Happy Hour

by Michele Scott

  Nora followed Jamie, flagging the check at her as they went down the hallway. “I needed dinero. I needed para mi familia. You needed a pagar mi ahora. I no coming no mas. You paga mi.”

  Jamie waved a hand at her. “I know. Uno momento. Please wait. Por favor.” She shut her office door, sat down at her desk and sighed while her computer booted up. When she finally signed onto her banking site, she gasped. “What the…?” Oh no. Jamie saw that she was a thousand dollars overdrawn. Yes, things were tight but how could this have happened? Her first thought was that someone had stolen her identity or had somehow gotten access to her checking account. That had to be it. Going over the withdrawals everything looked normal. Until she got to the mortgage payment. “How stupid! How could I have been so stupid?” she said out loud.

  She opened up her desk drawer, found the bill file, and located the mortgage company’s statement. She dialed the number on the payment coupon, went through the five minutes of prompts and listening to her balance, her pay off, et al., and then after seven or eight minutes of listening to ridiculous elevator music and commercials about American Bank, Jamie was ready to come unglued. Finally a person came on the other end—a real live, freaking human being. Imagine!

  “American Bank. Can I have your account number and name please?” the woman on the other end asked.

  Jamie gave up all of her info again.

  “How may I help you today, Ms. Evans?”

  Jamie explained. “You see, well, actually it’s kind of funny. I do online banking with my bills and I did them over the weekend, and I paid you guys twice, and I don’t have the money in my account to pay you a double payment. I’m not sure how I did that. I guess I wasn’t paying attention. Stupid, I know, but can you help me?”

  “Hang on a moment, please.” Jamie could hear the clacking of computer keys through the phone.

  “It shows here that your payment went through fine with us.”

  “Yes, with you it did. But um, I have quite a few checks that came out after yours and the bank did not clear them. See the first five hundred overdrawn they cleared, but after that they didn’t and they’re charging me something like thirty-three dollars per bounced check.”

  “I’m sorry about that, ma’am.”

  “Thank you. So can you refund me that extra payment?”

  “We can’t do that.”

  “What do you mean you can’t do that? You have to. That’s my money.”

  “That’s our policy, ma’am. We can’t do that.”

  “You have to do that. That’s my money! I didn’t mean to pay you twice and now I’m being penalized by my bank and it’s costing me three times as much with all of these bank charges.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, you’ll have to take that up with your bank.”

  Jamie clinched her fists. “Can I please speak to a supervisor?”

  She endured another three minutes of crappy music and then a man came on the line. Jamie explained the entire scenario again.

  In a southern accent the man said, “Gosh, ma’am, I sure am sorry about that, but you see it is our policy to apply anything over and above the payment you make toward the principal on the home.”

  “Can’t you just with a few keystrokes make a change to that policy? Can’t you please refund that money?”

  “No, ma’am. I can’t do that.”

  Jamie sighed. “I’m kind of in a financial crisis at the moment. I’m sure there is something you can do for me.”

  “What I can do, ma’am is waive any late fees you may incur, say, next month. So say you happen to be after the grace period, I can make sure you won’t be charged if that turns out to be the case. Will that help?”

  “No, that won’t help. I’m never late and I don’t want to start being late. You have to put that money back into my account, and then I can pay you on time in August but I’m on a fixed budget right now and I need that money to get through the month.”

  “I really am so sorry, ma’am but there is nothing I can do to reverse that.”

  Jamie shut her eyes tight. Think. Think. Nate would have asked her to ask herself what was the outcome she wanted here. She wanted the damn money back into the account. That wasn’t going to happen, so what was the next best case? Wait a minute. Something the manager said hit her. “Okay then, can you at least make that overpayment go toward my next month’s payment? That should be doable, right?”

  “No. I can’t, ma’am.”

  “You’re kidding me. Why not?” Jamie was starting to lose it.

  “It’s not our policy. You would have had to have written two checks for that to happen. One for this month and one for next month. But the good news is that you now have that extra money applied to your principal. That is always nice to know, isn’t it? A little security in that.”

  “No there isn’t! I don’t care about the damn principal. Not right now! I care that I am overdrawn by a grand, that I’m being charged by my bank for every draft now, and that I won’t have any money in the bank for another week. I need to get groceries and my mother-in-law needs her hair done.” She knew she sounded frantic.

  “I understand your predicament, ma’am. I really do, but there is nothing that I can do for you. That is our policy.”

  “Screw your policy and screw you!” Jamie slammed the phone down and read over her online statement again. How totally ridiculous. That was her money. Now she was running late.

  Jamie came out of the office with both Nora and Dorothy standing there obviously eavesdropping. “You paga mi.”

  “Yes. I will pay you today in cashola. Okay. Got it? Make her lunch and take care of her. I have a meeting.” She was way too exasperated to even try and speak her broken Spanish. She grabbed her purse and headed out the door. How she was going to pay her— especially in cash—she had no clue, but she’d figure it out. Right now she had to drive into the city and have lunch with her brother-in-law David. Maybe it was time for David to step up and help out financially with his mom. One area she and Nate had not been smart in was financial planning, but who plans for their husband to die at thirty-five? She certainly hadn’t.

  But he had died. And now, as Jamie headed out onto the 101, tears blurred her vision and she had a long talk with Nathan, asking him over and over again the same question until she was shouting it. WHY?

  ***

  Nate’s brother, David, sat across from Jamie looking suave and self-satisfied. He did have the same blue eyes that her husband had had, but David was nowhere near as good-looking or as decent as Nate. He was rounder, balding and looking into the eyes of his, there was something in them that hadn’t been reflected in Nate’s—greed.

  David had chosen a trendy fish and chips place near the wharf. “I’m not sure what you’re asking me for, Jamie. You and Nate agreed to take Mom on as she aged. This is a discussion we had a long time ago. Susan and I never planned for my mother to stay with us. We both have careers, and on top of that Mom has always lived in Napa Valley.”

  Jamie pushed aside the fried food unable to stomach much of anything. “I have a career too, and a daughter that I’m raising on my own, and yes, we did have this discussion when Nate was alive, but that has changed. I’m not asking you to move Dorothy in with you, but I could use some financial help.”

  “What about the money from Nate’s life insurance?”

  Jamie shook her head in disbelief. “Wait a minute, this is your mother we’re talking about. And as far as the life insurance or any monies left to me from Nate, that’s a joke. We spent most of it trying to keep him alive.”

  “I told you both that was a waste of time and that you would have been better off spending that time together doing things with each other and Maddie.”

  “My husband, your brother, wanted to live and I wanted him to live and we were willing to do anything if we had even the remotest possibility of making that happen.”

  David leaned back in his chair, a cool breeze coming off the bay. “Here’s what Susan and I are prep
ared to do. My wife is looking into a few facilities both here in the city and out in Napa. When we find a home that is suitable for all of us, then we can place her there.”

  Defeated Jamie didn’t reply at first. “I’m not looking to put her in a nursing home. I am only looking for some financial help. I have someone who comes in daily and helps us out.”

  “I’m not paying for your housekeeper, Jamie.”

  “She is not just my housekeeper. She makes Dorothy’s meals, helps her dress, watches over her, and she’s been very good in tolerating Dorothy’s rapidly declining mental state.”

  “Yeah well, her mental state.” He shoved a French fry into his mouth, and while still chewing, continued, “All the more reason for her to be in a nursing home. Don’t you think that would be best for you, anyway? You could get on with your life.” David’s cell phone rang and he answered.

  Jamie looked out at the wharf, boats weaving side to side as a steady strong breeze filtered through. Men on fishing boats tugged in their nets and yelled back and forth to one another. The silver water cupped into small white caps with what looked like gold coins bouncing off them as the sun peeked through the myriad of clouds, reflecting it’s rays off the water.

  David bantered on with the person on the other end of the phone about some brief. She couldn’t believe this guy was remotely related to the man to whom she’d been married. She had a gut feeling that David’s wife was calling the shots in this situation. If he made waves and Susan took off for better things, then David would see his posh lifestyle go down the drain. He made decent money, but he didn’t come from the kind of money his wife had.

  He hung up the phone. “I have to run.” He tossed down enough cash for his half of the lunch. “It’s been hard times for everyone, Jamie. Money is tight for us too these days. We’ll do what we can. I’ll have Susan call you when she finds something, and also to set up some time when we can have Maddie for the weekend. Good to see you.” He bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Take care.”

  On her way home, she ran the conversation over and over again in her mind. She called David every name in the book and drove faster than she should’ve. She couldn’t believe she’d taken the day off work to get nothing accomplished.

  She picked Maddie up at the ranch where she’d signed her up for horse camp for the week and prayed that check wouldn’t bounce too.

  She parked and watched for a minute as Tyler had the group of kids seated on the grass while he and another instructor put on a puppet show. Jamie got out to watch. She sat down next to Maddie, who took her hand. Jamie squeezed it. Tyler caught her eye and she smiled at him. The story they told with the puppets had something to do with two cowboys, a sheriff and one very smart horse—smarter than the cowboys or the sheriff. Tyler did funny voices and all the kids laughed. Jamie laughed too. It was a nice diversion.

  “All right, gang, see you all tomorrow at eight. Don’t forget to take home your craft that you made with Gwen, and remember we’re going to have a little quiz tomorrow on the anatomy of the horse, so look at the worksheet I gave you. You can go and get your things.”

  “My stuff is in the clubhouse, Mom,” Maddie said.

  “Okay babe. I’ll wait.”

  Maddie sprinted off with another little girl. Tyler came over. “She’s a great kid.”

  “Thanks. She looks like she’s having fun.”

  “Definitely. How about you? Are you enjoying the lessons and the volunteer work?” he asked.

  “It’s great. Pretty rewarding. I had no idea that the horses could be such a deep connection for some of those kids.”

  “Wait until you’ve done it for a while. The growth with the kids is awesome. I’m hoping to expand the program.”

  Maddie ran up next to her mom and gave Tyler a hug around his waist, surprising Jamie. “Thank you, Tyler. I had a lot of fun.”

  “Me too, kiddo.” He ruffled the top of her hair. “See you tomorrow, and then for your riding lesson, and Saturday for horsemanship?” he asked Jamie.

  “I’ll be here.” She smiled and grabbed Maddie’s hand as they walked to the car.

  “He’s so cool, Mom. He let me brush his horse, Buster. But one of his horses died the other day like Daddy did.” Maddie got into the car.

  Jamie opened up her door. “What do you mean?”

  “His one horse Flame was really, really old and he had something in his legs where it was hard for him to walk any more, and the vet came and gave him a shot so he could go to heaven.”

  “Oh. How sad.” She knew how hard it must have been on Tyler to have one of his horses put down. Surely it hadn’t been the first time because the guy had grown up around them, but Jamie had seen him with his animals and witnessed the love he had for them. She doubted it had been easy.

  “Do you think horses go to heaven like Daddy did?”

  Jamie nodded. “Sure I do.”

  “Maybe Daddy is riding one right now. Wouldn’t that be neat? When I feel sad about Daddy, I’m going to think about him riding a horse in heaven and I think I’ll feel better. A super shiny white horse with long silver mane and tail, that’s the kind of horse Daddy has in Heaven, and he prances.”

  “Like a horse for a king or queen,” Jamie said.

  “Yeah. That’s perfect, Mom. I still miss Daddy, but sometimes it’s hard for me to remember him until I look at a picture of him. Do you miss him?”

  “I do. A lot. I like your idea though. I could see Daddy riding the white and silver horse in Heaven and having a lot of fun.” Jamie bit down hard on the side of her mouth, working to keep her emotions at bay. Maddie didn’t talk often about Nate, but Jamie’s therapist had told her to expect that Maddie would have questions and want to talk about him. As hard as it might be for Jamie to do so with her, she knew she needed to be strong, honest, and supportive. It was no time to reminisce and be melancholy.

  “I think I’ll call Uncle David and tell him about it.”

  Jamie cringed. “Why don’t we wait to do that? Maybe we can let it be our special vision of Daddy.”

  Maddie looked out the window and didn’t say anything for a minute. Jamie almost took the words back, realizing that she shouldn’t try and get in the way of Maddie’s feelings and relationship with her aunt and uncle, but at the same time knowing what jerks they really were. Eventually Maddie would likely discover that fact herself. People didn’t change. “I like that Mom. We’ll keep it our secret, like Daddy has a secret horse world in Heaven on Prancer. That’s the name of his horse.”

  Jamie smiled and nodded. “I think that is wonderful. I love it.”

  “Maybe we could draw pictures with Daddy on Prancer in Heaven.”

  “Maybe we could.” Feeling better, Jamie couldn’t wait to get home, get everyone dinner, and take a long hot bath.

  Turning down her street, her stomach sank. There were two police cars parked in front of her house. Oh no. Was she in trouble over the bounced checks? No. Oh no. What if something happened to Dorothy or Nora?

  “Mommy why are there police cars here?” Maddie asked as Jamie pulled into her driveway and spotted Nora chatting wildly to the police.

  “Stay here, honey.” Jamie jumped out and approached the group. “What’s going on?”

  Wild-eyed and hands flailing, Nora was carrying on in Spanish to one of the cops who seemed to understand her as he stood there nodding his head. He held up a hand to her and turned to Jamie. “Dorothy Evans is your mother-in-law?”

  “Yes. Why? What’s happened?”

  “Your housekeeper called us and said she got out of the house and that she has mental problems. Is this true?”

  “Oh, my God. Yes. If she’s lost, she won’t know how to get home. We have to find her.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Danielle

  Two hours before Mark was supposed to pick her up, Danielle practically had every piece of clothing she owned spread out on her bed. She tried a handful of things on. None of them made her happy.
Some made her look fat, others slutty, others like a church lady, others like she was heading to the office, and others that screamed, Married! One thing was for sure, Danielle needed a new wardrobe. She flopped down on her blue-and-white toile-patterned comforter, right on top of the pile of clothes, closed her eyes and, with a big sigh, wondered what in the hell she was doing. Having nothing to wear had to be a sign. It just had to. At forty-seven, she had no business going out on a date with her high school sweetheart. Maybe if she didn’t think of it as a date, but rather a dinner with an old friend, that would make it easier to find something to wear. She certainly never had this problem when she was going to dinner with her friends. Yes, think of Mark as an old friend. Sure.

  “Hey, Mom.” Cassie came in the room.

  Danielle opened her eyes. “Hey. What’s up?”

  “Do you have any money? I’m going to the movies with some friends tonight.”

  Danielle propped up onto her elbows. “Yes, I have money but maybe we should back track here. How about the idea of asking me if it’s okay for you to go the movies with your friends, and how about you telling me what you’re going to do for me to earn the money I will consider giving you for the movies. I notice you still haven’t made much progress on the job hunt.”

  Cassie put her hands on her hips and gave her mother a blank look.

  “I’m all ears.”

  “Mom.”

  “Yes?”

  “Come on.” Cassie tossed back her strawberry blonde hair.

  She sighed. “Here’s the deal. Yes, you can go to the movies and, yes, I will give you the money, but tomorrow I planned to go to the nursery and pick up some flowers to plant in the pots on the front porch so you can do that with me and that’s how you’ll pay me back. Then I suggest you drive into town and pick up and fill out as many job apps as you can.”

  “Mom,” she whined.

  “It’s not negotiable. You and me—nursery and then gardening. I’ll even give you a little extra and why don’t we get some lunch together, then you can go job hunting on a full stomach.”