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“I was in a car accident. My elbow is pretty messed up,” I say, and show her.
“Oh dear. OK, let me just take a look at this,” she says, gently examining my arm. The wall of the exam room is lined with shelves, and the shelves hold glass jars and vials of herbs. It smells like a garden in here. “Oh yes, OK. I know just what you need.”
“Mom said you don’t work on bones, but I figured you did,” I say.
“Yes, we handle everything, just like those traditional doctors. Tell your mom to come and see me. She hasn’t been in for years,” Bonnie says.
“I will. So you prescribed the pills for my dad without seeing either of them?” I ask.
“Oh, honey, I don’t do that, not even for your family. Whatever he was taking, they weren’t from me,” Bonnie says. “Come on off the table, and let’s get you all fixed up. And tell your mom she’s overdue for an appointment. She must be under so much stress right now.”
CHAPTER 52
KATE
I lean back in my desk chair and smile. It feels great to have a plan: overturn the fraudulent will, run Tish out of town, calm the investors, watch EventCo grow. Oh, and I’m going to launch my new Forever product. There’s no one around to tell me no. Not anymore.
I swivel my desk chair and find Ashlyn standing at the office door. I wave her in.
“Hi, honey. You were up bright and early this morning. How are you feeling? How’s your arm?” I tilt my head, hoping for an explanation.
“I’m a little sore, but I think it’s better. Stopped by the doctor on the way to work,” she says. “Bonnie told me to tell you hi. She hasn’t seen you for years.”
“Oh, that’s not true. I was just there, to get medicine for your dad.”
“That’s not what she said,” Ashlyn says.
We lock eyes. Will she push me further? I hope not.
Ashlyn drops into the chair across from me. “I’ve enjoyed working here this summer, Mom. It’s weird, not having Dad here, too, though. Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. You’re right.” For a moment my anger is replaced with a touch of nostalgia, a glimmer of what if. What if John had been faithful? What if it was the three of us, as a family, celebrating the endof Ashlyn’s internship and the beginning of her senior year at college? But that’s not the way it turned out. And that was all his choice.
Ashlyn wears black pants and a jacket, a white blouse. She’s modeled herself after her mentor, Jennifer, and it’s a good look. She just needs to go on back to college, and everything will be fine.
“You look happy. What’s up?” Ashlyn slides into the chair across from my desk. She looks around conspiratorially. “I think she’s here again, by the way. In Dad’s office. Maybe you should have the locks changed?”
I smile. “I watched her walk in from the street. Don’t worry, she won’t be there long.”
“Good.”
Lance knocks on the door. “Sorry to interrupt. I just thought I’d let you know Tish is in John’s office. And she’s demanding to see Sandra. Something about her space being violated?” Lance shrugs. “I’ve set up the back office for her, the one without a window, next to the restrooms. Sound good?”
“Yes. Perfect.” I nod. “Maybe I’ll go on over there and set her straight.”
We all hear the crash at the same time. It’s the sound of breaking glass, topped off by a woman’s scream.
“Is that Tish?” I ask.
Lance nods.
“She’s lost it,” Ashlyn says.
I’m calm as I walk through the office, across the atrium lobby, and down the hall to John’s office. Now Tish’s office. No, John’s office. I can’t help but notice the employees watching me, anxious to see how this little show is going to play out. They’ve had a front-row seat since this sordid ordeal began.
First it was John and Tish sneaking around, flirting in meetings, and creating all sorts of fodder for the rumor mill. And then, once they were “out” as a couple, the pity and speculation surrounding megrew. Would I quit? Be forced out? Really? The brains and the heart of EventCo? Could John push me to the side as a business partner as easily as he did as a spouse?
The answer to that, of course, was no. Never.
