C.J. Carmichael - A Little Secret between Friends

Lara stopped to give him a hug on her way out the door. “I love you, Armani.”

Following their morning routine, Sally dropped her daughter off at school, then headed for her downtown office. During this part of the drive she usually turned off the radio station her daughter liked to listen to and focused on the day ahead of her.

But today she couldn’t concentrate on her morning appointments.

Colin Foster. She’d done her best not to think of him since he’d left her house on Saturday morning, about half an hour before Lara was scheduled to come home. She didn’t want to remember how unexpectedly kind and gentle he’d been with her.

Oh, she’d seen him that way with Beth, especially in the later stages of the cancer. But Sally had never expected to experience such treatment herself.

Or to enjoy it so much.

Poor Colin must have had very little sleep on Friday night. He’d checked on her several times, and once she’d woken to see him sprawled out in the chair in her room. Their glances had connected across the quiet bedroom, then she’d pretended to fall back asleep again.

In the morning he’d made her breakfast. Boiled eggs and coffee and lightly browned toast. They’d shared the weekend paper, reading out snippets of interesting facts to each other.

He’d fussed over her a little, but not too much. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had taken care of her that way. Probably her Mom when Sally had the chicken pox in grade six.

Don’t be so nice to me, she’d longed to say to him. Colin Foster was easy to handle when he was acting arrogant and overconfident. This other side of him put her off balance.

Determinedly, Sally blocked the mental image of Colin at her breakfast table from her mind. Her life was complicated enough without her searching for more things to worry about.

With a sigh, she turned the radio back on, and was accosted by a mechanical beat and repetitive rap lyrics. Heavens, why did Lara like this stuff?

SALLY’S FIRST APPOINTMENT of the day was with Pamela Moore, a woman in her early thirties who was having problems with her ex-husband, Rick. According to the terms of their divorce settlement, Rick was supposed to pay just over eight hundred dollars a month in child support. He hadn’t done so for the past four months.

As she sipped her first coffee of the day, Sally thumbed through the Moore’s thick file. Ninety-nine percent of her clients were just that—people she was hired to represent. But Pam was different.

She’d first become aware of Pam’s difficult situation when she’d been volunteering her legal services at the Women’s Emergency Shelter. Pam had shown up with bruises distorting her facial features, but it didn’t take long for the two women to realize they knew each other.

They’d both grown up in Medicine Hat, a medium-size city about three hours southeast of Calgary. Pam’s family had been regulars at Sally’s parents’ café. On a couple of occasions, Sally had babysat for Pam and her two younger brothers.

So Pam wasn’t just a client, and while Sally fought hard for all her clients, for Pam she pulled out all the stops. She wanted the younger woman and her two children to have a future far better than what they’d experienced so far.

But Pam’s ex-husband seemed equally determined not to let that happen. He’d battled Pam on every step of her attempt to leave him and regain control of her life. Most inexcusable to Sally, throughout the entire struggle, he’d shown little interest in their children. And even less interest in contributing toward their financial support.

Rick’s main goal was winning Pam back. Twice he’d convinced her to try a reconciliation. On both occasions, Pam had ended up at the shelter with a few more bruises and an even more battered self-esteem.

Sally asked her why she kept giving him more chances.

“He’s the father of my children. And you don’t know the pressure he’s under. He runs his own business. He has to work so hard.”

Sometimes Sally was tempted to say, “I’m a businesswoman, too. I’m under a lot of pressure. But it would never occur to me to beat someone up because of it.” Of course, she never actually said this. Pam was smart enough to understand it wasn’t so much Sally, as herself, that she was trying to convince.

Eventually a late-night visit to Emergency to treat her broken arm had convinced Pamela to leave Rick for good. The divorce had been ugly. Despite a restraining order against him, Rick still found ways to inject misery into Pamela’s life.

Sally had just reviewed the last of the documentation in the file, when Evelyn at the front desk gave her a buzz.

“Pamela Moore to see you, Ms. Stowe.”

“Thanks. Tell her I’ll be right there.”

Though one of the younger partners at the firm, Sally had a coveted outer office with a mountain view. Early in her career she’d caught the attention of senior partner Gerald Thornton. “I like the way you think,” he’d told her. “More than that, I like the way you never give up.”

Gerald’s opinions carried a lot of weight, not only in the firm, but also in the legal community at large. It was through his connections that she’d wound up president of the Law Society of Alberta, a position that had enabled her to meet many of the province’s most influential high fliers.

Gerald was also behind the current push to get her into the Court of Queen’s Bench. As she passed by his big corner office, Sally remembered he was out of town on business this week. He’d asked her to cover in court for him later this afternoon.

In the reception area she found Pam perched on the edge of a chair, flipping through People. She tossed the magazine to the table and jumped to her feet when she saw Sally.

“I’m on a break,” she said. “I only have fifteen minutes.”

Sally had pulled strings to get Pam an office job at the courthouse, which unfortunately didn’t pay that much, but it was a start. Since black jeans were the dressiest item in Pam’s closet, she’d also given the young mother some suits she rarely wore and money for tailoring. Pam was wearing the green linen today.

“You look good, Pam.”

“I feel good. If only Rick—”

“I know. Come on, let’s talk.” Sally put a hand on her arm and ushered Pam to her office. When Pam was seated and the door closed, she quickly turned to business.

“What is Rick up to this time?” The fact that Rick owned his own business had made collecting child support a challenge from the beginning. They couldn’t request that his employer deduct the money straight from his salary, because he had no employer. Then he’d tried some accounting tricks—officially reducing his salary to a nominal amount while allowing funds to accumulate in the business.

Pam had gone to Maintenance Enforcement for help and they’d put a hold on his driving privileges in order to force him to meet his responsibilities to his children.

And now—

“The bastard sold his business. Just to spite me, I’m sure.”

“But how is he supporting himself?” Rick rented a posh condo in trendy downtown Eau Claire. And he had an extravagant lifestyle to go with it.

“He let the apartment go and moved in with his mother.”

“You’re kidding!”

“He says there’s no sense working when half his money goes to taxes and the rest to me.”

“As if. What is wrong with the man? He’s cramping his own lifestyle as well as yours.”

“When it comes to hurting me, Rick has always been willing to go that extra mile.”

“Surely he won’t keep this up for long. A man like Rick can’t be happy living with his mother. Not working.”

“He’s taking computer classes at SAIT. Claims he wants to open a new computer service business when he’s done. I can’t afford to wait him out, Sally. I’m behind on my own rent now. I could barely scrape together the money for Tabby’s antibiotics when she got an ear infection last week. I’ve asked my parents for help—again—but I can’t keep putting them in this situation.”