Call Me Lydia

by MaryAnn Myers

  "No!" Lydia pleaded. "Don't leave me alone with him!"

  Dave walked out, but Frank hesitated at the door. "Lydia, it'll be all right."

  Tony swung around. "I said go on, Frank! Now get out!"

  Lydia held her breath, trembling, wondering if she should scream, but what difference would it make? No one heard her before. As the door closed, Tony sat down on the bed in front of her and reached for her hands.

  She gasped.

  "Dammit, Lydia! What do you think I'm going to do?"

  Lydia stared at the cuts on his face, dear God, he even looked like a murderer. He reached for her hands again, holding them tightly when she tried to pull away.

  "I had to get you out of there," he said. "This was the only way I knew how. I wanted this thing with Bob settled today, and I didn't want you there."

  Lydia shook her head. Why was he telling her this, and why was he untying her hands? What for?

  "I knew you wouldn't just leave, especially if I asked you to, and I wasn't sure you'd be safe even if you did." He looked up. "I couldn't chance you getting hurt."

  Lydia could hardly see him now through the tears in her eyes. "Then you're not going to kill me?"

  Tony swallowed. "Why would I want to do that? Lydia…I love you."

  Lydia bit at her bottom lip. "You mean I can go home?"

  Tony nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Just let me explain first."

  "Explain?" Lydia's voice cracked. "How can you explain any of this? Those men? This room?"

  "Those men are undercover cops, Lydia. They brought you here just to keep you safe."

  Lydia shook her head. She'd been too frightened, and now she just wanted out of there. "Safe…?"

  "Frank's my cousin, Lydia. We're like brothers. He'd have protected you with his life if need be."

  Lydia looked away. "I want to go home now. Please."

  Tony nodded, and when he'd finished untying her wrists, he tried looking at the cut on her arm - the Band-Aids were stained with blood - but she pushed his hands away, pushing them away again when he went to untie her ankles, doing them herself. Her legs were weak; she prayed to God they'd carry her, and picking up her keys, she was almost to the door when Tony stopped her, blocking her way.

  "Lydia, I love you. I only...."

  She looked up at him, her bottom lip quivering, and for a moment, she believed him. She believed everything he'd ever told her. It was in his eyes. Then he said, "I have to go to the hospital now,” and the word hospital made it all lies.

  She started past him, and he grabbed her arm. "Lydia, listen to me."

  "No!" She pulled free, backing away from him. "I've heard enough. More than enough."

  "Just let me explain."

  She shook her head. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say. Now get out of my way. Please…."

  Tony hesitated, then stepped aside, and there was the door - the door and the sudden realization of what she was about to do. She was walking out on everything they had, everything. If he even so much as reached for her, she'd never be able to go through with it.

  She drew a breath to give her strength, tears filling her eyes. "If you ever cared for me, Tony, show it now." Her voice cracked. "Show me by letting me walk away. Let me walk away and forget we ever happened."

  Tony swallowed hard. "Don't ask me that."

  "I am asking you, Tony. Please. It's the only way I can do this."

  Tony touched the side of her face. It was so soft, so very soft. He leaned down to kiss her, gently on her lips…and when he stepped back and nodded, she walked out.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Lydia drove straight home, heading for the Scotch, and was well into her third drink when her father phoned. She'd seen his limousine when she came out of the motel room, but had only waved in its direction as she got into her car, and he wanted to make sure she was all right.

  She convinced him she was fine and had no sooner hung up, when it rang again. Fifteen times. It had to be Sharon.

  "I knew you were there all along."

  Silence.

  "Jan called me and told me she was sent home today. She said something was going on. So what is it? What's up?"

  "I don't want to talk about it. Not now."

  "Why? Is Tony there?"

  Lydia sighed. "No, and I'm gonna hang up now. I don't want to talk at all, so please...Let me call you back. Okay?"

  "Are you all right?"

  "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, though she didn't sound fine. "I'll call you."

  Hanging up, she took her glass and a bottle of Scotch out to the patio, where she downed one drink after another. Sometime in the middle of the night, she staggered inside to the couch, where she woke a little after noon. She thought about fixing something to eat, but had another Scotch instead, and was just about to lie back down when the phone rang. It was Greg.

  "Greg?"

  "I need to talk to you."

  "Oh Christ," Lydia whispered. "Why?"

  "Because I love you."

  "Oh, Greg…."

  "I want to come see you."

  Lydia cleared her throat. She couldn't handle this. Not now. "Greg, a lot's been going on. I'm sorry, but I don't think…."

  "Let me call you later in the week then. Tell me I can. I have a match, but I can get out of it. I'm playing lousy. Maybe we can meet somewhere."

  "Maybe," Lydia said softly.

  "I love you, Lydia."

  Tears filled Lydia's eyes; she couldn't speak.

  "I'll call you later in the week."

  Lydia hung up and went into the bathroom to splash some water on her face - cold water. Then she decided to brush her hair and was doing it in slow motion, when the next thing she knew she was bent over the toilet, throwing up.

  After she finally stopped, she rinsed her mouth out and made her way into the bedroom, where she lay down and drifted off into a bizarre nightmare.

  She was sitting at a table across from Tony. He was wearing a dark suit and had his hair slicked back, looking like a cross between a mortician and a gangster. Her heart lay on a platter in front of him, and he was cutting it into pieces, hand-feeding it to a growling Doberman that was begging at his side. "Good boy," he said, patting him on the head. "Good boy. This'll keep you off the streets."

  She woke, drenched from head to toe in sweat, and tried to get out of bed, but her stomach revolted again, so she lay back down, hoping it would pass. Then to take her mind off it, she started telling herself a story - "The Three Little Pigs." It was the only one she could think of, and she got all the way to the part where she was going to blow the goddamned house down, when the phone rang.

  It had been hours since Greg called, yet it seemed like she'd just hung up. She reached for it cautiously; it was moving back and forth. "Hello."

  "Lydia, dear, it's your dad."

  "Hi."

  "How are you?"

  "Fine." She cleared her throat. "Couldn't be better."

  "I was at the plant today. I missed you."

  "Well, that's because I wasn't there."

  John sighed, that's not what he meant. "Dear, I think you have to get a hold of yourself. And as to why you're treating Tony so...."

  "Dad, I really don't want to talk now. Especially about him. So I'm gonna hang up."

  John sighed again. "Will you be in tomorrow?"

  "I don't know. I'll uh…see how I feel."

  John offered to have George come by and pick her up. She said that wasn't necessary and she would see him later, whenever later was. Hanging up then, she pretty much stumbled into the living room, and there, opened a fresh bottle of Scotch.

  At one point, she decided to try to sober up and went for a swim, but she scared herself when she couldn't remember getting into the pool, let alone her suit, and got right back out. After that, she bundled up in not one but two robes and combed her wet hair into some kind of pony tail, then lay down on the couch. Sometime later, she became aware of someone knocking on the doo
r, a persistent knocking.

  It was dark out, but Reed's Corvette sparkled in the moonlight. When she opened the door for him, he shook his head at the sight of her. "I'm sorry," he said. "I was looking for Lydia Merchant."

  Lydia turned and headed for her bottle. "Hey, you weren't invited, so watch it."

  Reed walked in and closed the door. "Well, since you didn't make any sense on the phone, I thought I'd better come by and check on you."

  Lydia looked over her shoulder, frowning. "We talked on the phone?"

  "Twice..."

  Lydia thought about that for a second, then shrugged; she couldn't remember. "So what did you want to talk about? No wait, let me guess."

  Reed sat down on the couch, noticing how shaky her hands were. "Oh I'm sorry," Lydia said, responding to his critical expression. "I seemed to have forgotten my manners. Would you care for a drink?"

  Reed shook his head and waited until she sat down. "I think you're behaving ridiculously, you know. And I think you're being unfair to Tony."

  "Oh really? Tony who?"

  Reed shook his head again, with more to say, but Lydia didn't want to hear it.

  "I'll tell you what," she said. "You can drop this right now, or you can just leave." She pointed to the door and, before he could even respond, stood up. "No better yet, I'll leave." She slugged her drink and started looking around. "Do you see my keys anywhere?"

  God, she was frustrating. "All right! I won't talk about him. Okay?!"

  "Okay...but I mean it," she threatened, and when Reed nodded, she sat back down. "So what's new?"

  Reed sighed. Frustrating wasn't the word. "Well, as you know, Miller's in jail."

  Lydia's mouth dropped. "Jail?"

  Reed couldn't believe this. "You didn't let Tony tell you anything, did you?"

  Lydia shook her head, but she shouldn't have, because the room started spinning.

  Are you all right?" Reed asked. She looked a little green.

  "Yes," she lied. "Go on."

  Reed frowned, it was obvious she wasn't. "Have you eaten anything?"

  "I don't know."

  Reed just looked at her for a second or two and, with another sigh then, got up and went into the kitchen, seeing that at least she'd tried. There was some uneaten toast on the counter, next to an apple with a few bites taken out of it.

  "You need to get something in your stomach."

  "I've been doing that," Lydia said, holding up her glass.

  Reed came back with a Coke. "Here, drink this. Maybe it'll help."

  Lydia took a sip.

  "And you should eat."

  Lydia took another sip, looking agreeable, and Reed sat back down. "I'll fix you something when that settles."

  The thought of food was nauseating. "So why is Bob in jail?"

  "Well, after you left Monday, he came to the plant. It was a setup."

  "A setup? Shit, and Dad accused me of watching too much television."

  Reed ignored that. "Tony had been working with the authorities since the...."

  Lydia's eyes hardened, and he quickly apologized. "Okay, I'm sorry. But how am I supposed to tell you what happened without mentioning his part in it?"

  "Easy!" Lydia said. "Don't say his name, just like you did there."

  Reed drew a deep breath. She was impossible. "All right. When Bob came, your dad, myself, and the uh...the other one…." He frowned. This was impossible, too. "And the undercover team were all in place. At first they were just going to bug the office and nab him on the way out. But then all that changed." He paused. "And yes, it was like right out of a movie."

  Lydia leaned back, thinking about Frank and Dave and the afternoon she'd spent with them.

  "Anyway, right before Bob came, Tony, I mean…the other one." He threw his hands up. "This is stupid! You're going to have to let me…."

  "So fine! Use his goddamned name then!" Lydia said. "Just don't expect me to."

  Reed fought back the urge to smile. "As I was saying., originally they were going to wait outside, but then Tony caught that old lady in accounting tampering with the computer, and...."

  "Wait a minute. What was an old lady doing in account­ing? And why was Tony in there?"

  "He went for a walk," Reed said matter-of-factly.

  Now it was Lydia who sighed. "Are you making this up?"

  "No! Didn't you see his face?"

  Lydia nodded.

  "It was the old lady. She got him with her fingernails. The very same one that cut you."

  Unbelievable. Lydia glanced at her arm, it was practically healed. "Gee! Was the proof in her fingernail prints?"

  Reed frowned. She really thought he was making this up.

  "Hey, I'm sorry," she said. "But come on, you gotta admit it sounds pretty farfetched."

  "Maybe. But it's true. It was dark in there, and Tony couldn't find the light switch. He couldn't see it was a woman, and when…." He trailed off, shaking his head. "You know, I don't think he's ever going to forgive himself for hitting her. He just…."

  Lydia motioned for him to get on with the rest. "I really don't care to hear anything about how he feels if you don't mind, so…."

  "It was Dan Morris's sister."

  "What?!"

  "Yeah...Can you believe it? And from what we gather, she took over where Dan left off with the accounting. She was Bob's spy so to speak. She worked second shift in assembly, too."

  Lydia just shook her head.

  "She implicated him right in front of the detective, saying how he'd threatened to kill Dan. That's when they decided to cover your father's office from a little closer range, just in case." This was getting kind of fun to tell now. "And when Bob got there, it was really something."

  "Did he say anything? Was it what we thought?"

  Reed nodded. "He didn't say much at first though. He made Tony an offer, but of course Tony refused it, throwing your theory at him about buying the company next door, and...."

  "Wait a minute. What do you mean Tony refused? I thought you said my dad was there."

  Reed crossed his arms stubbornly. "Do you want to hear this or not?"

  Lydia wasn't sure. "Yeah, go on."

  "Well, your theory must've been pretty close, because Bob started ranting and raving then. At one point, I thought Tony was going to kill him."

  "Gee, maybe he just wanted to stay in practice."

  Reed couldn't believe she'd said that. "I don't know why you insist on blaming him for all of this."

  "Just finish! Okay...?"

  Reed hesitated. "Bob pulled a gun then and seemed hell bent on shooting Tony. As it was, he just missed him. If he hadn't ducked...."

  "And my dad was there through all this?"

  "Yes."

  "Well, he shouldn't have been, not the way he's been feeling lately."

  "He wanted to be there. He didn't have to be."

  "No, probably not," Lydia said sarcastically. "I'm sure Tony could've handled it just fine without him."

  Reed stood up, getting angrier by the second. "You've got this all wrong about Tony!"

  "Oh really?! Weren't you the one warning me about him just last week?"

  "Yes, but I was wrong! And so are you!"

  "Fuck him! He's history!"

  Reed shook his head. "Just like that?! 'Fuck him, he's history'?"

  "Yeah! Just like that!"

  Reed walked out. He had to. "Go back to your Scotch," he said disgustedly, slamming the door behind him. And that's exactly what she did.

  Her next attempt at sobering up came during a thunder­storm, one so violent the power went out for a while. When it came back on, it seemed like a good time to shower and wash her hair.

  She sat down in the living room and watched a little television after that. She even drank the Coke Reed had given her; of course it was warm by now. Then the phone rang.

  "Hello."

  "Lydia, this is Jan. I'm sorry to bother you, but...."

  "It’s no bother. What's up?"

 
; "The accountants are here. You have an appointment according to them."

  "Oh shit! Is it Thursday?"

  "Yes. Shall I reschedule them?"

  Lydia stared off, thinking. "No. Ask them to wait. Get Sylvia to give them the data we fed into the computer. Tell her to give them the spread sheets too."

  "All right."

  "Oh, and have Reed sit with them till I get there." Getting there wasn't going to be so easy though. Getting dressed in itself proved to be a task, let alone getting out the door and to the plant.

  Maybe if she ate? No, she couldn't manage it. A Coke? Yeah, the other one stayed down. A Coke…a Coke with ice. No, the ice would give her cramps. A warm Coke. She stuck it in the oven for a few minutes, and a warm Coke it was.

  * * *

  Tony's car was in its usual spot when she finally arrived. She hadn't expected otherwise. Still, it made her hesitate, wondering how she was going to get through the day. But such anxiety was apparently gone by the time she got upstairs, because she had a cheerful smile pasted on her face and a bounce in her stride.

  Jan greeted her tearfully. "I've been so worried about you."

  "See, and you were worried for naught, because here I am."

  Jan smiled.

  "So where are they?"

  "In your old office with Mr. Reed."

  Lydia waved over her shoulder and, with an even bigger smile now, opened the door. "Good morning! Sorry to keep you waiting."

  What a farce. For the next hour or so, she managed to show a fair amount of interest in their grim task of tallying. But shortly after that, she had to excuse herself. She needed to get something in her stomach, and fast. She was losing altitude.

  Jan didn't have a thing, not even a piece of gum - she never snacked -but offered her some change, which Lydia gladly took, and off to the cafeteria she went.

  Tony was getting himself a cup of coffee when she got there, and stopping dead, she swung around quickly before he could see her. In doing so, she ran smack-dab into the biker she'd reamed out her very first day.

  She apologized, but the man insisted it was all his fault, saying it at least three times. Hearing them, Tony turned, and for a moment, the very briefest of moments, the two of them looked into each other's eyes.

  Lydia swallowed. What was she going to do now? She'd obviously come here for something, so to leave empty-handed would be stupid, and yet....