 |
||
The Quintessential Q
Chapter Twenty Eight
Windfall
"Really?" Lucky looks over Nikolas' shoulder. "Actually it looks like the last one was bought in the forties. What's this? Oh man! Disney. They're the schmucks that own ABC now. You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard Gram bitching about what they've done to the soaps."
"Excuse me?" Nikolas is perplexed.
"Oh yeah. I forgot you're the guy with his remote still in bubble wrap. Soaps are continuing dramas normally on daytime TV that are watched by the housebound, formerly housebound, college students and professional sports players. Gram got hooked on them while she was in the mental hospital recovering from being a drooler for two decades. She says they have no respect for the older characters." Lucky rolls his eyes. "It's all sex and intrigue."
"And Grandmother watches these?"
"Yeah, but I talked her into taping them so that she wasn't watching them with Lulu while Mom was at work. Cultural note here, Bro. Real men might eat quiche but they don't admit to watching soaps-- even if the babes are fine unless the guy happens to be like 350 pounds and the starting defensive line for the Bills or if he happens to be married and then he says that his wife makes him watch."
"That's good to know."
"Maybe we should give the Disney Stock to Gram or Lulu. Gram so she can go to the next stockholders meeting and rip the CEO a new anal orifice or Lulu 'cause she is still wild for The Little Mermaid."
"Disney made that?" Nikolas protests. "It was nothing like the fairy tale."
"Historical accuracy is not their strong suit-- look what they did to Pocahontas." Lucky mutters. "What the hell is Haloid Corp? There is a block of shares in it."
"That's gonna be the problem. They are so old. Who do they belong to? Are they worth anything. The companies could have gone bankrupt in the depression, they could have gotten absorbed, they could have split 5 or 6 times since then. I think I recognize a few of the names but Cassadines normally read reports and let someone else do the research. And we've been based out of Europe. I'm not going be of much assistance."
Lucky grimaces. "Well I have no idea." Then he slaps himself in the head. "Hell. My dear cousin, who Elizabeth says I should mend fences with, is married to the CEO of a multinational. If it has to do with money, Carly will know the value down to the dime." Lucky turns back to the final rib sitting on the makeshift table. He glances over at Nikolas and then shrugs making short work of the rib.
"Emily spends a lot of time with Carly Quartermaine." Nikolas looks somewhat bewildered by Emily's choice of friends. "But Carly has covered for Emily before when she was out with me." He looks over at his brother. "Has Emily discovered what your source found out? That Katherine is trying to get pregnant?"
Lucky shrugs again and avoids the subject. "I don't know what you're worrying about? You're the one that has been messing up with Emily. What more can Katherine add?"
"Oh thank you." Nikolas slumps back into the chair his perfect posture forgotten. Just then the phone rings. Nikolas grabs the phone. "Em?" He answers eagerly.
Nikolas? A strong male voice asks slowly.
"Father."
"Am I interrupting something? You were anticipating another call...."
"Hoping for another perhaps. I was just having lunch with Lucky."
"I apologize for the intrusion. Had you forgotten our appointment today?"
"Damn. Yes, I had. I'm on my way." Nikolas disconnects the call and sighs. "We're suppose to be meeting with some bankers. I think I intentionally forgot. You were speaking of another who knew the value of everything down to the dime. The Cassadine Bankers look for every lost dime and explain each and every one."
"Sounds grim."
"Definitely." Nikolas rises and pockets the jewelry box he had claimed as his portion of the booty. "I'll call you as soon as the meeting is over."
"I'm going to head up to Carly's. See what I can find out."
"If you should run into Emily...."
"I'll find out how ticked she is." Lucky nods. He gathers the content of the safe and stuffs it casually into his backpack.
Up at Carly's stables, Carly and Johnny have been hashing over all the reasons Johnny is totally and absolutely wrong for Emily. What had started with Carly and Johnny both bashing had ended with Carly bashing and Johnny defending the relationship. Carly grins at Johnny as he continues with the latest defense. Johnny pauses in midword. "You're not helping." Johnny mutters.
"Oh was I suppose to be helping?!" Carly says mendaciously. Carly slaps herself upside the head. "That's right-- I was suppose to be on darling Prince Nikky's side." Carly laughs. "Oh gees, it's as bad as Michael calling Emily Auntie Em."
"What's that?
"Prince and Darling Nikky in the same phrase." Carly shakes her head. "Nevermind. I watched Purple Rain one too many times in my misspent youth." Carly hears the sound of a motorcycle approaching. Rising from her seat on the couch, she looks out of a window in the office. "Well here's your chance."
"Chance for what?"
"To clarify things with Emily. She is just pulling in." Carly settles Michael on her hip and walks out of the office to greet Emily. Carly waits until Emily shuts off her bike and pulls off her helmet. "You've got company."
Emily looks over at the unfamiliar car, not recognizing it. "Who?"
"Johnny's here. He wanted to talk to me about Rita but I think he's been waiting for you."
Emily grimaces. "Great. I didn't get to tell you the stunt he pulled while I was out with Nikolas...." Emily looks over to the office. Johnny is standing in the doorway. Emily flushes under the heat of his gaze and with anger and embarrassment remembering the night before. "Is Rita here?"
"Nah, she's spending the day with her father." Carly realizes that Emily is not listening. She reaches out to touch Emily's arm to get her attention. "You should talk to him. Get things settled once and for all. You two have too many people in common and you're still planning on going in on that coffee kiosk project together...."
Emily sighs. "Fine. I'd rather have a cavity filled with no Novocain but lets get this over with."
"I'm right here, Em. He starts being more of an ass than an ordinary guy, and I'll kick him off the property." Carly says reassuringly.
"I'll handle it." Emily replies grimly. Emily steps off the bike and unzips her leather jacket in a furious motion. She tugs her gloves off and stuffs them in a pocket in the jacket. Running a hand through her hair she fluffs it out from being under the helmet. Finally she stalks over to a waiting Johnny.
Carly nuzzles Michael's neck and whispers in his ear. "Auntie Emily's got her hands full. But look at her, she's jumping right into the deep end. No hiding or avoiding, she's not locking herself in her room and looking for a blunt. She never got in that habit with Johnny, only with darling Nikky." Carly goes over to the corral to check on Mr. Roberts and the vet student's palomino. With classes starting up already at PCU after only a short break for the vet school, Carly had taken up the slack in caring for both the horses in the afternoon. Seeing that they are both okay and unable to resist, Carly enters the stables from the far end and goes into the tack room, off the office where Emily and Johnny are talking, to eavesdrop.
Johnny stands back from the doorway and lets Emily enter. Emily goes on the offensive immediately. "So why are you here-- Business or a fight? I can go either way."
"I don't want to fight with you." Johnny says flatly.
"Could've fooled me." Emily pulls her gloves out of her pocket and tosses them down on the desk. She shrugs out of her jacket leaving her dressed in jeans and a formfitting tank top. Johnny holds back a groan. This had been what she was wearing when he first made an ass of himself.
Johnny steps closer to the desk. The spicy scent of Emily's perfume draws him closer. He breathes deeply and then curses silently. This was getting out of hand-- again. "I'm sorry for what happened last night. I was out of line. I baited Cassadine."
"And he bit." Emily retorts sharply then looks away. "Which is why I left."
"That wasn't smart. With everything that has been going on-- walking out like that. It was dangerous." Johnny reminds reprovingly.
"And I thought you didn't want to fight?" Emily taunts. Emily slides up on the desk. She leans back on the desk and sets a leg to swinging. "I went to Luke's and called a cab. If I had been in dire straits I'm sure that Reggie would have given me a ride home. I was just too ticked to inflict myself on him. Everything turned out fine. I'm just glad the reporter had already left."
"Reggie...Reporter." Johnny's eyes narrow.
"Yeah, Do you really think that Grandfather wouldn't have had me tailed? Reggie was in the parking lot. And the reporter was long gone. He snapped a picture as we entered the restaurant but he ran off."
"Damn." Johnny slams a closed fist into his other hand.
"Cost of bring the hottest place in town." Emily shrugs. "More free advertising."
"I don't need it, thanks. I got enough from the wedding and then from word of mouth. I'd just as soon keep things steady right now. Between Ma working at the restaurant and the threat to the family...."
Emily leans toward Johnny. "Are you going to have time to do the kiosk project?"
Johnny considers the question carefully. "Run it-- no." Then he nods. "Participate-- yeah, it'll add an extra couple of hours to my day to get the baking done. But now that Ma is working at the restaurant, despite her... public relations challenges, she knows her business."
Emily nods as well. "And who knows when you'll get your French chef back. Grandfather is already driving him nuts."
"He's going to have to find something else." Johnny states flatly. "There is no way I could have Ma and Francois in the same kitchen and keep my hair." Emily allows her gaze to start at Johnny's head and work her way down to his face. Her breathing quickens. Johnny notices and tries to keep it to business. "What about you? Are you going to be able to run things?"
"I don't know how." Emily shakes her head. "I planned at the beginning of the summer to work on challenging out of my senior year-- there is nothing for me there. Lucky and Liz are both at PCU now or will be starting back next week. The only people left there are the same witches that look and gossip about me or anything my family does. Unfortunately, I've gotten caught up in Deception, modeling and family obligations."
"Something has got to give." Johnny looks at Emily intently.
"But what?" Emily shakes her head ruefully throwing her hands wide. Grandfather is making his presence felt now roping me into the docks project."
"You were in it already."
"Unofficially. And these kiosks are going to burn Grandfather. I can't be the face on them. In between it being Cornithos/Morgan coffee being served and your bakery goods... now that I'm on contract for the docks project wouldn't it be some kind of conflict of interest?"
"So what do you have in mind?"
"Lucky's girlfriend, Elizabeth. She's gotten a little bit of experience working at Kelly's. She can't cook but with the kiosks she wouldn't have to. She's going to be going for a fine arts degree at PCU. Her schedule will be slightly more flexible than mine-- I'm going to be stuck from 8 until 3 every day in high school hell. And any half days, teachers days or holidays I'm going to be booked at Deception." Emily frowns.
"And the modeling?"
"I hate my agent. He keeps calling me Baby." Emily mutters. She rubs her forehead. When she hadn't been thinking about taking down Katherine or the mess that Johnny and Nikolas were making of her social life this had all been gnawing at her. Something was going to have to give.
Johnny brushes her hands away from her face. His hands thread through her hair and begin to gently massage away the headache that had been on the verge of making itself felt. Emily's eyes close at the gentle soothing touch. Johnny softly murmurs. "I'll have Ma contact Mrs. Q and arrange for another chef. Francois can handle the business end of the coffee kiosks. Elizabeth, maybe even Lucky, can fill in the hours when they aren't in class. Schedule your free period for either the start of the day or the end so you can spend that time at Deception. And as for the agent... You want me to bust his knees?"
Emily laughs softly and her eyes open to look up at Johnny. "I'll keep it in reserve." She sighs and her hand comes up to rest on Johnny's forearm. "Thanks for listening. I didn't realize how much I needed this."
Lucky silently withdraws from the open doorway.