Episode 35

Episode 35

Carli sat down between her parents.

“Am I in trouble?” She asked, noting their serious expressions.

“No,” Randy reassured her. “We just wanted to discuss some things with you.”

Carli nodded, “ok.”

“We decided that you’re going to boarding school.”

“What?!?” Carli screamed and turned to her stepmother. “He’s not serious is he?”

“Well…”

“I get in one accident and you send me away! Daddy how could you!?!”

“We’re not sending you away, honey. We think that your education would be better at this school and you’ll be prepared for college.”

“Yea right! Gosh, this is a shock! My own daddy sending me away-like I was some step-child!” she screamed before stomping out of the room.

Randy looked over at Missy and shrugged.

Missy rolled her eyes and sighed. “You’re a counselor, couldn’t you have eased her into the idea?”

“Erg…”

Meka stood near the entrance of the diner, waiting as Lani finished up inventory in the back. Things were not going well, she should have succumbed to him by now and gotten rid of that model boy toy of hers.

He needed a fool-proof plan, no more subtle hints and late nights pouring over imaginary crisises in the books. He needed Lani back in his life and in his bed, well… at least out of Russel’s life and in his bed. He still wasn’t sure about the relationship thing, but it bugged him that she preferred Russel to him.

Russel, that idiot model boy-toy. He was determined that once again, Russel would be on the short end of the stick, just like in high school. Right now that meant tearing Lani away from him… but how. He was taking care of all her needs with his big paychecks and rumor had it that he had returned to the modeling world, which meant even bigger paychecks coming in.

Meka grinned as a plan shaped in his mind. He watched the pieces tumble into place and knew that he had to act tonight. Thankfully there were a few minutes before Lani would finish inventory, leaving him enough time to act.

Roxy entered the hotel. She hated spying but she couldn’t help it.

Thankfully, the tracking device she slipped inside Jamal’s bracelet gave her more than enough information, but she never expected him in a hotel on the mainland. Her blood boiled as she thought of the woman that he was possibly meeting here. But first she had to get around the large line of people.

“Excuse me?” she asked a passing maid. “Have you seen this man?”

Roxy flipped a photo to the maid, just like Erika suggested since hotel administration was usually very protective of their guests whereabouts whereas the cleaning staff didn’t care.

“Get in line like the rest of the fans.” She said flipping the photo back and pushing her cart along.

Get in line? Roxy thought, just as a piercing scream filled the lobby.

“Omigoodness!!! I love you music!!! You’re sooo hottt and the songs are sooo hottt!!”

Roxy peered near the head of the line and her heart stopped.

“Jamal!”

Missy calmly rubbed the last of the seasoning over the fish as Randy mumbled in the corner.

Carli was giving him the silent treatment and Missy had to admit that if she was in the teen’s shoes she would probably do the same.

As Missy started grilling the fish, Randy attacked the dirty counter next to her.

“What did the counter ever do to you?” Missy asked as he threw the sponge onto the surface.

“Why won’t she listen to me? I’m not sending her away, but she’s too smart for that school she’s at now. She’ll do much better on the mainland in boarding school.”

“Perhaps if you put it that way instead of ‘we’re sending you to boarding school’ she may have listened a bit more.”

“I did screw up, didn’t I?”

Missy nodded. “Yea, but you have a chance to fix it. Go talk to her for a few moments while I set the table. She might listen a bit now… and take the brochure with you so she can look over it.”

Randy nodded and kissed his wife, “you’re so smart.”

“That’s why you married me.”

Missy started setting the table and dropped the forks as she heard a crash in the hallway followed by running footsteps. Her breathing strained as she tried not to jump to conclusions.

“She’s gone!” Randy said running into the kitchen with a small note. “She ran away!”

Lani sat at the table massaging her neck, these late night accounting appointments were draining her.

She wished she had an office manager to handle those things for her. Finally Meka came in with the books, hopefully they would end early tonight.

“Why didn’t you just tell me Lani?” Meka asked as he sat down.

“Tell you what?”

“Tell my that I was wasting my time doing these books. Did you want to get caught?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“The numbers are off. Look at this.” He said shoving a report towards her. “The revenues are off and the income and expenses are not adding up. I can only think of one thing to explain it.”

“What? Just tell me what’s going on.”

“You’re stealing from the diner.”

“That’s insane.”

“That’s what I think as well, but no one has access to your accounts, so it’s either you… or Russel.”