Page 30 of Letters Book Two
“Is that ayes, Ms. Green?” I asked again.
“None of your fucking business, but yes, a year ago or so.” She looked afraid for the first time since she’d marched into the room. She had flounced her way into the peaceful and nurturing environment and spread her disgusting self like a disease. Now she shriveled before my eyes.Not so tough after all, huh, lady?
I stopped a foot away from her as she leaned back, expectant, but fearful of my creepy calm anger. “Guess what,Rhonda?” I said her name as snotty as I could. “You will not be getting one single dollar. Not a dime, lady. And... would you like to know why you will not be receiving one scintilla of a penny if Clint dies?”
All she could do was shake her head, wondering why she was fucked. “He’s my husband. He got nobody else but me, so all he got is mine.”
“He’s yourex-husband. As in... no cash, no inheritance, no insurance settlement. You get squat, lady.”
“That ain’t true.” She turned to the doctors. “Is that true, what he said? I get nothing if he croaks?”
“Zip. Nada. Zero.” I gloated, pissed as a wet hornet in a rainstorm.
“Then why the fuck am I here?” she hissed, pulling her shoulders back and holding her head up in disgust.
“Exactly. Do you want to help Clint? Maybe encourage him to hang on?” I asked.
Her eyes narrowed as I watched pure evil cross her face. She was dead inside, defeated, pissed off and incredulous at the fact that she had come calling to the wrong ATM.
“Fuck that!” She raised her index finger and pointed individually at every person in the room. “And fuck every single one of you.” She turned around and walked out the door. I heard the mumbling conversation she was having with herself, accompanied by her clicking heels as she scurried back to her pathetic life.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: Perry
“Did you know that my husband wanted Lucas to have our business, Perry?” I looked up from my magazine and found Mrs. Howard looking at me from her permanent spot beside Lucas. She held his hand and rubbed her thumb across the top of it.
“I had heard that, yes.”
“My husband loved this kid. He was all Ed could talk about once he rescued him from the park.” She grabbed a piece of ice and slowly moved it across Lucas’s lips. “Ed thought of him as his own. Happiest day of his life was when Lucas called him Grandpa.”
“Your husband was a kind man, ma’am.”
She wiped his chin with a cloth and resumed her place in the chair, grabbing his hand again. “His own daddy kicked him out after his momma died. Kid only had forty dollars and a junky old truck. He lived in it for several days until Ed got involved.”
“I did not know that.” I wasn’t upset. It was more sadness at the news that crept over me. I wondered how I didn’t know such a detail about the boy I loved so much.
“Figures he never told you. Lucas has been on his own for years. What he sees as normal upbringing shocks most of us. He would have been worse for the wear had it not been for Lachen Tilton.”
Lucas had mentioned someone named Lachen when speaking of his mother and the beach. They were the two people closest to him. His love of the particular beach we went to was because of them, he’d said.
I sat my magazine down and focused my attention on Mrs. Howard. “What relationship is Mr. Tilton to Lucas?” I asked. She was telling me things, sharing things, giving away personal information, but I knew her well enough by now to know that she had purpose. She wasn’t gossiping.
“He was his real daddy.” She dropped that nugget without a hint of scandal in her voice. “The man that raised Lucas is still alive. He lives right down the road from the gas station. He’s the one Lucas would tell you was his daddy, but that isn’t entirely true.”
I was disbelieving. “Lucas has a father near here? Where is he? Why isn’t he here with his son?” I asked, leaning forward on my elbows. She had my attention now.
“He never loved his son. I imagine he’s heard the whole mess that happened at the station, but he’s got no shame. Just as well he doesn’t show up. Lucas needs love and encouragement, not judgment.” She set her pen down on top of her crossword and looked over at Lucas. “Mr. Jenson never forgave Lucas’s momma for marrying him instead of Mr. Tilton. He knew she didn’t love him the way she did Lachen. Yet, he still chose to marry her knowing Lucas wasn’t his. The father that raised him never treated the boy right. It was Lachen Tilton that put in all the effort.”
“Where is this Lachen? We should tell him Lucas is injured, don’t you think, ma’am?” I was flustered by the revelations. So much news I had not been aware of.
“He’s dead, Perry.” She leaned closer to Lucas and placed a finger on his cheek. “I’m spilling the beans, child. I’m sorry, but Mr. Jackson deserves to know all of you.” She turned back to me. “I’m probably speaking out of turn, Perry. But you need to know who this boy is. You need to understand the vulnerability that is this boy. He’s too prideful to share his past with you. If I know Lucas like I think I do, he’s afraid he’s not good enough for the likes of you.”
“What do you mean, not good enough?” I sounded defensive.
“You said you’d heard of his plans to buy the station. Did you support his idea?” she asked.
“He had kept the news to himself and only announced it the night we separated,” I stated.
“Would you have supported his plan?”
