Steve and Joe were quickly seated. Joe couldn’t wait to hear the story of how Steve met Laura. He was almost begging Steve to fill him in on all of the details.
Steve was excited to tell the story, but he really enjoyed stringing Joe along. Steve had never been in this position before. He relished the attention.
Finally the story began. Steve wanted to string it out as long as he could. Details flowed out slowly. Steve started by telling Joe of the chance meeting in the parking lot behind the shelter. He went on about the time in her office and how he acted like a real jerk.
Steve tried to keep the pace of the story slow, but as he spoke about Laura he became excited. He started to race through the details. Steve only paused for a brief moment when he and Joe placed their lunch orders, and then it was back to the story of Laura. Steve was spilling the last details of their ride home the night before when their meals arrived.
“So that is basically the story of Laura,” said Steve. He looked down and began to cut into his grilled chicken breast platter. “I never expected to see her at the office today, especially with a gift. That was a real nice surprise.”
“I think she likes you Steve. I could see it in the way she was looking at you,” said Joe excitedly. “See Steve, now Laura is the kind of girl I was telling you about. See you just had to wait a little longer. Things have a way of working out Steve.”
Joe was acting even more excited than Steve. He grinned from ear to ear. His fatherly advice was once again flowing freely. When the advice stopped, he started to tell Steve the story of how he met Karen. It was a story that Steve had heard many times before.
Steve smiled at Joe. He let him finish telling his much over-told tale. Steve eased back into his chair and felt totally relaxed. How could I have ever thought I needed Christy? He wondered to himself.
Chapter 32 - New Rules
Joe slowed his car and pulled up in front of Steve’s condominium building on Bayshore Boulevard. It was a little past three thirty in the afternoon. The wind was picking up and the sky was beginning to turn a menacing dark gray. It appeared that the whole city would soon be deluged with a typical Florida afternoon thundershower.
Steve sat in the passenger seat. The box containing the gifts from Laura was perched on his lap. Images of Laura were running through his many thoughts. The car came to a halt and Steve’s thoughts came back to reality. He bent forward and struggled to reach his briefcase.
“Thanks for the ride Joe. And thanks for the lunch. I really enjoyed it,” said Steve. He lifted the briefcase and placed it on top of the box on his lap. “It did me some good to get away from everything that’s going on here and at the office. It took my mind off it at least.”
“Steve, are you sure you don’t want to stay over at our place for a few nights?” asked Joe. “Just until you figure out what is going to happen with your situation with Christy.”
Steve shook his head slightly. “Thanks for the offer Joe, but I can’t. I still have to play along and pretend I don’t know about the plan. I can’t let Christy or Tim know that I know about it. I’m not ready to play my hand just yet. There are a few more details I need to iron out first. Besides, this is almost getting to be fun for me.”
“Well, remember the door is always open. You know it would really make Karen happy if you decided to stay over for a few days. She says she doesn’t get to see you much anymore.”
“Joe, once I get this is all straightened out we are going on a trip. We can all go. You, me, Karen and Luke, I’ll treat. Maybe we can all go to Grenada. I hear that the island is really beautiful and the people are great.”
“OK Steve, that sounds like a wonderful idea. And I am going to hold you to it,” said Joe. “But, since you’re not going to stay with us tonight, have you figured out what you are going to tell Christy when she gets home?”
“I am not going to say anything. I am going up to the condo right now and I am going to climb into the bed in the guest room. When she gets home I am going to pretend I am still sick and that I was home all day. That way I shouldn’t have to deal with too much tonight. It should be funny. I am sure Tim had already called her to tell her I was at work. But she won’t be able to ask me about it because then I would know she was talking to him. I’m looking forward to it. Tim may already think she is giving him bad information after she told him I was sick. Now I may get her to think that Tim is feeding her bad information and get the two of them to turn on each other.”
Joe shook his head from side to side. “I think Laura has brought out the evil side of Steve Peterson.”
“Well it’s about time,” said Steve, as he opened the passenger door. “Maybe all the years of therapy are finally kicking in.”
Steve struggled for a few seconds. He eventually made it out of the tight car without dropping his top-heavy load.
“Thanks for everything Joe. I’ll see you tomorrow. And don’t forget to pick me up in the morning,” said Steve.
“I will be here eight o’clock sharp. I have to get in early to review the last of the month end numbers,” said Joe.
“That will be great Joe. I really need to get in the office early too. I still have a few things I need to do before the Thursday morning meeting and I am sure things are piling up with me out today.”
* * *
Steve tossed his briefcase onto the king size bed in the master suite. He wanted nothing more than to lie down and relax but there were more pressing issues. Steve walked to the side of the bed and removed a large oriental watercolor from the wall exposing a wall safe. Christy knew the location of the safe and the combination. Steve wasn’t about to take any more chances.
Steve dialed in the combination. All of the bank statements, investment account information and credit cards were removed. Anything that looked official was removed before the safe was closed up and the picture replaced.
Next, Steve went through a stack of papers on the top of his dresser. Any document with so much as a credit card number or a bank account number was put into the briefcase. He removed his checkbook from the top drawer and the engagement ring. Nothing was overlooked. Everything went into the briefcase before Steve headed off to the other side of the condo.
Steve entered the guest room. He put several documents that he got from the office onto the nightstand and then hid the briefcase in the guestroom closet. Finally, he started to feel a little relaxed.
Steve yawned loudly as his body collapsed onto the pillow-top mattress. He buried his head into the extra soft pillow and let out a muffled “oooowwwwwww”. He was exhausted.
“What a day,” Steve said into the pillow. His body remained motionless for several minutes. Eventually, Steve forced himself to rollover and pick up a document from the nightstand.
“I better try to get through some of this stuff,” he said aloud.
Steve moved onto his side and began to scan through the words printed on the page. The legal jargon made for hard reading. Steve’s eyelids began to fall under their own weight. He fought to get through the first page but felt himself starting to doze.
It became very apparent to Steve that he was losing the battle to stay awake. He had not had a good night’s sleep for two nights in a row. He was exhausted.
Steve tried to clear his mind. He took a few deep breaths and tried to read the words on the paper. It was useless. His eyes just would not cooperate.
The battle was over. Steve returned the document to the nightstand. Maybe just a short nap will help, he thought. He rolled back onto his side and scrunched the soft pillow around his head. A mental picture of Laura flashed in his mind for a few seconds. A smile crept onto his face just as he fell into a sound sleep.
* * *
Christy opened the door to the condo at just before six o’clock. She walked in having no idea what to expect. Tim had finally reached her at work a little after four o’clock. He was already ranting and raving about Steve as she put the receiver to her ear.
Tim immediately rippe
d into Christy about the bothersome developments that occurred at Peterson Software. He yelled the details into the phone about Steve coming into the office after Christy told him that he was going to be out sick. He screamed that Steve wasn’t sick and accused Christy of trying to sabotage the entire plan.
Christy was aware of Tim’s temper but had never heard him go off this bad. Just as the call started to settle down a bit, Tim went on a tirade over seeing Steve hug a woman in his office. He then screamed the particulars of again seeing him hug her in the parking lot. By the end of the call, Christy was as mad at Tim as Tim was at Christy. Christy was very confused as to the meaning of Tim’s strange call.
Throughout the lengthy rant, Tim failed to inform Christy of the fact that he spilled the beans about her telling him that Steve was sick. He was pissed at himself over the slip up but felt there was no reason for Christy to know. It would just end up making matters worse.
Because the sick day blunder was still very fresh in his mind, Tim was sure to remind Christy not to mention that she knew Steve was in the office. “Let him tell you first,” he said. “That way, he won’t know that you talked to me.”
Christy could tell that Tim was not disclosing the entire story of the day’s events. The tense conversation put Christy on edge. She sensed something was going wrong with Tim’s plan although he repeatedly denied there were any problems.
The uneasy feeling that surfaced during the call with Tim was still with Christy. She entered the kitchen with her mind filled with many troubling questions. Something was definitely wrong but she did not know exactly what.
If the plan was still intact, she felt that maybe Tim was trying to double cross her. Whatever was going on, she was going to have to proceed very carefully. There was too much at stake for any type of a slip-up now.
Steve was awakened by the noise coming from the kitchen. He rolled over and checked the time.
“Oh great, I slept the whole afternoon,” he muttered aloud. Steve rubbed his eyes and stretched up his arms. He felt rested.
Again Steve heard a rustling noise in the kitchen. He assumed that Christy had arrived home. I guess I should go out and act like nothing is wrong, he said in his head.
Steve opened the guest room door and slowly walked out to the kitchen. The door had not been fully shut so it opened without a sound. Steve’s slow entrance into the kitchen was quiet and unnoticed by Christy. She was too engrossed in removing the crumpled paper from the inside of her new Gucci bag to sense his approach. He was almost beside her when he spoke.
“Hi Christy, have you been home long?” he asked quietly.
Christy jumped when she heard Steve’s words. “Oh Steve, you startled me,” she said with a slight alarm in her voice.
Steve’s hair was a mess from the afternoon nap. He looked as if he had been lying in bed all day. Christy was quite surprised at Steve’s rumpled appearance. She tried not to show it. In her surprised state she forgot to respond to Steve’s question.
Steve pulled out a barstool and took a seat at the counter next to Christy. He tried to look interested as he eyed up Christy’s new purchases. “What do you have there,” he asked.
“I got the new Gucci bag to replace the gift from you.” She held the bag in the air and turned it from side to side. “This is the Gucci Jackie O bag. There were several stores over at the Independence mall that carried them. Just like I said they would.”
“Christy you should have waited. I called Saks and they said the bag would be in tomorrow. I would have gotten it for you. Then you wouldn’t have had to put the cost of the bag on your charge card,” said Steve.
“Oh Steve, I wanted to tell you. I didn’t charge it. Since it was a gift from you, I took a check from your checkbook and paid for it with that. You can just get a refund for the other bag and we can call it even. I knew you wouldn’t mind,” said Christy in her sweetest spoken tone possible.
“A check? But I didn’t sign any check. How were you able to buy it with an unsigned check?” asked Steve.
“Well… I just signed it with your name. I know how you sign your name. It was pretty easy,” said Christy. She sounded quite proud of herself.
The way she told the story, Christy almost made the entire transaction sound legit. Steve had to remind himself that she stole the check from him and she forged his signature.
“How much did it come out to so I can enter it into the checkbook registry?” Steve asked.
“Oh, I just made it out for an even thousand. I got a matching wallet too.”
Steve nodded as if the whole story made perfect sense to him. He noticed the new wallet lying on the counter. “It looks like it matches the bag,” he said softly.
Christy was pleased with Steve’s benign reaction to the check and the purchase of the bag. There was no sign of anger and no questioning. He seemed just like the same old Steve, she thought.
With the story of the purchase of the bag out of the way, Christy wanted to dig into Steve’s day and find out what he was doing at Peterson Software. Tim’s words of advice were still ringing loudly in her head and she started out slowly.
“So Steve, are you feeling better now? How was your day?” asked Christy.
“I feel a lot better than I did. I haven’t felt that bad in a long time,” said Steve, as he began to slightly rub the side of his head. “I slept for almost the entire day. I was sound asleep when you came in. I think I better sleep in the guest room again tonight. Just in case I still have something. If I am contagious, I wouldn’t want you to get it. This is pretty nasty stuff.”
Christy hid her growing surprise. “So you were in bed all day?” she asked.
“Yeah, pretty much. I got up and showered at one point but I was in bed most of the day.”
Steve was enjoying the new game. He felt as if he now had some power over Christy. For once, he knew something she did not. He knew that Tim would have told her that he saw him at the office. But he also knew she was smart enough not to let on about the conversation and expose their connection. Steve decided to keep playing the game.
“I never even left the condo,” Steve said with a perfectly straight face.
For the first time in the conversation, Christy stopped working with her new purchase. She let go of the bag and devoted all of her attention over to Steve. “You never left the condo today?” she asked.
“No, I felt sick all day. So much for my perfect record of never taking a sick day at work.” Steve creased his face up as he looked over at Christy. “I still don’t feel all that great,” he said rather convincingly.
A million thoughts raced through Christy’s head. She did not know if somehow Tim was feeding her wrong information or if maybe Steve had found out about the plan and just wasn’t being truthful. But Steve would have nothing to gain by denying he was at work, she thought.
Christy’s mind drifted back to the conversation with Tim. She remembered thinking that he was hiding something. The idea that Tim wasn’t being truthful was paramount in her thoughts. At this point, she tended to believe Steve. His act was convincing and she could not come up with a single reason for him to lie.
Christy already had major problems accepting Tim’s story about finding Steve hugging a woman in his office. And his story didn’t end there, she thought. He said he saw them again in the parking lot.
Tim’s whole story did not seem to fit. Not with Steve. Why would Tim want her to think there was another woman? She wondered. He must be working on an angle to get me out of the picture, she thought. He wants it all for himself.
“Christy, are you ok?” asked Steve.
“What?” asked Christy as she finally heard Steve’s question.
“I asked you if you had eaten dinner. You didn’t seem to hear me,” said Steve.
“Oh, I was just thinking about something Steve. Um, no I haven’t had dinner yet.”
“Well, how about we send out for something. I would like something that is kind of light. I still don’t feel one
hundred percent and I am not that hungry.”
Christy was concerned about Tim’s motives. The last thing she wanted now was to get Steve against her. She put on her sweet face.
“Sure Steve, that sounds good. If you would like something, I wouldn’t mind going out to get it.”
“Whatever,” said Steve. “I would just like something small, kind of light.”
“Hey Steve, I have an idea. What about some Sushi? I can get you some tuna tataki and maybe a roll or two.” Christy knew Steve couldn’t resist sushi. “You would like that and it would be kind of light.”
“Yeah sure, you going to call it in to Charlie’s?” asked Steve.
“That’s what I was thinking. They are right around the corner. Nice and close,” said Christy. She was still sounding sweet as could be. “Steve, I am going to take your car. I locked the BMW in the underground parking and I don’t want to go through the hassle of getting it back out just to run over to Charlie’s,” said Christy, as she started off to the bedroom.
“Christy, you can’t take my car. It isn’t here,” said Steve.
Christy immediately came to a stop upon hearing Steve’s words. “Your car isn’t here? What happened to the car?” she asked.
“Nothing happened to the car. It’s my foot that’s the problem.”
Steve raised his bandaged foot above the counter so that Christy could see the bandage. “I ran a nail straight through my foot and I couldn’t drive my car home the other night because of the clutch. It hurt way too bad to push the clutch pedal down. I had to take a Taxi home. I still haven’t been able to go and get the car back because I got sick.”
Christy wasn’t concerned about how Steve injured his foot or where he did it. What raced through her mind was that he did not have a car. How could he have been at work if he didn’t have a car? She thought. Christy was now convinced that Tim was lying to her.