not before, but I’m pretty sure that’s what’s going on here. I think you might be getting me to sign some pile of papers to entrap me and shit like that.”
“No.” She spoke the word without blinking. “This is all completely legit. I am paying you to take your wife and go away. I do not want to have to do anything like call Amanda back and tell her you’re a fraud who’s scammed her out of heaven knows how much, or that civil proceedings are a genuine possibility for her, and I know several excellent lawyers.” She paused. “Plus, there are these YouTube videos of you hitting a defenseless woman outside a Starbucks that she might need to have a look at.”
Being who he was, it did not take Todd long to focus in on the important point in her little speech.
“You said call Amanda back?”
Beth pushed the phone toward him. “Call if you want. I’m sure she’ll be glad to tell you what a great conversation we had.”
Todd didn’t even reach for the phone. He kept his eyes on Beth, and he waited.
“This is a really straightforward proposition. You want money and you want Mom. I’m happy to hand over both. All you have to do is leave.”
“What if I told you I don’t want your mother anymore? What if I’ve just…” He shrugged. “What if her running out on me was the last fucking straw?”
Then why are you still asking where she is?
“What happens to Jeannie after you get her out of Chicago is totally up to you.”
To her surprise, Todd laughed—his best warmhearted belly laugh.
“Wow! Being around all these rich fuckers has really made you into a hard-ass, hasn’t it, Star? Here, lemme use that phone.” He made a come-here gesture with two fingers.
Beth pushed nine for the outside line and handed him the receiver. She watched him dial a number and wait while it rang.
“Hey, Amanda, honey. How are you?” All Todd’s carefully cultivated charm came flooding out of him. He smiled and twinkled, and leaned back, fully relaxed and in the moment. Beth felt something clench up under her ribs. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m sorry it’s so early. I just…I really needed to hear your voice, and I forgot all about the time change…Forgive me?…Yeah. I know, I know. I miss you too. Listen, I was talking to my girl…Oh, uh-huh?…Yeah. Wow. Well, good.”
All at once, Beth remembered Jeannie unconscious in the hospital bed, her stick-thin legs and bony wrists lying limp against the white sheets. She remembered standing by the sink while her mother heaved her guts out. She remembered the bitter anger and accusations, all of which were turning out to be real.
And all the years with their bruises and blood, and all the times she had to apologize for making her father mad.
And now she got to sit and listen to him spread all his charms for a stranger. Beth had not believed there was room for more hatred inside her. She’d been so very wrong.
“…I really am glad,” he was saying. “And I’m sorry I kept putting off introducing you…Yeah, yeah, well…Sounds like it’s all worked out for the best. Yeah…Oh, everything’s fine. Yeah…She said that?” Dad cocked an eyebrow at Beth. “Jesus. That bitch Stacey…Sorry, Amanda. I just get so mad.”
Note to self, thought Beth sourly. Contact Stacey next and find out what happened.
“No, no, I’ll make sure she knows all about it. Don’t worry.” Dad was flipping the legal papers with his thumb while he talked, riffling them like cards. “Yeah, I know. I do. Listen, you go back to sleep. Dream of me. Ha-ha…Oh yeah. Just wait till you get home, naughty girl…Yeah. Love you too. Bye.”
Dad hung up. He didn’t say anything for a minute, just watched her, considering.
“Did I mention there’s a signing bonus?” Beth asked. “A check for three thousand dollars.” She pulled the cashier’s check out of the drawer and pushed it across the desk.
But Dad ignored the check, or pretended to. Instead, he picked up the papers again and flipped through them, but he wasn’t reading. He was inside his own head, playing out different scenarios, trying to see all the ways he could look like he was taking the deal and still come back for more. And even more after that.
He won’t ever stop. Not until somebody’s dead—Mom’s words echoed back through her mind. And she was right. All Beth was doing with her stack of papers was buying a