Tap Dance (Dance Series)

chapter Fourteen



When I was leaving for work the next morning, I happen to notice a couple of bills sitting on top of the small table Auntie has tucked up against the staircase.

Actually it was more like a stack of bills and over half of them had the big red stamp reading, 'Past Due' on the envelope.

I'm an accountant.

Money is kind of my thing.

Especially cash flow, balancing your income with your debts. So to see any kind of past due notice from a creditor is a huge red flag to me.

And seeing it on an envelope, lying on a table in my loving auntie's home, made it doubly important.

I shoved those bills into my tote and thought about it all the way to work.

I had noticed little things around her house that had made me go 'hmm' at the time and were easily forgotten. But when added to bills, the picture I was seeing was one I just didn't like.

I didn't like it at all.

Later on, I took a break from the spreadsheets I was working on and opened each of the pieces of mail.

Every single one was a notice indicating the account was going to go out for collection if immediate payment wasn't received.

This is for her basic living expenses like electricity, water and trash service, gas company and, oh dear God, her mortgage lender which just happened to be Grantham Savings and Loan.

Wait…what?

It didn't make sense.

Uncle Roger had insurance, both life insurance and his house insurance which should have cleared the mortgage and transferred the title of the property to my aunt or Greg.

I didn't understand it.

And the parts I didn't understand made me angry.

I tried to put it aside to concentrate on my work but it bubbled around the edges of my mind all afternoon.

After work, I made my way back to Arminster Arms to view my apartment with Caitlin.

She was waiting for me in the cute Ford Focus she had purchased after her 'Beast', a huge 1987 Rivera, died.

It was great to see her so soon after our mall troll. Used to be, we would run into each other quite a bit, when she lived in the apartment across from me. But since she moved in with Jake, and with the break in and all, I didn't get to see her as often and I'd missed her.

"Hey, Marianne," Cait said giving me a hug.

"How are you, honey?"

"Living large, girlfriend, living la vita bueno."

I laughed with her because it's true, in comparison to how she lived before Jake to how her life was now, for her it really was the good life.

I opened the heavy outer door with my new key noticing there wasn't a familiar squeak.

It made me sad.

The squeak was a great warning device, a 'just in case' announcement that someone had come through the front door.

I glanced at Cait and saw the understanding in her blue-green eyes.

I approached my apartment's new door with its bright, shiny new lock.

I'll admit it.

My heart rate was accelerated as I fitted my new key in the lock, opening my front door. For some reason I kept hearing Ram's voice when he had said my apartment had been trashed.

Trashed.

I reached for the light switch just to the left of the door.

Ohmigod.

Ohmigod.

Oh. My. God.

I looked at Caitlin and I know I had the same look on my face as she did.

Ram's word was kind compared to what was before me on this second visit.

My apartment hadn't been just trashed.

It had been demolished.

I almost couldn't look at the destruction of my home in spite of having seen it before.

My property.

I felt Caitlin's hand clutch mine, both of us shaking.

I pulled us back out of the doorway, shutting off the light as I went.

Again, I couldn't face it.

Someone had deliberately done that slashing, that destruction.

Both our phones rang at almost exactly the same time.

It was an incoming text from Leila asking for help with her wardrobe for her first date with the guy she'd been crushing on.

I ran through the clothes I thought would get her through the evening, no matter where they ended up, and texted her the combination of her purple sequin tank with jeans, her black leather jacket and black heels..

I had just sent it when there was another text about makeup this time from Crys.

Holy shit!

We forgot about the makeup.

I was in a quandary.

My new friend needed me and needed the makeup I had--which was sitting in a drawer in my bathroom. In my demolished apartment.

I turned to Caitlin. "I'm going in. Leila needs me. Could you stand by the door with the lights on while I grab something?"

"Sure, Marianne. No problem." I felt her arm steal around me for a quick hug.

Incoming text from Leila, Crys told her to wear just her FMP's and a smile, but Leila didn't know what Crys meant. I sent back a quick text, "FMPs = F*ck Me Pumps = Heels".

"Will you text me her address?"

"On it," Cait said as she used both hands on her phone.

And I went back in, turning on the overhead lights as I stepped over and through the remains of my cute apartment which I had fixed up, piece by piece. Making it my space, my home, my place.

I didn't look right or left as I moved, but kept my eyes down concentrating on getting to my goal.

My makeup drawer in the bathroom.

I snatched it.

I snatched the whole damn drawer and clutched it to my chest as I turned around, trying to follow the same path out as I had taken going in.

Turning off the lights as I left.

I didn't realize I had been holding my breath until I was standing in the hallway, the drawer cutting into my hands.

I passed the keys back to Caitlin and watched as she locked the door.

"And, Cait? Could you call Jake and have him see about getting a crew out here to clear the freaking shit out as soon as the Claim Adjustor is finished?"

I saws her eyes soften and a grin of understanding spread across her face.

"On it," she said softly, as her fingers once again flew across the keyboard of her phone.