Gwen stopped a few steps from him, her arms folded. “Bad day, and too much wine? Decided to take it out on me?”
“Not exactly,” Dawson said, looking from Gwen to Seth. “It was actually a decent day, and I did have too much to drink, but I’m not usually such a jerk, drunk or not.”
No one spoke for a moment.
“So, you’re not going to give me a pitiful excuse?” Gwen said, her expression softening.
Seth’s expression was still hard.
“No excuse, just an apology,” Dawson said. “I’d love to make it up to you.”
Gwen lifted an eyebrow. “Make it up to me? How would you do that?”
Dawson hesitated, glancing again at Seth. “Dinner?”
Gwen laughed, then she stepped forward and tapped Dawson on the chest. “Nice try. But no thank you.” She turned and walked back to the kitchen, still laughing.
Alicia stared after her. Then she looked at Dawson, who seemed stunned that his offer of a date had been turned down.
“Mr. Harris,” Seth said, drawing Dawson’s complete attention. “You’re banned from this restaurant for six months. If I need to get a restraining order, I will.”
Dawson narrowed his eyes. “Who are you?”
“Seth Owens, owner and manager.”
Dawson nodded. “You won’t need a restraining order.” He took a couple of steps back. “My apologies to all of you.” And then he turned and pushed through the restaurant doors.
“Well,” Alicia said, looking over at Seth.
“How do I know that guy?” Seth asked.
“He’s a big-deal attorney,” Alicia said. “In the newspaper a lot.”
Seth nodded. “Ah, that’s probably it.” He walked away, shaking his head and muttering, “It’s about time the tables were turned on him.”
But Alicia couldn’t help but smile. Gwen had actually liked Seth coming to her rescue even though she probably wouldn’t admit it. And Alicia was glad Dawson had come to apologize in person. She’d probably cross paths with him again, and she didn’t want things to be awkward. All of this reminded her that she should probably text back Jeff.
I’m at work, and Dawson just came in to apologize to Gwen. Then he tried to ask her out.
Jeff replied almost instantly. Really? I hope she turned him down. And I’m sorry for what he said last night. I was so pissed at him.
Alicia wrote: She did turn him down. LOL. And he’s lucky to have you for a friend.
So, are we still friends?
Alicia didn’t hesitate. Yep.
Jeff texted back an emoji with heart eyes, and Alicia tried not to read too much into it, although her heart was doing a weird pounding thing.
The restaurant doors opened again, and a waitress walked in. “Hi, Ellie,” Alicia said.
“Sorry I’m late, is Mr. Owens already here?”
“He is,” Alicia said. “But you’re not that late.”
Ellie nodded, her long black pony-tail swinging as she did so. She hurried past Alicia and entered the kitchen. As she opened the door, Gwen came out and joined Alicia at the hostess stand.
“Who would have thought Owen is the manager and owner of the restaurant?” Gwen said in a conspiratorial tone.
“Is he really? Or was he just chest-pounding in front of Dawson?” Alicia asked.
“Oh, I confronted him,” Gwen said with a wink. “I’m sort of on a roll this weekend. I asked him point blank, and he said that he owns 65% of the restaurant. So there you go.”
“So not only is he your knight in shining armor, but he’s your wealthy knight in shining armor,” Alicia said with a laugh.
“Ha.” Gwen jabbed at Alicia’s shoulder. “You know how I feel about rich people. They’re no better than my homeless friends. Rich people just have a permanent roof over their heads.”
“True.”
“And how’s Jeff Finch doing?” Gwen asked. “Are you going out this weekend?”
“We’re friends, I told you,” Alicia said. “Besides, I don’t date. Not with my schedule.” And she wasn’t really interested in trying to keep a relationship together when her mom was still doing poorly. And who knew how long that would last.
“So it’s still off limits to set you up?” Gwen asked.
“Yep.” Alicia waved her away. “Don’t you have something to do? Like go talk to our boss, or something?”
“Very funny,” Gwen said with a smirk. But she walked away, leaving Alicia to her own thoughts.
Gwen had tried to set her up on a couple of dates, but Alicia had always turned her down, even the double dates. She knew too many people in Pine Valley—or at least did in high school— and the last thing she wanted was for someone to ask about her mom.
When the first patrons came into the restaurant, Alicia seated them, then returned to the hostess stand. The night was pretty mellow, even boring, without the anticipation of seeing Jeff coming in for dinner. As the hours dragged, Alicia was surprised that her mom hadn’t texted any orders. So during a down time, Alicia wrote: Any special requests from the restaurant?
An hour later, there was no reply. On her next break, Alicia called her mom’s phone. It rang several times, but she didn’t answer. That meant the phone wasn’t off at least. Alicia kept trying to call, getting more and more nervous as time slipped by.
“Are you okay?” Gwen asked, stopping by the hostess stand a little after 9:00 p.m.
Alicia flinched.
“Whoa, what’s going on?”
“Just worried about my mom,” Alicia said. “Long story, but I can usually get ahold of her. She hasn’t answered her phone all night.”
Gwen frowned. “Maybe she lost it or put it on silent.”
Shaking her head, Alicia said, “No. I’m just hoping she’s asleep or something.” This wasn’t the place to go into personal stuff about her mom.
“Things are slow tonight,” Gwen said. “I can see if Seth will let you go home early.”
Alicia exhaled. “That would be great.”
Gwen gave her a quick smile. “Be right back.”
Fifteen minutes later, Alicia was in her car, driving home. She hated to cut out on work, but she had to find out if her mom was okay. The worst-case scenarios kept running through her mind as she drove. When she pulled up to the house, the place was dark. This wasn’t good. Her mom always kept lights on, even if she was going to bed.
Alicia jumped out of the car and hurried to the front door. It was unlocked, another thing that made her worried. She pushed open the door. “Mom?” she said into the darkness as dread shot through her. Something wasn’t right. She flipped on a light. “Mom?” Then her phone rang, and Alicia’s heart skipped. Hopefully it was her mom. But the number said UNKNOWN. Alicia hesitated. Should she answer it or not? Finally, she answered it.
“Hello?”
“Alicia?”
Alicia’s knees nearly gave. “Mom, where are you?” She shut the door against the cold.
“I’m at the police station,” she said. “You need to bring down six hundred twenty-five dollars in exact change for the bail money and get me out of here.”
“What? What happened? Are you all right?”
“I didn’t do anything,” her mom said. “I was just walking in the neighborhood, and the neighbor decided to call the cops. When I tried to explain, the cops wouldn’t listen. They just handcuffed me and brought me here.”
Alicia didn’t know whether to cry or yell at her mom. “What were you doing? People don’t just call the cops if nothing is going on. Did you get into someone’s garbage can?”
“I wasn’t doing anything wrong,” her mom insisted, her voice getting higher pitched. “Our neighbor is a jerk. Go get the money.”
Alicia glanced at the clock on the living room wall. No banks were open this time of night. Besides, her debit card would only pull out three hundred at a time. She scrambled for her purse and pulled out her wallet. She only had a five-dollar bill. “Do you have any cash? Or where’s y
our debit card?”
“The cops took my bag, and they won’t give it back,” her mom said. The phone beeped. “Hurry.” Then the line was disconnected.
Alicia stared at her phone, trying to not let the tears come. Her mom had been arrested again. Now she’d have a record. She’d have to go to court. Get a lawyer. How much would that all cost? Tears burned in Alicia’s eyes no matter how much she wanted to stay calm. Maybe she could go to the gas station and buy something, then request cash back. She hurried out of the house, locked the door, and jumped in her still-warm car. After she pulled out her limit at the bank, she drove to the gas station. Thankfully it was still open.
“Hi,” she said to the pimple-faced young man at the cash register as she handed over a bag of M&Ms. “I need this and to get cash back.”
“Sure,” the young man said, ringing her up.
The card swipe machine gave her a choice of twenty or forty dollars. “Can I request more than forty dollars?”
“Nope,” the cashier said. “Forty’s the limit. We don’t keep a lot of cash on hand. Helps keep the thieves away.”
“Can I do more than one transaction, then?” she asked.
The cashier shrugged. “You can try.”
Alicia swiped her card. Denied. She swiped it again.
“Do you have another card?” the cashier asked, his bored expression telling her that this happened quite often.
“No,” Alicia said.
“Well, you’ll have to call your bank then.”
Alicia pulled up her banking app. She should have enough money in there, but when she saw her balance she realized that her most current paycheck was still showing as “pending” and she couldn’t withdraw on it yet.
She closed her eyes; she was out of ideas.
“Are you okay?” the cashier asked.
Alicia opened her eyes. “Sorry. It’s just been a bad night. Thanks.” She left the M&M’s on the counter and walked out of the gas station, feeling both mortified and angry. By the time she got to her car and climbed in, the tears had started again. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Why couldn’t her mom stay home? Why did she have to look through other people’s trash? Wasn’t ordering junk online enough to keep her happy? Even if Alicia called her dad, what would he do? He couldn’t bring her cash in the middle of the night. He lived over two hours away.
She could call Gwen, but she was probably still at work. Or Jeff.
Alicia sighed, her stomach twisting as she pulled up Jeff’s number. Hopefully he wasn’t on a date with someone. Hopefully this wasn’t jumping the boundaries of their new friendship.
Jeff had been dead asleep when his phone rang. Apparently the crazy week had finally caught up with him. It took him a few seconds to clear the fog from his brain and register that Alicia was calling him. He glanced at the digital clock on his bed: 11:00 p.m.
“Hello?” he said, his voice hoarse with sleep. He cleared his throat. “Alicia?”
“Jeff?”
In that one word, he heard the distress in her voice. He sat up, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “Are you okay?”
“My mom’s in jail,” she said in a trembling voice.
It took several seconds for him to process what she’d said. “Jail? What happened?” And then in a tearful voice, she told him about her mom not being home, and then calling from the jail and saying she’d been arrested. Jeff understood about half of what she said through her crying.
“Where are you?” Jeff asked, rising from the bed and looking for his shoes. He’d fallen asleep in his clothes. “I’ll meet you.”
“I’m at the gas station by my neighborhood. I was trying to get some money, but my bank won’t let me pull out more than three hundred at a time, and my paycheck is still pending.”
Jeff stilled. “How much is the bail?”
“Six twenty-five, exact change. I have three hundred five right now.”
“Okay.” He exhaled. “I’ll bring the rest and pick you up at your house.”
Her voice sounded very small when she said, “All right.”
“Alicia, it will be fine, I promise. Go home and wait for me there. I’m on my way.” When he hung up with Alicia, he pulled on his shoes, grabbed his wallet and coat, then headed into the garage. He felt like he was in a dream. But this was no dream. Alicia needed his help.
As he drove, he could only hope that Mrs. Waters would learn her lesson, that she would use this experience and start to change. On the other hand, he was mad that a neighbor called the cops instead of just talking to her—at least, he assumed that’s what had happened. People didn’t talk to each other nowadays. They either texted to communicate or just called the cops. This was a sixty-year-old mentally ill woman, for heaven’s sake.
Jeff was tempted to call Dawson on the way, but then he changed his mind. Jeff wouldn’t know all the answers to the questions Dawson was likely to ask. Tonight, he’d focus on helping Alicia and her mom, and tomorrow they could figure out what the damage was and how to fix it.
Alicia was standing on the porch when he pulled up, shivering in her coat. She was still wearing high heels—probably from work. And she looked beautiful in a sort of forlorn, tragic way.
Jeff jumped out of the SUV, his heart going out to her. He strode toward her as she stepped off the porch. “Ready?”
She nodded, and he could see her swollen eyes from the light of the porch.
“Hey, we’ll get her out of there and figure out what to do.” He wrapped his arms about her shoulders, and she leaned into him, moving her arms about his waist. Her cheek was cold; her hair was even cold.
She pulled away after a few seconds, and said, “I’m freezing.”
“Let’s go get your mom, then.” He opened the passenger door of the SUV for her, then hurried to climb into the driver’s side. He pulled out the cash he’d brought to add to the bail and handed it over. “Here’s three-twenty.”
Alicia took the money. “Thanks so much for this. I’ll pay you back tomorrow. And I’m sorry for waking you up.”
“I don’t normally fall asleep that early,” Jeff said, backing out of the driveway, then pulling onto the road. “Don’t worry, I’m always up for a little adventure.”
Alicia scoffed. “Adventures to the city jailhouse?”
He shrugged and looked over at her with a smile. At least she wasn’t crying anymore. “This kind of stuff is always better to go through with a friend, right?”
“Right,” Alicia said, looking at him. “You should really keep a box of tissues in here if we’re going to be friends.”
“Good idea,” Jeff said with a laugh.
When she went quiet again, he said, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said in a soft voice. “I just wish I hadn’t waited ten years to start hanging out with you again.”
Warmth buzzed through Jeff. “Why’s that?”
“Well, none of my other friends would have picked me up in the middle of the night and given me a wad of cash.”
Jeff liked that she was teasing him. He grabbed her hand, purely on impulse, and brought it to his mouth to kiss it. She didn’t pull away, so he continued to hold it until he had to pull into the parking lot of the police station. This was one place in Pine Valley where the lights stayed on all night.
“I wonder if Leo is on duty tonight,” Jeff said, putting the SUV in park and turning off the engine.
“Leo Russo?”
“Yeah, he’s a cop now.”
“I didn’t know,” Alicia said in a slow voice. “Wasn’t he the kid who always got put in detention for pulling the fire alarm?”
Jeff laughed. “Yep. One and the same. I guess life’s a full circle.”
“Who would have thought?”
Although she’d stopped crying and seemed to be talking normally, he still sensed the nervous tension in her as they pushed through the station’s front doors. They went through the security check, and he walked with her to the front reception desk.
“I�
��m here to pay bail for my mom,” Alicia said in a breathless voice.
“I need to see your ID, please,” the female officer at the desk said.
Alicia handed it over, and while they waited, Jeff looked about the lobby area. “Is Officer Russo around tonight?”
The woman at the desk looked up. “He is. Do you want me to call him?”
“Sure,” Jeff said, casting a glance at Alicia. He didn’t know if talking to Leo would help the situation or not, but he could only try.
Alicia finished paying, and the female officer picked up her phone. “Lila Waters is being released. Bring her to the lobby.” Then she punched in another number. “Leo Russo, you have visitors.”
Moments later, Leo Russo arrived. “Jeff Finch,” he said, sticking out his hand. He still had the same easygoing smile as he’d had in high school, but he’d bulked up considerably over the years—probably due to police training. He caught sight of Alicia. “Alicia Waters? Is that you?”
“Yep,” she said.
Leo’s smile was wary. “What brings the both of you here?”
Jeff was about to answer, but Alicia said, “My mom was arrested tonight. A neighbor called the cops on her for going through their garbage or something. I’d like to see the police report.”
Leo’s brows shot up. “I didn’t know she was your mom,” he said. “I should have recognized her name.”
Alicia shrugged. “It’s not like we knew each other’s parents in high school.”
“Right.” Leo looked from Alicia to Jeff, a question in his eyes. “I can’t release the report until it’s been filed.”
“Can you do us this one favor so we know what really happened, and what we’re dealing with?” Jeff said in a low voice. He was glad Leo was sticking to the rules, but waiting would only make the whole situation more stressful. Plus, he wanted to give Dawson a call as soon as they got Alicia’s mom home.
“Sorry, no can do,” Leo said, rocking back on his heels. “I’ll push it through first thing in the morning, if that helps.”
Jeff clenched his jaw but answered in an even tone. “Thanks, man. That will help.” He looked at Alicia. “Do you want to give him your email so he can send it to you?”
Worth the Risk Page 9