Interlude (23 page)

Cal gave her a mocking salute. “Got it. By
the way, what kind of cake did you want?”

“Cake? I haven't had cake for my birthday in
years.” She recalled. “What kind do you want?” She asked.

Cal thought to himself. After a moment he
said, “I have a recipe that everyone will like.”

“Great. As long as it isn’t too much trouble.
My friends will try their best not to eat it. One of them is always
on some new fad diet.” Karen said.

“Why is it you never gain weight? Now that
you have food in your house you eat like a horse. I can't believe
yoga alone does that much for you.” Cal remarked. Since he started
doing the shopping, she always seemed to be snacking on something
or digging through the leftovers in the fridge.

Karen smiled at him. “You might recall that
we partake in our own style of exercise.” She raised an eyebrow and
moved her tongue slowly over her white teeth.

“Its just part of the program babe.” Cal
winked at her.

“What program is that?” She asked coyly.

“It's a new fitness regimen I am working on.
The plan is, you get to eat anything you want, as long as you fuck
someone's brains out to burn off the calories.” He said in a low
voice.

“Hmm, any takers on your new fitness plan?”
She asked, her eyes holding his gaze through the monitor.

“Just one, but so far the program has been
very successful.” He said.

She laughed quietly as she rolled onto her
back. Cal watched her as she slid her hands slowly down her body.
His top down view of her from the web cam showed the little peaks
of her nipples through her tank top as she cupped her breasts in
her hands and moaned softly. As she rubbed her legs together, he
could hear the swishing sound her skin made in the silent room. She
rolled over quickly and flashed him a quick smile.

“We should log off. You have a big day
tomorrow.” She teased.

“That's not funny. You had me enjoying your
little show.” Cal said in a disappointed voice.

“Good night babe. Love you.” Karen said, as
she reached forward to kiss her monitor.

“Love you too sweetie.” Cal said, faking a
big French kiss as he moved to lick his monitor.

Karen giggled at him, and then shut down the
connection. Cal got out his suit from the giant shopping spree. As
he finished up the last of his little tasks, he began to dread
tomorrow more and more. This was the first time he would be seeing
Alice since the hospital. His head was still swimming with doubts
and worst case scenarios when he finally drifted off to sleep.

The five AM alarm startled Cal from a
restless, nightmare-infused sleep. He could feel his old ways
returning to him like a unwelcome guest as he got dressed. As he
tied his tie, he ran through the laundry list of stuff he had to do
after the big hearing. He had to get Karen a small gift to make up
for the fact that he assembled a motorcycle in her detached garage.
He had to go grocery shopping for her party. He still had to sign
up at a dojo of some kind to get some self-defense training.
Akihito still sounded cool, but he needed something that would
allow him to kick ass rather quickly. As he grabbed a cup of coffee
for the drive up, he felt a text buzz into his phone. Knowing who
it was, he smiled and fished the phone out of his pocket.

Hey baby! Good luck today! I should be
leaving here soon. Looking forward to the birthday you planned.
Love ya.

Cal smiled even wider at the realization that
just a text from his girl was enough to make his day brighter.
That's exactly how it worked when he was still married to Alice.
His downtrodden ways were always washed clean by Karen's
perpetually good mood.

He shot a text back:

Thanks babe! Hope your flight goes smooth. It
looks like your trip was a success. See you back here soon. Just in
time for your B day! Love U 2.

Chapter 9

The drive up was nice and smooth. Traffic on
the 101 usually favored northbound drivers, so the trip was a
pleasant time to get to know the Range Rover better. He spent his
time fidgeting with knobs and settings as the miles ticked by. He
had seemingly just started his drive when the navigation told him
he was only five miles from his destination. Snapping out of his
daze, Cal mentally prepared himself for the trials that lay ahead.
He knew they would screw him royally on alimony. The house was as
good as gone, even though he was the one who had worked two jobs to
save up the down payment. They would come after his recent earnings
from the mobile game that he was partners on, as well as the flub
up with his retirement that left him an accidental millionaire.

“Not for long.” Cal said to himself in the
quiet cab as he pulled into the Atascadero courthouse parking
lot.

The hearing was between a court appointed
mediator and Alice's family, and Cal. As he got out of his car and
thumbed the alarm on, he saw Alice walking in to the building's
glass front entryway. She turned, as if sensing his eyes on her,
and looked at him for a long time. He gave her a polite wave as she
focused from afar on his looming SUV. She cupped her hand to her
mouth to yell over to him.

“I see you've been spending my money.” She
called in her shrill tone. Cal shook his head and smiled. He wasn't
going to yell across the parking lot at her. He made his way slowly
up to the door and held it open for her in silence. This only
served to infuriate her more.

“Well?” She insisted.

“Well what?” Cal asked quietly.

“How much did that little toy cost?” She
hissed at him.

Cal gently ushered her into the open door
with his hand. He leaned in close to her and whispered in her ear.
“Actually, it was a gift.” Her agape mouth said more than she ever
could have. Cal looked at her closely as they walked down the long
hallway to the assigned conference room. She was wearing a tight,
knee length pencil skirt and dark nylons. Her top was a sleeveless
silk number, probably to combat the oppressive summer heat that his
hometown was known for. His senses had been turned up since his
relationship with Karen started. He didn't know why. Maybe it was
because he wasn't doped up on mood altering drugs? He could hear
and sense everything Alice did in the quiet building. The noises
her clothing made, the soft footfalls her shoes emitted. He could
dial into her emotions and almost feel what she was feeling and
that made him sad. He knew she had dressed like this to tease him,
but it was no use. He could almost feel Alice's loneliness as he
held the door open for her to enter the conference room.

His heart sank as he eyed her team. She had
her dad, Mr. Ian Park, and the Weatherly-Park legal staff
consisting of a paralegal and their bulldog lawyer. Cal could see
his newly earned fortune slipping away as he shook hands with
everyone and took his lone seat at the other side of the conference
table. The mediator called everyone to order, and they got underway
detailing the divorce and how things would be split up. Alice's
former victim vibe had morphed into the vindictive, nihilistic
persona he was accustomed to. He suddenly just wanted all of this
to be over with. As he mentally said goodbye to his worldly
possessions, he heard a gentle knock at the conference room
door.

“Yes, come in please.” The mediator said.

A woman, probably in her mid-forties, stepped
into the room and politely nodded to everyone as she straightened
her clothes. “Goodness, how do you people live here? It must be
ninety five degrees outside, and it's not even noon yet.” She said
with a bright smile.

Ma’am, may I ask who you are?” said the
mediator.

“Susie Millhone. I will be representing Mr.
Calvin Johnson in these proceedings.” She said with a chipper nod
in his direction. Cal returned her bright smile and got up to find
a chair for her. He sneaked a glimpse at Alice. She was steaming
mad! Her family's legal team was murmuring amongst themselves
quietly as Susie opened her attaché and fished out a stack of
papers. As the mediator got back underway, she jogged the papers
noisily on the tabletop and interrupted him.

“Um sorry sir, I have to give you these to
review before we continue.” She said meekly. Alice's side made no
effort to suppress their annoyance as the mediator slowly looked
over the documents and passed them to the opposing council. As
Alice's legal team read the papers, Cal felt another text buzz in.
He covertly looked at his phone:

Hey baby! I sent down my lawyer to help out
with your divorce case. She's been read in, and she has some
interesting stuff planned for championing your cause. Hope you
don't mind! Love ya!

Cal smiled and put his phone away. As he
looked up, he noticed that the feeling in the room had changed
dramatically. The once cocky and arrogant legal staff on the other
side of the table now looked like they had seen a ghost. They
handed the papers over to Ian Park, as Alice tried to crane her
neck at them to see what was so bad. Cal was feeling kind of weird.
What was on those papers? Was it some secret about him? Was it some
embarrassing knowledge that only Karen knew? Crap, he hated being
so out of the loop. As if sensing his frustration, Susie leaned
over and whispered in his ear.

“Watch what happens next.” She said in a deep
voice. The cheery little woman that had originally come in had been
replaced by something much darker and calculating.

As the mediator and Alice's legal team spoke
Ian Park looked at Cal with a mix of anxiety and shock. It looked
as if he had been in a car accident. Cal soon found out why.

“In light of this recent evidence, this
hearing will need to be rescheduled for a later date.” The mediator
said. He got up from his seat and gathered his things. In his
departure, Alice's legal staff tried to make sense of what just
happened. Hell, he was still trying to make sense of what just
happened when little Susie Millhone unleashed a fusillade of legal
ease that made everyone stop and stare in open-mouthed silence. As
Cal struggled to keep up with what she was saying, he got to watch
his former father in law and soon-to be-ex-wife get taken out at
the knees in the most brutal way possible.

Susie cleared her throat and simplified the
well worded legal attack she had just unleashed. “I'm sure I don't
need to describe it to your council, but these pages outline the
problems you have caused my client, Mr. Park.” You see, assets
relating to the marriage of Calvin Johnson and Alice Park cannot be
argued over due to current, outstanding legal issues pertaining to
your mishandling of my client's retirement fund.” Susie paused to
fish through more papers. “According to my client's financial
records, as given to him by Alice here, you have been taking a
substantial amount of money from my client and using it in grossly
negligent ways. Mr. Johnson had a large amount of money going
toward stocks that were being mismanaged by you. Since you were the
acting financial adviser, it was your duty to keep my client
abridged of this. You failed to do so.”

Ian Park took this opportunity to fight back.
“Well, Cal here never really knew what he was doing with those
stocks. I just chose to appease his eccentric wishes and put the
money where he told me to. That doesn't equate to the claims you
are making in these documents Ms. Millhone.” He finished with an
arrogant smile.

“I don't mean to drop this on you and your
family, but the reason those documents become relevant is because
your slip up isn't just negligence, it's negligence that is on par
with fraud. This is due to the amount of money accrued in the
abandoned account, and the interest relating to it. Now, for you
boys and girls playing the home game, fraud is white-collar crime.
Not civil court, but real life go-to-prison court. I actually hope
you try and fight this, because I haven't seen the DA in this
county for a while. We used to date, and he is rather, acquiescent,
to my requests.” She smiled at them politely.

Ian's lawyer leaned over and whispered in his
ear. They both exchanged panicked hisses back and forth while Susie
continued to remove more documents and forms from her little
attaché case.

“Even though I don't need it, this is a
document relating to financial services crimes against the mentally
ill.” She said. She handed the copy over to Alice to read. Ian
snatched it out of her hand angrily and read over the contents. His
face fell, and whatever arrogant bravado he had left went with it.
His lawyer looked at it and went blank as well. Cal turned to
glance at Susie. She was truly starting to scare him now! She had
morphed from perky and disarming, to some kind of jungle
animal.

She continued her attack. “You see, our
Calvin here had an addiction to prescription anti-depressants. Now,
when you take anti-depressants, your name goes on a list. This list
is a database that tracks folk who have a mental illness. Even
though he was reasonably well, he still qualifies nicely for
protection under this law that I am showing you. The short version
of all of this is; You mishandled the finances of the mentally ill.
In doing so, you withheld monies owed to my client in excess of 1.5
million dollars not including interest. These monies and the
repayment thereof, negate any divorce related asset proceedings
until resolution has been achieved.” She paused, reaching into her
bag one last time she smiled as she sent the last document forward.
Ian, his lawyer, and Alice quietly read the paper.

Ian cleared his throat, his voice held a
slight quaver as he spoke. “Ms. Millhone, I can't agree to these
terms. This, this would bankrupt my firm. We're just a family owned
company. We don't have these assets on hand usually.” He said
quietly. “This is blackmail. Pure, outright blackmail. You're using
this footing you've discovered to make a sole claim on the house
that he and Alice owned, as well as any claims to alimony that may
be arguable.”