Chapter 32
When Sonny Lipton called Hayley at the
Island Times
and requested she come over to his law office immediately, she wasn't inclined to drop everything and rush right over. Sonny was a young up and coming lawyer and Liddy's current boyfriend, or gentleman friend, as she preferred calling him. He was also fifteen years younger than her, a sensitive topic Liddy did not relish discussing.
Hayley was slammed that morning. Not only was her regular column due for the paper, the acting CEO of Redmond Meats had e-mailed her asking if she would mind writing a tribute column remembering Olivia Redmond for the company Web site. She quickly agreed but was now swamped with deadlines.
She asked Sonny if she could stop by his office later, but he was insistent. Two minutes later she received an urgent text from Liddy ordering her to get her butt in the car and over to Sonny's office right now! She checked with Sal to make sure he didn't have a problem with her slipping out for a few minutes. He didn't. He never did. He never took his eyes off his desktop computer. He just waved her away and growled something about picking him up a Whoopie Pie from Epi Pizza on her way back.
Ten minutes later Hayley walked up the stairs of Sonny's office on the second floor of a white two-story building, the first floor housing the Swan Agency, which specialized in real estate sales and insurance.
Liddy greeted her in the small reception area. She was biting her lip and looked as if she was about to burst.
“Liddy, what is it? What's so important that it couldn't wait?”
Liddy bounced up and down on the soles of her feet. “Sonny swore me to secrecy, but you're my best friendâI tell you everything! That's what I told him! But he made me promise to keep my mouth shut until he had a chance to talk to you first!”
“Talk to me about what?”
Liddy bit her lip harder, trying to keep her mouth from opening and spilling everything. This looked like it was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do.
“Hayley, thanks for coming,” Sonny said, his Brooks Brothers light blue shirt a tad wrinkled, his rolled up sleeves accentuating his muscled forearms, and his bright yellow tie with tiny sailboats loosened and askew.
He was a fine-looking young man.
Liddy had definitely scored.
“Come into my office so we can have a little chat,” he said with a slight Maine accent he'd worked hard to get rid of at law school. “Liddy, do you mind waiting out here?”
“To hell with that! Hayley's my best friend! I'm not leaving her side!” Liddy yelled, grabbing Hayley's hand and squeezing tightly. “She needs me for support.”
“Is someone suing me?” Hayley asked, suddenly worried.
“No, nothing like that,” Sonny said, ushering them into his office and closing the door. “Have a seat.”
Sonny circled around his desk and sat down. He opened a file in front of him and pulled out a stack of papers.
Liddy plopped down in the only available seat in front of the desk.
Hayley felt like she was playing musical chairs.
And had lost.
Sonny looked up and glared at his girlfriend, who didn't notice Hayley standing awkwardly next to her. “Honey, do you mind?”
Liddy realized she was hogging the only chair and that this meeting had nothing to do with her, so she self-consciously stood up and offered Hayley the chair. “You better sit down for this.”
Hayley gulped.
This did not sound good.
She did what she was told.
An agonizing few seconds passed by as Sonny flipped through the pages on his desk.
Liddy placed a comforting hand on Hayley's shoulders.
“As you may know, I've been doing some consulting work for the law firm in New York that represents Redmond Meats. . . .”
“I didn't know that. Congratulations,” Hayley said, smiling.
“I did! He told me! But once again, all I hear from him all day long is, âLiddy, you can't go blabbing everything I tell you.'”
Sonny glared at Liddy, who motioned with her fingers that she was zipping her lips.
“Anyway, they've brought me in to assist the probate of Olivia Redmond's will. It's a very complicated document and I'm still sifting through all the articles, but one fact is perfectly clear. Olivia's husband, Nacho, and her son, Red, are going to get nothing.”
“You mean they've been cut out?” Hayley gasped.
“Completely. A portion of her fortune will go to various charities that were dear to her during her life, and many of the properties and assets will be retained by the company, but a good chunk of the estate will go to the only one who truly loved Olivia unconditionally. . . .”
“Who?”
“Pork Chop,” Sonny said with a straight face.
“The pig! Can you believe it?” Liddy screamed before catching herself and stepping back, clasping her hands and bowing her head, desperately trying to keep her mouth shut.
“There is a very clear and specific clause that states that Pork Chop is to enjoy the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed for the duration of his natural life, and that the animal's court-appointed guardian will retain control over all decisions and finances. After the pig's death, the remaining fortune will be left to the guardian to spend as he or she may see fit.”
“Are you telling me that the potbellied pig tearing up my house as we speak is worth millions now?”
“Twenty million, to be precise,” Sonny said, looking up from his papers.
“
Twenty
million?” Hayley gasped.
“After Red found out his mother was excising him entirely from the will, he filed a petition with the court to be named Pork Chop's guardian,” Sonny said.
“Sneaky bastard!” Liddy hissed, unable to contain herself.
“But given the explicit and legally binding wishes of the deceased, the court is refusing to recognize him,” Sonny said.
“Well, who
are
they recognizing?”
“You.”
Hayley sat back in the chair looking blankly at Sonny.
What he had just said did not register.
At first.
And then, after a few seconds, the word clicked in her mind.
You
.
“Me?” Hayley squeaked.
Liddy couldn't rein it in anymore. She exploded with joy, grabbing Hayley by the shoulders and shaking her. “That pig can tear up your house all he wants! You can just buy a new one! A much bigger one! Maybe a waterfront mansion next to the Rockefellers!”
“Sonny, you can't be serious,” Hayley said, shell shocked.
“If this plays out as I expect it will, you're going to come out of this a multimillionaire.”
Hayley gripped the sides of the chair, fearing she just might faint.
Chapter 33
“That sounds like a real hoot, and I'm flattered as hell, but I can't leave Bar Harbor,” Mona said. Outside the Harborside Hotel Rhonda Franklin stood in front of her while two bellhops loaded the trunk of a Lincoln Town Car with her luggage.
Rhonda nodded solemnly. “I understand. I just had to ask or I would always wonder.”
Hayley stood off to the side watching the scene. She couldn't believe Rhonda had just asked Mona to come with her to New York, where she was returning to continue her hosting duties on
The Chat
, and to honor the remainder of her contract as the Redmond Meats spokesperson.
“The thing is, Ron, I could never give you what you want. And I got responsibilities. I still got a boatload of kids to raise and a deadbeat husband to feed.”
Rhonda nodded, her lips quivering and her eyes brimming with tears. “You're a special woman, Mona Barnes. Your family needs to learn to appreciate you.”
“Oh, they do in their own way. My kids made me lobster-shaped pancakes for breakfast on Mother's Day. And my husband, well, my husband didn't exactly let me choose the movie on our date night, but he actually put his pants on and left the house to go to one, even though it was one of those stupid movies about cars that turn into robots,
Transponders
or
Transformers
, or whatever. It's not much, but it keeps me happy.”
Rhonda leaned in and kissed Mona lightly on the cheek.
Mona smiled. “I had fun.”
Hayley quietly stepped forward. The animal carrier she was holding was heavy and she was losing her grip. Inside, Pork Chop's snout was pressed against the metal grate on the latched door.
Rhonda happily accepted the carrier, cooed and kissed the potbellied pig's snout, and then handed it off to one of the bellhops, who slid the carrier in the backseat and strapped it in with an extended seat belt.
Rhonda turned back to Hayley. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“He belongs with you, not me,” Hayley said.
“Last chance to change your mind,” Mona said.
Mona made no bones about her opinion. She thought Hayley was crazy to give Pork Chop to Rhonda Franklin and say good-bye to a cool twenty million dollars.
And Mona wasn't alone.
Liddy.
Randy.
Sergio.
Her kids, Dustin and Gemma.
Sal.
Hayley's mother in Florida.
They all thought she was crazy.
Her only allies were Leroy and Blueberry, who made it very clear they wanted that pig out of the house, and never wanted to lay eyes on it ever again.
Hayley's friends and family spent the better part of two days trying to talk her out of it. But Hayley had already made peace with the decision. She had no emotional connection with Pork Chop. She was his guardian only in the strictest sense of the word.
But Rhonda Franklin was another story. She adored Pork Chop. And he loved her.
It wasn't only the perfect match.
It was the right match.
And Hayley knew in her heart that Rhonda would do right by him, and make sure Pork Chop was as happy as, say, a pig in mud.
Rhonda already had a fortune. She didn't need the twenty million and had no desire to keep it. Hayley knew she had made the correct decision when Rhonda promised to donate the money to her favorite animal charities, which was a cause Hayley was passionate about ever since she was a little girl.
So no big mansions or yachts or lavish vacations in the French Riviera were in her immediate future, but hey, you never know what life may bring.
Rhonda hugged Hayley, took one last misty-eyed look at Mona, and then donned dark glasses to hide her tears and slid into the backseat of the Town Car. The driver shut the door and got into the driver's seat and they sped away to the Bar Harbor airport.
“Well, we'll always have one thing in common,” Mona said.
“What's that?”
“We both waved good-bye to a rich and famous lifestyle. All you had to do was babysit a pig, and all I had to do was be Rhonda's girlfriend.”
Hayley put her arm around Mona. “We both did the right thing.”
“You think so? I'm not so sure.”
“In any event, we also have one more thing in common.”
“What's that?”
“After a day like this, we could both use a drink.”
Hayley, with her arm still around Mona's shoulder, steered her to the left and inside the Harborside Hotel toward the bar.
Chapter 34
She could tell Leroy sensed something was wrong.
Hayley was gently stroking his fur just the way she always did, but there was tension in her fingers.
Her whole body, in fact.
Leroy's head was resting on her lap. He gazed up at her.
Even Blueberry, who usually took no notice of anything other than what directly affected him, had stopped licking himself across the room near the television and watched Hayley curiously.
She was trying hard not to cry.
She didn't want to collapse into a hysterical mess at this moment.
Not when Aaron was seated next to her on the couch where he had just broken up with her.
“I've been trying to have this conversation for a while now, Hayley. These months together have been wonderful. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard or enjoyed someone's company so much. . . .”
“But . . .”
“But I think we both feel the same way. Deep down, on some level, we both feel that we're not meant for each other.”
He was right.
But it didn't make it any easier to hear.
“You know, the funny thing is, for a while there I thought you were going to propose. . . .”
“What?”
She felt foolish bringing it up. It seemed so silly now.
“Liddy saw you looking at rings at a jewelry shop.”
“Oh, that. It was a class ring. I was showing the owner a few scratches on it. I wanted to get it buffed and polished because I have a reunion coming up.”
“I knew it had to be something like that. You know, Liddy; she's always spinning drama out of nothing. . . .” she said, her voice trailing off.
They sat in silence for another minute. Leroy licked her fingers. He was letting her know he was there for her.
Or maybe it was just the fried chicken she had eaten for dinner.
“Tell me something,” Aaron said, taking a deep breath. “If I had proposed, would you have said yes?”
This was not something Hayley had contemplated. She just sat there wondering.
“I thought so. Your hesitation tells me I've done the right thing.” Aaron stood up. “I better go.”
Hayley picked up Leroy and set him down on the couch, and then followed Aaron to the door.
“I wish nothing but the best for you, Hayley. I hope we can stay friends.”
“Of course.”
She knew what that meant.
A casual hello at the grocery store.
Maybe a friendly nod at a potluck supper.
A quick catch up at one of her pet's vet appointments.
But they would never have another quiet dinner, just the two of them, and they would no longer share intimate stories about their past, and they would never kiss and touch each other underneath the Christmas tree and get tinsel in their hair and laugh about it.
That chapter in their relationship was coming to a close.
Aaron gave her a soft peck on the cheek.
And then he turned and walked out of the house and he was gone.
She closed the door.
And then she let the waterworks begin.
She went upstairs to her bed and sobbed until she exhausted herself and fell into a deep sleep.