Acts of Desperation (5 page)

“Nah, I kept messing up.” He looked down and frowned.

“Messing up? What are you talking about? You did a great job…and don’t let anyone tell you differently, you got that?” I lifted his chin to meet my eyes. “It’s practice. If you did it flawlessly the first time it would be called something else, now wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah I guess, but D
addy doesn’t think I did a good job,” he said.

“Well, I think D
addy can get grumpy sometimes. I bet if you asked anyone else here who they think is super awesome, they’d all say you.”

“Yeah Willie, you da best!” Sam sa
id, pumping his fist in the air, wearing a huge smile. I swear his heart is pure gold.

“Thanks Sammy,” Will
said, smiling a little. “Can we go home now, Mommy?”

“Yep, let’s grab your stuff.” Sarah bent down and picked up his soccer bag and started gathering their things. 

Anders approached me. “Hey Sem, you came to see me tonight, huh?” he said with a sly grin.

I’d bitten my tongue each time I’d seen him in the past few months, and probably hadn’t said more than five words to him. Sarah and the kids were engaged with one another, and, as I stood next to Anders, looking into his smug face, my anger bubble
d over, and I couldn’t hold back one more second. “First of all my name is not Sem, it’s Sember. And second, let’s not pretend to be friends, ok? The only reason I act anywhere near civil toward you is purely for the children’s sake, so don’t get confused. Got it?”

“Emm…sounds like you’ve spent some time thinking about me. Did you rehearse that?” He
chuckled.

“Ugh, I don’t know why I even bothered,” I said, cursing myself.

He leaned into me and grunted. “I knew you always wanted me.”

“You’re repulsive,” I said.

When Sarah gathered all their things, she walked up to us and said, “Ok boys, give Daddy a hug and kiss.”

Will walk
ed up to Anders and said, “Bye Daddy,” showing no emotion and giving him a weak hug.

He embraced Will then pulled him ba
ck and held his shoulders. “Hey, what’s wrong, buddy? You tired or something?” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s probably it. I’ve got a cold still,” he
said, avoiding eye contact.

“That must have been why you stunk tonight, huh? You better try harder at the game
tomorrow, you’re making me look bad,” he said then playfully ruffed up Will’s hair.

“Bye D
addy! I love you!” Sam said throwing his arms around Anders.

“Back off a second Sam, I’m talking to your brother,” he said, pushing
him away as if he were shooing away a fly. Anders stood and Sam danced at his feet, begging for a hug. Sam kept saying, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,” with his arms stretched up.

Sarah leaned into him. “For God’s sake Anders, pick him up,” she said. Will was always Anders’s pride and joy, and Sam, unfortunately, always came second.

He sighed in annoyance and bent down to pick him up, “Bye Sam, I’ll see you tomorrow night, and we’ll go to dinner, ok?”

“Yay! I want Frisch’s. Can we D
addy? Can we? Can we?” Sam asked, thankfully oblivious to Anders’s dismissal. Frisch’s is famous for their Big Boy burgers, but Sam was a sucker for their chicken fingers and hot fudge cake.

“Sure,” he said, feigning a smile.

“I’m going to get chicken fingers, Mamma,” Sam said looking at Sarah.

“Ok.” Sarah smiled warmly at him. “L
et’s get going guys.”

“You know it’s dark out, you shouldn’t walk out there alone,” Anders said.

I laughed at his veiled chivalry and put my hand on his chest. “We’re not alone as I’m sure you can see. We’ve got it from here. Thanks though,” I said.

He let out a laugh. “Oh, feisty tonight,” he said, holding my hand to his chest. “I hope you come to see me again soon. This was fun,” he said and pursed his lips together.

I snatched my hand away and ignored him. I grabbed Will’s hand and Sarah picked up Sam, and we walked out and loaded the kids into the car.

“Thanks for coming tonight. You don’t know how much I appreciate it,” Sarah said as she finished buckling Sam in his seat and shut his door.

“It’s nothing really, I’m glad I can help in some way. Anders is a real piece of work. I just wish I could do more,” I said.

“Well, this was
far from nothing. You have no idea, so thanks.” She leaned in and gave me a hug.

“
Be safe getting home and let me know if you need anything,” I said.

“Ok,” she said pulling back. “I wish I could do better, but I feel like I keep screwing up.
”

“You’re not screwing up. You’re doing the best you can. You’re strong, even though you don’t feel like it, you are. You need to stop beating yourself up,” I said.

“I’ll try, but it’s hard when you feel like you’ve failed your children. I couldn’t even hold my family together.” Her voice broke as she spoke then Sam smacked the window.

His muffled cries came through the glass. “Mamma! I’m cold and hungry.”

“Shoot,” she said rubbing her face. “They haven’t eaten dinner yet, and I still need to get them into baths. I should go.” She frowned.

“Ok.” I
rubbed her shoulder. “This isn’t your fault. Remember that,” I said, feeling a lump rising in my throat. It was so hard seeing Sarah like that.

“Yeah, I’ll keep telling myself that. Maybe one day I’ll believe it. I just don’t know how I couldn’t have seen this
coming. I’m so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid. You reacted to what you saw,” I said.

“MAMMA!” Sam said, smacking the glass again.

“O-K!” Sarah yelled back then Sam frowned. “Great. Screwing up again,” she said, throwing her hands up.

I dug through my purse. “I have a granola bar in here somewhere, chocolate chip peanut butter. Here, they’ll think it’s a treat,” I said, handing it over.

“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

I stood in the cold and watched them drive away. The boys waved good-bye through the back window as she pulled out into the street. Moments later, Anders’s car pulled out after them.

A
couple days had passed since the night of Will’s soccer practice, and I couldn’t get Sarah and the kids off my mind. I wished I could do more but resigned that giving my support and a shoulder to cry on were probably the best things I could offer. In the meantime, I’d been getting a series of texts from John. He started off asking to meet for dinner, and then it went to lunch, and then to coffee. Finally, when he caught on that I wasn’t going to respond, he threatened to send me a bill from the locksmith, and I can’t lie, it made me smile.

As it was, I was at work, sitting across from an older couple in my office discussing their bankruptcy
case. They owned and operated their own family Italian restaurant but had fallen into tough times when the economy took its downturn.  

“So Mr. and Mrs. Bellamy, let’s get started.” I said as they took their seats. Mr. Bellamy grabbed his chair and scooted it to be closer to his wife’s. As soon as he sat down, he reached for her hand and mindlessly stroked her
modest antique diamond ring as she placed her vintage Gucci bag on the floor next to her. When she sat up straight, she patted the Mother of Mary medallion that clung to her chest, and I imagined her saying a quick, silent prayer. I was instantly taken with both of them.

They looked like the
model hard-working Italian couple from their bulging veins and calloused fingers to their outfits. Mr. Bellamy wore crisp, tan slacks and a heavily starched, white, short-sleeved oxford. Mrs. Bellamy timeless black pant suit and simple wedges were both classic and elegant. His bushy, thick salt and pepper hair was off-set by his wife’s freshly dyed, black hair which was pulled back in a very neat bun. They’d obviously worked hard over the years, and it was likely killing them both just to be sitting across from me staring bankruptcy in the face.

Mrs. Bellamy spoke first in a thick Italian accent and with an eternal feistiness that had probably carried her to the point she’d reached in life. “Bernie, Mr. Alexander, said you would help us. We’ve hit a rough patch. We’re hoping there’s something you can do to save our business. We wanted our boy, Gino, to take over when we retired, but there may not be much left at the rate we’re going.”

“Then let’s have a look at your business records and see what we can do. There are a few options we can look at after I read through all your records. We’ll see what situation might work best for the both of you. I’ll do whatever I can to help,” I said.

We talked over specifics, and I told them that I’d get to work on their case. After shaking hands, I walked them to the elevator.
Back in my office, I sat organizing their information and jotted down some notes then I heard a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I said. When I glanced up, I saw Jax at my door. “Oh hey! What’s up?” He wore a
charcoal gray suit and a tie that was an exact match and a tailored pale green shirt, that I couldn’t help but notice brought out the color of his eyes.

He smirked a little before he spoke. “I wanted to check up on how things went with the Bellamy’s. Bernie’s been going to their restaurant for years and has a soft spot for them,” he said.

I was hoping for something more interesting to come out of his mouth, like an invitation to lunch maybe, but talking about work would at least lend the opportunity for me to wow him with my mind. “In a nutshell, it looks like they over-extended themselves recently. Their business has fallen off, and they’re barely making ends meet. I paused and read a little more. “They’re in a difficult situation. I don’t know that there’s much we can do at this point, but I’ll look into every option. Creditors are going to start beating down their doors any minute,” I said, looking up at him.

“Hmm,
check with Consumer Credit Counseling Services first to see if they can avoid Chapter thirteen. What’s their debt look like?” he asked.

So I hadn’t wowed him
yet. “It looks like around thirty thousand, so…checking with the CCCS was my first option, of course, but if the creditors aren’t willing to work with them then we may have to do Thirteen. It’ll be the best option for them. It would give them five years to pay off the debt and do the least amount of damage to their credit. I’m just not sure they have the amount of business yet to even be in the position to negotiate terms with the creditors,” I said.
There that should do it
, I thought. Given the smirk he was wearing, I was pretty confident.

“Do they have any assets they can liquidate? From what it sounded like after talking with Bernie, Chapter Seven might work best for them. Have you looked at that for their taxes
yet?” he asked with the hint of a smile.

Nope,
definitely wasn’t wowing him. And I wasn’t sure what he was up to, but I was actually getting slightly annoyed. “I haven’t had a lot of time to look at a whole lot of anything yet because someone’s been standing in my door peppering me with questions.” I smiled. “If given the opportunity, I’m sure I’d look at all the options thoroughly before settling on an appropriate course of action.”

“I bet you would.” He laughed. “Really, I just wanted to watch your reaction and to give you this.” He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a thin rectangular box then slid it onto my desk.

I stared at it. “What’s this?” I asked.

“Just a little something I picked up,” he sa
id. “If you do need any help though, I’m just a couple of doors down.” Then, he left before I had a chance to say anything else.

I grabbed the box and shook the lid loose. I let out a small laugh as I
looked at the contents. Inside was a fresh spool of thread, a needle, and the button that I’d lost from my shirt on Monday. The thought to look for it had never even crossed my mind. I stared at it for a few more moments with a wide grin then closed the box and slipped it into my purse.

I looked down at the Bellamy’s information scattered all around my desk and was reminde
d that I needed to focus. I felt a little amped up, so I organized everything into two large folders and headed to see Dee to have copies made. Maybe a walk down the hall would help me clear my head and get my mind back on track.

“Hey honey,” Dee said, as I approached. “What cha got for me today?” she asked.

“I need some copies of this.” I handed over the Bellamy’s file. “Could you run doubles so I have a set for home, too?” I asked.

“Sure thing, hon. Hand ‘em over.” She reached for the folders with a smile
and I caught a whiff of her perfume—Chloe. It was the same perfume my grandmother had worn, and it was probably one of the many reasons why I liked her so much.

“Thanks, Dee,
” I said.

“Sember, i
s that you out there?” Bernie’s voice bellowed from his office. “Could you come in here for a second?”

“Sure,
be right in.” I went over a couple more small details with Dee then walked to his door. I knocked and peered around his door. “Yes?” I said.

“Come on in and have a seat,” he said without looking away from his computer scre
en. I sat down in the expensive, green leather chair, mindlessly fingering the metal buttons on the arm rest. I looked at his plump ring finger getting squeezed by his sturdy gold wedding band and up to his thick gray hair as he finished typing something into his screen. I patiently waited for him to speak.

“Now,
how’d the meeting go with the Bellamy’s today?” he asked, turning and looking at me over his reading glasses.

“It went well,” I said, clearing my throat. “But they look like they’re in a pretty tough situation.”

“Yes, well…let’s see what we can do for them. I’ve been going to their restaurant for years. They’re old friends, and they make the most outstanding food.”

“I’ve never been to their restaurant. I should check it out
if it’s that good,” I said.

“You wouldn’t be disappointed, a
nd don’t even get me started on their desserts—their tiramisu is sinful.” He closed his eyes and grunted as if he’d just taken a bite. “I’d hate to see them have to close their doors.”

“
I’ll certainly look at everything. If there’s a way I can help, I will. They seemed really sweet,” I said.

“
They are. Just good, honest people.” He smiled. “But, the real reason I called you in here though is because I have some business to attend to in New York, and I’ll be away for a couple of weeks. If you need any guidance, I’d like you to ask Jax—he had a good teacher.” He winked.

“
Sure,” I said with a laugh, assuming of course that he was talking about himself.

He nodded his head.
“Well, that’s all. I’ll let you get back to work,” he said and turned abruptly right back to his screen.

I
got up and went to my office, and an hour later Dee dropped by with the copies I asked for. I worked solidly through the rest of my afternoon. When I was ready to leave, I looked down and saw the box Jax had given me sticking out from my purse, and I felt a twinge of excitement
.

When I got home, I flipped on the lights in the kitchen and dumped my stuff on the island. I went up to my room
and tossed the box on the bed then grabbed my blouse out of my closet. The box had popped open and something inside caught my eye. I pulled out a small folded piece of paper that had been wedged under the spool of thread. 

When I opened it, I saw a handwritten note
. “To pushing your buttons,” it said, and I laughed.

“What’cha laughin’ about?”

I looked up and saw Liz leaning against my door. She had on a pale blue pant suit and looked very stylish with a bright pink scarf tied around her neck, adding her pop of color. “Hey, I didn’t hear you come in,” I said, smiling.

“So, you just got a bug up your butt and decided to sew a button back on your blouse as soon as you walked in the door? Weird. What’s up?” she asked.

“I got a little gift today,” I said smirking and motioned to the box.

Liz sat down on my bed
. She grabbed the box and read the note. “Oooh…he’s pushing your buttons?
This
is getting good,” she said, lying down behind me on the bed. She put her arms behind her head and crossed her feet, settling into to full gossip mode. “So he almost asked you something Monday night at work, you showed him your super sexy nude bra, and then he did this. Sounds like the man is diggin’ you. You thinking of getting involved with him?” she asked. “I know how you like to maintain a safe distance from your professional and personal life.”

It was something I was concerned about.
I never even dated people from my high school because I didn’t want to deal with the situation when things went south—which chances are in high school, they inevitably would have. To have to look at an ex’s face every day when I’d be trying to focus on school didn’t seem like a desirable scenario so I never put myself in the situation. “You think it’s a dumb move to get involved with someone you work with? He is my boss’s grandson, and I’ll probably be working really closely with him.”

“If you’re lucky you’ll be working closely with him, if y
ou catch my drift.” She laughed, and I only shook my head at her silliness. Then, she thought for a second. “It’s risky, but I say go with your gut. A man that fine, you can’t pass him up.” When I didn’t say anything, she looked at me. “That’s what your gut’s telling you, isn’t it?”

“
Yep, pretty much,” I said. As much as it went against my previous inclinations, my mind was telling me one thing, but my body was telling me another.

“Then go with that.
You’re not going to get anywhere without taking some chances in life. You’re obviously attracted to each other, and you’re both adults. Besides, people get involved at the workplace all the time.”

“
Yeah, I guess.” I chuckled. “There, all done,” I said, finishing my last stitch and biting the thread with my teeth.

“Looks great.” She
heaved herself off the bed with a grunt. “Well, I’d love to talk about this budding love story all night, but unfortunately I’m just popping in to grab something before I head back out. Duty calls.”

“This late?” I asked.

“Yes.” She moaned. “I have to check out this venue I want to use for a banquet. The owners weren’t around earlier and this was when they could show me the space. It shouldn’t take too long though.”

“That’s cool. I’m just going to grab a quick bite and review tax codes.”

She scooted off my bed. “Boy, now
that
sounds like fun.”

I laughed. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

“I can imagine. Toodaloo,” she said, waving over her shoulder.

“Toodles.”

After she left, I went down into the kitchen and fixed myself dinner. Back up in my room, I sat down at my desk just inside my door. I set my glass of wine and sandwich next to my laptop and saddled up to start reading. About five minutes in, my phone rang, and when I saw John’s name on the display, I sent him to voicemail. After a few more calls and some text messages that said some version of
we’re not over
and telling me to meet him, I had to shut my phone off.