Adam’s chin.

Adam winces.

Liza: Does that hurt? Good.

Liza cleans the cut.

Adam: I never thought you would be there. I never thought you would even know.

Liza: That seems to be a big problem for you.

Liza tosses the used gauze on the coffee table. She gets a fresh piece of gauze, pours some alcohol on it and holds it to the cut below Adam’s ear.

Liza: Where else?

Adam: I’m okay.

Liza puts down the gauze.

She sits on the couch next to Adam.

Adam: It’s okay. You can go.

Liza doesn’t answer. After a moment, she looks at Adam.

Liza: What you did was terrible.

Adam: I should have never sent Adrian to look for him.

Liza: I’m not talking about that.

Adam: Oh.

Liza: What did you expect, Adam? That I’d fall into your arms and thank you for violating me?

Adam: I was wrong.

Liza: You expected that?

Adam: It doesn’t matter what I expected. It doesn’t matter what I thought. How I see things isn’t really important.

Liza: Yes. Yes, it is.

Liza gets up and walks a little bit away from Adam.

Liza: This is complicated for me.

Adam: I know.

Liza: Why did you bring me back from New York?

Adam: Because I also know how much you love Colby. I know you don’t want to be separated from your child.

Liza: Our child.

Adam: Your child. You left the papers here, but --

Liza: I don’t want to talk about the papers right now.

Adam: Okay.

Liza: Have you seen her?

Adam: Once. I didn’t mean to. I’ve tried to respect your wishes. But Junior --

Liza: Junior. Well. I had a visit from Junior too.

Liza sits down in the armchair.

Liza: Why Belinda? You brought me to Belinda.

Adam: Belinda has no connection to me. She has no agenda. She’s --

Liza: Yes.

Liza looks away from Adam. And then she looks back at him.

Liza: Why didn’t you send Belinda to come get me?

Adam: I didn’t think of it. I tried to call Stuart, but he wasn’t home. So I got to thinking, and I realized that, in a sense, I could still send Stuart.

Liza nods.

Liza: I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.

Adam puts the ice pack down.

Liza plays with the fabric on the arm of her chair.

Liza: Back to the beginning. When we first ... when we first started out -- with the game to get Brooke and Tad ... we were partners in crime. I’d never had a partner before. Little flunkies here and there, but that was it. For the long term. Was it that way for you?

Adam: Yes.

Liza: And I think one of the reasons I fell in love with you was because -- as partners in crime -- I could just be myself. And I could see everything you were. As a man. In a way, we were never more honest with each other than when we were lying about being in love with each other. And somehow, all the good came through. Did you... did you see it that way?

Adam: I didn’t have to be someone else because I thought there was nothing to lose.

Liza: Yes.

They are both silent for a while.

Liza: I don’t know what you want from me. I mean, I think you love me because you can’t control me. But then you set things up so that you’re manipulating me.

Adam: I love you for many reasons.

Liza: But you don’t respect me.

Adam: I do.

Liza: You don’t. In the end, you always do something that takes away every shred of happiness and self-respect that I could have in knowing that someone I love loves me. It’s like you don’t want me to love you at all. Why? Are you scared?

Adam doesn’t answer.

Liza: Before the accident, I used to watch you sleep sometimes. And sometimes I’d think, “I’m with Adam Chandler. How did I get here?” One minute we were bickering over ratings and conquests, and the next we knew each other completely. And sometimes I’d go further back. You were the man on the magazine covers who seemed so ... forbidding. The name on the financial page. But then I’d smooth your hair while you slept, and suddenly you’d be Adam, not Adam Chandler.

Liza is quiet for a moment.

Liza: You like to watch me sleep.

Adam: Yes.

Liza: Why?

Adam gets up and goes to the bar. He pours himself a drink.

Liza: I’ll have one, too.

Adam looks at her. Liza meets his gaze.

Adam turns back to the bar and pours Liza a small drink. He walks over to her chair and gives it to her. Then he sits on the arm of her chair and takes a sip of his drink.

Adam: I like to watch you sleep because I wonder what you’re dreaming about. I can’t wait until you come back to me. When you’re angry, it’s the only chance I get to see the real you. When you’re happy, you open your eyes and say my name. And it’s too soon for you to have put on a mask. And I know that you’ve missed being away from me as much as I’ve missed being away from you.

Liza takes a sip of her drink. Then she looks away from Adam.

Liza finishes her drink. Then she gets up and goes to the bar.

She lifts a bottle from the bar.

Adam: Liza?

Liza turns and looks at him.

Adam doesn’t say anything. Liza puts the bottle and her glass down.

Liza: No. You’re right. It wouldn’t be the best thing in the world for me right now.

Liza goes to the couch and sits.

Liza: How can I be so drawn to something so bad for me?

Adam: It helps you forget.

Liza: I was talking about you. But I guess you’re right on that score, too. You help me forget. I forget who I am, what you’re capable of, what I’m worth. But then I guess I do that for you, too, don’t I? I promise to forgive and understand you no matter what you do. And I never do, do I? Leaving you to die at the boathouse. Telling you that the only reason I had come to the house was to take inventory of how much I wanted to take from you.

Adam: It was the money in the beginning, but --

Liza looks at Adam.

Liza: I see there are still gaps in your memory.

Adam looks away.

Liza: Are you going to Dr. Tolan?

Adam: No.

Liza is quiet for a very long time.

Liza: I wanted her to be your child.

Adam: Before you knew what I had done.

Liza: Before... before you had done it.

Adam stares at her.

Liza: After Jake offered to be the donor, I was looking -- in my desk drawer, you know, I kept a photo -- and I wondered. And before that, I -- I was asked to describe the perfect donor for my child.

Adam doesn’t speak.

Liza: I described you. There you have it.

Adam closes his eyes.

Liza: I don’t know how things got so confused. No, that’s wrong. I know how they got confused. Because it’s you and me.

Adam opens his eyes and looks at Liza.

Adam: It still changes nothing.

Liza: I know. Because, in the end, I didn’t come to you. I didn’t ask you to be the donor. You decided. And I had no choice. You always ruin everything.

They sit in silence.

Then Liza looks at her watch.

Liza: It’s morning.

Liza gets up and goes to the edge of the room, by the entranceway.

She turns to face Adam.

Liza: Visitation is tomorrow. I think you should be there.

Adam: No.

Liza: No?

Adam: I promised that --

Liza: I demanded. I’m taking away the demand.

Adam: Why?

Liza: I hate what you’ve done to me and our child. But I’m not going to punish Colby for something you’ve done. You’re her father. She thinks of you that way. Very convenient how you set that up. Although I’m sure you didn’t plan on Jake.

Adam: I’m sorry about Colby. I thought that --

Liza: It’s my fault she’s with Jake.

Adam: I ruined everything.

Liza: I wasn’t strong enough. I never have been. But I will be from now on.

Liza turns to the door.

Liza: I’ll be at Tad and Dixie’s at three o’clock. Not today. Tomorrow. You should keep using the ice pack.

Adam doesn’t say anything. Liza leaves.

Tarnished Armor Index
Part One Hundred and Twenty One
Part One Hundred and Twenty Three