“Gentlemen, now is not the time or place for this. Please. People are looking.”
“Let them look, Saph. Why shouldn’t I defend myself from the slurs this bastard has been throwing around since he got out?” He faced Zade again. “Do you think I don’t see the side-eyes as people wonder if there’s any truth in the allegations that I framed you? Do you think I don’t know that you’re still saying I framed you or that you’re trying to ruin me on top of everything?”
I watched as Zade ignored Randy and stepped up to me. He pressed a card into my unresisting hand. “Let me have the figures as soon as possible so we can talk about my legitimate donation.”
Then he turned and walked away once more. My eyes followed his determined stride and rigid back. Each step resonated with anger and I could not help but feel as though I was caught between a rock and a hard place. Behind me, I could feel Randy fuming.
“He’s got some nerve even showing his face to us.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to remind him that there was no ‘us’ but I could not be bothered to entertain Randy any longer.
“Be careful, Saph. I know you need the money but I wouldn’t take a cent from him. If you’d like, I can have my accountant look at your books and see how much more you need and if you can find another source for funding.”
“The school’s accountant is taking care of that, Randy, but thanks for the offer.”
I looked at my watch and saw it was past closing time. It had been a long day with an unpredictable end. “I’ve got to go, Randy. Thanks for coming. I really appreciate it.”
“Anything for you, Saph.”
He reached out to hug me once more, but I stepped back with a frown. We didn’t have that kind of relationship and I didn’t want to give him the wrong impression. I saw his face grow hard and anger flare in his eyes, but just as suddenly as it had come it was gone. A benign smile was in its place. He inclined his head slightly before walking away in the same direction Zade had gone.
I stood looking at his retreating figure, wondering if I was going to have to send security to the parking lot to break up a fight if Zade still lingered. I knew who my money would be on in such a fight. Randy would be too conscious of messing up his hair or sweating off his cologne to throw a proper punch.
“That was awkward.”
I turned to find Stacey at my elbow. What was it with all these people sneaking up on me today? I smiled grimly. “You started it, you know.”
She placed her hand on her chest and raised her eyebrows in shock. “Me? How did I get dragged into this triangle?”
“You generated that damn alumni list. And gave ME their names. So. Yes. I. Do. Blame You.” I punctuated each word with a stab of my pointer finger at her chest.
“Well? Would you have reached out to him otherwise?”
I tilted my head and looked at her curiously.
She stared back innocently. Too innocently. I knew Stacey well enough to know she was up to something. My mind raced back through the series of events over the last few weeks.
I frowned. “You had the list out before he was even released.”
She shrugged. “The timing just worked out perfectly, I swear. I just thought it was worth a shot seeing that he was an alum and all. Did it work?”
“Youdidsee World War III barely averted just now? Right?”
“It wasn’t that bad. Besides, I’d pay money to see someone mess Randy’s hair up.”
“Stacey!” I burst out laughing. “You’re impossible!”
“But you know it’s true. Listen, Sapphire, from one friend to another, I don’t know what went down between you and Zade. Yes, we all know that Randy said he stole some money and he got sent to prison for it. But as far as I can tell there is still a lot of chemistry and unfinished business between the two of you. Maybe now that he’s out, you can fix things or at least work him out of your system. As your friend I want you to be happy. I’m tired of seeing a beautiful woman like you turn guys down because you’re protecting your heart. You need to heal. And maybe you need to be healed by the one who broke your heart in the first place.”
“Maybe I don’t want to be healed… or the damage is irreparable?”
“Nope. I’m the perennial dreamer and happily-ever-after believer. You can be healed. Both of you. Now let’s see if we can help to lighten some vendors’ loads by assisting with their disposal of any leftovers. Heaven knows I’m not going to sit in a drive thru, nor am I going home to cook after a day like today.”
I laughed and threw my arm around her waist. “Well, that makes two of us.”
By the timeI got home, I was exhausted so I popped the bag with all kinds of leftovers into the freezer, and stuck a few slices of pizza into the microwave. Then I had a hot shower and shampooed my hair thoroughly. Leaving it wrapped up in a towel as I hungrily wolfed down the pizza and washed it down with a can of diet soda I found somewhere in the refrigerator.
With my hunger assuaged, I combed out the knots in my hair and while it air-dried, I sat at the dining table with all the bits and pieces of paper and checks I’d collected throughout the day. I began to add up all the checks and made a list of all the promissory notes we’d received. A quick calculation showed that with our cut of the vendors sales we would achieve about seventy-five percent of our target.
That still left twenty-five percent to be funded. Though it sounded like a small percentage, I had to remember that getting to the seventy-fifth percent in the first place was as a result of hundreds of donations, countless emails and phone calls, and much begging and pleading. And quite frankly, we were all begged out. I felt as if we could go no further and were all tapped out with raising funds. I did not believe I could ask anything else of the committee of me either.
I went back through the figures again, and realized that if I removed the promises made, our gap widened closer to a forty percent shortfall. That was alarming. What if these promises were not fulfilled? We were hoping to start renovation works in the summer.
My thoughts turned to Zade. Could I trust him to honor his pledge of picking up the shortfall? Where could he have gotten so much money in the short space of time he had been free? Was there any truth in what Randy had said about being sure of where Zade’s money was coming from before taking it?
I fished his card out of my purse and stared at the simple bold lettering.
I turned the card over in my hand. BB Tech. Wondering what BB stood for, I walked over to my laptop on the kitchen counter and booted it up. A quick internet search showed a company which was barely four years old, but was already making waves in the technology industry.
From all indications, they were doing good business, but my jaw dropped when I dived deeper and found out that the company had netted no less than eight figures in the last two years alone. Zade had become a wealthy man even behind bars. Come to think of it, he had not been lacking in funds when he had been arrested either.
Not for the first time, I wondered why he would need to embezzle. But then I remembered the blackmail bit. Which made me remember the photos. And the memory made me cringe. I was the clueless idiot in that scenario, but as I looked at the company’s site now, my gut instinct told me that any money from Zade would be above-board. Perhaps he had turned over a new leaf, at least financially.
It would seem I could trust his money, but I would never dare trust his heart again.
I would get the final figures from contractors and suppliers for the total cost of the renovation and find out exactly how much the shortfall was. Then I would approach Zade armed with figures and keep my fingers crossed as he wrote the check. Once it cleared, I would be finally done with the likes of Zade Herron.