Heart of Gold (29 page)

“It was school. Hi, Cass.”

“Hi, Lady Zoey. I'm Skyping with my brother. Want to say hello?”

“Sure.”

Zoey took the seat Cass vacated, and Reg saw a man on the screen who looked a lot like Cass. He was wearing a leather jacket decorated with a lot of zippers.

He smiled, “Hi. Are you Zoey?”

“Yes.”

“I'm Cass's baby brother, Conor. How are you, little one?”

“I'm fine. How are you?”

“Truly honored to meet you.”

“Same here. You look like you're crying. Are you okay?”

“I am. Something in the air's got me going, I think, but I'm pretty happy.”

Reg was moved by the man's emotional response.

“Where are you?” Zoey asked.

“In Dublin with me mum.”

“Can I say hi to her, too?” Zoey looked to Roni and Reg for approval and got nods. “My mom and dad said it's okay.”

Conor said, “Hey, Dad.”

Reg laughed. “Hey, Conor. Pleased to meet you.”

“Same here. Hold on, Zoey, let me get her.”

While they waited, Zoey said to Cass, “Your brother's nice.”

“He's a big brat, is what he is.”

Then an older lady's face filled the screen. She had Cass's face, but her black hair was long, striped with gray, and pulled back in a ponytail. “Hi, Zoey. I'm Fiona Sullivan, Cass and Conor's mom. How are you?”

“I'm fine, Ms. Sullivan. Maybe you and Mr. Conor should open some windows or something. He was crying, too.”

Mrs. Sullivan wiped her eyes. “I know. We'll do that. It's wonderful to meet you.”

“It's nice meeting you, too. I never met a lady rocker before. Cass is going to teach me to play the bass.”

“Good for her,” she whispered through her tears.

Zoey turned to her mom and Cass. “Is she okay?”

Cass nodded. “She is. Just allergies, I think.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Zoey, I want you to keep my Cassie out of trouble while she's there.”

Zoey grinned. “Yes, ma'am. I will.”

Roni said softly, “Okay, hon. Tell Ms. Fiona 'bye so that Cass can finish visiting.”

She nodded. “Okay, Ms. Fiona, I have to go. Say good-bye to Mr. Conor for me.”

“I will, sweetheart. Take care.”

“You, too.”

Cass slid back into the seat. “I'll call you later. Give my brother a big hug. Love you.”

“Love you back.”

And she was gone.

Zoey said, “I like your brother and mom. Maybe Dad can give them a prescription to help with their allergies.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

Amused, Reggie smiled. “I think so too.”

“Okay, go get you a snack and then homework,” Roni said to Zoey. “Dinner later.”

“Okay. Thank you again, Cass.”

“You're welcome.”

Once she was gone, both Roni and Cass let go of the tears they'd been holding back.

“Wow,” Cass said, wiping her eyes.

“Ditto.”

Reggie said, “If you are Zoey's family, she couldn't ask for better folks. I could see the love in your mother's eyes.”

Roni added, “And your brother—oh my goodness. It took all I had no to break into what Oprah calls the ugly cry.”

“You have no idea how hard it was to convince them not to hop on a plane and fly straight here,” Cass said. “Mom loves her granddaughters, and to have one more—she's over the moon.”

“I lost my mom when I was growing up, so Zoey only has Reg's mom, but maybe now she'll have two.”

“And four little sisters,” Cass pointed out. “Zoey's Conor's eldest.”

Reg laughed. “She's going to love that. The big sister.”

Roni agreed. “Yes, she will.”

“So let's get this test done,” Reg said. He felt much better now that the initial meet-and-greet had gone so well. “Usually the labs wants both samples sent in together. With him in Dublin, that won't work, but I can make a few calls and see what we need to do so we can get the results back as quickly as possible.”

“On behalf of my family, thank you,” Cass whispered through another round of tears. “You have no idea how happy your open hearts have made us.”

“Maybe if everything goes well, your mom and brother can join us for Thanksgiving,” Roni offered.

“You really mean that?”

“No, Cass. I'm really lying.”

Cass laughed. “I can see you and I are going to get along famously.”

“Looking forward to it.”

That night, after having his world rocked—his father was right, absence does make the heart fonder—Reg lay in bed with his wife cuddled against his side. He placed a kiss on her forehead. “What do you think of this whole Sullivan thing?”

“Feels like I'm on a runaway train, but it's a good feeling.”

“Yeah?”

She raised up. “Are you having Garland Panic?”

“Just a little bit. Not sure how I feel about sharing our daughter.”

“Nothing wrong with that. I sort of feel the same way, but then I tell myself this isn't about me. It's about Zoey, and as her parents, we need to do our best to do what's right for her.”

“Going to be real hard for me to compete against a rocker who wears leather.”

She laughed. “I don't think that'll be a problem. Miss Miami's pretty grounded, and she loves her Daddy Reg—always has, always will.”

“I know. He seemed like an okay guy, though.”

“Yes, he did. And just think, when he takes Zoey to Rio or Nice for the summer, you and I can do the do in every room in the house.”

He laughed. “Never thought about it like that.”

“That's why you have me.”

He kissed her. “I love you, Wilma.”

She laughed. “Go to sleep, crazy man.”

C H A P T E R

23

T
he month of October seemed to fly by. Zoey and the kids groaned under the mountain of work assigned at school. She did protest having to donate the buccal cells in her cheek to benefit her wretched cousins, but as Roni predicted, she went along with it because it was the right thing to do. Reg reopened the clinic, and after witnessing the extreme poverty in South Carolina while working with his dad and brother, he decided he needed to make health-care services more available to the children in the county. With Roni's help he purchased a van, outfitted it with all the medical bells and whistles, and took it on the road. Zoey named it Dr. Reggie's Health-Mobile.

The auction for the coins went well, and by midmonth those who'd participated saw a nice bump in the balances of their checking accounts. Lily and Trent didn't allow Amari to buy as many video games as he wanted, but he purchased enough to get him through the long winter ahead, and the rest went into his college fund. Speaking of winter, Henry Adams was on the cusp. The warm reds and golds of early fall gave way to frost and temperatures that made everyone wear heavier outerwear to keep the shivers at bay. Snow shovels and window scrapers came out of hibernation, along with rock salt for walks and driveways. Folks no longer lingered in the parking lot of the Dog to chat; once their bills were paid, they hustled to their vehicles and turned on the heat. Daylight became scarce too, making it dark when people left for work and nearly as dark when they returned home.

After the townwide Halloween party at the rec, everyone began looking forward to the big Thanksgiving dinner. Rocky ordered all the turkeys and stored them in a big freezer over at Gary's store. Folks were calling relatives to make certain they were still coming, and Sheila sat in the Dog and took down the names of those expected so she'd know how many to plan for. Diane finally made peace with her children, and she was ecstatic that they were coming to town for the holiday.

And then, just as the rec reopened and the bitter taste of the riot faded, life in Bernadine's town went off the rails again.

It began with two visitors to Bernadine's office. One was a scruffy and decidedly smelly young man with badly done tats up and down his arms named Tommy Stewart. She'd never met him before. The man accompanying him was dressed for business—lawyer business, as it turned out.

He stepped to her and stuck out his hand. “Name's Steve Tuller. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Brown.”

“Same here. What can I do for you, Mr. Tuller?”

“May I sit?”

“Of course.”

She didn't like the catbird gleam in Stewart's eyes at all.

“My client was in your grocery store yesterday, and he purchased one of the prewrapped sandwiches from the deli.”

Her eye swung to the man in question. Putting two and two together, she already knew what was coming. “And he found—what?”

Tuller seemed a bit taken aback, but she didn't say anything more, so he cleared his throat and continued. “He found a cockroach in the sandwich.”

Stewart leaned in. “And I'm sure you don't want this news to get out—not this close to Thanksgiving. Who's going to patronize a store that uses cockroaches as deli meat?”

Tuller cleared his throat. “My client is asking for twenty-five thousand dollars.”

“Oh, is that all?” she asked sarcastically.

“She told me you wouldn't blink,” Stewart crowed. “Said you probably carry that much around in your purse.” Then, as if having heard himself, he blanched and shut up.

Tuller stared, shocked. “What? Who said that?”

Stewart hastily shook his head. “Nobody told me nothing. I made it up.” He began taking furtive looks at the door, as if contemplating bolting.

“Who put you up to this, Mr. Stewart?” Bernadine asked calmly. She had a pretty good idea, but she needed it confirmed.

“I want to talk to my lawyer.”

Tuller snapped, “You have a lawyer. Me!”

He slumped in his seat and mumbled something that sounded like “She said this would be easy.”

“Mr. Stewart, do you know Astrid Wiggins?” Bernadine asked.

His eyes went wide. He started to twitch, then forced himself to sit still. “No. Never heard of nobody with that name.”

She sat back, crossed her arms, and met the narrowed eyes of Tuller, who asked her, “You think Mrs. Wiggins put him up to this?”

“You're his lawyer. Ask him.”

“Well, Mr. Stewart?”

“I found a roach in my sandwich from her store,” he declared, pointing at Bernadine. “And I want to be compensated for my pain and suffering.”

“And if I find out this is all a scam,” she countered, “I'm going to sue
you
.”

His eyes went big, and he stood. “I gotta go. My boss at the gas station said if I'm late one more time, he'd fire me.” That said, he ran out of the office.

Tuller looked embarrassed and angry. “I hope you'll accept my apology for taking up your time with this nonsense. I had no idea. We're a top-flight firm, and we'd never be associated with something this rancid.”

“Apology accepted. Did he contact you directly, or did someone call on his behalf?”

“I can't divulge that, but rest assured no one from my firm will bother you again.” He handed her his card. The firm's name—Tully, Green, and Kent—was printed tastefully across the top.

“Thanks for your time, Ms. Brown, again. My apologies.”

“No problem. Have a good day.”

Furious over the extortion attempt and convinced this was more of Astrid's antics, Bernadine picked up the phone to call Gary, but a call came in before she could hit him up on her speed dial, his name on the caller ID. Before she could say hello, he said in a rush, “You need to get over here. Health Department's shut us down. The store's infested with cockroaches!”

She bit back an expletive and exhaled an angry sigh. “Okay. Be right there.” She hit the intercom, told Lily to grab her coat, and they left for the store.

Inside, Gary had all the employees gathered around him. He was saying, “I'll let you know when we can reopen. Sorry this had to happen so close to the holiday.”

“Will we get paid while during the shutdown?” Gemma Dahl asked.

Seeing Bernadine, Gary looked to her for the answer. She nodded affirmatively.

Everyone seemed to relax after that. He offered a few last words and sent his staff home.

The first thing he said to Bernadine was, “Health Department guy is still here. Roaches are everywhere. Once we get rid of the infestation, then we have to get the place professionally cleaned from top to bottom and dump all the food—including the canned goods.”

Lily asked, “Why the canned stuff, too?”

“Roaches lay eggs that could be on the tops of the cans. People open the cans—”

Bernadine waved away the rest of the disgusting image. “Okay. How much longer will the Health Department be here?”

A male voice behind her said, “We're done.”

He introduced himself and then gave them the bad news. “You have a real problem here, folks. You got roaches everywhere—deli, bakery, even the meat coolers. And with all the steps the state mandates to bring it up to code, you're probably looking at ten days before you can open again.”

As if to emphasize the severity of what they were up against, a cockroach skittered across the floor. Gary stomped on it.

Bernadine blew out a breath.

The inspector shook his head. “I've given Mr. Clark the names of a couple of local fumigators and cleaning agencies. Sorry to do this. I know you all just opened, but I have to shut you down.”

“We understand,” Bernadine said. “Thanks for your time.”

After he departed, she told Gary, “Go ahead and call the fumigators. I'll call Barrett and have him pull the videos from the surveillance cameras for the past few days.”

Gary stepped on another of the insects and said angrily, “These things had to have been brought in, Bernadine.”

“I agree, and I'm sure the cameras will let us know who 's responsible.”