Game, Set And Match

She raised her eyebrows when Lo called her selfish. “He is young, he will get over it besides he needs to learn how to handle disappointment from early on. Not everything in life is going to go his way.”

No, Lo thought grimly. He won’t. Rosie’s inherent meanness shone through her eyes. It was the first time Lorraine was seeing that manipulative and malicious side to Rosie.

“I’m willing to let Patrick stay on with your silly little club under one condition.”

“Which is?”

“That you reject Phillip Jameson publicly and have nothing more to do with him.”

“Are you serious?”

“Pretty much, which is more important to you, your love life or your career? Most unfortunate on your part that you can’t have them both.”

With that declaration she left the room no doubt preening that she had Lo right where she wanted her in the palm of her hands. Lorraine was not one of her eager to please menial slaves, how that must have rubbed her the wrong way. This was about control. Rosie didn’t like gainsay and wanted complete dominion over all her subjects. This whole time Lorraine thought Rosie was her friend but she had just been waiting for the ax to drop. That old saying about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer rang true right here.

That night Lo pondered Rosie’s ultimatum. She felt like a mad woman talking to herself out loud but it was the only way she could hear herself think.

 “I’ve worked too hard to get where I am now to throw it all away on a passing fling. Although I don’t like Rosie’s attitude, I need to forget my love life and focus on my career. I need to get my act together and do everything I can to keep my clientele and my business afloat.”

“I can’t just go on a date with him and say I’m breaking up with you because I will lose my best paying clients if I keep going on dates with you.”

After agonizing all night she resolved to break off her upcoming date with Phillip first thing tomorrow, tonight she just wanted to sleep snugly in her bed, she was just plain tuckered out. It had been a long 24 hours and her body had clearly needed the rest.

Lo woke up to the sound of the telephone going off in the living room. She scrambled out of bed to reach it before the person hung up. It was her mother not Phillip why did she feel so disappointed. Lo had forgotten that she had promised that Saturday to help her with the baking for the church bazaar the following day. Maybe she would stay overnight, being around her family at such a low point in her life could help take her mind off her problems for a while. She still hadn’t decided when and how she was going to break off their relationship. Lo still felt groggy and took her time getting ready but after some caffeine in her system she felt ready to take on the world and drive to the next state to look for her mom.

The coffee was strong and warming. It was still early in the morning and the air was cool, it felt like a biting cold wind had come in from outside and settled in my kitchen. It was then Lo saw the white paper on the kitchen table. Her curiosity piqued, Lo picked it up and read it wondering briefly where it came from. A shudder of recognition flared through Lo and her entire body shivered. It took her mere seconds for her brain to realize she probably wasn’t alone in the house. The front door was wide open which accounted for the draftiness of the air and the television she rarely used was turned on. She could even hear that the pipe in the shower was turned on and running loudly. Was the person still here? Her heart started to beat rapidly in her chest, she called the only person she thought could help her.

“Phillip?”

“Lo, is that you, is everything okay?

“No, there is an intruder in my house and I don’t know what to do.”

“Have you called the cops yet?”

“No.”

“Okay go and get in your car and wait for me?”

Ten minutes later Phillip let a distraught Lo out of her vehicle and held her in his arms while his men combed the scene for clues, evidence and fingerprints.

“Lorraine, you look pale. Are you alright?” Phillip was concerned at Lo’s loss for words.

She nodded. Told him about the note and how it threatened her life if she didn’t leave the country.

“Could it be a crank letter, just someone yanking your chain because they know you’re single and live alone, have you pissed off anyone lately?”

“I can’t think of anyone who would want to threaten my life at the moment. Or even have a good reason to, I don’t have any competition for my business out here. I’ve gotten a lot of new clients and I’m struggling to retain them with those crucifying comments I’ve been getting online.”

“Then I guess it’s safe to assume that whoever is sending those hateful messages, is behind this recent development. What occurred this morning has elevated the case to a whole new category. Someone is threatening your business and your life it’s not safe to be on your own right now.”

“I don’t have anyone to stay with at the moment I would have to liquidate my business and move back to my parents’ home.”

“Don’t stress out over it Lo, I’ll have it resolved before you have to do something so drastic. In fact I’m taking a vacation for two weeks, why don’t you join me, it will relax you and help you get some perspective on things, and it may help us both think clearly on what we need to solve this case.”

“Sounds like a good idea, give me a few minutes to pack.”

They searched the house for any intruders and found that the perpetrator had long since left the house. They hadn’t even found the note, the intruder had taken it with them. She got a serious case of migraine whenever she thought too hard about it. Someone had been in her house, rifled through her underwear drawer and left it open. No jewelry was missing but they took her favorite red lipstick and wrote “Fu*k You Lo” on every mirror in the house. She couldn’t believe she had slept through all of that and she felt so violated. Lorraine felt like her life was crumbling around her and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Someone breached her home while she was asleep. Whatever delusions of privacy she had were long gone.

To think that the things she thought had been buried in her past when she was wild, young and carefree would come back to haunt her. When she was young she didn’t have a coherent thought in her brain for long and gave little or no thought to her future. She did what she pleased when and where she wanted. All she wanted was the next high and to have loads of reckless fun. Today she was a far cry from that flight and fickle teen.

Phillip had gallantly come to her rescue tonight, Lorraine decided that his idea had weight and she was in need of a vacation. She would go with Phillip on his ski trip and take a much needed break from the insanity of her present circumstances. Lorraine didn’t want to risk getting her family involved so she called her mom and profusely apologized for not coming down that weekend and let her mom know she was taking a much needed vacation.