“Finn!” George gathered the little girl in his arms easily and kissed her, swinging her around.
“More! More!” she called, laughing as they spun around the foyer. George put her down after a few spins. “Whoa, I’m dizzy.”
“Me too,” laughed George. He bent down to be on the same level as Finn. “I want you to meet someone real important.”
Finn stared into George’s eyes, her own eyes widened. “Ewwa?”
He nodded, “Ella.” Stella looked at him and he shrugged. “She has a hard time with the ‘L’ and ‘ST’ sounds.”
Stella got down on her knees and shook Finn’s hand. “Hi.”
Finn hugged Stella eagerly. “My Unca Wih woves you.”
Stella smiled. “I sure hope so.”
“You’re pretty,” Finn said sweetly and then turned and ran back in the direction she came.
Stella stood up and looked around the room; it was full of George’s loved ones. It was clear they’d gathered in anticipation of George’s arrival. Stella stood and pulled at the hem of her dress, uncomfortable under their scrutiny.
“El, this is my mom.” George pulled her toward a woman with long salt and pepper hair, pulled back in a ponytail. Mrs. Finnegan’s apron covered her jeans and a bright blue cardigan set. She was barefoot. George hugged her with one arm and kissed her cheek. “Hey, Mom. Dinner ready?”
“Of course; you got here right in time to eat and not help do anything.” She playfully slapped his arm. “Stella, we’ve all heard so much about you.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Finnegan,” Stella said, her hand outstretched.
Ms. Finnegan looked at Stella and then pulled her into an awkward hug. “Dinner in five!” she announced, walking back into the kitchen. All of the sisters quickly followed.
“Okay, so this is John, Kara’s husband.” George pointed to a tall man with sandy blonde hair and freckles. Stella shook his hand and smiled.
George pointed at a preppy guy in his mid-twenties with light brown hair and a devious smiled. “This is Jack, he belongs to Kelly. And this guy right here,” he said, grabbing the neck of a young dark-haired guy with gorgeous green eyes. “This is Owen.”
Kate had walked from the kitchen and got involved with helping get Owen out of George’s grip. “He’s mine.” She smiled ruefully.
Stella turned her head to the side slightly at the exchange. George laughed. “We’re not sure what they are,” he said, pointing between them.
“Shut up, Will.” Kate shoved her brother. She looked at Stella. “Owen is a friend of the family’s from Ireland, but we just started dating.”
Stella smiled; at least she wouldn’t be the only one under the microscope tonight. She felt the eyes of everyone in the room on her. Suddenly, Finn came back into the room and grabbed her hand. “Ewwa’s sitting next to me!” she declared.
Throughout dinner, Finn talked endlessly to Stella about all sorts of things. She’s four, goes to preschool, her boyfriend’s name is Oliver, and she loves a princess called Sofia.
“When are you and Unca Wih getting married?” Finn asked innocently.
All eyes on the table turned to her.
“Well, he’d have to ask me first, right?” Stella laughed.
Finn turned to George. “When you asking her?”
George’s face turned a million shades of red. “Finn, don’t you know it’s supposed to be a surprise?”
“Me and Oliver are getting married,” Finn said importantly, looking around at all the adults at the table.
“Did he get you a ring?” Stella asked.
“Not a ring, but he gave me his gooeys,” Finn said defiantly.
“Wow, his gooeys! That’s something.” Stella played along like she knew what gooeys were. “Did he get down on one knee?”
“No. Why would he do that?”
“I’ve heard that’s what boys do…” Stella took a sip of her wine. “John, did Oliver ask you if he could marry Finn?”
John looked at her, amused, from the head of the table. “No.”
“Finn, Oliver needs to do better. He’s got to ask your dad,” Stella said.
“Daddy doesn’t know everything I do.” She put her little finger to her mouth as she thought. “He’d better ask my momma, though...”
The entire room erupted in laughter.
“That’s right, baby,” Kara said to her daughter.
George looked into the kitchen where all the women, including Stella, were cleaning up the dishes. He hoped she was okay. As he stalked back over to the couch where the men were watching football, he took a big gulp of his beer. He wanted his family to love her as much as he did. His mother had a fake smile all afternoon and he hoped that wasn’t because of Stella.
“Will, what’s wrong?” Jack asked.
“Nothing, why?”
“Because you haven’t taken your eyes off her for a minute since you got here. She’s fine, man. Relax.”
“Dude, she’s hotter in person than she is on TV,” Jack said and then took a sip of his beer.
“Jack, please.” George ran a hand through his hair.
“What’s the problem, Will?”
“I just want to make sure Mom loves her like I do.”
Jack and John both looked at George, astonished.
“Your mom will love her because you do. That’s all you need,” John said, turning his eyes back to the game.
“What’s not to love?” Jack laughed. “I mean, from what I’ve seen…”
“Shut the fuck up, Jack,” George warned through clenched teeth.
“What? I’m just saying what everyone else is thinking.”
“I’m not thinking that,” Owen protested.
John didn’t say anything.
“You’re an awful gobshite, Jack,” Owen said, waiting for George to explode.
George got up and walked into the kitchen without a word. “Stella, you ready?” he asked. He was close to exploding. George hated thinking that half the males in the country had probably jerked off to one of the pictures of her floating around the Internet, but he certainly wasn’t going to put up with it from his family.
Kara saw his expression first and knew something was bothering him.
“No, we’re not finished cleaning,” Stella said, a question in her voice.
“It’s fine, Stella. We’ve got it. It was so nice meeting you.” Kara pulled Stella into a hug. All the other women followed Kara’s lead, embracing Stella and then George.
He held Stella’s hand and pulled her along behind him as he rushed to leave his sister’s house.
“George?” Stella asked.
“What?” he answered without slowing or looking at her.
Stella pulled her hand out of his iron grip and stopped walking. She stood waiting for him to stop. He didn’t. “What’s going on?”
“I need to leave now.” He continued walking down the stairs, out the door, and into the SUV and waited on her to join him.
Stella relented and slowly walked down the stairs. She opened the door and stood there, not getting in.
George stared straight ahead for awhile, but when he realized she was just as stubborn as he was, he glared at her. “Get in.”
“What’s going on?” she repeated.
“Get in,” he seethed.
“Not until you tell me why you’re pissed.” Stella crossed her arms over her chest. She could stay here all night.
George rubbed his hand down his face. “Fine, that fucker Jack was talking about how hot you are in all the pictures on the internet.”
“And…”
“It pisses me off. Every guy in the world looking at you like that.”
“First of all, calm down. It’s not like there are nude pictures out there. And what do you care, you have me. All that matters is that you’re the only one that gets to look at me naked. You’re the only one that can do whatever you want to me, naked.”
Stella eased herself into the SUV. “Well,
that makes me feel a little better.” She leaned over and pulled his earlobe into her mouth.
“That makes me feel a lot better.” He smiled.
“Who cares if Jack likes my pictures? Your mom hates me.”
Chapter Thirteen
Steps
“This fight is getting old.” Stella looked up from The Washington Post and glared at George, taking a calming sip of her coffee.
“I agree,” he said, his teeth clenched. “I don’t understand why you’d be friends with him.”
“Because we became friends, something I’m sorely lacking since Millie is barely talking to me.”
“You could be friends with tons of different people, El. Why him?”
“Look, we’ve gone around and around about this. What do you want me to do, George? He’s my friend. You didn’t seem to have a problem with me being friends with men when you met me.”
“Patrick and Billy were your roommates, not someone you fucked.”
This argument had been continuous since Jesse had sent flowers (and not just some flowers, a whole roomful of flowers) to the rehab facility while George was visiting Stella, but it got even worse after George learned that Jesse had visited her at his house and that he played for the Falcons. She still wasn’t sure how it took him so long to make the connection between Jesse and the Falcons, but that was neither here nor there. George couldn’t get past her friendship with Jesse.
“You’re going to have to deal with it,” Stella snapped.
George had been watching ESPN and a story about the Falcons’ horrid season came up, which prompted this latest round of debate. “You know, what you really need to do is make up with Millie. You guys seemed to be doing fine a couple of weeks ago.”
She chewed at her nail. “We haven’t talked since we got the bar results. I can’t tell her the real reason I don’t want to be around Patrick. I think she may think we slept together or something.”
George sat down next to her on the couch. “Why would she think that?”
“Think about it. What are the usual reasons men and women in any sort of relationship end things? Sex.”
“That’s not true,” George protested and then relented. “Okay, maybe that is true, but I know she doesn’t think that. She knows you both too well; you guys weren’t like that.”
“I can’t come up with anything that would warrant such an abrupt end to our friendship. He was my best friend.” Tears threatened in her eyes.
George draped his arm around her shoulders. “Have you talked to him?”
“I had lunch over there, with the both of them, a couple of months ago.” Stella hadn’t told anyone that Patrick had given her Jamie aka Jack’s ATF file. “It was awkward.”
“You miss him,” George said.
“I miss who I thought he was,” she said. She wasn’t really lying. She did miss who she thought Patrick was, but they’d agreed to keep their exchanges to themselves for now. “I had lunch with Billy the other day. He’s doing great.”
“Oh really?”
“Yep, he’s seeing a really cool girl. I told him that we’d have to double date.”
“Sure.”
“George?” Stella put her head on his shoulder.
“Don’t be mad at me about Jesse. I know it’s hard, but can you trust me?”
“I trust you.” George stood up and walked to the kitchen. “I don’t trust him.”
“I understand,” she said. “He gets that I love you, George. He’s not making a move.”
“He’s waiting, El. He’s waiting for me to fuck up.” George poured more coffee into his mug.
“I don’t believe that, George.” She walked over to where he was standing and wrapped her arms around him from behind.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Are you fucking kidding? It’s worth way more than that.” Stella stuffed the ring box in her bag and turned to go. It was her fourth pawn shop and she was starting to get pissed off. The overweight, balding man on the other side of the glass counter examined her as she turned her back and walked toward the door.
“The highest I can go is eight!” he called to her back as she touched the door.
Hearing his offer, she contemplated her options. The highest she’d been offered was five grand so far. Turning on her heel, she smiled as she faced him.
“Fine,” she agreed. Stella walked back over to the counter and put her engagement ring on the black mat he’d spread on the counter. “Get moving, I’m late for an appointment,” she said, pushing him along. He was looking at her like he might recognize her.
Unconsciously, she smoothed her blond wig and pushed her dark glasses up the bridge of her nose. She kept her face away from the camera she noticed when she came in. This CANNOT get out. The media couldn’t know that she was selling her engagement ring from Jamie.
#coldheartedbitchsellsdeadfiancesring
However, she needed to get a gun. Jesse had given her the idea about pawning her ring. She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought of it sooner; it was really the only thing of value she owned. It was worth more than her car.
The pawn shop owner went in the back of the store to get the money and she checked her phone. It was late. She hadn’t anticipated it taking four different pawn shops to get a good payout for the ring. She texted George.
Running late, will see you after work
He replied.
Where are you?
Ugh, she thought. Why did he have to ask that?
pawn shop
His reply was quick.
Why
It was too long of an explanation for a text. Stella could spend the hours in the car on the way back to Old Town thinking about what exactly she would tell George; maybe the truth, maybe not.
cutting ties. long story, I’ll tell you later
His reply came quickly.
ok
The balding man came back and started counting out her money. Stella picked up the stacks of cash, more than she’d ever seen in her life, and put it in her bag.
The man pointed at the ring. “Things didn’t work out?”
“You could say that,” she said and nodded at him. “Thanks.”
“No problem. You got any more rings like that, you come back!” the owner called to her back.
She pushed open the door of the pawnshop and walked to Millie’s car, which she’d borrowed for the day. Stella didn’t take any chances with this errand. There was no way she could be seen visiting pawn shops.
She plugged her phone into the car and The Woods Brothers crooned out of the Acura TL’s speakers. The song was interrupted by Mille calling.
“Hello,” Stella said.
“Where are you, bitch?!” Millie yelled out of the speakers.
“I got held up; it’s going to be a little later than I thought. Can you take the Metro home? I’ll take you to dinner.”
“Oh my shit, El. This better be good.”
“Well, where do you want to go? I’m sure it will be.”
“El, you’re okay, right?” Concern filled Millie’s voice.
“Sure,” Stella answered with as much positivity as she could muster.
“Oh right, like that’s even possible. The media calls I’m getting for you are a little insane. I’m getting, like, twenty calls an hour. I think you should just move to the middle of nowhere for a while.”
“That’s an astute observation, Counselor. Is that legal advice you’re giving me?”
“No, it’s best friend advice. I mean, the level of coverage you’re still getting is unconscionable. I can’t even begin to handle it. I have gotten a couple of names for you though, people that can handle it. We’ll talk later.”
“How about I take you to the Evening Star Cafe in Del Ray? I’ll even spring for the fried brie.”
“Now you’re talking.” Millie put her hand over the phone and said something to someone else. “Hey, I gotta go. They’re heading into session. Call me when you get close and I’ll be ready.” Sh
e disconnected.
The music immediately started back up and again and Stella drove south on 95 toward DC.
Millie worked in the Legislative Affairs Department of the US Department of Education and spent most of her time on the Hill lobbying. Congress was reauthorizing a big education bill this session so Millie had basically been on the Hill every day. Both parties were trying to gain political capital from the passage of the bill so they were throwing grenades at the other side about the current state of the education system while continuing to cut funding for schools. It was ludicrous.
Stella checked her blind spot and reveled in the knowledge that she wasn’t being followed. Agent Harris had called last week to notify her they were terminating the surveillance team they had on her. Stella was surprised it lasted as long as it did. It was a low-key presence that she’d gotten used to having, and while it helped her feel safe, she was getting tired of the constant tail. Today was her first surveillance-free day, and while George was nervous, Stella was ecstatic. One more step on the road to normalcy!
Harris didn’t mention anything about the allegation that she’d blown the undercover ATF agent’s cover, which was a small comfort. Stella wasn’t completely sure that her plan would work, but breaking it down into steps made her feel more confident and productive. She liked to know she’d completed a task; it made her feel a sense of accomplishment.
Step one: sell the ring
Step two: buy a gun
Step three: train her body and mind
Step four: find and kill Jamie
The first step (or at least part of it) happened this morning. Check. Her original plan was just to drive north, out of DC, until she found a pawn shop that would pay her for the ring. She’d stopped at four different shops and ended up just shy of Philadelphia before she could accept an offer. She looked over at her bag holding eight thousand dollars and sighed.
The ring Jamie gave her was given to him by his grandfather, he’d told her that. She had the paperwork appraising the ring for twenty grand. It was a round, brilliant cut, three carat diamond on a simple platinum band. It was stunning and she almost felt bad selling it. Almost.
His parents would shit if they knew she’d just pawned a family heirloom. She would take pleasure in telling him the gun she was going to shoot him with was purchased by pawning his family’s ring. Shaking her head to get thoughts of Jamie and his family out of her head, she pulled off the wig and finger-combed the tangles out her long black hair.
Tension Page 14