Chapter 14: Mending fences.
"Mom, it's Michael."
Madeline wasn't sure it was really him on the phone. His voice cracked a little.
"Michael are you OK?"
"I'm fine mom."
"I was so...we were so worried. We didn't know..."
"I am sorry mom. I didn't want to worry you. I was a little out of it for a while, but I'm feeling better. Do you know where Sam is?"
"He is here with me at the hotel. He is sleeping."
"Is he OK?"
"He is a little banged up, but he should be fine. Fi is out looking for you. We were all out looking for you."
"Do you know where she is, she is not answering her phone?"
"She dropped us off at the hotel 20 minutes ago and was headed to the loft to look for you. Where are you?"
"I'm at the loft, I will wait for Fi and then come over to the hotel."
"Be careful Michael. Sam didn't think it was safe to go to the loft."
"It is still not safe, but I have a police detective with me, so I should be fine." Michael smiled up at Detective Paxson. "I will see you soon."
"OK, Michael. Madeline hung up the phone. Relief filled her and a small tear fell from her eye. Out on the balcony she lit a cigarette and enjoyed the wonderful view and the warm sun knowing that at least for now, her son was alive.
Michael hung up the phone.
"Thanks for the phone. My mom was worried."
Detective Paxson put the phone in her pocket, "No problem. Your mom huh!" smiling. " I really need to get going. Will you be OK?"
"Yeah, Fi is on her way over here now. I will grab a ride from her."
"You stay here, I can show myself out this time."
Michael watched her go. It would be nice to see Fi, He needed to talk to her. She had been upset last night, and this morning he had found her on the couch instead of the bed next to him. He had tucked her in before he left, and he could smell the alcohol on her breath. He wondered if that had been the result of their unfinished discussion. They needed to talk more than he had the night before. She need to know just how he felt. He owed her that much.
Almost 3 hours later Michael knocked at the hotel door and Madeline answered it.
"Where have you been Michael? I have been waiting for you. You said you would be over soon. Three hours is not soon."
"Ma, not now. Where is Fi?" Looking around the room and walking away from his mother.
"What do you mean where is she? She is not here. She went to the loft get you. What did she say when you saw her?"
Michael looked at his mother, confusion in his voice. "I didn't see her, she never came to the loft. I waited for over an hour before I caught a bus to South Beach to get my car."
"Are you feeling OK? She called me and told me she saw you at the loft and you were fine."
"When was that?" Michael said concerned.
"Um, just after your call. Just about the same time." Now Madeline was concerned. "Is she OK?"
"What did she say Ma, word- for- word? Did she sound..funny?"
" I told you what she said, that you were just fine and no she didn't sound funny. No...not really." Madeline paused.
"She said I was JUST fine." Michael repeated, then thought. He had called her phone repeatedly after picking up a new burn phone on his way to this hotel. No answer. "Ma, what do you mean by not really?"
"I don't know Michael, she almost sounded...mad."
Michael closed his eyes and looked up towards the ceiling. What had she seen? Nothing really, but from any distance with the wrong perception it could have been something.
"Michael is she going to be OK? First you, then Fi. I can't take much more of this. Maybe I should sell the house and move to Las Vegas with your brother." She was rambling, and Michael was reviewing his options in his head.
"Ma call her." he finally said.
"Didn't you already try that?"
"Mom, please just call her with your cell phone, your number."
Madeline looked at him with curious eyes. "Why?" As the gears shifted around her head. "Why my phone?"
Michael lowered his head and took a look at the view of the green blue Atlantic ocean in front of the window. It was a nice view, a peaceful setting for that moment and that moment only. "She might be avoiding my calls."
Now Madeline really looked at him and dialed the phone.
"Hello." it was Fi.
"Fi, I was wondering if you are coming back to the hotel anytime soon?" Madeline looked at Michael. A look he did not like.
"Michael is here and he has been trying to reach you."
There was a long pause. "I have a few errands to run, Michael is a big boy. He will be fine on his own."
Madeline reached for her cigarettes and lit one. The tension on the line was palpable. The tension in the room was explosive.
"OK dear. I will see you in a few hours." Madeline hung up.
"What did you do?"
The words cut through him.
"I didn't do anything. It just might look like I did something and Fi is already a little out out of her head today. I have to talk to her. Did she say where she was going?"
"No she didn't say and what does all that mean?"
Michael sighed loudly. "Do they have a nice restaurant downstairs?"
"You are thinking about food at a time like this! Sam is lying in the other room doped up on pain medication. Fi is running around Miami mad at god-knows-what and you want to have lunch!"
"No Ma. I want to buy you lunch and talk to you. Really talk to you. There are things that need to be said. Things about my past that you do not know."
Madeline Westen put the cigarette out and followed her son to the elevator.
Fi pushed her plate to the center of the table after having pushed her food around for a while. She couldn't stomach her lunch at the moment, especially after the call from Madeline. Michael wanted to talk to her, HUH. Hadn't he done enough? He had hurt her enough for one day, for one life. She should have known better. Four years ago she should have stayed in New York. She should have left him alone in that hotel room. Left him to sort out the mess he had made of his life.
When he left her in Ireland years earlier, she had vowed to kill him. Put a gun to his head and shoot him unless he had a good reason for getting out of bed and being gone before the sun rose. Time had lessened her thoughts, her conviction but not now. It was all fresh in her mind. The feelings the betrayal she felt. Now this, twice in a week.
She had made it very clear to him how she felt about him since he returned and each time she was ready to leave he pulled her back in, tugged at her heart. How could anyone live this way? She knew deep down inside it would never be a home with kids and a dog, but she hadn't wanted that much. She only wanted a commitment from him. A promise that he would be here and they would be together. Was that too much to ask?
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The 9 mm felt good in her hands. Easing the trigger back she watched as she repeatedly hit close to the center of the target at the shooting range. Emptying the clip she loaded another and slowly and methodically she fired each round with purpose. Loading a third, she repeated the process and finally felt the anger draining.
Her phone continued to ring in her purse as she fired the weapon. Michael called her leaving several messages.
"Fi, please call me back. It's Michael."
"Fi, I know you know I am calling you. Call me back."
"What you saw today was not what it appeared to be. Call me."
"How about dinner, we should talk?"
With the gun still smoking she listened to them. None said what she needed to hear and for her a final needle had been drawn.