Same Old Truths (18 page)

The rest of the review was fairly straightforward, with few, if any changes made. After seven years, the well-written plan still held up. Lucinda hurried through each stipulation, asking the couple if they agreed, and both nodded without comment.

When Lucinda was finished she said, “You know, you two did a very good job drawing up a fair and workable plan.” Then she chuckled and said, “it sure makes my job easy. And if you work together, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t make your job easy too.”

Mercifully, the meeting came to an end and Lucinda Portelli walked Dave and Kay to the door, thanking them for their cooperation and wishing them the best for the future. Before Kay made it out the door, Lucinda stopped her and asked her to hang back a moment. She closed the door on Dave and addressed Kay, who was still crying. “Ms. Manning, I think you could really benefit from some counseling. It’s obvious you have some serious unresolved issues with your ex-husband. For your sake and the sake of your girls, I highly recommend seeing someone.”

Appearances to the contrary, Kay was happy. She’d gotten what she’d come for. Her only regret was her tears of gratitude for being validated were being misinterpreted as a cry for help. She briefly considered telling the concerned social worker she’d already had two years of therapy, but since she’d probably never see Lucinda Portelli again, she just nodded in agreement. All she could think about now was getting out of there and finding a ride.

* * *

Kay hurried toward the elevators to join the small group of people getting into the open car. She had just stepped in when she heard, “Hey, Kay. Hold the doors.” It was Dave. He reached the front of elevator just as the doors were sliding shut. Kay was about to give him a helpless shrug and “sorry” look, but at the last second something compelled her to push the Open Door button.

Maybe therapy isn’t such a bad idea. I need to figure out why I can’t say no to Dave
.

“Thanks,” he said breathlessly as he jumped in and turned in the obligatory, everyone-face-forward-pirouette. “I was looking for you back there, but I guess you got away from me.”

Apparently, not fast enough.

Dave leaned over and quietly spoke out of the side of his mouth. “Where’s your mechanic’s garage?”

His cloak-and-dagger delivery made Kay want to respond with a silly, “the pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle.” But she decided against the Danny Kaye patter. “On Parsifal, near the horse arena. Why?” she said.

“I go right past there. I could drop you off.” Then he added, “I overheard you say you needed a ride when you were talking on the phone.”

Immediately, Kay became suspicious. The whole reason they were even standing in this elevator, descending through bowels of the Family Court Building was because Dave had demonstrated his deep dislike for doing favors for Kay. But she had to be practical. There was no one she could call, and a cab ride would be at least $15.

Maybe I should ask him for half the fare.

“Well, if you’re sure it’s not an inconvenience.”

“The only inconvenience is my parking spot. I hope you’re wearing comfortable shoes, cuz we gotta walk about six blocks to get to my truck.”

And so the strange togetherness of the morning continued. The only way Kay could abide their temporary coupledom was to walk three paces behind Dave. Apparently, this annoyed him because he turned around to her and said, “What? Are we in India now?”

He probably hadn’t meant to be funny, but Kay laughed anyway. She had always been his best audience.

The ride reached every level of weirdness. Her place in the front passenger seat alongside him was so natural, so familiar - yet it was no longer hers. Kay pictured Sandy giving the leather upholstery a good going-over later to remove any traces of First Wife’s female essences.

Their small talk was excruciating. With all the foul water that had passed under the bridge, especially over the last few weeks, their efforts at nonchalant friendliness were total phony baloney. Kay thought it was a shame, too, because it would have been the perfect opportunity to have a frank heart-to-heart, if only to put some closure on a wound that had remained open for the last seven years. But Kay knew Dave was incapable of having such a conversation. That depth of honesty could only be accessed by an adult who was in touch with his inner thoughts, feelings and motivations. Long before Kay ever met Dave, she suspected something had stunted his emotional growth, causing him to run whenever life became too real. Kay had always believed he’d left their marriage when she’d asked for more from a relationship stalled in second gear.

“Did the girls mention we’re moving my mom to an assisted living facility?” Dave asked.

“You mean in between telling me what a bully your wife is?” Kay said. She couldn’t resist stirring Dave’s simmering pot of embarrassment over the girls’ “big reveal.”

“Oh, come on, Kay,” he said. Kay was well-familiar with his tactic of trying to make her feel guilty for making things seem worse than they really were.

Satisfied she’d hit her intended target, she returned to the subject at hand. “No. No, they didn’t. Helen in a nursing home…I just can’t picture it.” Kay said, shaking her head. Even though there was no love lost between her and Helen Noland, she was still sad her ex-mother-in-law had reached that inevitable point in life which most people hoped to avoid.

“Assisted Living,” Dave corrected. “She’ll have her own apartment with a full time medical staff on the premises. We think it isn’t safe for her to live alone anymore.”

“I can’t see your mom as a dependent, old woman. She’s always been so feisty and self-sufficient.”

Kay laughed, turned to Dave. “Do you remember that time…” He was crying. She had rarely, if ever, seen Dave Noland cry - and he wasn’t doing anything to try to hide it.

Kay thought it was to his credit that he could shed tears for his mother. She knew from dealing with her clients at work, how gut-wrenching these decisions were. Her heart broke for him, but she sat there frozen. Something inexplicable blocked her from reaching out and showing him any sign of sympathy. It was just like that day in her doorway when he moved to hug her and all she could do was shrink back.

“My sisters insisted on a pricey facility on the east side of town. They’re putting her in a big apartment with two bedrooms,” Dave said. Large tear drops were falling from both sides of his jaw, spotting the lapels on his suit coat.

“That’s great!” Kay said, trying to sound supportive. “Having her own private living space ought to make the transition easier.”

“Yeah. But I think she could just as easily transition to a one bed room - or even a studio. These jokers are asking almost $7000 a month! My sisters don’t care. They’re married to doctors.”

“So you guys are divvying up the expense?” Kay asked.

“That’s the plan,” he said with a heavy sigh.

Kay jumped when Dave suddenly slammed the heal of his palm on the steering wheel. ”Jesus. I can’t ever seem to catch a break.”

Kay sensed he expected her to ask what was going on, but that same inexplicable block prevented her from uttering a sound.

Dave shot a sideways glance at Kay to see if she was still paying attention. Her gaze remained fixed on the road ahead; he forced out a little sob to see if he could re-engage her in the conversation. Kay continued to give him (herself?) space.

So Dave upped the ante. “I know you think I screwed you on the whole child support thing. But, you have no idea the financial load I’m under.”

Now she shifted her gaze from the road rapidly passing under the carriage of the truck and looked at Dave.

“What are you talking about?” she asked indignantly. “You make almost four times the salary I do. AND you get free medical.” She decided to throw that last part in to show her disgust at his bonus perk.

“That’s right. I do. But I’m still paying off creditors from the old business, including the IRS. I had to use up my savings to cover the cost of moving here.”

“So why didn’t you just tell me that in the beginning? Why the song and dance about a salary cut?”

“I was embarrassed,” Dave said quietly. “I didn’t want you to know about the mess I’m in. Anyway, with all the money going out, it might as well have been a cut. I was desperate to find some relief somewhere. I had no choice. I didn’t know what else to do. You have to believe me.”

Kay’s eyes narrowed and her throat tightened. “I have to believe you?” Kay said. “I have to believe you?” she repeated, louder this time. “That’s rich. Let’s see… I believed you when you said you weren’t having an affair with Sandy. I believed you when you said you’d never leave us. I believed you when you said you weren’t leaving me to go to her - that you didn’t know where she was. I believed you when you said you’d never marry her.” She stopped and looked hard at Dave. “Shall I go on?”

Dave didn’t respond. He just looked straight ahead, tears still streaming down his cheeks.

“Look. Why don’t you cut to the chase and tell me what it is you really want? It must be pretty important if you’ve gone to the all the trouble of staging today’s comedy-tragedy show.”

This time he didn’t hesitate a moment to answer her question. “There’s no way can I afford to pay you the ten thousand right now. With my legal fees, mom, and your full child support added to my debt, I’ll be lucky to put food on my table. For godssake, Kay, I haven’t had a new pair of fucking underwear in two years.”

Kay couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Or maybe she could.

Kay extended her palm toward Dave’s face. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Mr. Rotting Fruit of the Loom. I seem to remember hearing about a recent trip to the mall involving the purchase of big screen TV. Maybe you should have held on to a couple of those twenties you were brandishing about and spent them on some new tighty-whities,” Kay said. It gave her great pleasure to tell him she knew about his little spending spree.”

“That was a gift from Sandy’s mom,” he snapped. “It was a house warming present…not that it’s any of your business.”

“So what are you saying? After all the lies, deceit, mistreatment and noncooperation, you expect me to forgive what the judge says you legally owe me and the girls?

Right on cue came his signature, “Oh, come on,” as if Kay had said something ridiculously unreasonable. “I have every intention of paying you. I just want to defer it until Cory turns 18.”

Dave pulled into a parking spot in front of the mechanic’s shop, put the truck in Park, and turned to Kay. “I’ll give you 10% interest. That’s better than you’d get from any bank.”

Kay couldn’t think, let alone speak. All she knew was she had to get out of the truck. She opened the door and slid down to the pavement. She was just about to push the door shut when Dave said, “Wait, Kay. At least tell me you’ll think about it.”

She nodded just to get rid of him, knowing she wouldn’t be able to think about anything else.

14

Ignore Isaac Newton at Your Own Peril

Twenty minutes after two.

Fine time to be getting to work
.

Under normal circumstances, Kay would have just gone home and blown off the rest of the day, but being at home alone with her thoughts was not an attractive prospect. And the inevitable, interrogating call from Leslie was something she wasn’t ready to face.

Ruth saw Kay pull into the parking lot and hurried back to Kay’s office to greet her. The look on Kay’s face was one Ruth wasn’t familiar with so she decided not to ask any questions.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Ruth said. “I think Ed is going to need you here pretty soon.”

Just then, the mortuary’s white pickup van pulled up right outside her window; Ed got out and headed inside.

Oh, I’m going on a pick up.

Kay was grateful she was going to be occupied with a mindless task.

“Hey, Kay. Glad you could make it,” Ed said.

Kay opened her mouth to explain about her car, but changed her mind.

“We’ve got a contract case at O.M.I. that’s going to be released in an hour or so. As usual, Uncle O is incommunicado so I’m going to have send you and Leo,” Ed said.

Salinger’s had a contract with the state to handle final disposition of indigent cases and any John Does who had no next of kin.

“Why the two of us?” Kay asked. She was a little miffed Ed didn’t trust her to handle the pick up on her own.

“The body weighs over three hundred pounds,” Ed said. He talked over his shoulder as he impatiently opened and closed filing cabinet drawers, unable to find his requisite forms.

Ruth smiled, shook her head and gently nudged him out of the way, knowing exactly where to locate what he was looking for. Ed deferred to Ruth and straightened up. “It’s going to take two people. I’d go, but I’m headed to Memorial on another case.”

“Why don’t I take that one for you,” Kay offered. “I mean, wouldn’t it be better if you and Leo handled the O.M.I. case?” Kay had never worked with a body that heavy.

“Yes, it would be better,” Ed said, obviously irritated. “But the family at Memorial has specifically requested me to be there. Don’t worry. The body will be on a gurney and you’ll get help from O.M.I. staff to load him into the station wagon. And I should be here to help you unload when you get back.”