Storm Shells

by G. J. Walker-Smith

  I shrugged. “Sure.”

  “Your wife is a nightmare to deal with.” He sounded relieved to get the words out. Charlotte must have done a real number on him.

  “What did she do?”

  I tried to keep my expression straight as he described the phone conference, but cracked when he got to the part about the mail-stealing kangaroos.

  “This is her signed documentation.” He pushed it across the desk at me. “As you can see, it’s worthless.”

  I thumbed through the documents to get to the last page. “Ah, that’s not her signature.”

  It wasn’t even her name.

  “No, I checked,” he replied solemnly. “Charlotte Elisabeth Décarie has never gone by the alias Adele E. Penguin.”

  Inappropriately, I laughed.

  “I’m not sure how to proceed from here,” he told me.

  I shrugged. “Me neither.”

  “I have a lot riding on this case, Adam,” he said nervously. “I’m hoping to be able to prove myself to the partners. If I can’t wrap this up, I’ve got no chance of getting my own office.”

  I glanced around. “What’s wrong with this one?”

  “This is my father’s.”

  Of course. I should’ve realised that the nameplate on the door was Michael senior’s.

  “Look, Michael,” I began. “Just send them to her again and –”

  “I already have. Twice. We could file in absentia.”

  “No. Charli’s not absent. She just doesn’t want to sign.”

  And I loved her for it. I didn’t know what to make of it – but I loved her for it. It went a tiny way toward healing me.

  “With all due respect, Adam, that’s hardly relevant.”

  It was very relevant. I didn’t want her to sign either.

  I was done with Michael Fontaine. I picked up the documents and made a beeline for the door.

  “So what do you want me to do?” he called.

  I turned back, grinning. “Absolutely nothing.”

  February 26

  Charli

  I woke late the next morning feeling unfairly exhausted. My fatigue was purely cerebral. I’d been dealing with too many idiots lately and it was starting to wear me down.

  The only remedy I could think of was time at the beach. A long walk seemed even more inviting when I realised it would be low tide. If I could muster the energy, perhaps I’d look for my phone– if only to make sure it didn’t end up choking a defenceless seal.

  The weather was superb. It was sunny, bright and still. The ocean was as calm as a millpond, which made running into Alex there almost shocking.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked as soon as he was within earshot. “I thought you’d be at work.”

  He flashed me a wily smile and I knew the answer would be good.

  “I’m not going anywhere near that café this morning,” he told me, mussing his wet hair with a towel. “Jasmine and her crew have hijacked it. They’re discussing her wedding plans over coffee.” He shuddered, but I suspected it had nothing to do with being cold.

  “Nice.” I grinned. “So who’s going to be there?”

  Alex pulled a face like he’d just tasted something horrid. “All of them. Her mother, the groom, Floss, Lily, all of them.”

  “And you left Nicole to deal with it?”

  “She’s way tougher than me,” replied Alex through the T-shirt he was dragging over his head.

  I couldn’t help laughing. “Maybe I’ll go and keep her company.”

  “Why on earth would you do that?” He sounded appalled. “You’re better off hiding out down here.”

  I’d come to the decision that there was no point trying to keep my pregnancy under wraps any more. One by one, people were realising the reason for my sudden weight problem and bad fashion sense. If I let it go on much longer, it would become a game of Chinese whispers. I didn’t want to hear on the grapevine that I was pregnant with triplets by multiple fathers.

  “I think I’m done hiding,” I replied. “Maybe it’s time to just put it all out there.”

  Unexpectedly, Alex lurched forward, taking my face in his cold hands, grinning like an idiot. “I’m so proud of you,” he said, exaggerating the declaration by gritting his teeth.

  I giggled and he released me. “It might not end well,” I warned, smiling. “No matter how big my belly gets, Jasmine will always find room to eat me alive.”

  “She’ll have to go through me first,” he said, sounding almost scary. “If anyone gives you a hard time, come to me.”

  That should’ve been the moment that I mentioned my overzealous neighbour. My father could talk sense into him, or knock sense into him if talking didn’t work.

  Instead, I asked him to organise an electrician to check out the wiring at the cottage.

  * * *

  I sat in the car park for a long time, working up the courage to go inside. I knew that once I went in there would be no going back.

  I’d ditched the oversized bulky jacket in favour of a pink camisole top that hid nothing. Although tight, the black shorts I wore still fit me – if I wore them low on my hips. I bravely had at least two inches of bared belly on display for the world to see. And at the moment, the whole world was in the café discussing the wedding of the year.

  I slipped in so quietly that the bell on the door barely tinkled. At first my presence didn’t rate a glance. I suspect it was because the wedding party was in the midst of a fierce discussion about sugared almond bonbonnieres.

  I glanced at Nicole who was behind the counter, grinning. She put her forefinger to her temple like a gun. I wanted to tell her that being there couldn’t be that bad. Then I looked at the wedding planners from hell and realised it could.

  Floss noticed me first. She stood and very slowly shuffled toward me. Her already big brown eyes were the size of saucers by the time she reached me.

  She pointed at my stomach. “Charli, Lovie, are you...” Her voice trailed off.

  “Having a baby, yes,” I replied, finishing her sentence.

  It took a great deal of effort not to cover myself up, possibly because I knew it was hopeless.

  Never one to hold back, Floss threw her arms around me, squealing and crying tears that I hoped were joyful.

  “How wonderful,” she beamed, releasing me just enough to plant her hand on my bump. “And what a pretty baby it will be. Adam must be over the moon.”

  “Yeah.”

  I didn’t have time to dwell on the lie because Meredith Tate piped up. “How does your father feel about it, Charli?”

  I looked at the mother of the Beautifuls and suddenly felt a little intimidated. Meredith Tate was the sort of woman who commanded respect but gave very little in return. Like her eldest daughter, she was tanned, bleached, sparkly – and judgemental. And she thought I was trash. It was an opinion she’d held since my brief tryst with Mitchell, her only son, almost four years earlier. Judging by the look on her heavily made-up face, nothing had changed.

  Meredith twisted to get a better look at me. It was a hard position to keep polite considering her short skirt. Fortunately, she kept her legs tightly crossed as she bounced her foot up and down, making her gold anklet jingle.

  Who wore anklets these days, for crying out loud? They hadn’t been chic since Pensioner Penny’s corduroys were in fashion.

  “My father is – and always has been – very supportive of me,” I replied in the strongest tone I could muster.

  Her smirk was borderline cruel. “Of course.”

  “Well,” interjected Wade, slamming his hand on the table. “What a revolution.”

  “Revelation, Wade,” corrected Meredith dully. Perhaps she was getting bored by his idiocy.

  “You’ll be a wonderful mother, Charli,” said Lily. “Congratulations.”

  I smiled at her appreciatively. “Thanks, Lil.”

  Four down, one to go, I thought. At the end of the day, only Jasmine’s reaction really mattered. She was
the only person in the room that I felt could truly destroy me – even after all I’d been through.

  Ignoring Meredith’s baleful glare, I looked at the chief Beautiful, who seemed to be taking forever to process the news. After what seemed an eternity, she jumped out of her chair and stalked toward me. “Oh my God!” she screeched, pointing at me.

  I put my hand to my stomach, instinctively bracing for the worst. I expected a nasty told-you-so lecture, just like old times. I’d never given her a better reason to mock me.

  “Oh my God!” she repeated, this time pointing at my shoes. “Are those Louboutins?”

  I looked at my feet. “Ah, yeah. They’re last season’s, though.”

  Last season’s? I couldn’t believe I’d said it.

  “I love them,” she said admiringly. “I want a silver pair for the wedding.” I’d just fed her the gossip of the century and she was more interested in my sandals. “I love them,” she repeated. “Oh, and good news about the baby. Glad you’re not just fat.”

  Nicole burst into giggles. Floss shushed her. Wade and Lily picked up the sugared almond conversation from where they’d left off. Meredith told them both to shut up. Jasmine continued to stare at my shoes.

  I couldn’t have wished for a better outcome.

  * * *

  I’d spent a lot of time home alone, even when I lived with Adam. Walking into an empty house had never bothered me, but today something seemed off. I wandered from room to room trying to find reason for the creeped-out vibe I was getting. Nothing looked out of place until I got to my bedroom.

  The top drawer of the dresser was half open.

  I spent a few minutes reasoning with myself. Logic told me I’d left it open myself. My pregnant mind was like a sieve – I’d been guilty of putting the milk in the pantry more than once in the past few weeks. But logic had never been my strong suit, and darker thoughts took over. What if someone had been in my house? I thought back to the uneasy conversation I’d had with Flynn on my porch, feeling the same level of panic as I’d had then.

  I slammed the drawer shut, went to the lounge and locked the screen door. I’d never been fastidious when it came to security, even when I lived in New York.

  Locking the door was so out of character that poor Alex nearly head butted the mesh as he tried to open the door. I raced to unlock it. “Sorry,” I mumbled, twisting the key to let him in.

  “Everything okay?”

  “You tell me. What did the electrician say?”

  Alex walked in but didn’t venture past the doorway.

  “It was a just a dodgy fuse. He replaced a few of them.”

  “Did he come in the house, Alex?”

  “No, why?”

  I shook my head. “No reason.”

  “Listen,” he said gently, “if you’re nervous about being here, come home.”

  “I’m not nervous. I’m staying here.”

  “Here,” he said, holding out a phone. “Gabrielle had a spare one. Use it until you find yours.”

  I felt bad about the story I’d spun about losing my phone, but it didn’t seem like a good time to confess that it was swimming with the fishes.

  “Thanks. And thank Gabi for me.”

  “I will,” he said, making his way to the door. “And if you need me, call me. Or Flynn, you can call Flynn,” he suggested. “You can’t get much safer than having a policeman next door, right?”

  I forced a tight smile. “Right.”

  May 24

  Adam

  I’d done it. I officially had a law degree. I didn’t have a wife, any semblance of a social life or much else going on, but I did have a law degree.

  My mother organised a ridiculous, over-the-top party to mark my graduation. When she’d first mentioned it, I insisted that she scale down her plans. Her idea of scaling down was hosting the party as Nellie’s rather than Billet-doux.

  Enduring the event might have been easier if not for the fact that the purple circle made the guest list, along with seventy other people I didn’t give a damn about. Parker hunted me down as soon as he walked in the door, coming at me as if we were long lost friends.

  “Congrats, man.” He slapped me on the back.

  “You too,” I muttered unenthusiastically.

  We’d both graduated. Law school was a journey we’d started together. We’d been best friends since we were nine. I felt a twinge of sadness that things had gone so far off track.

  Parker obviously felt it too. He spent the next few minutes trying hard to make small talk – so hard that he actually broke a sweat. I put him out of his misery early.

  “Parker, let’s get something straight,” I began. “I didn’t invite you here tonight. My mother invited you.”

  He actually had the nerve to look hurt. “I don’t know what else I can do to make it up to you, Adam. I’m sorry for what happened.”

  I shook my head. “There’s nothing to make up. You’re a dick. We’re not friends and we’re never going to be again.” I pointed at him as I backed away into the sea of guests. “That’s on you.”

  Kinsey was my next opponent. I hadn’t seen her since before Christmas and probably wouldn’t have recognised her if she hadn’t tapped me on the shoulder.

  She looked better than I’d ever seen her – at least twenty pounds heavier and nowhere near as fragile. She’d cut her blonde hair shorter and her pale skin had a bit of colour to it.

  “Kins. How are you?”

  She stretched up, kissed both my cheeks and hit me with a stun gun smile. “I’m great. Really wonderful.”

  “You look gorgeous.” It was a compliment I’d never imagined paying her.

  Kinsey spent the next few minutes filling me in on the last few months. Desperate to get out of town, she’d taken off to Florida to spend time with her sister. “Amazing things happen when you get out of this place.” She winked at me. “There’s a big world out there.”

  I smiled. “Absolutely.” A few months in Sarasota hardly qualified as exploring the big wide world but she definitely seemed to have benefited from it.

  “I needed to get away,” she said, glancing venomously in Parker’s direction.

  I knew exactly what she meant. She wasn’t the only one who’d had an escape plan after Parker-Gate exploded.

  “I’m glad you’re happy, Kinsey.”

  She touched my arm, batting her eyes at me. “What about you?” she asked.

  “I’m great.”

  I could tell she was desperate to broach the subject of Charli. Thankfully, she decided against it.

  “You’re a lawyer now,” she announced, throwing her arms out wide.

  “Nearly. I still have to sit the bar exam in July.”

  “You’ll ace it,” she said.

  After a few more minutes of banter, I told her to enjoy the party, excused myself and slipped into the crowd.

  * * *

  The night went on forever. My mother paraded me around the room a hundred times like some prize. I shook hands with guests of her choosing, smiling until my face ached.

  Ryan and I had borne her wrath before the party even started. She’d turned up at our apartment at six o’clock, raided our wardrobes and laid out our clothes as if we were kids.

  “For goodness sake, snap out of it,” she’d barked, noticing my lack of enthusiasm. “This is supposed to be a joyous occasion.”

  “For you or me, Mom?” That comment resulted in her nearly strangling me with the tie she’d chosen.

  Ryan wasn’t such a pushover. He chose his own tie and ordered her out. “We’re grown men, Mom,” he told her. “Go home.”

  As it turned out, he wasn’t entirely grown. He ended up wearing the shirt she’d picked out for him.

  * * *

  I finally managed to escape the party by sneaking up to the empty mezzanine, but the peace was short-lived.

  “Hiding out?”

  Whitney stood at the top of the stairs. I hadn’t seen her coming. If I had, I might’ve hurled
myself over the balustrade.

  “Whitney Vaughn.” I dragged out her name.

  “How are you, Adam?” she asked, sauntering toward me.

  I shrugged but said nothing.

  Whitney pulled out a chair and sat down. “Your mom is looking for you.”

  “Is she?”

  “She is. Your father was too, earlier. He was talking to Judge Lassiter. You start your clerkship with her soon, right?”

  “Yup.”

  “It was nice of her to come to your party.”

  “It was,” I agreed.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that my father knew Judge Lassiter. I’d been deliberately secretive when applying for my clerkship. I wanted to do it off my own bat, without using his influence to gain any favours. Seeing him downstairs, chatting with her as if they were old friends, made me wonder if it had been such a coup after all. Chances were he’d pulled strings anyway.

  “I thought you’d be more excited about it, Adam,” said Whitney. “This is everything you’ve ever wanted.”

  “How do you know I haven’t changed my mind?”

  “Have you?” she asked softly.

  I stared down at the party below. “A career in law,” I announced resentfully. “That’s my calling, right? I’ve had my eye on the prize since I was ten. My whole life has led to this moment.”

  She stared at me, chewing her bottom lip. “You’ve always been ambitious.”

  She was right. I was hardly multi-faceted. I’d been focused on that one goal my whole life. Nothing had stood in my way – not even Charli. Now I’d achieved it, the cost of what I’d lost was finally starting to sink in, and I’d become a miserable human being because of it.

  “I’m probably not good company right now, Whit,” I told her.

  “I’ve dealt with worse.”

  I had a long history with Whitney Vaughn. At one point I thought I loved her. Then I met Charli and realised I’d never even come close. Whitney didn’t challenge me. I’d lived my life and she’d lived hers. We’d met in the middle when it was convenient.

  “Have you ever been in love, Whitney?” I asked curiously.