Don't Explain (24 page)

“No.” He put his hand on the door handle.

“You have patients. You can’t just leave.”

“She needs me right now.” He knew that Margaret didn’t want him to be
alone with Caitlyn any more. Running to her rescue in a time of crisis
apparently wasn’t an exception. He understood after Margaret told him what
Caitlyn had told her, threatening to get him back, but it didn’t seem like she
wanted him back. It took two people to make a relationship, and Michael had
already convinced himself that Margaret was the one that he wanted to be with,
that he had to be with. Caitlyn couldn’t convince him otherwise. He was
resolute. He had tried to explain this to Margaret, but she wouldn’t hear it.

“Alan Grover and Miriam Wentz need you too. They called you for help.
They made appointments. Did she say she needed you right now?”

“No.” Michael let out the breath he was holding and let go of the door.
He wasn’t going to get out of here, not right now. Caitlyn would have to wait.
The problem was she wasn’t waiting. She didn’t want him there, and Margaret
did.

“It’s best if you stay. The place already burned down. You can’t be a
hero, but you can be a friend later.” Margaret was right. She was always right.
Always sensible. Cancelling appointments in the second week of being open
didn’t look good, and in this town, everyone would know by noon that Michael
had ditched work to see Caitlyn. Ruining his reputation before he even built it
wasn’t a smart move.

Michael turned and walked back to his office. It was better this way, he
thought. Once the baby comes, I can’t run to save Caitlyn every time she has a
problem. She doesn’t want saving, and it wasn’t his job to do it anymore. And
it wasn’t one that he felt like he could do properly.

Margaret would insist on coming with him to Caitlyn’s. All time with
Caitlyn had to be spent with both of them. It was better if they were all
friends anyway. Margaret wouldn’t feel left out.

She had seemed lonely recently. The only contact she had was with him,
his friends, and the nurse, who was all business. So she threw herself into
their relationship, trying to make everything perfect again. Trying to make up
for the fact that she had left him heartbroken only a month earlier.

It was hard for him to forget that. He wanted to. Occasionally he did.
When he heard the baby’s heart beat and when he found out that she was going to
have an ultrasound in a month, he kissed her like he had in the past and held
her close to his chest. But when he looked down, he couldn’t help but feel
disappointed that she was there. The love that he felt a few moments before
disappeared, and even when he searched for it, he couldn’t find it within
himself.

Really, he was more heartbroken now than when he got on the plane to
Boston in the middle of the night. Then he was angry. Now he was just sad. It
was something he could never tell Margaret about, and it was something that
would always create a little distance between them.

“Dr. Fitzgerald?” Michael looked up to find the nurse standing in his
doorway. “Sorry to bother you. Mr. Grover is in exam room one, and his chart is
on the door.”

He tried to give her a smile as he stood up. “Thanks, Heather.” At least
one of his dreams was coming true, and for now he would have to focus on that.

#

 “Your financial outlook was not very promising. You worked at a major
loss last month.” The older woman with graying hair peered over her glasses at
Caitlyn.

Caitlyn’s heart raced. “It was the first month I was in business. Yes, it
started slow, but business picked up significantly in the last two weeks.”
Caitlyn sat up a little straighter. She had been sitting in the American Dream
Insurance office for over two hours and had been attacked by three different
people regarding her claim.

“It appears that the business has $50,000 dollars of debt and was your
only source of income.”

“Yes, that’s true, but…”

“And if we awarded you the insurance claim, which is over $200,000
dollars, you would walk away from your failing business with quite a profit.”

Caitlyn clenched her teeth. “I put a lot of my own money into that
business. It was my life.”

Mrs. Le looked down at the file in front of her. “You were a teacher
before you opened the business?”

“So, after paying your debt you would have about three years’ salary left
over from your claim?”

“Why don’t you tell me exactly what you’re dancing around?”

Mrs. Le set her pen down on her desk. “The fire investigator has
determined that this might have been an act of arson.”

Caitlyn’s mouth fell open. “What? Who would burn down my business?”

 “You, Miss Murphy.”

“Me? Why do you think I would do that? It was my livelihood.” She wanted
to stand up and hit the sense back into the woman, but she clenched her teeth
to keep herself from being rash. We think that it is highly possible that you
were a disgruntled former teacher looking for an easy way to take a few years
off. We will be investigating for insurance fraud.”

“A disgruntled teacher? I taught for ten years! I left the school with
the principal begging me to reconsider. I wasn’t disgruntled. I was done. I
wanted to do something else. I wanted to own a coffee shop, so I took my hard
earned savings and a loan and started the business that I thought I was going
to run until I retired and sold it to someone else. Now that’s gone. My dream
is shattered, and you’re telling me that you think I did it on purpose.”

“It is a very suspicious situation, and we have to investigate it.”

“To screw me out of my money?” Caitlyn stood up and grabbed her purse off
of the chair next to her.

“Tell me; what are your plans for the money should you receive it?”

“Oh, I was planning on going to Cabo San Lucas for as long as possible,
so I could meet a rich man and steal his money. Because I am a con artist and a
gold digger.” Mrs. Le dropped her gaze to her desk and started writing
something down in the file. “Are you kidding me?”

“This is very serious, Miss Murphy.”

“You’re seriously out of your mind.” Caitlyn turned and walked to the
doorway before looking back at Mrs. Le. “Investigate me all you want. I’m not
hiding anything. And when I get my money, I’m going to rebuild my business, and
I would be more than happy to make you a double espresso so maybe you can chill
the hell out.”

Caitlyn knew that she had handled that all wrong, but she didn’t care.
Anyone who knew her knew that she wouldn’t burn down Fine and Mellow on
purpose. They knew that she worked too hard to let it all go up in flames
without even taking the money out of the safe.

When she got home, Michael and Margaret were sitting on the wood rocking
chairs on her front porch. “What fresh hell is this?” she said aloud when she
saw them.

They stood up and greeted her. “I made you a baked ziti,” said Margaret
offering her a casserole dish.

“That’s nice, but no one died. I don’t need people to make me food. In
fact, because I don’t have a job any more, I have plenty of time to cook for
myself.”

Margaret looked down at her foil-covered dish and bit her lip.

“What the hell Caitlyn? Margaret was trying to do something nice for
you.” Michael grabbed the dish from Margaret and shoved it into Caitlyn’s
hands.

Caitlyn glared at Margaret, who smiled at her incessantly. “I don’t want
her brand of nice.” She set the dish on a side table and then unlocked the door
to her house.

“I know that you are going through a rough time right now, but…”

“You have no idea what I’m going through.” Caitlyn turned to face the
happy couple. “Maybe you should be more worried about your life than mine. Not
everything is perfect in your world either. Is it Margaret?”

Margaret looked at her feet, gulped, and then looked directly into
Caitlyn’s eyes. “I never said that it was.”

Caitlyn wanted to just tell him right there that Margaret was faking her
pregnancy, but she didn’t want to be nasty. That’s not who she was. It should
come out delicately, when she could help him. That’s not who she was today.
Instead she waved her finger between the two of them and said, “Maybe you two
should work that out before you come around to pity me and my disaster of a
life.” With that, she walked into the house and left them alone on the porch.

She didn’t have the patience for them right now. She didn’t have patience
for anything, which is why she was surprised when she called her mother after
setting down her stuff.

“Can I come down tomorrow and spend a few days with you?”

“Of course! I would love that Caitlyn.” She figured that Cat wouldn’t
mind.

“You have to cut back on the cigarettes.” A pause answered her demand.
“Ma?”

“Fine.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” Caitlyn had to get away at least for a
little while, so she could function without biting someone’s head off. What
better way to get it out of her system than to stay with her mother for a few
days?

When Caitlyn’s alarm went off the next morning, instead of trudging
through her routine, she sped through it, so that she could leave as quickly as
possible. Alexis was very supportive, and if Caitlyn didn’t get out of Maple
Field really early, she was going to be stuck in Maple Field. That was the last
thing she wanted at this point. She wrote a quick note and posted it on the
front door. It read: “Needed a vacation, so I took one. -CYM” She hoped that
Mrs. Le wouldn’t see it, but she doubted that she would be that lucky.

When she went outside, she noticed that Margaret had left her baked ziti
on the porch. Caitlyn considered bringing it inside, throwing it away, and
washing the dish. Screw it, she thought. She didn’t have time or the inclination
to wash other people’s dishes, so she left it where it was.

She took one last glance around her little house before locking up and
heading out. She heard her phone ring from the driveway but decided to let the
machine get it. It couldn't be nearly as important as leaving in that moment.

As she was heading to her car, her cell phone rang. For a moment she
hoped that Michael had figured out the truth, but the call was from Alexis's
number. She ignored the call and then turned off her phone. She was not going
to deal with anyone in Maple Field for a least a day, and her best friend was
just going to have to deal with that.  

The drive was fairly quiet and pleasurable. The snowy landscape and wiry
trees made for interesting views on the way down to the city. By the time she
reached Worcester, it was morning rush hour, but Caitlyn did not mind. Her
concentration was fixed on the beauty that surrounded her and not on the
destination. She was in no rush to get where she was going and had no
obligations to anyone except herself. The faint sound of Joni Mitchell's voice
soothed her over the aggravated honks of the other drivers.

She pulled into the parking lot of a small diner that she liked to visit
when she was in town for breakfast. She had juice instead of coffee, eggs
instead of a muffin, and bacon because it was there. It was the anti-coffee
shop breakfast. She needed to distance herself from that life for a little
while, at least while the wounds of the loss were still fresh. She liked this
stuff, but she didn't serve it because it would have been too difficult on her
own.

She looked out the window at the cars and people passing by and realized
that things were peaceful if that was how you wanted to perceive them. She
began to wonder if her situation, if viewed from a different perspective could
be considered peaceful. Was it possible that if she looked at her life from
another angle she was actually fortunate? Maybe Michael was distracting her
from the real love of her life. Maybe she wasn’t meant to own her own coffee
shop, or at least that one.

 Her thoughts were interrupted by a man who slid into her booth across
the table from her. She was startled by his intrusion but more confused as to
what right he thought he had to sit in someone's booth without asking permission.
She felt his eyes focus on her, and for a fleeting moment, for an unknown
reason, she felt a sense of shame. She shook it off, realizing that it was
ridiculous that a stranger could do that to her by only looking at her. She
sipped her juice nonchalantly and then inquired, “Can I help you with
something?”

Caitlyn peered at him hoping he felt that her eyes were making him as
uncomfortable as his made her feel. He was tall, which was obvious even when he
was sitting. He had a small frame and a slightly muscular build to make up for
it. His hair was trimmed too short to be styled; it just poked out in all
directions. He was dressed well: a light, black sweater was layered over a blue
dress shirt. He looked like a professional. There was something familiar about
him, but Caitlyn couldn't quite place it.

“You looked upset, so I figured I would come over here and distract you,”
he replied without disrupting any of his composure. He leaned back into the
seat and crossed his right ankle over his left thigh to get more comfortable.

Caitlyn was taken aback by his apparent arrogance and felt her face get
hot with resentment. “I am quite fine on my own, thank you. No need to take
pity on me.” She turned her body away from him and her eyes back toward the
window.