by Theresa Weir
Instead, she headed upstairs. She needed to do something. Things were happening to her, and for once, she needed to be the one who made things happen.
When she reached the first floor, she called Patty Kohlman. Patty answered on the second ring.
“I need to meet with you.” Maddie sagged into the recliner Logan had sat in so often. It had been her recliner before he came. Now it was hers again. She was reclaiming it. “Tomorrow. And any other members who can make it.”
“We know about the recall. We contacted a lawyer about it already.”
“Did you see the lawyer yet?”
“Not yet.” Patty’s voice was flat.
“Neither have I. But if the board doesn’t talk to me, not only will you waste your money paying a lawyer for something you won’t win, but you and the board members are going to look like either fools or co-conspirators.”
“Are you threatening us?”
“No, Patty, I’m telling you the truth, and I’m not sure if you know what the truth is. Do you know the reason Duane was fired?”
“Do you really have to do this?”
“No, I could sit here like a mouse and agree with everything you do. But I’m not a mouse.”
Seconds of silence came from the other end. Maddie forced herself not to say anything first, remembering a saying she’d heard that the one who speaks first loses.
“Duane was very upfront about it. He made a mistake,” Patty said in the same flat tone. “He made a mistake with a woman who worked in the town hall. His wife forgave him, but because of the circumstances, he decided the best thing to do was to leave.”
“He decided?” Maddie asked.
“Yes, he did. Now, is that all? Anything else you have to say can be said tomorrow. I’ll be there. I don’t like the ugly way everything is going.”
“Ugly acts get ugly results, Patty.”
“We were helping a friend.”
Now it was Maddie’s turn to be silent. Patty’s comment told her the board didn’t consider her to be a friend.
Did that make them her enemies?
“I’ll see if any of the other board members will come. I’m not sure if I should tell George and Duane or not.”
“Go ahead, but in that case, it will be an official meeting. I’ll make sure everything is recorded. In fact, that’s a good idea, in any case. Be at my office at ten a.m. tomorrow.” When she hung up, her hands were shaking. She wondered if she would sleep tonight.
Chapter 23
At ten minutes to ten the next morning, Patty called to tell her the meeting was off. Instead, they’d made an appointment to see the lawyer.
“Are you charging the town?” Maddie asked.
The silence on the other end told Maddie that the answer to her question was a yes. Patty didn’t want to confirm it, yet since Maddie was the one who would process the paperwork, she couldn’t lie to her.
The way she’d been lied to already.
“The fact is,” Patty said, her deep voice sharp, “that a man with more experience and with lifelong ties to the community was available, and we’d be doing the people of the town a disservice not to hire him.”
“The problem is that you don’t have the facts.”
“Duane made a mistake, and he’s deeply sorry for what he’s done. He’s human. He’s fallible. He’s—”
“A liar,” Maddie said. “I’m not saying there wasn’t an affair, but that’s not the reason Duane was fired. You might want to double-check your facts, because George and Duane are making fools out of you. And in return, you and other town board members have made a fool out of me. No more, Patty. No more.”
She hung up.
Her hand shook. How did a year that had started off with so much promise gotten so ugly?
She hadn’t gotten the job she was promised.
She’d been lied to. She’d been cheated out of a job. She’d lost income she could have been earning because she hadn’t looked for a different job.
She’d met a man she…
Well, she’d met a man.
He’d left for another woman.
She closed her eyes tightly, and her hands on her desk cramped into fists. Inside, her belly was a hot, tight mass of anger, and in her heart, she sorrowed.
She clamped her mouth shut to hold back a cry, and on her comfortable office chair, she rocked back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, until an odd noise stopped her.
Her eyes snapped open even as she recognized the grinding sound of her coffeemaker. Efficient as usual, she’d prepared it ahead of time this morning to start at ten a.m.
At least she could count on something, she thought.
Then she took a deep breath. And another. And a third.
There didn’t seem to be much to be grateful for, but she couldn’t function like this all day. It would eat a hole in her heart or in her soul that would fill with bitterness. Already, she felt the poison eating at her insides.
She needed to start her list of the good things that had happened this last year.
Immediately, thoughts rushed into her mind too fast to assign numbers or even her beloved bullet points.
She and Zach were healthy. She had her master’s degree. Zach’s teacher loved him. She had friends who were rooting for her.
She hadn’t gotten arrested for trespassing and squatting.
And after five years of abstinence, she’d had sex. And not just sex in small, everyday letters. She’d had SEX. WOW SEX. WONDERFUL SEX. FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC SEX.
So he’d left her for another woman. So what? He’d never made promises to her. In fact, she was the one who had pulled back.
And as for him leaving…it was his loss. She would get over him. It might take a while, though she wasn’t planning on waiting five years again.
And as for the house… She would leave soon.
And as for the town board… She wasn’t going to get bitter.
She was going to get even.
Or maybe not. She wasn’t sure that was good karma. Getting even might leave the stomach-twisting bitterness inside her, and she didn’t want that. But neither was she going to be the town board’s doormat. She wasn’t going to meekly turn her back after they stomped over her. That wasn’t good karma for her or for them.
It made her wonder who else they’d been stomping over.
The door between her office and the outer one opened, and Caroline stuck her head in. “Need anything before the big meet?”
“It was called off.”
Caroline’s eyebrows shot up, wrinkles creasing her forehead.
“They’re seeing a lawyer,” Maddie said.
“Because of the recall?” Caroline’s eyebrows contracted, vertical creases added to the horizontal ones.
Maddie twisted her lips. When one lawyer became involved, more lawyers often followed. And Caroline and Maddie’s other supporters wouldn’t be able to charge the town for their costs.
She looked down at the manila envelope. “The board members didn’t want to see this, but I think you’ll find it interesting reading. Why don’t you grab a cup of coffee and take a look?”
Caroline didn’t need another invitation, hurrying to the coffeemaker. While she was getting her cup, Maddie checked her private email to see if there was anything from her sister….
Though even as she thought that, she knew she was lying. It wasn’t her sister whose name she was looking for.
His name wasn’t there. But something else was. An email from Bert’s investigative agency. She’d sent the company a resume after she’d gotten back from the luncheon, then so much had happened that she’d forgotten about it.
She clicked it open, but before she got a chance to read it, Caroline sat in front of her, holding her mug that said “Wine is always better than Whine” with both hands, her expression making Maddie think of a mischievous cat. “Here I am. What’s the scoop? The dirtier the better.”
Maddie’s stomach tightened and so did her clutch on the enve
lope. For a moment, she couldn’t talk.
“My stomach.” Maddie felt her stomach clutching. “It’s telling me not to do this.”
“My stomach tells me to eat candy and ice cream all day.”
“My stomach tells me the same thing, but this is different. I’m just not sure I should do this.” She looked down at the envelope, not understanding why she wasn’t giving it to Caroline.
“You’re too nice.” Caroline got up. “You don’t know how to be mean.”
“My sister says the same thing.” They were right. She knew it. She wanted to give it to Caroline. The town deserved to know the truth.
Yet her stomach coiled even tighter, and she pulled the envelope over her belly.
“And you know what happens to nice girls?” Caroline asked.
“They don’t have fun?”
“They try to please everyone.” Picking up her coffee, she turned to leave. “And they end up pleasing no one. Especially not themselves.”
Watching her leave, Maddie’s stomach clutched even tighter, so she bent forward over the desk. She suspected she was wrong with her interpretation of what her stomach was telling her. That it was really telling her that Caroline was right.
And why was she listening to her stomach? Her mind knew for certain that Caroline was right.
Yet she didn’t go after Caroline. Instead she straightened and put the manila envelope in a drawer…and locked it.
* * *
“I feel awful.” Kris’s voice over the phone was wobbly, and Maddie imagined her wringing her hands.
“You are awful,” Maddie said in the back hall of her house, taking off her jacket with one hand and holding her phone with the other because the speakerphone echoed in the small place. She’d already phoned Kris at her break, keeping her up to date on the county board train wreck.
Now Kris was sharing her own bad news.
This day kept getting worse. She imagined that if she looked up the December horoscope for Virgo, it would have a thick, black X over it.
A meow brought her attention downward, and Ginger twirled around her ankles. She sighed and bent to pet her with her free hand, scratching Ginger’s neck. “Just kidding. I understand perfectly that Cody’s parents want you to visit with them on Christmas.”
“We told him we’d come early next year—I’m not looking forward to flying over the holidays—but they sent us the tickets.” The resentment in her voice made Maddie wince. Clearly, the Gemini horoscope, her sister’s sign, didn’t have a happy face, either.
“Yeah, well…”
“And I know what a crappy time this is for you,” Kris continued. “I almost feel like telling Cody to go without me.”
Maddie grunted in response as she pulled off her boots then stepped into her slippers. Ginger ran ahead of her to the kitchen. Maddie followed her, knowing she wanted some petting and some love. And what was wrong with that?
“Ack,” Kris said. “That’s enough of my shitty day. What about yours?”
“Guess what I’m going to do very soon?” Maddie sat on a chair by the kitchen table, and Ginger jumped on her lap and began kneading happily while Maddie rubbed her neck.
“What?”
“You know that saying about one door closing and another opening?”
“Are you talking about Christmas? You’re invited someplace else?”
“It’s more important than that. Besides, Ginger will like having us home for once.” Peering into Ginger’s green eyes, she lowered her voice. “Won’t you, sweetie pie?”
“She’s not your baby.”
“If you had a cat, you’d change your mind. There’s a reason people call them fur babies.”
“The reason is that people are soft in the heads. Anyway, what door is opening?”
“I have an interview! January second.”
“No kidding. Where?”
“Remember I told you about the detective agency that I sent my resume to? It’s them.”
“You said it’s in Minnesota.” Kris made the four-syllable state a whine.
“I know. Isn’t it great that it’s so close?”
“It’s a two-hour drive each way.”
“An hour and a half drive. Though maybe the way you drive it’s longer, Mrs. Turtle.”
“Ha ha ha.”
“No, it’s ho ho ho. And no whining, please.” Her voice cracked. The effort to put up a cheerful front was too much, and she stopped petting Ginger. “I can’t take it anymore.”
The cat meowed her complaint and jumped off, hurrying away from her.
“You didn’t hear from Logan?”
“No.”
“I looked him up a few times today. I didn’t see anything.”
“Me, too.” She’d Googled Olivia’s name, too, and hated everything she read, though there wasn’t anything new.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. It’s good that I learned this now.” Not that he’d promised her anything. And she’d said she wouldn’t hope…but she’d stupidly hoped anyway. “I’d better go. Remember, no whining, okay?”
“Got it. If you can get through this without whining, so can I. If there’s any news about anything, let me know. Anything at all. And call anytime.”
“I will.”
“Except Saturday night between eight and nine p.m.”
Maddie laughed. “I’ll put that on my calendar. ‘K & C’s Nookie Time.’”
“I might be packing this Saturday. Hard to believe Christmas is coming so soon. Less than a week.”
Maddie agreed, and they said good-bye. Moving slowly, she pushed up from her chair then started her dinner. For a short time, every day had seemed special. Magical. Now the days seemed gray, except for the times she was with Zach.
She stepped into the living room and looked out the big picture window, in the direction of California. “Come back,” she said softly. “Come back to me.”
Her words hung in the air, like vibrations from a tuning fork. She waited a moment, as if she were expecting a reply, which would’ve been cute but didn’t happen. Of course it didn’t.
But it wouldn’t hurt to say one more thing, and this she said loudly, almost shouting:
“I still have more stories to tell.”
Then she turned and strode to the bedroom to change out of her work clothes and, after that, start dinner.
She’d done all that she could do…except call him and tell him. But she couldn’t do that. She would not beg him to come back. It had to be his choice.
* * *
Logan thrashed, swimming through a thick blackness, trying to get up, but a pressure kept pushing him down, down, down.
It wasn’t water, because he could breathe, but he seemed to have lost his strength. He kicked his legs and paddled his arms and hands…and nothing happened.
He must have made some progress. A shape appeared ahead of him. He called out, wanting the shape to turn. It seemed important that he see what it was.
He called and called and called…
The shape turned. A medium-sized, mostly brown dog with white on his face and fur that looked like long pieces of yarn. A dog of mixed breed, definitely one-of-a-kind.
His heart leapt.
Einy! It was Einy!
His dog who’d died so long ago was here, in this black ether, waiting for him.
“Einy!” he shouted. “Einy!”
Einy turned back and paddled away from him. Panic made him shout Einy’s name again as he swam after him. “Einy, don’t go! Come back, Einy!”
But Einy continued on, not hearing him. If Einy had heard him, he would dog-paddle back instead of away.
“Einy!” he screamed. “Einy! Einy! Einy!”
Someone was clutching his hands, but he couldn’t see who it was. “Einy!”
A wave of tiredness pushed through him, and it wasn’t right. Wasn’t natural. Someone was drugging him to keep him from Einy.
“EINEEEEEEEEE!” he screamed one last time, the sound ech
oing inside his head as the ether swallowed him up and drowned him.
* * *
Dog was sleeping on a back porch, curled tightly to stay as warm as he could, the house blocking the freezing north wind, when the dream started. He was in the water, and his human was calling his name. “Einy! Einy! Einy! Einy!”
He tried to swim toward his human, but he was being pulled in another direction.
And finally he was swimming away as his human called his name again, “Einy!”
He whimpered, his feet moving, deep in the black sleep, and finally the pressure that kept him facing forward went away, and he turned…
To nothingness… His human was no longer there.
But there was some consolation. Now he had a name.
Einy.
Chapter 24
The week heading up to Christmas felt to Maddie a crappy time to have her life fall apart. It was the second time it’d happened to her. But she couldn’t feel sorry for herself. Instead of feeling sad, she was starting to get angry. Angry at the board. Angry at George and Duane. Angry at Logan and his dark queen—which she always thought was a stupid name for the actress. As if the woman had mythical powers over him.
“Bitch” would’ve been so much better.
But sadness simmered beneath the anger. Not the best combination for Christmas cheer.
Every year since Maddie had started working for the town hall, they were allowed to pipe music through the speakers for the holiday season. Caroline chose a country music station, and at least once a day, Maddie heard Dolly Parton’s “Hard Candy Christmas.”
A great way to describe her Christmas. She scowled a lot at work, though at home she had to keep up her smile for Zach. He was moping because Logan was gone, and she didn’t want to make it worse.
And then the day before Christmas, Patty and the three male board members walked into her office to ask her not to take her “disappointment” out on the town.
Anger fired up inside her, so fast and so hot she shook with it. She clenched her teeth and curled her hands into fists, and the anger grew more and more intense.
Enough with being understanding. Enough with being the good guy. Enough, enough, enough. What had all her understanding and goodness gotten her? Not the job she’d been promised. Not money. Not even honesty.