“Got something for you to see.” Pete turns on the projector.
John and I glare at each other. He’s the first to look away and adjust in his seat. “You’re going to have admit, buddy, that Bill left some things to me. I’m his son-in-law!”
It’s best if I don’t say a word. I’m so angry that I have to narrow my eyes to slits in order to focus on his face.
“It’s ready,” Pete calmly says.
“Then roll it,” I say through clenched teeth.
Pete hits the On button, and the room lights dim automatically. The video of John taking the Acquisition and Deed files out of the building plays from the moment he arrives at the North Star Holdings building, until when he kisses Misty in the parking lot then drives off.
I look at John to the gauge his reaction. He’s trying not to meet my gaze.
I sniff bitterly. I’ve got him.
The second video plays, and it’s a doozy. It’s the one Valerie gave me. Onscreen, John is wheeling my father into the bank. Bill appears to be out of it, and I’d never seen my father in that condition in my life. I suspect that it was a temporary state, induced by John. They’re in a private room. Valerie admitted that she had taken John to the room where transactions are recorded because she doubted his credibility. John puts a pen in Bill’s hand. He’s saying something in his ear. Valerie looks uncomfortable as she watches. She says something to John, but he holds up a hand. She looks up as if there’s a knock at the door. She holds up a finger and scurries out of the room. While she’s gone, John takes my father’s hand and signs the document for him.
I look over at Pete and nod. He turns off the projector, and the lights turn on. I take the receipt for the wire transfer out of my coat pocket and hold it up.
“Not my father’s signature,” I say.
John fidgets nervously. He shakes his head as if he can’t believe he’s been caught.
“Don’t be surprised, Johnny Boy—you were sloppy as hell. You should’ve divorced my sister and sued for alimony. That would’ve been your best bet.”
“It’s called ‘spousal maintenance’ in Minnesota,” Pete says.
“And… you could be a cheating-ass fucker and still get your riches—at least a decent proportion—but now, you’ll get nothing. You broke the law, ex-brother-in-law, and on more than one occasion.”
John looks away as if he’s contemplating. I wink at Pete, and he winks back. We’ve officially caught this rascal by his toe.
John sighs forcefully. “Okay. So what do you want from me?”
“You tell your lawyer the truth and get the fuck out of my life.”
“What about Liza?” he asks.
“Then you divorce my sister just as you planned in the first place, and whatever she wants, you give to her. And, oh, you get no spousal support… not a dime.”
If looks could kill, I’d be a dead man—but then, so would John.
9:39 p.m.
I’m in Liza’s living room, and we’re both sitting on the sofa. I have just used my phone to show Liza the video. I had to. As a good brother who loves his sister, I had no choice. Tears stream from her eyes, and I feel awful about it. If only John had been the kind of man she deserves…
“What am I going to do now?” Her voice and bottom lip tremble.
“I’m sorry, Liza.”
She looks at me strangely then massages her temples. “He was screwing Misty? The bank manager I can see, but Misty?”
“I’m sorry that I had to be the one to bring this to you.”
She snorts. “You’re the only one who I want to bring something like this to me. Has John seen this video?”
“Pete and I met with him this afternoon. I showed it to him.” I fill her in on the reckless but elaborate scheme he devised to get his hands on her money. “Maybe he thought I trusted him more than I did.”
She chuckles bitterly. “He knew you weren’t his biggest fan, but he had no idea how much you truly abhorred him. I convinced him that you were just a protective brother but had nothing personal against him. It was my way of keeping the peace.” She sighs. “Gosh, was I a fool or what?”
I put my arm around her, and she rests her head on my shoulder. “You’re not a fool.”
We sit in silence for a long time, like we used to do when we were younger.
“I guess I have to divorce him now,” she says after what feels like fifteen minutes.
I don’t express my elation. Instead, I squeeze her tighter and kiss her on the forehead.
“I can’t even trust him with Aiden. I mean, what is he? A sociopath?”
I want to say that she hit the nail right on the head, but I think better of it. “You’re going to be fine, sis. You’re young, beautiful, and smart. I know at least ten guys who wondered why you chose John over them.”
Her tender sobs turn into a soft chuckle. She nudges me gently on the arm. “I can’t believe you.”
“What?”
“I know, deep inside, you’re jumping for joy.”
“Yes, but I love you too much to rub it in your face.”
She looks up at me. Liza and I have our father’s light-blue eyes. “Or to say I told you so?”
I smile. “I would never say I told you so.”
“But you did tell me so.”
“Doesn’t matter. We live and learn.”
Crying erupts on the baby monitor, and Liza runs upstairs to see about Aiden. Later, Liza, Aiden, and I eat dinner. I sleep in the guest room just to be around in case John shows up. By morning, he hasn’t come home. As we eat breakfast at the table, Liza bounces Aiden on her leg. She admits that John hardly ever comes home. As I figured, there have been issues with their marriage all along.
Liza has Aiden on her nipple again. “And you want to know what?” she asks.
“What?”
“I didn’t even cry over him last night. I wanted to but couldn’t. I can’t…”
Once again, I’m forced to bite my tongue. I want to say, “Good for you, kiddo.” Instead, I smile in a way that lets her know I’m always going to be on her side.
19
Nolan
Wednesday, December 30
8:48 a.m.
It’s 9:48 a.m. on the island of St. Kitts. I lie in Liza’s guest bed and place a call to Abby. Hopefully, she’s up. I want to ask if she would like me to fly to the Caribbean so that we can spend New Year’s Eve together. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind—especially if she misses me half as much as I miss her.
The call goes straight to voicemail. Then I wait for the beep. “Hello, Abby. This is Nolan again. We’re still playing phone tag. Hey, I wanted to run something by you…” My heart is beating a mile a minute. For a second, I consider the possibility of her having plans with her family and friends for New Year’s Eve—hell, perhaps she has another guy she’s hanging out with for the night. “How about I fly to St. Kitts tomorrow so we can, you know, spend New Year’s Eve together? Give me a call as soon as you get this.”
I hear a beep before I end the call. Hoping that it’s Abby, I hit the green button without glancing at the name.
“Nolan?”
I sigh, disappointed. “Kelsey. What do you want?”
“Have you forgotten our dinner tonight?”
I wish I had. “No, I haven’t.”
“Just calling to confirm. I haven’t heard a peep from you.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“With who? Abby?”
I sigh hard, right into the phone. “I’m not discussing Abby with you.”
“Well… we’ll see. I’ll see you at dinner. Seven thirty at Novelty.”
“Got it,” I say. “Is that it?”
She’s silent.
“Kelsey?”
“You don’t have to be sharp with me, Nolan—especially when I love you.”
I’m slightly taken aback but apprehensive about having her explain what she means by loving me. “I’ll see you tonight then,” I say.
She hangs u
p without saying goodbye. Something is definitely going on with her. I’ve been so busy trying to skin a rat named John Sharp that I haven’t paid much attention to Kelsey. There have been a few things off about her, like the way she was holding on to me at the funeral. Liza was right—she was way too touchy-feely. Then she’s having meetings with our bank. Deep down, I know that I have to be prepared for whatever shit Kelsey wants to toss across the dinner table.
I call Abby a few more times, but each call goes directly to voicemail. In the second message, I let her know that I’m going to schedule a chartered flight and fly out anyway. Maybe it’ll be easier to contact her once I get to the island. I call Destiny, my travel agent in Chicago, and she rents me a luxury villa on the hill above Turtle Beach.
I can hardly wait to steal Abby away from her parents to watch the fireworks and kiss her until our lips and tongues can’t take it anymore. I want to make love to her so badly that I catch a hard-on just thinking about it.
Once my horniness passes, I get dressed and leave Liza with our cousins Anne and Leslie, who came over to spend the day with Liza to help her get through the shit storm that’s raining on her life at the moment.
7:28 p.m.
I ask the young hostess if Kelsey Leeds has arrived.
She reads down a list of names. “Leeds?”
I shake my head. I’m not sure if she’s still going by my last name or her maiden name these days. “How about Kelsey Patrick?”
“Oh,” she says more enthusiastically. “I’ll show you to your table.”
As I follow the young and slight woman, I can’t help but think that she’s the same size Kelsey was when we first got married. Now Kelsey does yoga and other figure-toning exercises, which gives her the strong but trim body of a real woman. She has certainly become her own woman over the years. I wonder why she doesn’t drop my name and go back to being Kelsey Leeds so that she can build herself a bright future with another man who will certainly love her.
Kelsey stands as soon as she sees me. On a scale from one to ten, she’s a twenty tonight. She’s wearing a slinky silver dress. Her hair is pinned up, and her shoulders are showing. I wonder if she remembers how much I used to love to see her shoulders out. I used to tell her that they were as graceful as any dancer’s.
I kiss her on the cheek. “You look lovely tonight.”
She clears her throat. “So do you. Have a seat.” She sounds and looks nervous, which makes me a little nervous.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
She takes two breaths to steady herself. “Lobster bisque is still your favorite meal, isn’t it?”
I don’t know about it being my favorite meal, but I do like it very much. “Sure,” I say.
“Okay…” She takes another deep breath. “Well, I ordered it for you.”
I’m so damn confused and alarmed by her behavior. I reach across the table and take her by the hands. “What’s going on with you, Kay?”
She stares deeply into my eyes. The lost-puppy-dog look has me more worried than I was a few seconds ago.
Strangely enough, the waiters are here with our dinner.
I take my hand off hers. “You couldn’t wait until I got here to order?”
“I thought it would be best if we just eat as soon as we can.”
I grimace as the waiter finishes dishing out our meals. For the first time, I notice that the wine has already been poured.
“Okay, are you dying or something?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I want you back, Nolan.”
I feel as if I’m being Punk’d. I check over one shoulder then the other. Is a tall, lanky guy with a camera going to stumble out of the kitchen, laughing about how I should’ve seen my face?
I touch my chest. “You want me back?”
“I love you. I never stopped loving you.”
I shake my head continuously. “No…”
“And I want you to stop seeing your assistant. She’s not good for you.”
“What?”
“I want you to stop seeing your assistant. I know you spent the weekend before last with her at the cabin. You made love to her. I want her out of your life.”
“That’s not your call.”
Kelsey looks off then rests her eyes back on me. “Actually, it is my call, Nolan,” she says with the calm of a psychopath who just finished skinning me alive.
I want to run out of the restaurant as fast as I can and escape this nonsense. Not in a million years will I ever remarry Kelsey. “What the hell are you talking about?” I shout.
“You know what Bill left me?”
“Yes…” What the fuck is she getting at?
“Um, well, I can make you buy me out, or I can make you liquidate the holdings so that I can receive my equal share.”
“Are you fucking joking?”
“No, Nolan. You leave her alone, and I’ll leave your properties alone. It’s your choice.”
I shake my head as if I’m trying to wake myself out of a nightmare. “You know I don’t have the kind of cash it would take to buy you out.” I aim my finger at her. “Selling our assets for cash is not what Bill intended, and you know it.”
Kelsey calmly cuts a piece of her flounder with her fork. “I know, but he wouldn’t want you with someone like Abby, either. He would agree with me.” She nods as if she’s convinced of what she’s saying.
I want to pound my fist on the table then stand up and shout at her. “You’re crazy,” I say with a lot less intensity than the emotion that’s fired up inside me.
“I don’t want her in your life. And I better not hear about you fucking her, or I’m liquidating. If you even tell her about what we’re talking about, then I’m liquidating.”
“Fuck you, Kelsey. I’ll never marry you a second time.”
“Yes you will, Nolan. You love me, but you’re just mad because I cheated on you. I did it because I used to need way too much attention. I was high maintenance, but I’m not like that anymore. Give me a chance to prove that I’ve changed.”
I can’t control my laughter. She’s lost her mind. Perhaps I can have her committed. I just handled John, but damn it—is it now time to deal with Kelsey? I see Abby’s beautiful face falling away from me. I want to be with her so badly tomorrow night. Kelsey doesn’t bluff, and she can be highly devious when she wants something. Unfortunately, I’m that something she wants.
I take a few more sips of my lobster bisque, wipe my mouth, and stand up. “Have a good night.”
Her eyes widen, and she looks so innocent. “I’m doing this for your own good. Bill would’ve loved to see us back together. It’s what he wanted—that’s why he even included me at all.”
I shake my head. She’s like a dog with a bloody bone. There’s no talking her out of her crazy desire to be with me. I walk out of the restaurant. My feet are heavy. My heart hurts. Am I willing to lose everything I’ve built with my father and North Star Holdings to be with a woman I’ve only known for five weeks? The decision seems obvious, but I’m just not ready to make it yet.
20
Abby
I step off the plane at MSP Airport, Minneapolis. In the Jetway, I can feel how cold it is outside. I get my luggage at the baggage claim, and even forty feet from the door, I can feel the airport’s heat tempered by blasts of cold every time the sliding doors open. Before long, I’m in my car, waiting for the engine to warm. I stare at the parked car facing mine. I’m taking solace in the fact that Nolan Patrick and I are finally in the same city.
Soon, my engine is purring smoothly, and I hit the road. More thoughts of Nolan and my job come to mind. I think about what it is going to be like now that we’ve christened our boss/employee relationship with the best sex ever. I think about the dull-gray and pale-white uninspiring colors of the office. I recall standing at the top of that volcano, looking over the island and deep-blue waters. I imagine what it is going to look like sitting at my desk, staring at bobbing heads protruding above the cubicle walls wi
th everyone working away at maintaining Bill’s empire. I’m just not sure it’s enough for me anymore.
I pull into my driveway, and I’m happy to see that snow hasn’t piled up. Ethan Crawly, the neighborhood sweeper, has been on his p’s and q’s. I open the garage door and close it behind me. Suddenly, my cell phone chimes and buzzes in my purse. For some reason, my garage has a cell-signal hot spot. I retrieve my phone out of my bag and flip it open. I have eleven messages and listen to them one by one.
The first nine are Nolan hoping I had a good Christmas, saying that he’s thinking of me, and asking me to call him when I get a chance. The last two messages are interesting. First, he asks if I would be okay with him flying to St. Kitts so that we can spend New Year’s Eve together. In the last message, he said that was going to fly out “tomorrow,” regardless of my response. Nolan never showed up, or if he did, then he didn’t find me. The island is so small. There aren’t very many places for tourists to congregate. I’m sure we would’ve run into each other at the New Year’s Eve celebration on Frigate Bay if he had come. However, I spent most of my time that night trying to avoid Daniel and anyone who may have been on that yacht the day after Christmas. Regardless, I’m happy he tried to call. My stupid phone… I took a late flight in, so it’s almost midnight, probably too late call Nolan.
I get into my house, and its familiar scent brings me fully back to my life before I flew to St. Kitts. I set my bags down and turn on the light. I look around my living room. All of my grandparents’ stuff is still there, still the same. For the first time ever, I’m uncomfortable with seeing more of my grandparents in my living space than I see of myself. I continue staring, looking to locate the pieces of me: the plant on the table next to the couch, which always looks either half-dead, dead, or thriving; the end tables that I picked up from IKEA along with the lamps; and a couple of pictures that I’ve taken and framed on the wall. I see my art books on the bookshelf. I walk to them and smile. I brush the dust off the cover of one and open it to a random page.
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