Page 80 of The Incredible Kindness of Paper
Now, though, Oliver had insulted Chloe’s paper roses to the entire country, and Jennifer’s phone was mysteriously disconnected after Chloe had given her a lot of money.
Believe in the good in people, Chloe thought ferociously to herself. She’d told Zac that that was the sort of person she was. She wouldn’t let herself jump to conclusions about Jennifer.
But the other thing Chloe had said to Zac was that she didn’t live with her head in the sand. She understood what negative outcomescouldoccur, even if she chose to focus on the positive possibilities. But when a negative outcome became closer to reality than just potential, Chloe didn’t shy away from the facts.
And this, unfortunately, was one of those times.
Chloe’s stomach plummeted again as she ran a search for the names that Jennifer had given for her attorney and tax expert friends.
Nothing came up for either. Chloe even tried variations on spellings.
No dice.
What would Becca do if she were here?
She’d advise Chloe to be more cynical, to finally pursue some of those rumors about Oliver’s mom from long ago.
Chloe looked up “Jennifer Jones Caribbean timeshare scam” and “Jennifer Jones Scotland ancestral real estate fraud.”
Articles popped up, including some about a more recent criminal trial and conviction on multiple counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering. Supposedly there had been other suspected fraud in her past—including the timeshare resale and Scottish land scams while she lived in Kansas—but the statute of limitations had run out on all of those before Jennifer had finally been tracked down. But for the newer crimes, she’d been sentenced to five to seven years in prison.
That meant Jennifer had only recently been released.
A sob clutched Chloe’s throat, and she fell to her knees in the middle of the apartment as she choked on the incoming tears. “Oh god oh god ohgod… What am I going to do?” That had been all the money she had—no, money shedidn’teven have because she’d taken out a cash advance on her credit card.
It felt like losing her job all over again, but this was possibly even worse. Why was it so hard to make it as a good person in this world?
She wanted to crawl into bed and bury herself beneath the pillows and never come out again.
What Chloe needed was her parents. Someone to bring her soup and rub her back and chase away the shadows to make everything okay.
Hands shaking, she dialed her mom.
“Hi, Lo-Lo!”
“Mom?” Chloe barely managed, because the tears were coming fast and hard now.
“Oh, baby, what’s wrong?”
“Everything… I… I don’t know what to do. I have no job, no money. I fell for a scam. My rent is going up a-and…” Chloe dissolved into a puddle, unable to get out the last part, which she now realized hurt her even worse than the rest. That Oliver had come back into her life but betrayed her on national television, had proved that he didn’t understand or see her at all.
“My sweet girl,” her mom said. “Come home. Let me take care of you for a little while.”
“I-I can’t afford—”
“Don’t even think about that. Dad will get on the computer and buy you a plane ticket right now, okay? If we do that, can you make it to the airport in a few hours?”
Chloe swallowed the tight lump in her throat. “Yes,” she whispered.
Oliver
Oliver had been up all night, knowing that Chloe had probably seen thatToday Showclip. He’d only fallen asleep about an hour ago. But as the sun glared brighter through the cracks in the blinds, he rolled over in bed and reached for his phone, even though he didn’t want to see what new horrors might be on it.
7:24 a.m. Missed call: Jennifer Jones
7:24 a.m. Voicemail: Jennifer Jones
Oliver grumbled. Was she really so brazen to be hitting him up for money again so soon?
