O'Connell Bridge - Pt. 15

The next day went by in a blur. LC worked his shift and sped through an eventless day in the apartment. He was virtually alone. Caitlin and Betty Jo were out. Mac went in to work early and Murphy’s door was locked.

LC washed and detailed his truck and went to the Harp for late lunch.

“What’s happening, LC?” Doug, the affable but fast moving head waiter put an iced tea on his table and headed for the kitchen. LC didn’t have time to respond.

A minute later, Doug emerged carrying plates for another customer. “Know what you want?” He said as he walked by.

When Doug turned around LC said. “Pastrami Reuben, Irish cheese, and fries.”

“Got it.” Doug disappeared into the kitchen.

One of the waitresses stopped by his table. “So what are you doing today?” She was slender with dark hair and large, oval brown pouty eyes.

“Just trying to get ready to leave.”

She looked around to see if she was needed anywhere. “That cute girl you bring in here all the time. Is that serious? I mean like she’s as pretty as the come and seems to be really cheerful; is that like your fiancé or anything?” She whispered, “Betty Jo told me you two were like really tight. I thought maybe?”

“Yeah, she’s pretty cool. That’s Cait. If I could make a commitment I would. I just don’t know where my life is headed right now.”

She laughed. “I had a boyfriend that wouldn’t commit to a ring so I put him out on the street, literally.”

“Remind me not to date you.”

She nudged him. “If Cait kicks you out, just come see Molly.” She walked off toward the tea and coffee stand.

After lunch, LC drove to Lowes and spent an hour just walking around looking. Finally, he gave up and drove back to the apartment. The girls’ light was off so he ran up the stairs. Arthur looked out from his room.

“I thought the walls were coming down.”

LC opened the frig. “Just me. I’ll walk quieter from now, but remember I’m leaving.”

“Seeya.” Arthur closed his door.

LC opened a beer and sat on the couch, watched an hour of Sports Center, and then elected to catch up on sleep.

He kicked his jeans and t-shirt to the floor and closed his door, slipped on his noise suppression headset and drifted off to sleep. Since he didn’t have to work for another day, he allowed himself to sleep until almost midnight. He got up, showered, and looked for his jeans. Mac and Arthur were behind closed doors. “Shish, I know I left them on the floor. He looked in his drawer and found an old pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. “I’ll look later. Time to find food.” He looked at his phone. It was a text from Caitlin, but from earlier in the evening.

“Had stuff to wash, needed a full load, saw your jeans on the floor, they were a little stiff. Will be delivered to your apartment tomorrow morning.”

LC didn’t know what to think. “A little assuming, not like I go get her jeans and wash them. Then again, I rarely wash mine.” He sat down at his computer and reviewed his research on O’Neil Milling. Mostly, he found nothing new. The O’Neil family were apparently investors and were among that group of extremely wealthy people who did not flaunt or make public appearances, they weren’t politically active. “No big contributions to political parties, at least none on the reports. Charities seemed to be undisclosed or non predominant. Hmm, a notation to see Edinburgh University.”

LC looked through the Edinburgh University website and saw nothing that spoke of large contributors specifically. “However, look here, the company is a member of Edinburgh Benefactors Through the Development Trust.” LC looked up the organization. “Ah ha, apparently, they gave like a million pounds to the college. Wow. Probably a write off or something. But, they support other colleges too. Well, a whole lot of information that tells me almost nothing. They have a giving program; like that’s very nice of them.”

There was knock on the door. LC got up to see who would knock at 5 AM; it was Caitlin. He flipped on the porch light.

“Jeans, t-shirt, and sweatshirt. I knew you got ready early, so here.” She handed the folded clothes to LC. “Oh, I forgot, some stuff I took out of your pockets is on the counter downstairs. You can get it whenever.”

Her angry tone worried LC. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I gotta go.” She turned and ran down the stairs.

“Shish, women.” He followed her down the stairs and into her apartment. “Something I did or said?”

Caitlin glanced up. “Has nothing to do with you LC. Listen, I just have to go, uh, to Boston, Aunt Tess, I told you. Like tomorrow, maybe today, I don’t know. My aunt calls, I bow and scrape.” She stomped into her room and began haphazardly tossing things into a box.

“Can I help?”

“No.”

Her cross tone took LC back a step. “Okay, I’ll just ease my way out.”

Caitlin glanced up from the box. “For one thing, Betty Jo didn’t come home last night.”

“Oh?”

“She called. I think she spent the night with that boy she’s been seeing off and on this year. Todd, I think his name is. They looked at rings yesterday. He took her to Perry’s Jewelry Emporium.”

LC tried to look concerned. “She told you that.”

“Sorta.”

“Well what did she say?”

“Nothing.”

“My dear Cait, did you know you’re not making any sense.”

Caitlin glared at him. “Can it, LC. You better go home, before I say something I might regret later.” She turned and placed a stack of towels into another box. She finally knelt and started to cry.

“Cait, we really need to talk about this.”

Caitlin stood up quickly and put her hands on her hips. “What part of get out of here did you not understand? I’m going to Boston because my Aunt needs me. LC, she took me in when Social Services wanted to send me to a home. You hate your family, but I love mine. I am committed to Aunt Tess. You oughta try it out sometime. Love and commitment.” She pointed to the door.

“Okay, I’m gone, seeya.”

“Listen, you just seem to barge in when you want to; it’s time you stopped. Don’t come bothering around here, we have rules you know. And, believe me, I don’t want you near me. You’re leaving anyway, so don’t bother to come back. Seeya LC, have a nice life.”

LC picked up his pocket change and two receipts off the counter, and then over dramatized his tiptoeing out of the apartment, over his shoulder he could see that Caitlin had returned to the box and was sobbing. He quietly climbed the stairs. Big Mac was just coming out of his room and heading for the bathroom when LC swung open the door.

“Watch out for Cait today, she’s armed and dangerous. I kinda ran afoul of her mood a few minutes ago. The barbed wire is sharp and hazardous.”

“Any scars?”

LC laughed. “Just some bruising. Is Arthur in? His door is closed.”

“Went to Shallotte last night. Said he’d be back Monday maybe. I think he can only stand a couple of days of his mother’s pressure. He’s taking only one summer class, but you know Arthur; he’ll have it mastered in two meetings and the professor will have a hard time keeping up with him. He’s going to live here until he has to leave; I guess the first of August.”

“Yeah, like I told him the other day, our lease is paid; we paid the last month’s rent when we signed. The month of July is free. There’ll be an inspection, but we haven’t broken or dented anything. And the oven hasn’t been used in three years. You probably need to wipe out the microwave, otherwise we should be okay.“

“Cool.”

“Are you sticking around?”

Mac leaned on the door jam. “Yeah. At least till August, I guess. Still looking for a one bedroom I can afford. The Carolina Beach house fell through; can you believe they wanted an additional $600 per month for condo association fee. But, Aideen say’s she knows of some other places like in Kings Grant. Arthur’s moving in with Cait for the first semester.”

“I know, I arranged it. Hope she doesn’t kill him. I was fearing for my life when I left while ago.”

Mac snickered. “Somebody’s going to have their hands full with her someday.”

LC looked down at the floor. “Yeah, I expect that’s right.”

To be continued...