Background
Is Anderson a gallant knight? Can he recover Shana's family's stolen relics and heal the wounds of genocide?
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ENDING OF PREVIOUS POST:
Shana stood. "I hope I haven't crossed any boundaries. Bottom line is, Emily will be happy to wear the dress Jane bought for her and the included shoes, but she wanted heels."
"Thank you." Anderson stood. "I'm glad she felt comfortable enough to talk with you. Where is she now?"
"She's in her room and really wants to go to the park."
"I'll get a hold of Jeff and see if we can't make that happen." Anderson glanced at his ringing cell. "Philip, this is Patricia. Will you see if Jeff can help take Emily to the park? I'll be right there. This shouldn't take long."
TODAY'S POST:
Chapter 15 part 2
"Patricia, you're in the Fiji Islands. I thought you were on vacation. What do you want? I don't have much time. Emily and I are on the way to the park." Anderson's fingers rapped on the desk.
Philip entered and whispered, "Jeff will be ready in about fifteen minutes."
Anderson motioned for him to shut the door, waited, and then put the phone on speaker.
"How dare you not pay my rent," yelled Patricia. "My landlord is talking eviction. Where do you expect me and my child to live? I refuse to move back into that stuffy apartment with you."
"I give you twenty thousand dollars each month on top of twelve thousand dollars child support. You're telling me you can't live within a budget of thirty two thousand dollars a month, but can afford a vacation to Fiji?" Anderson attempted to remain calm, but got louder as he continued, "I am NOT going to pay your rent on top of what I already give you."
"What do you expect me to do?"
"I guess what most people do. Get a job and support yourself."
"You expect me to work? If I have a job, how will I take care of my child? I won't have my child raised by babysitters or day care, like common people. I'll never make enough money for a live-in Nanny. Besides my apartment is too small for live in help. I need more money."
Anderson began pacing. Stay calm. Don't let her get to you. Don't play your hand. He took in a deep breath. "Emily will begin school in August."
"My former divorce lawyer has also been trying to contact me. Do you know what that's about?" Patricia paused. "You waited for me to go on vacation, the only time I'm not slaving to take care of your child, to cause trouble. You never wanted me to have any fun, did you?"
"All I wanted was for you to act like an adult and a mother."
Philip winced at that statement and whispered, "Ouch."
Anderson turned his back to his buddy. "I guess maybe you need to see what your lawyer wants."
"He's my former lawyer. I don't have enough money to retain him. I'll need money to pay him and money to return to New York. My ticket was only for one way. I wasn't born with a silver spoon, like you."
Emily opened the door and ran into the room. "Daddy, Jeff says he's ready for the park."
"I guess you'll need to find a job in Fiji. I need to go. Good-bye."
"I want to talk to my daughter."
Anderson hung up.
"Was that Mommy on the phone? I want to tell her about my beautiful dress and how much fun I'm having."
"Mommy's really angry right now. I'll have Jane help you call her later and take a picture of you in the dress to send to her. Right now, let's go to the park."
"Okay." Emily took her daddy's offered hand. "Mommy's not very nice when she's angry. I'll wait."
As they got ready to leave, Emily stalled. "What about Ms. Shana? She needs to go to the park too."
Anderson knelt to Emily's level. "Ms. Shana isn't able to come with us."
Shana was sitting on the patio.
Emily ran to her and took her hand. "Don't you want to go to the park with me?" She pouted.
"Sweetheart, of course, I want to go. It sounds like so much fun." Shana held up King Lear. "Come August, I'll need to teach my students about King Lear. I need to learn about him so I can do that. While you're having fun, I'll be studying." She smiled. "Don't have too much fun because when you return, I'll be ready for having fun."
"I won't. I'll save some fun for you." Emily hugged her.
*Please remember this is only part of a much longer chapter. I divide my chapters into three or four parts for ease of reviewing.*
Characters so far:
Shana Kohlberg -- a 25 year old high school English literature teacher -- she's trying to get her family's painting back
Anderson Sharp -- often called Drew -- 31 years old -- works part-time on Wall Street -- a billionaire from Texas oil wells
Dmitry Bezrukov -- one of three Russian men in black suits
Jeff Burk -- takes care of Anderson's cars and important security details.
Helen -- Anderson's cook
Jane -- Anderson's housekeeper
Philip -- Anderson's butler -- close friend and confident
Kyle -- Anderson's dog walker
Axel -- Anderson's lead German shepherd
Thor -- Anderson's second German shepherd
Romeo -- Anderson's third German shepherd
Aaron Kohlberg -- Shana's older brother
Ivan Kuznetsov -- formally Ivan Morozov, I accidently chose a real person, so I have changed it present day owner of the painting.
Patricia -- Anderson's ex-wife
Emily -- Anderson's five year old daughter
Isaiah Glassberg -- Anderson divorce/custody attorney.
Jeremy -- Jane's second-cousin twice removed, NYC undercover cop.
Hannah -- Shana's cousin, the same age. Married within the past year and just had a baby
Joshua Colton -- Art Museum's curator
Benjamin Kohlberg -- Shana's father
Maxwell Gaines -- Lawyer hired to get painting back
