Page 11 of Stone

“Whatcha reading there, Less?” She didn’t know why Albert continued to call her that when she’d asked him several times not to do it. “It looks important. Want me to read it to you?”

“Yes.” She hated the man she was with. His name was Oliver, of all things, and she was sick of him treating her like a big dummy head. The way everyone did when they found out that she could only not read, but she didn’t know her numbers either. Not enough to tell people what kind of dollars they were handing her. “Just read the part where it talks about the man. He’s a good-looking fella, and I wonder what he is doing with her.”

“Let me see here.” It took him forever to get to the part where it explained who the man was. “His name is Stone Griffin. I’ve heard of them, I think. Well monied. It says here that he’s going to be marrying Sage Tigner. Hey, that’s your kid, isn’t it? She must not be a kid, I guess. I don’t remember the last time you even spoke about her.”

“We were supposed to meet her for Christmas, but you won all the money at the races, and we didn’t go there. I might well have went anyway if I’d known you were going to be selfish with the winnings you made.” He pointed out that it was his money that he’d won and she snatched the paper from him. “So you said. About a thousand times.”

They’d been at the airport, and Vegas, like a lot of little places around the town, had one armed bandits. She didn’t know what they were really called, but she knew that she didn’t play them as much as she used to. She did for a long time, but when she ran out of money for the hundredth time, she didn’t go back to them.

There was no way that she could afford them and eat as well. But while they were waiting to be boarded, he’d won some money. She knew that it sounded like a great deal to her, but she didn’t think that five grand went as far as he’d hoped it would. They were broke again by the following day.

She asked him how he knew that the Griffins had money. He said that it was in the newspaper all the time about this or that. How they were the saviors of the school system. Then he remembered how the principal of the little kid’s school had been arrested for trying to kill one of the teachers.

“He’s a Griffin, too, and some upstanding person. Anyway, after he got fired, I’m not sure of all the details like I was there, but he went and got him a gun and went after them and a lady friend of his. I’m betting now that it was your daughter. I wonder if she was hurt.” She didn’t know but asked him where it had happened. “It says here that it happened in Ohio. I had no idea that was where she lived. I thought you told me she lived in Chicago or someplace like that.”

“She did. She worked for a grocery store doing bagging or something. I didn’t know that she moved.” Not that there was any reason for her to know that her daughter had moved. She never kept in touch with her unless she contacted her. That was the only reason that she had a working cell phone so that Sage could get in touch with her when she wanted. And right now she wanted to talk to her about how she’d been engaged and not thought to tell her about it.

Leslie didn’t hate her daughter. Most of the people that she and Albert hung out with did hate their own kids. Sage had been a good kid, she supposed. Not that she had wanted her around all thatmuch but she did make sure that they had a roof over their heads as well as money in the bank. That was all gone now that she’d gone off on her own when she’d turned eighteen years old. But that had been all right, too. She needed to sow her oats like her mom did. Whatever the hell that meant.

Waiting until Albert left the room, she pulled out her cell phone and called her daughter. A man answered the cell, and she was afraid that she’d pressed the wrong button that was there for her to simply call her kid. The man laughed when she said she had the wrong number.

“Are you looking for Sage? She’s right here but talking on the other phone right now. My name is Stone. Who might this be?” Leslie told him. “Her mom, I guess. She came here on business for the Danielson’s but that is turning out all wrong for her. Do you want me to have her call you back?”

“Yes, please do that.” She thought of asking him if it was true that he was marrying her daughter, but she didn’t know what else to say to him. Leslie hadn’t ever been good at small talk, either.

After hanging up with the man, she thought about what she was good at. There wasn’t much that she’d be able to say, she told herself. While not being able to read at all, she had gotten books from the library and listened to them with recordings. Leslie had had to do that without Albert around, or he’d just make fun of her. But she’d enjoyed it so much there were times when she would just go outside near the pool where they were staying and listen to them instead of sunning in the sun. Loving how the music would tell her when something was going to happen. Leslie thought that she could enjoy any book ever if she had the time to listen to them. That reminded her that she had a book to take back soon, and she decided to go out and get her something else to listen to for fun.

Her cell was ringing as soon as she was able to get to the library. Not wanting to air her phone call to others, she sat down on one of the few benches around the building that weren’t occupied by someone else. The first thing that she noticed about Sage was that she was upset about something. She told her to call her back when she was in a better mood.

“I’m sorry. Nothing is going right. The couple that I came here for has had a death in the family, and now I don’t know what to do.” She heard the noises in the background shut off when a door closed and figured that she was someplace where she could talk to her. “I was going to call you tonight anyway. Didn’t you say that boyfriend of yours goes out at night?”

“I’m headed to the library. They had books on tape, and I love listening to them.” She felt stupid for saying that and asked her about the family she was staying with. “That man, he sounded nice.”

“He is. We’re going to be getting married. I don’t know when. He’s not asked me yet, but Storm told me that it was a done deal. I’m not sure what that means, but I believe him.” Leslie asked her if she was pregnant and needed to get married. “No, nothing like that. But I was going to call you to see if you could make it out for summer. We just bought a nice house, and I’d like for you to see it. However, I understand that you might have other things to do.”

“I want out of this.” She only just realized that was what she wanted more than anything. “I don’t want to be around Albert anymore. He’s mean and cruel…he doesn’t beat me, but he’s not at all nice to me, and I want to get to know you.” She laughed just a little. “I know that sounds like I’m crazy and not what you called me about, but it only just occurred to me that I want out of anything with him.”

Sage didn’t say anything, so she just waited. The need to fill in the silence was nearly overwhelming but she didn’t know what she’d say if she did talk. The thought of her daughter turning her down after all this time hurt her heart. While she was rubbing the area where she knew her heart to be, Leslie still waited for her to fill in the quiet.

“Did you know about the money?” It was a fair enough question but it hurt her all the same. She explained to Sage how Albert had told her that they had money, but that’s not why she wanted to come home. “You wanted to come home before, and I had it all planned out, too, but you ditched me at the very last minute.”

“I wanted to still come but Albert won some money and didn’t want to leave. I should have come on my own, I wish with all my heart that I had, but he had it in his head that we needed to keep going on a sure thing. I don’t know why he ever thinks things are going to go his way. He loses more than he wins every time.” Sage asked her if she’d do the same thing again. “If you help me to get toyou, I’ll not leave you again, Sage, honey. I’m getting to the point in my life where I want you around.”

“You’ve said that to me before.” She nodded and then remembered that she couldn’t see her and told her that. “I don’t know what to think, Mom. You’ve treated me like crap since I was a child. I want to see you. I want you to meet Stone, but I don’t know about the long term. Or is that the plan again. You come here, hang out for a few days then take off again on some adventure? I don’t know that I could take that again. You up and leaving me when I think that my life is settled.”

“I don’t want that either.” She realized then that she wanted to have a relationship with her daughter. One that meant them getting to know one another, too. “I know next to nothing about you. I know that it’s all my fault, too. I would love to meet your man and his family. Albert…well, he can be damned for all I care. Did I mention that when I asked him if it was too late for me to learn to read, he said it was too late for me to do anything but stick around the house, making it nice for him? I don’t want that. I want someone to make things nice to me, damn it. I want to see you, Sage. Even if you’ll only allow me to have ten minutes a day with you, it’s more than I think I deserve.”

She was crying then and hated herself for it. Talking to her daughter had never made her feel like it did this time. She found that she wanted to beg her daughter for another chance to get to know her and that she’d go to the ends of the earth to do so. As soon as she asked her to wait for a moment, Leslie just knew that she was going to hang up on her and never call back.

As soon as she got back on the line, she told her that there was a ticket going to be waiting for her at the closest airport. The same one as before. She told her three times that she wasn’t going to pay for Albert and that if she really did want to get away from him, now was her chance.

“If you leave me hanging, Mom, I’ll never speak to you again. As a matter of fact, the phone that you have now won’t work again either. I mean it.” She told her that she’d be there. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow. Stone said that there is a flight going out…hang on again.”

When she came back this time, she seemed happier. “Stone said that his brother has business out that way and will be coming in on the plane. I’ll not be with him as I have to get things going on this end for Hailey. But he and his brother will be there with a sign on them that says your name. Don’t bring Albert.” She told her that she’d not do that. That she’d get to the airport one way or another. “There will be a car…are you still at the library? If I send you a car there to take you to the airport, will you go with them?”

“Yes. I’ll be waiting. Oh, Sage, I can’t believe this is really happening. I don’t have squat at the apartment that we were living in. I have my purse and ID with me.” A picture showed up on her phone, and she nearly dropped it. “Oh my, is that your man?”

“Yes. His name is Stone Griffin. Be nice to him.” Leslie said that she would, she promised. “I need a picture of you so that I can give it to the driver that is coming for you. He’s a friend of Stones, so I don’t know him but be nice to him too.”

---