Contingency Plan (2 page)

I walked over and knelt down to pet the dog. Same black mark on his muzzle, but he was growing into an adolescent. He kissed me over and over. “He likes you,” the older woman said.

“Yes, I know Scout. My husband had to give him up. You must have been the people looking at him the day he came to the shelter.”

She shook her head. “There must be some mistake. He was running loose down at French Beach. We called the crd and no one had reported him missing. So he’s found a home with us.” French Beach was almost 20 kilometers west.

I didn’t know what to say. Driving home half in a trance, I felt my stomach turning over. When I nearly hit a woman in a crosswalk, I pulled over and took deep breaths.

When I told Joe later, he said, “No way. I left him at the shelter in Saanich. That’s sixty or more kilometers from French Beach.”

“I guess so, but he looked so similar. And he was friendly.”

“Honey, border collies are engineered to look similar. When I got him at the breeder, all his siblings had exactly the same markings. And what pup wouldn’t love you?” He hugged me and planted a kiss on my ear. If you want, I can call the shelter and check.”

“No, I’m sure you’re right, Joe.”

Jane was staying with Bonnie in Sooke during the week until the fall term ended. Joe had plans for her to start at St. Anne’s, a private school in Victoria. “Our brilliant daughter will get the stimulation and opportunity she needs. I wouldn’t be surprised if she went all the way to a PhD. First one in the family.”

Jane had showed me the catalog that Saturday morning. Joe was right about the challenge. She’d been at the top of her class, bored most of the time. St. Anne’s curriculum looked almost like a university’s. “There’s a special environmental studies program, Mom.” I thought she was going to dance around the room.

Joe laughed as he poured a glass of champagne, something he vowed we’d have every night for our first month. “When the winter semester starts, we’ll all be here. For only a while,” he said. “It’s too small, don’t you agree?” Of three bedrooms, one was his home office where he sometimes worked in the evening. He and two other lawyers shared offices on Fort Street.

“You’re probably right. Everything went at warp speed after the wedding. Getting the house ready to sell and then moving here.”

He caressed my shoulder, finishing with a gentle kiss on the cheek. “Sweetheart, when I decide I want something, look out, world. I’ve been keeping a secret from you two. Time to fess up.” He moved to an elegant rolltop desk. Back he came with a set of drafting plans.

“Joe, what in—?”

He touched a finger to my lips. “Uh-uh. Look first. Talk later. We can change anything you like, darling.”

The blueprints and sketches showed a spectacular West Coast–style home in the nearby hills. “I’ve owned five prime acres in the Highlands since I moved to the island. The well’s already in,” he said. “Take your time. This is the first house I’ve built too. I’ve been planning it in my head for years. Now what’s on your wish list? You love cooking, so if you want an even bigger kitchen, or…”

“I never dreamed of a custom-built house,” I said. My heart was singing. With our seasonal business, Andy and I had to watch our pennies.

“Plenty of privacy too,” he added. “I’ve had enough of the noisy city.” Even with triple-paned glass, you could hear the rush of the traffic. Victoria’s zoning laws prevented extreme high-rises where the busy streets were far below.

In all the excitement, another thought hit me. “But out in the Highlands, what about my job? That’s a long commute,” I said.

I had been working part-time as a library assistant in Sooke. I liked helping people, but frankly, Jane and I had needed the cash. The cost of living on the island was nearly double what we’d had to pay in the North. Joe waved his hand. “No problem taking off a few months, half a year, is there? I’m going to need your expert opinion on every inch of this home. Our home. How does that sound, Mrs. Gillette?” He held me at arm’s length, pride glowing in his eyes.

I nodded as he turned back to the blueprints. He’d done so much work. If I really missed the job once the house was finished, I could try my luck at one of the closer regional library branches. On second thought, a volunteer job would be easier to get and more flexible. A guide at Craigdarroch Castle or another tourist attraction might be interesting. Or charity work. That might be good for a lawyer’s business.

* * *

In January, Jane was enrolled at St. Anne’s. She loved the challenging courses. She’d even joined the lacrosse team. Family dinners were full of laughter.

I spent my days touring furniture stores, choosing flooring, cabinets, countertops, lighting. Joe had been right. It was a full-time job. No sooner did one stage finish, than the next began. I was pressed to get home by five thirty, which left little time to prepare dinner.

One day I wasn’t back until six. I bustled through the door and took the groceries to the kitchen. Five squares of linoleum fell to the floor. Joe came in from the living room, a scotch in his hand. “Sandra, you should have called. What’s going on?” He looked more annoyed than worried.

“The flooring guy wasn’t back from a job. Samples were missing. I had to wait half an hour. Then there was a jam on Douglas. Traffic was re-routed.” Why was I having to explain myself ?

“Huh. I have a good mind to take our business elsewhere.” He finished his glass. “Call that catering place over on Gorge. Order whatever’s fastest. And next time check in. That’s what a cell’s for.”

As I picked up the phone, I saw five more decorating magazines that Joe had brought home. There was my reading for tonight. I could put my novel away.

* * *

Five months later we moved into our dream home. Eight thousand square feet of cedar, glass, steel and concrete. A lap pool. Solarium. State-of-the-art video room with leather recliners. Steam washer and dryer. Exercise room with treadmill, elliptical trainer and Bowflex.

One night I was on my laptop at the kitchen table, toying with window-dressing ideas for the downstairs suite. Swatches were spread out around me. Joe had said he wanted his mother and sister to have their own area when they visited. Funny that they hadn’t called since our wedding day or after I sent a handwritten thank-you note for the ring. We’d all been so busy. I hoped that they were all right.

“Why not have your mom and sister come visit now? The guest suite upstairs is perfect for them,” I said to Joe.

He was laughing at several hummingbirds dueling at the feeder. Seconds went by before he answered. “There’s the B and B. They have chickens, and a few goats and horses. Mom still wants to be a farm woman in those small ways. It takes work to arrange for someone to care for the animals. Anyway, we’re not a super clingy family. Just there for each other. That’s what counts.”

“I guess so.” Possibly we could fly to the East Coast at Christmas.

A short while later, Jane came running toward me in tears. “It’s gone, Mom.”

I stood up. “What’s gone?”

“My final science project. It’s due tomorrow. Intertidal species, remember? There’s a big blue screen with warning messages. Everything’s, like, frozen.” Her small fists were clenched. She looked so vulnerable and defeated even though she was nearly as tall as I was.

We hurried to her room, and I took a look. Joe was passing by in a fluffy white robe, his hair wet from a shower. “Did I hear female distress calls? What’s up, ladies?”

Jane stuttered out computer language I didn’t understand.

He sat at the screen and fiddled. “Do you have a memory stick, Jane?” he asked. She got him one.

Jane was struggling not to cry.

“No luck retrieving the data,” he said after a minute. He stood. “It must have been that power surge this morning.” The lights had gone off when a transformer blew down the road. We’d seen the BC Hydro truck and its cherry picker.

“But ours are okay,” I said in confusion. “You were on earlier. I’m on the Internet. Why Jane’s?”

He shrugged. “The way things are routed, the data comes into her computer first. Jane’s took the hit.” He gave her a cool and assessing look. “Didn’t you have a contingency plan?”

She gulped, wiping her eyes. “What’s a contin—?”

“It means a backup plan. Automatic data retrieval. For the entire hard drive. Not just your current projects.”

“But I never thought…I mean, I have a surge protector.” Jane bent under the desk and pointed to the unit.

Joe took one look. “These cheap ones you brought from your old place are no better than a multiple outlet. This will be a lesson for you, Jane. A valuable one. Learn from it.”

He left us alone, whistling a tune as his footsteps faded down the hall. I hardly knew how to react. This was a new side. Not that he’d been abusive or raised his voice, but his reaction seemed very cold. Jane looked like a wounded puppy. Not only did she blame herself, but I could see that she was disappointed in Joe.

“Chin up, my girl. I’ll get a coffee, you get a pop, and we’ll use my computer and whatever data you still have. If I know you, it’s still fresh in your mind.”

Jane had too much pride to let the project go. Together we worked all night reassembling the material. She had the resource books and knew the websites.

When Jane brought home a C plus instead of her usual A, I thought again about the way Joe had acted that night. Maybe he’d been tired. Maybe he was trying to make Jane more independent. I had never thought about the backup. I assumed kids knew more about computers.

Maybe that was the point though.

She was a kid.

CHAPTER
FOUR

O
ver his favorite buckwheat-pancake breakfast, I told Joe that I was going to start looking for another job. “The house is, for all purposes, finished.”

A glint of frost passed across his handsome features. He folded his serviette in six. “The house, maybe, but what about the landscaping? Don’t quit on me now, Sandra. I need your input. The jewel needs a proper setting,” he said. He gestured toward the window, at the expansive yard that tumbled away from the house. “Don’t you want fruit trees, rhodos, perennial beds, the rock garden, the koi pond?”

All of those ideas had been his dreams. I wasn’t much for gardening. Now I felt selfish. “I know we talked about it, Joe.”

“Don’t you want our place to be perfect? Where are your priorities? Is it a question of money?”

“You’ve been very generous.”
First class
all the way
was his motto.

He came around the table and put an arm around me, drawing me close. “Don’t I work long hours to earn enough to surround you and Jane with the best? Sure, it’s an adjustment from your other…life, but is it that hard?”

I blinked. That stung. “Of course it’s not.” A month or two. How long could it take? I swallowed my disappointment. I felt like a prisoner. Maybe working in the yard would help.

“That’s more like it,” he said as he got up to go to work. “Start calling and make a list of contacts for these jobs by the end of this week. We can look it over together on the weekend. Hire women when you can. They don’t show up hungover or steal tools like men do.”

* * *

The next day my Neon died. At the garage, they told me that the repairs would exceed the car’s value. I called a dealer and was given a reasonable quote for the same basic transportation. What more did I need?

I waited until we were having our after-dinner coffee and Jane was in her room, downloading music.

“Another shitbox ready to collapse in an accident?” Joe asked after I’d explained my day. “You’re much more valuable to me than that, darling girl. Besides, I don’t want you driving all over when you should be home thinking about dinner. Thinking about making every meal even better than the last.”

A burning sensation seeped into my chest. Joe was always demanding more, setting up another hoop to jump through. My jaw clenched and I looked away.

He sighed. “If you must have one, wait until I make a couple of calls about when the new models come in. A guy at BMW owes me big-time. Once you drive a Bimmer, you won’t want anything else.”

Getting around until then wouldn’t be easy. We lived far from a bus route. And I couldn’t bring myself to spend the seventy dollars for a round-trip in a taxi.

As I was loading the dishwasher, another landscaper called back. After setting up an appointment, I went outside to look around and organize my thoughts. The house did look like a castle. Maybe more greenery would soften the severe effect. Virginia creeper turned so pretty and red in the fall. I’d never dreamed of living like this. But instead of being proud, I was getting anxious. Why couldn’t I make Joe happy? He’d given us everything.

* * *

When the summer holidays arrived, Bonnie was having a problem with driving and stopped coming over. “I’m worried about her, Joe,” I said during a commercial break in the news. “She says her vision is bothering her, but it’s more than that.”

“She’s a busybody, Sandra. When you’re with her, you’re living in the past. With Andy. The old bat fills your head with silly ideas when you should be thinking about how to make this marriage work better.”

I felt a chill. His words about her sounded cruel. “Work better. What do you mean?”

He straightened his shoulders as he poured a second brandy and turned off the
TV
. “Don’t delude yourself into thinking that I haven’t noticed the change in your lovemaking. You’re so remote. Like it’s a chore. What’s wrong? Now that you’ve gotten what you wanted, you take me for granted.”

His comment rocked me. The dissatisfaction was moving to another level. “You’re wrong. I haven’t—”

With two quick steps, Joe moved in front of me. Veins stood out on his temple and his hot breath made me flinch. I leaned backward.

“What did you say? Did I hear you right?”

“I said you were…wrong. Please don’t talk so loudly. What if Jane comes—?”

“I’ll do what I please in the house I bought…for
us
, woman. And I’ll tell you something else. I am
never
wrong.”

He stormed out, slamming the door. His suv screamed up the drive, scattering gravel. Suddenly I felt very alone. To distract myself, I emptied the dishwasher. Then I watered the houseplants. I looked out the front window. No sign of his car. I ground fresh beans and filled the coffeemaker. Would he be back by breakfast?