Maybe Baby Lite (27 page)

“
Well,” I said
sarcastically, “it appears that his majesty has returned to his
castle. I think I'll be paying him a visit this evening. Perhaps
he'll enlighten me as to what my new duties will be next week.”
Clint gave me a look that said, “I wouldn’t fuck with him if I were
you.” I didn’t care. I had options no matter what. Perhaps he
simply planned on firing me; if that were the case, life would go
on. Maybe he wanted to make me miserable enough to quit. He was
almost there on that one.

Clint and I finished our
grocery shopping. I asked him to stop at the carry-out and purchase
some wine for me. He was extremely uneasy about doing
this.

“
Oh for Chrissake,” I
whined, “In two and a half weeks, I'm turning 21.”

He finally relented after
he made me promise that I'd go nowhere near the pool. It was clear
Clint wasn't very comfortable being my cohort in crime. Clint
walked up to my porch with me, making sure I was safely inside
before leaving, reminding me to keep my cell phone near and call if
I needed him.

I put my groceries away,
leaving a small, frozen pizza out to microwave for dinner. The wine
Clint had bought for me was chilled, so I pulled out a big plastic
cup, filled it to the top, and tossed a couple of ice cubes in it
for good measure. I popped the pizza into the microwave and clicked
on the TV to get some noise going. The quietness of the cottage was
eerie.

I sat crossways in the
living room chair, flipping through the channels, finally stopping
on the tail end of my favorite show, "Revenge." I sipped my iced
wine, enjoying the taste of it and loving the feeling of relaxation
that seeped in while watching the show.

God! Daniel is
hot!

I really hoped that Emily
wasn't playing him like the others. Anyone could see he was in love
with her! That Emily was one complicated bitch! This brought a new
fit of giggles.

Then it hit me:
Daniel.
The character on
the show's name was Daniel, just like my old boyfriend's name
was
Daniel.

I remembered what had
happened after prom. Daniel had dropped me like yesterday's trash.
The dream in the hospital wasn't a dream, it was my subconscious
doing its job; forcing me to face the reality of what I'd witnessed
yet refused to believe or acknowledge all those years
ago.

The microwave beeped. I
got my pizza out and refilled my cup of wine going back to watch
the show while I ate. When I'd finished eating, I tossed the
cardboard disk the pizza came on towards the trash can and missed.
Fuck - I'll get it later Time for a refill! Uh oh, it's nearly
gone! For some reason that struck me as funny, and I started
giggling.

I slipped out of my
clothes, tossing them into the bedroom. It was warm and I was
afraid to open windows because of the stalker. I returned to the
fridge and poured the rest of the chilled wine into my plastic cup
and tossed the empty bottle over to the trashcan.

Missed again!

I broke into hysterical
laughter as tears rolled down my cheeks. Someone was at the door of
my cottage, pounding loudly. Oh no, I wonder if Clint was checking
on me. It was unusual for me to be up this late on a work night. I
padded over to the front door in my bare feet, wiping my face dry
of the tears, still giggling.

“
Clint, is that you?” I
asked.

“
It’s Trey,” the smooth
and silky voice replied.

What?

I opened the front door
momentarily forgetting I was just wearing my undies.

One bottle of domestic
Chardonnay wine: $6.99

The look on Trey
Sinclair's face after I'd finished drinking it: Fucking
Priceless!

“
Come on in, Trey. I
thought you were Clint.”

He raised an eyebrow,
glancing at my attire. “Dressed like that?” he snapped. I acted
like I'd been oblivious to what I was wearing. I looked down at my
stomach, seeing the navel ring and low-cut silk bikini
panties.

“
Oh, I forgot I hadn’t put
my robe on after I changed. Is it warm in here?” I asked, fanning
myself. “Be right back.”

I took my time walking to
my bedroom, knowing that his sapphire eyes were watching my
backside the whole way; I got some satisfaction in that. I grabbed
my bathrobe from the hook on the bathroom door and put it on. I
left the belt untied; I didn’t want to hide everything from him. As
I exited my room Trey was in the kitchen, picking up all of the
trash. As he picked the empty wine bottle up, he turned to
me.

“
How were you able to buy
this?” he asked. I hesitated for a moment, trying to come up with a
plausible explanation. “Because if I find out anyone that works for
me bought you alcohol after all the shit that happened a few weeks
back, that's cause for immediate termination.”

“
Chill, Trey,” I laughed.
“I bought it myself when I was staying with Gina. They didn’t card
me.” I sauntered over to where he was standing, taking the empty
wine bottle from him and setting it on the counter. “I’d offer you
some wine, Trey, but as you can see, I’m all out.”

“
I’m surprised that you’d
come back to this cottage, Tylar.”

“
Well, I really had no
choice,” I responded.

“
That’s not true, Tylar.
You know it.”

“
I’m not staying with you,
Trey, not after the way you accused me of being a whore!” I
snapped, my voice rising.

“
I never said that,” he
argued.

“
What do you call asking
me about your white shirt, your robe, your razor? I expected you to
be pissed about the car; I didn’t expect you to presume I'd brought
in some random guy, let him use your razor, wear your clothes, and
fuck me in your bed!” I was slurring now, pointing my plastic cup
at him accusingly.

Trey grabbed the cup from
me and emptied the contents in the sink. Before I had a chance to
verbally blast him, he took my arm and pulled me into the living
area, planting me firmly beside him on the couch. I started to say
something, but his voice cut me off before I got a syllable
out.

“
You're going to keep your
smart mouth shut for now. I'll do the talking,” he said in his
control-freak tone.

Whatever.

“
I’m not going to beg you
to come back and stay at the manor. But the invitation is open. I
came by to let you know that I was able to reach Andrew Sneed this
week while I was in Atlanta.”

He had my full attention
now.

“
Tylar your trust has been
depleted, and your mother quit the law firm a few weeks ago.
Apparently she's also left your home in Radcliffe and no one knows
where she went.”

“
I don’t understand; that
trust was only accessible by me.”

“
Sneed says your
signature's on the disbursement requests that started while you
were still living with your mother. Those were for minimal amounts;
the big take was after you arrived here. Sneed has a copy of it
with what he maintains is your signature. Also, the fax stamp on
the document shows it came from the fax machine in the business
office here, with a fax cover sheet that's on our stationary. Sneed
had no reason to believe that it wasn't legitimate. Fax and scanned
signatures are considered to be as legal as the
originals.”

I gasped.

“
There’s more,” he
continued. I sat frozen, wondering how this could get any worse.
“It looks like your mother’s motivation in getting her part-time
job at their legal firm was for the purpose of having the trust
managed there. She actually started working there prior to the
establishment of your trust. It's a private trust; there's no
requirement for it to be filed as a public record with any
government agency. Before your mom left her job, just after your
trust was cleaned out, she either took or destroyed all of the
documents pertaining to it, electronic or otherwise."

“
Why would she do that?” I
asked.

“
To destroy the trail back
to the trustor, the person who set up the trust.”

“
But I know who that is;
it’s my dad, her ex-husband.”

“
Tylar, I’ve had one of
our law clerks digging into some of this. Your mom was never
married to anyone.”

“
Stop, Trey I cannot
listen to any more of this, please!” My voice was cracking, my
shoulders shaking. I pulled my knees up tucking them under my chin
and burying my face into them.

“
I’m sorry,” he said
gently, pulling me to him. I pushed him away.

“
Trey, I can’t deal with
this!”

“
But this is something you
can’t simply ignore. It looks like your mother's committed a felony
act. Yet Sneed isn’t convinced any criminal activity took place. We
need to establish that your signature was forged in order to start
the process with the local prosecutor in that county. Timing was a
factor in all of this, I’m convinced.”

“
How do we do that?” I
asked.

“
We’ll go to Kentucky.
You’ll need to confirm the signature as a forgery, and then file a
formal complaint with the Prosecutor’s office.”

“
But we don’t even know
where she is.”

“
That’s why you need to go
to your home and assess the situation there. Talk to neighbors, her
friends, anyone who might shed some light.”

“
So you’d go with me?” I
asked.

“
I told you I would,
Tylar,” he replied. “I have the next couple of days free into early
next week. I booked a flight for us tomorrow morning.”

“
But I’m supposed to leave
Friday night to fly to Atlanta to spend a few days with Gina,” I
whined.

“
Really,
Tylar?”

Trey was right. This
needed to take priority. I'd call Gina and let her know. Maybe the
trip could be rescheduled. Gina would understand.

“
I’ll call Gina tomorrow
morning,” I replied. “I’m sure she can rebook my
flight.”

“
Okay, then. Please get
some rest. Are you sure you won’t stay with me at the house
tonight?”

“
I really don’t feel like
changing, packing, and all of that right now. In case you hadn’t
noticed, Trey, I’m a little drunk?”

“
I noticed, Tylar,” he
said, kissing the top of my head.

“
I have some things to
tell you Trey, but I don’t want to get into it all tonight,
okay?”

“
Okay,” he said. “I’m
going to sleep on your couch, though, and no argument,
okay?”

“
Okay,” I
agreed.

I got a pillow and a sheet
for him and went to my room, cranked my window A/C, and was asleep
within minutes.

Trey nudged me awake while
it was still dark outside. He'd made coffee, poured a glass of
orange juice, and toasted a bagel for me. I was hung-over and
grumbling. He told me he didn’t want to hear it; it was my own
fault. I choked the bagel down and drank my juice, then went to
freshen up. While I was in the shower, Trey brought an outfit into
the bathroom for me.

I dressed hurriedly and
packed the clothes that he'd laid out for me. This was record time
for me to be ready to travel on a moment’s notice. Trey hustled me
out, locking my cottage behind us.

“
What time's our flight?”
I asked as we walked down the still-dark path past the stables to
the manor.

“
Seven-thirty. The limo
will be here in 30 minutes. Get a move on it; I’ve still got to
pack.”

Once the limo picked us
up, I snuggled up against Trey and fell back to sleep. It seemed
like two minutes later we were taking our first-class seats on the
commercial flight to Louisville. The flight was relatively short,
but we were given top-notch treatment.

The flight attendants
continually gushed over Trey, offering him more coffee, juice,
whatever. I was annoyed with their fawning over him but I didn’t
want to be obvious so I closed my eyes as if sleeping and ended up
draped across him during most of the flight. The flight attendant
made sure to come by during our initial descent into Louisville
instructing Trey that I needed to be in my assigned seat, with my
seat belt fastened during landing.

“
Wake up, Tylar,” he said
softly. “We’re getting ready to land in a few minutes. Let’s get
you buckled up in your seat.” He buckled my seat belt as I opened
my eyes, catching the attention of the flight attendant who'd been
flirting with Trey the duration of the flight. I gave her a silent
smirk.

Once landed, we picked up
the rental car, a Lexus SUV, and Trey drove us to the Crowne Plaza
Hotel near the airport. After we'd settled into our room, I called
Gina, letting her know there'd been a change in plans. She said
she'd would call the airlines and change my flight. We decided the
weekend of my birthday, July 14, would work. Gina was actually more
excited about moving my visit so she could plan a celebration at
the Sanctuary.

Our first stop was at the
law offices of Findley, Morris & Sneed, L.L.P. In all of the
years my mother had worked there, I'd never seen it. It was a
two-story red brick building, located several blocks from the
courthouse on the outskirts of the downtown area. Trey had
evidently called ahead; Mr. Sneed was expecting us.