August 24th, 2027
On Concrete Shelves | Revisited
PART FOUR
Scene One; Stone Creek
Now Town; Stone Creek Memorial Hospital
Her lunch this morning with the girls was nice on paper though it felt like they completely cornered Marina. Daphne knows that Caitlyn meant well, but after having the conversation with her husband earlier and then finding herself drawn to this side of the hospital today, she knows they may have pushed a little too hard on Marina.
The woman looks up with bright eyes and moves over to Daphne. “There you are! I was hoping that I would run into you today!”
“Were you?” Daphne asks, she eyes the Latina with a curious gaze and then continues, “Mona, what are you doing here so late? I don’t normally see you for the evening shifts.”
Mona shrugs, then returns her hands to her side. “There’s a family I have been working with — their daughter has leukemia and I have been translating for them this entire week,” Mona begins to explain, “I was at home when the doctor pinged me about her current test results so I figured I would come help deliver the news.”
“That’s very kind of you.” Daphne replies.
“Thank you,” Mona says, her smile fades however and she continues, “the only thing is, is that the tests didn’t give us the results we were hoping for. So I really wanted to be here to help them start the process going forward. We started talking about Palliative Care.”
Daphne knows the pain the family must be going through. Having to start preparing for the end of care for a family member who they’re not ready to say goodbye to. “If there’s anything that I can do, I am here to help. I can only imagine having to look at one’s own child in this situation. Maybe I can look over some of the test results?”
“That’s sweet of you,” Mona replies cheerfully. “Though it may be best if they stick with one doctor unless the family insists on it themselves. Having multiple doctors coming in and out of the room can be daunting. Especially with them speaking very little English. It’s been really hard on the family, I have had to break down the prognosis as is.”
“I understand, again, if there’s anything that I can do. Just let me know. Even if it’s just partnering with the other doctor to come up with some at-home care? I have a few contacts I can reach out to especially since I have been back-and-forth with the nurses at Grady’s hospice.”
Mona sighs. “I remember when Mr. Grady was strong as an ox! That man was something else in his prime. When the boating accident happened and Corey fell into a coma it was he and Mrs. Penelope that really tried to translate everything for me. I was so lost. Trying to stay by his side the entire time.”
“The two of you have been through a lot.”
Daphne hugs Mona. “You’re an angel to these families.”
“Dear lord, I hope I can be.”
Daphne watches as Mona gets lost in thought and then re-directs her attention back to her. It’s not something that Daphne has seen her do before — it’s as if she thought of something and then decided against saying it.
But then Mona raises her body back up and opens her mouth. “I saw Greta today.”
“Oh did you?” Daphne asks.
Mona scrunches her face. “She must have not been in a great mood. I wasn’t going to bring it up but she was in a terrible mood. I’m a little worried for her. Maybe you can talk with her about it? I don’t know… but it had something to do with Corey.”
“She hasn’t said anything to me.” Daphne tenses.
Mona puts her hands up, and then waves them back to her side. “I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. I just think maybe she needs to work on her tone? Greta was very unpleasant with me when I tried to help her out. I just didn’t like the way she approached the topic.”
“Oh.” Daphne mouths. “I guess then I should reach out to my daughter and see if everything is alright. Knowing Greta I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it. She can get caught up in her emotions sometimes.”
“Happens to the best of us, right?” Mona chuckles. “I best be on my way then.”
Daphne nods her down and once she has the space to herself again, she thinks it over. Whatever has shaken Mona about Greta can’t possibly too serious. Although maybe she just has to investigate herself. She has other rounds to make at the hospital before she can call her daughter, so instead she decides to send out a quick text to see if Greta needs anything for Hattie’s recital tomorrow.
Scene Two; Stone Creek
Now Town; Creekside Elementary School
There’s a gentle breeze in the otherwise stale blazing heat. Iris Galloway-Thurlow finds herself in a busy hallway of the elementary school with children buzzing all-around her getting ready to either line-up for the bus or stand with the teacher’s aide who is in-charge of releasing the younger kids to their parents.
This is the line where she see’s a few of her students.
“Iris, dear,” Caitlyn Thurlow greets from across the hall, “you look so lovely today.”
“Thank you Caitlyn, are you picking up Eric?”
Caitlyn nods, looking around at all the other kids, “Kirsten has work tonight and Charlie won’t be back from the Inn in time. So Grandma Caite to the rescue!” She does her best strut and sighs heavily. “Though, I always get turned around in this place.”
Iris watches the older woman; tall, lean and her thick blonde hair falling over her shoulders in a relaxed frizz. Having Caitlyn as her mother-in-law gives Iris so much warmth as she wasn’t able to enjoy her adopted mother’s company enough before the cancer took her away from her family.
“I can help you find him.” Iris offers.
Caitlyn turns back to her. “That would be splendid!”
“I actually wanted to ask you something, but I’ve never got the chance,” Iris explains, “I think the last time we spent a moment together was last month at Kirsten’s birthday dinner. Although I think you had your hands full with Henry the entire time.”
Caitlyn smiles. “I’ve never met a child with so much energy! I really don’t know how Marina does it if I’m being honest.”
They begin their trek back into the school. If Iris knows anything about 6th graders then she assumes that Eric is towards the far-end of the school where the older kids playground is, probably playing tetherball or monkeying around near the soccer field.
“So what was it you wanted to ask?”
Iris turns towards the older woman as they walk. The summer’s heat doesn’t feel as hot under the canopy of the covered walkway; the breeze she felt earlier getting trapped within the corridor gives a bit of lift to her shorter hair.
“When you were searching for your daughter, Danielle,” Iris states with emphasis on the name, knowing that Caitlyn’s daughter was eventually adopted out and renamed to Emily Roscoe, “did you ever think about abandoning the search?”
A beat falls between the two of them before Caitlyn picks-up the conversation. “Well, I didn’t even know that she was alive until Damien revealed that to me. But after I found out that my daughter hadn’t died in the fire I went full speed ahead looking for her. When I found out that it was Emily I was so relieved! Though that was short-lived, wasn’t it?”
Iris recounts what had happened hours after the reveal that Emily was actually Danielle Evelyn Crenshaw. A man named Rodney Burnett murdered Emily trying to get to Daphne Wilkinson and her family.
“I didn’t mean to bring that up.” Iris says.
“That’s a nice way to think about it.”
“Thank you,” Caitlyn replies, she stops in the corridor at a crossroad and turns to Iris, “are you thinking about your birth parents? Is that why you’re asking me about Danielle?”
Iris nods. She feels so ashamed to be so frustrated with them. “Now that we have our little one on the way I just have this voice inside my head that wants more, but I don’t even know what that more is. Do I want a connection with them? Aunt Diem says I should consider it a blessing that I didn’t grow up with the Joplin’s… but,”
“I get it.” Caitlyn says. “I think it is only natural in your current state to be wanting at the very least answers as to why they went through with the closed adoption. Diem is really trying to protect you from the way she was raised from the sounds of it.”
“Just knowing that my birth parents are here in Stone Creek but that I’m not allowed to ‘search’ for them is wild. They really just handed me over and completely forgot that I existed. I can never imagine doing that to my own child… we are going through everything together this little one and I.”
Iris looks down at her stomach and smiles. “Maybe one day I will have those answers or maybe one day I’ll just have to fill-in the gaps on my own.”
“Does Diem know exactly who your parents are?” Caitlyn asks.
Iris looks up. “The information that Diem has isn’t clear. She only has the paperwork that I was able to give her and what little information the adoption agency was able to spare. The fact that she was able to track my birth records to her own family is pure luck for us! She thinks it could be one of her cousins, but she’s not completely certain.”
Caitlyn sighs. “They’re a tight-knit family, they keep their secrets tucked away quite nicely behind lawyers and politicians.”
A group of 6th graders go barreling past the two women in a fit of giggles and snippy banter. Iris scans them to make sure that Eric hadn’t passed by in the confusion and when she is sure he’s still at the playground they carry-on.
They both turn to see the pixie-cut bleach blond moving towards them at a fast-walk pace with her youngest daughter, Valerie, in-tow. “I was just picking up my little sixth grader. Making my way back to my car and then I saw the two of you from the corner of my eye and thought ‘let’s go have a chat’ its been awhile, hasn't it?”
“Not that long.” Iris musters.
Gail chuckles. “Long enough for that little bun in your oven to start rising! So glad to see you’re finally joining the momma club. Things are going to get a lot more stressful for you! Keep an eye on those little rascals like a hawk!”
“How are you Gail?” Caitlyn steps forward.
“I’m doing marvelous, Caite,” she nods at the eleven year old running their way, “looks like one of yours just came from the soccer fields. Just like a Thurlow — sweaty and on-time. I didn’t think that you would be picking Eric up… that’s becoming a thing, isn't it?”
Iris turns to Caitlyn who holds a smile. “You forgot the golden rule of this clan, Gail, we look out for one another. He has hardworking parents —“
“And a superhero grandmother.” Iris adds.
“Hey Val,” Eric greets as soon as he reaches the group of women.
Valerie Stone flashes him a smile and waves. “Hi Eric.”
The young boy turns to his grandmother, “I saw you from the field Grandma Caite! Can I go grab my backpack real fast?!”
“Of course, darling,” Caitlyn says as he zooms off once again, “I think we should all get going now Gail. Don’t you have another daughter to throw on your back?”
Gail frowns. “I’ll see you at the next council meeting, Caitlyn.”
Scene Three; Stone Creek
Sage Gardens; The Langford Willow Inn
If she passed out now, would she be the next Lacey?
The fact that Laurie grew up in Stone Creek around the Kettner family and was once a close friend to Lacey’s older sister, Hilary, made her stomach churn just thinking about what had happened to the younger woman. So going after her murderer was something that had given Laurie fuel in proving she was ready for the next level in her career.
She sends a quick text out to her partner, Miles, who went home a little earlier so that he could spend sometime with his family. She then crosses the road and stands in front of the Langford Willow Inn.
This building has also been a close friend of her’s growing up in Stone Creek. When Laurie was a teenager, she and Hilary had spent a lot of time on this side of town. Sometimes they would skip school and meet some of the neighboring Wolf’s Point boys here to split a bottle of cheap vodka until they were kicked out of the room the boys had rented. There was also the time when she spent the night out here crying with fellow outcast, Adrian Stone, and where she lost her virginity to him after her boyfriend broke her heart.
Laurie can’t believe she survived this place. Even more, she can’t believe that the motel was still standing and running of all things.
A cat plops onto the hood of her car, startling her.
The grey and white splattered coat was rough and patchy, which she gathered, had to have been from living life outside; the greenest eyes stared back at her. As if it was telling her little secrets that it had collected over the course of its life.
Laurie leans forward, begging the cat to tell her, if only telepathically.
Then that is when she see’s it. At first, a blur in the distance behind the cat and about fifteen feet ahead of her patrol car. Luckily for her, she’s parked on the side of the street covered mostly by a few bushes that have grown scraggly and untrimmed.
Adrian Stone appears outside of one of the rooms. He swiftly closes the door and makes his way down the outside corridor and manages to quickly move towards his older, rusted chevy truck. He looks around, and she ducks down, even though she is sure he can’t see her.
Then he’s in his truck and backing away from the motel entirely.
As if she had willed his existence just by thinking back on a memory. Laurie closes her eyes, not one to believe in witch craft or even Devine Intervention, but if she was able to will him here then maybe she could find some sort of clue about Lacey.
Once she opens her eyes she is stunned by what she see’s next.
Kirsten Thurlow Sutton exits the same motel room that Adrian had just exited moments earlier. Suddenly Laurie feels as if she needs to throw up. The first thought that enters her mind is that she once slept with Adrian here while he was dating Gail… and that can’t be a coincident. Especially since Kirsten and Adrian had always been flirty with each other — even as teenagers.
What to do with the information she had just stumbled across? Laurie has no idea.
She chews the inside of her mouth while processing the information. Laurie quickly exits her car just as Kirsten is approaching her own and with her hands upon her holster, Laurie speaks up, “What the hell are you doing here?”
Laurie can tell she has startled Kirsten.
“I’m not the one leaving a seedy motel room looking like a walk of shame, sweetie.” Laurie snips snidely. She takes the current moment of silence to fold her arms in front of her and close to her chest. “It looks like you might have some explaining to do.”
“I don’t have to explain anything to you!”
Laurie feels a fire within her that she cannot control. “Then maybe you’d like to explain it to your husband, Charlie,” she reaches for her phone in her back pocket and watches as Kirsten flinches, “I can give him a call right now. Maybe FaceTime him so he can see your face when you make up some stupid excuse…”
Kirsten moves forward, Laurie pulls away. “That got your attention.”
“I don’t understand how any of this is your business, Laurie.” Kirsten snips back. “Shouldn’t you be off saving puppies or sniffing Miles’ ass as he solves crimes? The last I heard you weren’t the brightest siren on the police force.”
Laurie giggles. “And yet I caught your ass! I saw Adrian leave that same motel room minutes before you emerged from it. Tell me why I shouldn’t tell your husband that you were alone in a motel room. I know you’ve been in love with Mr. Tall, Dark and Trailer Trash since middle school —”
“You’ve got it all wrong.” Kirsten softens.
Laure shakes her head. “No. I don’t think so.”
“Fine,” Kirsten gulps, “I’ll tell you everything.”
Our Love. Our Fights. Our Friendships.
On Concrete Shelves.
Forever, They Shall Be Remembered.
Scene Four; Stone Creek
Sage Gardens; Old Granger Manor
Most days she feels she has more energy to push through the last few hours of her day. But having witnessed her Aunt Patsy’s charades early today has just sucked the energy right out of her. Gillian places the junk mail onto a side table and peers out into the living room.
Before her, both her children have a slew of toys splayed out onto the large floor rug that sits in the middle of the room. She thinks about telling them to clean up the toys before dinner but then has second thoughts. Not everyone should have their good day ruined.
Her twins look up at her with excitement. Charlotte; the older of the two — by three minutes, looks up at her mother with her dark brown flowy hair covering her face, “we are playing princesses and the toad!”
“Yeah.” Phoenix; the younger of the two — by three minutes, replies unenthusiastically through a toothy frown.
“I get to be the poisonous toad!” Charlotte cheers.
Gillian thinks this information over and then shrugs, “okay, well you two have fun with that! I’m going to see what Tennille has cooking for us in the kitchen. It smells amazing so far!” Gillian states. She leaves her kids to their imagination.
“Tennille!” Gillian calls out, she thinks to remind their chef about her husband’s new diet restrictions. Though a few carbs won’t hurt him at this point. “Tennille!” She calls once again but stops short of entering the kitchen.
She can hear her husband humming one of his old-timey songs from the doorway. The fact that Damien made it home before her isn’t the strangest thing. He has done it more often than not, with her late nights helping her father plan for their business venture. But Damien didn’t even dismiss the nanny this time.
Gillian enters the kitchen and sees her husband in a grey collared shirt, jeans and an apron. He seems to be in the process of making their dinner — with no Tennille in sight. “What happened to our chef?”
“I dismissed her for the evening.” Damien replies.
He turns towards his wife with an accomplished smile.
“And you didn’t think to dismiss the nanny?” Gillian asks.
Damien shrugs. “The kids were having fun playing princesses with her. I didn’t want to interrupt them, besides it was easier to start cooking having them preoccupied with her and not running around the kitchen knocking into me.”
Gillian places the rest of the mail on a kitchen side table that usually collects keys and groceries. She can sense that something is off about tonight. Damien doesn’t usually cook after work unless his mind is still too preoccupied. It’s some weird voodoo ritual of his. So she knows by process of elimination that it has to do with work.
“What’s going on with you?” Gillian asks.
Damien begins prepping the side salad. “What do you mean?”
Gillian shakes her head. “No. We aren’t going to go circling around until one of us gives up or forgets completely. I know that something is bothering you because you’re in an apron, Damien. So spit it out.”
He sighs. Then stops preparing the salad. “Something is brewing in town.”
“Go on…”
“I can’t really explain it. It’s more of a hunch I have. The other day I was supposed to have a meeting with Greg from infrastructure but then before the meeting Leo said it was rescheduled due to scheduling. Greg never reschedules anything with me.”
“You’re sounding like a teenage girl who didn’t get picked first to prom.” Gillian counters.
“I think you’re just overworked.” Gillian moves over to her husband’s side and leans her head against his shoulder. She can smell the turkey lasagna baking in the oven. He is definitely stressed if he’s going straight to the carbs. “How about you leave the stress of work in the office and focus on something more uplifting? Like the charity gala coming up? You always love those things.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Damien responds. “I have everything lined up for the gala and the most important people are all going to be there. Including Greg from infrastructure.” He snarls. “Maybe I can corner him there and make him tell me what is going on.”
Gillian’s eyes bulge. “Remind me to tell Leo to stay by your side the entire time.”
“Then where will you be?” Damien turns to his wife.
She smiles, sweetly. “I will be by my father’s side. Because all of the most important and influential people will be at the gala — just like you said! So we will need to line our pockets with their money.”
“At a charity gala?” Damien asks.
Gillian shrugs. “What better charity to donate to than the revenge of the Sutton’s? We have a huge responsibility to this town and my dear aunt Kimberly and dude-ranch idiot of a cousin are fucking it royally!”
“Gillian! Honey. Please don’t mess up the charity gala for me.”
“Damien, we won’t, be serious,” Gillian scoots him over and starts cutting cucumbers for the salad. “We will stay in the background the entire time. Talking to the least amount of people and mainly just getting support for later — once we announce the trucking company. We will make sure that the majority of the money goes to charity… I promise.”
“Fine.” Damien reluctantly agrees.
“I need you to stop worrying so much about everything, that’s my job,” she says, slicing through the cucumbers while he gathers the last ingredients that they need, “Oh! One other thing before I forget. I need you to tell our daughter that the poisonous toad is probably the villain.”
Damien chuckles. “I think Charlotte knows that. I am pretty certain that our daughter knows the poisonous toad is the bad guy.”
Scene Five; Stone Creek
Wilder Springs Acres; Hidden Hills Horse Ranch
Marina Thurlow Bauer makes her way down a dirt path, she is fitted into a pair of Levi jeans, a lilac silk camisole with a flannel falling off her shoulders. Her son, Henry, follows close behind with the help of his babysitter, Tully.
Marina wouldn’t exactly call herself a ‘horse girl’ though she didn’t see anything wrong with it. She did, however, feel most at peace amongst the four legged animals. So once she was old enough to invest the time into caring for one she asked her parents if she could. They agreed on buying Marina a horse and for it to live here at the stables.
She named her horse Callie and she is a deaf, paint horse. It occurred to Marina that Callie was deaf early on and with the trainers help they have both overcome Callie’s handicap. Though it has been years since she has rode, Marina comes by every weekend to spent time with her old friend, now bringing Henry along with her.
The trio stop shy of the horse stables once they see a familiar face. “Daddy, what are you doing here?” Marina asks.
James Thurlow turns towards his daughter and smiles, he nods at Tully and leans down to level with Henry. “I guess we both had the same idea today.”
“How was the meeting?” Marina asks, even though she feels she may already know the answer.
He sighs. “We are still moving forward with the merger but we did hit a smaller unexpected snag that just needs to be wrinkled out. Which we are great at doing, so there’s no need to worry on that front.”
Marina studies her father. She has done this since she was a child. Just as she would study her horse, Callie, when Marina was here at the horse ranch. There’s an uneasiness to him now that she didn’t see in him earlier; there’s a weight that sits upon his shoulders that she can’t quite place.
She turns to Tully, “Can you take Henry inside to sit with Callie and Trish? I want to have a conversation with my father for a few minutes.”
“Of course. Come on Henry let’s go see our favorite girl.” Tully says, she takes Henry’s hand as he waves at his mother and grandfather and they start to make their way inside the horse stalls. “We will be waiting for you so we can feed Callie together.”
Marina smiles. “I’d like that, thanks.”
Then Marina turns to her father. “Alright old man, spill,” she says as she approaches him and stands by his side, “what has you all the way out here at the ranch?”
He chuckles. “I can’t sneak anything past you.”
“This is our thinking place. I know something’s up.”
There’s a beat between the duo. They peer out at the horse pin, a fence separating them from one of the trainers and a show horse known as Roxie. Marina places her head on her father’s shoulder and leans against the older man.
“Do you think the other company will change that?”
He sighs. “I think that they feel that they can.”
“So what now?” Marina asks.
“Now we just have to hope that they will hold up their end of the bargain. Because if I’m being quite honest with you right now darling, we have been bluffing on a lot of fronts financially. Thurlow Industries is still a powerhouse in the business world… but the world is changing and it is changing quickly.”
The words spook her.
Marina has seen the different variations of her father through the years; the young and strong father, the middle aged and newly divorced confident man, and now… this version had a shiver in his stance. He was aging and so was his strength,
“We are going to be just fine, daddy.” Marina says, if mostly to calm the chill she now feels going down her spine. “Our family will be just fine.”
She now ponders if maybe taking the job on the council is what Thurlow Industries needs to keep it moving forward, if not just for her family… but for the families that their company keeps employed.
Marina sighs. Looking out at the trainer and Roxie, moving as one united front.
Scene Six; Stone Creek
Now Town; HEAT Magazine
The atmosphere between the two of them has been stale. Helen has noticed that they’ve shifted into a very comfortable, albeit, aggravating distance. It unnerved her. Especially now that Gillian has basically moved herself into her husband’s study while they worked on their next business venture.
She walks through a set of double doors that leads out into an open area of windows that shine into the office spaces. Helen turns to her right and sees that Natalie is somehow still working in her office. Which is odd, since she thought that Natalie had gone home hours again.
Back-tracking through the double doors and back to where their office doors mirror one another, she knocks on her CFOs closed, locked entrance. If anyone were to be working late, it would be Helen herself.
Natalie appears at the door, seeming confused by the late night visitor. Her curls fall into her face, lips pursed and brows furrowed. “If everything okay?”
But she sees nothing.
“Helen,” this catches a nervous chuckle from Natalie, “seriously, what’s going on?”
“I don’t understand why you’re still here so late in the evening.” Helen admits, she pushes past Natalie and does a full turn in the room. “Have I not taught you anything after the years of shadowing me in this place? We don’t work long into the night unless there’s a fashion show the next morning or a man atop our desks.”
Natalie falls into a full on laugh now. “I just wanted to get a few things done before I left. I guess I lost track of time, that’s all.”
Helen motions to her watch. “Well then let me be your alarm clock! Dear, you’re going to make yourself sick staying in the office this late. Especially by yourself. I am grateful that you’re dedicated to your job but if you pass out dead in this office I will have to interview someone to replace you — and probably have to pay to get this place fumigated.”
Helen picks up on the shot, however, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Natalie sighs. “I was just going over the numbers and it seems that we’ve had to get a few of the gowns re-sewn over the course of some of the shoots —”
“Nope.” Helen shakes her head. Only moments ago she was rushing out of the office so that she could catch her husband before his nightly ear cleaning and now she was here in front of her CFO trying to get her to stop talking about budgets.
Helen reaches for her phone, clicks on an app and punches in an address. “This won’t do. I have already told you that we are not going to be talking about work this late in the evening and I meant every last word of that.”
“I just thought you would care.”
“Oh, I do care,” Helen replies, she looks up at Natalie with a broad smile. “I just don’t care about that right now. Tell me tomorrow about the seamstresses and the fat models. Tonight we are going to go have a few drinks and see if we can get Brian shirtless.”
“Brian from advertising?” Natalie chuckles. “Helen. He’s gay!”
Helen shrugs. “Then getting his shirt off won’t be so hard, now will it?”
Scene Seven; Stone Creek
Boulestridge Mountains; The Lakeside Inn
Amanda Tucker, wearing a pair of black cut-off denim shorts and a mock-neck corded tank moves expertly behind the bar serving each patron that calls for her attention. A second bartender is further down, and a bar-back between the two of them.
The space is quaint.
High-top tables littered through the room with a section sliced off, housing sofa’s and tables that face a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the lake. The sun has since started to wane and the darker tones of the sky have started to bounce off the lake leaving the overhead lights in the bar to illuminate the space.
Cree Summers makes her way through the main entrance. A satin blouse she purchased overseas in Paris layers over a mauve spaghetti strapped tank and a pair of dark jeans. Care Schmidt fumbles through behind her in too-tight heels and a summer dress.
Coming to the Lakeside Inn also meant guys from out of town would be guaranteed. A little bit of strings-unattached fun was on the menu tonight.
“Now what?” Care asks.
Cree sees Amanda in the distance. “Now we get our drinks and make one of these idiots pay for them. There’s got to be more money in this bar than anywhere else we’d be.”
“Not everything is about money.”
“Listen to your friend.” Amanda interrupts, she locks eyes with Cree. “I thought you said you were in Paris for a contract.”
Cree tilts her head and scrunches her face. “The contract is up. I’m back. And I’m thirsty!”
“Like I would ever serve you here.”
Cree groans. “Oh, come on! You can’t still be mad at me because of what I did to Bambi.”
“Bambi is my employer's daughter,” Amanda corrects, she then turns to Care, “are you still just following my idiot sister around like some sad puppy dog? She’s not a good person, Care. I thought you’d figure that out by now.”
Before Care can say anything, Cree moves in-between the two of them. “Mandy, please, I’m your sister. I thought you would at least forgive me for that already. I didn’t get you fired and look, they seem to have promoted you to head bitch-in-charge. That has to count for something, right?”
Amanda looks between the two of them before rolling her eyes. “Stay out of trouble.”
“I wouldn’t plan on getting kicked out of here. This is the only place with free booze.” Cree replies, dripping in sarcasm. “Now can we please get the free booze?”
Amanda turns away from the girls. They both turn to one another and Care speaks first. “Your real name is—.”
“Shut it!” Cree snaps. Then something catches her eye. She motions for Care to turn around casually to see what she sees. Standing near a hightop table in a small group is a taller man; dark smooth skin, wide shoulders, groomed beard and a smoldering look.
Care shakes her head. “That’s not a good idea.”
“Why not?” Cree turns back to her.
“Because. His name is Reid Maverick and he was born to a group of lawyers and politicians. If anything, Reid is the trouble that your sister warned us to stay out of!” Care says.
Cree can feel Care’s eyes glued on her just as she locks eyes with the mystery man himself. “I think we have our first catch.” She smiles criminally.
Scene Eight; Stone Creek
Boulestridge Mountains; Willow Glen Manor
She paces the living room. “I don’t want you to worry about me over here. I’m doing fine. I would just feel better if I was able to hear your voice. So. Please, whenever you get this voice mail. Call me back!”
beep.
Being dead wasn’t what it was cracked up to be.
So she thanks god for that miracle, at least. Then she moves to the mantle of the fireplace in the living room. The pictures of her family, her children liter the mantle. Pictures of varying sizes and frames. Shannon picks up one that holds a picture of herself and the kids when Imogene had started school. They were under a large tree and Imogene was in her school uniform, it was a cold afternoon and she can smell the harbor nearby.
Her cellphone goes off and she drops it. “Shit!” Shannon snaps, startled.
Looking down for her phone it illuminates at her feet on the floor face-up. Her first instinct is to leap down and answer it hoping that it would be her son, Aidan. But the name on the screen doesn’t confirm her hopes. Instead the name she reads causes her to pause.
Jon Stout.
Shannon takes a deep breath. The truth is she doesn’t know if she can answer his phone call and spend another few hours talking to this charming man and then hanging up the phone to feel completely alone once again.
It is bad enough that she already feels that way. The simple feeling of connection with him is feeling like agony as they spend most of their time apart from one another. Shannon knew what she was getting into by dating the U.S. Marshall that helped faked her death when she was on the run from her ex. husband, Mathias.
However, the feeling of never seeing him when she needed him was starting to feel heavier on her shoulders. The guilt of wanting him there with her, cuddled up on the couch — as opposed to out saving another soul from the dangers that Shannon had been in all those years ago.. weighed her shoulders down even more.
The phone goes to voicemail.
Then it lights up with a text message from the man. It takes her longer than she is willing to admit before her brain tells her body to lean down to pick-up the cellphone. But once it is in her grasp she immediately goes to the text message and reads it: we need to talk.
Shannon feels her heart sink.
A second text message comes through: this distance between the two of us is starting to weigh-in on things. I think we both know what needs to be done.
In her heart she knows that Jon is right. Something needs to change between the two of them. For so long they convinced themselves that they were grown adults and that they could deal with being apart for long amounts of time. But now she’s starting to doubt who she is as a person and her confidence in herself has begun to wane.
Shannon goes to reply to the text message but then decides against it. This conversation should be done over the phone, at the very least. She works up the courage to call Jon so that they could properly end things. But as soon as she goes to his contact number — she freezes in place. What if this isn’t the right choice?
Maybe she can go be with him? No. That wouldn’t work because she has already committed to staying in Stone Creek to help her family navigate the merger with SRQ Industries and with the news that they got today Shannon knows her being in town is top priority. They need all hands on deck now.
Shannon turns her attention back to the phone. Before she can hit the call button, however, her doorbell rings. So Shannon stops once again. Her phone, she places on the side table and looks up in the direction of the front entrance.
The doorbell rings once again.
She thinks of this as a sign and leaves her phone behind. Moving out of the room entirely and towards the foyer of the house. Shannon stands before the front door and sees the silhouette of a man standing out on the porch.
“I think we should have this conversation in person.” Jon states. “I’m sorry… I should’ve just rung the door bell instead of standing out here like an idiot and trying to surprise you with the phone call and the cryptic messages.”
Shannon is still in shock. Seeing the much taller man towering before her in the entrance of her home is overstimulating. The amount of emotions she has gone through in the few minutes that have passed has surpassed her brains capacity.
“Shannon,” Jon says, “I want to be here, beside you… for good.”
Scene Nine; Stone Creek
Boulestridge Mountains; The Lakeside Inn
“You’re moving a little fast, aren’t you,” Reid Maverick asks as they finish the round of shots that Cree orderer for the table. The trio of men and the duo of women have collided into one semi-awkward group.
Reid is in town for a business meeting it seems. Cree tries to recall where exactly he works, or even if he’s the owner of the tech business — not that either of those matter at this moment since all she sees is his family money now that Care spilled the beans.
Cree laughs at his words. “Please, we are just getting started. Aren’t we, Care?”
“Sure.” Care replies, wearily.
Reid turns to the shorter brunette. “Care, are you seriously telling me you can handle your liquor now? If I recall they used to call you two-sips, Sally, for a reason in High School.”
The brunette grumbles at the nickname. “I’m fine. I’m good. I got this.”
“Why don’t you go get us another round?” Cree blurts.
It’s the only thing that she can think of to get Care away from Reid. The moment they linked up as a group she could sense that there was something unsettled between the two of them. Which didn’t matter much to Cree as she always got her way.
“I don’t have my wallet, remember?” Care says.
Though Cree has already written her friend off. She starts up a conversation with Reid and one of the other guys about a boat that they said they rented for the weekend and tries to get herself an invite onto it.
So Care slinks off followed by the third guy.
“Shouldn’t you be watching your friend?” Reid analyzes.
Cree turns to see Care at the bar and the third guy edging closer to her body. Then she turns back to Reid. “Care is a big girl she can take care of herself. Besides are you implying that you keep bad company?”
Reid stares her down and then shakes his head. “Fair point.”
“So about this boat.” Cree smirks.
Further down towards the entrance of the bar stands two women; Helen Tyree Sutton and Natalie Marlowe. The driver dropped them off about ten minutes ago and it appears to have been just on-time to catch the scene before them.
“Should we interrupt?” Natalie asks.
But Helen shakes her head. “Let that little bitch get her karma tonight. We can deal with her tomorrow when she’s living with her regret. Besides,” Helen turns towards Natalie, “tonight we are celebrating another successful day as the best businesswomen in the world.”
“Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself?”
Helen turns to Natalie. “Fuck no. Let’s go grab us some drinks and see which one of these arrogant assholes buys us our second round, first.”
Natalie taps Helen on the shoulder. “That sounds like a plan to me.”
Scene Ten; Stone Creek
Sage Gardens; Old Granger Manor
Still. Catalina knows that in her truest heart she was unhappy with that lifestyle. There was a constant dread that Peter would find out that she was only sleeping with him to get information back to Patrick. The double-crossing wasn’t exactly new to Catalina. She had worked her way up from nothing in order to provide for herself and her younger sister their entire lives. Though, now with the current outcome, that didn’t do them all that much long-term.
A knock at the door and a reach for the doorbell later, Patrick stands before her in a fitted burgundy polo and khaki shorts. “I didn’t have you pegged down for a visit today.”
His way with words has always been horrible, this much she remembers.
“I need your help.” Catalina starts. She drops her eyes to her black tight-fitting tank-top and maxi skirt combo. “You can’t tell me no this time, either.”
Patrick smirks duly, “No.”
Then he proceeds to close the door. Catalina’s combat boot stops the action. “This isn’t about us, Patrick. This is about your great-grandfather’s company. It’s really important that I come inside so that we can talk about it.”
The older man leans forward. “No. Means no, Catalina.”
“Your nephew doesn’t have control over the business like he thinks he has.” Catalina says. It’s information that she hands over freely. Now that she hears the words herself, however, she feels that she may have shared too much.
“My nephew isn’t smart enough to have control over his own dick, let alone my great-grandfather’s company,” Patrick replies, “do you think leading with that was going to get me to fall over and let you fuck me again?”
Catalina scoffs. “You liked it so much the first time.”
“Even still, it got me nowhere.”
“It got you a whole lot closer than you actually think that it did, Patty.” Catalina says, playfully. She now knows that her turning on him hurt Patrick more than he had initially let on. The way she had seen it, he was playing her as well. Like she was collateral damage. Now she sees that was wrong. Maybe he still had some feelings towards her.
Catalina sighs. “Can we just talk about everything?”
“What is there to actually talk about?”
“The way I see it Patrick you don’t have a business plan right now. I have the ability to get you back into the fold. Nobody knows about it yet and if we play our cards right nobody will ever know about it. I can get S.E. back into the right hands just like it was before.”
The stillness of the evening unnerves Catalina. Just hours ago there was a breeze that helped ease her nerves. But now the breeze had just been a passerby and the summer heat began to settle back into Stone Creek.
Waiting for Patrick to give her a response didn’t help the beads of sweat forming on her upper lip. Catalina does her best to seem unnerved.
“We can still work together.” Catalina urges.
Patrick shakes his head. He places a hand on the doorframe and nudges her out of the way with the other hand. “It’s a shame that things went the way that they did because I liked the feeling of you underneath me very much.”
Catalina feels the gush of wind as the door flams in her face. She gulps back the feeling of defeat and turns on her heel. Shaking a tear from her eye she now knows what has to happen next. It doesn’t make her feel any better, either. Truthfully, she would much rather be under Patrick’s thumb than to be in bed with someone like Lindy.
These are just the cards she has been dealt.
On Concrete Shelves
Revisited
Next Time, On Concrete Shelves...
- Vinessa Torsney has a meeting with James Thurlow that could bring the merger with SRQ Industries to a sudden halt. He will have to make a decision that could jeopardize the relationship with one of his family members.
- After taking a week to think about her decision, Marina Thurlow Bauer confronts her step-mother, Caitlyn Thurlow, and comes to a final decision on where she wants her future to lead.
- Gillian Sutton Crenshaw has a run-in with Taylor Thurlow-Kern when she goes to the Lakeside Inn to speak with her brother, Charlie Sutton about the future of the family empire...
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