Slipping Away

Chapter 42

February 20th, 1996

Michael had left Mariah home alone so he could go to a meeting with his lawyers. Someone was trying to sue him over a few of the songs that had been on the Thriller album. The lawsuit was stupid in her opinion, the person was trying to sue Michael over songs he hadn't even written and she knew the case would get thrown out.

She was waiting for the coffee maker to finish when she the door opened. She jumped back and screamed, dropping her coffee mug and shattering it. She didn't relax either when it was Lisa that walked through the door and not Michael.

"Lisa, what are you doing here?" Mariah asked.

Lisa looked her up and down, taking in her silk robe and silk night dress. "Oh, so I see you two are sleeping together again. Guess you're done screwing your boss for a career."

Mariah stepped back, shocked by Lisa's comment. "Excuse me? You don't know me, nor my situation so you better show me some respect." 

"You're sleeping with a married man, but I guess it wouldn't be the first time." Lisa folded her arms. "Now why are you really here? You had Michael once already and obviously you didn't give a damn about him-"

Mariah cut her off. "Like you did. Save me the bullshit."

"We didn't want the same things, but I bet you if I called him right now and told him I wanted a baby he'd come crawling back that minute." Lisa shot back.

"Yeah, right. He's done with you. You've lied to him over the one thing he wanted the most."

"And you abandoned him when he needed you the most. Who's really the one that hurt him here?" Lisa retorted.

Mariah rolled her eyes. "Oh, because going on vacation with your ex-husband and leaving your husband to wonder if you're cheating or not is model wife behavior?"

"At least got down the aisle." Lisa scoffed. "Now I'll be getting my things and going. I have better things to do than to go back and forth with Michael's jump off."

Mariah bit back another response and went to get a broom to sweep up the glass from her broken mug. As she dumped the glass into the garbage, the door opened again and Michael stepped inside.

"Hey, what happened?" He asked, pointing to the shattered mug in the dustpan. 

She shrugged. "We had a visitor and she startled me."

"She? Janet's here?" He asked.

Mariah sighed. "I wish it was Janet."

Michael raised an eyebrow, but it seemed to dawn on him who she was referring to. He didn't say anything to her, but instead went back into the bedroom. Almost as soon as the door closed, Mariah could hear Michael and Lisa shouting at each other, though their actual conversation was muffled. Mariah tried to ignore them and make her coffee, but they were loud and after a few crashes Lisa burst from the room and slammed the front door behind her.

Mariah sighed and went into the bedroom. Michael was sitting on the bed and she immediately noticed that some of her things had been tossed around the room.

"Mariah, I'm sorry. If I had known she was coming, I would've told you." He said.

Mariah sighed. "It's fine, Mike. She's your wife."

Michael frowned. "Not for much longer, once we get everything settled I'm done and I'm not looking back." 

She down beside him. "You mean that?"

He cupped her cheek with his hand. "Of course I mean that. I told you, I'm in love with you and I'm not going to be satisfied until you're my wife."

February 28th, 1996

Michael walked into the bedroom and grinned when he saw Mariah in her dress. She looked gorgeous, as usual, and he knew the one thing that would bring her outfit together. 

He knocked on the door so he wouldn't startle her and pulled her heart necklace out of his jacket pocket. She had given it to him when he went to rehab and he had kept it in his shirt pocket ever since, even the day he married Lisa. 

He put it around her neck and clasped it. 

"You kept it?" She rubbed her finger across the pendant. "I can't believe you kept it."

"Well I wasn't going to get rid of it." He said. "You look really beautiful tonight."

She blushed. "Oh, stop."

"No, you're really beautiful. You ready for this?"

She sighed. "Ready as I'll ever be."

They came into the venue and started looking for their seats. Michael found his next to Janet and it was apparent from Mariah's reaction that she wasn't happy with her seating arrangements. 

"What's wrong?" He asked, approaching her.

He felt bad for her, the color had drained from her face and she was starting to hyperventilate. Despite her request, the Grammy people had decided to seat Mariah right next to Tommy. 

"I can't do it, Michael." She was shaking. "I can't. Please, I just can't-"

He noticed the few people that were there were beginning to stare so he pulled Mariah into a corner and started trying to calm her. 

"Hey, hey, hey look at me." He gently grabbed her shoulders. "You're okay, you will be okay. I'll be right there and he's not going to hurt you in front of all these people. As soon as the show's over I'll come over and get you so he won't even have the chance, okay?"

She nodded slowly. "Promise?"

"I promise." He pointed at his seat. "I'll be right there."

He hugged her and then brought her back to her seat just as Tommy was entering with an entourage. Mariah shrunk back behind Michael and he clenched his jaw. He hadn't even planned on coming to the Grammy's prior to Mariah coming back into his life so he couldn't afford getting into an altercation. With the media already spinning the situation to some cheating going on somebody's part, it was different depending on which magazine one was looking at, he knew they were going to spin it in a negative way against him.

Tommy smirked at Mariah. "Hello, Mariah."