by Alexa Davis
“I don’t think those are allowed in Texas,” Libby laughed and put her arm through mine. We planned to meet up at the popular barbeque joint just after the happy hour rush, and Cynthia split from us to get ahead of some work from other partners at the office. I walked Libby to her car and she sagged against it and breathed deeply.
“Is it almost over?” she sounded incredulous, and exhaled hard again. “I feel so bad for Kristy. She looked so lost. Is that how I looked?”
“It was a little familiar once you drew my attention to it.”
“Whew. Okay, I feel so much worse about where I was, and so much better about where I am now,” she laughed shakily. I leaned in and kissed her on the forehead.
“I am so proud of you,” I said into her hair. “I can’t wait for you to find your place doing exactly what you want with your life.”
She slid her hands up my chest, and my heart sped up under her palm. My mouth was opening against hers before I could think, my tongue pushing into the wet cavern of her mouth to taste her. She moaned and I pressed her up against the car, pinning her with my hips as my pants got tight over my growing erection.
“God, what you do to me,” She sighed, scratching her fingernails down my chest over my shirt. “I know how I want to celebrate.” I laughed and held her while every cell in my body was screaming at me to tear her clothes off and pull her over me in the backseat of the car.’
“I will go take care of the cluster of paperwork that I’ve just been given, and I will meet you for dinner tonight,” I promised her.
“I might go and check on Kristy, make sure Veronica doesn’t stop her from taking her things. But yes, I’ll be there.”
“Tell Shaunte and Dale they should come, too. I’ll pay for a sitter for all the kids.” She gaped at me and I laughed.
“You deserve to have your friends with you. Besides. I like Dale,” I admitted. Libby grinned and kissed me one last time on the lips, a soft, sweet brush against my mouth that made my gut heat up. I helped her into her car and shut the door, smiling as she waved before taking off. I rolled my head on my neck and exhaled hard. Kristy had made Libby feel better, but she had opened a whole can of worms for us legally, and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy a celebration until we had waded through it all.
I walked back to the office, grateful for a few minutes of solitude before attacking the paperwork that I needed to complete in the next day or so. I stopped at the coffee cart and picked up extra lattes for my secretary and Cynthia, planning to use them to bribe the ladies for as much help as they were willing to give, so we could knock it out of the park for Libby and end her worries—permanently.
I read and dictated until my eyes burned, and glanced down at my watch. I had just enough time to pack my files to my condominium, and take Kennedy out for a walk before heading over to R&R. I called Libby, but had to leave a message when she didn’t answer, and headed down to my car.
Libby still hadn’t replied when I got back to the condominium, and I worried for a moment, that the stress had her hiding in a corner of her house. I fought the urge to call again, and let Kennedy do her thing so I could go. I filled her food and water bowls and secured the files I brought home; if my detective dog got curious about the smells of my work, she couldn’t mix anything up on me. I texted Libby that I was en route, and copied it to Cynthia as well. My stomach was empty and resentful of my skipped lunch and empty fridge at home, making the ten-minute drive feel like an hour, but when I arrived, Cynthia was out front, waiting with a smile.
I checked my phone again to no avail, and was putting it back in my pocket when a strange number appeared on it, as it began to ring. Fearing the worst, I picked up and Dale was on the other end. At the sound of his voice, my head started ringing, and I barely heard him say that Shaunte was on her way to the hospital to meet Libby.
“Why is Libby at the hospital?” I asked, and Cynthia looked at me alarm and immediately started pulling me towards her car, unlocking it as we approached. I slid in the passenger seat and Dale filled me in as best he could, that Libby had gone to check on Kristy like she’d said, and found Veronica standing over the unconscious girl.
She’d called 911 and the police had come for Veronica, who swore she’d found her daughter-in-law that way. Libby had ridden in the ambulance to the hospital with Kristy, and asked Dale to get the info to Tucker. Shaunte was picking up Libby to take her back to her car so she could get it home before Veronica was released and decided to do something to it. I called Libby again, and when she finally answered, I almost cried in relief at the sound of her voice.
“Cynthia and I are on our way. Stay at the hospital, and we’ll help Shaunte take care of your car, and gather some things for Kristy, if we can get in the house.” Libby started to argue, then changed her mind.
“You know what, that is the best plan I’ve heard. I have her purse, so I can give you her keys when you pick up mine.” My stomach growled loudly, and she heard it over the speaker phone. “Oh, God, Tucker, was that you? Stop and get yourself something to eat.”
“I’m fine, Libby. I can get something at the hospital. Let’s just get Kristy taken care of.” I wanted to be shocked, but it came as no surprise to me that we were now responsible for the woman who had sat across the aisle from us and let her lawyer try to ruin Libby’s reputation. Libby talked about being weak, but repeatedly, she proved that she had more resilience and strength than anyone else I knew.
Libby met us at the front entrance to the hospital and updated us on Kristy’s condition. It seemed that she had taken a severe overdose of her husband’s medication, after leaving a note that explained that she couldn’t live with the loneliness and shame of being kicked out of her own home by her husband’s mother, after losing everything her crooked lawyer had tried to steal from a little girl, just so he could claim his cut.
She was red-nosed and sniffling when she repeated what the doctors and police had told her. I was amazed that she was in the information loop at all.
“I gave them her name, I gave them my name, and they assumed we’re sisters,” she explained. “I have no reason to tell them they’re wrong. Kristy needs someone right now.”
“Well, you do look like you could be related. I won’t say anything, and I’ll give Cynthia the heads up. Do you want to come with me, or stay with Libby and have Cynthia come with?”
“I’d love to be anywhere you are, right now. But I need to stay here. I’m the only ‘family’ she has in this joint.” I kissed her on the forehead and pulled her into a hug, wishing I could take away every bad thing she’d ever been forced to witness, but especially Kristy lying on a floor. I knew—and Libby knew it, too—it could very easily have been her that gave up on life after being beaten down for so long.
“If you didn’t have Olivia, what do you think would’ve happened to you?” I asked, following her gaze back into the hospital.
“If I didn’t have Olivia, and Andrew had made me feel as helpless as she did when she took those pills? I don’t know, Tucker. Honestly, I have been thinking that very same thing, all afternoon.” She kissed me on the cheek and brushed my hair out of my face. “I am so glad I had Olivia, and you,” she added, before stepping back onto the curb. “Thanks for helping me. I’ll have food for you if want, when you get back.”
“No,” I countered. “The food here is awful, honestly. I’ll bring back some R&R. Make the doctors jealous.” She grinned and waved as Cynthia and I traded places so I could drive to the house I knew so well. On the outside, as we walked up to the door, nothing had changed, and memories of all the time I’d spent here washed over me. Air whooshed out of my lungs, and Cynthia touched my arm.
“Are you okay to go in there?” She asked, and I scoffed.
“Yes, I’m okay. My best friend used to live here, with his wife and his little girl. I guess I’m just not sure which I want to see less, everything the same as when this was Libby’s house, or everything different, like she was never there at all.” Cynthi
a nodded, and with a deep breath, I pushed the door open and stepped into the dim interior.
There wasn’t any overt sign of the tragedy that had occurred earlier in the day, and it made me feel worse about being there, like the house itself kept erasing the bad things that happened within its walls. I took the stairs two at a time, and headed straight for the upstairs master, where Cynthia handed me appropriate clothing and hygiene items, and I packed them to take back to the hospital. Lights shone in the window as we finished, and we hurried to collect the last of it and get it downstairs before whoever had pulled up, got inside.
We made it to the walkway before running into Veronica, who, it appeared, was back from the police station, having been cleared of any wrongdoing in the suicide attempt. She looked at the luggage in my hand and threatened to call the police, but Cynthia stepped between us.
“Your daughter-in-law is in the hospital, Mrs. Peele. We’re taking her clothes and a toothbrush, but you go ahead and tell the police that she doesn’t have a right to her things, since she gave us her key in the first place.” Cynthia held up the keys, and even unlocked the car with the fob so the lights flashed.
“We’ll see you at the hospital, I’m sure.” I said as we sidestepped the vicious-tempered woman and strode to the Prius parked at the curb.
It was a quiet ride back to the hospital, even after stopping for enough barbeque to feed a Little League team. Cynthia had few questions about how a simple will dispute had ended in the ICU, and I had even fewer good answers. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude, that Libby had been stronger, and if nothing else, such a good mother, that she simply had never given up.
“Kristy’s lucky that the person whose life she was ruining was Libby,” Cynthia mused quietly as she cruised the parking lot, looking for an open space. I shot her a glance and she held up a hand. “I’m not saying anyone should try to ruin Libby’s life, I’m just saying, a lot of people out there wouldn’t be sitting at the bedside of the person who has caused them so much worry and pain.”
“You’ve met Libby. Were you even surprised that this is where we ended up tonight?” She chuckled and shook her head.
“You have a pretty amazing woman, there. I wish I could meet a girl like that.” I laughed, and flicked her in the shoulder with my fingers.
“You just leave my woman alone. I bought you ribs.” She laughed and I felt the tension in the car dissipate with an almost audible pop. Libby still had a long road ahead of her, and I didn’t want to get in her way. But I was going to be there, just as I promised. No matter how long it took to earn her trust. Libby was my future. Olivia was as much a part of my heart as if I had brought her into being myself. Carl Jameson had hurt my family—and he’d done it on purpose, for profit. One way or another, he was going to pay for putting us all in the position we were in. I had so many ideas for how to make him suffer, it occurred to me I might need to hire Cynthia right away, to keep track of those ideas and to execute them, one at a time.
Once upon a time we’d been colleagues, never friends. But this was the last time he was going to come after anyone I considered family. I texted my brothers and informed them of my intentions, and my phone blew up with responses. I pocketed the phone and set my focus on the immediate need inside the building in front of me. One way or another, I’d find a way for Libby to relax and enjoy the moment. I’d just have to create one later she could enjoy.
18. Libby
Kristy still looked tiny in the hospital bed, but without the tubes running to her nose and down her throat, she looked a hundred times better than she had two days before. She cried when Tucker had explained to her that court had been put off until she was okay, even though she wasn’t required to be there. The police had come and gone, and I had explained at great length that I also had been held hostage emotionally by the people that had driven Kristy to try to take her life.
When the uniforms left, Kristy looked years younger than she had in the courtroom. It was still amazing to me how much like my nineteen-year-old self Kristy looked. It was uncanny, and made me question my life and marriage all over again. She was physically almost completely well, but every time the doctor spoke of discharge to a psychiatric hospital, her vitals would go haywire, especially her blood pressure. Her insurance was refusing to pay for another night in a regular hospital, and I asked Tucker to speak to her surgeon to extend it one more night, just until her blood pressure was no longer at a life-threatening level.
I washed her face, applied a little makeup, and brushed and styled her long hair. The nurses had said she’d be allowed out of bed to shower by late afternoon, but I did what I could to improve her mood before I had to go get Olivia.
“Do you want Olivia and me to come back later? We could sneak in something good to eat, like a Philly cheese steak from Moochies.” I wheedled, as we watched General Hospital on the grainy television in her room.
“I don’t know. I mean, what if she hates me? I married her dad, you guys had to move out of your house… I just can’t.”
“Sweetie, I was divorced when you met Andrew, so we had already moved, and she’s four. She couldn’t care less about your relationship with her father, except that it’s something you have in common, which in her toddler brain, means you’re already friends.” I held her hand and forced her to pay attention to me, instead of the soap on the TV. “Let me do this. I think it will help you, and it can’t hurt us.” Kristy’s face crumpled and she began to weep quietly, still holding my hand
“Why are you doing this for me?” I handed her a tissue and chuckled.
“Because my life would’ve been so much better if someone had been there for me when my sanity was on the line. If it hadn’t been for how much I loved Olivia, and how much she needed me, I’d probably have done the same thing. Just because he had an education and money, doesn’t mean he was a good man. I’m still coming to terms with the damage he did to me. I expect no less for you.”
“Okay, since I’d rather her see me here, than the insane asylum.” Kristy looked close to tears.
“Oh, sweet girl, is that what you think of your next days?” I sighed and stood at her side, stroking her hair. “Three days spent in the care of people who know how to make you stronger is not the end of the world.”
“What will people think?”
“Why would you tell them?” I turned off the television and sat on the end of her bed. “Kristy, you don’t know me at all, but I get the impression from your lack of visitors not associated with me that I’m what you’ve got right now.” She looked down at her hands on the faded blue hospital coverlet and scowled. “We’re not friends. But I’m the closest thing to family you’ve got right now, aren’t I?” Kristy nodded, still refusing to look at me.
I seethed. Andrew knew exactly what he was doing when he had brought each of us home. Girls with no parents or siblings to ask questions, eager to give their love and loyalty to someone they looked up to. Very young women, ripe for someone to dominate them. As though I had summoned her with her with our conversation, the staff counselor tapped on the open door and poked her head in, asking to speak with Kristy. I left them alone, grateful for the chance to grab a surprisingly good coffee from the stand downstairs.
I sat in the lounge longer than I needed to, basking in the soft light that filtered in through the stained mural in the panes of glass over the doors, depicting Tejano cowboys herding cattle over the plains. It was a quiet time of day, and while people flowed in and out of the building going about their business, the lack of conversations added to the stillness I felt while waiting to return to Kristy to say my goodbyes. One way or another, I wouldn’t be visiting her in the hospital again—though I did hope it was because she continued to get help.
There was a surreal feeling to everything that had happened, all leading to a plain white armchair in the hospital lounge, Tucker and his new best friend, Cynthia, working their collective butts off fighting for Olivia to get back her inheritance, and me trying to make friends
with one of the few people in the world that might truly hate me. I rubbed my temples, in an (apparently failed) attempt to massage out the headache that had already started pushing through the medicine and caffeine I’d already taken to banish it.
A shadow fell across my face and I opened my eyes to Tucker standing over me. He arched an eyebrow and handed me a gigantic chocolate muffin on a plate. As I pushed the flimsy plastic fork through the muffin, he sat in the chair next to mine and watched me with a smile.
“Am I supposed to share this with you?” I asked, with a mouthful of muffin. He laughed softly and shook his head.
“I already ate. But I saw you sitting there, looking… well, a little forlorn, and I thought chocolate might help.”
“You were correct. I don’t think I got through to her, Tucker. She thinks that because she was only with those people for a few months, that everything that happened, every choice she made, is because she’s a bad person, instead of admitting she’s ill, and needs help.” He rubbed his jaw.
“Don’t get mad.”
“I’m not mad, I’m just frustrated. If I had been in the position to get help…”
“Yeah, that’s what I want to talk to you about, and I would prefer that you listen without getting angry with me.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound like a conversation I really want to have, but, go ahead, you are my council, right?”
“I think you’re too close to this. She isn’t you, Libby. She should live her life her way, even if it’s going to lead her to pain. You can’t make those choices for her.”
“Wow. You really don’t see the hypocrisy there, do you?”
“Hey, I’ve told you what I think will help you, and what I’d love to do to help you. I’ve lost sleep over you and your unhappiness. But I know you. I care about you. I—I love you and O, and I say and do what I do out of love.” He leaned in and stared into my eyes. “She isn’t your friend, or family. What do you owe her, that you’re putting yourself through this?”