Island Girl (46 page)

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Authors: Lynda Simmons

BOOK: Island Girl
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I shook him off. “I am an officer of the court, here in the performance of the court’s duty. If you touch me again, I will charge you with assault. Do you understand?”
The toad nodded.
“Do you understand?” I asked louder.
“Yes, I understand. Yes.”
I turned back to Vandergroot. He was already on the phone. “I’m calling my lawyer. You can’t do this.”
“Mr. Vandergroot, you have three days in which to pay Bradley Mechanical the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in full, or we will be filing that petition with the bankruptcy court.”
“Jim?” he said into the phone. “I have some woman in here trying to serve me with a petition to bankruptcy. I don’t know her name. Just some bitch in high heels and an expensive suit.”
“Tell Jim it’s Liz Donaldson.” I took a card from my pocket, tossed it on the desk. “I’ll be expecting his call.”
I shook back my hair, saw Brenda’s head peeking over the edge of the window, and turned sharply. Shot the toad in the corner a warning glance, and looked back at Klaus. “And Mr. Vandergroot. Make sure the check is certified.”
I marched back out the door and down the hall. Past those same faces, now gaping, gossiping, tossing curious looks at me, at the office of the CEO and back to me.
“Have a nice day, people,” I said when I reached the door to the reception. “You too,” I called to the redhead on my way through. “And tell them to turn down the air-conditioning. Then maybe they can pay their bills on time.”
I went out the door into the heat. My legs were shaky but still on the job, carrying me along the walkway, to the parking lot. Across the parking lot to the clown car.
The midget leapt up and hugged me. The giant whooped and hugged us both. I thought I’d die for lack of breath, and then she let us go and we high-fived and high-fived again. Laughing, congratulating ourselves, finally climbing into the car as my cell phone went off.
We froze. I looked back at the front door, saw Vandergroot standing there, phone to his ear and a big smile on his face. Shit.
My stomach clenched as I flipped open the phone. “Liz Donaldson,” I said, hoping my voice conveyed more confidence than I felt.
“Is this the Liz Donaldson that used to work with Mark Bernier?” the caller asked.
I could tell I was on speaker phone. “Who is this?”
“It’s Jim Hodgeson, Liz. Of Hodgeson and Levi. You must remember me.”
I wished I didn’t. “Of course, Jim. How are you?”
Nadia and Brenda huddled closer, watching, listening. I gave them a thumbs-up and smiled, hoped I was convincing.
“Well, I’m a little troubled, Liz,” Jim said. “And I’ll tell you why.”
I could picture the smug bastard, leaning back in his chair, sure of himself, more sure of me. Vandergroot wasn’t the only one at the door now. Most of the company was there too, standing behind their leader, waiting to see what happened.
“I hear you’re making some trouble for my good friend Klaus over at Champlain. He’s on the line with us now. Say hi to Liz, will you, Klaus?”
Klaus waved to me. Had everybody there with him yell, “Hi, Liz.”
“What’s going on?” Brenda whispered.
“Vandergroot is being shit,” Nadia whispered. “Liz is in trouble.” She smiled and gave me a thumbs-up. Obviously, I hadn’t convinced anyone.
“Something about petition into bankruptcy,” Jim was saying. “Is that right, Liz?”
I took a breath, spoke slowly, in my low and controlled lawyer voice, not the high, squeaky, scared shitless one that was threatening to break through at any moment. “I suggest you speak to your client, Jim. He’s got the paperwork and I hope he’s opened it. Ignoring the petition will only get him deeper into trouble.”
“Well, Liz, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Frankly, I’m surprised by all of this. It’s been a while since you’ve practiced law, and I know you’ve had some trouble with the drink these past few years. Don’t try and deny it, Liz, because this is a small world we work in, you and me. Things get around. Bad things sometimes, but usually true. So I was surprised when Klaus told me you had the balls to walk in there and drop a petition on his desk.”
“That’s exactly what happened. And—”
“He said the card read ‘Elizabeth Donaldson, Attorney at Law,’ so I’m assuming you’re not back with Mark again. Is that true, Liz? Is it really just you and your girlfriends out there by a little yellow car, trying to bully my client into paying a bill that should be handled through normal channels? Is that what’s happening here, sweetheart?”
I looked into Brenda’s frightened face, then back across the road at Vandergroot’s cowardly one. Felt my shoulders relax, my spine straighten. “I’m not bullying anyone, Jim. I believe your client must be in financial difficulty. Otherwise they would have paid Bradley Mechanical when the bill came due. I am on my way to the bank now—”
“You don’t want to do that.”
“Why is that, Jim? Why don’t I want to go to their bank?”
“Because you’ll only cause trouble where none is due. Plus, if you do file that petition with the court, the judge will throw it out in less than five minutes. Then we’ll come after you and your client, personally and through the business. We will end you, Liz. Do you understand me? We will end you before you even get started.”
I moistened my lips, swallowed hard, and gave Brenda another thumbs-up because this was not the time to show weakness. Then I fixed my eyes on Vandergroot. Took a few, measured steps in his direction. Spoke in that nice clear way that Mark had taught me. Remaining calm, focused on the facts, confident that what I was doing was right. “You can threaten all you like, Jim, but you should advise your client that I am on my way to the bank now. He has three days to decide. Pay the bill in full or take his chance with the court.”
I snapped my phone shut. Kept my eyes on Vandergroot while the message was relayed.
“Open the briefcase,” I said to Brenda. “Get out the other envelope now.”
I watched the bastard shake his head and wave his entourage back inside. Smiled when they scurried like mice from a cat. We had his attention at last.
Brenda handed me the envelope. I tapped it against my leg while he kept talking to Jim. When he finally closed his phone, I held up the envelope. “This is the one that’s going to the bank now,” I called. “You have three days.”
I turned and walked back to the car, Nadia and Brenda hurrying along on either side.
“What now?” Brenda whispered.
“Get in the car,” I said. “Don’t talk, just get in the car.”
We climbed into the clown car. “Drive,” I said once the doors were closed. “And don’t look back until we are out of here.”
The three of us rode out of that parking lot like visiting dignitaries. When we were safely around the corner I hollered, “Pull over, pull over,” leapt out, and threw up on the curb.
Brenda handed me a bottle of water and a tissue. “What now?” she asked again.
“Now we go to the bank.” I rinsed my mouth and wiped my face and the two of us climbed back into the car. I slumped back against the seat.
Christ, I need a drink
, I thought, as she pulled away.
GRACE
 
It was a good thing my mom didn’t follow me to the fire station and try to haul me right back home again because I was right about the baby robin. He’d been on the ground because he was learning to fly, and that boy had picked him up too quick. And if she’d tried to make me dump that baby on the grass and leave, we’d have started fighting all over again, because somebody had to make sure no one else picked him up again.
Joe and I knew right away where the little guy belonged because his poor parents were still calling for him and flying all over the place, looking and looking. I was a little afraid they would dive at us when they saw us opening the box with their baby inside, but once we laid him on the grass, we backed away real fast so they’d see we weren’t going to hurt him.
Joe had to go back to work, but I stayed like I promised even though I didn’t have to because those robins were good parents and they came down right away. First one, then the other, giving him bits of food and yelling at him, probably telling him he was grounded for making them worry, and all the time trying to get him to fly.
I pulled out my cell phone and took pictures while he hopped around after them, mouth open, begging for more food. But they wouldn’t give him any more and after a while he tried to fly again. Just like the lady mockingbird, he went a little bit farther and a little bit higher each time. Landing on a garbage pail, then a bush, then a branch in one of the trees until he finally made it all the way to the next tree and disappeared.
I should have gone home myself then, finished cleaning up the rest of the cage. But if my mom was signing those papers, giving Chez Ruby to Lori, then I didn’t want to see it. And I sure didn’t want to be there if they started moving everything out right away.
I couldn’t imagine the kitchen without the barber’s chair. Couldn’t picture our house without women lined up on the couch, their heads wrapped in towels or slathered in hair color. All of them laughing and talking while my mom and I worked and the Andrews Sisters sang in the background. And I didn’t want to think about any of that right then either because it made my throat get all achy and the end of my nose start to burn, and it was too nice a day to cry.
I headed over to the ferry dock instead, to tell Joe the good news about the bird. But it was the middle of the day by then and the dock was jammed with people and I could see from the railing that he was really busy. So I went for a walk. Over the Algonquin bridge, and up and down all the streets. Except Lori’s. I didn’t want to see her street or her house. Didn’t want to know if she had a sign outside now or what she was calling the place. Or if some of my clients were there that very day, letting Lori do the back-combing and roller sets that should have been mine, all because they got the call from my mom days ago.
I’m winding down the business. Don’t tell Grace.
Bitch
.
That was Liz’s voice inside my head, and for the first time ever I didn’t tell myself that voice was wrong. I just kept walking because once Mark and Jocelyn left Algonquin and moved into my mom’s house, there was a good chance I would never walk over the bridge again.
I spent a long time wandering around, looking at what people were doing with their houses and their gardens. Wishing I wasn’t so mad at my mom because she’d like to know that the pink house with the white shutters was now a grey house with no shutters. But I wasn’t going to tell her anything. Just like she didn’t tell me anything.
When I got tired of walking, I went back to wait for the
Ongiara.
But when the ferry docked this time, it wasn’t Joe lowering the ramp. I couldn’t see him on the deck at all in fact and I figured he must have finished working and gone home. I told myself not to be disappointed. Just because he smiled and talked nice to me didn’t mean a thing. He was probably being polite, and I’d be silly to waste any more time thinking about that smile or those brown eyes, or the way his fingers touched mine before he left to get back on the ferry.
My mom always said there were no Prince Charmings in this world
.
But she’d found one, hadn’t she? And she was going to marry him, wasn’t she? And they were going to live happily ever after in her little castle where she would be queen forever and ever.
It was just me who couldn’t have a Prince Charming. Or a castle. Or a job or even a room where I could lock the door and say,
Stay out of my stuff!
Jocelyn would probably put a lock on her door. I hoped so, anyway.
Leaving the dock, I hurried over to the tennis courts to see if that Fly or Die list was posted someplace and if anyone had bet on the right day. I didn’t know what to think when I saw my mom’s name in that spot.
Ruby Donaldson, Five to Fly in One.
As curious as I was about why she put her name on that list, I didn’t ask her about it when I got home. I just took my dinner into my room, put a chair under the door, and stayed there all night. Lying on my bed, sending text messages and pictures of the baby robin to Liz.
She sent me pictures of her new friends, Brenda and Nadia, and they looked like they were having fun playing video games and drinking strawberry milkshakes. I was happy for her, glad she’d found some new friends. I didn’t tell her about Lori. Why spoil her night too?
The next morning, my mom left the stack of five-dollar bills on the table where I’d be sure to see it when I came down to go biking. She tried talking to me like it was any normal day. “Have you thought about a dress for the wedding? Would you like to see the invitations?”
I purposely hadn’t thought about a dress because there was never going to be anything fancy enough at the Bridge Boutique. And I
did
want to see those invitations more than anything, but I still couldn’t talk to her, couldn’t hardly look at her without that dumb lump in my throat starting all over again. So I said, “Maybe later,” and I didn’t tell her about the baby robin. Even though she’d won the Fly or Die bet, I still didn’t ask her about it.

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