It's Not About You (23 page)

Last time I did that I think I was five.
 

Kyle pulled me to him and with his arm over my shoulder, guided me to his car. "I'll drive. We can come back here to get your car later."
 

"I (gasp)…was gonna get (gasp)…a movie."
 

"Screw that. I'll order a pizza and we'll watching something on Netflix."
 

I was never going to be able to go to that Redbox again.
 

Getting home made me feel a lot better. One of the things we'd invested in was a security system, so I knew Burt couldn't break in. And he no longer had a working key. But Kyle wanted to be sure so he went through every inch of the house until he was sure no one else was there.
 

I took a shower while he ordered delivery, opened a bottle of wine and a Coke and set everything up on the coffee table. Within an hour we were cuddled up on the couch enjoying the 3
rd
Season of
Sherlock
. Took my mind off of things. And it also calmed me down.
 

The episodes are 90 minutes and there are only 3 per season. Once it was done, he flipped the channel to some sitcom I never watch and turned to face me. "Now tell me everything that happened."
 

I shrugged. "Nothing. Other than he surprised me. He was as close as you are to me right now." I went over the few words we exchanged and stopped where he arrived.
 

"You think he really wants to talk?"
 

"He wants to talk on his terms, and what that means is he's got an idea and you're supposed to agree with him. And the moment you don't, you become the enemy."

"He won't even sit down with a mediator?"

"No we tried that, remember? He called the mediator names the moment he didn't agree with what Burt wanted. Did the same thing when we went to see a marriage counselor."
 

Kyle chuckled. "You got him to see a counselor? Isn't that admitting he needed help?"

He went. After ten minutes she wanted to set up appointments alone with him. When he asked why, she told him she believed he had preconceived notions in his head of what a marriage is supposed to be, only he wasn't communicating to the one person he should as to what those notions were. So he was in essence, setting his wife up to fail."
 

"What did he do?"

"Got up and left, started that whole muttering under his breath that she was a quack and he wasn't going to go back to her. And we never did. But she was right." I leaned my head on the back of the couch, my feet propped up on the coffee table. I was full and feeling a bit bruised. "He's the big picture of narcissism. But he never sees it."
 

"People like him never will either. He's going to always think he's right and the world is wrong. Even though in most instances he's the common denominator." Kyle ruffled my hair. "Heard from Michael?"
 

I frowned. "Come to think of it, no." I got up and went in search of my purse. I found it near the door and dug my phone out of it. There were 25 unknown caller calls but nothing from Michael. It was after nine. "How long does it take to get to Oregon?"

"Oh from here? Depends on a straight flight. If it is, then it's about 5 hours, but if he had to change plans then it'll be closer to 7 hours."
 

Truth was I didn't know what time his flight left. Nor did I know if he left Sunday night, yesterday or today.

"You don't know the number?"

"No. I didn't ask. We were talking about Thanksgiving." I showed him the missed calls. "Give you one guess who that is."
 

He took the phone and typed the phone into his search app on his phone. "Unknown. Probably a prepaid."
 

"Cause he knows I won't answer him otherwise. He's blocked."

"He can't show up like that on Thursday."
 

"I know. But Kevin didn't call me back either. I guess I'm going to have to call the actual police station and let them know."
 

"Do it now. Get a phone record of it, then go in tomorrow and file the report. I'll take you. What time you go into work?"
 

"I'm done till Sunday. Flower's taking over for the week. She doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving."
 

"Smart." Kyle reached over and tweaked my toe. "Sleep late. I'll fix breakfast and we'll go file. Then we start cooking."
 

For once, I wasn't that excited about cooking. I was really starting to dread the whole idea of Thanksgiving. The only bright spot in this mess was I would get to see my daughter. That is if she wasn't still angry at me about not picking Phil up. We hadn't talked since then.

My cell rang and I jumped, not expecting it. Kyle laughed and reached for it. He looked at the face and answered it. "Hey sexy, what are you wearing?"
 

I arched a brow at him, just slightly panicked for the person who answered my phone and got half-tipsy Kyle. He laughed and handed it to me. "She's not in the mood."
 

Looking at the face to see the caller I shot him a not-so-approving look. "Hey April."
 

"He does that to annoy me, doesn't he?"
 

"Well, duh?"
 

My sister gave a long, patience-wracked sigh. "I don't see what you see in him."

"A good friend?" I winked at Kyle as he started making his thin-lipped impersonations of my sister. "What's up? You're not backing out on me now, are you?"
 

"No. It's Burt."
 

My heart stopped. "What did he do?"

"He keeps calling, Grace. He called me first, all upset because you've banned him from seeing his daughter. I told him to just make arrangements to see her in the afternoon and Tanae could just go spend time with him. But no, he wouldn't accept that." She sounded really, really upset now. "He was really mad because you filed another restraining order."
 

"Oh April I had too. He got on the phone and was threatening crashing Thanksgiving, and then he filed one on me."
 

"Oh he omitted that. Yeah, sounds like Burt. Grace, I'm with you on the restraining order. You don't have to defend yourself. I can't stand him anymore than anyone else in the family can. We're happy you divorced. But he can't keep calling like this and then getting upset because we're not doing what he wants us to do."
 

I rubbed my face with my hand. "April…"
 

"And when I blocked his calls, he started calling Brad! Brad downright hates him, as un-Christian as that is. He won't speak to him. But Grace, what really got me mad was he started calling the kids and trying to talk
them
into convincing us we had to talk to him!"
 

That was it. He'd gone
too
far. It was one thing to be a total narcissistic asshole to adults, but he was bringing my niece and nephew into this?

"April—how many times did he call?"
 

"Hold on and I'll tell you." I heard her talking to someone and then I heard Brad yell for the kids. After a few minutes she was back. "I'm reading off the calls, answered and missed. He called me…eleven. He called Brad…eight. He called Pip…no scroll it up so I can see it…" I heard her counting. "Oh my Lord. He called her sixteen times. She only answered the call once and then blocked him. And he called Harold…nine times. He never picked up. But what has Brad upset is those numbers are private, Grace. How did he get them?"
 

"I have no idea. He's never had my phone and I never told him their numbers. That right there is creepy enough. I'm calling Detective Taylor, okay? Would you be willing to fill out a report?" I was using the same logic Kyle had used on me ten minutes earlier. Create a trail of evidence.
 

"Yeah, sure. Hey I'm sorry about his, Grace. I hate he's such a horse's butt."
 

"He's an ass, April. Just say it." Then I calmed down. "Sorry. That was rude."
 

"It's okay. We'll be there Thursday morning around ten. Is that good?"
 

"That's great. I'm gonna call Taylor."
 

"Is that that nice older police officer? The one we met at the divorce party?"
 

"Yes. But he's detective now."
 

"And you're still dating! That's wonderful!"
 

Oh geez. "April—"
 

"No, it's okay. I need to go and finish up dinner. I'll be there in the morning to file. Love you, sis."
 

"Love you." I disconnected and let the phone drop into my lap before I told Kyle what Burt had done.
 

"So apparently he tried to get to you and when I showed up, he went after your family. He's crazy, Grace. Like, marginally lucid."
 

"I know." I picked my phone up and considered which number to call. I elected to call his house number.
 

After three rings someone answered. "Taylor."
 

"Kevin, it's Grace. Did you get my message from before?"
 

"What message? Look Grace, I lost my phone this morning so I've been sort of busy looking for it—"
 

"Burt's here, Kevin. He's already approached me and he's called my sister's family in excess of forty-four times. He even called the kids." Kevin knew my family because we'd been friends before we dated, and then when we started going out he spent a lot of time with me and my sister. They liked him, and I knew he liked them.
 

"Burt got up close to you?" The irritation from his voice earlier faded. "How close?"

"Less than twenty inches."
 

"Damn him. Is he trying to get arrested while he's here?" His tone reflected his deep rooted dislike for Burt—but not because of me. The two of them ever got alone, especially when Kevin gave him a ticket for hitting the base of a street lamp in a parking lot.
 

"I'm sorry to bother you, seeing as how I left it the other night—"
 

"No. No it's fine. I'm going to make a call. Can you bring your sister in to file a complaint?"
 

"Yeah she said she would."
 

"Good and bring Kyle so he can witness how close he got to you. All of you meet me at nine, okay?"

"Okay. And thanks, Kevin."
 

"Grace…about the other night—"
 

"No. It's late. And I'm still upset about Burt. Can we just have this talk another time?"
 

He paused. "Sure. Sure. I understand. I'll see you at nine. Night Grace."
 

"Night Kevin." I disconnected and sat still holding my phone.
 

Kyle patted my arm. "It's going to be all right."
 

I just wished I could believe him.
 

April got to my house at eight, which was a heck of a lot earlier than I planned on getting up. The police precinct Kevin worked out of was only twenty minutes away, even in traffic, so I wanted as much sleep as possible.
 

She brought bagels. And three different kinds of cream cheese.
 

I made coffee.
 

All was forgiven.
 

"Sis…I love what you and your fake boyfriend did with this place. It looks incredible."
 

Dealing with my sister could be tiring at times, but having lived with someone like Burt for fourteen years does tend to toughen up some nerves. Except when it came to my family. "April—"

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just that you know I can't condone his lifestyle."
 

"And how would you feel if I decided your bigoted way of life was unacceptable and felt the need to remind you of it every time we met, every time we talked, every time I saw you? Would you be as willing to be around me? Or would I begin to wear down your nerves to a dull, nubby point?"
 

I didn't know if my half-assed little diatribe worked until her expression went from disapproving to resigned. "Fine. I see your point. But I'm not bigoted."
 

"No, but your religion is. And no, I'm not carrying this discussion any further. You and I have a lot more history than what God we believe in or how we choose to worship him. I say from now on, you don't bring up my life or my friends' lifestyles and I won't go into the ridiculousness of your bigoted religion."
 

"Fine."
 

"Good."
 

We munched on bagels and coffee in silence until Kyle emerged from downstairs, fully dressed and smelling like awesome. He came into the kitchen and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Morning Grace." He looked at April. "And you are?"
 

April narrowed her eyes at him. "I just made a truce with Grace. Don't push it."
 

He gave me a crooked smile that told me he'd heard our conversation and poured himself a cup of coffee. "Are we ready? I can drive us. Give you two breeders time to chat."