Even through her body-shaking orgasm, Lorraine was still locked in a nether region of fantasy and reality, slumber and consciousness, solitude and the embrace of the love of her life. And that’s where she’d remain until the sun came up, though Lorraine slept well into the next day.
Chapter 12
Ashe picked at his dinner, Jeremy’s famous oven fried chicken and mashed potatoes barely touched. Griffin and Lorraine exchanged knowing glances, each eating in silence. The penthouse was quiet, the other rooms empty, Jeremy out for the evening.
Lorraine asked Griffin, “Any progress on the law suit? News from the PI?”
Griffin shook his head. “Lawyer wants me to settle, buy him off for a couple mil. Problem is, once we make that offer, he could nail us pretty solid.”
“How solid?” She asked.
“Rock solid. The worst of it is what it’s going to do to the company’s rep.”
Lorraine washed down a mouthful of mashed potatoes with a sip of chardonnay. “The PEEC project was a big hit.”
“And a big expense. Our partners know that, especially overseas.” Another long, sad silence twisted around the table like a ghost of something not yet born. “How’s it going at the department?”
“It’s pretty terrible, I gotta admit. They just don’t like me, they haven’t from the start.”
“You think they’re jealous?”
“Jealous, threatened, you name it.”
Ashe interjected, “Then all the sudden my play gets cancelled?”
Both Lorraine and Griffin turned to Ashe, neither with a very amused expression. Griffin said, “What’s on your mind, son?”
“She has trouble at work and then my play got cancelled.”
Lorraine knew why Ashe was drawing this conclusion, but it was a hard thing to admit and impossible to know for sure. “Montego Prep is a private school, Ashe. The Education Department wouldn't have anything to do with it.” She tried to reason.
Ashe slumped, not any more convinced by the line than Lorraine was, but neither one could do or say anything about it and both of them realized it.
Griffin said sternly, “I think you owe your mother an apology.”
Ashe looked up from his slouched posture, pushing out a disgruntled, begrudging, “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, Ashe. I’m sorry about your play. You know I’d do anything I could to help.”
“Yeah,” Ashe said, “I guess.”
Griffin looked on as Kayla shrieked and shook her head, bits of chicken going flying. It was a burst of comedy relief, but it didn’t last and a sombre mood overtook the Phoenix family dining room once more.
Lorraine stormed into Casper Newkirk’s office, an angry finger pointing. “What have you done?”
He was sitting behind his desk and simply leaned back. He glanced at the little chair on the other side of his desk, his wordless invitation to sit, but Lorraine just as wordlessly declined. The office smelled of his body odor and fading cologne. It wasn’t fading fast enough. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Mrs. Phoenix.”
“My kid’s school play, it was just abruptly and mysterious cancelled.” Casper just looked up with a little shake of his head, jowls wobbling. “From out of nowhere? Please!”
“Doesn’t your son attend a private school?” He scoffed.
“That’s right.” She said with her hands on her hips, trying to maintain her cool.
“And what possible influence could the Education Department … public education, mind you, have on your son’s private school?”
“You know damn well how it works, Casper. Favors, influence, one hand washing the other. It was the same when I was working for the library system; everybody scrambling to keep their jobs, no matter what it takes.” She snorted, fuming.
“Pity for such a young and pretty woman to be so jaded,” Casper chastised. “Still, they say it’s an occupational hazard.” He stressed the word hazard and glared at Lorraine from under his brow, letting the moment and the unspoken threat land effectively.
“What was it, Casper? A friend of yours at the IRS hit them with a tax audit? Do you have some information you’re holding over somebody’s head?” She said disgruntled.
“Really, Mrs. Phoenix, if there isn’t anything else — ”
Lorraine stood stunned and stumped. She was stymied, with little in the way of any alternatives.
Only one thing occurred that would make any sense at all to either of them.
“What if I resigned?”
At least Lorraine wasn’t the only stunned individual in the room. “I beg your pardon?”
“I’m clearly not welcome here, and I don’t think I can accomplish the kinds of things I want to accomplish. Maybe this just isn’t as good fit as I thought it might be when I took the job.” She pursed her lips and folded her arms over her chest.
Casper leaned back, the springs of his chair squeaking beneath his round girth as he folded his hands over his belly. “As I said, Mrs. Phoenix, I don’t have anything to do with your son’s school — ”
“Then perhaps you could reach out to the private sector, one hand washing the other and all that.” Casper was clearly considering it, and after the lull Lorraine made her offer clear. “That play goes on as scheduled, I’ll turn in my resignation.” With that, Lorraine walked out of the office, out of the Education Department, out of Albany for what she was sure would be the last time.
Carmen Jenkins was bent forward in her chair, a standard issue blanket over her legs, fingers picking at a paper napkin, twisting it into a long, tight paper needle. The hospital recreation room was filled with the battling scents of urine and bleach, but that was not the cause of Lorraine’s creeping nausea. Other patients sat around the room, many in wheelchairs, some staring out the windows and others staggering shuffling around the big room with tiny steps and jabbering mouths saying nothing of interest to anyone.
It was painful for Lorraine to see her old friend and former boss so reduced, so mentally injured, and it hurt even worse to know that Lorraine had played some unwitting part in her breakdown. Lorraine could only hope that Carmen would recover on her own, but it seemed less and less likely. Carmen rocked a little in her chair, staring straight ahead and not making eye contact with Lorraine, despite her old friend’s best efforts.
“How dare you come here.” Carmen said in a low tone.
In a soft, gentle voice, Lorraine said, “I don't mean to upset you.”
Griffin stood behind Lorraine, who sat next to Carmen. “We need to know how much you know about these people, Carmen,” Griffin said, gentle but firm. “How much do you know about Albert’s death?”
“They killed Albert,” Carmen spat out, eyes wide.
“Who did?” Lorraine asked gently aware of the fragility of the situation.
“The school board, Lorraine! How can you doubt that?” Carmen blurted out with a fiery passion.
“They never did find any proof,” Griffin said in a calm, cautionary tone.
“Of course not,” Carmen said. “I thought they said you were smart.”
“Do you know Casper Newkirk?” Lorraine asked eyes fixated on Carmen.
“That’s him,” Carmen said, “that’s the man we met in New York. He didn’t want you to have your learning centers, he offered Albert a lot of money to stop you. And Albert tried, he warned you. We all warned you.” Carmen started rocking a bit more in her little chair, staring off. “Now you’ll see, now you’ll see what they can do.” She stuttered.
Lorraine and Griffin exchanged a worried look.
Ten minutes later, walking out of the hospital, Lorraine and Griffin could only look around, shaking their heads. Lorraine asked, “What do you think?”
“She’s out of her mind, Lorraine.”
“Griffin — ” Lorraine interjected.
“I don’t mean to be cruel, Lorraine, of course not. I like Carmen, always have, and I wish her the best. But, there’s nothing about what she says that makes any sense
at all.”
“No? It is a lot of money, Grif. People have done a lot worse for a lot less.” Lorraine pointed out.
Griffin sighed as they walked on. “If it is true, there’s not going to be much we can do about it. I mean, we can’t take Carmen’s theory to any court, lawyer, PI in the business, they’d laugh us out of their offices and rightly so.”
“But they could have killed Albert — ” Lorraine said overwhelmed, her eyes starting to water.
“There was an investigation, Lo’. They didn’t find a thing.”
“And that doesn’t mean a thing.” She said.
“It does when it all shakes out, Lorraine. Look, I love how you go after the fat cats, defending the little guy. You’re a champion, a warrior, and I thank God everyday that you’re my wife.”
Lorraine wanted to enjoy the flattery. “Um, what are you buttering me up for, Grif?”
“I really don’t know, Lorraine. If you wanna keep fighting, you know I’ll be right there with you. I may not have any money, but I’ll be there.”
She nodded, knowing that the possibility was as real as it had ever been. “Maybe Jeremy’s right and I should just quit, even if they can’t straighten things out with Ashe’s play. Maybe they really didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Maybe,” Griffin said.
“That sounds like a yes to me.”
“Really? It sounded like a maybe to me. You've already admitted that working in the department isn’t going to give you the kind of opportunities to help the kids the way you really want to.”
“But my petition, it’s getting more signatures all the time.” She said trying to sound convincing.
“Then we’ll pursue that on our own, Lorraine. They can’t stop you, and once you’re out from under their shadow, they’re not going to bother with you at all. And honestly, I just don’t think the school board operates that way, having people murdered.”
“What about the pro sports leagues? They beat each other half to death, and that’s just part of the show!”
Griffin spat out an amused huff, but Lorraine couldn’t share his chuckle. “If you feel that way, maybe we should pull that petition.”
“And quit, just run away? No, Griffin, no, then they win … ”
“And you lose?”
“The kids lose, Griffin.” She said firmly.
Griffin hadn’t been the only person to suggest that Lorraine was succumbing to selfishness, to ego, to some personal demon that had already cost lives and could yet cost even more.
Chapter 13
The next day, a Thursday, found Ashe bounding through the front door, dropping his backpack on the living room couch and cheerfully crossing to the kitchen. “It’s back on, it’s back on!”
Lorraine looked over from the dining room table, where she was pulling up Skype for a chat with her parents. “What’s going on, Ashe?”
“My play, it’s back on!”
“What happened?”
“I’m not really sure. I guess they decided the subject wasn’t so bad after all.” Ashe looked at Lorraine with his eyes dipped into shrewd slits, one brow raised. “Did you tell them to do it?”
Lorraine tried to wave him off. “I really don’t have any sway over the board, and they don’t have much sway over — ”
“But … when you were in trouble at work, the play got cancelled. Now it’s not cancelled anymore. Does that mean you’re still in trouble at work?” He said trying to piece things together aloud.
Lorraine didn't have to think about that for long. “No Ashe, actually, I just quit my job at the Education Department.”
“Really? You did?” He said surprised.
“Yeah,” Lorraine tried to smile, as she had good reason to. But, it didn’t come naturally. “Just this afternoon, as a matter of fact.”
Ashe stood there. He seemed to understand that Lorraine had some hand in the positive turn of events, he was as sure as he had been that she’d had something to do with it being cancelled in the first place. But, that didn’t matter to either of them. What mattered most to Ashe was that he didn’t have to be mad at Lorraine anymore, that he could drop his lingering sense of dread and anticipation of the worst. It meant he could once again embrace the sense of family, of wholeness, that Lorraine had brought to the Phoenix men, and which they had brought to her.
For Lorraine, it meant that she’d regained Ashe’s respect and affection. When he stepped closer to give her a long, grateful hug, she was completely fulfilled. She thought of the smaller boy he’d been when they met four years before, when he was just nine years old, so young and vulnerable. He was fast becoming a man, the man Griffin and Lorraine were raising him to be, a man they’d be proud to know, happy to call him not only son but also friend.
Ashe said, “Will you still play the mom?”
Lorraine’s smile stretched across her face. “Of course I will.”
“Great, that’s great.”
“What about Rachel? She must be excited, too.”
Ashe nodded. “I think we’re back together, too. This is so cool! I gotta go call everybody, get ready for more rehearsals. Tuesdays and Thursdays?”
“We may have to schedule around a few things, Ashe. There’s the lawsuit yet to deal with, but … I’ll do my best.”
Ashe smiled. “That’s all I ask.”
The next morning, Friday, Lorraine drove out to Albany. She knew that she could just as easily have emailed her resignation letter and saved herself the trip, but Lorraine wanted to put eyes on Casper Newkirk, make sure he knew a few particulars about her departure. There was more to be gained by quitting the department than simply getting Ashe’s play back on track. It was about backing off the whole school board in hopes that whatever may have happened to Albert Jenkins wouldn't happen to her, Griffin, Ashe or Kayla.
Lorraine blanched at the idea of backing down, especially from Casper Newkirk. Can they all be right, Griffin and Jeremy and the others, that I’m just being stubborn and rebellious? I really did want to help, and my tax idea is a damned good one! But, it’s obvious I can’t make any headway through this group of obstructionists. They like their corrupt system of cronyism and extortion so much, they can have it.
Lorraine dropped her letter on to Casper’s desk. The private office seemed smaller to Lorraine than it ever had before, even more shabby. The smell of mildew seemed to rise up from the couch against the wall, but Lorraine wasn’t sure if it was simply her contempt for him manifesting itself in some sensory way.
Lorraine also knew it didn’t matter. She’d never be exposed to it again.
“I know what happened, so I’m keeping up my end of the deal.” Casper glanced at the letter, glancing up from his desk. Lorraine went on, “The letter is officially dated May twenty-ninth, the day my son’s play ends its run at his school, just to make sure things don't suddenly and inexplicably change again.” Lorraine leaned forward, over the desk. “His play gets shit-canned, I’m pulling this letter and I’l be back here, Casper … everyday of the week.” She ordered, unshakable in her tone, a sense of confidence and control she was glad she found within herself again.
Casper pressed that little fake smile on his round, shiny face. Lacking any response, Lorraine said, “But listen to me, Casper. You keep up your end of the bargain, you’ll never see or hear from me again.”
“I understand, of course.” He nodded.
“No, Casper, you don’t. I mean not you, nor anybody on the school board will have any reason to be interested in us. We won’t stand in anybody’s way or interfere with your miserable, corrupt business in anyway. There won’t be any reason for any of us to have a heart attack the way Albert Jenkins … or Antony Scalia did. Do you understand?” She said unwavering.
The two stared each other down, Casper setting the letter down on the desk. “Good day, Mrs. Phoenix,” was all he said, and all he really needed to say.
“Good luck, Mr. Newkirk.” Was all she could say.
Ten minu
tes later, Lorraine was halfway across the plaza when a familiar voice called her name from behind. “Lorraine, wait!”
Lorraine turned to see Treena jiggling toward her. “Lorraine, um … I just want to say, I heard about what happened with your son’s play, and … I’m glad it’s back on.”
“As glad as you are that I won’t be around anymore?” Lorraine said.
“Well, no, not nearly … ” The two women shared a tense chuckle. “Look, I was hard on you, I know that. But, it wasn’t just that I was jealous, though I guess I probably am. You’re so young, pretty, happy and everything — ”
She sighed, “It’s not all sunshine and roses Treena”
“I know that, too, Lorraine. I guess you make it look easy. But, you’ve paid the price for what you have, and you keep paying, willingly. That’s more than a lot of these people are ready to do. It’s more than I’m willing to do, too, I guess I should admit.” She looked down.
Lorraine nodded, a downy woodpecker fluttering by overhead.
Treena said, “I do want you to know, though, that it was as much about doing a good job as anything. I mean, imagine working diligently for years, just to have some … some hobbyist flutter in and try to turn the whole place upside-down.” Lorraine didn’t have to search too hard for a recent example of that. “It was a little scary,” Treena added, “for all of us. I guess we made it all the scarier for you.” She gave Lorraine an apologetic half smile.
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