Chapter 31
CHAPTER 31
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Shannon asks Lizzie, as they are cleaning up the kitchen together. “It’s just, well, Matt told me about the wedding being postponed and I wanted to check. It would be natural to be upset, sad, mad…all of the feelings.” She sighs. “Can you tell I spend most of my life around little kids?” She laughs and shakes her head. “I sound like an idiot!”
Jack left right after dessert, having calls to make, and Lizzie and Shannon would not allow anyone else to help.
“You do not sound like an idiot, you sound like a very caring person,” Lizzie says, scraping plates into the compost. “It is really hard, but I don’t want to make anything worse than it already is, you know? There’s so much happening. Still, when Jack said he wanted to postpone the wedding, it hurt, but I thought I should go along with it and not say anything.” She stacks the scraped plates by the sink and begins to rinse them.
“Not telling him how you feel while in the short term might be good, but probably isn’t a great way to start a life together,” Shannon offers quietly, not wanting to rock the boat any more than it had been over the last few days.
Lizzie sits down at the counter and sighs. “I know, and I’m usually a regular Brené’ Brown, talking about how I feel, but right now how I feel doesn’t seem like the most important thing happening here. I mean, Jack could lose everything he’s been working for, and heaven forbid, go to jail for smacking Billy, but I am hurt that he so quickly thought not getting married was a swell idea.”
“Most men are not great multi-taskers, you know that,” Shannon says. “They aren't like us, we can do the whole ‘bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan’ thing, guys are better uni-taskers.” She sits down next to Lizzie, “I so understand how you feel, but you and Jack are getting married.”
“Please don’t tell Matt about this, okay? I don’t want anyone worrying or getting upset about all of this. I’ll be fine, really, I will.”
Shannon stands up and gives her a hug. “I know you will be, you’re going to have the wedding you want, and it’s going to be amazing.” She steps back to the sink to keep cleaning.
“You and Matt need to get Sophie home, I’ll finish this up. Thank you for all your help,” Lizzie says.
“We should get her to bed. Sure you don’t mind?” Shannon asks.
“No, absolutely not, we’re almost done anyway.Go home and get some rest,” Lizzie says.
Shannon puts on her coat and picks up Sophie’s and Matt’s from the bench. “I hope this writer you hired can dig up some dirt on these guys.”
Lizzie looks surprised, “Please don't say anything to anyone about that, okay?” she says as she and Shannon walk into the living room. “Really, no one can know we’re investigating Gobel and Green.”
“I understand,” Shannon says. She hands the coats to Matt, who bundles up a very sleepy Sophie.
After they leave, and Gabby goes upstairs to bed, Peter and Lizzie are alone sitting by the dwindling fire.
“I’m scared, Dad. I’ve been a journalist for a while, but this could be big and it’s scary. All eyes will be on us. We need to get this right, whatever this is.”
“We’ll do all the right things, and we’ll make sure every T is crossed and I dotted,” he reassures her. “We’ll see what he comes up with, and make sure everything is substantiated. I’ve had 40 years in this business, and if I don’t have an answer I know people who do. He’ll be fine.”
“That’s very reassuring, thank you, Dad.” She stands up and stretches. “I’m exhausted, it’s been a long couple of days. Want me to spread out the embers here?” she asks, picking up the small shovel by the fireplace. Peter gets up and takes it from her.
“I’ve got this, honey, you get to bed,” he says.
“Thanks,” she says, handing him the shovel. Walking toward the hall, she stops and turns around. “Thanks for everything, Dad, mostly for being my dad. I love you”
“It’s the best job I’ve ever had,” he says. “I love you too.”
Lizzie tossed and turned through much of the night, and finally gave up around 5:45, and got out of bed.
“Wow, you’re sure up early,” Gabby says, coming down into the kitchen to the smell of coffee already having been made. “Thank you,” she says, pouring herself a cup and taking it to the table. “Trouble sleeping?”
“Yeah, I kept thinking about this whole thing, wondering how the community could rally and what the heck happened to Billy and Bud that they would cozy up with bad guys against the town,” Lizzie says, joining her mom at the table with her coffee.
“Who knows what they promised them? They are not the most worldly of fellows and have no idea who they’ve gotten involved with. They are naive on their best day, and easily manipulated. One need only look at the political signs in their yards to see how gullible they are,” Gabby says.
“You’re so much kinder than me, I want to call them all sorts of names and make them move away,” Lizzie says.
“I believe everyone is redeemable, well, most everyone,” Gabby says smiling. “I’ve known a few people in my life who I don’t hold out much hope for, but you never know, maybe they can be brought around.”
“I’m not holding my breath,” Lizzie says.
“I’ll keep the faith for both of us,” Gabby says.
“I can always count on you to be my positive force, Mom. I get awfully discouraged.”
“Other than that, are you okay?” Gabby asks, sensing her stress isn’t just about Terra Marique.
Lizzie gets up and starts busying herself cleaning up the coffee making items. “Yeah, I'm fine.”
“Okay, I sort of believe you,” she gets up and leans against the counter with her coffee. “You don’t have to be chipper or hide how you’re feeling from me, honey. I’m always behind you.”
“I know,” Lizzie puts down the sponge she’s using to clean the counter. “I need to be okay. I don’t know if that makes sense? I have to keep myself together. Me being upset doesn’t serve anyone or anything.”
“Neither does not talking about how you feel,” her mother counters.
“I know you love me and only want the best for me, but my wedding isn’t happening when I hoped it would and there’s nothing I can do about that.o I’m going to do my work, I’m going to support Jack, and I’m going to put my sadness and disappointment on the back burner. And as I say this, I’m well aware that I’m really fortunate, so I don’t want to sound like some spoiled brat. I know this isn’t the end of the world, but it still kind of stinks. Please keep this between us, okay? As far as Dad and everyone else knows, I’m completely cool with it.”
“Mum’s the word,” Gabby says, miming zipping her lips. “I will not say a word, I promise. And you are far from spoiled, it’s completely understandable for you to feel angry, sad, all the feelings. Is there anything I can do to help you?”
Lizzie shakes her head. “Other than making this stupid injunction go away and getting the charges against Jack dropped, I don’t think so. Oh, maybe you could call Jess for me and tell her that the wedding is postponed indefinitely but that I still want the dress and will be in to get it hemmed soon? It’s a phone call I really don’t want to make. It makes it real.”
“Consider it done,” Gabby says. She walks over to Lizzie and pulls her in for a big hug, and it takes every bit of willpower for Lizzie to not just sink into her embrace and cry.
“Thanks, Mom,” she wipes a couple of tears away. “I’m going to hop in the shower and get to work early. I want to make sure other stories don’t fall through the cracks just because we’re dealing with this whole thing.” She stops before she goes upstairs and turns to her mom. “Thank you, I really needed that. I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetie, and I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s all going to be okay,” Gabby says.
Lizzie nods and walks upstairs, hoping as she usually is, her mom is right.
By the time Lizzie has showered, dressed and is ready to go to the office her dad is in the kitchen having his coffee and a bran muffin, a basket of which seems to have miraculously appeared on the counter. “Where did these come from, Mom? I wasn’t gone that long!” She puts on her coat and gathers her things.
“I had the batter all set to go in the fridge, I was planning ahead,” Gabby says.
“Well I am taking one for the road,” Lizzie says, picking one up, then a second one, wrapping them in a cloth napkin and putting them in her bag. “I’ll see you later at the office, Dad,” she says as she walks to the door. “Thanks, Mom!” she yells as she closes the door.
When Lizzie arrives at the office and gets settled after eating her muffins, she sees that Eric has sent her an email with all his travel information. He’s one organized guy. He also sent her the name of the woman he’s meeting with, and the time and the place. It becomes clear to her that he’s protecting himself, in case something goes wrong and she gets a chill. Her usual stories at the Cranberry Harbor Gazette don’t require a reporter to be backing up their whereabouts. Such information isn’t needed when covering a local bake sale or the cost of lobster that week. Suddenly she’s very concerned for Eric’s safety and wondering if this was a good idea. She wants to help Jack, but not to the point of someone risking their life. Just then her dad comes in.
“Dad, should we be worried about Eric? Come over here,” she gestures to him to come look at her screen. “He’s detailed who he’s meeting, where and when. I’m worried, is he going to be okay?”
“That’s pretty standard, honey. He’s just covering all his bases. From all the research I did on him he’s an experienced and savvy guy. He’s spent time in Ukraine, Afghanistan…I’m confident he knows what he’s doing.”
“Okay, I’ll try not to worry,” Lizzie says, knowing that’s impossible. There's way too much at stake, Eric’s safety being number one, along with the future of Terra Marique, and running a close third, Cranberry Harbor.