Chapter 9

I must have dozed off for a moment. I woke up when Juliet poked me, as the pain was still there.

"John, Elizabeth is going to be here soon. You may want to freshen up a bit. Then we'll go to see your apartment together with her and Sandra."

I did what I could, and had another cup of coffee and a sandwich. I wasn't sure if it contained cheese or ham, and I didn't really care. I ate it anyway. Once I was finished with those I turned to look at Juliet, and raised my eyebrows. She grinned and shook her head.

"John, I hope that she really likes you. You look like someone of your age and you smell, but there is not much we can do about it yet."

I should not have laughed as it hurt my ribs, which seemed to worry Juliet a bit.

"Should we go to see a doctor first?"

I shook my head which was another mistake.

"No, I probably have a few slightly cracked ribs, but there is not much they can do about it. My breathing is otherwise ok, and there is no blood when I pee. Those guys knew what they were doing, and the pictures will be better if we wait a while. Trust me, I still remember it from the days when I did some serious sports."

"And that was when? Twenty years ago?"

Juliet was admanant and since she could not get me to the hospital she arranged a doctor to see me. The guy told me what I knew; I had a few cracked ribs and they also took the first set of pictures. Once he was finished I looked at Juliet.

"I think there must be a law that forces your lawyer to be nice to you. If not, there should be!"

I had muttered that, but I guess it was still loud enough for her to hear, as she was laughing her butt off when the door opened, and Liz came in followed by the young looking vice officer I had been teasing Friday evening. I wondered if I should make a promise not to ever again make fun of any officers, but my thoughts were interrupted by a young woman who launched herself at me and hugged me. I tried to hug her back, but I couldn't help wincing. She pulled back, and looked at me.

"Oh, my God, what have they done to you? And you smell."

It seemed that Juliet just could not help herself. I tried to look at her sternly, but she just kept on giggling. What followed was a series of introductions and explanations. First, the young vice officer told me how sorry she was, but she had really been worried about Liz as she had seen her a few times. Suddenly, Liz started to look worried, so I stepped in.

"Liz, don't worry. There will be absolutely no information about you in any of the records, here ... official OR unofficial. If there is, it will cost this city some serious money."

Now the young officer started to look a bit uneasy.

"Look, I was only worried..."

"And I was ok with that. But I seriously hope that there will be nothing that will come back to hound her, in the future."

"I'm sure that there won't be."

Now I smiled to her.

"Thank you. I think you should know that I think of you as one of the good ones, here."

She still looked a bit uneasy as she apologized once more, and left us. Juliet took pity on me and gave Liz a quick rundown about what had happened. She looked worried and uneasy when Juliet was finished.

"Liz, I'll be ok. They didn't do anything to my good looks, and they'll certainly pay or replace everything they have broken."

That earned me a kiss. I felt a bit better after that, but I could have used some painkillers, too.

The devastation of my apartment was even worse than I had feared. Almost nothing could be salvaged, and the clothes that had not been torn into pieces, would need at least a thorough cleaning. Juliet picked up two of my suits that were torn into pieces and turned to me.

"These two were tailored, weren't they?"

I just nodded, and she shook her head while taking pictures and making some notes. Sandra looked like she would be physically ill, and the policeman who was following her looked like he was walking on eggshells. Then I went and helped Liz to pick up all the stuff she would be needing during next week at classes. Luckily, most of it was there, even if it was stained and messed up.

Juliet arranged a small apartment for us, not far from Liz's college, and she booked herself a room in a nearby hotel. We thought about buying some new clothes from a nearby Walmart, but then I remembered that I didn't have my company credit card any more.

Luckily, Liz had some money, and Juliet made some more notes while I borrowed her card. I probably would have been even more pissed off, but I was just so fucking tired that I didn't really care.

When I finally was able to get out of my filthy clothes and have a shower in our apartment, Liz almost screamed when she saw my bruises. After a few minutes she was looking for the nearest drugstore for some painkillers. I almost objected, but swallowed my pride and thanked her. I managed to stay awake just as long as it took those pills to take effect.

The next morning I still hurt all over, but I forced myself to get up with Liz, and we went to have breakfast together with Juliet. Afterwards, Liz continued on to her classes, and Juliet started driving me around. She had managed to get my company credit card opened again, and I started shopping ... or, I would start shopping, as soon as we were got out of the hospital she drove me to.

After two hours of poking, fingering, x-raying, photographing, and whatever other humiliating things Juliet and the young female doctor she had found did to me, I was ready to give up. By no means was I ashamed of my body, but when a young woman asks you if there is any need to examine your rectum while you are lying naked on the table with your smirking lawyer looking at you ... Well, I made sure to tell them that even if I spent two nights in jail, there was no need for that, thank you. When I looked angrily at Juliet, she just shrugged.

"If you plan to tell about this to Tom, I can already say don't bother. It was his idea, as a thanks for ruining our Thanksgiving weekend together."

That was when the young doctor lost it, and burst out laughing. Soon she regained her professional demeanor again, and described my injuries: two cracked ribs, bruises in several big muscles all over the body, some minor problems with two fingers of my right hand, but probably not broken bones. So, I would hurt for some time, but nothing was dangerous, except to my lifestyle. Very funny. We then had a quick lunch and started our shopping, which I hated immediately. Of course, it was nice to get a working phone, and a laptop that held together without duct tape; but shopping for clothes was something that I really hated. The only good thing was that I didn't really care about costs as long as they stayed reasonable, as Juliet had gotten some vouchers from Sandra.

It was afternoon, and I was willing to call it quits for today, when Juliet got a call. She listened to it seriously for a moment, then she looked at me.

"It's happened. Helen and her lawyer managed to put your divorce on hold, and they want to renegotiate, or at least force you to come back so that you two can go to counseling, together."

"Not going to happen. You know that."

"Unfortunately, there is not much I can do if she has managed to get a judge to agree, John."

"Then we need to add some extra pressure. Please, arrange a meeting with Sandra. I'll take it from there, and you'll now need to go back and help me out, locally."

All the good feelings I might have had were suddenly gone, but Liz save me from being miserable. Together we said our goodbyes to Juliet, and retreated to our apartment. Almost as soon as we were there, Mina called me.

"Hi, Mina. What's up?"

"Dad, I just had to call to you. Mom has been so chirpy today that I'm sure that something has happened. Are you two getting together again? Look, it is not that I would not like you two to get back together but..."

"Mina, I'm sorry, but that is not going to happen. I just cannot trust her any more."

I heard her sigh.

"I know, Dad. I really understand, and to tell the truth she has not behaved like she'd miss you. But what's happened, there? Are you still with Liz?"

"It was a misunderstanding, and it has mostly been settled; and, yes, Liz is here with me. Do you want to talk with her?"

"Yeah, maybe for a second."

I gave my phone to Liz, and sat on the sofa. I started thinking and planning. I had to have all my ducks in a row at our meeting, tomorrow. Later that night, I was sure that I would still be too bruised to perform, but Liz proved me wrong. Once she had me lying on the bed, she managed to convince me that there wasn't anything wrong with my tongue, or some other part, a bit lower down. All she had to do was to be careful of my ribs. Finally, I had to admit that things could have been worse.