"Mr. Vanderburg. You have a visitor," Justin announced as he walked into the Burgess' living room.
"Thanks," Chad replied. He rose from the couch and walked into the foyer. When he saw R.J. waiting for him, he was filled with a sense of dread. "What are you doing here?"
"I think you know."
Chad grimaced. "Let's take it outside. No one here needs to know our business."
Chad followed R.J. outside and they walked around to the garden at the side of the house.
Chad turned to face R.J. ready to accept whatever was in store for him. "Ok, so what's it going to be? What do you want from me?"
"I want my money back. I want every penny you took from our company," R.J. said in a deliberately calm and even voice.
Chad shrugged. "I don't have that kind of money. I gave up everything I had to pay off my debts."
"You haven't paid them all. You still owe me."
"Look, I would make up for it if I could, but I have nothing that's worth anything to you. Besides you've recovered from what happened. You've got your new company now. Do you really want to risk that by going after me?"
"Don't play that game with me," R.J. warned. "I was the one that was wronged and I am more than willing to take that risk to get what is owed me from you."
"So what do you want from me then?" Chad asked again. "You want to threaten me? Torture me? What?"
R.J. thought carefully before choosing his next words. "I want you to leave town. If I ever see you here again, you'd better have the money or I will make sure, one way or another, that you've paid me back in full. Until then, stay out of my sight." With those last words, R.J. turned and walked back towards the street.
Over dinner, Edward talked about his day at the hospital. He couldn't help noticing that Alma was too distracted to pay attention to the conversation.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't keep going on and on about things that must be boring to everyone but me. How was your day?"
"Fine, the same as usual," Alma replied. "Except that Vanessa stopped by . . ."
"Is that good or bad?"
"She wants me to speak to Amanda for her. She's still determined to get on Amanda's good side."
"Are you going to talk to her?"
"I said I would, but I don't know what good it will do. Amanda can be so stubborn."
Edward smiled. "You have to admire a woman who knows her own mind. At least I do."
Alma concentrated on the plate in front of her as she pushed at her food with her fork. "It's not always easy."
"Alma . . ." Edward began slowly. "I'm not trying to pressure you. I don't want to make that mistake again. Think of us as just dinner companions, if you like."
"You haven't changed your mind about wanting a family?"
"No. I've spent a lot of time alone and I want someone to share my life with, a wife and children-"
"How many children?"
Edward thought a moment. "Maybe two. A boy and a girl would be nice."
After their date, Edward drove Alma home and walked her to the door. They lingered on the front porch for a moment.
"I had a nice time tonight. I feel like . . ." He wanted to say he felt like they had gotten much closer, but he was worried about sounding too forward. "like we really had a chance to talk."
Alma nodded. "I'm glad that we did."
"We'll have to make a habit of it, then." As he leaned forward to kiss her goodnight, Alma demurely turned her face to the side and his lips landed on her cheek.
Edward stepped back and cleared his throat. "I'll give you a call tomorrow. Goodnight."
"Hey Audrey, can we talk?" Chad asked as he stood in the doorway of the Jordan's apartment. In the hours since R.J. had left him, Chad had considered his choices carefully and had reached his decision.
"Sure. Come in and have a seat."
"This won't take long. I just wanted to say goodbye. I'm leaving again."
"What? You can't leave now. You just got out of the hospital. We were just getting along again."
"R.J." he answered simply.
Audrey sighed. "How long are you going to keep running? For the rest of your life? And I was starting to believe that you'd changed."
"I have."
"Then start acting like it."
"What do you expect me to do? Pay R.J. money that I don't have? Wait around here for him to come up with some other method of payment? I'm not going to stick around and take the chance that you or anyone else around me gets caught up in this again. I have to leave. It's my only choice." He paused, but Audrey looked away and said nothing. "I just wanted to let you know before I took off."
"I'm sorry."
"Me too," he said, giving her a hug. They stood together for a moment before he finally stepped back. "I should go. I need to get packed. Take care of yourself, ok?"
Audrey walked Chad to the door and watched from the doorway as he disappeared down the hall.
"Audrey?" Jordan walked in from the kitchen. "Is everything alright?"
She didn't answer.
"Audrey?"
"Hmm?" she finally said in a distracted tone before turning from the door. "I'm fine," she said and walked past him towards her bedroom.
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