What you need to know
Moving forward on her quest to hire a lawyer who will help fight Rick’s demand to move out of the house, Jennifer and Fran’s friendship is restored to Jennifer’s great joy. But at home, Spencer’s waiting with the chilling news that Rick’s tactics have taken a sinister turn.
Chapter Twenty
Power Outage
Pulling up to the house, happier than I have felt in a long while—that joy of having a friend again—I spot Spencer sitting on the porch steps.
Spencer stands, crosses to the car, opens my door like a parking attendant. He wears his red parka with the hood up against the misty rain. The lenses of his glasses spotted.
“What you doing home?” I ask.
“Early release. Here, let me take that,” he says, grabs my purse.
Early release is a thing in public school. Every week, early release. Something to do with teacher planning days, I guess. From the back, I grab the bag of morning buns I brought home for him and Jo.
“Are you locked out?” I ask.
“No. I had my key,” he says but his expression remains somber.
I close the car door, click the fob. He leads up the steps but then stops short on the walkway. “Mom? Are we out of money?” he asks.
I have to stop, too. “What?”
“Everything is off,” he says, chin lifted toward the house.“The phone. The power.” He juggles my purse in his arms. “The gas. The internet.”
“That’s not possible,” I say.
“See for yourself,” Spencer says. He jogs up the steps. Opens the door. In the entry, he toggles the switches. Inside, out, no light.
Following him in, it’s true. The house is so cold I can see the puffed clouds of our breath.
Unable to grasp what’s happening, I go around the house flipping more switches, turning on the stove burners, adjusting the thermostat. It’s impossible, I think. This can’t be happening.
Out back, the chickens go through their daily ritual of horrifying cries, dropping their eggs, one by one and I spend the next couple hours making calls to utility companies. First, it’s a woman from the electric company. Then it’s a man at the gas company. Then a woman at the phone company. They all say the same thing: “We were given notice you were moving.”
Rick gave the notice.
I re-establish service at each in my own name. Finally, on the line with Waste Management, the service rep repeats the same refrain and transfers me to the “new customer” department.
Elbow on my desk, head in my hands, I listen to canned jazz. If my cell service wasn’t in my own name, this phone would be dead, too. As it is now, I’m almost out of power. Great.
Across the way, Spencer sits on the floor in the living room and hunches over his homework. He reads Homer’s Odyssey, makes notes on a lined sheet of paper.
“I think you need to get Jo for me,” I say, hand over the receiver. “This is taking forever.”
Spencer studies me over the top of his glasses perched at the end of his nose.
“Will he do anything else to us? I mean, something worse?” His expression is heartbreaking. Open. Worried. Scared.
“No,” I say, weary. “He’s just being…Rick.”
“Are you sure?”
I look at him looking at me. The piped music playing through the line. My phone nearly out of power. “After I get all done with these calls, I’ll change the locks on the doors,” I finally say. “And I’ll activate the old security system. Okay?”
Spence taps his pencil on the tabletop, thinking, then stops. “You need to tell Dad what he did. Tell him you’re being bullied. Dad will take care of it.”
I almost laugh at his sincerity. He’s such a trusting, good kid but Steve’s not going to get involved with this mess. If I tell him, he’ll say things like, “Man, that sucks,” and “What are you going to do now?” But helpful? Doubtful.
The power blinks on. Lights in the entry, living room, dining room. The refrigerator hums to life. In the basement, the furnace kicks on with a rumble.
I shove my charger cable into my phone. The beep of blessed power.
“Screw this,” I say, hang up. “I’ll call the trash people back later. Let’s go get Jo together.” I push out of my chair. “I need the walk.”
He tosses his pencil down. It skitters across the table, drops on the rug. “Me too,” he says.
Coats on, he steps out first. I follow. I lock the door, as if that will keep Rick out of the house. Down the steps, I sling an arm around Spencer’s shoulder, holding him a little closer while peering about the neighborhood and wondering…Is he here? Is he watching us right now?
Coming Next:
Chapter Twenty One: The Dragon Lady
Reeling from Rick's latest attack, Jennifer seeks legal counsel to protect herself and her children. Her search leads her to the infamous "Dragon Lady" divorce attorney. But as Jennifer steps into the formidable lawyer's lair, she'll find that navigating the treacherous waters of divorce may cost her more than she bargained for.
