Death by Polka

Chapter 7

7Next morning, I woke from a deep sleep to the sound of pounding on the door. Boom boom boom boom. Then shouting.

“Hey, Lottie!” A man’s voice, familiar. “Rise and shine!”

I tried to block it out. I needed the sleep so badly, and I wasn’t anywhere near ready to get up yet.

But the ruckus wouldn’t stop. “Wake up, Lottie!” Boom boom boom boom. “You’re sleeping the day away!”

Angrily, I rolled over and checked the blinking red digital clock on the nightstand. At which point I got even angrier, because it was only 6:30 in the morning.

“Go away!” Rolling back over, I pulled a pillow over my head to block the noise.

“No can do,” said the man at the door. “I’m under strict orders!” Boom boom boom boom boom.

I stayed in bed another minute, and the pounding continued. Finally, I threw aside the pillow and jerked to a sitting position.

I sat there a moment, wobbling in place, barely awake. My head felt like it was stuffed with wool, the gears of my brain unable to turn.

“Come on, Lottie,” said the man at the door. “We’ve got things to do, places to be, people to see.”

Only then did I realize it was Eddie Kubiak Jr. My old boyfriend was pounding on the door of my room, waking me from a much-needed sleep at six-thirty in the freaking morning.

“Yep,” I said to myself. “It’s a nightmare, all right.”

Boom boom boom. “Open up, Lottie!”

Sliding off the bed, I stood and looked in the mirror above the dresser. The word “Sasquatch” came to mind.

My dress was wrinkled beyond belief and twisted so the neckline pointed left instead of down the middle. The coil of hair once wrapped around my head had come halfway undone; strands hung over my face and stuck out in every direction. Mascara, rouge, and eye shadow were smeared all over my face as it were an artist’s sloppy palette blobbed with multiple colors of paint. My eyes had bags under them the size of dim sum dumplings.

Nowhere in the world would I have been considered remotely presentable. I had no intention of setting foot outside that door in full view of Eddie Kubiak, Jr.

“Lottie! Lot!” Boom boom boom boom. He was relentless.

But I wasn’t the only one he was ticking off. “Hey! Shut the hell up over there!” The voice through the paper-thin wall was that of a guy who was seriously irate.

“Open up, Lot!” said Eddie. “It’s time for work!”

“How ‘bout I come out there and work you over?” The guy in the room next door bellowed the words this time. “I guarantee that’ll shut you up!”

It seemed like Eddie finally got the message, because he stopped pounding. When he spoke again, his voice was nowhere near as loud. “Lot?”

To end the commotion, I walked to the door and cracked it without unhooking the safety chain. “What are you talking about, it’s time for work?” I peered out from the shadows into painfully bright sunlight that made me squint. “For one thing, it’s Sunday. For another thing, I’m not working in this town.”

“Sure you are.” Eddie had a goofy grin on his thin, oval face. The thin line of his meticulously trimmed sideburns-mustache-goatee combo--let’s call it his sidemusgoat--curled up with the grin, revealing dimples and rows of gleaming white teeth. “Don’t you remember the wake yesterday? Sure sounded to me like you got hired.”

The events of the day before rushed back and slammed into me like a brick wall on wheels. “You mean Peg and me? That whole thing?”

“Congratulations on your new job.” Eddie extended a hand but didn’t slide it between the door and the jamb. Smart man. “But being late is no way to get off on the right foot.”

I almost slammed the door in his face. No kidding. But I was afraid he’d keep after me and set off the guy next door. “I’m not late for anything, Eddie.”

“Peg starts the day at 6AM.” Eddie nodded briskly. I was having a hard time telling if he was trying on purpose to irritate me. “She’s been waiting for you for a half hour now.”

“Okay.” I planted my hands on my hips and glared out at him. “You need to go away right now. Because you won’t like what happens if I come out and you’re still there.”

“So you don’t want your share of your dad’s business?” Eddie c****d his head to one side. It was then I realized he was enjoying this to some extent. “You’ll let those Polish orphans have everything?”

I blew out my breath in frustration. I wasn’t a morning person to begin with, and that morning I was feeling especially out of it. My first instinct was to light up a cigarette and get my bearings...but since that wasn’t an option, I needed strong coffee before I could deal with Eddie’s nonsense. “Go away, Eddie.”

“Can’t do that.” Eddie shook his head. “If I go back without you, I’ll get my butt chewed.”

Suddenly, some of the things he’d been saying penetrated my bleary brain. “Wait. Are you working for her?”

“I work for Polish Lou Enterprises,” said Eddie. “So technically, I’m now working for Peg and you. If you don’t bail out and force the attorneys to send the money to the orphanages, that is.”

I frowned as I tried to wrap my brain around what he’d said. “Do you mean to tell me you’re working for my dad’s company?” I cracked the door a little wider to get a better look at him. “How did that happen? Your dad is my dad’s biggest rival.”

Eddie shrugged. “I came back to town, Lot. I needed a job, and Lou offered me one.”

Came back? “You left town?” I’d assumed he’d been here since I’d been away. Eddie Jr. had always been kind of a hometown boy.

“Well, sure, Lot.” Eddie’s expression darkened. “But things didn’t work out the way I’d thought they would.”

For the first time in forever, I actually found myself identifying with Eddie Kubiak, Jr. I knew exactly how it was when things didn’t work out as expected. “How long have you been back?”

“Eight months.” Eddie smiled, but I thought it looked forced. “Your dad really helped me out. He made it so I didn’t have to go crawling back to my old man.”

I frowned. I’d always thought Eddie Jr. had gotten along fine with Eddie Sr.

“But now it’s back to square one, kinda.” Eddie scratched the back of his head and looked sheepish. “I’m not sure if the new bosses will keep me on. Don’t know how it’ll work out with you and Peg.”

As irritated as I’d been when he’d woken me up, I found myself feeling sympathetic. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” I even managed a reassuring smile.

“I, uh...” Eddie scuffed his feet on the sidewalk. “It’s not you I’m most worried about, Lot.”

“Ohhh.” I nodded. Things were starting to come together. “But you’ve been working with Peg for eight months now, right? You ought to know her pretty well by now.”

Eddie cleared his throat. “Exactly.” He pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows in a look that spoke volumes.

And made my heart sink like an anchor. “Not really a ringing endorsement of Polish Peg there, Eddie.”

“Let’s just say I have...concerns.” Eddie sniffed. “Concerns about working for her instead of with her.”

“You’re not exactly talking me into this.” I brushed back stray tangles of hair that had fallen into my eyes. “You know I haven’t made up my mind yet, right?”

“Actually, that’s why I’m here,” said Eddie. “To try to talk you into it.” He shrugged and came up with a boyish grin. “I lied about being under orders.”

I planted my fists on my hips and glared. “So Peg didn’t put you up to this? She didn’t send you over here after all?”

Eddie shook his head. “I need an ally, Lot.” He met my gaze. “I need this job.”

I held his gaze a moment, and memories of our times together rushed through me. I remembered one day in particular when we went tubing on the Stonycreek River, and I flipped over in the strong current, and he pulled me out. I remembered kissing him gratefully, our lips wet with river water, his brown eyes sparkling in the sun.

It seemed like it had happened only yesterday...and yet, so very long ago. Whatever had happened since, it had changed him, added layers I couldn’t quite piece together. But he was still the same guy, deep down, I’d once loved. That counted for something in my book.

In his book, too. I’d bet on it. If our positions were reversed, I knew exactly what he’d say about all this.

“I’ll do it.” As the words left my lips, I knew I was doing the right thing. I had my doubts about how it would work out, but I owed it to Eddie to give it a try. Owed it to my family, too, and Luke. I couldn’t let Dad’s legacy slip away when it meant so much to so many people.

“Really?” Eddie looked at me expectantly, and I nodded. “So we can get going?”

I shook my head. “Come back in an hour. Make it an hour and a half. I need to get ready.”

Eddie grinned and waved off my demand. “Ah, I’m sure you look great, Lot.”

“An hour and a half or I’m out.” I started easing the door shut. “Take it or leave it, Eddie.”

“All right, all right.” Eddie raised his hands in surrender. “Just remember I warned you. Peg likes to get an early start. The later you show up, the more she gets a leg up on you.”

“She’s been with my father’s company for the past thirteen years,” I said. “I don’t think she could get a bigger leg up on me.”

And with that, I shut the door on Eddie and headed straight for the coffee pot on the kitchenette counter.