Monday, March 29, 2010
EVEN THOUGH WE WEREN’T close in proximity, it was like we were. I got off on talking to her through every mood she possessed. I was quickly learning all of them. A few I was afraid of. I thought I knew her, but in those days apart, I learned so much more.
Having the elephant in the room for so long, it was incredible how many other things we had to talk about with him gone.
In those few weeks, I was busy. Really busy. My Texas meeting ended up being the biggest contract we’d ever got and they didn’t want to wait for anything. Marc and I discussed with more frequency buying a second brewery to keep up with demand and also make shipping easier. By then, we had a small fleet of trucks and we’d also hired three new salesmen.
“Marc, I think we should look for a building in Seattle,” I told him on the phone one night from my hotel room in Austin.
“We do have a lot of accounts in the PNW, which would free up a lot of production so the San Francisco branch could accommodate Texas and the south. And even though it’s a good idea, you’re not fooling me. I know what you’re trying to do.”
“Who? Me?” I played innocent. It was obvious why I thought Seattle was the best location for the second Bay Brew location. Ask me if I gave a fuck. It made sense from every angle.
“Yeah, you. Do you think you’ll move there, Casey?” Really, it didn’t matter where I lived as long as Blake was close and we were both happy. You could stick my ass in Siberia if she was there, too.
“I don’t know. It just made sense. And if she wants to be there instead of San Francisco, in the future, that could be my home base.”
I’d known him a long time. He was my partner, my mentor, and a just a good dude. I could talk to him.
“Well, I hate to say it, but you are pulling more than your share of the weight. If being there keeps you happy, and keeps the contracts coming in, then I’ll make a trip up there and find us a warehouse.” I always knew I’d made the right decision working for that man. He was a no bullshit kind of guy. Marc was a straight shooter and if you approached him the same way, he appreciated the hell out of it. He said, “Actually, I’ve got some time. I’ll try to set something up in the next day or two. No use dicking around.”
“Exactly, and maybe in a year or so we could branch out again. I think looking somewhere on the central east coast would be smart. Maybe even Nashville? It’s not on the coast, but it’s in the middle of everywhere on that side of the country.” Go big or go home. Bay Brewing was my life. I only imagined it growing and claiming more of the market nationwide.
“I’ll have Aly look into it. She can crunch numbers and figure out something.”
I hadn’t seen Aly for weeks. I’d only been back to my house three times in the month of March. I hadn’t seen anyone for that matter, and it looked like the next time I’d have a few days off would be around Foster’s first birthday.
If I’d learned anything about traveling so much, it was as long as you make an effort, it doesn’t matter where you are. I still talked to someone in my family every day. And I talked to Blake—in some way—every few hours. But by the end of April, I would need a few days to call my own.
I finished up the call with Marc, when I saw Blake’s call coming in.
“Hello,” I said.
“So check this out. There was another showing for the duplex this afternoon. I ran home to get my mom a pair of shoes and a purse I told her she could borrow after work, because I was coming here for dinner with them… Anyway, I’m in my closet when I hear my front door open. The showing wasn’t until six, but you’re supposed to be out way before that. Casey, it was Grant. He just walked right into my apartment.” She was speaking fast, like she often did when she was riled up about something—and with good reason.
“He did what?”
“He just came right in. I yelled for Dad, thinking it had to be him. Because he’s the only other person with a key. When I looked down my hall, Grant was standing there. It freaked me the fuck out.”
“He can’t just come into your apartment like that.” The fucking bastard was really beginning to get on my nerves.
First, after it was his idea to go to couples counseling, as a condition for him to sign the divorce papers—and after Dr. Rex finally got back—he didn’t even show up to the first few appointments, always with the excuse he was busy and he’d try to make it to the next one.
He was stalling was what he was doing. That fucker.
“Well as it turns out, he can. I knew his dad was my landlord’s agent, but since you have to be gone during showings, I just figured I’d never have to see them.”
“What did you say?” My pulse was racing. This cocksucker was grating on my last nerve. Even Blake admitted he wasn’t the same guy she’d met and dated. But she blamed herself and felt so guilty, feeling she was responsible for the change in his demeanor. My sympathy for him was fast dissolving.
“I asked him what he was doing there and he told me he was showing the place for his dad today. And that since my car was there he thought he’d come on in,” she shrieked.
“And then?” I needed to know everything. And as my mind listened to her re-tell what had happened, the other half of my mind was thinking of a solution.
“I told him he shouldn’t have let himself in. He can’t just come in when he wants. That’s so messed up, Casey.”
I didn’t think she was afraid of Grant, but I was starting to wonder if maybe she should be, at least, a little concerned. I’d only seen them together the one time. And no matter how deep down I tried to bury the image of him grabbing her by the arm, it floated right back up every time the conversation turned to him. I saw—with my own eyes—his lack of care for her that night.
I refused to ignore her safety and it was time for me to do something.
“You’re right. He can’t just come in. Are you at your mom and dad’s now? What did you do after that?” I couldn’t get enough information.
“Yeah, I’m at Mom and Dad’s now. Okay. So, I got my shoes and purse and I asked him to wait outside until the people came to look at it. He said he wanted to talk, but I told him I had somewhere to be. That if he wanted to talk, he could show up at our appointments—that he asked for.”
That’s my fucking girl.
I looked at the clock, it was barely after six. I needed to call my banker. That fucking building was mine or she was moving. And since I couldn’t make that decision for her, I made the only one I could.
“Honeybee, I’ll call you back. Okay? I need to call my dad really quick.”
“Okay, I’m here anyway. I just wanted to call and tell you. That’s messed up, isn’t it? I’m not out of line, am I?” She still wanted to vent and I was glad she wasn’t alone. She was livid.
“You are nowhere near out of line, Blake. He can’t do that. He won’t do it again.”
I paced back and forth in my hotel room feeling helpless.
True, Grant didn’t really do anything threatening, but my hackles were rising. He was going to start realizing really quickly that she was mine and I didn’t give a shit how he felt about it anymore.
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later,” she said.
“I love you,” I told her quickly, before she could hang up.
We still didn’t say those words all that often, and sometimes I thought I needed to tell her more than I did. But at that moment, alone and kind of freaking the fuck out, I needed to hear them back. I hated feeling so far from her. I was just thankful she was at her parents’ house, even if it was just for dinner.
“I love you back,” she said.
We hung up and I dialed my father. It wasn’t typical for me to call him for help, but I needed him. I’d never bought a property. And certainly not on a whim. I’d inherited my house. And truthfully, he’d handled a lot of that for me, too.
“I was just thinking about calling you, Casey. How’s Texas?” he asked when he picked up.
“It’s far from Washington. That’s how Texas is right now, Dad. Listen I need your help. I want to buy a duplex in Seattle. Like right now.” I wasn’t even sure if it was possible.
“What? I don’t understand,” he said.
“I have to buy the place where Blake lives.” I didn’t have time to explain it all. I needed him making a call, or pulling some strings, or whatever the hell he did. I needed that.
He was concerned. “Is everything all right?”
“I think so. The short story is, Blake’s ex is the agent who’s selling her duplex and the motherfucker is using his key to let himself in. I want to make an offer on it tonight.”
He went over a few things with me, but since my mother’s passing, he was a signatory on all of my accounts. He told me he didn’t know what he could do at that time of night, but he’d try his best.
I gave him the address and the number to call Grant’s agency. I didn’t care if Grant found out. I hoped he did.
I wanted those locks changed tomorrow.
If I couldn’t be there with her, I had to know she was safe. She’d always said he’d never been violent with her, but there was an undeniable feeling in my gut telling me that he wasn’t the same guy now. Evidently, this new guy was someone she didn’t know, and certainly someone I didn’t trust.
My dad called back a short time later, telling me we’d made a cash offer with the help of his good friend who was in real-estate. Dad explained to him it needed to happen fast. So we offered over asking, with only a small window of time for the sellers to accept.
By nine o’clock, the apartment block was under contract. The best part was, as part of the deal, all of the locks had to be changed by morning and I was assured it would be done. As detailed in the contract, their real-estate brokerage wouldn’t have access to the new keys. They’d be handled solely by the locksmith that our realtor arranged.
My honeybee was safe.
It was as if an albatross of stress had been lifted from my shoulders. Knee-jerk reaction? Perhaps. But my girl meant everything to me, and I needed her safe. Even if I couldn’t protect her with my physical presence, at least I could do this.
It was an impulsive move, but I had the means to do it. What was money worth to me if I couldn’t use it when I needed to?
My dad called me crazy, but he didn’t give me too much shit. I didn’t expect him to, he knew first-hand I’d saved every cent I’d ever made. He laughed when he told me he was going to suggest I purchase property soon, but I’d just beaten him to it. And in a big way.
The sale didn’t hurt me and I could re-sell it later if I wanted. It wasn’t a bad move. It was just a fast one.
I needed to talk to Blake. I was nervous she’d see it differently, but I prayed she would understand. I couldn’t allow that guy to waltz the fuck in on her whenever he wanted. End of discussion.
She called me first.
“Hey there,” I answered.
“Hey,” she said, sounding less wound up than she had before. “Are you sleeping? I’m sorry time got away from me over here.”
No, I hadn’t been sleeping. I’d been making the biggest purchase of my life thus far and kind of in a weird and twisted way, buying our first home. Sort of. Okay, that was a stretch, but I owned it and she lived there, so why split hairs? I just had to tell her I’d be her new landlord, shortly after banks opened up the next day and the papers were signed.
“Are you still at your parents’ house?” She’d said here, so I hoped she was.
“Yeah, it’s funny. I thought you were going to flip-out about Grant. But I wasn’t expecting my dad to lose his shit when I told them what happened. He was not a happy camper.”
I already liked her dad, now I loved him. And little did she know that under my calm exterior, I had lost all my shit, too. Then managed to best that dickhead, almost ex-husband of hers, all from the comfort of my hotel room.
“Really, he didn’t like that too much either, huh?”
“No, he called Mr. Kelly, Grant’s dad, and let him know about it, too. Then, Mr. Kelly called him back and said someone bought the place tonight and that the locks were being changed. I didn’t realize things happened so fast.”
They do when you’re a motivated buyer and I had a shit-load of motivation.
“Yeah, we need to talk about that,” I coaxed as I sat on the small balcony and sipped the bourbon I’d ordered up. “I bought it.”
There was a pause. A long, notable pause.
“Blake?” I asked when she didn’t answer after thirty seconds or so. “Are you there?”
“You did what?” She was calm, but I could hear anxiety in her voice.
“Hear me out. When you called and I thought about him being able to walk his happy ass through your door, whenever he damn well pleased, I reacted.” It might seem insane to her. But could I keep my sanity worrying if he’d stop in sometime—if he were mad or drunk like he was in San Francisco—trying to get his way? I couldn’t bear the thought of it.
What if the fucker came during the night when she was asleep?
And had I not jumped on the opportunity, that exact thought would have consumed me. “When you called you were obviously shaken by him letting himself in and the easiest way for me to make sure that didn’t happen again was to buy the building.”
“You bought my apartment?” she reiterated.
“I bought your apartment. Well, I’m buying the apartment—with conditions.”
“Conditions?”
“Yes, one being every lock will be changed in the morning and the sale moves through closing in the next few days.”
“You can do that?”
“Technically, yes. I can do that, but my dad helped me.” I owed my old man huge for what he’d got accomplished on my behalf and so quickly. I’d think of something, but at that moment, I needed to make sure Blake and I were on the same page.
“How did you do that?”
“Money talks, honeybee. I paid cash.” I wasn’t ashamed of my money, but I wasn’t in the business of advertising it either.
“You have cash?” she asked and she chuckled a little, taken aback. “You have enough cash to just buy a duplex on a whim?”
“I guess so.”
We were both silent. I gave her time to process it, and I suppose I was still letting it sink in, too. Seeing the number on your bank account balance is one thing, but seeing the power it gave you, when you needed it, was a whole different ballgame.
“Will you stay at your parents’ house tonight?” I finally asked knowing that it might be the straw that broke the camel’s back. If Grant were, like how I was making him out to be in my mind, he wouldn’t be too thrilled to learn what I’d done. And I was pretty sure he already knew.
“You’re really worried about this, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve never been through a divorce, Blake. I mean, my parents’ divorce—sure. I don’t know how this is supposed to go. Or what my role is supposed to be. What I do know is—that aside—you’re my girlfriend and if I feel like there’s even the slightest chance someone might wrong you or hurt you or even trouble you, then I want to deal with it myself.”
How was that for a reformed one-night stand guy? I had catapulted right into possessive alpha Neanderthal, but I was powerless to stop it. I didn’t want it to stop; it felt pretty fucking cool.
“What are you thinking?” I asked after she didn’t reply.
“Well, it was a bold move, but I get why you did it. I should probably be a little pissed you didn’t tell me what you were doing, for some unknown reason. Only because it just seems like what I’m supposed to think. But, Casey, I just feel so…so…loved.”
And she was and I’d show her every day.
Bullseye. Point for Lou.