Chapter 10 #2
“Right. He lives right here, in Newport Beach.”
“Is that why you didn’t want to stay?”
“Yes. Okay?” She takes a deep breath. “He’s everywhere and I just… whatever. It’s fine.”
“Got it. It’s fine.”
“His name is Bellefonte Cooper.”
It takes me a second to digest this. I can’t name two famous lawyers, but I can name one, and it’s Bellefonte Cooper.
If there’s a musician fighting a case he can’t win, Cooper is on the courthouse steps, preserving the artist’s brand.
If there’s an injustice so outrageous, no other law form will touch it, Cooper is on it, pro bono.
He’ll defend the guilty and innocent alike, and manages to get his face in front of a camera for both.
That’s Tonya’s father and I didn’t even know.
“Did you tell me that and I forgot?”
“I never told you.”
“Should I ask if there’s a reason?”
“You should not.” She deflects so gently, I can’t even be hurt about it. “I wanted him to recommend someone cheap to help with the golf cart thing. He said sure, no problem, I’ll see you and the white guy here at eight.”
“Wait. How…” I haven’t even finished asking how her father knew Dan existed when I figure it out. “Gerry.”
“Dan says Gerry leverages information like it’s his job.”
“Well. Okay. Nice work if you can get it, I guess.” The sun is low. Shadows in the shape of two men are cast on the deck. Tony and Dan, chatting about whatever guys chat about. “Is the white guy down to meet your father so soon?”
“You know Dan. He’s down for anything.”
“Can you not mention the four guys living in my toolbox?”
“You don’t think he’ll believe it?”
“I don’t want to get sued for, like, uninhabitable premises or wrongful eviction or whatever.”
She laughs. “You better mind your Ps and Qs then.”
If the sea had been this calm last night, I’m pretty sure Caspian and I could have summoned Tony into existence on the first try. But you get what you get, and what we got was a boat that’s easier to level on day two instead of day one.
Tony puts on Caspian’s sweatpants. Dan has an extra toothbrush. Tonya calls Tony “Mr. Levelio” and promises him she’ll be off the galley table soon so he can sleep on it.
Nigel texted us a list of boat-specific materials we’d need, but we can’t be sure the list is complete, and Tonya and I once discovered the hard way that having the right joint compound isn’t the same as knowing how to use it.
Saltwater-resistant plaster and paint. Flexible adhesives.
Yada yada. All that said, it’s a boat. It rocks.
So I won’t need Tony or the twenty-four-inch level that’s in the truck.
After Dan and Tonya leave to meet her father, Tony commandeers Dan’s laptop.
I don’t have the firmest grasp of tech history. Were there even laptops in 1994? Maybe? I’m sure they weren’t anything like the one Tony’s pounding away at, yet his fingers are flying over the keys.
“Did you have a laptop back before… you know… the curse?”
“What’s a laptop?”
Meanwhile, he’s using shortcuts to grab news articles on Enron and paste them into a separate document.
“The thing you seem to be using as if you grew up with it?”
“This?” He points at the keyboard, looking over his shoulder at me.
“Yes. This.”
He shrugs. “I just watched Tonya.” He turns back around, straightens the manila envelope, and goes to another bank’s website.
“You didn’t know how to scroll.”
“I wasn’t watching because I couldn’t see,” he says. “I could see her use this thing. If I had this shit back then, boy-oh-boy. I wouldn’t have spent the last thirty years in a box, that’s for sure.”
“Really?”
He freezes for a moment, then looks real uncomfortable. “It means. Yeah. It’s a joke because… you know. Everything.”
“What does the curse have to do with bank websites?”
“Honestly?” He stops typing and gives me his full attention.
“Honestly.”
He goes to the sink to wash his hands. He does that a lot.
“Honestly,” he says with his back to me, shaking off the rinse water. He snaps a paper towel off the roll. “I’m not ready to talk about it.”
“Okay.”
He just met me, so he doesn’t have to tell me everything, but I’m grateful for this uncomfortable little interlude. It’s better to know he’s not doing full disclosure than think I have all the information.
“Really?” He sits back down.
“Yeah. Like, as long as whatever it is doesn’t hurt me or Tonya, it’s whatever.”
He kisses me quickly, then pulls back. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. You can even do it again.” I’m glad he does, but I gently push him away. “We can’t make out all night.”
“Right.” He faces the screen again. “I had a little secret stash in a Swiss bank account. Laws changed it into a non-secret in 2015, but if we go to Switzerland, I can get at it.”
“This boat’s not big enough to get us to Switzerland.”
“Also, it’s not a plane. Then there’s the safety deposit box in Palos Verdes.
They had a fifty-year deal I took them up on, so it’s got to still be good.
The key was in the office, so it’s either still there or any normal person threw it out.
” He leans back and rubs his eyes. “And I don’t have the right ID to replace it. ”
I rub his shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”