Desperate Measures(131)
“Is it from Joe?” asked Kiki.
Elizabeth pulled the card off and handed it to Aimee.
Aimee opened it and teared up again. “Yes. He signed it ‘Yours’.”
“I told you that you hit the jackpot, didn’t I?”
The door opened again and admitted a little old lady carrying a bone-white vinyl purse. “Is this Aimee’s room? Oh, hey girls, how are you? I’ve been in five different rooms already, looking for this one. I saw two asses, one breast, and a pecker. What the heck is wrong with people these days that they can’t keep their robes closed?”
Aimee started laughing, grimacing slightly at the pain it caused her face and ribs.
Betty came up to the bedside. “Hi, sweetie. It’s Betty. Can you see me okay?”
“Yes, I can. Thank you for coming.”
“That’s a hell of a shiner you’ve got there. You look like you were in a fight with Muhammed Ali.”
“No, just my ex-husband.”
“Bastard!” she yelled. “Anywho, I have a little something for you I made the other day. I heard you were in a certain way, from a little bird, so here you go.”
She unsnapped her vinyl bag and pulled out a pair of mustard yellow baby booties.
Aimee took them gently and turned them over, getting the full effect and trying to ignore Kiki’s not very discreet snorts coming from across the room. Aimee could see Elizabeth rolling her eyes to the ceiling and tapping her foot, trying not to laugh.
“Oh, Betty, these are lovely.”
“Well, the color looks like shit, I know. But I get the yarn from the bargain bin. I’m on a fixed income, you know.” She turned to go out of the room. “Well, I have mah johngg in a few hours or so. I have to go prepare myself for Madge’s next abomination. You know, ever since I brought your delicious cakes, she’s been on a one-woman mission to bring me down. Last week she actually brought fruitcake and marshmallow kabobs. Kabobs! I looked at ‘em and said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ She just gave me one of her looks. Oh, those looks. I see ‘em and I just want to pop her in the kisser. Aimee, honey, you need to get better soon and make me some more tarts before I’m forced to take matters into my own hands.” She waved at the girls over her shoulder on the way out. “Toodles, girls. See you at the book club meeting!”
Kiki held her stomach, laughing so hard she couldn’t stop. She looked up at her friends and saw they were suffering the same as her. “Man, I love that woman.”
“That’s what you’re going to be like when you’re ninety,” said Aimee, laughing and crying at the same time.
“Ninety? Try forty,” said Elizabeth, peals of laughter ringing out and surrounding Kiki with echoing reminders that she was in a really good place in her life right now, even if she had just recently wrestled a mad gunman to the floor to save the life of a friend.
Chapter 42
ELIZABETH CLOSED HER LAPTOP. “OKAY, it’s all done.”
“So I’m finished? I’m a free woman?” asked Aimee. She held up Elizabeth’s favorite pen, having just signed her name to her divorce settlement papers.
“Well, I need to file these with the court and get the judge to sign off on them, but that shouldn’t take longer than a few days,” explained Marcus. “Judge Halsey is well aware of your situation and is more than happy to fast-track this for us.”
“Marcus, I don’t know how to thank you for everything,” said Aimee.
“Oh, goodness, don’t even think about it. I still feel terrible for getting Jack all riled up at you.”
“That was not your fault, Marcus,” said Kiki. “The guy’s a nutter.”
“Yes, well, be that as it may, I still feel responsible. Whatever you need, you say the word.”
“So when is she going to get her money?” asked Kiki.
“It should be wired into her account within five days. That’s the agreement.”
“I’m glad you took all the cash, instead of the property,” said Elizabeth. “It’s going to be so much easier for you.”
“Yeah, well, it’s less than I could have gotten, but you’re right; it beats trying to sell Tiffany’s love nest.”
“Hey, seven hundred grand is nothing to sneeze at,” reminded Kiki.
“Oh, I know. It’s my nest egg. Mine and Junior’s,” Aimee said, rubbing her flat abdomen.