Chapter 6
Equal Opportunity
Evelyn made a conscious effort to not think about the Parker situation anymore. Whatever had been bothering Lucian on Friday seemed to have passed by Sunday. They did their usual routine of breakfast followed by ledger entries. As she read him the last entry, she lowered the pages in her lap and watched him make his notations. It always intrigued her that Lucian kept his own books.
“Is that the last one?”
“Yup.”
He leaned back and stretched, swiping his glasses from his nose in the process. “What do you say we get out of here for a while? How would you like to take a ride to visit Pearl?”
Evelyn never turned down the chance to visit her mother, especially now that she’d somewhat forgiven Scout for checking her into the rehab facility Lucian found. “Okay.”
“I need to read over this contract. Why don’t you get a shower and we can go in a little bit.”
Rather than stand, she watched him. As he realized something was keeping her there, he turned back to her. “Say it, Evelyn.” He always knew when something was on her mind.
“I need to start looking for another job, Lucian.” She had been dreading this conversation.
His expression tightened. “I’ll talk to the concierge and see what openings he has.”
“I don’t want to work at the front desk. You know that. It’s too much reading for me.”
“I wasn’t talking about the front desk. There are other, less high-profile, positions.”
“Less high-profile as in you invent a position, put a fancy title on it and feel justified in giving me a paycheck every week? I don’t think so. I want to find a real job.”
“It will be a real job.”
She deliberately gave him a knowing look, shoving her tongue in her cheek and rolling her eyes. “Come on, Lucian. I need to work. We’ve been through this.”
“Why do you need to work? I provide everything you need. You have a heap of money in your top drawer and if you want something I’ll buy it for you.”
“There’s a name for women who let lovers leave money on the nightstand.” He gave her a warning glance and she amended, “I don’t like feeling indebted.”
“You aren’t.” His tone took on an offended ring. “I give you those things because I want to.”
“Lucian, a man can buy a woman gifts, but only a whore gets money on the nightstand.”
He glared at her. “Evelyn, don’t. We aren’t going there again. I have money. I spend it on those I love. End of story. Compare yourself to a whore again and you’ll regret it.”
“Well, I want money too. Money I earned, so that I can spend it on the people I . . .”
He looked at her, waiting for her to finish the statement. She couldn’t. She never spoke words of love. Her experiences with love only taught her that it was the strongest weapon a person could wield. She’d loved her mother, and for twenty years Pearl did nothing but take advantage of her affection, use it to manipulate her. Every time her mother stood a breath away from death’s door, Evelyn’s heart was flayed deeply. She cared about Lucian in ways she never cared for anyone else, including her mother. She couldn’t give him that kind of power over her. She would give him anything else, but not that.
She cleared her throat and looked away. “Please don’t fight me about this. If you help me find a job I could probably land a better one. You know I have a hard time with the help wanted ads.”
“Fine. But you wait a few weeks.”
“Lucian!”
“Just a couple weeks, and then I’ll help you. I’ll ask around and see who’s hiring. I don’t want you working somewhere shady. Let me find you a job in a respectable part of the city with a boss you can trust.”
She laughed. “Yeah, because my last boss didn’t understand the definition of inappropriate behavior at the workplace.”
He smiled evilly. “Very true and precisely why I want to know exactly who you’re working for. Now come here and let’s examine your skills.”
Evelyn understood the playful look in his eyes and went to him willingly. She giggled and yelped as he pulled her into his lap and kissed her soundly.
***
Visiting Pearl was always like visiting a place remembered fondly. It never quite lived up to one’s expectations and afterward it left one feeling incomplete and slightly off.
Pearl was quiet and subdued. When Lucian gave them some privacy she brightened a little. She looked weathered, but clean. Her hair was no longer matted and her usual, sallow coloring had eased. She didn’t have a healthy glow, but she looked better than she had in years.
There were those moments as a child when Evelyn could remember idolizing her mother, before she realized she was a vagrant and an addict and someone who sold her body to get high.
She assumed every child had those moments, when a mother, no matter who she was, was the most beautiful human being in the world. She also assumed every child was disappointed when they realized mothers were just as human and flawed as everybody else. Evelyn had once idolized Pearl as beautiful and flawless, but now she only saw the shell of a human being, too far gone to ever fit back in place.
Her jaundiced eyes focused on Evelyn as her mouth worked like a goat chewing over some straw. Pearl had barely any good teeth left. If she asked, she knew Lucian would pay for an oral surgeon, but Pearl didn’t have much interest in such things.
“Where’s your friend, Scout?”
“Lucian went to the lobby to wait.”
“Nah him. Your other friend. The nice one,” her mother said as she rocked too quickly to appear relaxed.
“Lucian’s a nice man, Momma.”
“No, he ain’t. He got me locked up here.”
They’d agreed it was in Pearl’s best interest that she not know she had every right to walk out the front door. Luckily, she was nasty to most of the rehab staff so none of them ever talked to her much or educated her otherwise.
“Are you talking about Parker?”
“That nice gentleman of yours. Use to come to the tracks now and again. Brought me gloves once. He was a nice boy.”
“I haven’t seen Parker in a few months.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t live at the shelter anymore.”
“Oh, right. You a big fancy rich woman now. I barely recognize you in your fancy clothes.”
Evelyn looked down at her lap. It was absurd to feel embarrassed for her nice clothing when all of her life she’d worn rags. “Your clothes are nicer now too, Momma. I know you like those sneakers I brought you.”
“Yeah, they all right. But I ain’t ever have no visitors no more so what do I care?”
“I visit.”
She snorted. “You my keeper.” She looked back at the door and stopped rocking. Leaning forward she whispered, “Come on, Scout, let’s get out a here. We can go back to the way things were.”
Her mother’s recollection of their previous life was skewed and nothing remotely close to reality. “It’s cold out there, Momma. Look, you have a bed and blankets, and a big window to see the people going by—”
“I don’t want any of that shit,” she snapped, slicing her hand through the air. “They’ve probably taken all my stuff by now, ransacked everything. I’m gonna have to start new now.”
Pearl didn’t have stuff. She had a pallet of cardboard boxes, some dry, rotted rags that were once clothes, and a cart with a broken wheel. She also had a stash of heroin, but even Evelyn knew that was long gone.
“Do you want me to bring you anything, Momma?”
“Why, you talk to someone? You get me a hit?”
Hope crumbled in her chest. Of course her mother’s mind would go right to that. Four months sobriety hadn’t made a bit of difference. “No. I meant clothes or games or shampoo. Anything like that.”
Pearl made a fed-up sound, turned away and leaned back in her rocker. Evelyn knew it was time for her to go.
“You ain’t worth shit,” her mother mumbled as she rocked, facing the wall.
Evelyn stood and kissed her mother’s cheek. “I’ll be back to visit again soon.” She left without being acknowledged.