New Birds

100% Duplication Part 18

Keitin, in a motorized wheelchair, sped through the corridors towards the front foyer of the house. Tilly followed, falling further and further behind him. She had half a mind to throw his bottle of beta-blockers at the back of his head to slow him down. It wasn't until he halted at the edge of the circular driveway that she finally caught up to him.

"I'll take your haste as a sign you're feeling better," she said, although he was still a little too grey for her liking.

He ignored her.

She looked down at the bottle of capsules. "Once we get you home, we'll have Tyler assess you."

"Tyler is my father's nurse, not mine. And I believe he would rather poison me if giving the chance."

"Better him than me," she said under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing. Let's just get back. I'll figure this all out later."

He nodded. "Yes, we'll get back and rethink this. I'll make another trip once I'm more myself. It will give Mr. Anson some cooling off time. I apologize. I wasn't the lawyer I should have been for you yesterday. I botched things up royally."

"Oh, for heaven's sake." She looked down the quiet driveway, waiting for their vehicle to appear. Leave it to Keitin to justify that the reason this trip went sideways was his poor health. He surely wasn't about to credit her with shutting the whole thing down. Once he was feeling better, she would explain the last twenty-four hours to him and why he was no longer her lawyer.

The vehicle arrived. Keitin steered his wheelchair around to the passenger side, and Tilly opened the door for him. Their bags were in the back seat as if tossed there in haste. It appeared the staff were continuing in their inhospitable ways. She reached over the seat to arrange the bags a little more to her liking.

"Are you going to let me in or not?" Keitin stood waiting for her to remove herself from his spot.

"All yours," she said, as she started to return the wheelchair, but Brett took it from her without saying a single word. As she shrugged and climbed into the driver's seat, she kept watching Brett's back as he disappeared around the corner.

"What the hell did we do to him?" She mumbled as she started the vehicle and drove through the open gates. "Can't wait to be away from this place."

Keitin's non-response was as biting as Brett's silence.

Once down the mountainside, past the pretty houses, past the new trees, the tension between her and Keitin continued. Tilly couldn't refrain from finally breaking the silence. "I know how much you wanted this for us. I was almost convinced of it too, but I can assure you we did the right thing."

He raised a hand to stop her. "Spare me, please."

It wasn't her intention to cause further aggravation for him or his heart, but shushing her, frankly, was simply something she could not abide by. "You were the one who insisted I come down here with you. I told you to drop it if I decided against the lease. So, don't hold anything, including your heart attack against me. That's all I wanted to say. That and as of today, contract or no contract, they are getting no further water."

Keitin grunted. It sounded like an attempt at a laugh.

"And how the hell does Jason Anson know about my money problems? How was giving him that information supposed to help me?" Tilly was now worked up again, wanting answers despite Keitin's weakened state. Keitin remained quiet, which only made her fume more. She tried to focus on her driving as she waited impatiently for a response from him. None came. She was just about to demand an answer, but when she glanced over at him, he was asleep. His large head tilted forward in a way that must have added a fair bit of strain to his neck. She quelled her urge to reach over and thump him awake, and she wasn't sure if it was because she wanted to resume her talking points, or to have him readjust his position so he wouldn't wake with a kink. Instead, she drove on, listening to his whistle-like pitch of a snore until her anger faded. Anger was wasted on the unconscious, anyway. She would allow him his sleep.