Paint It Black (17 page)

The ice pack felt good against my ankle, but not as good as the fingers that kneaded my instep. “Thanks … for everything,” I said. “But you don’t have to babysit. I know you have to get back. You can take my car.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “You trying to get rid of me?”

“Of course not, but I—” I rolled my eyes. “I don’t want you to get in trouble with Kim.”

He gave me a patient look. “That’s the second time you’ve said that tonight. I told you, Kim and I aren’t dating anymore.”

Did not
, I wanted to say, but my mouth was too dry. I would’ve remembered that.

“We’re friends.”

Like we were friends?
I wondered, then decided I didn’t want to know. My ego was as bruised as my body tonight, and right now, I wanted to think the connection Cougar and I shared was special.

Call me Cleopatra, Queen of Denial.

My silence seemed to make Cougar nervous. He leaned forward and talked faster. “Kim’s dating a marine. He’s stationed in Pensacola right now. She hates to go to work functions alone, says the chemist geeks won’t leave her alone—”

We jumped at the pounding on the door.

“Denise!” Elizabeth yelled. “Denise, are you in there?”

I started to stand, but Cougar moved my foot back to the pillow.

“I’ll get it,” he said.

I pushed myself up on the couch and watched him stride toward the door. I caught a glimpse of Elizabeth’s flushed face when he opened the door.

“Who are you?” she demanded. “Where’s my daughter-in-law?”

“She’s on the couch,” he replied, ignoring her first question. “Hiya, Abby.”

“Hi.” Abby peeked at him from behind her grandmother. She wouldn’t look in my direction at all.

Elizabeth stalked toward me. “Denise, I want you to know how much you’ve inconvenienced—dear God, what happened to you?”

I glanced at Cougar and he nodded. Pasting on a smile, he scooped Abby up in his arms. “Hey, kiddo. Why don’t you show me your room while your mom and grandma talk?”

“Okay,” she said, and they headed up the stairs.

I waited until they were out of sight, then turned to face Grady’s mother.

“Your son happened to me. He assaulted me tonight. He was drunk, again.”

Elizabeth blanched and took a step backward. Her hand fluttered to the pearls at her throat. “I-I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to believe me. He did it in front of a couple dozen witnesses in the parking lot of a restaurant.”

Elizabeth’s face washed even paler. She staggered toward me, nearly falling over an end table. “Grady … where is he now?”

Alarmed, I tried to stand. “Elizabeth? Elizabeth, are you okay?”

“Where is he?” she shouted.

“Jail. He’s in jail,” I said. “Unless he’s posted bond—”

Elizabeth shot me a horrified look, then grimaced. She grabbed her chest.

Helplessly, I watched her fall to the carpet.

CHAPTER
10

C
ougar!” I screamed. “Cougar, help me!”

Footsteps thundered down the stairs while I scrambled around the couch to Elizabeth and flipped her onto her back. She blinked up at me with dazed eyes.

“Grandma!” Abby shrieked.

I glanced at Cougar. “Her heart, I think it’s her heart.”

“Call 911,” he said, and knelt beside Elizabeth. Abby scurried to her other side.

While I gave the operator directions, Cougar eased Elizabeth into a sitting position, propping her against the couch. “Mrs. Bramhall, can you hear me? Everything’s going to be all right. Help is on the way.”

She gave Cougar a weak nod and awkwardly patted Abby’s head. Elizabeth’s color scared me, a waxy, deathly
gray. Sweat beaded her upper lip. Her eyelids fluttered closed.

Abby twisted to glare at me. The hostility on her face took my breath away. “What did you do to her?” she cried.

Tears blurred my eyes. I reached for her and she flinched away.

“Don’t
touch
me!”

“Abby,” I managed, but she’d already turned back to Elizabeth.

“Grandma, please open your eyes.”

Though I could tell it taxed her, Elizabeth did what she asked. I knelt beside Abby, but didn’t try to touch her again. For the next seven minutes, we sat in silence. I knew exactly how long it was because I watched each second tick off the mantel clock.

At the faint sound of sirens, I shifted and grabbed the back of the couch. Cougar moved quickly to help me to my feet. Abby shot me another contemptuous look over her shoulder, and I wondered if something had been irreparably broken between my daughter and me tonight.

Cougar, Abby, and I followed the ambulance to the hospital. Abby would have nothing to do with me, choosing to cling to Cougar instead. He let me out at the emergency-room entrance before going to hunt a parking space and Abby insisted on staying with him.

Shivering, I stepped inside the automatic doors to
wait for them. I’d grabbed a long coat while heading out to the car, but I still wore my shorts and T-shirt beneath. When a cell phone began to ring, I reached for it automatically before I remembered it wasn’t my purse that I held, but Elizabeth’s. Not knowing what else to do with it, I’d brought it along. She would need her insurance card, I was sure. Now I stared at the little black phone hanging out of the side pocket and wondered if I should answer it. It might be one of her brothers …

I snatched it out and flipped it open before I could change my mind. “Hello?”

Silence on the other end.

“Hello?” I repeated. “Elizabeth Bramhall’s phone. May I help you?”

“Necie?” Grady said. “What are you doing with Mom’s phone?”

I fumbled the cell and nearly dropped it. Oh, hell, why had I answered it? What was I supposed to do now? In the glow of the streetlights, I watched Abby and Cougar walk down the line of cars. For my little girl, I could be civil. For her, I’d do the right thing.

“Uh, listen, Grady … we’re at the hospital.”

“Who is? You are? God, Necie, I didn’t mean to hurt you that bad. I was upset, but you know I’d never intentionally—”

“It’s Elizabeth,” I interrupted. “She was having chest pains, but I think she’s going to be okay. She’s responsive
and at the hospital now.”

He lapsed into silence, then sighed. “Man, could this night get any worse?”

Yeah
, I thought.
Try it with a couple of cracked ribs
. Nothing like a size ten in the side to put things in perspective.

“You got three minutes,” I heard someone say in the background.

“Okay,” Grady said. “Look, Necie. I know it’s a lot to ask, but could you call my uncle Morty? This is my one phone call, and—”

“Sure.”

Before I could hang up, Grady started talking faster. “Babe, I’m so sorry. I love you. I don’t know—”

I snapped the phone shut and would’ve banged my head against the glass if I thought I could’ve withstood one more ache tonight. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I laughed. How screwed up was my life?

The double doors swung open, and Cougar shot me a curious glance. “Necie?”

I waved him off. “I’m fine. I need to make a couple of phone calls. Would you mind—”

He nodded. “No problem. Abby and I will wait in there. Come on, squirt,” he said, and tugged her inside.

I took a deep breath and called Grady’s uncle. He answered on the fourth ring, sounding sleepy and annoyed. His tone didn’t improve much when I
identified myself.

“What can I do for you, Denise?”

“I’m at the hospital. Elizabeth’s been admitted with chest pains.”

“Where’s Grady?”

I hesitated. “In jail. He assaulted me tonight.”

“What?
What are you talking about, assault? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard—”

“No, Mort. The stupidest thing is me calling his lawyer for him. Elizabeth and I are okay, thanks for asking. Now I gotta go.”

“Denise, wait!” His voice turned sugary in an instant, reminding me of why I disliked him so much. “Honey, I’m sorry. You call me out of the blue, telling me all these things …
are
you okay?”

I leaned against the glass entryway and stared inside at Cougar and Abby. Cougar hunched forward in a waiting room chair, watching me. “Just… don’t bother, okay, Morty? I want to make a deal.”

That brought his sharp lawyer voice back. “What kind of deal?”

“I want a divorce. My terms. If Grady agrees, I won’t press charges.”

“Now wait a minute—”

“I’m not asking much. Grady already knows what I want. I’m calling my lawyer now. We’ll meet you at the jail.”

I pressed END without waiting on a reply and called Milano’s house.

“Milano,” he said through what sounded like a mouthful of chips.

“Hey, Milano. You busy?”

“Hey, doll. Never too busy for my cutest client. What’s up?”

When I heard sirens approaching, I stepped outside to clear the way for the ambulance. My ankle and ribs throbbed. If it wouldn’t have caused Cougar to rush to my aid, I would’ve sat down right there on the sidewalk. “The most embarrassing thing happened tonight. I got beat up by a lawyer.”

“What?”

I gave Milano the CliffsNotes version of the attack.

“So, where are you now? Are you okay?”

“I’m at the hospital, but not for me. My mother-in-law might be having a heart attack. She—never mind, I’ll tell you later. Well, what do you think? Should we meet with them tonight, or wait till morning or what?”

“As much as I’d like to see him spend the night in jail, we should probably move tonight. Our main leverage is not letting the press find out about his arrest. The longer he stays there, the more likely they will. But, Necie … are you sure you want to do this? I guarantee you, I can get you anything you want at this point, without your handing him a Get Out of Jail Free card.”

“I want this to be over.” Glancing inside at Abby, I said, “He’s the father of my child. I don’t want to destroy his life. I want him to get help.”

“Okay, I think we can work something on that end, too. Are you at Jefferson?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll pick you up in fifteen. It’s on my way.”

Clicking the phone shut, I shoved it back in Elizabeth’s bag and limped through the automatic doors. Cougar waited on the other side to help me.

“What’s going on?” he said. “Are you all right?”

With a glance over his shoulder to make sure Abby was out of earshot, I said, “I called my lawyer. We’re going to the jail to see if we can make a deal with Grady and his lawyer.”

Cougar tensed and narrowed his eyes. Keeping his voice low, he said, “I don’t get it. Why would you do that for him? Look what he did to you.”

“I’m not doing it for him. I’m doing it for Abby. You see how angry she is at me. I don’t want her to hate me. No telling what Elizabeth has told her already. I want out of this marriage, and this is the quickest way to accomplish that. Grady’s Uncle Mort will make him agree to whatever I want to save Grady’s law career.”

“I still don’t like it. He does this—” he made a sweeping gesture at my body, “—and gets off scot-free? I don’t think so. I’m going to thump his—”

I silenced him with a finger to his lips. “No, you’re not.” I smiled and kissed his cheek. “But thanks for wanting to. You’re a good friend.”

He frowned, his eyes stormy. He looked like he wanted to say more, but then he exhaled and stared out into the night.

“Milano’s picking me up—”

His gaze snapped back to me. “I’ll drive you. I want to be there.”

“We both know that’s not a good idea. You know what Grady thinks about us already. And I was hoping you’d take Abby to Mrs. Angelino’s for me. I’ll give her a call to make sure it’s okay.”

Cougar scrubbed a hand over his face. “She’s with Angel tonight. I’ll take care of Abby. She told me she was hungry. We’ll grab a bite to eat or something, then go up to Angel’s room to wait for you. Your lawyer will bring you back here, right?”

“I’m sure he will.” I squeezed his forearm. “Thank you. Thanks for everything.”

He kissed my forehead and glanced down at my foot. “How’s that ankle?”

“Okay. I can put a little weight on it now.”

“Why don’t you get it checked out while we’re here?”

“Not necessary.”

He shook his head and gave me a little smile. “You’re the most hardheaded person—”

“No, that would be Angel.”

Cougar laughed and scratched the back of his head. The tension between us evaporated in a rush. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and guided me toward the sitting area. “Yeah, hard to dispute that now, huh? I don’t know what I did to get stuck with the two of you—”

“You love us both and you know it.”

“I do, but you still drive me nuts.” He helped me into the chair beside Abby, who jumped up and walked to the window.

“She’ll get over it,” he whispered. “Be right back.”

He strode over to the nurses’ desk and said something to the middle-aged woman behind it. Then he pointed at me and flashed his badge. He leaned halfway over the counter to speak to her, and I could tell by the flushed look on her face that the old Cougar mojo was working its magic. She disappeared through a door marked STAFF ONLY and returned a moment later with a pair of battered crutches, which she passed over the counter to him. Cougar thanked her and signed a form. He carried them back to me with a triumphant smile and plopped in the seat beside me to adjust them.

“They aren’t the best-looking things in the world, but they should get you by a day or two and keep you from doing more damage to that ankle. You have to have a prescription for new ones—”

“They’re great, thank you.”

“Abby, honey, come here,” he said, and she grudgingly faced us. Cougar patted the chair beside him, and to my surprise, she wandered over, taking care not to touch me as she passed.

“Your mom has to leave for a little while. Would you like to go grab something to eat with me? Then we’ll go see what Tori is up to.”

“Okay.” She smiled. “Can we eat pizza?”

Cougar rolled his eyes and made a grab for her. He tickled her and asked, “Is that all you’re made of? Pizza?”

“Yup,” she said with a gasp when he released her. Her smile faded. “But what about Grandma? Is she going to be okay?”