“Please, girls, I’m begging here. This is his place of business as well as mine, and he has the right to conduct it as he sees fit. If you push it, he’ll have grounds for a restraining order, and that would be bad. He’s so upset he told me he’s going to sell his half of the business, if I don’t buy it he’ll go to someone else.”
“We can’t afford that, Cindy. Not now. We’ve just gotten to the edge of being really successful. He’s the idea man, the brains behind the business. I just sell whatever he comes up with. It would ruin us, Cindy. Think about the kids.”
I heard more mumbling, then silence. He called.
“They’ve left. You can come out of the office now.”
“I don’t think so. As long as I’m in here I’m in an asshole free zone. Go back to work, try to figure out what you’re going to do. And ask Aida to come in, please.”
He was starting to beg again when I hung up.
…
“It been an interesting few days. Care to hear about it?” she said, as she sat.
Curiosity got the better of me, so I nodded.
“I was there, you had forgotten, hadn’t you? I nearly flipped when I saw you. Mack[her husband]
and I were trying to intercept you but you were too quick.”
“Mack said he saw murder on your face. I know you managed to scare the shit out of quite a few people. After you gave your little speech and left it was bedlam for awhile. Becky did try to follow you, but Cindy and the guy held her back. I was close by then, and I heard Cindy tell her to give you a little time to cool down first. She was crying, saying if she didn’t get to you then she’d never get another chance. But by the time she broke loose you were gone.”
“Quite a few of the patrons left after the scene. I have a feeling donations that night were a little shy of expectations.”
She stopped, looking at me. “Do you know his name?”
“Yes. And his age, his residence, what kind of car he drives, his past, and everything else a really good PI could come up with.”
She shuddered a little.
“You’re not going to do anything cruel, are you?”
“Yes,” I said, making her blanch, “I’m gonna ignore him. Every time he walks around a blind corner or hears a loud noise behind him he’ll expect it’s me. He’ll be a nervous wreck for awhile. Eventually he’ll figure out I have absolutely no interest in him, and that will be the biggest insult I could give him.”
“What about your wife? They had to almost carry her out of the place. I think she was beginning to realize how bad it was going to be.”
“I don’t have a wife,” I said, stonefaced.
Then I grinned, to ease her mind.
“But if anything ever happens and you find yourself single, I’ll be like a politician at a pork barrel. White boys aren’t all bad.”
She smiled. “I don’t cross the color lines, but if anything ever happens, for you I’d make an exception.”
We stood and she hugged me. It felt great. She rubbed those nice mammary glands across my chest.
I couldn’t help it, I smiled. She grinned back.
“I’m gonna stop on the way home and get an average sized white dildo and call it Jace, for future fantasies.”
We laughed, hugged again, and worked the rest of the afternoon.
When I came out there were two envelopes on my bike seat, one from Cindy, one from Beck. I knew Allen was watching as I dropped them on the ground and left. I hadn’t got a block when I saw a familiar SUV behind me. I laughed into my helmet. Let the chase begin.
I was on my Yamaha Road Star, 102 inches of v twin power. My one nod to success. It was two years old, a repo I’d gotten a really good deal on. Beck loved it, and we spent many an afternoon just tooling around, exploring.
Keeping them close, I suddenly made a right turn on red. They were two cars behind and stuck. I whipped into a parking lot three blocks down, waited until I saw them zip by, and went back the way I’d come. They were probably still driving around in circles when I pulled into my garage.
I carried the burner phone I’d gotten with me, and left my regular phone locked in my desk drawer. I still used it for business, I’d screen and delete everything but my customers and lawyer.
Beck finally sent a registered letter, which I signed for, then sent back to her unopened. My lawyer did all my talking.
“She’s a firecracker,” he said, “and sure knows a lot of colorful words.”
She was living in the house, and I was making half the payment, and directed Paul to tell her it would stop six months after we divorced, in which time I hoped to sell it or she could buy me out. I knew that would never happen, she simply couldn’t afford it. She refused to get a lawyer. Paul shrugged.
“She isn’t required to, but you can bet at the first hearing the judge will strongly suggest she get counsel. That will be the first attempt to drag it out as long as she can to get to you. She’s not going to let go, I saw it in her eyes. I’m all right with racking up the billable hours, but at some point you need to talk to her. Or, just say the hell with it and withdraw the petition.”
He saw the look on my face and held up his hands.
“I didn’t say go back to her. Just do what you’re doing now, and ignore her. It may take awhile, but eventually she’ll get tired and agree to the divorce. Let’s give it until the actual hearing, maybe she’ll realize she’s pissing in the wind and be reasonable.”
“You really think so?” I felt a faint ray of hope.
“Nope,” he said grinning, as he walked me out.
…
She got her friends to intercede for her. Bad idea. Really, really bad idea. Word got out about my reactions and most of them understood it was a forbidden subject.
Then her mom took up the banner. I’d always liked her, and I told her if she needed anything, help in any way, I’d be insulted if she didn’t call me. But if she said her daughters’ name one more time, I would never speak to her again.
My mom became involved. I tried to make her see things as I did. Didn’t even slow her down. I left, and didn’t return for three months. She stared right back into trying to ‘get me to be reasonable’. I left, and she called me two weeks later, crying, and promised to never bring her up again. I think she got it. Now she was going with the sad ‘I’ll suffer in silence, but you know I’m right’ look. Wasn’t working for her.
She did say she thought I needed to see someone.
“The anger is changing you, honey. Not for the best. You need to get your balance back, for your own well being.”
…
I thought about that for a while. I tried to compartmentalize, keep it separate from the rest of my life. Never could get it to work. It was the worst when I saw Cindy. She still came occasionally by the office. She knew better to say anything, she could see in my eyes what I thought of her.
She and Allan were not doing well. They were stressed, trying to figure out a way to save the business. Allan tried to talk about it once. I actually listened, calm enough now to be curious as to what they could possibly say that would justify their betrayal.
“Please, Jace, I’m begging you here. If you pull out, we both know I’ll be out of business in six months. I’ve worked as hard as you to make this a success. I’ll lose everything. The house, the cars. I have children, remember? I need to provide then with the best quality of life possible.”
Instead of calming me, it just made me angrier.