Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [23]
Damn! What is wrong with me? Maybe I should call Tom. She hadn’t spoken to him since early summer. The holidays were a time for forgiveness and family. It wouldn’t hurt her to call him just to wish him and the kids a happy holiday. She’d sent gifts and even included one for Mona. It wouldn’t have hurt him to call and say thank you. Maybe he was embarrassed. Maybe a lot of things.
Annie bounded up from the couch and started to pace. She liked this new house of hers. It was old, ancient really, but it had character and great old fireplaces and wonderful heart-of-pine floors. The furniture was sparse but sufficient for now. Later, when she had more time, she would pick and choose furniture that would go with the old antebellum house. It still boggled her mind that she owned a house at all. Like Elmo said, “You need the tax deduction now.”
Annie poured herself a glass of wine as she continued to pace. Without realizing it, she was on the second floor, her hand on the closet doorknob. The dehumidifier box with the ten thousand dollars was still there, pushed to the end of the long shelf. The same money she’d used to set her mother up at Westbury. She should have given it back a long time ago. The ideal time would have been when Newman tried to track down her old car with no results. Why was she keeping it? Was she afraid to give it back? Was it some kind of security? What did she hope to gain from keeping it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Annie closed the louvered doors to the closet. Her head was above water. She was able to pay for her mother’s care, she’d bought this house and a secondhand car that looked good and ran like a dream. Nothing extravagant, just a good, serviceable car. The interest payments were deductible along with her mortgage interest as well as the monies she paid out for her mother’s care. All her bills were paid, and she had money in the bank—not a lot but enough of a cushion to make her feel comfortable. Right now she and Jane could sell the Daisy Shops for a handsome profit if she wanted to. Her heartbeat quickened when she thought of the two new shops that were going to open up after the first of the year, both of them at Clemson University. “A veritable gold mine,” Elmo had chortled. And he was right. Elmo was always right. He was probably right about the business plan he’d hired someone to draft up, too. She wasn’t sure about the plan to hire a business manager, though. Someone to handle the accounting was different. No one was going to handle her money but Jane and herself.
The phone rang just as Annie poured herself a second glass of wine—or was it her third? She looked at the small clock on the mantel: 10:15. An hour and fifteen minutes past her normal bedtime. Her greeting was cautious. It might be Newman, with some new trick up his sleeve.
“Annie, it’s Tom. The kids told me you sent them some Christmas presents. I’m calling to thank you and to ask you how Mom is. Look, Annie, if you don’t want to talk to me, it’s okay.”
“I have mixed feelings, Tom. I sent a gift for you, too.”
“I was sure you did. I guess Mona didn’t see fit to give it to me. I haven’t been to the house in quite a while.”
“What does that mean, Tom?”
“It means Mona and I separated in September. I’m living in a small apartment. It’s hard as hell paying support and trying to maintain a life for myself. She’s going to clean me out. That’s not really why I called. I wanted to ask about Mom and to tell you some guy was here asking questions about you and Jane. I told him off, then booted his ass out the door. I’d had a couple of beers, but he gave me the impression he thinks you, Jane, and that guy you worked for are somehow involved in some bank heist. I could be wrong about