Star Bright (11 page)

“
My son’s got
jokes!” Maria said with a laugh.

Dave dragged Amy back to
the office kicking and screaming. He had reached his limit and now
he wanted her out of his life as soon as possible. He dropped her
in the seat next to her lawyer. He grabbed the divorce papers from
Todd and placed them in front of Amy, “Sign.” he whispered,
dangerously.

She looked at him scared,
his face was so close to her it took everything she had not to
cringe away or run out of the room, “No.” The fear she felt was
evident in her voice.

He forcefully placed the
pen in her hand, “You are very lucky you are a woman, sign or I
might just forget that fact.”

Throwing the pen across
the room, “I want more.”

“
I’m going to
chop the settlement in half if you do not sign right now, and if we
go to court I will leave you penniless.”

“
Your dirty
laundry would be aired if you do.” she said courageously. She knew
exactly how much his reputation meant to him.

He stood up and looked at
her, he knew she didn’t want that either, but she thought she could
arm twist him into giving in. He picked up the papers and stared
down at her, making sure he kept her gaze. Amy smiled, thinking she
had won. Dave smiled back, then he ripped the papers and placed the
pieces in front of her. Amy’s smile faded, she looked shocked and
then scared.

“
It’s a means
to an end.” he stepped away from her and turned to her lawyer. The
pale man had been quiet the whole time, completely out of character
for a lawyer, “I’ll try and get it set for next week and I’m also
going to get the boy’s family to press charges for statutory
rape.”

“
What!” Amy
yelled, jumping to her feet, “You can’t’ do that to me!”

“
Yes I can,
and I will, now get out of my building!” He headed for the door,
but her lawyer cut him off, stopping him.

“
She’ll sign
the papers right now.” Amy protested, but he turned to her and
hushed her, “A hundred thousand or being broke, and seven years in
prison? You’ll take the deal.” He turned back to Dave, “I’m sure
that was a copy and you have the original?” he asked hopefully. He
wasn’t interested in Amy’s problems and indecencies, what he wanted
was to get paid and a jailed client isn’t all too willing to
pay.

Dave looked at him
amused, “Todd, bring the papers to my office when she’s done.” He
walked out of the room towards his office. He felt so exhausted,
but yet glad it was all over. He would ask for the divorce to be
expedited, and Amy would finally be out of his life in a month.
That night and the day after, he was going to spend it packing all
her stuff and removing every trace of her from his life.

He met Carol at her desk
with a wine glass in her hand. She extended it to him and picked up
another, “What’s this?” he asked with a smile.

“
We are
celebrating. The witch is finally gone.” she gulped down the
content and poured another one.

“
How did you
know I would get her to sign?” he took a sip and let the bitter
sweet liquid settle on his tongue for a moment before he swallowed
and took another sip.

“
You are Dave
Greer, you always get what you want.” she gave him a playful
seductive smile. Dave starred at her with a raised eyebrow, and
here he thought the flirting was going to stop. She winked at him
and raised the glass to her lips, “Where is Lizzy?”

Dave felt his heart stop.
With all his anger for Amy he had completely forgotten about his
daughter. He placed the glass on the desk and ran for the elevator.
He felt strung-up and impatient as he paced the six-by-four
containment, waiting to get to the lobby. He couldn’t believe he
had turned out to be exactly like Amy. He criticized her parenting
skills, when he left his daughter in a cafe, and worse, on top of a
table!

When he got out, he ran
across the street, several cars missing him by an inch. He crashed
into the cafe and looked around, she was nowhere to be seen. He
felt his legs weaken as he stared at the vacant table he had left
his daughter on. He ran to the blond waitress and turned her around
to face him. She had to hold on to the plate on her tray to keep it
from flying across the room, “Where is my daughter?” he asked
breathlessly.

Jane just stared at him,
stunned and annoyed, “Did you give her to me?”

Michael looked up at the
man with a sober face, “What are you doing?”

Dave let go of Jane and
crouched down to Michael’s height, “Have you seen a blond little
girl who was sitting on that table?” he asked with a nervous
smile.

Michael, stepping away
from him, “Why? Do you know her?”

Dave could see he was
scaring the kid. He took a deep breath before he answered him,
“She’s my daughter.”

“
Why did you
leave her?” Michael scolded, stepping closer to him.

Dave could feel the
little patience he had left, fade away. He was in no mood to get
reprimanded by a two feet tall kid, “I’m sorry, I promise never to
do it again, now please tell me where she is.”

“
You are very
lucky my mama is the best...well maybe not the best, because she
won’t let me keep her, but she has her.” He moped.

Maria walked out of the
kitchen with a pot of coffee in one hand while the other held
Elizabeth to her hip. She went around tables, filling empty coffee
cups with a genuine smile on her face, it was hard not to be happy
with Elizabeth around. She turned to find Jane and Michael with a
man, and then Jane turned and left them alone. Maria felt panicked,
she rushed to them and pulled Michael away.

The man stood up with a
relieved look on his face. Maria looked at him again, it was the
little girl’s father, and his cheek looked a little red, the
woman’s fingers visible. He reached for her, but she took a step
back, pulling Michael with her. The man’s facial expression
changed, he looked irritated.

“
Can I help
you?” Maria asked with a leveled voice. The images of him angry
flashed in her mind, she didn’t want to see that again, but she
wasn’t going to make it easy for him, he left his daughter on top
of a table for goodness sake!

“
I’m here to
get my daughter.” Dave took a step forward and she took a step
back.

“
Da!”
Elizabeth shrilled happily, waving at Dave, and then her attention
was diverted back to the gold cross pendant on Maria’s
neck.

“
Mama, do we
really have to give her back?” Michael whined. He reached up and
took Elizabeth’s hand.

Dave looked at Maria, and
then at Michael astounded. He couldn’t believe the woman was
keeping his child away from him, and the kid wanted to keep her.
This was his kid, why did he feel like he had to negotiate to get
her back, as if he was negotiating contracts at the
office!

“
Michael,
she’s not a puppy,” she said softly to her son before she turned to
Dave with a stern look, “nor a thing to be left around.”

“
I said I was
sorry.” Dave said, frustrated. He extended his hand for Elizabeth,
but waited for Maria to give her up. He didn’t want to push or
perceive ungrateful to the woman who had rescued his daughter, but
he was getting impatient with her better parent
attitude.

Maria looked at him for a
while before she shifted Elizabeth on her arm. She brushed her
curls from her face and kissed her forehead, “Your daddy won’t be
winning any parent of the year award anytime soon, but I think he’s
learned his lesson.” Elizabeth laughed and kissed Maria on the
cheek. She passed the child to the agitated father. He hugged her
tight against him, apologizing profusely for leaving her
alone.

“
Thank you.”
he said, more relaxed. He hadn’t known where his daughter was for a
few minutes and he felt like he was losing his mind. He loved his
daughter and he was never again going to be separated from her. He
extended his hand to Maria, “I’m Dave. I work at McKenzie and
Associates across the street.”

Maria took his hand, it
was soft, heavy and hard, “I’m Paula, and you already know where I
work.”

“
I’m Miguel.”
Michael offered. He moved close to Dave and held on to Elizabeth’s
foot.

Dave looked at the
peculiar child, wondering how old a boy had to be to develop a
crush, “She’s Elizabeth.”

“
Lithbeth
,” Maria said repeating the
child’s attempt at telling Maria her name, “she’s a beautiful
child,” smiling at the little girl. She took Michael’s hand and
pulled him to her, “Not a puppy or a toy for you to
keep.”

“
He lost her!”
Michael accused. Maria’s hand shot up and covered his
mouth.

Dave looked at him and
laughed, “I think we’ll be going now. Thanks again,” he turned and
walked out of the cafe with his child in his arms. He found the
little boy amusing and surprisingly over protective. She on the
other hand, seemed like a kind, protective, but yet secretive woman
to him.

Maria took off her shoes
and rubbed her feet, “My feet hurt.” Michael brought the bag of
food to the small living room and began plating it. One of the
reasons Maria loved waitressing was taking home the leftovers, it
gave her one less thing to do at the end of a long day.

Michael sat next to the
table, struggling to twist the spaghetti on his fork, “They would
hurt less if you didn’t wear high shoes all day.”

“
It’s the
uniform, kiddo. Would you like some juice?” Maria got up and limped
to the fridge. She needed to start walking barefoot during lunch
hour, give her feet a break, or she won’t have any toes left a year
into the job.

“
Hmm.” his
mouth full. He took a pinch of garlic bread and stuffed it in his
already full mouth.

She placed his drink down
then picked up a napkin and tucked it in his collar, “Slow down or
you’ll choke.”

“
Mama, when do
I start school?” he looked up at Maria, his face covered in tomato
sauce. Maria loved seeing him like that, he looked so
sweet.

She ruffled his hair and
sat on the couch behind him, “What, you already bored with
me?”

“
No offense
mama, but I need to hang out with kids my own age.” he put another
fork full of spaghetti in his mouth.

Maria laughed, but he did
have a point. There was only three weeks left until school
officially started and she had no idea where to take him. Jane had
made some suggestions, but Maria wasn’t sure she could afford it.
The other option was to take him to a private school, but she
wasn’t sure about that either, Ricky might just walk in and walk
out with Michael and she wasn’t willing to take that chance. She’d
have to look for a less expensive private school, of course with
tight security. She’d also have to give both their real names, it
was about time they stopped lying about that. It had been two
months and Ricky hadn’t come after them, according to Edna he was
nowhere near New York.

“
I’ll think of
something, in the mean time someone’s turning five in October,” She
picked him up and cradled him against her, “You’ve grown so fast.”
“Mama, I’m not done eating,” Michael pulled out of her embrace and
went back to his food, “Grandma is coming for my birthday, she said
she’s bringing someone.”

“
Who? Jane?”
Maria would love to see her best friend.

She wanted to see a
friendly faced Jane and take a break from the surly one. New York
Jane really pulled off the fake smile. The first time they met
Maria thought she was pleasant, but she turned out to be a failed
actress who complained day in, and day out. A fake producer had
gotten her to sleep with him so that she could land a part in a
movie. In the end, she was left with a baby and no movie. She had
resented him for that, but the good thing was, she didn’t resent
Julie, she says she is the only good thing that came out of her
acting dream.

Michael gave up trying to
twist the spaghetti and began spooning and holding it with his
fingers so that it won’t slip off the fork, “No, a man.”

Maria thought of all the
men her mother knew, but she couldn’t come up with anyone who her
mother would risk him knowing their hide out. She highly doubted it
was Miguel, why would he turn up now after twenty years, the only
reasonable person was Nate, and he probably wants to make sure they
were doing fine.

Chapter Nine

Dave had the locks
changed early that morning. He wanted to make sure Amy didn’t get
into the house. He placed all her things in suitcases and bags and
placed them in the garage. He wanted to leave them in the middle of
the street, but if she sued him she would only get more money out
of him, which he didn’t intend on giving. It was time one of her
lovers took care of her expenses.

He hadn’t intended on
leaving the house that day, but he ended up driving to the cafe
opposite his office building. Paula’s secretive nature pulled at
him. It was like one of his impossible cases, and he loved a
challenge. Deciphering her would be a challenge he knew he would
like. He wasn’t after starting a relationship with her, but a
friendship with a fellow over protective parent, and the woman who
made his food and coffee, he should get to know her.