Worse Than Being Alone (17 page)

Roni made her choice, climbed out of the Explorer,
and walked across the lot. The glass door had a bell on it to alert
the occupants a client had arrived. No one manned the secretary’s
desk in the front. Basic office furniture with cheesy paintings and
a couple of fake plants accounted for the décor.

After several minutes of standing there, Roni was
about to leave when a tall, thin man with a full beard emerged from
the inner office. He seemed to be hastily pulling on a suit jacket
as he walked over to where Roni stood.

“
Are you Roni Edelin?” he asked
hesitantly.

“
Yes,” Roni said as she extended
her hand.

“
I’m Jay Barton,” he said as he
shook Roni’s hand. “Why don’t you come back to my office? My
secretary is at lunch. I don’t have any appointments for an hour or
so.”

Jay led the way into an inner office that was as
poorly furnished as the rest of the place. Nothing seemed to be
screaming successful law practice to Roni. Jay Barton slumped in
his office chair as if he found his surroundings as depressing as
Roni. He picked up a pencil and began tapping the desk as if he
didn’t know what to say or didn’t know how to begin. Roni was about
to start when he started talking in a rushed voice.

“
You said you wanted to know about
Marian,” he said as he continued tapping. “So, have you talked to
Glenn?”

“
Yes, I have. I was hoping to get
your perspective.”

“
I’m sure Glenn told you a bunch
of stuff,” he said. “Like I stole the money from the trusts and
tried to help Marian get the house and turned my dad against
him.”

“
Well, I’m only interested in what
Marian might have done.”

“
She married your dad, is that
right?” he asked.

“
Yes, I guess it sounds horrible.
I’m just trying to protect my father.”

“
So, you’re worried Marian will
steal all his money?” he asked.

“
No, I don’t care about the
money,” Roni said as a confused expression appeared on her face.
“I’m worried she doesn’t love him and might hurt him emotionally or
even physically.”

Jay Barton stopped tapping and studied Roni
carefully, making her decidedly more anxious in the process.
Finally, he tossed the pencil on the desk and jumped up.

“
Would you like a soda?” he asked
a startled Roni.

“
Sure. Diet if you have
it.”

Jay Barton left the room and returned a minute later
with two diet Cokes and two glasses of ice. He handed Roni a glass
and a can of soda and sat back down behind his desk. They poured
their Cokes in the glasses and Roni wasn’t sure if she should make
the next move or wait. Jay made the decision for her when he
plunged ahead.

“
You seem like a nice, honest
person,” he said. “I don’t meet many of those so I’m going to be
honest with you. When I knew Marian she was a work in progress. She
was clever enough to get my dad to marry her but dumb enough to
trust me. I also think she was a fast learner so if I were you I’d
be worried about your father. All that stuff Glenn told you about
me is true by the way. How is Glenn?”

“
He seems kind of sad about all of
it.”

“
I’m not surprised,” he said.
“Glenn is also a nice person. The only part of the story I would
probably quibble with is the part about how I was treated equal. I
always felt I was the bastard son of the whore. Why wouldn’t I act
the part? Marian and I have a lot in common.”

“
Would you care to
elaborate?”

“
We’re both vultures,” he said. “I
knew Marian didn’t love my dad. I thought she was just looking for
some security. A kind of free ride. Some women are like that.
Especially women Marian’s age. They don’t have an education so they
try to marry well.”

“
So, you think that was her
motivation?”

“
That’s what I thought at the
time,” he said. “It won’t end up any better for Marian than it has
for me. I didn’t always have a dumpy office like this. Back then, I
had a booming practice and it felt great to get back at everyone I
thought had slighted me. I took the money and screwed them all. I
was flying high.”

“
What happened?” Roni
asked.

“
My wife Sara happened,” he said.
“It turns out that angry, bitter, vindictive people aren’t that
attractive after a while I guess. She stuck with me through all
that back then and everything was fine for a while. Of course, I
trusted her completely.”

Roni wasn’t sure what to say at this point. She
needed to steer the conversation back into the Marian angle of
Jay’s life without all the too much information area of his
marriage he seemed to be sliding toward. Too late. Jay started
again before she could comment.

“
My wife has her own business,” he
said. “I should have figured something was going on when she
started going to the gym. Then she got her boobs done,
too.”

“
You don’t have to share all the
intimate details of your life with me.”

“
Oh, I don’t mind,” he said. “You
know, you’re a really good listener.”

“
I get that a lot.” Roni tried to
think of something else to say to make the tsunami of unwanted
information stop, but Jay apparently had few confidants. He plunged
ahead as Roni mentally tried to put her hands over her
ears.

“
Anyway, I got suspicious she
might be fooling around, so I put a baby monitor under the couch in
her office. I had to stand by the back door to hear what was going
on but finally I got lucky. She had a guy in there and I heard them
kissing so I unlocked the front door and went in. They were both
naked and having sex. He must have thought I was going to beat him
up or something so he got off my wife and raced toward me. I’ll
never get that image out of my mind. That huge, red, angry penis
coming right at me. Would you like to see the picture I took on my
phone?”

“
Oh, absolutely not,” Roni said as
she put her hands up, sharing his concern about getting that image
out of her head.

“
Sorry, I know, too much
information,” he said. “Anyway, no fault-state. We split everything
in the divorce. The house and her business were underwater so I’m
basically starting over and I’m alone.”

“
You think that’s what will happen
to Marian?”

“
Marian is all about stealing the
money,” he said. “She runs through it like water, and those two
kids are as bad as she is.”

“
Do you think Marian is capable of
hurting someone?”

“
You mean, like your dad?” he
asked.

“
Yes, just like my
dad.”

“
Wow, you think Marian is like a
Black Widow or something?” he asked.

“
I’m not sure I’d go that
far.”

“
Now that I think about it,” he
said. “My dad started getting sick right after he married Marian.
Lots of stomach complaints though he also had Alzheimer’s. He was
in the early stages when he died. It seemed kind of sudden, but
there was also an element of he kind of dodged a bullet, you
know?”

“
Yeah, I know what you
mean.”

“
Wait a minute,” he said, putting
some of the pieces together. “How many times has Marian done
this?”

“
I’m not sure she’s really done
anything. I’m just gathering information at this point and trying
to protect my father.”

“
You know a lot more than you’re
letting on,” he said. “I can smell dishonesty a mile away. Birds of
a feather and all that. You don’t care about your father’s money,
but you are afraid Marian is going to hurt him and it’s not her
first rodeo, is it? I thought I was the big villain in this.
Wouldn’t it be something if Marian was the one who was really
perfecting her craft while she lived here?”

“
I guess.”

“
Do you think Glenn would talk to
me?” he asked. “I mean you’ve talked to both of us. Is there a
chance he’d forgive me?”

“
I don’t know. Clearly, what you
did was wrong. Maybe if you acknowledged that and asked him to
forgive you, it could work. At least you’d feel better if you
tried.”

“
I could use the maybe Marian
killed dad thing as an intro,” he said, trying to think of an angle
like lawyers always do. “That just might work as a starter to break
the ice. By the way, I sure hope that’s not true, you know. Because
if it is, your dad’s in some deep shit.”

Chapter Thirty

Billy Diamond sighed involuntarily as he drove
Marian through the downtown streets of Alton. They had just
finished lunch and another argument, which accounted for Marian’s
uncharacteristic silence at the moment. It was hard for Billy to
believe he had only been married for a few months. Some days it
felt like years.

Some of Marian’s strengths during their courtship
now seemed annoying. Billy realized he was probably mired in a
different century where men made the decisions and a wife went
along but Marian’s insistence on knowing all his finances grated on
his nerves. Sometimes, Marian used a whiny voice that Billy
couldn’t stomach. Where had that come from?

Problems seemed to pop up almost immediately, mostly
when Billy wouldn’t go along with the program. Despite Marian’s
tearful protestations regarding her concern for his health, Billy
had refused to take any more of Marian’s herbal remedies. He had
also flatly rejected Murray’s recommendations regarding acquiring
life insurance after he received the price quotes. Eighty-five-year
old men apparently were not considered good risks. Billy couldn’t
understand why anyone would pay the monthly price.

Billy spent most of his time at lunch trying to talk
Marian out of building a new house, but since he had balked at all
those other issues, he couldn’t seem to mount an effective argument
against the house. Marian had first seen the lot on the bluffs
Billy owned when they first started seeing each other. Billy had
bought the property as an investment many years ago.

Marian had convinced him to have an architect draw
up plans and Billy had impulsively agreed. At the time, Billy found
it impossible to argue. There he was, parked near the end of the
cliff under a full moon, staring at the lights sparkling off the
river. Five minutes later, after agreeing to Marian’s idea, he was
having sex in the back seat of the car, something he hadn’t done in
60 years.

The current lingering downturn in the economy had
soured Billy on the proposition. Unfortunately, Marian was not to
be denied. Currently, they were on their way to the lot to talk to
the architect about the design of the house. Billy made several
turns that took them off the main streets as he headed for an area
of Alton that overlooked the Mississippi River. Billy’s spirits
lifted a bit as he took the familiar turns.

Billy had considered talking to Roni about some of
his issues with Marian, but he was worried that would stoke a fire
he had already effectively put out. Roni had grudgingly agreed to
accept Marian; it might make things awkward if he shared his
feelings at this point. This was a strange situation for Billy, who
had sought Roni’s counsel on many issues since Roni reached
adulthood. Billy couldn’t figure any way out of his current
predicament.

Maybe he should consider giving in to some of
Marian’s demands. The trick was choosing the least objectionable
option. If building a house would placate Marian, Billy decided he
should give in and go along with the program. Billy made the turn
onto the gravel road that probably would soon be paved blacktop and
slowed down.

“
Look, Marian,” he said. “I don’t
want to fight about this anymore. If this is what you want, I’m
in.”

“
Oh, thank you, Billy,” she said.
“You’re gonna love it, just wait and see. We’re gonna be so happy
here. The view will be amazing.”

“
I agree with that. The view from
up here is amazing.”

“
I can’t wait to see the plans,”
she said. “I hope he included porches on the back so we can see the
river.”

“
I’m sure he did. That’s all you
talked about when we met with him.”

“
Don’t be mean, Billy,” she said.
“I’m just really excited.”

“
I’m not trying to be mean,” Billy
said, laughing as he braked to a stop at the end of the
road.

Filtered sunshine through the huge oaks and maples
cast light on different parts of the recently mowed lot. The
September cool down had provided them with temperatures in the
upper 70s. A wonderful day, Billy thought, as they climbed out of
his red Accord. The architect’s empty silver SUV was parked nearby
and they could see him near the end of the cliff overlooking the
water. Billy decided not to waste any more time arguing today. Time
to stop being negative and make this thing work.

“
What a perfect day,” Billy said
as he took Marian’s hand and they began walking toward the
architect.

Chapter Thirty-One

N
estled
in an area of the South City of St. Louis known as the Hill,
restaurants named Gino’s, Fratelli’s, Zia’s, Cunetto’s etc. had
been built in the middle of blocks upon blocks of unimpressive ‘50s
rowhouses. These restaurants provided some of the best Italian food
in the country. I always had a hard time picking any one place as
my favorite so I had a list of 10 to 15 top candidates. I was on my
way to Charlie Gitto’s, a favorite I hadn’t been to in a while, to
meet a man.