Worth the Weight (20 page)

She left the room before he could say thanks. Again.

In the morning, as she and Stevie waited for James to pick them up on his way into the office, Lizzie looked around her condo. When she’d bought it six years ago it had been her pride and joy
.
A symbol of her success. At least in her professional life. As she looked around now, she realized her feelings had changed. She was still happy with it, but realized it missed something. Mess. It missed the messiness that living brought to a household. Granted, she’d been away nearly a month, but this was pretty much what it looked like all the time.

Her parents’ house had a warmth and comfort that seemed lacking here. And
Finn
’s house. Well,
his
place had a history and a clutter that screamed family. Generation after generation. It was something
she
hadn’t even realized she lacked in her sleek and stylish condo. Yet, as she compared the two, the condo definitely came up short.

She certainly hadn’t missed the city traffic while she’d been away, either. Being only five minutes away from anything was a definite advantage of small town living. And the water. Only a short time away from the Copper Country and she already missed seeing water at every turn. She sighed and called to Stevie as she heard James pull into her driveway.

Annie’s consultation with the doctors had surpassed
Finn
’s highest hopes. Her bone growth had progressed to the levels needed to perform the surgery. His meeting with the financial people had been successful too, thanks to Liz’s statement of expected revenue. It was much easier to show them than the stack he’d brought of bank notices and mortgage payments due. The surgery
was scheduled for October. The doctors wanted Annie to spend the time until then strengthening her arms and legs for the long road of physical therapy ahead.

He and Annie had beaten Stevie and Liz back to her condo, and when she and Stevie entered,
he
whisked her in his arms and buried his head in her neck. Stevie
,
sensing his
fragile emotional state
,
went to find Annie in the bedroom.

He
pulled
her
close, not trusting himself to look at her as he s
poke. “It’s going to happen
. They’re going to do the operation. And they figure a seventy-five to eighty percent chance of success. She could walk, Liz. My baby might walk.” His voice was hoarse and quavered with emotion.

Lizzie realized that
Finn
had never really given the whole thing much chance of happening. They had totally different mindsets. As soon as
she’d
heard of the situation, she began planning how it could work.

To be fair, she hadn’t had years of disappointments like
he
had. And of course she wasn’t emotionally involved like he was. It surprised her to find she couldn’t speak quite yet, and she clung to
Finn
with a fierceness that contradicted her supposed lack of attachment.

He pulled away and looked at her with a gratitude and longing that made her wish for the years they’d never had together. His hard face softened and his eyes shone with want and need. He started to say something but the squeak of Annie’s wheelchair interrupted him.

“Daddy, Stevie said we’re going to a baseball game tonight. Are we?”

Finn
looked at
her
for the answer.

“We can if you’d like to Annie. I’ve got pretty good tickets and the guys are invited to the clubhouse after the game,”
she
answered.

The little girl seemed torn. Lizzie could tell she desperately wanted to go to the game, but that would mean accepting a gesture from Lizzie, something Annie was loath to do. She had as much willful pride as her father.

“Will I…do they…” Annie’s blue
eye
s searched her father’s face,
then turned to
her
.

Reading her mind, Lizzie said, “The ball park has great wheelchair access
. W
e’ll be able to park real close, too. Besides, I could really go for a hot dog.”

At the game, as the kids gorged themselves on hot dogs, Crackerjacks and Mountain Dew  - a usual no-no - Lizzie recapped her and Stevie’s day at her office for
Finn
.

The highlight was when Petey Ryan had stopped by unexpectedly. Stevie could hardly believe he was meeting his idol, that Lizzie even knew Pete Ryan, let alone that he was there in the flesh.

She
could have kissed Petey when he offered to take Stevie with him for the afternoon as he went to Joe Louis Arena to clear out his locker. Stevie came back to the office with autographs from
a couple of the players
as well as five rolls of half-used tape, a broken stick and numerous other mementos that players were pitching. Proving the theory that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Her
staff once again proved their worth and took her plans for the fundraiser and ran with them. Phone calls to clients took up most of the day, with only one saying no to the fundraiser and only because his wife was due to have their first child on the same date.

She
relayed the promising outlook to
Finn
, but she didn’t tell him about everything that had
happened at her office that day.

She’d had a very long meeting with her top account executives. Not surprised that things had been handled so well in her absence, she none-the-less gave them the praise they deserved. As if sensing her good mood, James, the obvious designated ringleader, pushed a folder across the wide conference table to her.

It was a presentation that the
account
executives had put together proposing a formed partnership in Hampton Public Relations. At Lizzie’s shocked look, James said, “We love it here, Lizzie, we all want to stay, but we want to make sure there’s room for us to grow. As partners, we’d have an investment in the future of Hampton PR. Read it when you have time. We don’t have to talk about it now, there’s no time table attached to it.
It
can wait until you come back.”

She’d leafed through the proposal while she waited for Petey to come back with Stevie. It was well-written, very sound, and could make her very wealthy down the road. Of course she’d have to give up complete control. Was she capable of that?

In some ways, she’
d been like a reverse anorexic.
Anorexics
often times feels they have no control in their life, so at least they can control their eating. It was just the opposite for Lizzie. She was such a control freak in her professional life that the one thing she allowed to get completely out of control was her eating.

Damn, now she’d have this partnership proposal dangling over her head while she was in the U.P. trying to seduce
Finn
. Though she knew that wouldn’t take much effort if the way
Finn
’s eyes followed her movements were any indication.

Lizzie knew she was pressing her luck, but as soon as Petey and Stevie came back, she pulled Petey into her office and said she had something important she needed to ask him. He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, but waved her on.

She told him about
Finn
and Annie, and Annie’s operation. He said he vaguely remembered
Finn
being ahead of him in high school. As much as any die-hard jock would remember a guy who didn’t even know how to skate - a mortal sin in the Copper Country. She told him more than she should have, alluded to the trouble with Dana, hinted at the looming mortgage on the farm. Then she told him where he fit in to her plans.

“You want me to what? A
re you out of your Goddamn mind
?”

“Come on, Petey, it’s not that big of a deal.”

He snorted and plopped himself down on the leather couch that ran along one wall of her spacious office. “You want me to call members of the Avalanche and ask them to take their day with the Stanley Cup in the U.P. for a fundraiser? It’s a big
fucking
deal, Lizard.”

He
was right. Petey would love for the Stanley Cup to be brought to the Copper Country, but only because he was on the winning team. His two stints with the Red Wings had been great for his career, but the Wings’ Cup-winning run was during years Petey had been with
the Islanders. Being thirty-six
, ancient in the NHL, and never having won the Cup, was Petey’s hot button. Lizzie knew he was hanging on, trying to stay healthy, so he could skate that victory lap hoisting the Cup over his head before he retired.

“Just two of the Russian team members, Petey. Look, each team member gets a day with the Stanley Cup in the town of their choice, right?” It was a ritual dating back decades, one that Lizzie had always found charming. The Stanley Cup brought to little backwoods towns in Canada and the Midwest to bask in their local boy’s heroics.

At Petey’s leery nod of agreement she forged on, “The Avalanche has five team members who are Russian and are living in Denver, with no plans to take the cup back to Russia.
I
checked.
If only two of them would give up their day with the cup so it could be in the Copper Country, it’d still be in Denver for three whole days, surely they can manage with that.”

“
Yeah, it’s doable
, but why do I have to be the one to do the asking? I hate those fucking guys. Man, of all the teams...the Avalanche. Lizzie...” he whined. He was rubbing his big hands through his hair, and Lizzie knew she had him.

Petey could wrap himself in the label of NHL hardass bruiser, but he was a pussycat at heart.
She’d
known that since their first date when he’d taken her to see
Out Of Africa
and she’d heard him sniffling into his letter jacket when Robert Redford died. Knowing which heartstrings to pull, she’d been able to wrap him around her little finger ever since.

She soothed him, rubbing his back in a sisterly fashion. “I know you do, but I don’t know any of them, Petey. Even if you’d just make the introduction call, I’ll do the asking. I’m willing to give each of the five of them a year’s worth of Hampton PR services at no charge.”

He
dro
pped his head in resignation,
then looked up at her. “That’s using up your staff’s resources for a whole year, Lizzie. Are you sure you want to do this?” Before she could answer he held up a hand. “I mean, are you sure you want to get this involved?”

She feigned ignorance. “It’s just another fundraiser, Petey, like the kind we plan all the time. This time it benefits a fellow Yooper, so I guess I’m trying a little harder.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Trying harder for the kid, or for her father?”

She waved his question away with a flick of her hand then rose to get the phone and list of the Russian players from her desk and to put Petey to work
, ignoring the
look of concern that he leveled at her.

The big foam finger poked
Finn
in the head for what seemed like the five thousandth time. “I swear, Annie, that thing hits me again, and it’s going to be floating in Lake Michigan.”

  She giggled, a sound so rare to
him
that he had to turn around in his seat to confirm what he’d heard. “Sorry, Daddy. Stevie pushed me.”

“Did not.”

“Did so.”

Before the verbal ping-pong could go any further, Liz broke in. “Okay, the turn off’s coming up. Everybody ready for Great Lake number two?”
She
was driving, giving
Finn
a break from the wheel.

The route home they’d chosen was
her
idea. She said she, Alison and Katie had done it years ago when they’d spent a weekend at Mackinac Island. Within the course of one afternoon, they’d swum in Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, hitting three of the five Great Lakes.

This morning, as they’d left Liz’s condo, she’d made everyone don their swimsuits under their clothes. She’d put several towels in the van with them, and unearthed the life vest Annie had worn at Alison’s that she’d borrowed. She’d also purchased a new flotation ring, this one bearing the
Justin Beiber
. They
picke up
McDonald’s at Cheboygan and found a tiny public beach
that Liz had Googled and
GPSed
on her cell phone,
where they swam in Lake Huron and ate lunch.

He
was amazed at
her
organization. Amazed, but not surprised.

It took the allure of swimming in the second Great Lake of the day for Stevie to part with the autographed baseball that the Tigers had signed for him after the game. Even then, he put the
ball in his seat, lovingly covered with the Tigers cap and tee shirt that Lizzie had bought for both he and Annie. Along with the giant foam finger that was now liable to put someone’s eye out.