Kate smiled. No matter what, she and Afton had been through too much. Afton knew about Kate’s mom, and Afton knew about Kate’s brother. Hell, Afton had even been there at the time of her brother’s disappearance, and all of that just went way back. Kate had lost touch when Afton hit the foster system temporarily, until her father got his life back together, but then Kate and Afton had reconnected as young adults. No way Kate would do anything to jeopardize that friendship. Some things were just too important, and one of those was her two dear friends.
*
Simon’s Tuesday
Funny how thechanges in his life, especially after that pedophile case, had changed Simon’s attitude on friendships. After finding out about the true Yale though, Simon still didn’t want to think about all the court cases coming up regarding the pedophiles, Yale included. This discovery about his “friend” made Simon leery about getting to know anybody else. Everybody had history. Everybody had baggage. And Simon knew that Kate had more than most, but so did he.
But now, particularly after Caitlin, Simon had been very leery about getting involved with anybody, male or female, on any level. He had the poker guys he trusted, the people he hired, and not a hell of a lot more than that. And it didn’t look like that would change anytime soon. But he did his best to forget about Yale and to put all that pedophile ring ugliness behind him. But it had opened doorways to his own past that he still struggled with. He remembered his whole foster family as being off, but then his whole world had been tainted by his first foster father. So, what did you expect, right?
Simon shook his head and headed out to one of his building projects, hoping for a better day than they’d had this week. He hadn’t gone more than a few steps, when he felt that same pressure building in his head, but it was slow this time. He stopped, took several long slow deep breaths, then leaned against the brick wall and tried to forcibly shove it back out of his brain.
He didn’t know what it would take, but somehow he had to get control of this, before it sent him around the bend and made him look like an absolute idiot in the world of business. It seemed like, because this vision was a slow start, he could potentially push it out of his mind and take control of it. Or push it out and keep it out. He wasn’t so sure about taking control, but he smiled when the pressure slowly receded again.
“Good,” he said, “now keep it that way.”
Then he headed over to meet his project manager. Today at least the project manager had a smile on his face. “I presume it’s good news today?” Simon asked him.
“Well, let’s just say it’s not more bad news.”
Simon snorted at that. “Since when does no bad news not mean good news?”
“It is what it is,” he said. “We do what we need to do.”
“I got it. What about the materials?”
“They just arrived at the shipyards.”
“Well, that’s one good thing. How fast can we get it?”
“The shipyard workers are going on strike. Remember?”
He stared at him and said, “Oh hell no.”
“Yeah, oh hell yeah.”
“So that smile?”
“Yeah, that smile wasn’t a case of we’ve got good news. It was a case ofwe’re screwed.”
Days that started out shitty usually continued that way, and, although Simon did his best to get off that track, it was pretty damn hard.
By the time noon rolled around, Simon was furious, fuming, and ready to fire half a dozen people, including his supply companies. He wasn’t sure what the hell was going on or why all of a sudden his supplies were screwed up, but, as days went, this one completely took the cake. By the time he was heading home, tired and frustrated, he wasn’t prepared or interested in any more excuses because he had just listened to a mouthful of them all day.
Still, as he walked, he tried to refocus his brain, but he was tired now and weary. His grandmother would say that was a dangerous state, and one always had to guard and protect oneself. He wasn’t even sure why now, at this stage of his life, he was hearing some of her more memorable warnings. Because the last thing he wanted was to have anything to do with that world. He could almost hear her voice in the background of his brain, saying,Should have thought about that earlier then. As he walked, he knew it was too damn far today for him to return home on foot, so he grabbed a cab and headed back toward his apartment.
Just as he was about to get out of the cab, the force slammed into his head, the words almost indistinct, as someone yelled,Just do it!
He stiffened and opened his mouth to retaliate, only to find the cabbie looking at him strangely. Simon pulled cash from his pocket, threw it on the seat, and stumbled his way to the doorman. He reached up, grabbing his head, as the doorman raced to open the door ahead of him.
“Sir, are you okay?”
He nodded but stayed silent, as he stumbled to the elevator.
“Can I do anything for you?”
He gingerly shook his head but didn’t bother to answer. There was nothing anybody could do to help right now. If this didn’t kill him, it would certainly make people look at him sideways. And he could deal with that, he really could, but, Jesus, this would be a hard one to get through. As soon as he was inside the elevator, he yelled back, “Stop it.”
But there was absolutely no way to stop this force slamming through his head. It was like crawling through molasses, yet so painful, but he kept asking it to stop, to go away, and to leave him alone, that it had nothing to do with him.