Page 45 of Your Every Wish
She does a fairly good impression of Dex, though I don’t know where she came up with the Kermit the Frog voice.
“ ‘Emma, stop interrupting me.’ ‘Emma, if you’d give up that little hobby of yours and get a real job, you could afford to live here instead of the goddamn boondocks.’ My God, he treats you like an unruly child.”
“He’s protective, that’s all. And a bit of a control freak. It comes with his type A personality.”
“Hey, you’re the one who asked.” She starts to say something, then stops.
“What? Go ahead and spit it out.”
“I don’t get what you see in him. Granted, he’s good-looking—a little too all-American cliché with the sandy blond hair and creepy green eyes for my taste—but he’s condescending, dull, officious, and . . . well, he’s not very nice. And you are the picture of nice. Seriously, you’re so sweet a person can get diabetes simply from looking at you. I may not know you all that well, and maybe what I don’t know is that you’re actually a cold-hearted bitch like me. But from what I’ve seen so far, you’re the opposite. You help people, you listen to their problems, you only see the good in everything. Why are you attracted to a man who’s mean?”
“He’s not mean. I’ll go with you on officious and somewhat controlling. But not mean. He’s a lovely person once you get to know him.”
“How? Give me three examples of how he’s a lovely person.”
Easy. I don’t even have to spend a second thinking up my answers. “Before my car was totaled—the idiot texting’s fault, not mine—Dex used to come over every couple of nights and move it for me in the dark, so I wouldn’t get a ticket for parking in one place too long. When I had Covid, he sent Grubhub to my door everyday with delicious meals from restaurants all over the city.”
“Okay, that’s two. What’s the third?”
“He paid off my student loans. Don’t tell anyone.”
“Who am I going to tell? But why? Why do you want to keep it secret? Even I have to admit that’s pretty amazing. Was it a lot of money?”
“Ten thousand. I worked and paid for most of my tuition myself with help from my mom. But between books, housing, and living expenses . . . it was too much for even the both of us, so I took out loans. After graduating, I paid down as much as I could, but the interest was killing me. Then six months ago, Dex surprised me for my birthday and paid the whole thing off. It’s a little embarrassing. I’m a grown-ass woman with a stable career. I should pay my own debts.”
“It’s a hell of a birthday gift for sure. Okay, perhaps I’m misjudging him.” Kennedy pauses. “Willy should’ve paid for your school. He should’ve paid for mine, too. Did your mom ever ask him to?”
I didn’t think Willy owed me a thing. He wasn’t in my life, and I wasn’t in his. We were strangers. Besides, I was perfectly capable of earning money to pay for my own school, even if Dex did help out in the long run. “I don’t think so. Did your mom?”
“I doubt it,” Kennedy says. “He never paid child support, so it stood to reason that he wasn’t going to pay my college tuition. And it wasn’t like Madge could afford it.”
“When did she stop dancing?” According to Mom, Kennedy’s mother was a “budget version of a Rockette” and performed in one of the longest running variety shows at the MGM.
“About nine years ago. It’s really hard on your joints and the money sucked. A friend, who works in admin at Caesars, got her the job in bookkeeping. It’s steady hours with benefits. She could make a decent living if she stopped squandering her money on her loser boyfriends.”
Madge Jenkins sounded like a real piece of work.
“Speaking of, how did it go with Sam?” We hadn’t had a chance to discuss her meeting. With Dex around there was never a good time to talk.
“Good.” She changes lanes to avoid a slow-moving tractor trailer trying to climb the grade. “He’s a really nice man, and I think a good lawyer. Thank you for asking him to do this for me. You didn’t have to, but you did anyway. I want you to know how much I appreciate it.”
“Of course.”
“Really,” she says. “No one has ever gone this much out of their way for me.”
I can tell that admission doesn’t come easy for her and to save us both from embarrassment, I simply nod and drop the subject entirely.
“He’s going to get in touch with Brock Sterling’s lawyer and see if they’ll call off the dogs if I pay him back the money with interest,” she volunteers.
“How are you planning to do that?”
She cuts me a look. “Sell my share of the park or find Willy’s money. Misty says it’s not a suitcase.”
It takes me a second to follow. “A, how does Misty know? And B, what does the key go to, then?”
“I don’t know but I plan to find out. Harry says she’s a witch. ”
I laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”
