by Natalie Ann
“What is wrong with you?” Penelope asked her the next day when she walked into her office and saw Emily with her eyes looking as if there were rivers of blood running through them.
“Nothing.”
“Really? Looks like you spent the night crying to me. Did you and Crew get into a fight?”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to tell her sister but knew she had to talk to someone. If she and Crew worked things out, there should be no reason her immediate family shouldn’t know.
After Crew left, she’d pulled out her computer and then did some searches and found what any of them could have if they’d bothered to look.
But why would they when they figured there was nothing to find?
“Yes.”
“About what? Or can’t you talk about it?”
She told Penelope about the claims of the baby and watched her sister’s jaw drop. “You could tell the kid has a Black father by the picture and she was trying to pull that off?”
“Yep,” she said.
“Why? Or was she just looking for anyone to help her out?”
This was the part that got tricky. Rather than find a way to blurt it out, she said, “Come here and read this.”
She pulled up one of the articles that said, “Boulder Couple Wins Record Lottery.”
“Oh my,” Penelope said. “Is that Crew’s parents?”
“Yeah. It’s his now. He doesn’t tell too many people because everyone wants something from him it seems. Or they did in his past, which is why he moved. I guess this woman found out and is doing the exact same thing.”
“It makes sense now,” Penelope said. “I think everyone wondered how he was buying a house here and that he just put three thousand down to go on a date with you. No one knows the other’s personal business, but still I feel bad for him.”
“What? You’re taking his side? He deceived me. He lied to me. I had no clue.”
“How did he lie to you? Did you ask him if he was a millionaire and he said no?” Penelope asked.
“Of course not. Why would I think to ask that?”
“Then he didn’t lie to you.”
“He knew I had trust issues. I told him everything about Simon. Even about the will and I just told you about it months ago. He kept a lot of his life private.”
“Again. I can kind of understand. You said he doesn’t talk to his family. What was his reason?”
She explained about Crew’s aunt and uncle. “He’s had a lot of people pretend to be there for him but it’s not genuine.”
“Hmmm,” Penelope said. “Kind of like a lot of the Bonds in our family? If anyone can understand what he’s going through or went through, I’d think it’d be you.”
She didn’t need to be told that by her sister. “You’re trying to take my anger away.”
“I’m trying to get you to see his side. I’m not saying he was right. He could have told you before now and I do wonder if he only did it because of the baby claim, but he did tell you when he could have still hidden it. And you said he’d been trying to figure out a way to do it? That he admitted that much to you?”
“Yeah. He was hurt with the way I acted, but I’m hurt too.”
“I get it. And you two have to work it out. But now he’s in Texas dealing with the same crap he was trying to outrun. You should be supportive rather than pissed. Be pissed another day, but be supportive today.”
“I hate when you’re right.”
“So when is he due back?” Penelope asked.
“Later today I think. Probably tonight if he can make the last ferry. He’s supposed to work tomorrow I believe.”
“How did you guys leave it?” Penelope asked.
“He told me to let him know where my head was at when he got back. I hear what you’re saying too.”
“Where is your head? Is what he did so bad that you feel you can’t trust him? I still stand by the fact he didn’t really lie to you. Most people don’t know everything about someone they are dating a few months in. Just because this was a whopper doesn’t make him a bad person. Especially when it sounds like he’s been burned. Kind of like you were burned, just in a different way.”
“I really hate when you’re right, so stop it.” Her shoulders dropped. “I love him. I don’t want to lose him.”
“That’s why your eyes are all red. You cried most of the night thinking it, didn’t you?”
“I’m not sure how to get through this even though part of me says it might not be that hard if we just talk. I think it’s going to come down to him being completely honest with me in the future and me not having to guess what I should and shouldn’t ask him.”
“Then tell him that. My guess is he will be going forward. You won’t know until you talk though.”
“You’re right. Go. I need to get some work done and then figure out the best approach on this.”
“You always did have to plan it all out, but life doesn’t work that way. I’d think you of all people could understand that,” Penelope said and then left.
34
Claw My Way Out
When Crew’s flight landed in Boston, the last thing he expected when he turned his phone on was to see a text from Emily saying that she wanted to talk.
It’d been a long day and he was exhausted having to fly there and back all at once and make sure he returned in time to catch the ferry. It was just six thirty now and he was positive there was no way he was getting to the docks to get the ferry by seven so he’d have to wait for the next at eight.
He was starving on top of it. With any luck he could get out of the airport and through traffic, then have enough time to grab something to eat on the ferry ride back.
Since Emily didn’t know his flight schedule, he was going to hold off replying to her until he knew when he’d be back on the island.
By the time he got through traffic and was nearing the docks, he had about ten minutes to spare and figured food was out of the question unless he wanted to wait until the last ferry of the night another hour from now.
Once he had his SUV parked on the ferry, he got out and started to walk around the deck. He remembered someone mentioning vending machines here before and tried to find them. Jackpot, there was even one for coffee. That and a sandwich that he hoped wasn’t too old but told himself it was totally worth it.
With the coffee and sandwich gone, he pulled his phone out and sent Emily a text he’d be home in thirty minutes or so.
She replied back right away, asking if he wouldn’t mind if she stopped over to his house or would he rather wait until tomorrow.
He liked that she was willing to let him get home and shower and change and even being flexible to wait. He didn’t want to though. They needed to talk, he knew. If she was going to end things with him, he wanted to know now and not be up all night staring at the ceiling waiting for the dreaded bad news.
He’d like to think she wouldn’t, but he had no clue. Maybe what he withheld was so bad in her mind that there was nothing to salvage.
He didn’t believe that was the case, but how the hell would he know until they talked? At least she was willing to.
He replied back that was fine. He needed a shower and to come over in an hour.
After he got home, showered and changed his clothes, he popped the top on a beer—one that Emily had shipped to her for him again. She was always doing things like that. Little things, and he appreciated it more than he could ever say.
When the doorbell rang, he got up and walked to open it. “You could have just come in,” he said.
“I wasn’t sure how welcome I would be.”
Interesting. She seemed unsure for the first time. “I knew you were coming.”
“Yeah. How did it go today?” she asked.
“Not like I expected it would.”
“So you think it’s your child?” she asked, looking shocked.
“No. Laurie admitted it wasn’t.” He was trying to figure out what to tell her and decided it would
have to be everything. No more withholding information.
“So it was a wasted trip?”
“Not really. I think it was obvious it wasn’t my kid. I had the test done anyway, then I went to see her. I fully planned on telling her to go take a flying leap off a high bridge into rocks below, but I didn’t.”
“What happened?”
“Sit,” he said. “Your pacing is making me nervous.”
“Sorry.” She moved and sat as if she didn’t realize she was antsy.
“We started to argue,” he said. “Then the baby woke up crying. Laurie put her in my arms while she got the bottle ready and I found myself looking down at this dark-skinned child that was no way mine. But I looked around the apartment at the few baby things, then Laurie came back and took the baby to feed her and I asked what was really going on and what she thought to accomplish with this.”
“She needed money obviously,” she said.
“She did. I could tell. She was honest with me and said she couldn’t find the kid’s father and was desperate and desperate people do stupid shit. She was a few months behind in rent, bills were piling up and formula and diapers were expensive. She’d tried to find me when she was pregnant and knew about the money. But she waited until the baby was born. I’m pretty sure she knew all along it wasn’t mine.”
“Why not just contact you and ask for help?”
“I asked her that too. That’s when she made the comment about being desperate. With all the money I’ve got now, I remember what it was like when my parents lived paycheck to paycheck. I think that is why my father helped so many people out. Not everyone, but a lot. I had no clue and it wasn’t my decision or money back then.”
“It sounds like they were good people.”
“They were,” he said. “It wasn’t the kid’s fault she was born into this. Laurie is going to struggle her whole life. That kid was going to go without. So many things. I can’t save the world and don’t plan on it.”
“But you did help them, didn’t you?”
“I did. I gave her ten thousand and she will spend it on whatever she wants. If she chooses to not use it to help the kid, there isn’t anything I can do. But I did pay her rent for the year so they had a place to stay.”
That cost a hell of a lot more than the ten grand did.
“And you’re a good person too,” Emily said. “One that has gotten burned a lot. I was wrong to get mad at you for not telling me.”
“I should have,” he said. “I’m not without fault here. I know that. But it’s the truth that I had no intention to even tell you to begin with. That one date, it turned into more and then I was trying to figure out when or if I needed to. Time just went by and it was making it harder.”
“As Penelope pointed out to me, plenty of couples don’t tell everything about themselves in the first few months of dating. You never lied to me. You even told me more than once to ask you things. I just didn’t think I’d have to ask that.”
He snorted. “I know. I had a few opportunities to tell you what was going on, but I didn’t. I guess when it comes down to it, I was nervous you’d react the way you did and not want anything to do with me. I didn’t want to take that risk, but as my grandmother kept telling me, I was backing myself in a corner that I might not be able to claw my way out of.”
“I have to know,” she said. “Did you only tell me because of Laurie? Did you feel like you were forced to?”
“No,” he said, moving to sit next to her. Something told him they were going to get through this. “I knew I had to tell you. I told you that a few days ago. I was trying to find a way how. In my mind I was planning it around the house closing. It would have been a good time, but then this happened and I didn’t want to keep the truth from you.”
“Penelope noticed my red eyes at work today. I spent most of the night crying.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because I was pissed at you. I was pissed at me. I didn’t want to lose you but then worried if I could trust you and I want to trust you. And as Penelope pointed out, you didn’t have to tell me about Laurie. You could have just said you were busy for a day or had things to do and I’d never know, but you didn’t.”
“No. That would have been wrong. That would have been lying and I haven’t done that once. I might have skirted the truth or omitted things, but I never outright lied.”
“I want to believe that.”
“I don’t know what to say or do to make you believe me.”
“You’ve said and done enough,” she said. “You didn’t have to tell me what happened today. You didn’t have to tell me what you did for Laurie. Though I have to say I’m proud that you did even though I’m sure part of you struggled with it.”
It was amazing how she understood him. “Yeah,” he said. “It felt like rewarding her for putting me through this once again.”
She moved closer and pulled him in for a hug. “No. You didn’t do it for Laurie; you did it for the baby. There’s a difference.”
“There is. It wasn’t much for me to spend that. And I didn’t plan on it. I think if she wasn’t honest with me and didn’t come right out and look so vulnerable I wouldn’t have. Maybe it was holding the kid that did it. I think that was probably it.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I want a family of my own,” he said. He leaned back out of her arms and looked at her. “I’ve just got my grandmother and she’s not here. I’m working hard to get her here, but I couldn’t stay in Boulder. It wasn’t worth it and she knows that.”
“You’ve been alone a long time. I know you were technically an adult when your parents died, but twenty-two really isn’t. At thirty I see every day how much I still rely on my parents and sister. My cousins.”
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life,” he said.
“Because you’ve been on your own the past ten years. I know. I would have made just as many if not more.”
“No, you wouldn’t because your extended family wouldn’t have allowed it. Do you want kids?” he asked.
“I do. At some point.”
“But the hotel is your priority?”
“Not my priority, but a responsibility. I can learn to do both. I’m trying now. Do you think I’m failing at that?”
“Not at all,” he said.
“Are we good?” she asked, wiping a tear that was rolling down her cheek.
He moved up and wiped another. “Do you want us to be?”
“I do. I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. I know it hurt you.”
“It did, but it hurt you too. I’ll take ownership of that.”
“I know,” she said. “I think you’re more mature than me in that instance. And if anyone can understand what it’s like to be wanted for a name or money, it’s me and my family. You said that and it’s the truth. It’s just we’ve never had things happen to us like you did.”
“Because you had money your whole lives. It’s different when you’re born into it than when you come by it suddenly. The wealthy don’t always accept you, and your old friends or those that you thought were friends find a reason and a sob story to hunt you down all the time. People you don’t even know or remember find you with their own sad tale.”
“You’re right. We don’t experience that. I couldn’t even imagine but I’ve seen it now. And I want you to know that I’m here for you.”
“I know you are.” He hugged her one more time, gave her a kiss on the lips. “I’d ask you to stay here with me tonight, but you don’t have any clothes for tomorrow.”
“I want to stay,” she said. “You go to work before me so I’ll just get up and go home and change. And just so you know, that is a first for me.”
He laughed. “What? Putting the day-before clothes on?”
“Yes.”
“See? A difference between us. Most people I know have done that.”
“Come on, Crew. Even that first night you had a change of clothes in your car so you didn’t do
it the next day.”
“That had more to do with not wanting to put a suit back on. Sorry, I’ll never get used to that. This blue collar worker likes his jeans and sneakers.”
“But you put a suit on for me,” she said. “Twice.”
“I did. And I’d do it again.” He stood up. “Now let’s go to bed. I’m beat, but not too tired to show you how much I love you.”
“I love you too, Crew.”
35
Be There For You
Just when things seemed to be going well and back on track, Crew realized that wasn’t the case when he saw the retirement community calling him while he was working two weeks later.
“Hello,” he answered.
“Crew, this is Joanne Freeney from your grandmother’s living facility.”
“Hi, Joanne. Tell me my grandmother is okay?”
“That’s why I’m calling. Lucy fell late last night on the lawn. We brought her to the hospital by ambulance because she broke her leg. Her son Richard was called as he was closer and he said he’d call you when I made mention of doing it.”
“I never got a call,” he said ready to put his fist through the wall.
“I figured. I knew you would have been here by now and decided to just touch base.”
“I’ll try to be there by tonight, if not first thing in the morning. Thank you for calling me.”
He disconnected the call and tried to call his grandmother’s phone, but it went right to voicemail. No way he was calling his uncle, so he called the hospital that he knew she was taken to, but they couldn’t give him any information.
A broken leg was a long way from his grandmother’s heart, he told himself, but called his office to say he had a family emergency and had to try to get a flight out.
It didn’t take long before his replacement found him and finished the rest of his route while he left to go home and pull up flights and make arrangements. He couldn’t get anything until tomorrow morning, which only aggravated the shit out of him, but it was what it was.