Erica Lucke Dean - To Katie with Love (21 page)

I wasted no time in scooping it up and flipping it open.

Cooper: You’re being awfully quiet out there. You haven’t been eaten by the momster have you?

“Is that your
boyfriend
?”

“Yes,” I said, delighted that she finally believed in his existence.

“He should learn to spell. He spelled monster with an M.”

“Monster
is
spelled with an M.”

She shook her head. “Yes, but it doesn’t have two.”

I re-read the text and bit back a laugh. I had missed his play on words. It didn’t say monster; it said
momster
. That was funny. But I was lucky that my momster missed the joke. “Why are you reading my text messages anyway?”

“Oh, I wasn’t really reading it. I just noticed it come in.”

I wasn’t going to argue about how the phone had to have flipped itself in order for her to view the text. I just dropped the subject and fell into my chair. “So which hotel did you book?” I was sure it would be the most expensive one in town. I was only half paying attention to her as I typed a reply to Cooper.

“I thought I might stay with you this visit.”

I froze mid-text, and my mouth fell open. “With me?” I erased the entire sentence I was writing to Cooper and started over.

Katie: fuel up the jet and grab the highest SPF you can! My mother’s moving in!

“Unless that’s a problem?”

I had a sudden irrational worry. “Did Daddy lose his practice?”

“Katie, don’t be ridiculous. I always stay with your sister. She loves having me.”

My sister is a much better liar.
Mom didn’t look deranged, not really. But I was sure I’d heard her wrong. She couldn’t actually
want
to stay with me.

“My townhouse is really small, Mom. I don’t even have a bed in the guestroom. You’d have to sleep on the couch.” I hoped if it sounded awful enough she would rethink the whole hotel thing.

“I would not. I’m a guest. You can take the couch.”

My phone vibrated.

Cooper: I don’t have a jet. But I do have a guestroom.

I wasn’t sure if the guestroom comment was meant for me or my mother. Neither sounded appealing. If I was staying with Cooper, I wanted to stay in his room. And I definitely didn’t want my mother anywhere near where I was having sex. But that was a dilemma I would have to worry about later.

“Gracey, come back here.” I heard the light panting of the little dog Silvia was chasing. Gracey scampered in, sat up on her hind legs, and barked at my mother.

Silvia followed her. “Bad girl. We don’t bark at nice people.”

I
knew
that Yorkie was a smart dog.

“Whose dog is this?” Mom’s nose wrinkled up as if she smelled something very bad.

“Get down, Gracey.” Silvia nudged the little dog with her hand. “She’s mine. My husband just dropped her off to me so I can take her to the vet on my lunch break.”

My mother disliked dogs. In fact, she hated them. “You named your dog Gracey?” Mom’s voice was tinged with disdain.

Silvia beamed. “Such a perfect name for a little bitch.”

Mom glowered. “And they allow dogs in a bank?”

“It depends on if they have an account or not. Most do, but it’s so hard to type a PIN into the ATM with their little paws.”

I broke in before Mom could jump on Silvia’s sarcasm. “So, Mom, would you like to go relax? I still have a good bit of the day ahead of me. We could go get lunch, and I’ll drop you off at my house.”

“I’ve already been to your house. You really need to dust more. I’ll likely need to see an allergist before I fly home again. And are you aware there isn’t a crumb of food in your refrigerator? I would have starved to death had I not told the cabbie to wait for me in the driveway. And if I were you, I’d find a better place to hide your spare key.”

My mouth fell open as I choked on my words. I had nothing to say. I would have to worry about her snooping through my house later.

She wasn’t looking at me. She was eyeing the little Yorkie with the pink bow in her hair, the same dog that was desperate to climb up her designer pant leg. She pushed at the dog with her suede boot. “What on earth is this dog after?”

I followed the path of Gracey’s eyes all the way up to the hideous feather hat perched on my mother’s head. The dog was clearly waiting for it to take flight. “I have no idea, Mom. She must like you.” I tried not to smile, but it was really funny watching Gracey jump at my mother while Mom tried to shoo her away with those perfectly manicured hands.

“Is that…?” She slipped her glasses back on. “Oh my god! Is that dog
bleeding
?” Her face twisted into a look of revulsion.

Despite my obvious anxiety, Silvia was quite enjoying my mother’s distress. “Oh, whoops. Yes, she’s in heat. Didn’t I mention that? We’re having her inseminated today. I’ve always wanted a litter of puppies.”  

Mom jumped up from the chair as if it had bitten her and pointed down to the hem of her pants. “Do you see that? It’s blood! On my Dolce & Gabbana trousers. Do you have any idea how expensive these pants are?”

Silvia rolled her eyes, and Mom must have noticed because her face got all red. I was bracing for a brawl when I heard a scream from Vicky.

Then a man yelled, “I told you I need my money now!”

My mother didn’t sense the tsunami of tension that rippled through the room. She was still too outraged about her pants. “This animal has gotten its blood on my trousers.”

Then I saw Dean… with a gun.

Cooper wouldn’t like this at all.

FACING THE FIRING SQUAD

L
eave it to Vicky to find the one guy in the room with an actual weapon in his pants.
I would’ve rolled my eyes, but they were otherwise engaged in staring down the barrel of a loaded cannon. But what I’d done to make Dean go postal was beyond me. That was the second time in less than a week I’d found myself at the other end of a gun, and I wasn’t overjoyed by that at all. At least I was wearing underwear.

The good news was my mother had finally shut up. Silvia was the only one of us brave enough to speak to Dean. I kept hoping it was just one of his dramatic moments, and any minute he would break out a wide smile, bow, and use that very
real
looking gun to shoot grape jelly all over my mother’s pretty pants.

“Dean?” Silvia said. “What’s going on?”

“I need my money!” Dean turned his focus from me and waved the gun in Silvia’s face. He was sweating profusely, and a pool of foam had formed in the corner of his mouth.

Silvia kept her hands out to her sides. “Well, that shouldn’t be a problem. It’s your money.”

“Exactly. It’s my money. Why don’t you tell that to Red here?”

“I-I tried. The accounts are f-frozen,” Vicky stammered.

Silvia stepped slowly to Vicky’s desk. “There must be some kind of mistake. I can’t imagine why your accounts would be frozen. Let me try.” She sat down in front of Vicky’s computer and started typing.

“I knew I could count on you, Silvia.” Dean smiled, and we all sighed.

Silvia’s face tightened. “I can’t get in. There’s a fraud block on your profile.”

Dean flew into another rage, waving the gun around the room before settling on me again. “I told you I needed to open new accounts. But you’ve been too busy with that
killer
new boyfriend of yours.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. My mother was deathly silent behind me, and I worried for a second she’d stopped breathing. “Dean, I—” Great, the first time in my life I’d ever slacked off and had a little fun, and I was going to die because of it.
Karma, you’re a vindictive bitch!

“Just shut up, Katie. I can’t stand to look at your face anymore. I can’t stand to look at any of you.” His eyes searched the room frantically, finally settling on something in the back. “Everyone into the vault. Let’s go.” Dean alternated pointing the gun at each of us until we were corralled into the vault, then he glared at Silvia. “Not you,” he said, pulling her by the arm. “You’re coming with me. The rest of you stay quiet… or else.”

My knees took that opportunity to give out. He only shut the heavy door part of the way, so I could still see Silvia as he dragged her across the lobby. I blinked back tears, agonizing over the danger Silvia was in—the danger we were all in. I thought about Cooper and wondered if he was even aware of what was happening. He didn’t come to the bank on Thursdays, but did he check the news? Was it even on the news yet? 

I couldn’t help but remember the time we’d kissed in the vault. I hoped I would live to do that again. I wasn’t so sure. Dean didn’t even remotely resemble the person I thought I knew.

My mother had lost all the color from her already pale skin, and she stood away from the wall, undoubtedly to avoid getting her Dolce & Gabbana pants dirty. Or dirtier. Despite our current situation, I was sure she hadn’t forgotten she’d been menstruated on by a dog.

June dropped to the floor beside me, and we sat cross-legged in our dress pants.

“We have to have faith that security called the police.” I tried to stay positive. “Someone hit the silent alarm, right?”

“I did,” Vicky said in a faint whisper.

“So did I,” June added.

“So we’re good.” I knew we were far from it.

“This was the perfect day for Phil to decide to go out for lunch.” June let out a strained laugh.

“Yes, and do you think he actually got us anything from the dollar menu?” I asked her.

“He’ll swear he got us all something but was forced to eat it in all the commotion,” she muttered.

I forced a smile. If only lunch was the worst of our worries. “The fries would be cold by now, anyhow.”

“Yeah,” June agreed. “There’s nothing worse than cold fries.”

Vicky wasn’t holding up very well. She looked as if she might be going into shock, so June pulled her into her arms, rocking her gently. My mother maintained her proper façade as she continued to glare at Gracey, who was insistent on brushing up against her leg. But I could see right through Mom. She was terrified.

“Mom, why don’t you come sit with us?”

“I’d rather stand. It’s going to be difficult enough to get the blood out of these pants. I’d hate to see what might be on the floor in here.”

Emotional support wasn’t her forte. In fact, I tried to remember a single moment from my childhood where my mother had comforted me. Tending to skinned knees and broken hearts was my father’s specialty. Mom was in charge of education and social graces. She was a whiz when it came to school dances, but she never quite knew what to do with her youngest daughter, who hadn’t inherited a single iota of her inherent sophistication.

I suddenly had a thought. “June, do you have your phone? Mine’s in my office.”

My mother looked my way for a moment before darting her eyes away again.
That was odd.

“No, as usual, bank rules bite us in the butt. It’s in my purse. Probably buzzing like crazy. I have no doubt my sister’s seen this on the news by now,” June whispered.

I didn’t ask Vicky. Even though she was never one to follow the rules, she was working on a state of hysteria even I was unfamiliar with. It wasn’t really her fault. She hadn’t done anything but flirt with the guy. And I was pretty sure he didn’t want to shoot us over that.

I had no idea why Dean’s accounts were frozen, or why he needed to access them so quickly for that matter. But whatever he had in there was exactly what our lives were worth.

“Does anyone know why there was a fraud block on Dean’s accounts?” I didn’t dare speak to Vicky directly, but she looked up at me.

“No,” she choked out. “I called the Help Desk, but they couldn’t tell me anything.” She sank back into June’s arms. “Do you think he’ll hurt Silvia?”

I brushed imaginary dust from the front of my pants to keep from looking her in the eye. “No, he wouldn’t do that.” I only hoped I was right.

“Silvia will be just fine,” June said. “This isn’t her first rodeo. She knows what to do.”

It may not have been Silvia’s first bank robbery, but it was mine. And the only thing I could think to do was to find a way to reach Cooper. I looked over at my mother, who was nudging the dog away with the toe of her expensive boot. I caught her sliding something shiny into one of the deep pockets of her coat.

“Mom?”

She looked at me and raised her eyebrows.

“Is that a cell phone?” I held out my hand. “Let me have it.”

“Are you stupid?” she hissed. “There is a man out there with a gun.”

“I’m not going to call anyone. I’m going to send a text.”

“I don’t think now is the best time for
that
. Do you?” Even in a low whisper, her voice dripped sarcasm. She glowered at me, obviously remembering the last text I’d sent her.

I snapped my fingers. “Just give it to me.”

She glanced toward the door as she dipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out a shiny black phone. She slid it to me along the floor.

I scooped it up and keyed in Cooper’s number.

Grace James: At bank using mom’s phone. Held hostage. Don’t call. Text me back. Katie.

I flipped through my mother’s complicated phone menu to find the silent setting, then tucked the phone under my leg. I didn’t need Dean taking the only lifeline we had to the outside.

Mom was using her fancy feathered hat to shoo the dog away, but Gracey was even more entertained by that and continued to jump at her. “Would someone please take this dog?” Her voice was tinged with disgust, and I burst out laughing.

Dean’s voice, along with the tap, tap of metal on metal, echoed off the steel walls. “Keep it down in there. There’s nothing funny about this.”

I froze. It
wasn’t
funny. I was scared. I had actually managed to forget about the gun for half a second. I saw a small flash of light and glanced down at the phone display—a new message. I clicked on it, keeping my hand cupped around the screen.

Cooper: Is your mother holding you hostage? Is she still mad about the sexting? Where’s your phone?

He had no idea what was happening. He either hadn’t seen the news, or we hadn’t made the news. I keyed in a quick reply.

Katie: Turn on news. Dean holding us hostage w/ gun. I’m ok. I think police are outside. 

In less than a minute, he replied.

Cooper: I knew I should have taken that guy out last week when I had the chance.

My insides dropped sharply.

Katie: What???

Cooper: I mean I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you. I should have never let you out of bed this morning. I’m on my way. I love you.

Katie: Love you too. See you soon. 

I really hoped that I would see him soon. The sooner the better.

An hour later, the dead pheasant had long since been sacrificed to the dog to keep her occupied. It had worked, but iridescent green and gray feathers lay everywhere. I was amazed by the number of feathers in such a small hat.

My mother had finally deigned to sit on the floor, and we all leaned against one another for comfort. No one had to say they were scared; we all knew it, especially when Vicky began praying.

Dean was still out there somewhere, doing who knew what. He checked on us more frequently, which had me a little worried. I was afraid he might suspect we had a phone. That didn’t stop me from texting—just seeing Cooper’s words on the small screen made me feel almost as if he were with me—but it did slow me down.

“Katie, you need to put that away.” Mom reached for her phone, but I turned my shoulders so she couldn’t reach.

“I’m just trying to find out what’s going on out there.”

Cooper: What’s happening. You haven’t written in a while.

Katie: Busy singing show tunes. Know anything from Kiss Me Kate?

Cooper: Not funny.

Under any other circumstances, that would have been funny. I wished the only thing I had to worry about was jealousy.

Katie: What’s happening out there?

Cooper: I don’t know. But Phil said to tell you he ate your lunch. The fries were getting cold.

Dean began shouting obscenities and banging on what I assumed was the giant plate glass window in the lobby.

“We’re going to die, aren’t we?” Vicky hiccupped, wiping streaks of black mascara across her cheeks.

I flinched. Why did she have to put into words what I was dreading?

“We’re not going to die,” Mom said. “I have a spa appointment on Tuesday. You have
no
idea how long it takes to get those appointments. I’m certainly not missing
mine
.” She brushed another feather from her white pants.

“Katie, did Cooper say anything about what the police are doing?” Vicky’s eyes were red and swollen from crying, which actually made me feel sorry for her.

“No,” I whispered.

“Why hasn’t he told you?” my mother blurted.

“Maybe he doesn’t know what the police are doing, Mom,” I snapped.

“I don’t mean the police. I mean, why is it you don’t seem to know what he does for a living?”

Great. Only my mother could ignore a crisis to bring up a passing comment made over an hour ago. I shook my head. “I’m sure it would bore me to tears.”

A faint smile played on June’s lips. “I can’t imagine
anything
Cooper does is boring.”

“It really doesn’t matter what he does, Mom. I love him,” I stated firmly.

Mom huffed. “For all you know he could be a
murderer
.”

That pulled Vicky from her frenzied state. She threw her hands up in the air. “That’s what I’ve been telling her!”

“He’s not a murderer.” If I said it often enough, I might actually believe it. “But Vicky tried to get me to date the guy holding us hostage.”

Vicky smirked. “At least I’m not cheating on Cooper with some guy named Henry.”

My mother waved her hand through the air, dismissing the last comment. “It’s hard enough for me to accept my daughter managed to ensnare one man. You can’t expect me to believe there are two.”

“Well, then…” Vicky grabbed my wrist and held up my arm, exposing my bracelet. “Explain this.”

“It was a gift from Cooper. Henry is my cat.”

Mom scoffed. “You don’t have a cat. I was just in your house today. I would have smelled if you had a cat.”

“He’s a very clean cat. Even I barely know he’s there.”

“Enough about this imaginary cat. You should investigate a little,” Mom whispered.

I wasn’t going to admit anything, especially not my failed attempts at sleuthing.

Mom sat staring off into space—probably plotting her next move. And then she brushed a loose feather from her pants and grimaced at the dog. “Well, I don’t think you should let it go,” she said finally.

Vicky seemed bound and determined to share every one of her conspiracy theories about Cooper with the only other person I knew who was more bent on ruining my happiness than she was. She relayed the information about Cooper’s wire transfer, making the whole thing sound as seedy as possible.

“That much money?” my mother asked.

“That’s confidential,” June muttered.

I was contemplating running into the lobby. I would have rather faced Dean and his shiny gun than sit there with my mother, Vicky, and their suspicions.