Lily White Lies (26 page)

“I plan on doing exactly that...”

She cut me off.  “And, Con tells me that you’re excited over the prospect of meeting Joker.”  With a disapproving stare, her voice raised a little, as she asked.  “Are you crazy?  Trust me; you want to stay as far away from that man as you possibly can.”

Taken aback by her outspokenness, I stammered, “It’s just hard to believe that he’s as bad as what everyone says.  There has to be
something
nice about him.”

She offered a mock smile, and stated, “The nicest part of him died almost two weeks ago.”

“Gayle?”

She nodded.  “She was the sweetest woman I ever knew.  Only God above knows what she ever saw in that man.”

“But you said she killed her own son?”

“That’s right.”  Lifting herself slightly off her chair, she looked over my shoulder, and yelled, “Robbie!  Robbie, please don’t mix the crushed ice with the cubes.”  Returning her attention to me, she apologized, “New waiters, I’m sorry; I better take care of that.”  Standing, she added, “It was very nice meeting you, Meg, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other.  As far as the stories you’ve heard, you should really talk to your grandparents.  It’s their place to set things straight.”

“I will and thank you, it was nice meeting you, too.”

It was obvious where Con got his sense of value.  His mother was sweet, endearing and yet I could tell that she stood firmly on her own two feet.

I felt disappointed that I missed him this morning; I was flattered that he told his mother of me and I found myself yearning to see him again.

~ ~ ~

As the door to the kitchen slammed behind me, Marco looked up only briefly.  He tried to wipe the sweat that dripped freely from his forehead with his forearm, as he piped choux paste onto large baking sheets.  Mixing bowls, utensils, baking pans and dishes were stacked in and around the dishwasher and two timers began to ring simultaneously.

“Where’s Nelda?”

“Stay home today.  She no feel well.”

I pulled my hair back into a loose ponytail and secured it with a bread tie.  “I’m sorry to hear that, I hope it isn’t anything serious.”  Surveying the kitchen, I said, “I’ll get the oven and then I’ll start on the dishes.  Why didn’t you call me instead of trying to keep up with all of this by yourself?”

“I did.  Brian said you live there no more.”

I cringed at the mention of his name.

“I’m sorry; it happened so fast and then I got a little caught up in the weekend.  I should have told you.”

“Esta bien.  We get to it, we be done in two hours, then you go and I be alright.”

“Why would I want to go?  I feel like I’ve been shirking my responsibilities lately, I’ll stay until we’re finished.”

“Ron called for meeting...”

“Shit!  I forgot about that.”

“You busy, I be okay.  You go.”

As I took the cakes for ladyfingers from the oven, I said, “I will, but not before we’re caught up.”

Marco was a hard worker who had a tendency of carrying more than his share of the burden in my little kitchen and in a few short hours, we had everything caught up and I was able to leave for my meeting at the bank.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright here by yourself for the rest of the day?”

“I be fine.”

I took one last look around and said, “Okay then, I’m off.  After my meeting, I’m hoping to get out to Willoughby.  My grandparent’s number is on the board by the phone if you need me.  If not, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, oh, and please tell Nelda that I hope she’s feeling better soon.”

“I will, now you go.”  He waved me off.

~ ~ ~

My second meeting with Ron didn’t bring the intimidation the first meeting had.  The sense of urgency from the last meeting had disappeared.  It wasn’t that my dreams were any less important to me now; I just had more than one dream in my closet these days.

“Meg, come in.  Please have a seat.”

I chose the chair closest to the door.  It was my subliminal way of getting out of his office faster if he dealt me bad news.

Ron sat behind his oval desk and shuffled through some papers before addressing me.

“Meg, I’ve gone over everything and...”  His hesitation brought on a tightening in my stomach.  “I’m happy to say that I think we can do business.”

I let out the breath I had been holding and allowed my muscles to relax as I thanked him.

“You have quite a little business going for yourself, I’m impressed.”  Shuffling through several more files, he continued, “Since there was only one previous owner, the search should go smoothly, I’ll get the paperwork underway and my guess would be that we can get you in here to close, say, in two weeks or so.”

I was overjoyed and couldn’t help but let it show.

I stood and extended my hand.  “Oh Ron, I can’t thank you enough.  This is great, you made my day.”

After releasing my hand, he smiled and said, “I’m assuming that my handling your account won’t be a problem then?”

Suddenly confused, I cocked my head slightly to one side, as I tried to figure out the meaning of his last remark.

Seeing my puzzlement, he said, “I ran into Brian over the weekend, he told me that the wedding was off.”

“Yes it is, but what does that have to do with my doing business with this bank.”

“Well, I was referring to doing business with me, not the bank as a whole.  Brian and I are friends and I wouldn’t want you to think it might interfere with our professional relationship.”

I offered a sincere smile, and replied, “That never crossed my mind, Ron.”  Holding out my hand for a second time, I added, “I’ll see you in about two weeks then.”

“I’ll call you when we’re ready.”

If I didn’t think I would look like a lunatic, I would do a Doublemint kick right in the middle of Main Street or throw something into the wind like Mary Tyler Moore.  I was ecstatic and I wanted to share my news with someone.  No.  I wanted to share my news with Con. 

Twenty-One

...The house was enormous with pressed tin ceilings that had to be at least twelve feet high, an open staircase that was a solid six feet wide and plank flooring covered with enough lacquer to reflect the light that streamed through the floor to ceiling windows...

Walking up the steps to my apartment, my cell phone began to ring and without looking at the caller ID, I hoped it was Con.

“Hello.”

“Hey there.  How’s your day going?”

I stopped halfway up the stairs, turning to sit on a step.  “It just went from good to great.”

“I saw you today, at the café.  I didn’t want to disturb what looked like an important pow-wow,” he deepened his tone, “but I sure did want to.”

“I already know you were there.”

There was silence on the line for a moment, before he asked, “You met Mom?”

“I met Mom.  She’s a very charming woman.”

“I guess I better watch what I say to her from here on in.”  I heard him laugh.  “Are you at work now?”

“I’m sitting in a stairwell talking to you.”

“Do you want to go for a ride?”

I wanted to say ‘anywhere’, but instead replied, “Sure.  Where are we going?”

“If you’re up to it, I thought I’d take you out to meet my grandfather today.”

Other than to say ‘really’, I was stunned speechless.  The time had come for me to meet the man that completely intrigued me, and it almost didn’t seem real.

“Meg, have you changed your mind?  I only suggested it because I thought you wanted to, we don’t have to go.”

“No...  I mean yes I want to go.  You just caught me a little off guard.  Do you want to pick me up at my place?”

“Sure.  How about in an hour?”

“See you then.”

“Bye.”

The sound of his voice brought a smile to my face, the sight of him ran a chill up my spine and the thought of being alone with him caused me to tremble outwardly.  I wondered if he was aware that I was completely and willingly at his mercy.

I freshened up but skipped a shower for lack of clean clothes to wear afterward, which reminded me once again that I had to make a trip to Brian’s—no matter how uncomfortable I expected it to be.

I had just finished braiding my hair when the doorbell startled me.  A tingle ran up my back and I marveled, “He couldn’t wait to see me either,” as I quickly made my way to the door.

I flung the door open, ready to greet him with a smile.  With the door fully open, my smile disappeared and my head hung unenthusiastically.  “Brian...  I’m surprised to see you.”

He nodded and picked at a spot of loose paint on the door.  “I’m surprised I’m here.”

After staring at him for a moment, I offered, “Would you like to come in?”

He hesitated.  “Just for a minute maybe.”

“Brian, if this is about my things, I was planning on getting them later this evening.”

“That’s not why I’m here but they are packed up.  I’ll have them sent over if that’s alright.”

“That’ll be fine.”  As I closed the door behind him, he took a set of keys from his pocket and extended his hand.

“What’s this?”

“I want you to have the car.”

“No.  Brian, I can’t accept it.”

He took several steps toward the window and stared out over the city as he spoke.

“Listen Meg, seeing our relationship through your eyes made me realize that I’ve been a real jerk.”  Turning to face me, he continued, “I can’t change who I was then, but please, let me change who I am now.”

Playing with the end of my braid, I paced back and forth several times before saying anything.

“Brian, if this is a sneaky attempt to get back together; it’s a waste of time.”

“Considering the past, I suppose I deserved that, but no, I realize now that you weren’t happy and I also realize that I was the cause of your unhappiness.”  Closing the gap between us, he took hold of my hands and spent a moment putting his thoughts together.  “Meg, please take the car.  I’d lose my ass if I tried to sell it now and to keep it, well, it would be a constant reminder of you and to be perfectly honest, I don’t need any more reminders of you.  Let me do one decent thing for you, I feel like I owe you that much.”

He turned my hand over and placed the keys into it, turning sharply with the knock on the door.

I felt a knot forming in the pit of my stomach, knowing that it was Con and not sure that I really wanted them to run into each other.

I opened the door to a smile but his smile abruptly changed when he saw my nervous expression.  When he glanced into my apartment, I saw his stare fix on Brian who stood motionless by the couch.

“Con, I’d like you to meet an old friend, Brian McDonough, Brian; this is... a new friend, Con Ellis.”

The two men shook hands and exchanged pleasantries as Brian looked to me and then back to Con.  Once they had released their grip on each other’s hand, Brian quietly made his way to the door.

Stopping in the doorway, he slowly turned and looked directly at Con.  With their eyes locked on each other, Brian said, “Treat her right.”  Casting his eyes on me, he added, “I didn’t and I have a very long time to regret that.”

Con nodded and replied, “I plan to.”

Brian returned the gesture, looked at me once more and offered a half-smile before closing the door behind him. 

Con placed his hands on my shoulders.  “Are you okay?”

I nodded and opened my hand to show him the keys.  “He came to give me the car he had bought for me before we split.”

Con’s expression turned suspicious.  “That was... generous.”

“I know how it looks but he’s not up to anything.  He said that he felt he owed me this much after the way he treated me, that’s all.”

With a playful smile, he said, “Okay, then you can drive.”

I grabbed my purse as we made our way to the door.

“I think you should drive, you know where it is.”

“I’ll tell you where to go.”

“But your car is much roomier.”

He laughed and kissed the top of my head, as he closed the door behind us.

As much as I had been looking forward to meeting Con’s grandfather, I enjoyed the ride to Willoughby so much that I hated to see it end.  We joked and held hands; I told him about my meeting at the bank and treasured each moment I was able to spend with him.

As Con made a left-hand turn, he said, “Here we go.”

I searched for anything that resembled a house.  “Here we go what?  I don’t see anything but trees.”

“It’s up the road a bit, but this is the beginning of Willoughby Manor, that’s the name of my grandfather’s estate.”