Meet long
Chapter 14
“I need to see Eleanor.”
The bank teller smiled blandly. “Oh I'm sorry. Eleanor doesn't work here anymore. But I would be happy to help you.”
“What do you mean Eleanor doesn't work here anymore? What happened to Eleanor? Is she dead?”
The woman looked horrified. “No! Nothing like that! She won the lottery.”
“Excuse me?”
“Her grandmother sent her a card in the mail. It had one of those scratch off lottery cards in it. Eleanor won. She left a few days ago for a cruise.”
“When will she be back?”
“Oh, I have no idea when or even if.”
When Raymond just stood there not moving, the teller kept talking.
“Weird thing is I didn't even know Eleanor had a grandmother. I was sure she told me once that all her grandparents had passed.”
OOO
Looking up and seeing Sam in the doorway, Kate asked him. “Did you bring what I asked for?”
Sam looked at her like she had completely lost her mind. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I am way more scared of Annie than I am of you and Annie said you weren't allowed to have solid foods.”
Kate sighed.
“Where is she?”
“She had to drive to Fredericksburg to get enough material to make the new drapes. I told her I was tired and wanted to stay home.”
Now knowing Annie wasn't there, Sam eyed the gelatin Annie had left for Kate with interest. “Are you going to eat this?”
“Sam, do you have any idea how much jello I have had to choke down the last week?”
Eating her jello for her, looking at all the paint samples spread out on the coffee table, Sam tried to look on the bright side. “The good thing about the cream is you don't have to prime the wall. Do you have a favorite?”
“No. As long as she sticks to paint I don't have an opinion. Wall paper is a much more involved process to change.”
Kate had the patience of a saint.
Sam asked. “The furniture going too?”
“When hasn't it?”
“What color are the new couches?” Sam asked taking a seat next to her on one of the old couches.
“Charcoal blue.”
“I know I'm just a simple farm boy from Nebraska, but I'm pretty sure that's two different colors.”
That got a mildly amused little head shake from her.
“How come when I order a couch it takes 8-12 weeks to come in, but when Annie orders a couch, they can get it to her in a day, two tops?”
“Because the sales staff knows that you're going to wait the 8-12 weeks and then take delivery of the couch - not cancel the order and eat the 20% deposit. More importantly, you're only going to buy one couch every 8-12 years. They know that if the mood strikes her, they can sell Annie 2 sets of furniture in that 8-12 week time period.”
An absolute saint.
“Yeah, but how do they do it? It takes time to make the furniture.”
“They must divert someone else's order, tell them it got delayed, and put a rush on the replacement set.”
It made sense. Sam considered the couch they were currently sitting on. “I could use new couches. Can I have these?”
Kate looked at him skeptically. “Sam, they're cream. Do you have any idea how hard these are to keep clean?”
“Yeah, but chances are I only have to keep them clean for a few weeks and then I can get some new charcoal blue -”
As Kate swung the throw pillow at him, he complained. “- Not fair! You're injured and you have glasses! I can't hit an injured girl with glasses!”
Getting serious, Sam asked. “So what's going on with Red? Is this an oh my goodness I have to get the house ready because my son is coming to visit redecorating?”
Kate sighed. “If he was going to be like this why did he have to come back? Why come looking for her, stir up all that old pain, and get her hopes up?”
Knowing she didn't really mean it, Sam just listened.
With a frown, Kate told him. “He's the other reason I called you. Before she left, Annie took my car keys. I need you to drive me somewhere.”
OOO
She was in his car again.
This time he was on the lookout. He noticed her before he made it to the car.
He thought about going back in, getting security, and having her arrested for trespassing on government property, but he couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that if he tried that, he would come back to find her gone and Jimmy waiting in his car instead.
Raymond got into the car.
First things first. Raymond asked. “Did you kill that cat?”
“No. I wasn't even there. I was still home recuperating which is where I should still be. Sam, who you met, and another friend -”
Raymond interrupted her to ask. “- Short and pudgy with glasses?”
She ignored the interruption. “ - drove around for hours looking for something, anything on the side of the road to use as an excuse for why the dogs would get a false positive. For future reference, it might interest you to know that the dogs are trained to only react to decomposing human bodies, but most people don't actually know that.”
“I'm really hoping to not have to reference that fact in the future.” Raymond informed her before asking. “Do you still have your appendix or did you really voluntarily have one of your organs removed to set up a cover story?”
She didn't answer. Instead, she threatened him again. “I came to warn you. If you don't show up Thursday, I will be calling the police to report Jimmy missing.”
She was bluffing and they both knew it. “Go ahead. Anything you try to tell them, it's your word against mine.”
“Even if it was, after you cried wolf, I don't think that would go your way … but it's not. Your fingerprints are all over the gun you used to kill Jimmy. Remember? The one that you threw at me.”
“That I used to kill Jimmy?” He had forgotten all about the gun.
Why had he been so stupid as to forget about the gun?
“And Jimmy's fingerprints are all over your house, your car, and your wife's car.”
“Jimmy was never in my house or my wife's car!”
“Jimmy may not have been, but that doesn't mean his hands haven't been.”
Raymond's mouth dropped open. “My God! What is wrong with you?” Raymond asked.
A frightening truth suddenly became clear to Raymond. “You're not right in the head. That's why you're still with Annie after all these years.”
She should have been offended, but she just looked at him determinedly. “Six o'clock. Thursday. Say it back to me.”
Refusing, he shook his head. “I'm not going to do it.”
His insults might not be getting to her, but it seemed his continued refusal to cooperate was beginning to. “I killed Jimmy instead of letting Jimmy kill you because I thought you being dead would make Annie sad. But now, you being alive and not returning her calls is making Annie sad. It's making me wonder if I made the right choice.”
She said it again. “Six o'clock. Thursday.”
Raymond was speechless.
Glancing at her watch, she opened the car door.
This time, he had the wherewithal to watch her. She got out of the car and walked to a section of the barbed wire topped chain link fence.
The sandy haired fellow from the other day was waiting with a car. As she approached, he pulled at the section of panel where it had been snipped to make it easier for her to get back through.
Seeing Raymond watching him, Sam gave an awkward shoulder shrug followed by a half wave. Raymond did not wave back.
OOO
Beer in hand, Sam hadn't looked surprised to see Raymond when he opened the door - just a little wary. Still, he invited him in.
“You look like you could use a beer.” Sam headed to the kitchen.
“You don't have any living room furniture.” Raymond informed him in case he hadn't noticed.
From the kitchen, Sam called back. “The new set is getting delivered some time tomorrow so I got rid of the old set, but I don't think you're here to talk about my decorating skills.
Considering who he was friends with, when Sam came back from the kitchen, Raymond declined the bottle of beer in Sam's outstretched hand and instead took the one Sam had been working on when Raymond arrived.
“I assume you know what's going on.”
Sam nodded.
Raymond said it anyway. “She's trying to blackmail me into having a relationship with Annie.”
“Red, have you considered the idea that Mr. Kaplan -”
Raymond's face contorted and he raised his voice. “- Don't call her that!”
“- is doing this because she feels a little responsible for what happened?”
“She should!”
“Raymond, I don't know if you have the full story of what happened when you were a kid.”
“I don't care about the whole story. I know enough of the story - I know my side of the story. Annie abandoned me to run off with her.”
Sam tried to explain it to him. “That's not what happened.”
“That is what happened.” Raymond insisted. “I was there. I should know. You weren't there. You don't get a say in what happened.”
Before dropping it, Sam said. “That's not fair and I think you know it.”
Keeping his pinched expression, Raymond refused to concede any such thing.
Sam kept talking. “Something I know … Kate's crazy about Annie. She'll do anything to make her happy.”
Raymond corrected him. “Kate's crazy. Full stop. Exclamation point. Exclamation point. Exclamation point.”
Raymond had an idea. “What's to stop me from telling Annie that Kate's trying to blackmail me into spending time with her?”
“That would be the - what do you call it? The nuclear option.” Sam acknowledged. “But I don't know what purpose it would serve. Believe me, Annie already knows that Kate would do anything for her. The only one that makes look bad is you for making her have to do it.”
Raymond frowned.
“Mr. Kaplan -”
At Raymond's foul expression at the use of the name, Sam conceded. “- Kate. Kate's just trying to get Annie a second chance with you.
“Red, Kate has spent the last twenty-however many years doing anything and everything she could think of to make Annie happy and keep her that way. You don't get to waltz in here and undo that.”
OOO
It was late when Raymond finally got home. Very late. Still, he found Carla sitting at the kitchen table waiting up for him.
“You should be asleep.” He scolded her.
“Yes, I should be.” Carla agreed before throwing him for a loop by asking. “Raymond, are you having an affair?”
“What? No.”
“I ask because you've stayed out all night a couple of times now and last week while you were supposedly at work, work called to see how you were feeling and if I thought you would be well enough to make it in the next day.”
“I'm not having an affair.”
“Red, we're expecting a baby. You're scared and -”
“- It's not that.”
It was time. Sitting down at the table with her, Raymond told her the whole story.
When he was done, Carla just stared at him. “Raymond, why do you do that? Why do you feel the need to make up these convoluted stories? Just admit you hated the watch I gave you and you didn't want to come home because my parents were visiting.”
“I do really, really dislike your parents, but I am telling you the truth.” Raymond insisted. “This insane little sociopath is trying to blackmail me - us - into having dinner with my mother this Thursday.”
Carla put her hand over his on the table. “Raymond, it's only natural to feel conflicted about your mother after finding out she's alive after all these years, but if you're curious about her and you want us to go have dinner with her just say so. You don't have to come up with some absurd excuse to justify us going.”
“That's not what's going on.” Raymond protested, but Carla had already hoisted herself up out of her seat and was leaving the room.
OOO
“Why didn't you tell me their house was this nice?” Carla hissed at him as they got out of the car. “I would never have agreed to come straight from pee wee soccer practice!”
“It will be fine.” Raymond looked at Jenny's muddy cleats and shin guards. He thought of the cream carpets and the cream colored furniture. “Or maybe it won't be and we won't get invited back. Ever.”
“And ...” Carla admitted. “I would have dressed up a little nicer.”
“Stop that!” Raymond told her as she licked her fingers and tried to scrub a mark off of Jennifer's face.
Begrudgingly, Raymond rang the doorbell.
As soon as Annie opened the door, Raymond blurted out. “It's a school night. We really can't stay long.” They weren't even in the door yet and Raymond was already planning his escape.
“Oh ...” Annie looked disappointed but quickly covered it with a smile. “Everything is ready. It's just in the warming oven. If everyone's hungry, we can head right in to the dining room.”
Bending down to Jenny's level, Annie asked. “Would you like to help me dress the salad?” She held out her hand to Jenny.
Jenny loved to 'help' in the kitchen. Despite having literally just met Annie, she took her hand eagerly.
Stepping through the living room, Raymond thought something was different about the room. He tried to figure out what it was. It took him the length of the room to realize it wasn't something, it was everything.
It used to be white walls and white furniture with white carpet.
Now it was blue on blue on blue.
Even the art on the walls had been changed out. They were still tacky replicas of works so famous that they were identifiable, but now they were different tacky replicas.
The only thing that was the same was the piano.
Raymond couldn't resist making a crack. “Someone alert the Liechtenstein. Their Cupid Blowing a Soap Bubble has gone missing.”
Annie wore a smile as she asked the oddest question. “Have you been to Vienna? Did you like the version they had there?”
Raymond didn't answer.
Annie left them in the dining room and made her way to the kitchen with Jenny.
“I think your mom is a little high strung.” Carla whispered to him once they were alone.
“She's not my mom - and yes, I've noticed.”
“We have place cards. There are four of us, but there are place cards telling us where to sit.”
Planning to shuffle them around just to mess with Annie, Raymond picked his up.
He found the pawn ticket taped inside the fold.
“What's that?” Carla asked.
“Nothing.” Raymond shook his head and stuck the ticket in his pocket.
OOO
Entering the house by the backdoor, Kate found Annie in the kitchen hand washing the dishes.
She didn't say anything. She didn't have to. Annie said it for her.
“I know we have a dishwasher.” Drying her hands on a dishtowel, Annie explained. “But, I wanted something to do to keep busy while I waited up for you. I wasn't sure when you would get home. You have excellent timing. They left not ten minutes ago.”
Kate had been circling the block wanting to be there soon after Raymond left in case things had gone poorly.
Annie cupped Kate's face with both hands and kissed her.
“How was dinner?” Kate asked putting her hands around Annie's waist as their kiss ended and Annie’s hands migrated to her shoulders.
“Red wasn't much better than last time, but ...” Annie smiled so hopefully. “... he came. It's a start.”
“Yes, it is.” Kate agreed.
“I don't like you not being here. I'd like you and Red to get to know each other.”
“I wouldn't push that.” Kate warned.
Annie nodded. “I know. Have you eaten?”
Kate nodded. “I met Sam at the diner … for jello.”
“And how is Trudy?”
Kate detected that tone in Annie's voice. “Shelby.” Kate corrected her. “I don't know. I was a little too distracted worrying about how your evening was going to pay much attention to what she was saying or Sam for that matter.”
Picking up one of the dishes to dry, as Annie went back to washing, Kate prompted her. “So tell me more about your evening ...”
“He brought his wife, Carla, and their little girl, Jennifer. Jenny's adorable. She ...”
OOO
After dropping Carla and Jenny back at the house, Raymond went to the pawn shop. He was disappointed to find the man only had one of his medals and no other tickets in his name.
No matter.
He could play Kate's game.
But he would play it better.
If Raymond couldn’t get rid of Kate one way, he would just have to find another way to be rid of her.
Finis
I am leaning towards the longer version. I think my hesitancy was because the Sam/Red scene was stolen from the sequel (but I moved up a different Sam/Red passage from later to fill the void) and I want to tip off the reader that something isn't quite right with Annie but the Kate/Sam bit may have tipped it off a little too much.
There was a little more to the car conversation that I cut - Raymond questioning her about how exactly she thought sending him to prison would make him more likely to want to see Annie, etc
And a bit more in the Sam/Red conversation where Sam suggests that if Raymond won't give Annie a second chance he'll leave Kate no choice but to bypass him to get Annie the next best thing - a second chance with Jenny and the new baby but I wasn't really sure I wanted to go that far.
I finish it here because this story was intended as a 3 bout match with the first round going to Mr. Kaplan. Raymond gets his rematch in Revanche and the third round brings Katarina into the fray.