Curtis (7 page)

“She doesn’t know, does she?” He turned
to look at him. “She has no idea that
you,
not the company, just bought
her father’s newspaper and his house, does she?”

He shrugged. “What does it matter? It’s
done. And if it makes as much profit as I think it will, I might sell it to
you.”

“You keep it. Have you told her that you
love her?” Curtis looked at Royce, shocked. “You’ve been in love with her since
we were kids and she was the biggest pain in the ass known to man…or at least
four teenage boys who couldn’t shake her. Are you going to tell her?”

“She’s in love with Daniel.” He turned
to the door again. “Take the red flag off the plane, Royce. I let it go today
because I wanted to make sure that this went the way I wanted it to go, but now
it’s done. Don’t ground the plane again or I’ll simply buy a ticket and fly
commercial.”

“I thought you knew it was us. You gave
in too easily when I told you this morning.” He heard Royce’s chair creak. “Please
don’t go, Curtis. The project overseas can wait until it’s closer to
completion.”

“I have to. For the reasons you named
and those you don’t know.” He turned back to look at him. “Yes, you’re right. I’m
in love with her. But I know that I don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell
with her in love with Daniel. And I won’t step on something that could be just
for him.” He walked out of the office and bypassed his own. He walked out the
front and up the street. He was nearly four blocks from the offices when his
cell phone went off. He simply ignored it and turned and headed back to the
office. After checking in with his secretary, he told her to hold his calls.

Chapter 6

“Yes, Daddy, I know, but this is the
best way. It’ll be nice for you to be here and not have to run the paper
anymore.” She heard the words, but her heart was closed to them. “You’ll enjoy
having a great deal of time to do the things you wanted.” She’d gone straight
to his house and didn’t tell him what had happened. All she’d told him was that
he’d no longer have to worry about the paper or the bills that plagued him. Nor
would he have to worry about her. She was going to California and staying
there. She thought she could find a job easily enough.

“I don’t know why you thought it was a burden
all these years. I met your mom there and that, as far as I’m concerned, is the
greatest thing about it.” He pulled her to his couch and looked at her. She
could never hide anything from him. “What happened? You know that you want to,
just tell me what happened.”

She tried to look away, but he wouldn’t
have it. “Dad, you should have told me that the paper was in such bad shape. I
didn’t know anything all these years.”

“I didn’t want you to stop having fun
and come here to help me. Your mother and I wanted you to enjoy life before you
had to be forced to get a job and work for the rest of it. You had a good time
and now…well, now it’s time for someone else to take the helm. And I think the
Hunter Corporation will do a fine job. I even put in that they hire you or
there was no deal.”

She wondered if that was why they had
offered her the job, but dismissed it almost immediately. They were too good at
what they did and hiring someone they knew wasn’t something they’d do.

She got up to pace, but the phone ringing
startled her. Her dad was probably the only person in the world that still had
a house phone. She only knew of businesses that did any more. Picking up the
receiver, she also noted that it was a dial kind, not even press buttons for
her dad.

“Hello.” The silence at the other end
had her nearly hang up, but the voice made the hair on her arms stand.

“Miss Washington. So nice to speak to
you. It’s Eric Howe. I was wondering if I could have a word with your father? It’s
about the paper. I want to up my offer to him.” She looked over at her dad as
the man continued. “Tell him that I’m willing to pay ten percent over my last
offer.”

“I’m sorry, Mr…what did you say your
name was?” She wrote a note to her dad that simply said,
Eric?
“Never
mind. Dad and I have decided to go with someone else.”

“That’s not very nice of you. I’ve been
asking for months to buy it. I would like to know who you think you’re selling
it to so that I can make them a better offer.” He laughed. “It will be at a
greater loss for me, but I’m willing to take the hit.”

“I’m sorry, but it’s a done deal. Thank
you for calling. Have a nice day.” She hung up the phone and looked at her dad.
“Who is this person? And why does he think we should give him the Hunters’ name
so he can buy the paper?”

“I’ve no idea. He’s been a pain in my
bottom for a while now. Usually, I just don’t answer until he calls so much I
get a head pain.” Her dad went to the cabinet to get down mugs for some tea he
was brewing. “Come on. Sit down and tell me what you and the Hunters have
decided.”

“They’ve fixed it so that payroll is
going to be met. And this house is paid off from the mortgage as well as the
back taxes. And…Dad, why didn’t you tell me? I know what you said, but it’s
bigger than me having a carefree life. This is more like you’ve simply let it
go.”

He sat down and blew over his mug. He’d
been using this mug since she’d given it to him when she’d been ten. It was
nicked and cracked at the rim and handle, but he used it all the time.

“I guess I sort of did. I’d been talking
with Curtis for years now. He’s a good boy. Did you know that he’s just like
his own father? Royce looks like their dad, but Curtis is just like him in both
mannerism as well as temperament. Shy too. But when he saw me…well, he knew
right away that things weren’t going well. He even tried to get me to do some
improvements back awhile ago.” He got up and pulled down the cookie tin he told
her that her mother used when she baked. “Those are from Mrs. Dillard from
across the street. She’s sort of sweet on me. Anyway, where was I?”

She knew who Mrs. Dillard was. Kylie was
a little shocked that the woman was “sweet” on her dad. She had thought the
woman old when she’d been a child, but now she must be in her hundreds if she
was a day. Then she looked at her dad. He’d aged too. She realized that he
should be aged; he was nearly eighty. He’d been twenty years older than her mom
when they’d married and they’d had her very late in his life. She reached out
and took his hand into hers.

“I love you, Daddy.” He blushed brightly
and kissed her hand holding his. “You were telling me about Mr. Hunter.”

“No, I wasn’t. I was talking about young
Curtis. But I’ll let it go for now.” She didn’t know what he meant, but he
moved on. “The computers were the least of my problems. There were taxes and
costs. When the price of gas went up so high, everything went up with it. Paper
costs nearly tripled. Then there were the costs of delivering papers to the
people who wanted them mailed to them. We have a lot of subscribers who live
out of state. It was difficult to keep it up. Then Milton passed.”

It took her several moments to remember
who Milton was. He’d been her dad’s secretary. She’d been told he’d passed away
about ten years ago. Had even come home for the funeral, but she didn’t know
what he’d had to do with the paper going to pot.

“He knew everything about the computers.
He could find me deals on whatever I needed. And I didn’t realize how much…when
he died, it seemed as if he was my last friend that knew your mother as I had.
After his passing…well, I simply didn’t care. I tried, but I just didn’t have
it in me anymore.”

He looked away from her, but not before
she saw the tears. Before she could speak the phone rang and she got up to
answer it. It was that man again.

“I can go to fifteen percent over my
last offer, but not a penny more. How do I know that you have another offer? You
might be trying to get more money off me and I’m simply not going to be had.”

“I already told you that I have an
offer. In fact, we’ve already signed off on the deal. Stop calling here and
bothering my dad.” She hung up before he could speak. And when the phone rang
again almost immediately, her dad told her to ignore it. She tried, but finally
they moved to the living room where she gathered her things. “I have to go
home. I have some things I have to do. Don’t talk to that man again. He’s
annoying.”

“I won’t. You drive carefully on the way
home. I love you, sweetheart.” She hugged him and told him she loved him too.

Now that she was alone in her car she
thought back to the meeting this morning. She’d been a poor businesswoman there
in front of them. She pulled out her cell intending to order a pizza for dinner
to pick up when she saw she had four missed calls. She didn’t know the number
and wondered who it had been. Listening to the voicemail, she realized that it
was Daniel and he’d invited her out for dinner. She debated for all of a minute
and called him back to tell him no. She was tired and needed to start packing. She
didn’t know how much longer she had before the bank took her home.

“I won’t take no for an answer,” he said
when he answered. “You simply let me come and get you and we’ll talk about
nothing but how beautiful you’ve become and how handsome I am. Then if you’re a
really good girl, I’ll take you to Samuel’s Ice Cream Bar to get a decadent
dessert.”

She laughed and realized that she really
didn’t want to go home to pack. She told him that she was near the pizza place
on Main Street and asked if he could he meet her there.

“Of course. I’m around the corner now. I
was thinking someplace more dark and romantic, but pizza does sound good.” She
pulled into the parking place as he continued. “Maybe later we can go back to
my place and go over whatever questions you might have about the buyout.”

She looked at the lot she was sitting in
and wondered why the thought of him wanting to take her back to his place didn’t
appeal to her as much as it once had. “I have some things to do tonight
and…well, I think your brother answered everything all right.”

He had too. He’d been more than helpful.
And the deed to her dad’s house was one of them. It had been delivered while
she’d been there. Her father had cried and told her it was more than he’d
expected. She’d had to lie to him about her getting a similar envelope, telling
him she’d already had what he’d offered her. Which she supposed was more true
than not.

Daniel pulled in beside her before she
could think of much more. Getting out of her car, she had a fleeting thought as
to if it would be there when she returned. Her dad had told her that the
creditors had been asking for the vehicle or the money for three months now. She
opened the door and took out her laptop bag, as well as her jacket, and held
them to her with her purse. These things, she couldn’t replace.

Daniel took the bag and held the door
open for her when they entered the noisy place. This isn’t what she’d wanted
all those years ago, but it might be what she needed now. They both ordered a
beer after being shown to their table and settling in.

“So,” Daniel started. “Tell me if you
still love me, or do you love my brother? Frankly, he’s a much better catch.”

~~~

Eric glared at the phone. He wanted to
call again. But he knew from experience when dealing with the old man, and now
apparently the daughter, that calling back would get him nowhere. Once they
said something was finished, it was as good as dead. Like the man in the
corner.

Eric Howe was a man who demanded
perfection, loyalty, and respect. He never gave those things in return, but he
did demand them of those he considered less than him. Which, to his way of
thinking, was everyone else in the world. The man in the corner was one of
those he’d made demands of and he hadn’t followed through. It wasn’t any more
Eric’s fault than it had been the gun that had killed him. The man simply had
not performed the way Eric had expected him to.

And now the Washingtons were failing him
too. And the little girl thinking that she could make offers on his building
without him saying so was not going to fly with him. He looked at the picture
on his desk. This, too, was the fault of his past family members.

Had they simply paid the taxes on the
building or, better yet, not gotten caught and sent to prison, the building and
what it held would be his. His grandfather had owned the big building on Biloxi
Avenue and had lost it to the tax man long ago. And now it was within his grasp
once again, but a woman was in the way.

Eric didn’t care what problems the paper
had. He could care less about the people that worked there and less about the
people who owned it. Or thought they did. As far as he was concerned, it was
simply a piece of paper that kept him from the money that he knew was in one of
the walls. Money that his stupid father had hidden there when the bank robbery
they’d been in on had gone bad.

The man had told him nearly three years
ago as he lay dying on his floor about it all. He said that Eric could have the
money if he’d just let him live. Eric had promised him he’d take care of him as
soon as he told him.

“We were being chased, your grandda and
I. The police were hot on our tails and we had to get rid of the money or face
a bigger jail sentence than we might have. He should never have killed that
cop. Cops don’t like it when you take out one of their own.” Eric knew this to
be true. This was why he was calling himself Eric Howe instead of his real name
of Vaughn LaMancusa. “It’s all there. We left it there all these years as a
sort of nest egg if you want to call it. All of it. We didn’t even have time to
split it with the others. Not that it mattered, the cops had already taken care
of that problem for us.”