Celia's Puppies (3 page)

“
Insurance?”

The woman blinked, blushed, and then said,
“You have no idea what I’m talking about or who I am.”

Jill shook her head.

Patti laughed. She put her hand on Jill’s
arm.

“
We had this idea... Mr.
Marlowe’s never even dated anyone,” Patti said. “Then all of a
sudden, there’s a girl and child and well... When Blane told us to
get this together, well, we thought...”

“
Gold digger?” Jill
asked.

“
Please don’t tell him.
He’ll be furious,” Patti said. “Is he really adopting your
daughter?”

“
He wants to,” Jill
said.

“
He’s great with kids.
He’s like an uncle to all the Lipson kids. He stops by the school
to read to them at least once a week. Will Katy go to the
school?”

“
What school?”

“
Let’s start by getting
these papers signed.”

“
Insurance?”

“
Health, dental, life,
extended care,” Patti said. “For you and Katherine.”

Patti looked at Jill’s confused face then
smiled.

“
Do you have a cell
phone?”

“
A cell phone?”

“
Mr. Marlowe has a new
phone for you,” Patti said. “Come on. I’ll explain
everything.”

~~~~~~~~

Monday morning — 9 A.M.

“
You wanted to see me?”
Jacob asked.

In an attempt to look like he was working,
he sat behind a desk. The acupuncture needles had zonked him out.
Aden sat in a chair next to him and Blane stood behind him. Sam
Lipson stood to the side of the desk. If Jacob fell over, he was
pretty sure one of them would catch him.

“
You have NO RIGHT! NO
RIGHT at all,” Honey said. She stood in front of the desk. “I…
I...”

Honey dropped back into a chair to cry. Even
though she looked like her mother and older sister, Honey Lipson
was a totally different creature. There was no air or pretense
about her. She wore blue jeans, work boots and a button down blue
shirt with ‘Lipson Construction’ stitched on the pocket. Her white
blond hair was pulled back in a simple pony tail.

“
What happened?” Sam put
his hand on her shoulder. “Honey, we don’t have any idea what’s
going on. Can you tell us?”

“
Mom told us last night…
the whole thing… about the trusts, I mean.” She popped to her feet
and loomed over the desk. “And I don’t give a CRAP about any trust.
I don’t want your money. And just because my father is in prison
and my mother is an idiot and my sister is a jerk. None of that has
anything to do with me. You can’t FIRE ME because of
them!”

“
Fire you?” Jacob asked.
“Who fired you?”

“
YOU DID,” Honey screamed.
“And it’s so UNFAIR. I’ve worked really hard and I’m really good on
the roads. Everyone likes me. AND I’M NOT GIVING THE NAME
BACK.”

She crossed her arms and plopped back down
in the chair.

“
Dad?” Jacob asked. Sam
shook his head.

“
Aden?” Jacob
asked.

Aden shrugged. Jacob knew Aden was against
hiring Honey when she graduated from high school. But Honey had
proved to be a great employee. She worked hard, never complained
and had become integral part of a road team. Jacob squinted his
eyes at Aden to ask if Aden had fired her while Jacob was in the
hospital. Aden shook his head.

“
Blane?”

Jacob turned to see Blane looking at Honey
as if she was insane. Blane had such bad experiences with the
step-whore that he refused to speak to Honey.

“
Honey, we don’t have any
idea what’s going on,” Jacob said. “This is my first day back. Can
you slow down and tell us what’s going on?”

“
Oh,” Honey said. “You
don’t?”

The men shook their heads at her.

“
Oh,” Honey said again.
“I’m still not giving the name back. Sam’s the only Dad I ever
had.”

“
Ok, we have that in
common,” Jacob said. “He’s the only Dad I’ve ever had
too.”

Honey gave Jacob a watery smile.

“
What happened today,
Honey?” Sam asked. “You started to tell us. Your Mom told you about
the trusts last night. And...”

“
I was asked to report to
Human Resources. I figured I was getting fired, so I just came
here.” The young woman stuck her chin out in stubborn defiance.
“You want to fire me, you have to do it to my face.”

“
OH SHIT!” Blane
exclaimed. Flipping through stack of paper, he pulled out a paper
clipped set from the stack. He set the packet in front of Jacob.
“Sorry Jake. It’s in the stack of papers to sign.”

“
We haven’t figured out
how to sign the papers yet.” Blane gave Honey a weak smile. “He
can’t hold a pen and...”

Jacob looked at the papers.

“
You’ve been approved for
the scholarship program, Honey.” Jacob flipped through the papers.
“Wow, your high school grades are excellent. I had no idea you did
so well.”

“
Your mom said, ‘Every
day, we must work hard, take every opportunity and suck the marrow
out of life’,” Honey said. “I do that. Every day. Suck the marrow.
But I don’t actually suck marrow out of bones. I tried that? And it
was kind of gross.”

“
Yeah, it’s gross.” Jacob
wrinkled his nose. Aden and Blane nodded as if they also had tried
marrow sucking. “You know how this works?”

Honey shook her head.

“
I just want to go to
college. And I want to pay for it myself. I mean, Mom said Dad
would pay for it, but I want to do it myself. But I can’t afford
it, so I applied for the scholarship. That’s like doing it
yourself, isn’t it?”

“
Very much so,” Aden said.
“You have to work full time and go to school. I mean, it’s a lot
but that’s how I paid for college and my MBA.”

“
Me too,” Blane said.
“Only Jake had the free ride.”

“
You have to pay for the
first semester.” Jacob kept talking as a way of ignoring Blane’s
comment as the ride never felt very free. “You can take whatever
classes you want. If your grades are good, like over a B, we
reimburse you.”

“
Oh,” Honey said. “I can’t
pay for the first semester. I had to replace my car and my
apartment...”

“
I’ll give you the money,”
Sam said.

“
If you give me money,
then, you’ll have to give money to...”

“
I’ll do it,” Valerie
said. She was standing in the doorway. “I’ll give you the money.
And I’m okay if you keep the name.”

Honey jumped to her feet. Valerie had never
spoken to her. In fact, she hadn’t ever been in the same room as
her famous actress step-sister.

“
And he’s the only Dad
I’ve ever had too.” Val nodded. Walking forward, she held her hand
out. “I’m Valerie Lipson.”

Honey shook Valerie’s hand.

“
Thanks,” Honey
said.

“
You’re a part of the
Lipson family,” Val said. “I… I’m glad to meet you...”

Honey beamed at Valerie.

“
Finally,” Sam
said.

Chapter Twenty-Eight
A huge find

Monday morning — 9:20 A.M.

In her own bed, Sandy rolled onto her back
and stretched. Aden had brought her home before he went to work at
five that morning. Sandy climbed the stairs, then crawled into bed
with Cleo curled up next to her. She slept like a log until her
alarm went off.

Time to get up.

She wandered through her condo apartment to
the kitchen. After the last passion filled nights, coffee was
definitely in order. She started brewing a pot.

On her way to the bathroom, Sandy pressed
the play button on her blinking answering machine. Hearing her
mother’s voice, she decided to shower. She was meeting Aden at the
gym at 10:30 after he dropped his kids off at their therapy
appointment. Sandy washed, moisturized, and blew dry her hair. She
was slipping on her bathrobe when her mother’s voice stopped
talking on the answering machine. Sandy flipped the machine off on
her way back to the kitchen.

Taking a long drink of coffee, Sandy leaned
against the kitchen counter to wait for her mother to call on her
ten o’clock break.

“
Hi Mom.” Sandy answered
the call on the first ring.

“
Sandy!” Her mother
exclaimed as if they hadn’t spoken in years. “How are
you?”

“
I’m good, Mom. How are
you?”

“
Worried, dear. About
you,” her mother said. “I tried to call you this
weekend...”

“
I just got your
messages,” Sandy said.

“
Clogged up your machine
again,” her mother chuckled.

Sandy let the silence lag. Her mother only
called for specific reasons. If she waited, her mother would get
around to what she wanted.

“
Elsa called.” Her
mother’s voice was breezy, but the phone line echoed a chorus of
‘Sandy screwed up.’ “She said she saw you with a man at the Avenue
Grill on Friday night. Do you have a new boyfriend?”

“
Yep.”

“
Well, Elsa said he was
older than you and seemed to have a lot of money – nice watch,
fancy car, paid cash. She said she walked by your table three
times. She wanted to meet the man but you never even looked
up.”

“
I don’t remember
her.”

Sandy took a drink of coffee. Elsa was her
mother’s oldest and nosiest friend. Who knows if Elsa actually saw
Sandy or if she heard it from someone else who heard it from
someone who...

“
Elsa said he was holding
your hand. Even through dinner! Holding your hand. She thought you
were already… intimate with that man. You know, Sandy, a man like
that only dates young girls for one thing.”

“
What’s that,
Mom?”

“
You haven’t let him…
touch you already have you?”

Sandy didn’t respond.

“
Oh Sandy.” Her mother’s
voice dripped with disappointment. “A man like that... You have to
string him along. You don’t want to end up like Jill do
you?”

“
Jill’s a wonderful
person. I wouldn’t mind being exactly like Jill.”

“
You know what I mean.”
Her mother’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Alone with a
child.”

“
Oh. You mean like
you?”

“
Sandra. You are no match
for a wealthy older man. He’s going to use you and dump
you.”

“
Maybe I’ll use him, Mom.
I was thinking of spending all his money then dumping
him.”

“
You are not very funny,
young lady. What does he do?”

“
He helps run a company,”
Sandy said.

“
That man is way out of
your league.” Her mother’s voice was conclusive. “Men like that
don’t marry girls like you.”

“
Maybe I don’t want to get
married.”

“
Oh Sandy.” Her mother’s
sorrow came through the phone lines. “How will you ever have
children?”

“
The usual way, I suppose.
Sorry, Mom, I’ve got to go.”

“
I saw your father last
week.”

“
My father’s dead,
Mom.”

“
Your real father,
Sandra.”

“
Why do you interact with
him at all, Mother?”

“
I can’t help that he
banks at my branch. Although he doesn’t have much money.” Her
mother sighed.

“
How do you know that,
Mom?”

“
He waited to come up to
my teller window. He told me that you won’t even speak to him. He
said he saw you at King Soopers and you walked the other
way.”

“
And?”

“
Sandy… honey, you can’t
blame a man for being an alcoholic.” Her mother gave another
exaggerated sigh. “Gosh, your father hurt me more than you and I’ve
moved on. I’ve forgiven him. You need to...”

“
Sorry Mom. I’m going to
be late. See you Friday for a color?”

“
Yes, honey. I get so
worried about you. And with this new man...”

“
Remember, I have that
party on Friday,” Sandy said. “You have to come before
work.”

“
The party at Jacob
Marlowe’s house. Is Jill still dating that gay boy?”

“
Jill is dating Jacob,”
Sandy said.

“
Poor Jill. I guess a
girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do to feed her child,”
Sandy’s mother said. “I just don’t want you to be in that position,
Sandy.”

“
Okay Mom. Love you. See
you Friday morning.”

“
Oh, love you,
Sandy.”

Sandy hung up the phone. In years past, she
might have been angry about the conversation. Today, she just felt
sad. Not for herself. No. Outside of the surprised assault of
gripping pain, Sandy never felt much of anything for herself. She
felt sorry for her mother.

Grateful too.

Her mother taught her independence, gave her
siblings to love and more than anything married her step-dad, her
only real parent. He loved her, understood her, and protected her
from awful, unspeakable things. Before he died, he even bought this
condo for her.

When Jill told her that Jacob was adopting
Katy, she reminded Jill of what her step-dad used to say. Souls
find each other. Trevor never liked Katy much. Maybe Jacob was
supposed to be Katy’s father. Just like her step-dad believed that
he was supposed to be Sandy’s father.