by Carmen Green
“Now, whatever your problems, work them out rather than financing your attorneys’ next vacation home. Lexi’s a better friend than enemy. As am I. Do you understand?”
A chorus of “yes, sirs” filled the room.
“I never met Marc, but he sounds like something I’d want off the bottom of my shoe. Ladies, consider yourselves lucky that you found out. Who knows,” the judge went on, “there could have been more of you. Is there any other way I can help you?”
“How can we find out who Marc was legally married to?” Renee asked.
“I’d have all of your marital documents reviewed by a third-party law firm. They’ll be able to analyze them and cut through the red tape, especially if any of you were married overseas or in the Caribbean. Anything else?”
“No sirs”, abounded.
Alex picked up the phone. “Godfather, I’ll call you when I get back to Atlanta. Please don’t tell Daddy that I called and why. He called you? I appreciate your support. Thank you so much. I love you too, bye now.”
Alex set her phone down and rubbed Little Sweetie’s back.
Danielle was glaring at her again.
“What did I do now, Danielle?”
“You don’t have anything to say?”
“Chris, I apologize for interrupting your meeting. I wasn’t trying to be unfriendly, Renee, but I don’t like being threatened.”
“Neither do I,” she said, looking sad.
“I just want to know if Marc’s my husband. I really need to know,” Alex said, feeling insecure and shy.
“So do I,” Renee said. “I apologize.” She sounded as if she’d been defeated by Caesar. “I’ll call my attorney as soon as I get to my room.”
“You can use my phone,” Alex offered. “I have free minutes.”
Danielle groaned and pressed her fingers into the table. She didn’t seem to have assertiveness problems. She had anger issues. But now wasn’t the time to point that out. “Renee said she’ll take care of it later. Can we move on?”
“Yes, let’s,” Chris said, although Alex sat forward, ready to defend herself. “Justice Thomas spelled it out for you. We need to have the documents verified. You’re all on the East Coast, so I’d recommend a firm over there. However, the legal ramifications go deeper.”
“Deeper?” Danielle asked. “How?”
“You’ve been filing taxes jointly and buying property. I’ve contacted Marc’s employer and they do have a modest policy, but it seems my brother may have declined the larger life insurance portion he was entitled to take.”
Renee covered her mouth, Danielle smacked the table and Alex shrugged.
“It defies reasoning,” Danielle murmured, looking at Tristan, who’d remained quiet during the meeting.
“No, it demonstrates a level of selfishness I didn’t know my husband possessed. I’m leaving tonight. I’ve heard enough.”
Renee stood up and Tristan helped her as she bumped into the chair. “What else could there be?” She flapped her cotton shirt, her face growing damp. “This is ridiculous. What else could he possibly do to humiliate me more? Why would Marc do this? He stole from me. I’m a very logical person, but I don’t understand why, how…” She touched her forehead. “I thought he loved me,” she whispered.
“My wedding rings are cubic zirconia,” Alex announced. “I found out today,” she said more softly.
Each of the women looked at her own hand.
“You’re kidding,” Danielle said. “That was the only thing stopping me from hurling them into the ocean! I thought I could at least hock them. I hope his stinking soul is rotting in a landfill right now.”
Renee laughed and looked at Danielle. “Really? A landfill? I thought you’d go straight for hell.”
“I’m trying to stop cursing.”
“You never curse,” Tristan said, half smiling at her.
“I’ve been thinking about it. A lot.” She turned her head defiantly.
Alex was amazed at her beauty. That “you can love me, but I’ll leave you” look had made Danielle famous.
Renee slid her rings off her finger and stared at them. “How do you know yours are fake?” she asked Alex.
“I fell down in the gym and hurt myself, and when Hunter came to see if I’d broken my hand, his eyes, well…They told me.”
“You’re flirting again,” Danielle’s accusatory tone made Alex uncomfortable.
“I’m not flirting. I’m not doing anything.”
“Do you ever stop?”
“What, Danielle? Being me? Talking? I didn’t choose to be here, but I’m not going away. So no. I don’t ever stop.” Alex couldn’t believe she’d gotten loud again, and neither could Little Sweetie who sat up, shaking on her lap. He looked at his bag as if he wanted to go hide and not come out until the grown-ups got their act together.
Alex’s phone rang. “Hey, Willa. What’s up?”
“Jerry said the server crashed.”
“What’s a server?”
“It has something to do with computers.”
“How’d that happen?”
“Don’t know.”
“What am I supposed to do about it?”
Danielle gestured toward Alex. “He married her?”
“Ooh. I know,” Alex said to Willa. “You know those nerdy boys who drive around in those Beetle cars painted red and white? Call and tell them that the server crashed. Have them send the best, Willa. Not some trainee. Fax everything to my e-mail. I want to know what they’re charging before we agree to do business with them. Thanks, Willa. You did a good job.”
“Thanks, Alex,” she said and hung up.
Alex then turned to the woman she considered her archrival. “I’m not some brainiac like Renee, or a stunningly beautiful woman like you, Danielle. He married me because he wanted to have fun. And, honey, I’m a good time.”
Little Sweetie yipped and Alex rubbed him. “I love you, too.”
Renee sat down and pushed the rings down the table. “Hunter, would you look at my rings, too?”
He came and bent down beside Renee. “Will you feel any better knowing?”
After a moment, she shook her head.
“Then let it go until you go home. Get them appraised. This is too much for one day. You’re right. It’s time to go home.”
“I hate him for this,” Renee said. “But a part of me doesn’t want to go back without him.”
“I know how you feel.” Alex walked gingerly on her weak knee. “You’ll get better.” She touched Renee’s back and the woman began to sob.
Hunter soothed her too, offering reassurance and kindness.
Alex watched, unwilling to cry over Marc. He’d destroyed the last bit of fantasy in her life.
Tears streamed from Danielle’s eyes and she dabbed them, her head on Tristan’s shoulder.
Chris sat alone.
“Renee, do you want to come to my room and play in my makeup?” Alex offered.
Renee looked up and sucked up her tears. “Are you saying I need makeup?”
“No, but it’s fun to have a girlfriend. Little Sweetie isn’t much fun there, and I don’t think Hunter’s metrosexual.”
The tension eased and Tristan and Danielle laughed.
“Definitely not,” Hunter said.
“No, but thank you. I’ve never been invited to play makeup before.”
“Oh, honey, we’ll do a whole makeover. Cover up those red bumps on your cheeks, flatiron this big hair, a little concealer, then eye shadow and blush, you’ll be good as new.”
Renee looked at her hands. “I didn’t know I needed so much work. Maybe another time. I think I’ll go for a walk and maybe listen to the band in the lounge.”
She wiped her tears with her hands.
“There’s a great law firm in Atlanta named Lohan and Associates. I’ve never worked with them, but as a research librarian, I’ve heard great things about them. Just a suggestion.” She then got up and hurried out.
“I’ll c
heck on her later,” Chris said, standing and stretching.
“Come on,” Alex said to Little Sweetie, patting his bag. The dog hopped inside.
“He’s never going to know he’s a dog if you treat him like he’s a person,” Danielle said.
“Exactly,” Alex said. “My Little Sweetie deserves service with a smile, don’t you?”
The dog barked his agreement.
“Chris, where’s Marc’s laptop? Was it destroyed in the crash?” Alex asked as she tried to decide whether she was hungry or not. The food Chris had bought hadn’t been edible.
“Uh, I’m not sure.”
“What about his briefcase?” Danielle asked. “I wonder what was in there? It might offer some insight as to why he was out here and why he lied to us.”
“I have his briefcase,” Chris said. “I can bring it over here tomorrow.”
“Where do you live?” Tristan asked, waiting for Danielle to gather her papers.
“About twenty minutes from here. I have a one-bedroom condo.”
Renee came rushing back. “I forgot my purse. No key to get into my room.”
“You’re not married?” Danielle asked Chris. Renee got her bag but seemed to wait to hear Chris’s answer.
“No. No woman’s been brave enough to stick around for my crazy schedule.”
“You sound like Hunter,” Alex said. “You guys need to learn how to compromise. Y’all are good looking, but you act like you’re the last working men on earth.” Alex waited at the door. “I’m not touching the door if there are men in the room.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Danielle told her.
“My blood pressure is a hundred over seventy-eight. What’s yours?” Alex shot back.
“A lot higher,” Tristan added, and was rewarded with a dirty look from Danielle as he opened the door.
“Renee, Chris is bringing Marc’s briefcase up here tomorrow so we can look at the contents,” Alex told her as they walked to the elevator.
Renee held back after the others boarded. “I’m going down first. I’ll see you in the morning. Is nine o’clock okay?”
Alex, Danielle and Chris agreed. Each exited at their respective floor, though Chris followed Hunter off the elevator. “Can we talk?”
“I wasn’t sure of Alex’s plans,” Hunter said, stopping at Alex’s door.
“I’ll be fine.” Even to her own ears she sounded as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “I’ve got a date, anyway, with my dog and my BlackBerry. See you tomorrow.”
Closing the door, the smile fell from her face and she covered her mouth, the pain she’d been holding inside bubbling to the surface.
Her phone rang and she instinctively answered it. “Hello?”
“It’s me, Willa.”
“I know. What is it?”
“Your father is having the locks on the building changed.”
“What’s the name of the locksmith company?”
Willa gave it to her.
“You’ve been talking to Jerry?”
“Several times a day. He said you need to come home.”
“I’ll be back in two days. I’ll call the locksmith company and take care of everything. You’ve done a good job, Willa. I’m very proud of you. What about the cost of the server?”
“I faxed it. It’s six hundred dollars.”
Alex had no idea if that was good or not. “Pay him, but tell him to install software that tracks the keystrokes of every employee when they use the computers.”
“Okay. You don’t sound like you’re feeling well. Do you want me to come out there?”
“No. I need you in Atlanta. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Okay, bye,” Willa said and hung up.
Alex let the bag slip from her shoulder and Little Sweetie darted out and found a good hiding spot under the couch. He hated these days, she knew.
But there was nothing he or anyone could do for her.
When Alex started crying, nothing and no one could stop her until the pain was gone.
CHAPTER 7
“Your brother was a piece of work. You want to explain why you thought it was a good idea for me to escort Alex out here?”
Chris sat down heavily. He looked older than the last time Hunter had seen him two years ago. Chris had been in Atlanta on business and had stopped by. He had understood Hunter’s anger about the paralysis and had offered to help in any way possible, but Hunter had pushed him away.
He was glad Chris hadn’t held it against him.
“I asked you to bring Alex because I didn’t think she’d come otherwise.” He rubbed his eyes and sighed. “You got anything to drink in here?”
“No. Been off liquor for a while.” Hunter didn’t tell him since the heart surgery. There was only so much sympathy one person was allowed.
Chris eyed him carefully. “You in trouble?”
He patted his flat waist. “Fitness, man. Can’t chase bad guys with baggage. They’re getting younger.”
Chris nodded, the caution gone. “You ain’t lying. How about Danielle, Renee and Alex? They’re a handful. Thank God for Tristan.”
They both laughed.
Hunter rubbed his head. “I wouldn’t want to meet Danielle on a really bad day. She could take down a wall. I thought she was going to beat Alex into the ground.”
“You’re right, but what about Alex. She’s no shrinking violet.”
“Chris, you should see her family. I’m surprised she’s not in a psych ward. Her father’s a bully, her brother’s stealing from the family company and her grandmother bequeathed her controlling interest to the family fortune.”
Eyes wide, Chris sat forward. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“No, dropped it in her lap. Now daddy and thieving brother are trying to wrest control from Alex, but she’s fighting them. She had her brother arrested on her way out of Atlanta and she fired him. Get this, she’s reading a book on how to become assertive. Given to her by your brother.”
Chris’s mouth fell open. “That’s crazy. She called the judge like she’s been a diva all her life.”
“She’s spoiled, but she was a powerless socialite. Now she’s pulling rank on everybody, and she doesn’t realize there’s a bitch hammer that usually goes along with being young, wealthy and powerful.”
“Be glad,” Chris said, resting his leg on the corner of the table. “You could have had a helluva trip from Atlanta.”
“It was interesting, I’ll give it that. Tell me about your brother.” Hunter sat across from Chris in the leather extra grandé chair made for two. Since meeting Alexandria, he’d been eager to learn more about the man who’d captured Alex’s heart.
“We weren’t close because Marc never kept his word. He’d get angry with me for holding him accountable. I see why he distanced himself. He had too many secrets. Too many lies going on.”
“Yeah, but he still dragged you into them. This is worse, leaving you to clean up his mess. He’s still not accountable. I don’t see how they didn’t know.”
“They’re not trained to look at everything with different eyes like us. You saw them. They looked like refugees. Renee—”
Hunter waited for his friend to finish his sentence. Chris being conflicted over a woman was new. Chris was the type of man who always took care of business first. He closed his eyes for a minute and Hunter took the opportunity to order a pitcher of beer and chips from room service. He snagged a bottle of water from the refrigerator and drank.
“What about Renee?” Hunter opened the sliding glass door. Rain was still a ways off over the ocean, but the breeze it generated felt good against his skin. He just didn’t get this kind of weather in Georgia.
“I thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown. She seemed so strong at the funeral, but at the meeting so fragile,” Chris said.
“It’s been a long day. She finds out her husband’s dead by the brother-in-law she didn’t know she had. She crosses the country and meets her husband’s other wi
ves. Then she finds out her marriage might not be real. Oh, and there’s a good possibility her wedding rings are fake.” Hunter shook his head sympathetically.
“All of that sounds bad. Let alone it being true.”
Hunter answered the knock at the door and Tristan walked in. “I don’t know about you guys, but I could use a drink.”
Chris looked up at him. “Join the club. He just ordered a pitcher of beer and chips.”
“I could cancel room service and we could hit the lounge downstairs,” Hunter offered.
Tristan sat on the sofa opposite Chris. “Danielle’s down there buying out the store. She needs some time alone. I saw Renee in the bar, so I got out of there. Where’s Alex?”
“Probably made up like a clown in her room.” Chris laughed at his joke, and Hunter gave him a dirty look.
“She’s grieving, too. She found out her husband is really dead, wore the wrong dress to the funeral, brought her dog, got hollered at by Danielle, threatened by Renee, and she fell down. She’s had a bad day.”
“My brother was a jerk.”
Another knock sent Hunter to the door. He accepted the food and drinks and the waiter nodded to Chris. “Good evening, Mr. Foster. Is everything to your guests’ liking?”
“Yes, Daniel, I believe it is.”
“Can I bring you anything else? We have finger foods like wings and crab cakes. Or you might like a heartier meal.”
Chris smiled at the man, took the check from Hunter and signed it. “This is good for now. We’ll probably end up in the Diamond lounge a little later.”
“Good deal,” the young waiter said. “Good evening, gentlemen.” He then exited with the serving tray.
Tristan gave a nod of approval. “Talk about service with a smile.”
“Yeah,” Chris said, accepting a glass of beer from Hunter. “He’s hungry, and I like that about him.”
“You own this place, don’t you?” Hunter asked him.
Chris asked. “Only sixty percent.”
“Congratulations.” Hunter shook Chris’s hand.
Tristan did too. “Too bad all they’re going to remember is coming here to bury their husband.”
Chris threw up his hands. “I’m not apologizing for him anymore. I don’t know what made him do what he did.”
