Ladies' Night Andrews, Kay (great novels .txt) 📖

“Hmm?”

“I’m going to bed,” Wyatt repeated.

“Did you ever talk to your Aunt Betsy?” Nelson asked, his eyes glued to the television.

“No. Why would I?”

“She called here looking for you. Guess you must have had your phone turned off.”

Wyatt came around and stood directly in front of the television, the only way he knew to get his father’s attention this time of night. “Dad? What did Betsy say?”

“Hey! Come on now, it’s the bottom of the inning, two outs, and we’ve got the bases loaded.”

“What did Betsy say? Did she have news? Come on, Dad, this could be important.”

Nelson waved his hand in irritation. “How’m I supposed to know what she wanted? She just said to call her. Not tonight, she had something goin’ on. Now, can I watch my game?”

Wyatt called her anyway and left a message on his aunt’s phone. The itching was driving him nuts, but he resisted taking the Benadryl. At 9:30 he called and left another message for her, and at ten, in desperation, he texted. WHAT’S UP? DAD SAID YOU CALLED.

Thirty minutes later, his phone dinged and he lunged for it. Betsy’s message was clear as mud. CAN’T TALK, CALL U IN A.M.

Finally, sometime after ten, he popped some Benadryl and fell into an uneasy sleep, imagining all the bad news his attorney might be saving up for the next morning.

28

Betsy Entwhistle was sitting at a table near the window of Eat Here, her favorite breakfast spot in Holmes Beach, when she spotted her nephew making his way through the parking lot, a baseball cap pulled down low over his face, sunglasses covering his eyes.

She sighed. She hated the bruising Callie was giving Wyatt. He’d been a good husband and a loving father, and the little idiot thought she could do better with that punk Luke? She’d known Callie was trouble from the start, and she’d told her sister, Wyatt’s mom, that, in confidence. In confidence, Peggy had agreed wholeheartedly. But Wyatt was in love, and they both hoped things would work out.

“Hey,” Wyatt was almost out of breath. He dropped into the chair opposite hers. “What’s going on? What couldn’t you tell me last night?”

“Good Lord, what have you done to your face?” Betsy reached over and tipped back the bill of his cap, removed the sunglasses. Wyatt’s handsome face was a crimson, contorted mess. His eyes were nearly swollen shut, his nose and cheeks covered with red blisters that crawled down his neck to his chest. His hands were covered with a similar eruption.

“I took down a tree at the park yesterday, and I’ve had some kind of reaction to the sap,” Wyatt said. “Just tell me what’s going on, would you? Have you heard from the judge?”

“Honey, that’s not just a reaction,” Betsy said. “Your eyes are nearly swollen shut. Have you seen a doctor?”

“I don’t need a doctor,” he insisted. “It’s like poison ivy. I put some Calamine on it and it’s some better.”

She pressed her lips in disapproval. “I’ll tell you what’s going on, but then I’m taking you to see my dermatologist. Wyatt, that stuff is in your eyes. What if you lose your eyesight?”

“Okay, whatever,” he said. “Would you please talk to me now?”

Betsy took a sip of her coffee. “Don’t you want some breakfast? I ordered you some pancakes and bacon.”

“Betsy!”

“Okay. Here it is. I got a call from Stackpole’s clerk yesterday. It seems Callie is claiming you’ve been interfering with her time with Bo. He wants to see you in his office this afternoon.”

“Me?” Wyatt was incredulous. “I haven’t done a damned thing. I don’t even call Bo anymore when he’s with her. Whatever she’s telling the judge, it’s total bullshit, Betsy.”

“I know it is, but Stackpole doesn’t,” Betsy said.

“Did the clerk give you any details about this so-called interference?”

“Something about a birthday party Bo was supposed to go to this past weekend?”

“Yeah? What about it? Callie deliberately planned a trip to Birmingham with Fatso, supposedly to look at houses. She knew last weekend was his best friend Scout’s birthday party at that new water park, but she planned the trip anyway and insisted Bo had to go. Bo was furious with her.” He laughed. “He confessed to me that he called her a shit.”

“It’s not funny, Wyatt,” Betsy said.

Wyatt slapped his hat on the table in disgust. “I didn’t tell him to call her that. In fact, I told him it wasn’t nice to call his mother names, although, privately, I can think of lots worse names to call her. And incidentally, he says Callie called him a shit first, and I happen to believe him. So that’s what this is about? Some name-calling? Seriously?”

“It’s worse than that,” Betsy said. “When Callie went to pick him up at school on Friday, Bo wasn’t there. She claims she called you, but you never answered her phone call.”

“Wait? Are you telling me Bo went missing? And this is the first I’m hearing of it?”

“Calm down,” Betsy said. “I did some checking. Apparently, Bo never had any intention of going on that trip to Birmingham. He told Scout’s mom, Anna, his mom wanted him to spend the night with her and go to the party, and Anna, not knowing any better, took him home from school with her, and on to the party.”

“That little con artist,” Wyatt said. “I don’t know whether I want to pat him on the back or whack him on his butt. But I still don’t see how Callie can say any of this is my fault. It was her weekend to have Bo. I didn’t call him, didn’t pick him up, didn’t hide him from his mom.”

Betsy shrugged. “Don’t kill the messenger, okay? Callie’s made a serious charge, and Stackpole, in his totally random way, seems to find her story believable. So we’re going to see the judge this afternoon.” She looked over his shoulder and saw the waiter approaching with a tray of food. “Right after we get you your