Chapter 125 – Ogden

We walked hand in hand to the coffee shop that the meeting was going to be at. It was more than just a coffee shop though; it was a small diner that had an industrial style décor.

“Hi, for two?” The hostess asked when she looked at us.

“Yes, please.” I looked around, we needed to be hidden from view. “Can we possibly get a booth in the back?”

The hostess smiled at me. “Of course.” She led us back to the last booth. Each booth had foliage separating it from the next, we were virtually invisible. I sat facing the door and Willow sat across from me. The hostess handed us the menus. “Your server will be right with you.”

I looked at Willow. She seemed to be nervous, the tinge of green on her face started to deepen. “Are you alright?”

She swallowed. “Umm, I’m going to run to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” She grabbed her purse and darted away from the table.

The server walked up, “is everything okay?” The petite blonde smiled at me.

“Yeah, my wife is just feeling a little under the weather.” I looked down at the menu. “Can you bring us some waters and bring me a cappuccino?”

“Of course. I’ll be right back.” She walked away quickly to get our beverages. I didn’t want to order her something in case it would make her feel worse.

The bell above the doorway dinged and I glanced up. The woman from the surveillance footage that tampered with Betsy’s IV bag walked into the diner. She looked around and spoke to the hostess. Behind her, Lucy came through the door. She was clutching her large purse against her side.

Clara looked nervous, her eyes shifting about the restaurant. She had a small smile plastered on her face. She was under the impression that someone was going to give her a miracle to help pay her son’s medical bills. Soon she was going to realize that she was horribly wrong.

I watched them being escorted to through the diner toward the opposite side of the room. There was a hallway that must lead to the meeting rooms.

The server placed two glasses of water and my cappuccino in front of me. “Are you planning on ordering food?” She asked me expectantly as she placed the tray under her arm.

“We are going to need a few minutes.” I gave her a smile as she turned and walked away.

Ten minutes went by, and I was starting to worry about Willow. I slid out of the booth, but before I could go check on her, Willow emerged from the bathroom. She had tears in her eye.

I tilted my head at her. “What’s wrong?” I grabbed her arms and pulled her into me.

She shook her head and went to our table and sat down. I followed and sat across from her.

She was scaring me. I reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “What happened?”

It killed me as I watched a tear streak across her face. “Um…I was in the bathroom and…” Her voice shook.

“And what?” I pressed.

She brushed at another tear. “The woman and Lucy went to the bathroom.” She swallowed. “I could hear them talking to each other, I recognized Lucy’s voice.” Willow gave me a sour expression.

I did my best to keep quiet. I wanted to know exactly what happened, I wanted her to tell me so I could fix it for her.

“They were talking about this meeting.” She stared down at the table. “And that if they didn’t get what they needed here, they would have to figure out a different way to get money from my mom.” Her eyes met mine and they were filled with tears. “And if they couldn’t get anything out of her, they were going to try through me because I’m married to you.” She let out a small sob.

“Don’t worry about that, Willow. Your mom is safe, and you are safe. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. We are going to resolve this whole thing today.” I stared at her a moment. I knew she didn’t know about the police officers that were parked down the street. “Did you want to cancel it? I have a couple of officers waiting outside. We could just have her arrested.”

She brushed her free hand against her cheek. “They are?” She sniffled.

“Yes, I wanted to be ready for any outcome that may happen. And just in case she became violent, I wanted to be ready.”

She gave me a small smile. “No, I still want to talk to her.”

I nodded at her. “Okay, whatever you want. We are going to figure this out.” I gave her a smile. “Do you think this is the first time someone has tried to squeeze money out of me? This isn’t something new.”

Willow snorted at me and then gave a smile. “I guess you’re right.”

“Your mom is safe. You are safe. They only think that they can swindle us because they don’t know that we know what they are up to. We have the upper hand, and they are going to be sorely mistaken when we walk into that room.”

“Are you ready to order?” Our server came back and asked.

“Oh, um, I’ll just have a turkey and cheese sandwich on wheat. And some potato chips, please.” Willow smiled at the server and handed her menu back. “And do you by chance have peppermint tea?”

The server wrote down her order. “Yes, we do.”

“Can I have that as well?” Willow smiled at the server.

“Of course.” The server looked at me.

“I’ll have the same, just without the tea.” I handed my menu over to her.

Willow chewed on her bottom lip. I didn’t know what to say to help her calm down. If she didn’t relax, she was going to get sick again and I didn’t want her to suffer through that.

“How was work?” I asked her and took a sip of my coffee.

Willow scoffed. “I had over one hundred emails and it took me three hours to work through.” She took a sip of her tea that the server sat in front of her. “One particular one stood out there.” She eyed me.

I furrowed my eyebrows at her. “And what email was that?” Did Marsha send her an email on my behalf?”

“Mr. Clarke sent me a lovely heartfelt email saying that he hoped my mom was doing well.” Willow scrunched up her nose. “I just don’t get how he could be so cruel up until now and then super nice. Its weird.”

I let out a bark of laughter. “Are you serious?”

Willow nodded at me enthusiastically. “Yes. I’m so used to him screaming at me, that I didn’t know how to respond for at least five minutes.”

I laughed at her again. “It’s a better situation though…right?”

“Yes, but it is so weird.” Willow tried to contain the smile that was spreading across her face.

“Here you go.” The server sat a plate in front of each of us. The sandwiches smelled so good. “Let me know if you need anything else, enjoy.”

Willow grabbed her food and took a bite. She chewed slowly and her eyes rolled back in her head. “This is so good.” She moaned. That noise made me grow hard.

I laughed at her and took a bite of my own. It was as good as she said. “You are not wrong.” We ate in silence. I knew she was thinking about the upcoming meeting. Clara and Lucy already showed their true colors, but I think she just needed to give them one more chance before writing them off.

“Well, well, well. Who do we have here?” I looked up to see Gabe beaming down at Willow.

The color drained from her face, and she looked up at him. She hasn’t met him before, and I knew that Gabe could be a lot the first time meeting someone. She dabbed at her lips with a napkin. “Um, hi. I’m Willow and this is…”

I held up my hand to stop her from introducing me. “Willow this is my best friend from childhood, Gabe.” I gave her a reassuring smile.

Gabe glared over at me and then snuggled onto my side of the booth. He grabbed a chip and popped it into his mouth. “Yup, we have been besties forever.” He let out a laugh and slung his arm around my shoulders.

“Oh.” The color started to come back into her cheeks. “Nice to meet you.”

“It seems that Og has been hiding you from me and I’m hurt.” Gabe pouted at her.

I shoved him off of me. “I haven’t been hiding her, we have been secretly married and then came out earlier this week. There’s a difference.” I glared at him. “But you already know the nitty gritty details about this whole thing because you had cameras installed in my office.”

Willow’s mouth hung open. “You’re kidding.”

“It was actually brilliant.” Gabe leaned forward to get closer to Willow. “I bribed the janitorial staff to let me into his office so I could climb up into the vent and place a camera. Wasn’t difficult at all.”

“You, yourself actually put the camera into the vent? You didn’t hire someone?” I asked him. I never actually got the details of how he did it.

“Of course. I don’t like people knowing my business.” He brushed me off. “I have my ways of doing things and I like to make sure they are done correctly.”

Willow giggled. “And you didn’t care that placing hidden cameras into an office is illegal?”

“Psh, illegal, shmillegal.” Gabe waved a hand in front of himself. He grabbed another chip and popped it into his mouth. “Anyway, when my Oggie asked me to help him out I could only say yes. He is in fact the bestest best friend in the world.” He went to pinch me on the cheek, but I batted his hand away before he could.

“Yeah, and you demanding my Bentley.” I scoffed at him.

“You offered him your Bentley?” Willow’s face filled with worry. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

I shrugged at her. “I can always get a new Bentley. He has had his eye on my car for the longest time. Even though he can afford one himself, he prefers to take what’s mine.” I eyed my friend who sat beside me.

“Limited edition. They don’t make those anymore.” Gabe added.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Anyway, don’t you think you should be getting ready for this meeting?”

“The hostess let me know that they are already in the room waiting. I’m a big wig right? I shouldn’t be waiting on them, they should be waiting on me.” Gabe gave me a smile.

“He isn’t wrong.” Willow said. “If he is super important, he wouldn’t be waiting around a coffee shop for this random meeting.”

“I knew I would like you.” He pointed a finger at Willow. “And she’s very pretty too.” He elbowed me in the side. “But you are right. It is my turn to take the stage!” He stood up and straightened his suite. “I’m ready for my close up.” He walked away quickly.

Willow started giggling, she covered her mouth to hide it.

“And that, Willow, is my best friend.” I waved a hand after him.

“He’s funny. I’m surprised you are such close friends with him.”

I furrowed my eyebrows at her. “What do you mean?”

“He is the complete opposite of you. He is like the class clown, and you are more…” She looked away from me.

“Serious?” I offered.

“I was gonna say scowly.”

I laughed at her and shook my head. “I guess opposites attract. And don’t let that goofy façade fool you, he is devious, and dabbles in a lot of things. And his expertise is gathering information. He knows too much for his own good.”

“If anything, it is a good front to hide how much you know. It is better to look like a fool and be smart than to pretend to be smart but really be a fool.”

“You are very right.”

My phone buzzed. Gabe sent me a text. [The eagle has landed.] I rolled my eyes at my phone.

“What?”

“Gabe said, ‘the eagle has landed.’ Which pretty much means, he is ready whenever we are.”

“Oh.” A flash of worry covered Willow’s face. The time has come to confront this woman and Lucy and I could see the concern behind her eyes.

“Let’s go. I’ll be right there with you the entire time.” I stood and offered her my hand. She reluctantly took it.

She took a determined breath, stood straighter and said, “let’s get this over with.”