Ice Heart Ch. 01

She hung up the telephone and felt the sting of tears begin.

Chapter 3

Sweet William had suggested that he start walking.

"It a mile from here to Highway 19 and back," Sweet William said. "Bet I can run there and back before you even make it out the parking lot."

"Ain't a betting man, especially when I know I'm going to lose," Cris laughed.

Sweet William had scoffed when Cris asked about joining the local gym in DeGarde, or in Lafayette.

"Yeah, good place to go, if you looking for some hot dick," Sweet William said. "Man all them mother fuckers about is trying to get you some."

"Oh, then what am I supposed to do?" Cris asked.

"One. You do one push up tomorrow morning. Then you do one sit up, one crunch, then one squat," Sweet William said.

"One? I can do at least..." Cris Said.

"Then the next day, you do two. Two push ups, two sit ups, two crunches, and two squats," Sweet William said. "And then you do three, and four, and you don't stop until you at one hundred each, see? I know you can do eight, maybe even nine before you all falling out, but this way you build up stamina."

"Man, not only are you ugly, you smart too," Cris said.

"Uh huh, going back off-shore tomorrow, but I make sure Sandra keep an eye on you, make sure you ain't slacking off," Sweet William smiled and fondly shook Cris's hand. "I don't want to hear 'oh, my pussy hurts to much; can't we do this tomorrow?'"

"There ain't no tomorrow," Cris agreed.

The first time he tried walking the mile, he could barely make it back to the office and spent the rest of the day groaning. His suit was soaked through with sweat and his tie was ruined.

"Thank God; it was an ugly tie anyway," Sandra said.

He looked at his clothes again. For years now d picked his clothing off of the clearance racks, pinching pennies so that Ann Marie and Nicole could have more of the things they wanted. Any 'want' they had very quickly became a 'need.' Any needs he had came second.

"Hell of a lot of good that's done me," he thought.

He looked in his wallet; there was one credit card that was in his name and his name only. Norman James, the CEO of PPEDI had advised him to get one that would be for business expenses only.

"Sandra, get in here," he ordered.

"What?" she peevishly asked.

"You're taking me shopping," he ordered.

"For me?" she asked playfully. "Oh goody!"

"No, for me," he said, getting to his feet, groaning as he did.

"Aw, that's no fun," Sandra teased.

"Not supposed to be," Cris said, wincing as he walked.

****

"Where's Daddy?" Nicole asked.

Ann Marie looked up from her plate and stared at the girl. Cris had been gone for four days now, and other than her demand for Cindy's fees, Nicole hadn't mentioned Cris at all. She'd hoped Nicole would not even notice, and if she did notice, not ask.

"He uh," Ann Marie searched for the right words.

"'Cause I need to get my racket restrung," Nicole went on.

"Oh, for God's sake, just take mine," Ann Marie snapped.

She was relieved that Nicole did not really care where Daddy was, just cared where Daddy's wallet was, and was irritated that the girl didn't seem to care where her father was, where he had been for the past four days.

"Yeah right, Mom; yours is even worse than mine," Nicole scoffed. "Anyway, I already brought it down to Red's; they're doing it right now."

"Fine, fine, I'll call Daddy," Ann Marie sighed.

"Why? He'll be home soon, huh?" Nicole asked, looking at the clock. "Jambalaya's like his favorite, right?"

Ann Marie looked down at the plate; jambalaya was Cris's favorite. She had not even thought of that when she started making it. She had just looked at the clock, saw that she was running late (Tom had insisted on a repeat performance.) and started making jambalaya because it was quick and easy.

"No, Nicole, Daddy's not coming home tonight," Ann Marie admitted.

"Oh," Nicole shrugged and finished eating.

****

"Come on, Sandra, get real," Cris scoffed when she picked up a lime green pull over shirt.

"Not for work, silly, but look," Sandra said and held it up to him. "Brings out all the brown in your eyes, and hides all that gray in your hair."

"Your wife's right," the salesman smiled.

"She's not my..." Cris started to say.

"And you can wear this with jeans, or with khakis; what do you wear when you're not being a mean old boss?" Sandra went on.

"Jeans, I guess," Cris shrugged.

Not those bargain brands don't fit, huh?" Sandra asked.

"Well," Cris said.

"Here, oh, and I bet this red one would look good, too," Sandra said and added it to the few clothes Cris already held.

To the salesperson she said, "He needs a couple of suits; you be helping him; I'll get him a couple of casual things."

"Yes ma'am," the salesman smiled widely. "What kind of work you do?"

"Division manager for Pilot Petroleum," Cris admitted.

The salesman looked at Cris's shoddy suit and mangled footwear.

"Well, congratulations; when do you start?" he asked.

Over Sandra's amused laughter, Cris admitted "Twelve years now; shut up Sandra."

****

With no word of where she was going, or when she would be back, Nicole walked right past Ann Marie and exited the house. A moment later, Ann Marie heard the girl's car start up; it sounded a little 'off,' she better ask Cris to look at it.

He hadn't been home in four days, and other than that one phone call, she'd had no contact with him. He knew about the affair; she wondered how he had found out so quickly.

Guilt began to gnaw at her insides. Mommy and Daddy didn't like Cris, but he had been a good husband, a good provider.

He'd started off as a rough neck, then became a mud logger. Three years into that, Benoit Hydraulics had lured him onto their staff and he excelled at his job. Then when Norman James started up Pilot Petroleum Exploration and Development Incorporated, he'd immediately offered the job of Division Manager to Cris Dumas, even though Cris did not have a college diploma.

Norman's instincts about Cris had been right; Cris worked long hours and ran a tight ship. Many of his crew did not mind the long hours and tight rein; they know that Cris was one of them. He had been a rough neck and a mud logger. He didn't have fancy pedigrees; he was just a hand that had climbed to the rank of manager.

She picked up her cell phone.

****

Tom drove his cock into the whining woman's bowels again. Sweat poured down her face even though the window unit was on full blast.

"Please," she whispered, knowing that her pain excited him.

"Please what?" he teased as her sphincter muscles clamped tightly around his fat cock.

"Please, come in my ass, shoot your hot come up my ass," she begged.

He began to thrust in earnest and she grunted and let a sob escape. When he bit down on her nipple, she howled in orgasm.

"Mother fucker," he cursed as his cell phone rang.

"Don't get it," she begged, but he was already pulling out of her ass.

"Hey baby, thinking about you, thinking about me?" Ann Marie whispered.

"You know it," he lied and stroked his cock.

"I was thinking, maybe I'd take a little ride out there, maybe even spend the night, what you think?" Ann Marie asked.

"Man, I'd love that, but damned electricity's out," Tom smiled as Cindy knelt down and took his slimy cock into her mouth. "No electricity, no A.C.; got any idea what this place is like right now?"

"Oh, baby!" Ann Marie crooned, then made a rash decision. "You need to come over here!"

"Be there in ten, no better give me thirty," he said.

"You're a son of a bitch," you know that?" Cindy said as she rubbed his semen into her skin.

"What?" he smiled as she got to her feet and reached for her clothes. "You weren't spending the night, were you?"

"No," she admitted.

"By the way, nice touch, shaving the pussy," he said and lightly kissed her on her lips.

"Did it for you," she admitted.

"What's your husband say about it?" he asked.

"Loves it," Cindy admitted. "Don't forget, you got a ten o'clock lesson and I don't like it when my members are late."

"Think I need to work on my backhand or my serve?" Tom asked as he walked to the bathroom.

****

He looked in the mirror and slowly pulled the toupee off. Cris hated the way he looked and almost put it back on. Steeling himself, he went to the door and opened it.

"Nice, nice," Sandra praised. "That shirt is definitely you, and it's nice to see the real you instead of that rug on your head."

She drove him to her hairdresser, an obviously gay man that had just opened his own Salon.

"You know, I'm really thinking we just do a buzz cut, maybe with a number three guard," Walter suggested. "I mean, seriously, we're not going to be giving you a perm, now are we?"

"You mean, just make it uniform all the way around?" Sandra asked.

"Exactly; no need to worry about bangs, huh?" Walter smiled and pulled Cris to the back for a vigorous shampooing. "By the way, love that shirt; where'd you get it?"

****

If Nicole heard the grunts and groans coming from her parents' room, she gave no indication of it. If she thought it odd that there was a strange man at the table, eating pancakes, she said nothing. Her only acknowledgement was a small nod when Ann Marie introduced the two of them.

"She's graduating in a few months,," Ann Marie said proudly.

"Hey, no kidding," Tom smiled widely. "College, right?"

Nicole regarded him for a long moment, then resumed eating.

"High School," Ann Marie answered for her daughter.

"Going to college?" Tom asked.

"Yeah," Nicole grunted.

"Best thing I did was take a year off between high school and college," Tom said. "Went from Florida to Canada, then cut across Canada to the west coast, stayed in California for a while."

"Uh huh," Nicole said and finished her breakfast.

"Don't tell her stuff like that!" Ann Marie hissed to him when Nicole slunk out of the kitchen.

"Hey, why not?" he asked and toyed with the sash to her robe. "Best thing I could have done; learned a lot more than I would have reading a bunch of books."

"Leave that alone," Ann Marie hissed. "Cris and I have been saving and saving for her to go to college and, damn it, leave that alone!"

"I ever tell you I like a hairy bush?" Tom asked, running a finger through her profusion of hair.

"No, your cock does," she giggled, slapping his hand away from her pussy.

"I need lunch money," Nicole said flatly, as if she had not seen this strange man playing with her mother's pussy.

"Here, how much you need?" Tom asked, peeling a couple of twenties off of his money clip.

"That's enough," Nicole said and accepted the money.

She did not say 'thank you,' just turned and left. A moment later, the front door slammed.

"Nice kid," Tom commented and made a grab for Ann Marie again.

"Stop that," Ann Marie squealed and struggled briefly as Tom hefted her onto her counter and began to kiss her hotly.

"No, Tom," she argued weakly as he drove his tongue into her drooling pussy.

****

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was looking for my Boss Man, Cris Dumb Ass, I mean Dumas, might have seen him, little white guy, dresses like shit, wears a big hairy vagina on top of his head," Sweet William said as he walked into Cris's office.

"Fuck you, Sweet William, what you want?" Cris smiled broadly.

"Oh no, I know he didn't just go out and get him some new threads and shit," Sweet William said and held out his hand for Cris.

"I hate to admit it, you ugly son of a bitch," Cris said and shook hands with the large man. "But you were right."

"I heard that," Sweet William laughed. "Man, you looking good!"

"Thanks, Sweet William," Cris said sincerely.

"So, getting you any?" Sweet William asked as he eased his bulk into a chair.

"Not really trying, know what I mean?" Cris said. "Man, I'm still all tied up over how could Ann Marie do this to me?"

"I understand," Sweet William agreed. "Sandra says you going to the lawyer's today; want me to go with you?"

"What, so I can tell them you my bitch?" Cris asked.

"Mother fucker, you couldn't handle me as your bitch," Sweet William laughed. "But I'd be the best piece of ass you ever had, you hear?"

"I know that's right," Cris laughed.

"Willie, you want some coffee?" Sandra asked as she put the inevitable cup down in front of Cris.

"Nah, but thank you," Sweet William smiled.

"You know, with you sitting down, I'm almost eye level with you," Sandra smiled.

"Sweet, I do appreciate you wanting to go with me, but no, thanks," Cris smiled and hurriedly drank the hot liquid.

****

Hank gritted his teeth as he listened to Ann Marie. He had hoped for this day for nearly as long as he'd known Cris Dumas, but instead of gloating, he was irritated. Instead of just disappearing, Cris was being a pain in the ass. Cris had the audacity to charge rent? Had the unmitigated gall to demand that his wife pay him rent and utilities? And where was Ann Marie supposed to get money?

"Fine, fine," he grunted. "How much you need, pumpkin?"

"Well, I don't know," Ann Marie admitted. "I'm not going to pay rent, that's just ridiculous, but I do need money for groceries, and Nicole needs..."

"I offered to take care of all of that," Tom butted in. "But Ann Marie insisted on being as independent as possible."

"Appreciate that," Hank said and slid a check for two thousand dollars over to Ann Marie.

****

Jennifer LaCombe looked over all the photographs and transcripts Lynne had been able to gather. She looked up at the haggard man and smiled sympathetically.

"Jim and I went to school together," she said. Rice? "Told him on more than one occasion, I am so glad he doesn't practice here in Louisiana; I'd hate to go up against him in a court of law."

"Said the same thing about you," Cris smiled. "Told me to tell you to stay the hell out of Texas."

Jennifer laughed and then grew serious.

"Love the idea of charging her rent," she said. "You won't get it. Unless the judge is drunk, or stupid. But it's still a nice touch. Makes them sweat a little, makes them overplay their hand a little."

"I also took out half the money that was in our savings account and checking account after I paid off the credit cards," Cris went on.

"See that," Jennifer agreed. I guess our next step is to file, have her served and go from there."

****

It was all so embarrassing; the man knocked at the door, asked for her, then thrust a sheaf of papers into her hand.

:You've been served," was his only comment, then he was gone and Nicole and Tom were standing there, looking at her.

Tom was so supportive; Nicole waited a moment, saw that it didn't inconvenience or benefit her and left the room.

The candles were a nice touch. Usually, their love-making was animalistic, but tonight, he was slow, tender. Then he held her while she cried herself to sleep.

In the morning, he helped her locate a good divorce lawyer and drove her to the man's office.

He was her rock in these trying times, her source of strength.

And Daddy agreed to pay the man's five thousand dollar retainer.

****

If he had any illusions about his role in Nicole's life, her appearance at the courthouse killed them.

"God, Dad, you're being such an ass hole," she sneered and sullenly slapped his mother's wedding ring into his hand.

He had requested the ring in the divorce settlement; it had been his mother's wedding ring, and her mother's before her. Judging from the rock Ann Marie now sported, she'd had no trouble replacing the small ring. Nicole had been wearing his mother's ring on her right hand, pinky finger.

He remembered Ann Marie's mother and his mother almost came to blows at the wedding when Sophia Campion made a snide comment about the 'chintzy thing' Cris had put on Ann Marie's finger.

The 'chintzy thing' may hold no sentimental value to Ann Marie, Sophia Campion, or Nicole, but it meant a great deal to Cris. It was a piece of his family's heritage; Hurricane Andrew in 1992 had killed nearly his entire family, including his mother and father.

He missed his mother and father terribly, but secretly he was glad they'd not lived to see what a spoiled, self-centered bitch their granddaughter had become.

When he had not received an invitation to her high school graduation, or her graduation party, a block of ice began to form around his heart.

When his card had been returned, with a note scrawled across it, 'you can't buy my love,' the ice had hardened.

But watching her hanging all over Tom Sampo, casting fawning looks at the smug, self-centered bastard, then her declaration of 'God Dad, you're being such an ass hole,' the ice had solidified.

Chapter 4

Cris did not gloat when the news traveled down the grapevine; he simply did not care.

He had not felt happy or sad when he saw the pictures of Ann Marie and Tom Sampo's wedding in the Daily Advertiser; he simply did not care.

The fact that Hank had rented the West Bayou Country Club facilities for the wedding of his daughter to the handsome, charismatic Tom Sampo, and had also paid eight thousand dollars for the baby blue wedding dress she wore made no impact on him; he simply did not care.

He read the rest of the headlines, then found the Sports section and read about the new coach for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

"Might actually win one or two games," he mused aloud.

So when Sandra told him that Tom Sampo had disappeared, and had taken all of Ann Marie's money, as well as Hank and Sophia's money, and a good chunk of Frank Trapani's money, he did not care. The fact that Ann Marie had put a second mortgage on the monstrosity he'd hated and was in danger of losing it did not affect him. When he heard that Ann Marie's car had been repossessed, along with Nicole's car (Tom had leased both lexuses and then never made a single payment) he simply shrugged. It was as if Sandra had said "I stepped on two cockroaches this morning." It meant that little to him.

The fact that Tom had abandoned Ann Marie in her eighth month of pregnancy didn't even bring a justified smile to his face.

"Huh," was all he said, then continued to look over the plots that Justin James had faxed to him.

****

"I'm sorry, sir," the gate attendant had smiled uncertainly. "This ticket is invalid."

"I'll go down to the counter and get this straightened out," Tom smiled to Cindy and playfully swatted her on her tight backside. "Be right back."

"Hurry," she implored. "They board in ten minutes."

"Don't worry," he smiled and briskly walked off.

"Stupid cunt," he laughed as he walked over to Gate twelve C and boarded the flight to France

Tom gave no thought to the tennis instructor, or his child that was growing in her womb as he eased into the plush seat of the first-class section. He gave no thought to Ann Marie, or her daughter Nicole, even though he'd told the eighteen year old girl he'd only married her mother to get close to her. He gave no thought at all to Hank Campion, who had told him to call him 'Dad.'

He smiled his wicked little smile at the flight attendant and asked, in flawless Parisian French when they would be serving beverages.

****

Sophia suffered a massive stroke when Hank came to her and admitted what had come to them; the charming Tom Sampo had been nothing but a con artist and had swindled them out of their life's savings. Any money Hank had squirreled away now went to the mounting hospital bills. Finally stabilized, Sophia was transferred to UMC, Lafayette's charity hospital.

"Cris," Ann Marie had murmured to her father as they sat in the hallway of University Medical Center. "Cris might be able to help."

"You have got to be kidding me," Hank spat. "Why in the hell would he help us now? After all we done to him?"

"He's still Nicole's daddy," Ann Marie said. "You go see him? I, I'm too embarrassed."