Copyright © 2021 James Russell Stoakes
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Eric waved as Sara pulled into her usual parking spot next to Alice’s home. She weakly waved back. The pictures that had hit the internet were clearly Jason. He was the person who had attacked Mary, but Sarah had to wonder, was Mary his real target? She shuddered as she exited the vehicle.
“Hi, Eric,” Sarah said as she got out. Eric was slowly walking across the parking lot to her.
“Hey, Sarah,” Eric said with a broad grin on his face.
“Thank you for making sure Jason was brought to justice,” she said to him.
Eric stopped moving. The grin faded. “What do you mean?” he asked, unsure what to do.
Sarah squared her body to his and marched over close to him. She leaned in and whispered, “Detective Nico had everyone who was involved in the case review the footage the hospital had. It will make you very happy that I did not mention to him that I recognized the watch on the person holding a gun out of the van.”
Eric muckled onto Sarah and gave her a big hug, to which she gasped in surprise. “You’re a good woman, Sarah,” He said as he let go of her. “Feel free to stop in at our cabin anytime that you wish to discuss current events.”
Sarah watched as Eric turned and walked towards his cabin. She turned in a daze and began walking toward’s Alice’s. Sarah was just beginning to regain her wits as she opened the door.
“What the hell was that all about?” Alice asked in full mama bear mode. “He better not be making advances on you,” she growled.
Sarah laughed. “It’s okay! Everything’s okay. He wasn’t trying to make advances. He was just happy about some news I gave him.”
“News? About what?” Alice pried.
“Oh, nothing you would be interested in,” Sarah teased.
Alice noticed Sarah’s expression, “You’re not going to tell me, are you.”
“Maybe someday,” Sarah said as she moved to get herself a coffee. She grinned a lot more on the inside than she let through on her face. Sarah knew this little secret would eat at Alice until she forgot about it. “Serves her right for keeping some of her little secrets,” she thought. The time Alice didn’t tell her that Robbie was related to Joe popped into her mind. Sarah wondered, “Would Alice be able to handle the morality of knowing?”
“Hello?” Alice was repeating over and over again. “Are you in there?” she asked skeptically.
“Yeah,” Sarah blinked and answered. “I just need to wake up,” she said and took a sip of coffee.
Alice held up a letter. “I got this today. I have a court date for the Friday before Christmas.”
“A court date?” Sarah asked. “What for? You’re not in trouble, are you?”
“Well,” Alice hesitated. “It’s about Kevin,” she finally answered. “Remember when you took me to the bank?”
“Yeah, I remember,” Sarah answered, intrigued.
“When I deposited the check in the business account, I also checked the balance of my household account and discovered it was nearly empty,” she said with a scowl. “That was when I went to the back with the bank manager. We removed Kevin’s access to the account, and the bank began an investigation to discover how much money had been taken.”
“Kevin took your money?” Sarah asked incredulously. “How could he do that?”
“How indeed,” Alice parrotted. “To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I’m guessing that he was using my money to subsidize his restaurant.”
“I have a hard time believing that the restaurant cannot sustain itself,” Sarah said. “I haven’t seen the receipts, but I know it’s always busy.”
“Huh,” Alice grunted. “He always paid my bills on time, so I never suspected there were money problems.”
Sarah laughed. “It was pretty cold in here the day we met.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Alice chuckled. “There were signs.”
“There were,” Sarah agreed. “So, I assume you will need a ride to court?”
“If you can,” Alice affirmed.
Sarah reached for the coffee pot for a refill. “Yeah, I can do that,” she said. “I’ll make sure I have that day off. Today, though, I am here to talk about my mother.”
Alice took a sharp breath in. “What about? Is she okay?”
“She is,” Sarah said, “Better than okay; she’s super intelligent.” Sarah hesitated before continuing, “I am worried that she is going to figure out our relationships before we tell her.”
“What do you mean?” Alice said, even though she was sure she understood.
Sighing, Sarah said, “Your daughter, my mother, is going to be mad at us both if we don’t come clean with her soon.”
Alice was surprised by Sarah’s direct revelation. She let out a long sigh and asked quietly, “How long have you known?”
“I suspected shortly after you told me about giving up your child. I think it was the next day that it struck me,” Sarah answered. “My mom doesn’t have as much information as I do, but I’m afraid she has enough to put it together.”
“I almost fainted when she started asking about the picture of Vivian,” Alice admitted. “I debated telling you both while we ate.”
Sarah laughed. “I was bursting at the seams to make the reveal, but I waited so long that I chickened out.”
“That’s what that was about,” Alice commented.
“What?” Sarah asked. “About what?”
“You were acting oddly during coffee,” Alice said with a grin.
“Yeah, yeah. So, how are we going to tell her?” Sarah asked. “I’m afraid she’s going to be mad at me for not telling her sooner.”
Alice was quiet for a moment while she thought. “The sooner, the better,” she said. “She might be angry with you, briefly, but I think she will get over it quickly. Just tell her when you get home, and deal with the fallout later.”
“You want me to do this alone?!” Sarah yelled, nearly spilling her coffee before regaining her composure and setting the cup down. “I’m not sure I can do that,” she said quietly.
“You can,” Alice reassured her. Closing the distance, Alice put her arms around Sarah and hugged her. “You’re stronger than you know, Sarah. She needs to hear it from you and then from me.”
Sarah hugged Alice back. “At least one of us is confident in me,” she said with a nervous laugh.
They separated, and Alice looked directly into Sarah’s eyes, “So what was that all about in the parking lot?” she asked.
Sarah laughed. “Not telling.”
“Stubborn girl,” Alice said.
“It’s hereditary,” Sarah retorted. “I get it from my grandmother.”