Chapter 28
BY THE TIME ZONA RETURNED, GILDA had on her sweater and her purse was slung over her shoulder. “Good night,” she said, still not looking Zona in the eye, then slipped out the front door.
Zona took off Darling’s leash and he trotted over to Louise while Zona started for the stairs.
“I don’t know why you’re so mad at me,” Louise called.
Zona stopped on the first stair. “Maybe because I already know what I need to do, and I don’t need you telling me.”
“Sorry.” Louise didn’t sound even remotely sorry.
Zona kept walking.
“But I’m worried about you,” Louise called after her.
Okay, this conversation was not over. Her mother would pick it up in the morning if they didn’t settle things then. Zona turned back and joined Louise on the couch.
“You know I’m right,” Louise said softly. “That woman will continue to make your life miserable, and you can’t have the man unless you take the woman also.”
“I know, Mom. I’m going to cut things off tomorrow.”
“Thank God,” said Louise.
Zona was feeling far from thankful, but she kissed her mother’s cheek, told her she loved her.
“I love you, too,” said Louise. “By the way, Bree’s coming over for lunch tomorrow,” she added. “Maybe you can make that crab quiche you were talking about making.”
“I can do that.”
Zona would have looked forward to seeing her daughter, but knowing what loomed ahead for the next day took the shine off the prospect of a visit.
If only Alec hadn’t moved in next door. She’d have still been miserable, but at least she wouldn’t have had false hope piled on top of the misery.
LOUISE WAITED UNTIL Zona was in her bedroom before she called Martin. It was late and he’d probably gone to bed, but she needed to talk to him.
Sure enough, he answered with a sleepy hello.
“Martin, I’m sorry to call you so late.”
“No problem. What do you need?”
“I need you to come over for lunch tomorrow. Bree wants to do an intervention with Zona about her seeing Alec and I’m not at all sure this is a good idea. I need backup.”
There was a long silence. “Martin?”
“I’ll be there,” he promised.
“Thank you,” she said, relieved.
“But you’re right. It’s not a good idea,” he added.
Maybe not, but they had to do something. No matter what Zona said, it was obvious she’d become attached to their neighbor and by morning her resolve could very well have weakened.
SUNDAYS HAD ALWAYS been easy and pleasant days when Zona was growing up.
This Sunday didn’t feel either easy or pleasant.
Zona went through the motions, creating the quiche her mother had requested.
She’d also picked up asparagus when she made her store run, and frozen lemonade, which she’d doctored with some of the lavender from Louise’s flowerbed.
Martin was a surprise addition and was the first to arrive, bringing French bread and a box of chocolates. Zona sent him to the living room.
He and Louise chatted out there as Zona put the finishing touches on their lunch. Meanwhile, Zona’s stomach tied itself in knots as she thought about what she had to do.
The knots got tighter when Bree arrived. She’d barely kissed Zona hello before saying, “Come out to the dining room. We need to talk.”
Zona put the quiche on the counter to set and followed her daughter out of the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”
“This is an intervention,” Bree said and plopped onto a chair. “Gram, get out here.”
Louise was taking her time getting her crutches, Martin hovering next to her.
Zona’s brows pulled together. “What?”
“You’re about to ruin your life again. You can’t see that man,” Bree said.
First her mother and now her daughter. “I’m handling it,” Zona said, her words clipped.
“No, you’re not. You’re getting in deeper,” Bree insisted, her voice rising. “And what happened to your car, Mom? Don’t bother to answer. Gram told me.”
Louise slowly made her way to the table. “I’m sorry, Zona. She’s been out to get your mother ever since she started seeing Alec,” she told Bree.
“What are you thinking, Mom?” Bree demanded. “We need to talk about how you’re ruining your life.”
Martin was edging toward the door. “I should go.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” Zona told him. “Lunch is ready, and Bree can dish it up. You three go ahead and eat. I need to go take care of something.”
“Mom! We’re not done,” Bree called after her as Zona marched to the front door.
“Yes, we are!” Zona slammed the door shut behind her and launched herself down the walk.
She could see the PT Cruiser lurking at the end of the street.
She raised a hand and gave Angela the one-fingered salute.
Very unladylike, her mother would say. Well, Zona wasn’t in the mood to be ladylike, and the obscene gesture felt good.
Up Alec’s front walk she went and banged on the front door. He opened it with a smile, but the smile vanished at the sight of the expression on her face.
“We need to talk,” she said.
“Whoa, I guess,” he said, as she marched past him into the house.
“IS SHE GOING over there?” Bree demanded.
“Let’s eat on the patio,” Louise suggested.
Zona had been determined to handle her problem herself, but it couldn’t hurt to have some listening ears on the other side of the fence.
She shoved her cell phone in her sweater pocket and started for the back door.
“Bring the quiche and the dishes, you two. And the asparagus.”
“Maybe we should eat inside,” Martin suggested, but Louise kept on going.
“I WAS ABOUT to call you,” Alec said.
She got right to it. “Your stepsister keyed my car.”
“What? Here, sit down, let’s talk.”
Zona kept pacing. “I didn’t sign up for this, Alec.”
“Okay, calm down. Go on out by the pool. I’ll make us something to drink.”
Zona was pacing in front of the pool when he joined her, carrying two margaritas. “I guess we could use this,” he said, handing one to her.
She set it on the patio table. “Alec, I can’t do this anymore.”
His brows lowered. “What? Us? Not this again.”
“Yes, this again. The good news is we hadn’t gotten too far into a relationship.”
Only far enough that she’d hoped the third time would be the charm.
He set his drink down and led her to a chair and sat down opposite her. “I’ll pay to have your car refinished.”
“It’s more than the car, and we both know it,” she said miserably.
“I’ll take care of it.”
Zona threw up her hands. “You can’t keep taking care of everything she does. She obviously sees me as a threat and she’s not going to stop doing this crazy stuff until she drives me away. Who knows what she’ll do next or who she’ll do it to?”
“She’ll do nothing. I’ll get her out of our lives for good.”
Zona shook her head. “You’re not going to be able to succeed and I can’t deal with another messed-up relationship. Right now she’s parked down the street.”
“I won’t let her do anything.”
“She already has!”
He caught Zona’s hands and held them. “Zona, don’t give up on us. You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time. I want to be the same for you,” he added softly.
“Isn’t that sweet.”
Both Zona and Alec turned at the sound of the sneering voice. There stood Angela at the edge of the patio, glaring at them. She wore a crop top and booty shorts, and her red hair was caught up in a sloppy bun. Just your average girl-next-door type, complete with crazed expression.
“This is the real reason why you couldn’t be bothered to help a family member in need, why you wanted me out of your place. It was because of this gold-digging piece of trash.”
“Need?” Alec roared. “In need of a new cell phone, clothes, on top of that car I got you. You’re a leech, Angela. You always have been, and I’m done with you sucking me dry.”
“I needed help!” she cried, her voice rising. “And every time I had to beg you. What would Daddy say?”
He glared and pointed a finger at her. “Don’t you dare bring my father into this.”
“He was my father, too!” she cried, moving closer toward them. “And he’d hate what you’ve done to me. A restraining order against your own sister? You’re a monster.”
Zona couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “No, you’re the monster. You vandalized my car. Twice. And guess what. I’ve made a police report, and I’ve got a picture of you stalking me.”
“A picture of me in my car?” scoffed Angela. “Big deal. And someone vandalized your car, but who knows who that was. And who knows what might happen next. Maybe your stupid dog will die.”
As if he’d understood the threat, Darling began barking from the other side of the fence.
Zona jumped out of her chair, took a threatening step in Angela’s direction, and pointed a finger at her. “Just try it and see what happens to you.”
Angela wasn’t threatened. Instead, she let out a growl and ran at Zona, closing the distance between them, and gave Zona a hard push, sending her into the pool with a screech.
“OKAY, WE’RE CALLING the police,” Louise said, pulling out her cell phone.
“They’ll never get here in time,” said Bree. She shot out of her chair and raced around the side of the house toward the fence gate, Darling following after her.
“Martin, do something!” Louise cried. Of course, Martin the milk toast wouldn’t do anything even though both Louise’s daughter and now her granddaughter were in danger. And her dog.
She was reaching for her crutches when, to her surprise, Martin transformed into Super Martin and ran off after Bree and Darling. Who knew Martin was capable of running so fast?
Well, Louise wasn’t going to sit all by herself, unable to see what was happening next door. She put in a call to 911, then grabbed her crutches and got going.
ZONA HAD SPENT her adult life getting taken advantage of, first by a cheater, then by a gambler, and now this little beast had just pushed her in a pool. This wasn’t over. She found her footing and started for the side of the pool. Angela was history.
Alec was leaning over the edge, his hand extended to help Zona out. “Take my hand.”
Behind him, Angela picked up a nearby deck chair and swung it.
“Alec, look out!” Zona cried.
Too late. He wasn’t able to completely dodge the chair, and the impact sent him into the pool as well. The chair went sailing off to the side.
With a roar, Zona pushed herself up out of the pool. Angela let out a squeal and bolted toward the gate.
Bree had come in and was posed in front of it like a goalie, but Angela never made it that far.
Zona was super fueled with anger seeing this woman who was dead set on ruining the lives of everyone around her charge toward her daughter.
She reached the woman first, caught her by the hair, and yanked her toward the pool.
“You’re hurting me!” Angela cried and tried to pull away.
“You haven’t begun to see hurt yet,” Zona snarled. She took Angela by the shoulders and hurled her like a giant discus toward the pool.
brEE HAD COME through the backyard gate in time to see the red-haired woman try to break their neighbor’s back with a plastic deck chair, then watch her mother surface from the pool right after he landed in it.
Mom looked like some sort of angry sea goddess, rising out of the water.
Before Bree could get to the woman, Mom had her by the hair.
She threw the redhead into the pool and jumped in after her.
The two were under for only a second before they popped back up.
Mom with a fresh fistful of the woman’s hair, and the redhead screeching swear words at her and shoving her hand in Mom’s face.
Mom had been through enough. No one was going to mess with her from now on if Bree had anything to say about it. She raced for the pool and cannonballed in, colliding with Alec James, who was also trying to get to Mom.
“Get out of the way,” he commanded.
She snapped back something Gram would wash her mouth out for, but so what? This was her mom. And he was part of the problem.
Just as Bree lunged for the home invader to push her under, what felt like a baby whale landed practically on top of her. Martin? Next in was Darling, entering with an excited bark, scrambling over Martin’s shoulders and dunking him in an effort to reach Mom.
It was getting crowded in the pool as they all thrashed around, grabbing for each other, and someone’s elbow caught Bree in the eye, making her yelp. Mom.
“Bree, are you okay?” Mom cried, turning to her, and the red-haired pool monster pushed her under.
Bree swore and took a swing at the woman, catching Martin in the jaw, making him grunt.
“Bree, we’ve got this,” he said tersely, as Mom fell against him and knocked him back and under the water.
Gram appeared, waving one of her crutches and yelling, “Hurt my daughter and I’ll sue you!”
Bree was still trying to get a hand in as the two men worked to separate Mom and her attacker when two policemen arrived on the scene. “It’s about time you got here,” Gram said to them.
The one, an older hefty dude, just shook his head. “Okay. Everybody out of the pool.”