Original publication date March 22, 2016
Brielle
I get to the park and see Ethan sitting on a bench next to… Alex. Ethan jumps up and waves at me. I try to hide my shock, but I don’t know how well I do.
I start up the grill, planning on serving chicken, while Alex walks over to me. Ethan starts playing on the monkey bars with a little girl who might be Claire.
“Hi,” I say casually and quickly finish grilling. He has a seat at the picnic table.
“You act surprised to see me,” he mentions. Did his voice get deeper, or am I imagining it? His hair has gotten longer, and he’s decided to pull it back into a ponytail. He doesn’t look to me like the stereotypical CEO type, but what do I know?
“That’s because I am,” I answer him.
“You didn’t get my text?” he questions when I put the plate of food in front of him, letting it cool.
I shake my head no.
“Huh. Maybe I sent it to the wrong person.” He pauses, thinking. “Heh, someone was probably very confused, but they agreed to meet me here, whoever they are,” he ponders, rubbing his chin like his father would do. Then, he smiles at the awkwardness of texting the wrong person and getting a response.
I smile back. “They might’ve just been messing with you as a joke.”
“Well then, I guess I can count myself lucky you didn’t stand me up,” he states as I sit down next to him at the picnic table. His eyes laugh at the coincidence.
I giggle. “But whoever it was that texted you back has.”
He grins. “I’m not bothered by it.” He then mentions how he thought he had the right phone number for me, considering how often we’ve spoken. He quickly rattles off a phone number by memory in a questioning manner.
“That’s my number,” I assure him. He memorized it?
“Strange.” He shrugs. “How has work been, Brielle? I see I was right about Ethan having your eyes.”
“I’ve been busy. The catering company has had plenty of good business this week.”
“That’s swell,” he replies.
“Swell?” I ask and giggle uncontrollably for a few seconds at his quaint word.
“Hey!” he exclaims and playfully shoves me. “The word could make a comeback.”
“I highly doubt it.” I pause. “Didn’t your nanny use that word all the time? She’s probably in her eighties by now.”
A corner of his mouth goes up. “Yeah, that’s probably where I got it from.”
I call out to Ethan, telling him dinner’s ready.
While we sit and eat, Alex tells my son about one of my less-than-star-student escapades from when we were kids. He finishes the story; my son looks at me like he’s seeing me for the first time; and I kick Alex’s leg under the table.
“What?” he asks with false innocence.
“Don’t give him ideas,” I say quietly with clenched teeth.
“Oh, he can come up with ideas on his own,” Alex replies, and he quickly winks at Ethan, who laughs.
I playfully roll my eyes and get up to use the restroom.
When I exit the bathroom, Alex stands waiting for me. He has something on his mind; he didn’t want to meet at the park simply to chit-chat.
“What’s going on, Alex?” I ask.
A semblance of a smile shows up for a moment before his expression returns to something more neutral. “You can always tell,” he says, meaning I can always tell when he has something on his mind.
“Duh,” I answer like I would’ve as a child.
The almost-smile returns before he looks down sadly. “I’m at my wit’s end. I don’t know whether I should stay here or go back to Willow Creek to be with my father.”
“What’s going on?” His dad isn’t my favorite person, but Alex is honestly being a friend. Maybe I can help.
“He’s being indicted by the S.I.M.S. Mostly a tax evasion charge. They arrested him, set his bail ridiculously high, and Mom paid it. My last conversation with her today, she said they also had a laundry list of other, minor charges.”
I stand here in shocked silence, and he holds his face in his hand and continues, “The thing is, with the way Mom was talking, I think he might be guilty, Brielle. My dad! We’re talking millions here. He hid them in an off-shore account, thinking no one would ever find it. And it’s… tied to the company.”
Now, I feel bad for him. His branch of his Dad’s company had turned into his baby, his obsession, and from the way he talks to me on the phone, he’s been wildly successful here in Eden. His dad was arrested and is being investigated, and his career might be flushed down the toilet.
I reach out and hold his arms. “I’m sorry about your dad, but that’s something out of your control.”
“Is it selfish of me to halfway want to stay as far away from him as possible so that I myself am not thrown into this mess any more than I am now?” he asks in a depressed way.
“I don’t know, but I don’t think he’d blame you. I’m sure he doesn’t want you dragged into this.”
He sniffs. “This stays just between us, but I did some serious digging after listening to Mom on the phone. If they found the trail I found, the company will be nothing but dust when they’re through. Our name will be mud.”
“What do you mean?” I whisper.
“I can’t… even… say it!” he loudly whispers back. “How could my father do business with rats like those? Worse than rats! Think of the foulest, nastiest, slimiest creature you can think of, and that’s not as bad as these people and their ‘business.'” He does the air quotes. “How can this be happening?” He holds his face in his hands, and I hug him.
“I don’t know, Alex. I don’t know. I wish I had a magic solution for you,” I tell him quietly.
He holds me tightly for a few moments before he deliberately steps back, putting space between us. His eyes dart over my shoulder a few times. “Thanks. I really just needed someone to talk to.”
“What are friends for?” I ask with a small smile.
“Hi, Dad!” Ethan says happily behind me.
Graham appears out of nowhere next to me. “Get your hands off my wife!” he snarls.
Alex looks snidely over at my husband and replies, “Get that pineapple out of your ass, Graham. This is what you call friendship. Ever heard of it? I’m friends with your wife. Deal with it!”
“Don’t take me for an idiot, Goth.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he says back to him in a voice I can only describe as oily. His resemblance to his father is so strong right now it shocks me.
I turn to my husband. “It’s fine, Graham.” And he accuses me of a jealous streak. “Alex is going through a family tragedy.” I open my eyes. Does Graham know?
Graham takes his turn giving Alex a snide look. “So, how’s dear old dad?” he asks. “I was skimming though the paper this afternoon, and for a moment, I was wondering if I’d picked up a tabloid instead.”
I watch my friend’s reaction as he stares back at my husband in shock. He obviously hasn’t seen the paper, probably having enough on his mind.
He recovers… a little too late, but he does. “Well, even the ‘legitimate’ press tends to lean heavily in the direction of over-dramatization when it suits them.”
If I didn’t know any better, I swear Graham puffs out his chest with pride. “You obviously haven’t read it yet. From what they must’ve gathered from the police in Willow Creek, they don’t need much else to over-dramatize their piece.” He looks completely thrilled to rub salt into Alex’s wounds.
The two of them will never be able to be anywhere near each other without some sort of fight breaking out.
“Dad? What’s going on?” Ethan asks. I’d forgotten he’s been standing there this whole time!
“You know Alex too?” he asks after Graham turns his back on him.
“Yes,” he answers.
“You’re not friends, though, are you?” his innocent voice questions.
Alex answers for him in a stiff voice. “No, we’re not.”
“Branden doesn’t like Clair. He thinks it’s annoying how she gets mad so easily. But it doesn’t bother me. I can be friends with both of them even though they don’t like each other.”
I want to hug Ethan right now.
Graham looks down and smiles at his son. “You’re absolutely right.”
“Can we go home now? I’m sleepy,” he requests.
“Sure,” I answer. “You run along. We’ll catch up.”
“The wisdom of children,” Graham says, almost to himself. “Then, we enter the adult world and realize life is much more complicated.” He smiles at me, takes my hand, and says joyfully, “Bye, Alex!” Then he pulls me away.
“I’ll call you later!” I tell him as I walk away. He does the same stationary hand wave that’s so like his father as recognition he heard me.
————————————————————————————————-
To clear up possible confusion since my characters aren’t saying everything all at once:
Graham found an off-shore bank account that Mortimer was using to avoid paying taxes on that income. Graham had stumbled across a random transaction, one that Mortimer hadn’t been as careful about, one that was indirectly connected to the company. Tax evasion was plenty enough, but Graham did just a little more digging, curious about the indirect-ness of the transaction. Once Graham found the account, he also saw where money was frequently deposited, and that’s when he discovered the link to a trafficking ring. For Graham, the tax evasion is nothing compared to what else he found; that’s why it wasn’t foremost in his thoughts in that chapter. Not just Courtney is thrilled about his discovery at S.I.M.S. They’ve been trying to pin down a center of operations, if there could ever be a center since it behaves like a multi-headed hydra, for this ring for ages. Graham gave them several more missing puzzle pieces, and yes, Mortimer is going down even if they don’t get lucky enough to catch everyone involved. Speaking of involved, Alex truly never had any idea.
This is just going on in the background, which is why I’m coming out and explaining it like this. The next few chapters will focus on gameplay, not that there aren’t any surprises waiting there. In fact, Brielle gets a big surprise at the beginning of the next chapter.
More Goth drama two chapters from now, and I’ve got an extended plan (finally) in the works.
chainreactionlegacy.wordpress.com 