Sighing, I went into the kitchen to pull out his pills. He probably hadn’t taken one all day because I’d worked late and wasn’t here to make sure he did.
After filling a glass with water from the tap, I carried both into the living room, frowning over the mess I had to step around to hold out the medication and glass.
“Here.”
I saw a stubborn glint enter his eye, and I made a sound. Don’t even argue with me.
He took the pill and swallowed it down with some water.
“This why you haven’t cut back on your hours?” I asked, setting aside the glass when he was finished.
He pursed his lips.
“You won’t make fifty grand even if you stay full time. Driving carriages in Central Park isn’t exactly a fortune-maker.”
“My job has put a roof over your head and food in your belly your whole life, young lady.”
“Yes, sir.” I assented. He was right, of course. He’d been driving the horse-drawn carriages in Central Park my entire life. He loved horses, meeting people, and being outdoors. I don’t even think he minded the days he had to drive in the rain.
Pops was a proud man, and he worked hard at providing for his daughter and wife. Not only that, but he was a good man, better than most. He’d always been there for us, and he stayed at Mama’s side the whole time she was sick. It never mattered that we lived in what I knew was considered poverty because we loved each other. That’s why I didn’t point out my nurse’s salary took care of a lot, like the medical bills Mama left behind, that his pay alone would never have covered along with the cost of living.
“How much do you have saved up?”
He avoided my stare.
“Don’t you think after what just happened, you should loosen your lips?”
“I’m sorry about that, girlie. I never wanted you to be involved. You’re a strong woman, though, just like your mama.” He glanced up, smiling fondly. “She’d have whooped their asses too.”
I made a sound. “Damn straight.”
We couldn’t help but smile at each other, and I knew we both pictured my sassy Ma swinging that bat around and yelling.
It was a great thought, comforting, but it wasn’t reality. “Tell me.”
“I’ve only managed a thousand. I was gonna take it down to the casino and try and double—”
“Pop!” I wailed. “No more gambling!”
“That’s the only way I’m gonna make fifty grand in two weeks.”
“It’s really all due in two weeks?”
He nodded.
“You couldn’t have told me sooner?” Given me more time to find that kind of cash.
“They just demanded it last week.”
Who the hell gives someone—and old man, no less!—three weeks to pay off a fifty-thousand-dollar loan?
Teo Ferrari, that’s who.
“You hurt?” I asked, nudging his foot with mine.
“No.”
“Let me see.” I fussed and reached for his chin to lift his face so I could inspect it. There was definitely going to be a bruise. “I hope his balls ache for days,” I muttered.
Pops chuckled. Pushing my hand away, he insisted, “I’m fine.”
“Well, get back to bed. You gotta be up early tomorrow for the horses.”
“I’ll help you clean this up.”
“I got it. We young people don’t need as much sleep.” I winked.
“You calling me old?”
I widened my eyes. “Who, me?”
He laughed under his breath. “Sassy. It’s a good thing I only had one of you. More than that woulda killed me.”
“You don’t need more ‘cause you hit the jackpot with me.”
He stopped partway to his room, coming close to cup my cheek. The stubble on his dark skin was gray, creating a contrast I quite liked. Even his eyebrows were turning silver, but his skin was mostly unlined.
“Even if I did use up all my luck making you with your mama, I have no regrets. You are my best achievement, better than any coin or material possession I could ever leave behind.”
Swallowing was hard and not because my throat still felt tight from earlier. Blinking the mist away from my eyes, I leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Flatterer.” Pulling back, I smiled. “Love you too, Pops. Now get some sleep.”
He shuffled to his room, but before he could close his door, I called out to him.
“Don’t worry about the money. I’ll figure it out, okay? But in the meantime, watch your back. If anyone bothers you, tell them to come to me.”
His face turned dark. “What kinda man do you think I am, sending scum after his daughter?”
“I can handle my own. You know that. And it doesn’t matter anyway because I’ll get the money.”
“How?”
I didn’t answer because, honestly, I had no earthly clue.
“I’m so sorry about this, girlie,” he said again.
“If apologies worked, we wouldn’t need the police,” I sassed.
He chuckled. “The police around here aren’t any help anyway.”
“Touché,” I countered. “Now get to sleep.”
He closed himself in his bedroom, and I picked up the lamp that had fallen over and switched it on, noticing the mess looked even worse in the light.
Fifty grand. Two weeks.
Where the hell was I going to get that kind of money?
3
Ander
* * *
Time to grow up.
Time to be a man.
That’s what my father lectured. That’s what he said working at Todd Enterprises would do.
You know what working for my father at our family company made me?
A gopher. A glorified gopher that happened to have the Todd name. I failed to see how delivering mail, making coffee, and making a thousand Xerox copies would make me a man. It also made me wonder why the hell the company still used so much paper. Wasn’t that what computers were for? I felt like a zombie, as if life were being leeched from my veins every second I spent in this morose glass tower.
Every day, I worked from eight in the morning until after seven every night. I was at his beck and call always, and frankly, I hated it. And he knew it.
He was testing me. Old man was trying to see how far he could push until I cracked.
As much as I wanted to tell him to get bent, I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Eventually, he’d get tired of this game and loosen the reins. Sure, I’d still work here, but he would at least get off my back, and I could go back to having some kind of life.
Part of me wanted to head down to Cauldron and ask that crazy witch what the hell she’d been thinking causing such a ridiculous scene and ruining my life. The other part of me whispered that I should just stay away. She freaking cursed you.
The phone on my desk buzzed, and I hit a button.
“Ander! Get in here.”
Oh, did I mention my father parked a desk outside his office, next to his secretary, and that was where I was relegated? You know, when I wasn’t in the mail room, the printing room, or doing one thousand other benign tasks his actual secretary could do.
I’m surprised the old codger didn’t make me wear a collar.