A Note from an Old Acquaintance

by Bill Walker

  Mosley led the way toward a set of double doors at the end of the hall. When they drew closer, Brian saw the name affixed to the polished mahogany in three-inch brass Art Deco-style letters: ERIK RUBY.

  Mosley opened the door and motioned Brian inside. Somehow, even knowing Ruby and his expensive tastes did nothing to prepare him for the majesty of the space, at least two thousand square feet of ultra-modern luxury with two adjacent walls of floor to ceiling plate glass. The only object that was no surprise was Joanna’s life-size portrait dominating the wall opposite the desk. The chair behind the desk was empty.

  “So, where is he?” Brian asked.

  Mosley had gone directly to the wet bar and poured two tumblers of single-malt scotch. He handed one to Brian. “I believe he’s showing young Zack around. He’ll be here soon enough.”

  Brian sipped the scotch. “Just like death and taxes.”

  The blue lights began flashing just as Joanna turned onto State Street. Erik’s building stood a mere five hundred feet ahead.

  “Not now!” she said, easing the Volvo over to the curb. The police cruiser pulled up about twenty feet behind her and stopped. She tried looking in the rearview, but the cop had his brights on, which made seeing anything behind her impossible.

  “Creep.”

  It was a full minute before she heard the cruiser’s doors open, followed by a burst of radio static. She grabbed her handbag, rummaging for her wallet. The knock at her window, a sharp rapping sound, startled her. She looked up and a flashlight snapped on, blinding her.

  “Please roll down your window, Ma’am,” the officer said.

  She pushed the button for the window and it slid down. A blast of icy air blew into the car, making her shiver.

  “License and registration, please.”

  She handed them over. “What did I do, officer?”

  The cop didn’t answer. She forced herself to relax. After all, her husband was right down the street. He would keep for another few minutes.

  Brian went to the window and looked out over the view of Government Center and Beacon Hill. Beyond that, due west, was Newton. And from here Charlestown was a mere stone’s throw. A man could get used to a view like this. Problem was, a view like this might give one delusions of grandeur. Make one think he was above it all, like—

  “Mr. Weller, welcome to Ruby Plaza.”

  Startled, Brian turned to see Ruby and Zack standing in the doorway. The older man had his arm around the boy, who looked happy and relaxed.

  Ruby patted his son on the back and moved toward the bar, where Mosley had a scotch waiting for him. Zack smiled and nodded to Brian then sat down on one of the spindly leather and steel chairs, picked up an Architectural Digest off the glass coffee table and began flipping through it.

  “So, Mr. Weller, it would seem that old problems don’t stay solved,” Ruby said, moving from the bar to the chair behind his desk. He sat down heavily and regarded Brian with a hooded gaze.

  He’s already a few sheets to the wind, Brian thought.

  “What is it going to take to make you go away for good?” Ruby asked.

  The scotch had given Brian a pleasant buzz, it also made him feel bolder and more reckless than he might have felt otherwise. “How about single-shot black powder pistols at twenty paces?” he asked.

  Ruby chortled. “Tempting, but I was thinking of something a bit more prosaic.”

  “It always comes down to money for you, doesn’t it, Ruby? Every man has his price.”

  “Of course,” Ruby grinned, draining the whiskey. He held up the empty tumbler. “Mosley, a little more of this, if you please.”

  The black man brought over the bottle of Macallan and poured a couple of jigger’s worth into Ruby’s tumbler. When he turned, Mosley gave Brian a look, as if to say, “Watch yourself.”

  “So, what is it going to take?” Ruby asked again.

  “Let’s just say my price is a bit steeper than it used to be. I don’t think even you can afford it.”

  “DON’T FUCK WITH ME, WELLER!”

  Brian heard the magazine Zack was holding hit the floor with a loud slap. He glanced toward the boy, who stared at his father with saucer eyes. Mosley, still standing by the bar, had gone rigid, looking very much like the department store mannequin he resembled.

  Ruby leaned forward in his chair, the springs squeaking in the silence following his outburst. His face had a blotchy appearance, but it was the blazing eyes that gave Brian pause. They were the eyes of a man poised on the edge of sanity.

  “Please sign here, Ma’am,” the cop said, handing her the ticket book. She scrawled her name and handed it back. He tore off the original and handed it to her, keeping the carbon in his book. “Your court date and notice to appear are at the bottom. Failure to appear will result in suspension of your license. Is everything clear, Ma’am?”

  Joanna nodded. “Yes, officer.”

  “Very good, Ma’am. And please try and remember to come to a complete stop before making a right turn.”

  She waited until the officer returned to his cruiser and drove away before she pulled away from the curb, gunning the Volvo. She covered the last five hundred feet to Erik’s building in seconds. The tires screeched when she made the left and headed down into the underground parking, the SUV’s suspension jouncing as it rolled over a speed bump. She skidded to a stop in front of the elevators, tumbled out of the car at a dead run, clutching the file against her chest. Her finger jabbed the elevator call button.

  She scanned the floor indicators, noting that all of the elevators were at the top. One started moving. The numbers descended with agonizing slowness.

  “Hurry up, hurry up,” she muttered.

  Moments later the elevator at the far end slid open and she dashed into it, hitting the button for the top floor. She watched the floor indicators with mounting dread. Until this moment, the confrontation with her husband had seemed inevitable, her anger like a force of nature. But now, as the floors ticked off one by one, her unease grew, doubts assailed her. She re-opened the file and stared at the agreement again, her eyes riveting on Brian’s and her husband’s signatures. The doubts became fleeting shadows. Her anger returned....

  “Why did you come back, anyway?” Ruby asked, his anger ebbing to a low simmer. “You gave me your word.”

  Brian didn’t know what to say. In practical, concrete terms Ruby was right. He had given his word; but how do you explain fifteen years of regret? How do you explain the pain and guilt from two broken hearts?

  “You wouldn’t understand,” Brian said.

  “Try me.”

  Brian met Ruby’s gaze. “I came back because my life had reached the point where I didn’t know if I could go on any longer. Because I’ve been in love with Joanna for nearly half my life, and because our ‘deal,’ as you put it, was entered into under what I would delicately call ‘dubious circumstances.’”

  Ruby’s laugh held no humor. “You certainly took the money quick enough, didn’t you? As for the contract, my attorneys will tell me it’s ironclad, and you’ve breached it.”

  “Fine, you want the money back? No problem. I’ll have twice the original amount wired into your account tomorrow. Will that make you happy?”

  Ruby shot to his feet, slapping the desk with the flat of his palm. “It’s not the money, punk, it’s Joanna! You were never supposed to see her again. Ever! THAT was the damned deal!” Ruby knocked back the rest of his scotch and slammed the tumbler down onto his desk, his eyes locked on Brian. “Look at you, the hotshot writer with your fancy words. You filled my wife’s head with them fifteen years ago, now you’re doing the same thing with my boy.”

  “No, he’s not, Dad.”

  Ruby silenced the boy with a glare and moved out from behind the desk. “I want you to leave them both the hell alone.”

  “You seem to be forgetting something,” Brian said. “Joanna contacted me.”

  Ruby sneered. “Yeah, I know all about that. But nobody told
you to reply, did they? And nobody told you to get on a plane and fly three thousand miles to make whoopee, did they?” He moved closer to Brian, his expression oozing contempt. “And what kind of man are you, anyway? Out chasing skirts, declaring your undying love for another man’s wife, when your wife’s corpse is barely fucking cold. Just what the hell kind of goddamned low-life are you?”

  There was no conscious decision to move on Brian’s part. One moment, he was sitting there, listening to Ruby’s bitter invective and the next he was on his feet, his hands wrapped around the older man’s throat.

  “MR. WELLER! DAD! NO!” Zack screamed.

  Like a flash of black lightning, Mosley was between them, pushing Brian back. “Take it easy,” he said in a low voice. “He’s not worth it.”

  Brian’s eyes were still locked onto Ruby’s, but at the sound of Mosley’s gentle, insistent voice, the anger left him. “You’re right, he’s not,” Brian replied, backing off. Ruby rubbed his throat, but the smile of contempt had grown wider and Brian felt his anger rising again. “You know, Ruby, I can understand why you said what you said. Maybe, I would have said the same thing. But what I don’t understand is why Joanna’s stayed with you all these years. What did she see in you?”

  “Why don’t you let me answer that?”

  Every man in the room turned toward the door where Joanna stood, clutching a file folder against her chest, righteous anger burning in her eyes. It took a moment for Brian to realize the significance of that manila folder. It was the same file Ruby had shown him all those years ago—it had to be. And somehow she’d found it.

  When Zack saw his mother, he ran to her and hugged her. She shook with emotion and Brian’s anger toward Erik Ruby rose another notch.

  Joanna let go of her son and stepped forward. She held up the file. “I know everything, Erik. How you bartered for me like one of your buildings. Do I have such little value to you that you would do such a thing? How dare you! How dare you turn me into one of your deals!”

  The man’s smile faltered. “How dare you betray me! How could you be with him?” He jerked his head toward Brian.

  Joanna turned her gaze to the floor, her body trembling. “I’m not going to make excuses. Nothing I say will ever excuse what I did.” She raised her head, her eyes defiant. “But I also won’t apologize for falling in love with a man who truly loves me, a man who when faced with a choice of giving me up and helping his family or pursuing me and losing everything—chose to do the right thing.” She looked to Brian and smiled. In that one moment, Brian loved her more than he’d ever loved her. He returned her smile with one of his own.

  Joanna turned back to her husband. “You could have come to me, Erik. You could have said that you knew and that you were hurt and that you loved me with all of your heart, and could we try and work this out? You could have said all those things. And I would have listened....

  “But, instead, you turned us into a business transaction. And you waited. You waited for the perfect moment you knew would break our hearts. And I’ll never forgive you for it.

  “We’re finished, Erik. I’m leaving—for good this time. I don’t know what I’ll do, where I’ll go, but I’m going. And Zack is going with me.”

  Ruby took a step forward, his eyes wide. “NO! You won’t take my son. You have no idea what I’ve gone through, what I had to do.”

  “But I do know,” she said holding up the file again. “Zack is nothing like you, and I won’t have him growing up to be anything like you. You want to know what I saw in you? I fell in love with a man who once went out of his way to help a young girl and her child. That man died somewhere along the way, and I was too blind to see it.”

  Ruby stared at the floor, his body shaking. When he raised his head a moment later, Brian saw a cold anger in the man’s eyes.

  “But I did everything for you, Joanna. All for you....”

  Ruby’s words hung in the air. Zack looked from his father to his mother, his lips trembling.

  Joanna shook her head. “No you didn’t, Erik. You did it all for her,” she said, pointing toward her photo on the wall. “And that woman is nothing but a shadow—a ghost. You created her that day at the photographer’s studio, hung her on the wall, and put all your hopes, desires and dreams into her, made her come alive. But I’m not her, Erik—I’m not Galatea. I’m Joanna—just Joanna, and I don’t love you anymore.”

  The room was as quiet as a grave. Brian watched Ruby, wondering what the older man would do, but he simply stared at his wife and then at her picture on the wall, his expression unreadable.

  He opened his mouth to speak. “Joanna—”

  The phone rang, startling everyone. It rang two more times before Mosley walked over and picked it up.

  “Ruby and Associates.... Yes, sir, I’ll tell him.” Mosley held the phone to his chest. “It’s the mayor.”

  Ruby’s entire demeanor changed. “Put him on the speaker.”

  When Mosley hesitated, Ruby reached over and stabbed the speaker button. “Good evening, sir.”

  “Erik, I knew you’d be working late, and I wanted to be the one to give you the news. The Government Center Project is yours. The council vote was unanimous.”

  Ruby closed his eyes and exhaled, as if a great weight had lifted from his shoulders. “Thank you, sir. You don’t know how much this means to me. I’ll make the city proud.”

  “Never had any doubts. Now, if you can tear yourself away from that office and that pretty wife of yours, a few of us are meeting at the club for drinks. I’d be pleased if you would join us.”

  “I’d be honored.”

  “Great. We’ll see you there in twenty minutes.”

  The phone went dead and Ruby stared at it, a sardonic smile curling his lips. “I’ve been waiting nearly ten years for that call,” he said, shaking his head. “It would seem some dreams are meant to be, after all....”

  Then, as if reaching a decision, he straightened his spine and walked toward his wife. He passed her and stood gazing up at her photo. “We could have shared that dream, Joanna, but you’ve made your choice, haven’t you?” He paused, his jaw clenching. “I’ll be home later to pack some things. I’ll be staying at the club until my living quarters are ready here. My attorney will also be in touch. I’d suggest one for you, but that would clearly be a conflict.”

  Brian was stunned, and if Joanna’s open-mouthed expression was any gauge, so was she.

  “I—I’m sorry, Erik,” she said.

  Ruby turned from the photo. “A little late for that, now, don’t you think? I just hope Mr. Weller’s pockets are deep. You’re going to need it.”

  “There’s nothing you have that I want,” Joanna said, meeting his piercing gaze with one her own.

  Ruby nodded, the confident smirk back on his face. “We’ll see, won’t we?” He turned to Zack, clasping the boy on the shoulders. “I’m sorry you had to see all this, Chief. But I want to make it up to you. How would you like to come with me and meet the Mayor? Another birthday treat. What do you say?”

  The boy stared at his father, his expression a mixture of incredulity and sadness. “No, Dad,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m staying with Mom.”

  Ruby’s grin disappeared. “Very well.” He marched over to one of the built-in cabinets and pulled out his overcoat, folding it over his arm, then walked back to Joanna’s photo. His eyes betrayed a fleeting moment of pain and longing before disappearing behind the familiar mask. “Mr. Mosley?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Before you go home to that lovely wife of yours, I’ll need you to take this down. Store it with the rest of the outgoing trash. It’s time we got rid of the shadows and the ghosts....” He turned and gave everyone a curt nod and left the room. Mosley followed him, his features etched with concern.

  Joanna ran to Brian, collapsing into his arms.

  “When I walked in, and saw you two fighting like that, I thought I was going to lose you again! And now everything’s changed
. Why do I still feel so awful?” She cried against his shoulder, and he nestled her head in the hollow of his neck. The warmth of her suffused his body.

  “It’s never easy closing a chapter of your life,” Brian said. He tilted her chin so he could look into those beautiful tear-clouded eyes. “But I promise you—you’ll never lose me again, Joanna. Never again.”

  Seven Months Later...

  “IS IT MUCH FARTHER?” Zack asked, breaking the long silence between them.

  “You mean, ‘Are we there yet?’” Joanna said with a sly grin.

  “Please tell me I never said that.”

  Joanna chuckled. “Oh, you were one of the worst offenders. Annoying, but cute.”

  Zack grinned and turned his head to watch the passing New Hampshire scenery. “I’m glad he’s finally back. I hope it’s for good this time.”

  His mother gave his thigh a loving pat. “It’s for good.”

  Ever since they’d left Boston earlier that afternoon, Zack watched his mother’s excitement grow. She’d been a nervous wreck the night before with all the packing, and spent way more time in the bathroom that morning fussing with her hair and makeup; but he had to admit she looked beautiful in her new summer dress.

  Brian—he still found himself wanting to call him Mr. Weller—had been really great during all the months it took for his parents’ divorce to wind its way through the courts, calling from Los Angeles every night and giving her the moral support she needed, and helping him with his writing. All of Brian’s guidance paid off just last month, the day his first story appeared in the June issue of Harper’s. Even his dad was impressed, proudly showing off the magazine to all of his bigwig friends.

  “The turnoff’s just ahead,” Joanna said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “If I’m not we’re going to end up in the lake. That’s it up ahead.”