Ugly(121)

“You take them. Or if you don’t want to go see whatever movie it’s for, give it to someone else. I don’t care, just take them.”

“Thank you, Peter.” I open the envelope, and these aren’t just movie tickets, these are for the red carpet premier of the new Josh Harlon movie. Josh is one of the hottest action-romance actors in the world. The movie Love and Guns is apparently his best movie yet, and there’s a lot of buzz around it. “Peter,” I half mumble as I keep looking at the tickets.

“Yes?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to give these to one of your daughters? Or maybe Dale’s daughters? These are really rare tickets, and apparently the actor himself will be there. I can give them to Dale for his daughters.”

Peter stops working and looks up at me. He does this funny twisty thing with his mouth as he narrows his eyes at me. I feel like I’m in trouble. “If I told you I’d bought these for you to go out, you would’ve rejected them. I tell you I got them given to me, and you still reject them. You’ve been working hard, I wanted to give you something.”

“But you gave me two thousand at Christmas.”

“I gave everyone a bonus. I gave everyone what I thought they deserved.”

I tilt my head to the side, still looking between the tickets and Peter. “These were intended for me?”

“Yes, they are.”

“You and Dale keep doing things for me, I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”

“Close the door, Lily.” He stands from where he is sitting and he rounds the big, ugly desk in his office. I close the door, and when I turn he indicates for me to sit at the chair opposite him. “Do you know why Dale and I are so on top of this?”

“No Sir, I don’t.”

“My daughter got herself involved with someone who we thought was terrific. He had a good job, worked hard, and was the best man she could’ve met. And really, he was. He took care of her so well. And when they had their daughter, my granddaughter, he doted on her. He was a terrific husband, and a terrific man.”

“Sounds like she’s one of the luckiest people in the world.”

“She was. Until it all changed.”

“How did it change? Did he start to hurt her?”

Peter shakes his head. “No, not at all.”

I squint my eyes and scratch my head, unsure at where this is going. “I don’t understand.”

“My daughter wanted to lose weight, and she heard that the drug ice was good for doing that. What she didn’t know was just how highly addictive ice is.”

“Oh my God,” I whisper. Suddenly, sickness rushes to the base of my throat, I’m not sure I can handle what he’s going to say.

“At first she was always happy, and bouncing around everywhere. No one suspected she was addicted to anything. She was great with Jojo, my granddaughter, and everything was going well. Until the drugs took over her life. Sean would come home from work and find nothing had been done, Jojo would be left in her dirty diaper all day, and she’d be crying and hungry. The first time that happened, he scooped Jojo up, and brought her to us.”

“Oh my gosh.”

“We kept her and cared for her, while he looked after our daughter. Don’t get me wrong, we were involved with her care, too. But Jojo needed a loving home, and my daughter wasn’t able to provide it because of the addiction. Sean, my wife, and I decided we’d provide the financial support to get our daughter the help she needs, but we’d give Jojo all the care and love she deserved.”

I’m speechless, other than a gasp, I really have no words.

“Sean tried doing it on his own, but, then she became abusive. He knew it was the drugs, and it wasn’t her, but she started lashing out and hitting him.”

I clap a hand to my mouth as he tells the story.

“You see, Lily. Domestic abuse touches everyone, and when I know it’s touched someone who’s as beautiful a person as you are, I need to help. For my daughter, for my son in law, for every survivor.”

I sit in silence for a moment, until I think of something he said just a few moments ago. “You said when you first started telling me, you thought your son in law was a terrific person, why only thought it?”

“Because now we know, he’s so much more than terrific. He’s her savior. She needed saving, and he was the saint who stepped up and did it. He loves her so much, he risked it all just so he could get her healthy again. And we all supported him. To me, he can do no wrong.”

I take a few deep breaths and just take in everything Peter has told me. “May I ask how they’re doing now?”