Moore than Forever Page 8

  “You’re back earlier than I expected.”

  Schooner nodded for Zac to go upstairs. Making it to the top of the staircase, Zac paused as Beau entered the Great Room and halted, clearly stunned at the site of Schooner Moore standing there.

  Silently, Schooner stood there. Damned if he’d be the first to speak and relinquish power to Beau.

  “Schooner,” Beau stammered, noticeably shocked, “what are you doing here?”

  Outwardly, Schooner appeared very calm. Cocking his head, he drew his brows together, giving Beau a look that said, “What a strange question?” and nonchalantly, with an even, controlled tone, answered, “It’s my house. I own it. I pay all the bills. What are you doing here?”

  The level of awkward continued to escalate as Schooner strode into the room and stepped behind the bar. Pulling out a single rocks glass and placing it on the slate-topped bar, Schooner began to pull out bottles, one-by-one. First, a bottle of 21-year old Courvoisier, which he held up and examined before placing it on the bar. Bottles of Glenmorangie and Glenfiddich followed, with Schooner performing the same inspection prior to placing each bottle onto the bar with an unnerving thud. All three bottles had the same thing in common, only an inch of liquid remained covering the glass at the bottom.

  Schooner looked up, “You still haven’t answered me. What are you doing in my house?”

  Beau had not moved from his spot. “CJ and I are together now.”

  Glaring, Schooner nodded slightly and reached down to pull out a bottle of Hennessy Paradis cognac. The deep amber liquid barely covered the bottom of its distinctive bell shaped bottle.

  “Bad enough I’m supporting you now too, and frankly I don’t give a shit that you have access to my almost-ex wife, but whatever gave you the impression,” he lifted the bell shaped bottle, “that you’d be permitted to touch an $800 bottle of my cognac? You will be replacing this, right?”

  “Look Schooner, I know you are upset about me and CJ.”

  Schooner cut him off, “No Beau, I am definitely not upset about you and CJ. That was clearly a long time coming.”

  “What do you mean?” Beau looked like he’d just gotten caught with his pants down.

  “Mia called me early in our sophomore year. You spoke to her. But you never told me she called. Now why would you not tell me that she called?” Schooner put the rocks glass back under the bar and pulled out a brandy snifter and poured himself the remainder of the Paradis and then let the bottle crash into the garbage with deliberate disregard.

  Beau’s eyes were darting around, “She said she didn’t want to leave a message.”

  There it was, the admission that he knew it was Mia who had called, who had reached out to him. A phone call he had not forgotten after all these years. “And you didn’t think it was important to tell me that she called? You knew the hell I was going through.”

  When Beau didn’t respond, Schooner just shook his head, “You were her lap dog even back then.”

  “She was my friend. I was trying to protect her from getting hurt anymore by you and Mia.”

  “I was your friend, Beau, and it wasn’t up to you to make those decisions for me.” Schooner threw back the rest of the cognac. “So, did you seek out Mia on Facebook purposely knowing it might open the opportunity for you and CJ?”

  “It wasn’t planned, Schooner, but I certainly was going to fully support CJ in any way I could after you left her.”

  “She lied and deceived me. You lied and deceived me.”

  “You should be thanking me. First mention of that guttersnipe and you were on a plane to New York.”

  “What did you just call Mia?” Schooner was around from the back of the bar and inches from Beau in a quick fluid motion. “You did not just call Mia a guttersnipe.”

  Grabbing Beau by the collar of his polo shirt, Schooner backed him up against a wall. “Plotting with CJ so that she would notice you, lying to me to please her, here,” he swept his arm around, gesturing at their grand surroundings, “to take on my discards as you live rent free in my house. You are pathetic.”

  “You just had it all so easy, didn’t you? The looks, the business, the hot wife. Well, look who’s got the last laugh now. I’m fucking your hot wife.”

  “I wouldn’t fuck her with your dick,” Schooner laughed in his face.

  Struggling with anger to get out of Schooner’s grasp, Beau’s face contorted, “Yeah, well you’re stuck with that pathetic chick who had to trap you with a bastard child.”

  Lifting him off the ground by the collar of his golf shirt, Schooner slammed him into the wall, the sheetrock crumbling behind Beau’s head. “Don’t you ever disrespect the woman I love or my son again.” And with each word, “Do. You. Understand. Me?” Schooner slammed him into the broken wall again and again and again. Letting him drop, Beau slumped to a seated position on the floor.

  “Oh and fix the wall,” Schooner gestured to the shattered sheetrock, “I want to sell the house.”

  Turning, he met Zac at the bottom of the stairs. Taking one of the large duffels from Zac, the Moores exited the house on Linda Isle, closing a chapter in each of their lives.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Pulling up in front of L9’s flagship location and headquarters, Schooner was beaming with pride as he prepared to show Mia his other baby and introduce his staff to his love and his new son.

  “Wow, it’s huge,” Mia was impressed with the glass and steel structure.

  Schooner laughed, “I like big.”

  With a devil smile, “That’s my line, isn’t it?” Mia volleyed back.

  Barely making it through the door, they were surrounded by staff and club members who hadn’t seen Schooner in way too long. Mia was surprised at how many of the employees she knew from the L9/NYC opening. Welcoming her warmly, it was the flirtatious Nathaniel, who soon garnered all the attention.

  “Come, let me show you around,” Schooner took Mia by the arm.

  Mia smiled, remembering the day, fourteen months earlier when she proudly gave Schooner the tour of M. Silver & Associates, so excited to be sharing with him her finest accomplishment.

  “There’s my beautiful godson.”

  Mia spun around to see Yoli coming down the hall toward them.

  “Nathaniel, this is your godmother,” she kissed Yoli hello and handed the baby off to her.

  “Schooner he’s you, but I see this hair is starting to form ringlets.”

  “He’s been a little cue ball up until now, but it looks like Ms. Silver’s curls have won out.” He led them down the hall, opening the door to his unused office.

  “Oh my God,” Mia’s hand flew to her mouth, “This is the size of a New York City apartment.”

  Standing there with a real smile, arms crossed over his muscular chest, he was clearly enjoying impressing ‘his girl’.

  “Schooner,” she exclaimed, speechless. As she walked around, taking it all in, the massive glass desk, the bank of TV’s, the personal gym, the bar, the couch and seating area, “so wait, are you that same jock I knew in college? You know, the guy that wanted me to read over his papers for him.” The devil smile was glowing to her eyes.

  His eyes and smile beamed back at her as he shared the magnitude of his accomplishments. Schooner and Mia were experiencing a Jay Gatsby-Daisy Buchanan, Heathcliff-Catherine Earnshaw moment. His heart was brimming with pride as the love of his life and small son took it all in.

  “You will never cease to amaze me, Pretty Boy.” Mia was fighting back tears. She was beyond proud of this man, she was in awe of him.

  “As will you, Baby Girl.”

  “Your parents are gross,” Yoli whispered into Nathaniel’s ear.

  He smiled and put his open mouth on her cheek.

  “I don’t do boys, but I have a feeling you are going to be the love of my life, little one.” Turning to Schooner, she asked, “So what was it you had to tell me?”

  “Well, my other son has been full of bombshells these past few da
ys,” and he brought Yoli up to speed on the situations with CJ and Beau, and Zac being the local boy toy of CJ’s friends.

  “Part of me wants to see you expose those bitches and part of me wants you to let it go,” Yoli shook her head.

  Looking at Schooner, Mia added, “If it were your friends and Holly?”

  “I’d kill them,” his answer was immediate and succinct, “and I feel incredibly hypocritical and sexist about my response to this situation. Am I doing the right thing?” he looked to the two women.

  “What does Zac want to do?” Yoli already knew the answer before the question was fully out of her mouth.

  “Do you think Zac sees anything wrong in the situation?” Schooner’s question was rhetorical.

  “You need to talk to CJ.” Mia could see the ambivalence in his eyes.

  “About quite a few things,” he nodded.

  Handing him Nathaniel and enjoying the way this big, powerful man looked with his tiny son, Yoli added, “Don’t leave here without that divorce finalized.”

  Mia laughed, “We’ll need a tiny Elvis suit for Nathaniel so that we can stop in Vegas.”

  Rolling her eyes, Yoli warned, “Don’t even think about robbing Seth of the opportunity to plan your wedding.”

  “Or Lois,” Schooner and Mia both said in unison, laughing.

  Reaching over to squeeze Schooner’s hand, Mia smiled. Silently she told him, “Let’s go tackle the tough stuff, ‘cause there’s really great things waiting for us on the other side.”

  Smiling back, his silent message was, “My fearless, Baby Girl. You make me a better man.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Tossing a salad on the black granite topped island, Mia and Dee talked as if they’d been a part of one another’s lives since first meeting so many years before. There was no doubt in Mia’s mind that Gavin and Dee thought of her as family and she loved that these two wonderful people were her son’s grandparents.

  The doorbell rang and Zac yelled out, “I’ll get it.”

  The bell had been ringing non-stop with deliveries from florists and neighbors dropping off food since Gavin had gotten home the day before.

  Mia heard Zac talking to someone and Dee immediately tensed, her spine becoming very straight and stiff, her face taking on a hard mask. Mia could feel the change in the air and looked to Dee for an explanation.

  “CJ is here,” her tone was flat, her eyes devoid of emotion.

  Mia’s eyes grew wide, initially with fear, old ghosts flooding her space, rushing in from multiple planes and dimensions to choke her.

  “When was the last time you saw her?” Dee looked alarmed at Mia’s physical reaction.

  Swallowing hard, “The night she told me that Schooner never loved me.”

  “I see,” was all she said, then, “shall we?” and motioned toward the family room.

  Schooner was on the couch, he had not even gotten up to greet them, his long legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles, feet bare. Nathaniel was fast asleep on his chest and his arms were wrapped around the baby. He smiled at Mia and his mother, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Schooner Moore was clearly going to enjoy this little visit.

  Her back to Mia and Dee, CJ was still holding an over-the-top huge floral arrangement as she gushed over Gavin, “I have been so worried about you ever since I heard the news. Beau and I have been totally devastated.”

  Mia stood paralyzed as Schooner motioned her with his eyes to come sit next to him on the couch. Dee gave her the tiniest of nudges toward her son and Mia went to him.

  As she sat, he put his head against hers and whispered, “Showtime,” immediately eliciting a complicit smile from Mia. It was Schooner Moore hitting Mia Silver with the devil grin this time.

  One look in his pale sapphire eyes and she knew she had the strength to face the ghosts and demons that she had let steal the light from her world and the confidence from her soul. She was Mia Silver. And anyone who knew Mia Silver knew that she was a formidable force. Not only would she slay the dragons, she was going to ride off with the knight in shining armor. It was time to relish her position.

  Straightening up from placing the flowers on the table next to Gavin, CJ turned around to face Schooner and Mia.

  “Mia,” CJ attempted to smile through lips that wanted to pucker, “you’ve gotten contact lenses. I hardly would have recognized you without your glasses.”

  Smiling and nodding her head, “Is that so? Well then, maybe you need glasses.”

  “Well, I’m glad you stopped by,” Schooner began, “because we actually have quite a bit to discuss.” Turning his attention to Beau, “How are you feeling, Beau?” Schooner didn’t wait for a response, “So, CJ, I assume you’ve spoken to your lawyer, because here is what is happening. There have been a few changes since we all last spoke. You’ll have a new settlement tomorrow and based on everything that has come to light over the past few days, you will be signing that this week and it will be filed before the week’s end. Aaron has assured me that it will be expedited before a judge.”

  Silently, CJ sat in a pale blue silk and dark cherry wood Bergere chair. Beau stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, obviously thinking his show of support was a good thing. Again, CJ puckered like a lemon.

  Mia realized she had a smile on her face and thought about wiping it off, but decided against it.

  Absentmindedly kissing Nathaniel’s head, Schooner went on, “New terms are as follows, the house on Linda Isle is to be put on the market within thirty days.”

  CJ gasped and Beau momentarily tightened his grip on her shoulders.

  “It’s in perfect condition, so there really shouldn’t be much that needs to be done to get it market-ready. A little drywall work in the Great Room,” he smiled at Beau. “Whatever does need to be done, let me know and I will get contractors sent over immediately. Fifty percent of the profit after mortgage, taxes and broker fees will go to you. Obviously, that will be a rather significant sum. Now, I’m not going to be supporting this joker,” he gestured toward Beau, “so if he plans on staying over more than one night a week, he will be paying rent. He will also be reimbursing for usage of things that are not his, such as eight hundred dollar bottles of cognac and use of office space.”

  Nathaniel started to move around and fuss on Schooner’s chest, “Shhh, baby. Go back to sleep,” he said softly near his son’s ear and shifted him on his chest. Nathaniel stretched and quieted back into sleep.

  “Now let’s talk about the other elephant in the room here,” Schooner continued, unequivocally commanding the situation. “Zac doesn’t turn eighteen for another few months and I am suing for full custody until that time.”

  “That’s not fair, Schooner.” CJ was visibly agitated, her anger escalating.

  “No, CJ, what isn’t fair is that when he was home this past fall, you were clearly negligent in your responsibility as his mother. You were not there to watch over him and protect him. You didn’t safeguard him from your abusive, so-called friends, since he was sleeping with three of them. He’s a minor, CJ.” Disgust was the prevalent emotion on Schooner’s handsome face.

  “Well, I didn’t know it was happening,” her voice was shrill, her eyes darting around the room.

  “You might as well have been complicit.”

  Her eyes narrowed, CJ looked from Schooner to Mia and back to Schooner, “You’re not taking my son away from me.”

  “I am until he is eighteen and then he can do whatever he wants. If he wants to come back and screw every one of your friends, I can’t stop him. But as long as he is a minor, I will protect him from these pathetic pedophiles you call friends,” and without missing a beat, “so, back to what I was saying at the beginning of the conversation, you’ll have all the new papers tomorrow, you need to sign them immediately and this is a done deal.”

  “And if I don’t,” her chin was thrust high in the air.

  Schooner shrugged, “I’ll go to the judge about everything
we just discussed and look at filing the appropriate charges against your friends. That should do wonders for your social standing in Newport Beach.”

  Glaring at Mia, “I hope you see what you’re getting.”

  Schooner turned to Mia and their eyes met. Mia was in awe of this man, this good, good man.

  “Very clearly,” Mia answered CJ, without taking her eyes off of Schooner, “very, very clearly.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  On the deck of the boat, alone again for sunset, Mia sat between Schooner’s long legs on the teak bench, leaning back into his chest, “Is it possible to fall even more in love with you?” she turned to see his face.

  Pulling her back tighter into his chest, “Mmm-hmm, very possible.”

  “I just have the best time sitting back and watching you do your thing.”

  “Mia Silver, you sitting back for anything is the only thing that is impossible here,” he whispered into her ear.

  Smiling, Mia silently watched the sun descending through a layer of Southern California smog, spraying the sky with an iridescent effusion of color. Smoothing her hair back from her forehead in gentle strokes, Schooner too remained silent as he focused on the grand show nature (and the spoils of mankind) were projecting onto the sky’s canvas.

  “I do sit back and let you take the lead, which is unlike me. Very unlike me,” Mia broke the silence, as the sun was lost into the smog layer.

  “I do the same, Baby Girl. Which is also very unlike me. Handing off control is not a comfortable space for me, you know that. But I trust you enough to sit back and let you go into action.”

  What Schooner couldn’t see was the smile as it appeared on Mia’s face after a moment of what looked similarly like shock. “Yes. It’s trust,” the epiphany apparent in her tone. “Trust,” she repeated.