Of course, Sandy being the cunning predator that she was, smelled blood. “Kay? Are you ok?” she asked, testing her suspicions.
Kay managed a weak smile. “I’m fine. I was just trying to remember something…”
Kay stood there desperately praying Sandy would just continue on with her mission to rescue her overheated “boys,” and leave her alone. But once a beast smells blood, they have to go in for the kill.
“I guess I really should be thanking you. Dave would’ve never been able to take me on that trip if you hadn’t agreed to wait for your back child support.” Sandy turned up the evilness dial in her smile.
Kay’s head was swimming. “Say what?” she said louder than she’d intended.
She can’t possibly think I did it as a personal favor to Dave.
Sandy brought her face up close to Kay’s and snarled. “Look, Kay. My husband worked hard for his bonus. It wasn’t fair that the judge said he should give it to you.”
Bonus? What bonus? There was never any mention of a bonus.
Kay’s initial devastation was quickly turning to outrage. “I’m not sure what you mean about a bonus. Dave simply owed money - to the girls - and the judge ordered him to pay it.”
Sandy moved back. “That stupid agreement you forced Dave to sign gave you everything you wanted. Why shouldn’t he get a little something?
I got everything I wanted? Then why are you still here?
“Here you guys are,” a familiar voice wailed. From out of the circulating throng of people, Mariah emerged with a crying Little Dave in tow.
“Little Dave won’t stop crying for Sandy. Dad told me to come and look for her.”
“My god, can’t I have five minutes to myself without a search party being sent out?” Sandy said. She snatched Little Dave’s hand from Mariah. “Go tell your dad I’ll be right there,” Sandy barked.
Kay wasn’t going to allow Sandy to take up one more second of Mariah’s morning. She was officially relieving her of duty. Kay put her hands on Mariah’s shoulders and gently pulled her close. “I think it’s best if Mariah stays with me now. It’s almost time for Cory’s band performance and I don’t want her to miss it.”
Sandy glared at Kay, then at Mariah, then back at Kay.
“Next!” came the cry from behind the concession stand counter.
With a big huff, pulling her little boy behind her, Sandy pushed past Kay and walked up to place her order. Normally, Kay didn’t tolerate line-cutters, but she was still reeling from Sandy’s stunning revelation. Cutting ahead in line paled in comparison to having your ex-husband take his new wife to the one place he had always promised to take you but never got around to it. And not only did he take her on your dream vacation, he tricked you into paying for it.
Try as she might, Kay couldn’t get the picture of Dave and Sandy lying on the soft sand of a gorgeous Maui beach at sunset out of her head. She felt a jagged arrow rip through her heart as she imagined Sandy laughing up at Dave as he exclaims, “You’re right. She really is an idiot.”
Well, she’d have to be if they were able to slip a bonus past her and her attorney. For a brief moment she considered calling Judith and raising a stink. But then she remembered the notarized agreement, created without benefit of legal counsel. It would be too humiliating to admit to her lawyer she hadn’t learned her lesson the first, second OR third time.
Her life, since last September, flashed before her eyes. The pain and humiliation were almost unbearable. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized it wasn’t Dave’s repeated offenses causing her anguish. It was the fact he’d succeeded in shattering her belief that she’d finally moved on and he couldn’t get to her anymore.
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”
For a moment, Kay thought the corners of her mouth might just turn up at the gangster movie quote that popped in her head. Unfortunately, the scene she had just played out with Sandy wasn’t from a movie, and she wasn’t Michael Corleone. The smile didn’t come.
“Next!”
Exactly. What next?
Kay felt as if she was drowning. She had no recourse. There was nowhere to turn. She was locked in.
So she did the only thing available to her in that moment. She took Mariah’s hand, pushed down another wave of nausea and ordered a large popcorn and two sodas.
17
New Old Friends
Kay kept her eyes peeled on the blinking tail lights of the motorcycle escort being forced to avoid oblivious,disrespectful drivers whizzing past their motorcade. The last thing she needed was to be the cause of a ten-car pile up. She sighed, dismayed that all the fun had gone out of driving the hearse.
Maybe a little “Stayin’ Alive?”
She popped her Saturday Night Fever CD into the car’s player but instead of resurrecting her customary funeral procession merriment, the pulsating, infectious beat only annoyed her. She hit the Stop button and drove in glum silence.
Probably more respectful to my passenger, anyway.
If there was one bright spot in this moment, it was the fact she was away from the office and didn’t have to deal with the daily email from a guilty Dave. She could feel his desperation screaming to her from the Subject line. It usually said “I’m So Sorry” or “Can We Talk?” but she never bothered to open them; she already knew what he wanted - and it wasn’t to beg her forgiveness for making a fool out of her. He was simply frantic to stop Kay from invoking Article 7, Section II of their agreement.
While he hadn’t actually breached any of the stipulations, they were both aware the agreement was based on a pack of lies. To her way of thinking, that was enough to render the entire thing null and void. She just didn’t know how binding their notarized document was or wasn’t. But as long as he was unsure too, she was going to avoid him as long as possible. Her confidence had been completely shattered.
But those emails weren’t the only reason she was happy to be away from the mortuary. She still loved her job but ever since (or maybe because of) her accursed run-in with Sandy the previous month, the mortuary had become an inhospitable place to be. Nothing seemed to be the way it once was - everything had gone out of focus and she was having trouble fitting back into the picture. She felt disconnected and lonely.
Kay was dying to reach out to Ruth but her usually-supportive friend seemed to be otherwise preoccupied and unavailable. And it just wasn’t Ruth’s distracted presence that had Kay flummoxed. Ruth’s matronly appearance had undergone a surprising and unexplained transformation of late. Gone was the ever-present tight, gray bun and in its place sat a saucy, short do, colored in warm, light brown tones. And instead of drab, shapeless dresses and unattractive polyester pantsuits, Ruth was now sporting figure-flattering fashions in a variety of eye-pleasing colors. Something mysterious was going on.
Kay didn’t feel comfortable butting into this new Ruth’s personal business. She just sadly accepted the fact their friendship had, for whatever reason, returned to pre-marijuana intervention days.
Ruth’s makeover wasn’t the only puzzling change at Salinger’s. Ed’s attitude toward Kay had, inexplicably, gone cold and “all business.” She couldn’t be certain, but he even seemed to go out of his way to avoid her when possible.
At first she was hurt and disappointed. She kicked herself for entertaining the possibility that Dave’s comment about Ed “having a thing” for her might be true. But then she figured it was probably best not to go down that path. Her dad’s voice of experience echoed in her head. “Never shit where you eat.”
Still, would it kill him to smile at me every now and then?
Then there was Uncle Owen. He had turned his humiliation at trying to buy Kay’s silence into outright hostility. Kay found out that knowing people’s secrets was a dicey situation to find yourself in. Now she understood why witnesses in murder trials so often turned up dead.
Oh my god. What would Owen do if he found out I knew about the limousine?
> Leo was the only one who didn’t treat Kay as if she was an alien from the planet Zeebo. He seemed to sense Kay’s displaced state and went out of his way to draw her back in. His attempts were obvious and awkward, but Kay appreciated his effort.
After the morning’s funeral service, Kay hid in the break room hoping for a quiet lunch. She didn’t have much of an appetite so she sat there absentmindedly pulling little pieces of crust off her sandwich, and stacking them into small pyramids. When Leo arrived he took one look at Kay and debated whether or not to disturb her; she looked so forlorn he just couldn’t resist.
“Hey, Kay,” Leo said. “Guess who I saw the other day?”
Kay stared blankly at Leo, not really interested in playing along.
He pulled up a chair next to Kay, scooted in closer and lowered his voice. “It’s someone with a juicy secret you and I have talked about before.” He sounded like a game show contestant trying to get his partner to give the winning answer so they wouldn’t go home with the consolation can of Simonize.
Awwww. How sweet. He’s trying to bribe me with dirt about Uncle Owen.
She wasn’t exactly in the mood to gossip but she couldn’t leave Leo twisting in the wind. His puppy dog expression was just too pitiful.
“Ok, Leo.” Kay said with a sigh. “I give up. Who did you see the other day?”
Leo sat up straight and smiled with satisfaction. Kay thought if he’d had a tail he would have wagged it.
“Lindy O’Malley.”
At first, the name didn’t register with Kay. Then it all came rushing back. The streaking dog. The immovable body. The ashen-faced police officer wilting to the ground before her eyes. Their disgraceful escape.
Kay shuddered. “Did she talk to you? What did she say? Did she bring up anything about that night?”
Leo laughed and shook his head. “She came into Gil’s the other morning when Frank and I were having coffee. She walked over, real friendly-like and said hello.”
“Hello? She just said hello?”
“Well, no. Not just hello,” Leo said.
Kay could feel her heart racing. She didn’t know how she’d ever explain her irresponsible behavior to Ed. If he was unhappy with her now, she could only imagine how he’d react if he knew she’d left the scene of an accident.
Well, I guess, technically it wasn’t an accident.
“I got the feeling she was the one worried about being ratted out. I could tell by the way she was looking at my eyes. You know, kinda like she was waiting for me to say something.” Leo said.
“And did you?”
“Did I what?
“SAY SOMETHING,” Kay shouted.
“Of course I did. I had to.” Leo said.
Kay’s racing heart dropped to the floor.
“I said it was nice to see her again. Oh, yeah. I asked her about the drug bust that went down the other night on Sherwood.”
Kay wondered how Leo could be so intuitive and yet so dense.
The sigh of relief Kay expelled felt good. She realized she must have been holding her breath for a while.
“You know, I forgot how pretty she is.” Kay could hear the wistfulness in Leo’s voice as it trailed off. It triggered alarm bells in her head.
“You can’t possible be thinking of asking her out again,” she snapped. The instant the words left her mouth Kay regretted making such a self-serving statement.
“I’m sorry, Leo. I had no business saying that. Its just that…”
It’s just what? That I’m just an idiot who lets her selfishness get in the way of making good decisions?
Leo smiled sweetly at Kay. “Oh, forget about it. No harm done.” He patted her on the shoulder. “I know you’ve been a little stressed out lately.”
Kay choked up at Leo’s display of kindness.
“Anyway, I think she already has a boyfriend.” Leo said.
Kay wondered if that was really true or if Leo said that just to put her freaked-out mind at ease.
“Listen,” Leo said standing and pushing his chair under the table. “You hang in there. Everything’s bound to get better.”
“Thanks, Leo,” Kay said with a couple of sniffs. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
“No time. I’m picking O up at his house. We’re taking that ship-out to the airport.”
Before he left the room, he grabbed a bottle of water and a can of root beer out of the fridge.
“Oh. In case Ed asks, I left twenty minutes ago,” Leo said.
Kay simply nodded, doubtful Ed would even acknowledge her, let alone ask about Leo’s time of departure.
The remains of her sandwich were wrapped up and placed back in the fridge.
I might be hungry by afternoon break.
Kay had toyed with the idea of asking Ed for the afternoon off so she could finish getting Mariah packed for her summer visitation with Dave; with the mound of unfinished paperwork sitting on her desk, approaching him with such a request would be asking for trouble.
As she walked up the hallway towards her office she could hear the phone ringing unanswered. She looked back and saw that Ruth’s chair was empty so she ran to her own desk to pick it up.
“Salinger’s Mortuary. Kay Manning speaking.”
“Kay! Just the person I wanted to talk to. Hello. This is Virginia Voorhees. How are you?”
Aaw jeez. Kill me now.
“Hello, Virginia. How nice to hear from you.”
“Listen, I won’t keep you. I know you’re busy at work. I was just calling about the annual fundraiser for our local Boys and Girls club.”
“Oh, yes,” Kay said. “I remember reading something about it in your last newsletter.”
Yes. I still read your newsletter, even though I don’t come to your meetings.
Virginia explained she was on the board of directors for the organization and was contacting everyone she knew to ask for their participation in the giant flea market they were planning for the last Saturday in June.
“We’re asking for donations, so if there’s anything around your house you’d like to get rid of, we’d be happy to take it off your hands.”
For the second time that day, Kay felt as if she’d been brought to the brink, then rescued from disaster.
Dave is right. I am a drama queen.
“Well, I can’t think of anything specific right off the top of my head. But I’m sure if I do a little rooting around I’m bound to find something you could sell.”
Since Kay was being let off so easily, she vowed to herself to find (or buy) something of value to donate.
“That’s just great,” Virginia said. “We’re asking donations be dropped off no later than Friday, the 21st.”
“Where should I bring them? Kay asked.
“We have drop off locations at all the Boys and Girls clubs around town.”
“Actually, there’s one not too far from where I live,” Kay said.
“Wonderful,” Virginia said. There was a pause. “Kay, there’s one more thing I wanted to ask you.”
Oh boy. I knew it. Here it comes.
The intercom beeped and Kay politely asked Virginia to go on hold for a moment.
“Yes?” Kay said through the speaker.
“It’s your daughter on Line 2,” Ruth announced.
“Will you tell her I’ll call her back?” Kay said
“I’d be happy to.” Ruth responded with her Kay’s-friend voice. It gave her pang of longing for their disrupted friendship.
She took a deep breath before bringing Virginia back on the line.
“Sorry about that. You were going to ask me something?”
“Well, I was just wondering if you’d be willing to donate a couple of hours at the flea market? We have a shortage of volunteers to work the tables.”
Kay was so relieved she wasn’t going to be pressured to face (or smell) Delbert Schumacher at another meeting, she answered with a resounding, “Sure!”
“I just knew I could count on you,” Virginia
said. “Like I’ve said before, you have that positive energy people respond to.”
There she goes with the energy thing again. I wish I knew what she was talking about.
Virginia wrapped up the conversation by saying she’d be in touch with the schedule for the flea market volunteers. Kay hung up, pleasantly surprised their conversation had left her feeling better than she had earlier in the day…or the last couple of weeks for that matter. Now she understood why Ed immersed himself in civic activities and causes. It felt good.
With a smile on her face and a warmth in her heart, she dialed her home number, happily anticipating the sweet voice of a daughter - it didn’t matter which.
“Hi, Mommy.” It was Mariah.
“Hi Stinker. What’s goin’ on?”
“Dad just called. He reminded me not to forget to pack my bathing suit.” Mariah said.
“I didn’t forget. It’s already packed.” Kay said.
“I know. I found it in the suitcase. But, Mommy, it looks really little. I don’t think it fits anymore.”
That’s right. She’s grown a lot this year.
Kay was tempted to tell Mariah just to have her dad buy her a new suit. Then she thought it might be nice to spend a little mother/daughter shopping time together before Mariah left for the summer.
“No problem. Why don’t we go to Ocean Blue after dinner and see if we can find you something new and pretty.” Kay said.
“Really, Mommy, really?” the little girl said with glee. “Can I get a two-piece this time?”
Kay thought how pissed Dave would be if his little girl showed up with a bikini.
“We’ll see,” Kay said, then quickly added, “but I’m not promising anything.” She figured there’d be no harm in checking out the two-piece suits in Mariah’s size.
“What time will you be home?” Mariah asked.
“The usual time. Make sure you and Cory have the house picked up by the time I get there. I want to fix dinner and eat right away so we’ll have plenty of time to shop.”
Kay had barely hung up the receiver when she heard it ring again, followed by a pause, then the buzz on the intercom.
Same Old Truths (The Reluctant Avenger) Page 18
