11. Henry
Chapter 11
Henry
E veryone in the bar turns to look when I walk out of the kitchen.
My steps actually falter. Why do I get the feeling I’m about to be interrogated? And why does that idea, here of all places, make my palms sweat a little?
My gaze finds April. “Can we talk for a few minutes?”
She nods. “Okay, everyone, it’s time.”
“Time for—” I start but everyone in the room gets up from their seats and starts rearranging the tables.
When there are four tables pulled together into one and everyone has their chairs pulled up to it, they sit and look at me expectantly.
“This isn’t a town hall,” I say. But I accept my fate before anyone even speaks. This is obviously a group project.
“Of course not,” Ben says. “We don’t want the whole town involved. Just us.”
“Right.” I look at April. “I want to talk about what’s next for you and Elliot.”
She nods and takes a seat between Wendy and Charles. “I know. I’m ready.”
“You want everyone involved in this?”
She looks around the table. “Well…they all know the situation and they have some good ideas.”
“You’ve already discussed this?”
“Of course.”
Why does that surprise me? Because April only left her husband last night, she seemed overwhelmed and unsure when I met her, and it’s now only nine a.m. the next morning.
But she seems different today. She’s smiling. She’s laughing. She’s moving around here with confidence, and she seems relaxed and at ease.
Maybe she just needed some sleep. Maybe she just needed to be in her usual routine. Maybe I’m making her feel secure.
I’d really like that last one to be the case, but something niggles in my mind telling me that’s not it.
I know what it is.
She’s here with people who care about her, who she can care for, and she feels needed and appreciated here.
That’s what’s doing it.
I know that feeling well.
I pull out the only empty chair and sit. I’m next to Ruby with Dan on my other side.
“Okay, so the most important thing is keeping you and Elliot safe,” I tell her. “We need you somewhere Christopher can’t get to either of you. To intimidate you, to coerce you, or to hurt you.”
She nods.
“How long until Scarlett and Mariah and…” Ben glances at Will.
But a woman in a bright yellow tracksuit answers, “Cian.”
“Right. Cian. How long until they’re back?” Ben asks.
“I…” I wasn’t expecting to be the one answering questions. “I’m not sure exactly. They’ll be gone for at least another week.”
“Oh, that’s plenty of time,” Will says.
The woman who had been at the bar getting a smoothie from April leans in and nods. “We can definitely have the room remodeled in a week. So they’ll stay with you until then?”
She’s asking Ruby, not me.
Ruby nods. “Of course, that’s fine.”
“Great,” the woman says. “We’ll get started tomorrow, but a week is fine.”
“What’s fine?” I ask. I find myself looking at Ruby. She’s reasonable. She understands the goal here.
She looks from me to the woman. “What room, Wendy?”
“The room at Will and Mandy’s.”
“The bathroom needs some work too,” the woman in the tracksuit says.
“Uh, Henry, this is Maggie,” Ruby says. “Her dad owned the hardware store in town for years and she took it over and has been running it for about eight years now.”
“Hi,” I say as Maggie smiles and extends her hand for me to shake.
I am being steamrolled. And they’re all so smiley about it.
“Everyone, this is Henry. He’s a good friend and?—”
“A bodyguard,” Charles says. “We know.”
Ruby laughs. “Yes. He’s here to help keep April and Elliot safe. Until we can figure out something more permanent.”
“That’ll be about a week,” Will says. “Though she hardly needs a bodyguard.”
“I’m simply—” I start.
“Christopher is an asshole,” Ben says. “But what are you going to do? Shoot him?”
“Of course not, I just?—”
“I’ll bet he can do some major damage without a weapon.” This comes from another woman who came in with Wendy and Maggie. She’s giving me an appreciative once-over.
“How many ways do you know to kill a man?” Charles asks me.
Seventeen, but I’m not going to tell them that. “That’s not really?—”
“It only takes one,” Dan says, chuckling. He’s sitting back in his chair, with one ankle propped on the opposite knee. He looks like none of the other millionaires I’ve met in my life.
“It’s handy to have options though,” Wendy says.
“And some are more painful and slower than others,” Ben says, nodding. “With guys like Christopher, that would be tempting.”
“I’d really like to focus on—” I try again.
“Oh, honey, I can get one of those amazing rainfall shower heads for you at a steal,” Maggie says to April. “We can easily convert that tub and shower into a walk-in shower.”
“But she’ll want a tub for Elliot,” the other woman whose name I still don’t know, says. “Does Elliot like baths?”
“He does,” April says. “I do, too.”
“You can keep the tub. I’ll take the rainfall shower head in our bathroom,” Will tells Maggie.
“We’re not remodeling two bathrooms,” Wendy says. “We don’t have time for that.”
“Still, get me the deal and I’ll do our bathroom down the road,” Will says.
“Can we knock that wall out between the bedroom and that hallway closet?” Maggie asks. “That would expand the room really nicely. If you say yes to that, I’ll get you the showerhead and a great deal on tile.”
“Yes,” Will says without hesitation.
“Do you need to ask Mandy?” Ben asks.
“Nah, she’ll be so excited.”
I finally slap my hand down on the table. “ What the hell are you talking about?”
Ruby’s hand moves to my thigh and squeezes. I take a breath as I look around the table at the wide-eyed stares.
“I think Henry is just feeling a little lost,” Ruby says.
“I just?—”
She squeezes harder and I clamp my jaw together.
“Somebody catch us up,” Ruby says.
“Oh, right,” Ben says. “You weren’t out here.”
“Nope,” Ruby says. “Sounds like you’ve all done some big talking.”
“Yeah, we’ve decided that April and Elliot will come live with me and Mandy,” Will says.
My mouth drops open. “Wha?—”
Ruby squeezes my leg hard .
I shut up.
“Oh, wow,” Ruby says. “Really? Why’s that?”
“Initially we thought our house made the most sense,” Ben says. “We have three extra bedrooms, the big fenced-in yard, the playset outside, all of that.”
“And you’re closer to here,” Maggie adds.
“Right. But then we remembered the whole situation and keeping them safe and Will and Mandy live across the street from Rich Looper,” Ben says.
“I mean, they have two extra bedrooms and a nice yard too,” Wendy says.
“We can easily fence it in,” Dan comments.
“For sure,” Wendy agrees. “And we’ll have to do a little remodeling on the bedroom, but that will be fun.”
Everyone around the table nods.
I just look from one of them to the next.
They’re serious.
Not only about moving April and Elliot in with a couple who are not their family—that I know of—but everyone is going to pitch in to fix things up.
“Who is Rich Looper?” I finally ask.
“Bill Looper’s brother,” Ben says.
I wait. He doesn’t add anything more. I lift a brow. “And?”
Will jumps in. “If I say that Christopher is being problematic, bothering us, trespassing, harassing any of us, Bill will believe me because Rich and I get along great. We’ve been great neighbors for like twenty years.”
I sigh. “Give me a break, please? Who the fuck is Bill Looper?”
“Oh, right. Bill was the town cop until about three years ago,” Will explains.
“But he’s not now?” I clarify. “How does that help?”
“Everyone knows and respects Bill,” Maggie says.
They all nod.
“If Bill says Christopher is being problematic, people will believe us. And the current cops will act on it,” Ben says.
“The current cops won’t act on a harassment complaint until you all say it’s real?” I ask, frustration tightening my neck. I need to just get April and Elliot the hell out of here.
“Sure, they’ll talk to everyone, but if it becomes a he said-she said with Christopher, April will have influential people on her side,” Wendy further clarifies.
“Just because you all say so?” I ask.
They all look at one another, then back at me.
“Well… yeah,” Ben says.
Dan leans forward in his chair. “We all grew up here. We’ve worked here, raised our kids here, and been a part of the community. We’ve got some pull.”
I think about that. Do they have the power to protect April? Just by being a part of the town for a long time? Just by reputation?
I sit back. Ruby starts to slide her hand from my thigh, but I cover it with mine, keeping it right there.
“Will your opinions, your word, still matter?” I ask Dan.
He frowns. “Still? What do you mean?”
“I have to ask,” I tell him. “This is April and Elliot’s safety. So humor me. You’ve all lived here a long time, but most of you are retired now. You hang out here together, away from town, in your little bubble. And I don’t blame you. But other people in town might feel they know Chris and his allies better.”
“Just because they go to that cult church?” Charles asks with a scowl.
I lift a shoulder, squeezing Ruby’s hand. “Maybe for some people. But for some it might not be the church specifically, so much as it is that they’re just out in the community, patronizing the businesses, being around. They can’t really know there’s another side if that side is invisible.”
“They know we’re here,” Ben says, grumpily.
“And I’ll bet they’re intimidated as hell coming in here,” I say with a laugh.
“Intimidated?” Maggie asks. “Of us? A bunch of people drinking smoothies and watching game shows and coloring with little kids?”
“They don’t know that’s what’s going on,” I tell them. “All they know is it’s a bar and you don’t really want them here. You’ve basically built yourselves a clubhouse and put up a sign that says membership is closed.”
No one says anything immediately. But they all look grumpy or surprised, or both.
“I’m just telling you how it looks from the outside,” I finally say. “And that might not help April.”
“Well, if they’re intimidated, then maybe that will keep Christopher away from her,” Wendy says.
Yeah, maybe.
“You could also consider going to stay with your sister,” I tell April, finally finding a chance to tell them my idea.
She frowns. “My sister lives in Cincinnati.”
“I know.” I’ve done my research. Of course.
“That’s…” April looks around. “So far.”
“That’s the point,” I tell her. “It would be much harder for Christopher to just show up there. He’d risk issues with work, at least, if he did that.” It’s a little over a hundred miles between here and Cincinnati. It would be drivable, but more difficult than her just being a couple of blocks away.
“But I don’t want to leave Emerald,” April says. “My friends are here. My job.”
“I’ll help you with money,” I say. “We’ll get you another job.” She works in a bar. It can’t be that difficult to find her another job.
But even as that thought goes through my mind, I realize that’s not entirely accurate.
It would be difficult to find her another situation like she has here. Or maybe impossible.
Not that she couldn’t build a new community and find more people to care for. God knows the world is full of people who need cared for.
I glance at Ruby as my chest tightens.
That’s exactly what Ruby will do in New Orleans. She’ll find people who need her. People who need a community. She’ll build that up for them the way she has here.
Sure, these people have known each other, have been friends, have had this connection, but I guarantee she’s nurtured all of this, and encouraged Dan to keep this going. She might have even pushed him to add rolls and coffee and game shows in the first place. Though it’s more likely Mandy and Ada volunteered the rolls to keep their guys here and happy.
I have to fight a smile.
Maybe Ruby learned some of her nurturing from those women. Either way, I’m sure Ruby has continued working the night shift so April could have these early hours because Ruby knew that April needed all of this as much as these older people did.
April is shaking her head. “I don’t want to leave, Emerald, Henry.”
“You want to live with Mandy and Will?”
She looks at Will. “I do. I can be a lot of help to them and they’ll be so good to Elliot.”
“Better than your sister? His aunt?” I press.
She laughs. “So much better.” She shakes her head. “My sister loves us, but she’s got her own kids, her own career, her own life. Mandy and Will’s kids live in Omaha and Chicago. I’m not saying we would ever take their places but I know Mandy misses them so much and she’s so great with kids. And Will…” She trails off, looking at Will with clear affection.
“I’m depressed,” Will says with a shrug. “I’m doing pretty good right now, but it’s up and down, you know? And having other people around, people to focus on, to help, to care about, helps me a lot.”
I let out a breath and feel Ruby squeeze my hand.
“Okay. Well…” I run a hand through my hair. “I can at least speed up the divorce process. Let’s get you untethered legally as quickly as possible.”
I’m losing options here to help her. And Elliot.
“What do you mean?” Ruby asks.
I look down at her. “That process can take six weeks minimum and that’s if Christopher doesn’t give us any trouble. I think we all know that’s not going to happen.”
“But how can you speed it up?” she asks with a frown.
“I can…” Pull strings, use my connections, call in favors. I’m certain I know someone who knows someone who knows a judge in Ohio that can make a divorce happen quickly. “Grease the wheels.”
Ruby’s eyebrows arch. “You’re not talking about paying off a judge! Henry, please tell me…”
“Of course not.” I’m sure it won’t come to that . We know important people who can just make things move faster.
“Then what?”
“I can just bump her up in the queue.”
Ruby shifts on her chair to face me more fully. “But if you move April up, that means someone else gets moved back.”
“Well…yes.”
“No.” Ruby looks at April. “Sorry, babe. But we can’t do that. Other women have been waiting. They need this too. Maybe more than you do. You’ve got us. Some of them might not have anyone. We’ll keep you safe. We’ll help you navigate things.”
April nods. “I know. We should do it the right way. I can wait.”
Ruby nods. She meets my eyes again. “No power plays, Henry.”
I lean closer. I don’t know why. Everyone here is hanging on every word everyone is saying. “The advantage of knowing people with power is being able to get things done. Easier. Faster. Better. This is what I can do.”
It’s starting to look like this is all I can fucking do. And I’m not happy about it.
“I have to believe the system can work for everyone,” Ruby says. “That’s really important to me. I know some people get favors and have privileges, but I have to know that the people I know can still have good things happen doing it the regular way. The system has to also work for people who don’t have power and money, Henry.”
“Isn’t that why you want to go to law school? To have more power?” I ask.
She swallows. The room is completely silent.
I’m guessing she hasn’t told them she wants to go to school.
Finally, she nods. “Yes. But I’ll have to use the system. I’ll have to follow the rules. No skipping steps. No favors. I want to be a lawyer so I can help people navigate that system. Not to find work-arounds.”
“The system sucks sometimes.”
She nods. “I know. But maybe I can make it suck less for some people by being there, helping them, being on their side.”
“Ruby,” I say, my voice tight with frustration. She’s going to be everyone’s favorite lawyer. And it will break her heart multiple times.
“Just help us file the papers the usual way.”
“I need to do more,” I say quietly.
“You can help us knock down walls at Will and Mandy’s house,” Ben says.
I look at the other man.
Then I look at the other people at the table, my eyes meeting April’s last.
They’re going to remodel Will and Mandy’s house so that April and Elliot can move in there. Across the street from the brother of the last town cop. Because April doesn’t want to leave this town. This crazy bar. Or this quirky group.
Bloody hell.
I’ve been knocking down metaphorical walls for a long time. Now, those walls in Will’s house might be the only ones I get to knock down.
I sigh.
Fine.
Honestly, slamming a sledgehammer into something doesn’t sound too bad right now.