by Maria Geraci
“Okay. Great. You can check that off your twelve steps now.”
“Mimi!” A familiar laugh made the blood in Zeke’s veins freeze over.
Allie.
She and Tom were walking toward him, hand in hand. She seemed oblivious to the man standing just a few feet away from her. She reached out and hugged Mimi. “That was unbelievable! Okay, tell me now. How on earth did you get Billy Brenton to come play here?”
Mimi looked uncertain of what to do. She hugged Allie back and laughed skittishly. “I think you should ask Zeke that question.”
“What does my brother have to do with getting Billy Brenton here?” she asked, playfully punching Zeke in the shoulder.
An awkward silence ensued as she noticed Sam for the first time. “Who’s this?” she asked politely. Allie had been seven at the time of Mom’s accident. Too young, maybe, to have kept a lasting impression of their father in her mind.
Sam began mumbling something about being an old family “friend.” Allie looked confused, but she seemed to be buying it.
This wasn’t how Zeke had pictured this. He’d wanted to sit his sister down. To explain everything to her in a calm and logical way. But that was impossible now. If he let Sam pretend he was some random old acquaintance, she’d really never forgive him.
“You can cut the crap,” Zeke said to Sam.
Allie’s eyes widened. Tom snapped his head around to look at him. And Mimi. God bless her. She just kept holding his hand. He held onto it like a drowning man hung to a life saver.
“Allie, this is Sam Grant,” Zeke said, because he couldn’t introduce the guy as “Dad.” He didn’t deserve it.
“Sam…” Allie shook her head, confused. “But…that’s Dad’s name.”
Tom caught Zeke’s eyes, then put his arm around Allie. “Baby, let’s go somewhere where it’s quiet.”
“I don’t understand,” Allie said to Zeke. “Is this…is this our father?” She turned to Sam. “Are you…”
“Hello, Allison,” Sam said. His blue eyes were shiny with tears. It was a good act. Zeke would give him credit for that.
“What are you doing here? How on earth… Oh my God! Daddy!” She flung herself into the bastard’s arms. Sam cried openly, hugging Allie back. People began to stop, like they were watching one of those bad daytime talk show reunions.
Zeke had never wanted to hit someone more in his life. He wanted to smash Sam’s face in. The anger all came crashing back. How could Allie stand to touch him? It was like the past twenty-four years had never happened.
“I’m sorry,” Sam said. “I’m so sorry, Allie-gator.”
“Don’t call her that,” Zeke warned. It was the pet name Sam had affectionately used when she was a child. But Allie wasn’t a kid anymore and Sam Grant had lost the privilege to call her that a long time ago.
Allie swiped a tear from her cheek. “Zeke, I know this must be a shock to you, too, but…can’t we just listen to what he has to say?”
“I already know what he has to say,” Zeke said. He gently took his sister by the elbow to lead her away, but she pulled away from his grasp.
“What do you mean, you already know?” Hurt mingled with suspicion shone in her eyes. He wished he’d listened to Mimi. That he could take back the last few months. But he couldn’t. All he could do was try to make this right.
“Sam’s been living in Pensacola for the past twenty-four years. He’s a drunk, Allie. He’s been arrested for DUI and…he’s got another kid out there. Hell, maybe he’s got a dozen. I don’t know. But he’s been arrested for failure to pay child support. So you see? He hasn’t changed at all. He doesn’t have some sad story to explain why he left us. Why he left you and me and Buela when we needed him most. He’s a selfish prick who doesn’t care about anyone except himself.”
Allie whipped around to confront Sam. “You’ve been in Pensacola this whole time? This whole time when I thought…you have more children? Is it true? Is what Zeke says true?”
Sam hung his head. “Every word of it. Your brother’s right. I’m a selfish drunk who doesn’t deserve to even be speaking to you right now. But…you need to know, Allison, I never stopped thinking about you or Zeke. I was weak. I’m still weak. But I never meant to hurt you on purpose.”
“So I have a sister? Or another brother?” Her voice cracked. It flowed through Zeke’s gut like acid.
“You have a half-brother, Jeremy. He’s sixteen and a junior in high school. His mother and I were separated, but we recently got back together again. I…messed it up bad with them. But I’m trying to make it up to them now, just like I’d like to make it up to you and your brother.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a little too late for that,” Zeke said. “I don’t need a daddy anymore and neither does Allie.” He put his hand out to his sister. “C’mon, we’ve listened to him. Let’s go.”
Allie blinked at him. “Go? Go where? Zeke, he’s our father! The only flesh and blood we have left besides each other. Wait. How did he end up here? Why don’t you seem as shocked as I am to see him?”
He could lie to her. Sam wouldn’t rat him out, not when he was trying to get in his good graces, but Zeke didn’t want to hide anything from his sister or anyone else anymore.
He glanced around the spellbound crowd. Good to know the Grant family drama was giving someone a few cheap thrills.
He lowered his voice. “I’ve known where Sam’s been for eighteen years. I didn’t know about the kid, not until the other day. He wrote me a while back and he’s been calling. Trying to get me to see him.”
Allie’s face went white. “Why didn’t you tell me all this before? Zeke, I tried to ask you about Dad just a couple of months ago and you lied to me. Right to my face!”
Once again, he tried to steer Allie away. “C’mon, honey, let’s go talk somewhere else.”
“No! We’re going to talk right now. Right here.”
Zeke fought for every ounce of control he could muster. “I’m not proud that I lied to you. But I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“Well guess what? I’m not hurt. I’m pissed!” She turned to Mimi. “Did you know, too?”
Mimi started to answer, but Zeke cut her off. “Mimi begged me to tell you. She even threatened to tell you herself, so please, don’t blame her.”
“Well, that explains a whole hell of a lot! No wonder you kicked him out of the house!” She looked at Zeke as if she couldn’t stand to be near him. “Who died and made you king of the world?” The tears were coming faster now. “I have to get out of here,” she said to Tom.
Tom tossed Zeke a look that wasn’t too hard to interpret. If they weren’t in the middle of a crowd, his future brother-in-law would have gladly kicked the shit out of him. Morosely, it only made Zeke like Tom more. He put his arm around Allie and led her away from the curious eyes of the crowd who’d gathered to watch the scene.
Zeke glared at the bystanders. “Everyone go mind your own business!”
They scurried away like they were afraid of him. He didn’t blame them one bit. He was a little afraid of himself right now, too.
“Zeke, son, I’m so sorry,” Sam said.
“Why don’t you leave? Are you happy now? Why don’t you crawl back to wherever you came from and leave us the hell alone!”
“Sam,” Mimi said quietly, “I think you should go.”
He nodded in a dejected way, meant to get everyone to feel sorry for him, then shuffled off into the crowd, looking like some lonely old man. Was Zeke the only one who could see Sam Grant for what he really was? Good riddance.
“I have to go find Allie,” Zeke said, already taking off in the direction she and Tom had gone.
“No,” Mimi said firmly. She planted herself directly in front of him. “You need to give her time, Zeke. She’s in shock. It will only make things worse if you follow her now.”
He raked an agitated hand through his hair. Mimi was right. Letting Allie go was the right thin
g to do. She had Tom now. He’d help her get through this.
“C’mon, we have some major clean up to do.” She led him to the tent in the center of the festival grounds.
Viola and the rest of the festival committee were already waiting for her. There was a strange vibe going on that caused his internal cop radar to start beeping.
“Mimi!” Viola said, “Where have you been? We’ve been looking all over for you!”
“I had a little family crisis,” Mimi said, glancing at Zeke.
Rusty and another one of his officers were talking to a short blonde woman, whom Zeke recognized as Wendy Tallman. She was wringing her hands and…tears rolled down her cheeks.
Shit. His instincts had been right on.
“What’s going on?” Zeke asked.
Rusty’s eyes had that bugged-out look they got whenever he was too excited.
“This has simply never happened before in the entire history of the festival!” Bettina Bailey said.
“What’s never happened before?” Mimi asked. “Is someone going to tell me what’s going on here?”
“Well,” Bettina said, “Considering that everything tonight is your responsibility, as you so graciously told everyone when you were up on that stage, I’m surprised you don’t already know.”
“Know what?” Mimi asked again, exasperated.
“Someone stole all the money from the ticket booth!” Rusty said. “I swear, Zeke, I have no idea how it happened. That booth was locked down tighter than Fort Knox. And I never left my post. Not once. Not even for a second.”
Wendy’s voice quivered with tears. “Over twenty-thousand dollars gone! Oh, Mimi! What are we going to do?”
The only place large enough to hold an emergency town meeting on less than twenty-four hours’ notice was the high school gymnasium. The place was swarming with people. Mimi smoothed down the fabric of her dark skirt. She had on the same outfit she’d worn for her first city council meeting. Maybe it would bring her luck. Or maybe not, considering that meeting hadn’t exactly gone stellar. But it was her most professional outfit and it gave her a boost of confidence. Although, despite the fact she’d unintentionally lost a few pounds in the last month, the waistband bit into her flesh.
She sat in a fold-out chair, facing the packed bleachers and tried not to squirm as Bruce and Larry and the rest of the city council took their places alongside her. At Bruce’s insistence, she’d called the meeting first thing this morning. Signs had been placed all over town, but once the Bunco Babes and the Gray Flamingos had gotten wind of what was going on, they’d activated their respective phone chains and everyone who was anyone in town had shown up. They’d even had to place speakers outside the gym so all the people who hadn’t been able to get inside could hear what was going on.
Gus Pappas made some adjustments to the mic, then nodded at Mimi. He held onto her gaze for a few seconds longer than she expected in a look that could only be described as sympathy. Did Gus know something she didn’t?
She must have been paranoid, because everyone in the gym clapped wildly when she stood. She grabbed a piece of paper from her tote and made her way to the podium on shaky legs, determined not to let Bruce get in the first word. Last night, he’d basically accused her of incompetence and told her if she didn’t call a meeting, as a member of the city council, he would. Hopefully, taking matters into her own hands would nip whatever nastiness Bruce had planned in the bud.
“Good morning. In case you don’t know me by now, I’m Mimi Grant, your mayor. I want to thank everyone for coming out here today. I know some of you have already been to church and some of you have services you want to get to, so I’ll make this brief.”
She read from the notes on her paper. “Yesterday, Whispering Bay had one of the most successful Spring Into Summer festivals in the history of this town. Most of the local businesses saw a huge profit, especially the food trucks and the booths sponsored by local restaurants. The concert last night was attended by more people than we could count, but we do know that we sold over a thousand tickets, twice the number we expected. Unfortunately, we weren’t prepared for such a large crowd and, sometime shortly before ten p.m. in a rare moment when the ticket booth was not properly supervised, someone snuck into the booth and stole twenty-thousand dollars.”
The crowd gasped. Everyone began to talk at once.
Mimi waited a moment for her mouth to start to work again. She tapped on the mic, regaining the crowd’s attention. “The money made by the festival has always gone into a special bank account to help fund the following year’s festival. In the past, when there’s been a surplus, the money has been used for the good of the community. Like purchasing the playground equipment at Seashell Park. Recently, however, the festival has actually lost money. Despite the theft of this twenty-thousand dollars, I’m happy to report that the festival has once again gone into the black. We don’t have exact numbers, but it appears that we made a profit in the neighborhood of almost fifteen thousand dollars. That’s due to the generous support of the citizens of this wonderful city I’m so proud to represent.”
There was a light scattering of polite applause.
“I promise you that, as mayor, I will do everything I can to help in the apprehension of the person or persons responsible for this theft. But I ask for your patience in this matter, as well. We must allow the police to do their job, which means we all need to cooperate and be patient as we await the outcome of their investigation. As always, I’ll be available to answer any of your questions, about this or any other concerns you might have. Thank you.”
Mimi sat down and let out a huge breath. There. That wasn’t so bad. She watched as Bruce scampered his way up to the podium.
“Good morning, everyone,” Bruce said with a smarmy smile on his face. “First, let’s take a moment to all bow our heads in prayer.” The crowd looked confused, but they went along with him. Oh, brother. Mimi had seen Bruce do this a couple of times before when they had campaigned against one another. He probably felt like it gave him some kind of edge over her.
“Heavenly Father!” Bruce bellowed into the mic. “Grant us the wisdom and serenity and the…intelligence to make the right choices here today….” He droned on and on, not making much of any sense really.
Mimi was exhausted. She and Zeke, as well as half the Whispering Bay police force had stayed up all night, combing the festival grounds in hopes of discovering what had happened to the missing money. Just when Mimi thought she might doze off, she heard Bruce say her name, causing her to sit straight up in her chair.
“I hate to be the first one to throw stones”—did everything have a Biblical connotation in Bruce’s mind?—“but there simply was not enough police security last night! And whose fault was that? Well, there’s only one person in charge of the festival. The town mayor. I ought to know, since I was blessed enough to have served as your mayor for the past decade. Not that I’m tooting my own horn or anything, but nothing like this ever happened during my tenure.” He paused. Larry jumped from his seat to bring him a sheet of paper.
Good grief. Did Bruce have a speech he planned to read?
“I have in front of me a list of grievances that several fine citizens have brought to the city council’s attention. As the senior member of the council, I come to you with a heavy heart and a burden so great I can barely lift it. But, alas, I must! As you all know, our mayor Mrs. Grant is married to the chief of police. Under normal circumstances, this sort of incestual relationship within the structure of our city government can be tolerated, but I’m afraid the parties involved have gone far beyond anything that we can stomach.”
What the?
Mimi searched Zeke out. He stood, in uniform, next to Rusty and Mike and several other officers who were helping with crowd control for the meeting. He shook his head at her. Mimi instantly recognized it as a sign to stay calm. She took a deep breath and listened.
“Number one grievance,” Bruce shouted like a preacher from the pulp
it. “Misuse of city services! On or about the night of March twenty-eighth, an urgent 911 call was made requesting police assistance to the home of our mayor. I believe she said she was in the middle of a home invasion. At the time, as most of you know, the mayor and her husband were estranged. I believe her husband was living out at Rusty Newton’s cousin’s fishing cabin. Many of you might have been involved in the committee to bring our chief meals. I know my wife, bless her heart, stayed up several nights cooking so that our chief wouldn’t feel the effects of his wife’s abandonment.
“Now, you may ask, what’s so wrong about calling 911? It’s the right of every citizen, after all. If you fear for your life or property, then by all means, dial away. But…and please, if you haven’t read Fifty Shades of Grey, cover your ears because what I’m about to say will shock you. The mayor and her husband used the call in some sort of twisted…sexual game. I have proof the mayor was never in any danger whatsoever!”
At first the gym seemed stunned. Then everyone began talking at once.
Mimi didn’t know whether to be mad or to laugh. Bruce was insane!
“Photographic evidence will prove that the only home invasion was on the part of two rather amorous armadillos.” The crowd began to laugh. Bruce’s face went red, but he continued. “At least four patrol cars as well as an ambulance and a fire truck were all dispatched in the middle of the night, drawing these essential first responders away from any potential real emergencies. I’m not sure where the kink is in all this, but there’s proof that the mayor and her husband spent the night together, as he was caught trying to sneak out of the house early the next morning.”
Gus stood and went to the podium. “That’s enough, Bruce,” he said sternly. “Hand over the mic.”
The crowd began to clap at Gus’s motion.
“But I’m not done!” Bruce said.
Mimi got up from her seat. “May I?” She pointed to the mic. “I’ll give it right back to you. I promise.” She said it loud enough that it caught on the microphone, giving Bruce no choice but to reluctantly hand it over.