The Caterer

Chapter 41

D ELANY HELD ONTO THE PAGES and went to get the next elevator. He followed Alice onto the street, calling her name. She turned to face him, ready for a fight. He needed a second to process, but did not want to let her leave. People often misconstrued who Bobbie was. He was a big personality, a lot like Nadia, and that sometimes made him come off gruff. There was no way Bobbie did what she said. He would not risk their friendship by going behind his back and lying to Alice. If she just told him what Bobbie said, he could help her figure out what he meant.

“I never asked Bobbie to come see you.”

She scoffed and shook her head. “Then your best friend is playing you for an idiot.”

“That’s not…he would never…” He stopped. It would explain where Bobbie was during the meeting, why he blew off something so important. Bobbie didn’t like Alice, but to go behind Delany’s back. Delany sat on a bench, the world slightly off .

Alice took a long breath. His heart screamed at him to apologize and pull her close. Another part told him to remember who she was slandering and where his loyalty had to rest. But Alice could be his future. Whereas Bobbie felt more and more like a relic.

“I can’t keep being the punching bag of those closest to you because you won’t see who they are.” She took a long blink. “You won’t tell Nadia to back off. You won’t call Bobbie out on his actions. You expect trips and hollow words and moments alone to make up for the fact you refuse to face what’s right in front of you.” She pressed her lips, a hmmm escaping. “I leveraged everything on you—my business, my reputation, my heart. What’s at stake here for you, Delany? What have you lost except a bedmate?”

He stood and put his hands on her arms.

“That’s not true. You mean everything to me.”

“Do I? So I tell you that Bobbie came to see me this morning and threatened to run me out of business unless I agree to work for Jonas. And you go to Bobbie who says it’s a misunderstanding and I took things wrong, and he’d never play you like that, Bulldog,” she mocked his tone. “Who are you going to believe?” She shook her head. “What does he have to do for you to stop pretending that Bobbie is who you need him to be?” She set her hand on his cheek and kissed him. He reached to hold her, something solid to grasp hold of. When she stepped back, there were tears in her eyes. “I love you, but I can’t do this anymore.” She walked away and hailed a cab. Delany sat on the bench again, his head spinning. Remembering the paper in his hand he opened it, a boilerplate contract for the sale of Hasty Pudding to Macon.

His cell phone rang. “Yeah,” he answered, not bothering to look at who it was.

“The bank is late—again!” Nadia said. “How hard is it to set up freaking autopay? ”

“What?” He shook his head to clear his mind.

“Your child support is late.” Nadia drew out her words.

“I can go to the bank later. What do you need that can’t wait?” His mind tried to process what Alice said. He wanted to push it away, but something hooked in his brain and would not let up. The issues she had with Bobbie were not limited to her. He’d noticed a lot of things since starting at Macon full time.

“What do I need? Food, electricity, clothing. Do you even know what it takes to keep this girl going?”

“And the only funds you have right now come from me?” He looked up from the contract, everything off.

“Don’t take that tone with me, Bulldog. Don’t you dare take that tone with me!”

“I’ll call you tomorrow. Use the card I gave Helene for emergency expenses.” He hung up and silenced his phone. Needing to not be around people, he walked to a branch of his bank.

Plenty of people tried to warn him about Bobbie. Delany brushed off their concern because they didn’t know Bobbie like he did. But the proof before him was solid. What was Bobbie’s game plan here? Did he really believe Macon could acquire Hasty Pudding without Delany knowing, or that he’d be okay buying Alice out? Somehow Bobbie would have a story. He always did. How many questions had he laughed off or danced around with a “trust me Bulldog.” And Delany had, blindly.

He asked the bank teller if she knew where the glitch with the funds came from. It wasn’t the first time the autopay had not gone through. She clicked on the keyboard, tilting her head.

“You’ve double-paid a few months.” The woman looked at him.

“No, the funds aren’t going through.”

“They’re going through twice.”

“That’s not possible.” He failed to keep the bite out of his tone. The woman told him to hold on and walked away. Delany scoffed. The woman came back with a manager, who asked Delany if they could speak in her office. She told Delany to sit in the chair opposite her desk and pulled up his account.

“You’ve been sending Ms. Goin two payments, almost back-to-back, on and off for over two years. Is that correct?”

“Why would I do that?”

The manager turned her screen toward him. There in black-and-white were double payments going to Nadia’s account.

“She told me the first payment glitched and never went through.” Close to an extra $60k into her account. He felt lightheaded. Something had to be wrong. “And none of those double payments were credited back to me?”

“Why would they be? You initiated all of them. The first are the autopays that all went through. Then a few times over the last few years, you’ve initiated a second payment for the same amount a day or two after.”

Delany flexed his jaw, his hands fisting under the table. Nadia lied to him. She called him with that tone and accusations of irresponsibility, and he trusted she was telling the truth.

“Can you give me a printout of that, and the card attached to the account?”

The manager hit a few buttons, the printer behind her coming to life. She gave him a look of pity before reaching back and giving him the pages. “Anything else, sir?”

“Can you freeze the account, stop all pending transactions?”

The manager hit a few more buttons. “Done.” She looked ready to say more, but closed her mouth instead.

“I didn’t realize what was happening.”

“We see it more than you think.”

Delany left the office, stopping to apologize to the teller for his tone. She took a second before giving him a sincere thank-you. Delany walked outside. His mother told him a dozen times that Nadia had a plan for their lives. If he refused to marry her, she would use Helene to milk him dry. The only reason the courts got involved at all was because his mother insisted. Nadia wanted to keep it between them, not leave a paper trail. She didn’t want Helene to feel like a transaction. Delany mentioned it offhandedly to his mother who laughed and told him Nadia was not getting a penny without a court decree. Nadia went off, but after listening to his mother, it made more sense to do things the right way. He should have paid more attention to the account but how many expenses did he have in a month? He let his money manager oversee a lot of things, and the man never mentioned anything to him. He presumed Nadia would tell him about an extra $60k showing up in her account, tell him about the double payments. But why would she when she called to demand he pay her twice.

He took a cab to Macon, making a beeline for Bobbie’s office. Bobbie saw him and shot up, getting off the phone. “Hey, Bulldog, where have you been?”

“Did you go see Alice this morning? Did you threaten to drive her out of business if she didn’t let us buy her company?”

He chuckled and gave him a slick smile. “Is that what she told you? I told you that chick was just after your money.”

“Then what the hell is this?” He handed Bobbie the contract, who licked his lips.

“Bulldog, she asked for an appraisal, told me she was tired of the hassle and wanted to sell but was afraid you’d try to stop her. Honestly, it’s a more than generous assessment.”

He walked out of the office, his world crumbling, Delany wondering what else he’d been content to overlook.