Tap Dance (14 page)

This is for her basic living expenses like electricity, water and trash service, gas company and, oh dear God, her mortgage lender which just happened to be Grantham Savings and Loan.

Wait…what?

It didn't make sense. 

Uncle Roger had insurance, both life insurance and his house insurance which
should have
cleared the mortgage and transferred the title of the property to my aunt or Greg.

I didn't understand it. 

And the parts I didn't understand made me
angry
.

I tried to put it aside to concentrate on my work but it bubbled around the edges of my mind all afternoon.

After work, I made my way back to Arminster Arms to view my apartment with Caitlin.

She was waiting for me in the cute Ford Focus she had purchased after her 'Beast', a huge 1987 Rivera, died. 

It was great to see her so soon after our mall troll.  Used to be, we would run into each other quite a bit, when she lived in the apartment across from me.  But since she moved in with Jake, and with the break in and all, I didn't get to see her as often and I'd missed her.

"Hey, Marianne," Cait said giving me a hug.

"How are you, honey?"

"Living large, girlfriend, living la vita bueno."

I laughed with her because it's true, in comparison to how she lived before Jake to how her life was now, for her it really
was
the good life.

I opened the heavy outer door with my new key noticing there wasn't a familiar squeak.

It made me sad. 

The squeak was a great warning device, a 'just in case' announcement that someone had come through the front door. 

I glanced at Cait and saw the understanding in her blue-green eyes.

I approached my apartment's new door with its bright, shiny new lock. 

I'll admit it.

My heart rate was accelerated as I fitted my new key in the lock, opening my front door.  For some reason I kept hearing Ram's voice when he had said my apartment had been trashed.

Trashed.

I reached for the light switch just to the left of the door.

Ohmigod. 

Ohmigod.

Oh. My. God.

I looked at Caitlin and I know I had the same look on my face as she did.

Ram's word was kind compared to what was before me on this second visit.

My apartment hadn't been just trashed.

It had been
demolished
.

I almost couldn't look at the destruction of my home in spite of having seen it before. 

My property. 

I felt Caitlin's hand clutch mine, both of us shaking.

I pulled us back out of the doorway, shutting off the light as I went. 

Again, I couldn't face it. 

Someone had deliberately done that slashing, that destruction.

Both our phones rang at almost exactly the same time.

It was an incoming text from Leila asking for help with her wardrobe for her first date with the guy she'd been crushing on. 

I ran through the clothes I thought would get her through the evening, no matter where they ended up, and texted her the combination of her purple sequin tank with jeans, her black leather jacket and black heels.. 

I had just sent it when there was another text about makeup this time from Crys. 

Holy shit! 

We forgot about the makeup. 

I was in a quandary.

My new friend needed me and needed the makeup I had--which was sitting in a drawer in my bathroom.  In my demolished apartment.

I turned to Caitlin.  "I'm going in.  Leila needs me. Could you stand by the door with the lights on while I grab something?" 

"Sure, Marianne.  No problem." I felt her arm steal around me for a quick hug.

Incoming text from Leila, Crys told her to wear just her FMP's and a smile, but Leila didn't know what Crys meant.  I sent back a quick text, "FMPs = Fuck Me Pumps = Heels".

 "Will you text me her address?"  

"On it," Cait said as she used both hands on her phone.

And I went back in, turning on the overhead lights as I stepped over and through the remains of my cute apartment which I had fixed up, piece by piece.  Making it my space, my home, my place.

I didn't look right or left as I moved, but kept my eyes down concentrating on getting to my goal. 

My makeup drawer in the bathroom.

I snatched it. 

I snatched the whole damn drawer and clutched it to my chest as I turned around, trying to follow the same path out as I had taken going in.

Turning off the lights as I left.

I didn't realize I had been holding my breath until I was standing in the hallway, the drawer cutting into my hands.

I passed the keys back to Caitlin and watched as she locked the door.

"And, Cait?  Could you call Jake and have him see about getting a crew out here to clear the freaking shit out as soon as the Claim Adjustor is finished?"

I saws her eyes soften and a grin of understanding spread across her face.

"On it," she said softly, as her fingers once again flew across the keyboard of her phone.

Chapter Fifteen

There's a thing I read in a pamphlet about depression which was left with my mom right after my dad died.  Something that really spoke to me then and still speaks to me now.

Especially now.

"The only way to overcome your losses, your fears, your pain is to work with others, giving of
yourself
to help
them
overcome their losses, their fears and their pain."

When I initially left my apartment, I was devastated, overcome seeing that needless, senseless destruction once again. 

But when my girl Leila asked for help, I didn't hesitate for very long before turning right around and going back in.

Seeing the changes Leila had made and how she really was becoming the woman she wanted to be, having her ask for help in doing so took the some of the sting out of what I had seen. 

Seeing her beauty enhanced with just a few cosmetics and hearing her fervent, "Will you, at some point, teach me how to do this?" helped even more.

Helping her, concentrating on her, helped me settle a little.

After I left Leila's house, I called Ram on his cell.

"Are you okay, Marianne?" were the first words out of his mouth.  I never called him on his cell when I knew he was at work.

I realized there was a lot of caring in just those four words.

The deep caring that I was feeling from him, from my Ram, over the phone told my heart it was okay to lean on him.

"Not really, Ram.  I went to the apartment with Cait after work…"

"I’m on my way home now.  Come to me,
Pyari
."

"Yes, Ram."

He was waiting outside for me as I pulled into his deep driveway, his shirt untucked and boots off but he still came to my car door and opened it. 

We walked together up the front walkway, his large hand holding mine.

As I kicked off my heels in the entry, my heart settled completely.

Chapter Sixteen

Things were moving along.

I was able to get the appointment with the Claim Adjuster for Monday, the ninth.  I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to having it over and done with so the removal people could come clean up the mess.

I wanted my own space back. 

Not that living at Aunt Estella's was a hardship, not at all. 

But it wasn't my place, my special space.

Luckily, work wasn't as busy as it had been and I was able to catch up on all the things I'd shoved aside.

Feeling at loose ends, I texted Caitlin, Crystal and Leila asking about going to dinner at Enrique's on Thursday night.

Leila said she had plans.

Cait couldn't make it for dinner but could join us for drinks afterward.

Crys' text simply said, "Hell, yeah!  Need girl time. Am surrounded by dicks all day long!"

If I had thought about it, which I didn't, I probably would've thought having dinner with just Crys would probably be stilted, given our age difference. 

But I didn't.

And it wasn't.

She was just as much fun one - on - one as she had been at the mall.

We were seated on the Enrique's patio that only held six tables, but had four outdoor heaters and the fireplace going.

Nice.

Crys arrived wearing the cutest leather shrug, white ribbed tank paired with black cargo pants worn low on her hips, the legs rolled up to just beneath her knee . On her feet she had the feminine version of Doc Marten boots extending up beyond the edge of her pant cuffs.

Wow.

Just, wow.

Our margaritas were half full when we finally made it to the menus.

"Uhm, Marianne?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not big on the full dinners.  Only like a couple of bites of everything except the beans.  Not a fan of the beans by themselves."

I looked at her over the top of my menu and blinked slowly.

"I'm not big on the dinners either, Crys.  And I don't like the rice.  What if we do the ala carte stuff and share?"  I couldn't believe we had the same tastes.

"Yes!  Hey Dee!" Crys called.

"Just a sec, Crys." I heard called back.

"You know the waitress?"

"She's the receptionist at Tangles."

"Tangles?"

"The place where Leila got her hair done."

"Oh, yeah.  Her 'full day of beauty' place!"

Crys laughed.  Her voice, just her regular every day voice, was a throaty alto and when she laughed it was this warm, slightly rough, sexy sound. 

No high-pitched giggles for Crys.

Dee took our order, her eyebrows reaching for her hairline at all the different ala carte food we ordered.

"You got a problem with that, Dee?" Crys asked tilting her head to the side as she watched Dee write out our order

"Not a problem, Crys.  But you guys are ordering a shi…a lot of food!"

Crys glanced at me and rolled her eyes.

"And can we get another round of drinks?" I asked after bugging my eyes out a Crys.  Everyone knew you don't piss off the person that'll be bringing your food, for God's sake.

After Dee left and our conversation resumed, I learned a lot about Crys that I wouldn't have guessed.  Her love of music I knew about, since I'd seen her doing some dance moves when we were at the mall, and Leila had described her singing a cappella the first night they met.

Crys went into detail about that night.  When Leila had first tried to make an appointment, she pissed Crys right the hell off with her fancy words and snooty attitude. So Crys had scheduled her for a time when Dex was not supposed to be in the shop. 

Then, when Leila showed up and was so nice, Crys felt bad.  Then, and  I quote, "The universe smiled."

Great line, I thought to myself, tucking it away for future reference. 

Dex had shown up and all was good.

Crys asked about my family and I told her about my dad. 

I told her about my mom in Shady Acres. 

I told her about my Aunt Estella and Greg which had her in stitches because she had dated Greg for a while. 

Small world, huh?

Then she told me about her mom, her dad's passing and how Dex and Max were her surrogate parents now. 

How they were always, but
always
, up in her shit -- her words, not mine.

"So, Dex and Leila, huh?" I said, remembering her text she sent earlier that afternoon.

"I know, right?  When she came in, I swear to
God
, I thought she was there to have her colors added.  But when he kissed her and called her 'Elle', you could've knocked me on my ass!"

We were laughing and shaking our heads.

When our laughing had finally settled down, my girl Crys just had to add another line.

"Shit happens when you party naked," she said.

Which, of course, completely set my laughter off again.

Dee cleared our table, taking time to thank us for stacking our plates. 

I raised my eyebrows at Crys and she shook her head before slurping the last bit of her margarita, for once thankfully silent. 

The only reason we had stacked 'em was because we had no room on the table for our own plates, unless we stacked the ala carte dishes.

"Hey, girls.  Could hear you two laughing your asses off all the way out on the sidewalk!" Caitlin called making her way to our table and sitting down.