Page 7 of Bastain

“I promise you that I will ask for help when I need it. I just have to be careful around the house for the next few weeks, and I should be better.” CarolAnn said that she had to get going. “Come by and see me when you have time. We can talk about mom and all the things that she got into before getting sick.”

“I’d love that. Your mom was a pistol, in a good way, as you know.” She laughed. Agreeing with her about her mom. “I’ll see you next week, child. You take care and don’t overdo it. I know that you will, but I’m hoping that you won’t.”

“I might call you when the next check comes in so that I can have your boys, who are men by the way, escort me to the bank to deposit the check in one of the drawers that I have there. I don’t want them in the house where Tilly will find them.” She said that she didn’t blame her for that and to call when she had to go to the bank or anyplace for that matter. “I will. I’m afraid of her, and now that I’ve pressed charges against her and had her arrested, she’s not going to be too happy with me all the way around.”

“Remember to call is all I can tell you. There is no point in putting yourself in harm’s way if you don’t have to. They’ll be good protection for you, no matter what you have planned. And make sure you put a restraining order out on her as well. She might ignore it, but it will go a long way in getting her into more trouble when she does it.” She said that was next on her list of things to do. “I knew you were a brilliant girl.”

After she left, giving her the cell phone number to her personal phone, she felt better than before. It was going to be nice to have someone to talk to about things and not have to worry about getting beaten to crap. She was honestly afraid of her aunt and what she might do to her, and wasn’t afraid to ask for help. She just hoped that they’d be able to get to her before her aunt did. She was scary crazy.

Trin didn’t get to go home because her kidney was still swollen. But she did sleep better that night. She didn’t know if it had to do with her being about to go home or the visit she’d had from CarolAnn. But she was on the mend, and she was glad for that. Going home was the best thing that could have happened to her, and she was glad to be able to do it on her own. Trin was very independent, and she thought that she’d gotten that from her mom. Glad that she’d inherited one good thing from her, she was happy to be able to go home and start her new life. It was something that she’d been looking forward to for the past several months.

~*~

Bastain sat in his office and couldn’t think of a single thing that he’d been thinking about. His computer had gone to sleep a long time ago, and he wasn’t inclined to turn it back on only for it to turn off again when he was distracted. It was that woman and her talking to him that way that had bothered him so much. He’d done nothing wrong other than to take his brother to the hospital to see her.

Of course, he’d been rude in thinking that she’d cashed the checks, but that was something that his way of life had taught him. Guilty until it was proven to be different. In his line of work, he was better off thinking that everyone was guilty until it could be proven otherwise. He knew that he was somewhat jaded about people, but he didn’t care. He was going to leave her alone and not have a thing to do with her. He looked at his brother when he cleared his throat.

“Did you know that you talk to yourself when you’re upset?” He asked Dayton what he wanted. “Don’t bite my head off. I’m just the messenger. Mom sent me to ask you if you were going to be working late. She didn’t want to leave a message on your phone as you weren’t answering it.”

“I’ve been busy.” He only smiled, and he knew somehow that he knew that he’d not been doing a damned thing. “Why did she send you here? I know for a fact that she’s been able to come here on her own for a long time.”

“Again, don’t bite the messenger. As I said, you have your service on, and she didn’t want to leave you a message. You should be grateful that she sent me and not Zavier. What did you do to piss him off?” He didn’t know and told his brother that. “I would imagine that it’s a big deal as he’s the most laid back person that I’ve ever known.”

“Why is this my fault? I didn’t want to go and see her in the first place. But he insisted, and there was no way I was going to be able to talk to someone so stubborn. I tell you, she’s more like Debra every time I talk to her. And we all know how that ended.” Dayton laughed. “I don’t know what you think is so funny, but I will never understand women at all. I’m guessing that you think she’s the greatest thing on earth.”

“I don’t know her all that well, but she seems like a nice person to me.” He snorted, and that made Dayton laugh. “I think you’re protesting too much, big brother, and I think it’s funny.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s a pain in my ass, and I’d just as soon not have a thing to do with her. You should date her, you like her so much.” He said that he had a date with her tomorrow night. “Good for the two of you.”

“We’re going to go and get pizza locally. She’s still in a lot of pain, but she said that she’s sick of four walls and wants to get out in the open. I can’t blame her for that. Remember when you broke your ribs? How all you wanted to do was sit outside on the back porch and watch the trees?” He had wanted to do that because looking at the four walls of his room was boring. He asked Dayton where he was picking her up at. “At her home. She’s been out of the hospital for a couple of days now and is going back to work next week.”

“That was the hardest part for me. Returning to work. I just wanted to lay around the house and be in pain for a while. Sitting up all the time was hard on my body.” Dayton said that he remembered that. “I hope that she does well. But if she doesn’t have to be back to work, then tell her to hold off. It’s harder to go back than she thinks it’s going to be.” Dayton said that he would. “What did you want anyway? I’m sure you didn’t come here to tell me that you had a date.”

“I wanted your opinion on something.” He told him about the checks that Trin was getting from her mom and the trips to the office about them. “She’s been going every month when she gets a new check. Also, she’s put them into a drawer at the bank so that she doesn’t have them in the house. She’s afraid they’ll come back later and blame her for cashing them. She figured that if she had the original checks, she’d be all right. Will she be?”

“Dealing with the government is difficult for people. And lawyers. I believe she’s doing the right thing right now. But if they come back on her, it won’t be a simple thing of her just handing over the checks. They’ll wonder why she didn’t do it a long time ago, even though she had.” Dayton said he didn’t think they’d believe her when she tried to turn them over to them. “I hope she’s taking notes on who she talked to and when. It might not help in the long run, but I’ve heard that if you have enough information, someone will believe her. She’s smart in doing it this way.”

“Thanks, I’ll let her know.” They talked about the cases that he had coming up and how he and Mom were still looking for houses. “I’ve been looking myself. The condo is great and all. I don’t have to mess with the yard or anything like that, but I want something that I can own. Something that I can say that I’ve paid for, instead of just a three-bedroom condo that I have nothing to show for it.”

“I know what you mean. Mom said that she wants a house where she can start anew in. I think that we’ve been living in that house for too long. She told me that the roof in her bedroom leaks and she has to put buckets around to catch it. We can do a lot better than that.” They both laughed a little. “I can’t believe that I thought it was all right to live at home with her when she’s been putting up with all the stuff around the house. I sold the house that Debra and I had, and it was in much better shape than the one I grew up in.”

“I think it might be fun to mow my lawn. So long as it’s not a million acres. But a small patch of land would be nice to own.” He asked him about a house. “I don’t know. There are several on the market today. I was going to ask you if you wanted to go with me to see them. Mom too. They’re bigger than I wanted, but I don’t know. I could work from home if I had a decent office.”

“I could as well. Paying the rent on this place is getting out of hand. I should have purchased it when I divorced Debra. That way, I could have someplace that I own and not have to live with mom.” He pointed out that Mom loved having him there. “I think we’re good for each other. It’s been a few years, and we’re starting to get into a good rhythm. We don’t get into each other’s way either.”

“That’s good. I think it would drive me insane to move back home. Especially if I had to live in my old room. If I remember correctly, it had a leak in the ceiling as well.” He shook his head.

The house was falling down around them. As his brother was getting ready to leave, they made arrangements to go see the houses with their mom. She was excited to be able to find something, and that made him think she was sick of the house as well. There weren’t any views around the house where you could get a break in sitting outdoors, either. He wanted something with a few acres just so he’d not have any neighbors. He’d like living in a cave somewhere, he told himself. Just so people wouldn’t bother him. For some reason, that brought up the girl again. Trinity Layton.

He didn’t know why he didn’t care for the girl. She’d been rude to him when he’d first met her, and that could have been it. But then people were rude to him anyway because he was an attorney. Most people thought that if he were an attorney, he had thick skin and could put up with anything. But the old jokes were just that. Old, and he was sick of being called names, too.

Bastain was a good attorney. He won a lot of his cases, and the few that he lost didn’t make him feel bad. He had a good office that he worked from—he’d worked from his home when he’d been married, and that hadn’t really been a walk in the park. That made him think of Debra.

Debra had been a shrew. She only wanted him to spend time with her and neglect his work. He didn’t know how she figured money would come in if he was partying all the time, but she wanted him at her side and nowhere else. They got into so many arguments those last few months together that he started staying at his mom’s even before the divorce had been settled. Debra took exception to that as well. Calling him a mama’s boy. Well, he was, and he loved his momma.

It took him an extra hour to get finished for the day. He’d been working on time, but with his brother coming to visit him and then talking to his mom for about half an hour, he was behind again. But instead of making them wait on him, he put away all his files and locked up his office. The work would be there tomorrow, and he’d get it done then. There was always work to be done, and he knew that he was good at getting caught up when he had the time.

Going home to change, he was glad to see his mom was excited about going house hunting. He was as well, and her excitement made him even more so. Dayton was picking them up, so he didn’t have to drive. He didn’t mind driving, but if someone else would rather, he was all for it. It wasn’t that he was lazy; he just wanted to look around rather than to be looking at the road all the time.