Stone Creek
Now Town; Stone Creek Memorial Hospital
Sienna, who is leaning over the counter talking with a couple of the other nurses, turns to Jane with a confused look on her face. “I stitched him up and then he said he needed to leave. So he grabbed his things and left.”
“Did you at least make sure he was okay to be discharged?”
“Of course I did. I made him sign that form, too, just to make sure I wouldn’t lose my job.” Sienna responds. “Did you want to talk with him? You didn’t say anything… I figured you were fine with me letting him leave.”
Instead, Jane moved through the halls and exited the emergency room and into the main hospital. She was going to check-in on him before she headed to the cafeteria for a quick break, however, that just means she has more time to enjoy some sustenance. That was until she spotted her mother across the hall from her.
“Mija!” Ramona Wilkinson calls out. The older woman, dressed in a long black knit skirt and a flowy white blouse, has on a pair of clunky clogs that muffle her voice, but her nasally tone is unmistakable. “I’m glad I ran into you.”
Ramona pulls her daughter in for a tight hug. “Did you get my message about dinner tonight? I was tinking of making your favorite dish, tortilla española.”
“That’s not my favorite dish anymore, mamí.” Jane says, more for those listening in on their conversation in the hallway, than to her mother. “I’m sorry I haven’t replied to your message. I just got caught up in the ER.”
“I understand, mija. You don’t know how much prouder I am that you are working so close to me. It gives me so much comfort to have you here in the hospital.” Ramona says, “spending time with the families here makes me feel so lucky that our family is financially secure and healthy.”
Jane nods her head in agreement. “Actually, it is nice that I have you here.”
Ramona tilts her head. “Qué pasa, cariño?”
“It’s actually something about dad.” Jane says, in more of a hush sound. She looks over her shoulder and guides her mother to a pair of chairs tucked into the corner of the hallway. “I wanted to ask you something more about his line of work.”
It takes Ramona some time to respond. Which means that she is really thinking about what information to bring into the conversation. She has never known her mother to be silent for so long, especially within social interactions.
“Jane, mija, I think maybe this isn’t the type of conversation you want to be having in the hospital. This is not the place for this.”
“I wouldn’t bring it up if it wasn’t important.”
“Do you even know what he does for work?”
This gets a heavy sigh from her mother in protest. “What your father does is none of my business, but yes, I know what he does for work. I think you need to trust him better. You know your father, he would never put us in harms way.”
“I don’t doubt that. But I still can’t shake what he did to Greta.”
“He didn’t do nothing.” Ramona snips.
This time Jane protests. “What he did to Greta was not nothing. Do you understand the scope of what he did to her? Mamí, Greta could lose her entire business because he stole —.”
“Cállate! He stole nada.” Ramona snips, hushed. “Your father only wants what is best for his family. Nada más. You need to respect him for that. What happened with Greta was unfortunate, but she will survive.”
“That’s not how you treat family.”
Ramona pulls Jane close. “This. Here. Aquí. This is your family. I love the Wilkinson’s like family, but they’re not my blood. You need to remember that your father will always do what is best for us and you need to be grateful of that.”
She composes herself. “I should get back to my clients. They need me right now.” Ramona says, lifting herself up from her chair and beckoning Jane for a hug goodbye.
“I will see you tonight for dinner.”
Stone Creek
Granger Grove Gated Community; Thurlow Residence
From inside the house, Marina watches them closely from her seat near the large sliding glass doors of the main living room. She tries to keep her attention on Iris and Emmet as they open presents, but there’s this feeling at the bottom of her stomach that aches; if she looks away will he somehow escape the confines of the backyard? It’s absurd but in her mind it’s not impossible.
“You are going to love this one,” Diem Joplin’s voice breaks Marina’s concentration and she returns her attention to the presentation in the living room. Diem is handing over a large party bag, it’s contents is what seems like a postpartum kit. “This blanket is weighted, so that after the twins are born — and I come over to watch them, you can get some much needed rest.”
Iris rubs her belly. “Thank you. I am sure that I will need just that.”
“Thank you, Diem.” Emmet echoes.
Diem eyes Emmet and pulls another item out of the bag. “I know this isn’t the most ethical, and James may not agree with me getting you this… but we here have a long history of following tradition, so I thought…” Diem pulls out a small wooden box, inside are two cigars. “How could I say no to tradition?”
This garners a laugh from the entire room.
James shaking his head, responds, “I think you should refrain from lighting either of those, especially after the babies are born.”
“Oh, come on, James, you used to be fun.” Gideon Wilkinson chuckles, getting a shoulder rub from his wife, Daphne.
“That’s the key word; used to be.” Diem teases.
But Caitlyn bites back playfully, “the two of you are always picking fights. My husband is plenty fun, but you wouldn’t know about that.”
“I think we should open the next present.” Emmet clears his throat. “Thank you, Diem, it’s a thoughtful gift.”
——————
Across the room, and further away from everyone else, Kirsten sits alongside her sometimes friend, Greta. The two haven’t really spoken much, other than the pleasantries of day-to-day life. Though now, with her mood she doesn’t know exactly how much they’d have to converse about.
“You look peeved.”
Kirsten turns to Greta with a furrow of her brow. “Nice wording, Shakespeare.”
She cracks a smile. “I’m not jealous of my brother and his wife.”
“Then what’s going on?”
The blonde takes a look around the room, she lingers on her mother standing against the kitchen counter with a glass of chardonnay in her perfectly manicured hands. If nothing else, at least Helen was occupied, so Kirsten felt safe enough to speak. “We found out some news.”
“Good, I hope.”
This causes Kirsten to pause as she ponders the question. Her thoughts are minimal at best, she doesn’t even know if she should share the news with Greta. The only solace is that she’s never known Greta to betray her trust, and she’s the closest thing to a friend — other than the friend that put her in this position to begin with.
“I’m pregnant. We are, that is,” Kirsten tilts her head towards the backyard where her husband keeps the children occupied with Eric’s soccer ball. “I still don’t know if it is good news.”
“How far along?” Greta asks, there’s a slight tinge of concern in the question.
Kirsten pauses once more. “Far enough to still have an abortion.”
“Would you?” Her tone lower, a hush of sound as Emmet and Iris can be heard in unison thanking Greta’s parents for their gift. “I mean, is that still on the table?”
“Charlie is excited about it.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“We are keeping it. We just want to wait until all of this hoopla is over with before we make the official announcement.” Kirsten motions towards her brother and the big, goofy smile on his face. “But to tell you the truth, it feels like I have been walking on eggshells for months.”
“How so?” Greta frowns.
Kirsten catches herself with Adrian’s name on her lips. Quickly, she sucks it back in and tucks it away, retrieving something else that has been on her mind as well. “I’m not exactly young.”
“Ah.” Greta replies, she clicks her teeth, sucking in with her tongue. “Did your OB/GYN tell you that? Or is that something that you read somewhere? I mean, sure, we’re not young anymore, that much is true. But you’re at risk just as much by getting behind the wheel of a car these days.”
“I shouldn’t have even brought it up.” Kirsten retorts.
“It’s fine,” Greta says as the group begin clapping as the last gift is showcased to the crowd gathered around the duo near the fireplace. Greta brings herself to do the same, but keeps her eyes trained on Kirsten. “If you need anything, swing by the office. I’ll probably be there for the foreseeable future.”
“I might take you up on that.”
Stone Creek
Now Town; Sutton Enterprises
A light knock on her door barely snaps her away from her office computer. Once she see’s Javi Castillo in the doorway she feels the tension in her body release itself. The commotions coming from the base floor of the loading docks tells Catalina that the day is coming to an end. She only hopes the headache that has sat itself squarely between her eyes decides to come to the same conclusion.
“I thought I would come remind you to clock out for the day,” Javi says, the gentle tone of a concerned brother figure brings clarity to her mind. “No lloran al servicio por matarse a trabajar.”
He shrugs. “They tell us what to do, we do it, they pay us. To them, we are the help, Tali. You would do yourself a favor to remember that part.”
“What I am doing is making sure that everyone in my department gets paid and their families get fed. Nada menos, nada más.” She sighs heavily, returning her attention back to her computer. “If it makes you feel any better I think I may have located the reason for the missing cartons.”
“No,” Javi sits down across from her. She can smell his cologne through the sweat of the day, a rich, musky fragrance. It almost perks her up, yet she reminds herself of the conversation she had with Peter the other day. Besides, she has always seen Javi more as a brother than anything else.
Javi continues his sentence, “what would make me feel better is if you decide to clock out for the day like the rest of us and go home. Maybe go have a beer with your coworkers, grab some tacos, carne asade, something other than starving yourself in this office waiting for sénior Peter to call you up.”
She tries to not show it, but she feels her bod
y twitch at the mention of his name. Her body warms a little, her cheeks turn violet. “I think you have the wrong idea.”
“No es asunto tuyo.”
“It’s my business when you flaunt it around.” Javi snips.
There’s no going back now. When Catalina was younger she always despised the girl who used her body to get what she wanted, it felt like a disadvantaged trade. Then she lost her sister. Then she lost her job, and got caught up in the feud between Patrick and Kimberly Sutton…
Now, she has found herself caught-up in this game between Lindy, and Peter and his aunt, Kimberly. She thinks back to the proposition from Lindy and then when Patrick slammed the door in her face. This time, Catalina was going to change the narrative, this much she was sure of.
There’s a crisp silence between the two of them. So she tries to fill it before Javi says something else just as isolating. “I am trying to make sure that we get our piece of the pie, Javi. This has nothing to do with Peter.”
“Even if it isn’t, it always will be.”
“You have the wrong idea here. I want you to know that what goes on between Peter and I has nothing to do with me getting caught in some web of his.” Catalina smirks at Javi. “I have a plan for everything, okay? I know what I am getting into.”
Javi leans backwards in his seat. “I hope that you do.”
“No te preocupes por mí.”
He purses his lips. “I will always worry about you.”
—————
“I thought I would find you here.” Kimberly Sutton says, leaning against his doorframe, she is outfitted in a pink Balmain buttoned front midi dress with pointed black heels. Something that cost more than his assistant’s paycheck — for two months, at the least.
Peter turns to his aunt. “Where else would I be these days?”
“Well,” Kimberly purrs, entering the room and in one of the daintiest of ways, finds herself near his desk, she continues, “I guess that’s true. No one in this office has seen you anywhere else. I hear you work, eat and fuck in here.”
This gets a dramatic scowl from Peter. “I think you need to grow up.”
“That makes two of us, it seems.”
“You’re the one that told me to bring Catalina back into the fold, aunt Kimberly.” He says, waving a hand in the air. “I would say that she is more than back into the fold. Which is exactly what we wanted, correct?”
“Still, you need to be careful about where you put your penis.”
“If someone had told grandfather that sage advice you wouldn’t be here.”
She chuckles in amusement. “Have I struck a cord, nephew?”
“I’m just wondering what exactly you’re doing in my office right before I leave for the day? If there was something else you would like to discuss I would assume I would have received an email from your assistant?”
“Catalina didn’t betray us.”
“Even still.” Kimberly shoots laser’s into his eyes. He can feel her trying to read his thoughts in the blood hungry way she does to clients. “Are you aware of how it seems from the outside? I thought I made myself clear that you bring her back into the fold, I never said to fall in love with her.”
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Kimberly waves a finger in his face. “You see, there is no leverage when you fall in love, dear nephew, and we have worked so hard to make sure that we have leverage. So I need you to start thinking with her head… not your penis.”
“You don’t have to worry about Catalina.” Peter assures her. “After today, we will finally be able to figure out what exactly Lindy is trying to do with grandfather’s company. There is nothing that Catalina is going to keep from me now that I have gained her full trust.”
“Good. Now exploit her.”
Stone Creek
Granger Grove Gated Community; Thurlow Residence
Her son, Eric, has gone to the backyard to grab his soccer ball, and her husband, Charlie, is in the kitchen chatting with Caitlyn. So, this is Kirsten’s chance to win Iris over after the stunt she pulled earlier.
“I wanted to say sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean any harm, Iris.”
The words seem to land, but Iris shifts her weight to her right side and leans. “I don’t think that’s true.” Iris manages to squeak out.
“What do you mean?”
“Like I said—.”
“I know what you said.” Iris remarks. “I just don’t buy it. Something has been off about you today, and I can’t put a finger on it. But going after me in that kitchen just didn’t feel right, and now you’re trying to apologize to me about it… I know something is off with you, something is bothering you…”
“I’m fine.” Kirsten snips.
It feels like a wire, a thin, clear, wire being pulled ever so slightly… it feels as if everything within her will come tumbling out if someone were to pull it. Her eyes dart to Iris, and she locks eyes with her. The invisible string is in her sister-in-law’s grasp, and she’s doing everything within her power to keep Iris from pulling it.
“I just wanted to apologize.”
“I think you need to apologize to my husband, not me.” Iris eyes her.
“What for?”
“That, I’m not exactly sure about.” Iris shifts back onto her left foot, the weight of the twins keeps her body tense, this much Kirsten can gather. But after Iris is able to steady herself, she looks back up at Kirsten. “Emmet has been stressed between the twins due date approaching and the merger with SRQ… I can’t blame him. Today was supposed to be our day to just relax and not think about anything negative and then you bring up my parents… it felt more like you were trying to put the spotlight on me for some reason and everyone fell right into it.”
Iris has always been a preceptive one, she will give her that. Any minute now either her son or her husband will join them in the hallway, so she knows she has to be quick with the information… “I… I’m pregnant.”
“Oh.”
The last sentence sends Iris backwards. “That seems like an odd thing to keep from them.”
“I don’t want to worry them, yet.”
“Again, I don’t understand what is going on? Shouldn’t you be excited about this?” Iris asks in curiosity, there’s a tinge of innocence in her eyes that Kirsten has seen many times before. It is endearing, if not also exhausting. “Is everything alright with the baby?”
Iris finally moves forward, but this time Kirsten retreats instinctively. “Everything is fine, at least that is what Dr. Roberts says. Can we not talk about this here? I sort of wanted to apologize to you for earlier and then just duck out of here…”
“Right.” Iris nods, she stands up as straight as her body will allow. “I should get back to the remaining guests. We will have to continue this conversation another time, then… I’m still so confused.”
“Sure, yeah, let’s do that.” Kirsten offers.
Stone Creek
Somewhere in the heart of Now Town
When Catalina was a child, she had a tia named Maria de la Ascensión. Maria strictly forbid anyone from shortening her name in any way. She often told Catalina she had two paths in life; to be proud of her identity, or, to remain out of the way of those who were proud of theirs.
Maria de la Ascensión instilled a sense of fear in Catalina.
She passed away from cancer when Catalina was ten years old, and Catalina was terrified to see her coffin. As she grew older, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was always watching her, creeping into her nightmares and influencing her life choices.
Staring into Lindy Llewellyn Yu’s eyes felt like Catalina was once again a young girl, facing Maria de la Ascensión, as she spoke to her.
“There’s not too much to tell right know.” Catalina says, she finds herself on the edge of her seat, hoping that Lindy doesn’t question her any further.
But there’s a tension in the room, and it has been awhile since Catalina has told her anything useful about Peter, or his flighty aunt, Kimberly. So she loads a second chamber just in case Lindy asks another question.
A man stands behind her, to the right. Catalina knows that she has seen him before, but she cannot pin exactly where from. He’s tall, a burly, bearded man with dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He’s caught her looking at him twice, so she avert her eyes as to not make a lasting impression.
Lindy leans forward. “So then why have I invited you here, tonight? If you have nothing to say, then maybe I should find someone who does.”
“I just mean —.”
“I don’t care what you mean to say.”
This destabilizes Catalina completely.
“You know, Catalina,” Lindy says, her words feel sleek, “I thought we had an understanding. I came to you, because I see a lot of myself in you. We come from similar upbringings… I want to show you a different side of the… how do you say it, coin, no?”
Catalina nods. “I know.”
“Then, tell me, what is going on?”
She wrestles with what is left of her morality. “There is something that I stumbled across, actually. Although, I don’t know what it has to do with both Peter and his aunt if I’m being truthful.”
“What is it?” Lindy hangs on the words.
“Cartons are missing.” Catalina says, “It could be nothing…”
“No, no,” Lindy beckons the information forward.
“Do you think he’s hiding something?”
“I’m not sure.”
Lindy leans all the way back in her chair, a distant look in her face, and then almost at once locks eyes on Catalina with a smile. “Then it’s settled. That is your sole mission. Let’s see what was in those cartons.”
A hidden turmoil begins to set in. There’s no way of protesting to Lindy about this newfound mission. It’s already set in motion by the other woman. So she knows that she must find an answer for Lindy.
Somehow, in her own self reflection, Catalina missed the moment when the mysterious man stepped towards Lindy and took an item from her. It doesn’t take him long to stand in-front of Catalina and hand her an item: a usb stick.
“Bring that back to me with the information about those cartons. I think it is time that we find out what exactly those two are up too.” The words coming from Lindy’s mouth should feel comforting, but there’s a tingling going through Catalina’s spine that sets her off from it completely.
Catalina takes a deep breath, and then takes the item from the man.
On Concrete Shelves
Revisited
Next Time, On Concrete Shelves….
- Set on a new mission, Catalina Cortez enlists a new ally in order to complete the task given to her by Lindy Lewellyn Yu. But will this be her undoing? Or will she be able to set her feelings aside for Peter and help Lindy take the Sutton’s down?
- As the Annual Charity Gala gets closer, Gail Schmidt Stone, tries to weasel her way between Damien Crenshaw, and the watchful eye of his ex. wife, Caitlyn Thurlow. Will she be able to tip the scales with the Founder’s Council to get her way? Or does Caitlyn have her head above water?
- At the beckoning of his aunt, Kimberly Sutton, Peter is cornered into making a decision that could put him at odds with the woman that he claims to love. Can he bring himself to go through with their plan?\
- Violet Stone has felt at odds with her best friend, Tallulah Joplin, since they initially agreed to figure out what her father, Adrian Stone, has been hiding. She doesn’t know if she should confront the much wiser, Tully, or to just turn around and run from their friendship…
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