The T-Shirt Chronicles - Pt. 02

The T-shirt Chronicles- Part 2

This is the continuing story of Janice and Daniel. I promised and I try to live up to my promises. We have had a few problems here in God's summer home, but everything is good now. Sorry for the inconvenience. No sex in this installment, though he would like to. But his priorities have changed. He was trying to act more mature. You'll see. This picks up with the end of Part 1.

Please, enjoy.

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Janice Toller hesitated. This was crunch time, as her dad would say. She looked at Daniel and her eyes misted and clouded over. She had kept quiet in high school and he never knew how she felt. She had never made an effort to get in touch with him, call him, or even write to him while he was in the military, although his parents and hers were good friends. She could have gotten his address. But she didn't.

Then he came back into her life and she was excited. Until she found out about Sarah, she was torn. He seemed to be happy, very much in love.

Of course, he seemed that way.

He was getting laid daily.

His fellow employees started showing up. The other engineers in his group were somewhat stunned to see him. It was kind of uncomfortable and very quiet.

All but Gerry.

Gerry Butler was from New Jersey. He had been in the Air Force and when he was discharged, he was consumed with wanderlust. It got him as far as Texas. He liked the people, one in particular, and staying here meant he 'probably' would never have to shovel snow ever again.

Gerry sized up the situation.

"What did she do, buddy, and who did she do it with?"

Daniel looked at his friend and grinned.

"I caught the round heeled slut cheating on me-no offense, Janice."

'YES!' thought Janice to herself. Then .....

Blushing, she said, "OHH, I'm so sorry, Danny!!"

He grinned.

'Maybe he did have the wrong girl' he mused.

"The wedding is off. I burned all bridges with her and her family. She can keep the damned ring. It was probably soiled from what I saw. I'll deal with any fall out when I need to. I just need to keep focused, on anything, or I may do something stupid. Sorry, guys."

By now, the other engineers, Janice, and the two other secretaries were gathered around listening. Then the owner showed up.

James Dutton was a big man 6 foot 4 inches tall and 245 lbs., 62 years old, and extremely fit. He was married to his childhood sweetheart and they had three children, all of them out of the house. But grandchildren kept grandma busy and they were as happy as could be expected. He considered the company an extension of his family and their happiness was his priority. But business was business. And it would appear that business was on hold.

"Did I miss the wedding? What's Daniel doing here?" he chuckled.

Embarrassed silence. Finally,.....

"The wedding is off, sir. I ended everything yesterday. I didn't mean to cause a stir here, sir, but I needed some stability, and you guys were my first thought."

'And of course, now there was Janice,' he thought.

Mr. Dutton slowly looked at everyone assembled and thought something was going on here, more than the surface tension would indicate.

"Daniel, my office. Now. The rest of you, back to work. Come on, get going." He turned and walked to his office.

Janice reached out and touched Daniel's arm as he turned to follow.

"We'll fix this. I promise." He gazed into her deep hazel eyes and thought maybe he had been given a reprieve.

He followed Mr. Dutton into his office and the boss was behind his desk, staring at some papers.

'Hmmm,' he thought. 'A letter of resignation. From Janice?? This is interesting.' He set it aside and took a seat.

He raised his eyes and said, "Close the door, son. Then have a seat."

Daniel closed the door, turned, and sat down.

"O.k., Daniel, let's have it. What happened?"

I sighed and laid it all out. I ended with the ending of our engagement and the abrupt phone call with Sarah's father.

He said nothing, just listened. Then he grumbled a bit and sat up straight.

"And you spoke with your parents about this?"

"Yes, sir. My mom is shaken but my dad is behind me. Says it's my decision."

"What is your decision, son?"

"No brainer, boss. The wedding is off."

Now Mr. Dutton knew my family. My folks and he and his wife were good friends, from high school days. He also knew Sarah's family. Again, since his high school days. However, that's where the knowledge stopped, along with the affection.

He didn't care for them, at all. Mr Dutton was a former Marine; Sarah's dad was privileged. He didn't much care for her family, but Daniel seemed to find her attractive. Or she was really good in bed. Seems that he wasn't the only one to sample her charms.

Mr. Dutton declined the offer to see the video evidence of Sarah's indiscretion. He only had two questions, and one had been answered.

"Do you have a lawyer? Because if know the family, you're gonna need one."

Daniel hadn't thought about that. After all, they weren't married: yet. But Mr. Dutton had a point. Her father, Herbert Wilson, would be out for blood.

"No, sir, I don't. Didn't think I would need one."

John Dutton picked up the phone, speed dialed 7, and waited.

"O'Malley, Flynn, and Mendoza, LLC. How may I direct your call?" answered the pretty-sounding voice on the other end.

"Darlin, this is John Dutton. May I please speak with Brian O'Malley??"

"One moment, sir."

One moment later- "HEY, J.D. what's shakin' old son?"

"Alright, Brian, cut the country crap. I've got one of my engineers here with a problem, and he may need legal representation."

"Well, I'll have you talk to my paralegal and we'll set up an appointment."

"No, Brian I need to you to haul your shyster ass over here and talk to the guy. ASAP."

"Now, John, you know I don't make house calls. He can come over here and I'll talk to him, probably some time tomorrow...."

"It involves Herbert Wilson, Brian."

Silence, for about ten seconds. Then-

"Give me about 1 hour. You at the office? Have your guy there. I'm on my way."

"Thanks, Brian, I...." He looked at the phone, slightly stunned. "He hung up on me!!" John chuckled.

"Mr. Dutton, you don't have to do this for me. I can get a lawyer myself."

"Nonsense, son. Besides, for this, Mr. O'Malley will owe me a favor. HE hates Wilson more than I do," he snickered. "Now get back to work. If you're gonna drink my coffee and breathe my office air, I want some payback. Move".

I grinned, rose, and left. That's the way Mr. Dutton spoke when he made a decision. Right or wrong, let the chips fall where they may. One of the reasons Danny loved working for him.

As he went out the door, John took a chance.

"And if you break Janice's heart, I'll string you up and gut you. Copy??" Daniel tossed him a thumbs up and grinned as he closed the door.

So it would appear Janice had a crush on him. Hmmm. Nice work, if you could get it. He picked up the letter of resignation and went and got a cup of coffee.

You didn't think there would be any donuts left, did you??

On his way back to his office, he passed Janice's desk.

"Hon, this was left on my desk by mistake. It isn't for me. See that it gets filed -APPROPRIATELY!" Janice looked at her letter, gulped, and her complexion paled.

'Oh, shit, I forgot!!'

Daniel went to his desk and brought up his computer. He checked his e-mail and saw several new, unfamiliar posts. He opened them. The first one was from Sarah, who was teary and begging for forgiveness. The next was vitriolic, screaming, and demanding he call her and apologize. The last was two words: "FUCK YOU!!" 'Well, I guess it's over', he sighed. Janice walked past, hesitated, and asked if he was okay.

"I will be, Jan," he said.

About that time, Mr. Dutton's secretary buzzed him and said he would like to see him. He closed his computer down and went to Mr. Dutton's office.

He entered and was face to face with a short, fit gentleman, introduced to him as Brian O'Malley primary partner in O'Malley, Flynn, and Mendoza, L. L. C.. He and Mr. Dutton were laughing hysterically at something, and nursing glasses of an alcoholic beverage. He surreptitiously glanced at his watch and noticed it had only been about 45 minutes since the phone call. And they were drinking already!! It hadn't taken long for Mr. O'Malley to arrive and the festivities to commence.

Daniel cleared his throat as Mr. Dutton told him to sit down.

"No alcohol for you. Only us old guys get to celebrate. Would you like some sweet tea, maybe??"

"Actually, some more coffee would be fine, sir."

Mr. Dutton grinned and hit the intercom.

"Janice, would you bring some coffee in here for Daniel? And your steno pad, too, please. Thank you, Hon." Mr. Dutton loved being old school. Nobody uses 'steno pads' anymore.

Mr. O'Malley was sizing Daniel up. He liked what he saw. He took a sip of the 'good stuff' because John only gave his close friend 'the good stuff.'

"So," he started, "You're an ex-Marine too, huh?".

"FORMER Marine. Yes, sir. 7th Force Recon." He looked at Mr. Dutton and grinned. It was a small bone of contention between them. Mr. Dutton had been a Marine Raider SOO (Special Ops Officer) until he had been wounded in combat in some little-known backwater that you've probably never heard of.

Mr. O'Malley laughed and said, "I'm sorry to hear that." Daniel straightened and bristled.

"SIR??", he said to the man across from him. Mr. Dutton burst out laughing.

"Calm down, son. It's not his fault he was only a Seal." The laughter died down to a subdued chuckle and O'Malley just smirked at him. He turned to Daniel and started again.

"Your boss and I are old friends. Best of friends. Do you know the old saw, about how a friend will help you move, but a best friend will help you move a body? The last part says your brother will help you move a body, but you'll hear about it for the rest of your life. You ever heard it??"

"Yes, sir, I have. Thank God I don't have any brothers." I somewhat grinned and looked at Mr. Dutton. He was having a great time with this. There would be payback, except he was my boss. I started to wonder what the celebration Mr. Dutton had mentioned referenced.

"O.K., it you two are finished, let's get this handled." At that time, Janice came in with coffee and three bottles of water. She brought me my coffee and placed the water on Mr. Dutton's desk. She threw me a sideways glance and blushed a little. Mr. Dutton didn't miss a thing. Like my smile at her.

Neither did Mr. O'Malley. She sat at a distance from Mr. Dutton's desk and primly crossed her ankles with her laptop, and steno pad.

Mr. O'Malley reached over and turned on his tape recorder. Not a mini one, this one was a good 9" by 12", with a full-sized cassette receptacle, two slots for memory sticks, and one for a sim card.

'WOW', I thought, 'Am I in the presence of the FBI, CIA, or Homeland Security??'

"This is serious, son. Herbert Wilson is a son of a bitch, and I will take no chances that we will miss something. Now, tell me exactly what happened. I know you have the recording, but it will probably not be admissible, except to embarrass them. What did you see, what did you hear, and more importantly, what did you do?"

Daniel recounted the entire afternoon, starting with the farewell party, and ending with the phone call from his erstwhile prospective father-in-law. He took his time, backed up a couple of times, apologized to Francine several times, and finally finished his story. He was sweating and shaking as he finished, but somehow he felt much better.

Mr. O'Malley took copious notes and changed the cassette twice. He never touched the memory sticks, or the sim card. He asked only a few questions, mostly about what the other 'individuals' said during the action.

When they finished, there was silence. Mr. O'Malley scribbled a few more notes, harrumphed a bit, and then looked at Daniel. Then he looked at Francine and spoke.

"Miss Toller. I appreciate your attendance here this morning. But it is going to get a little personal now, and I believe will be better served without you here. Thank you, sweetheart. You can go."

She looked at Mr. O'Malley, then to Mr. Dutton. John Dutton guessed what was coming next, so he nodded to Janice, and said, "Thank you, Hon. We'll talk later." Janice looked at Daniel and rose and left, closing the door behind her.

Mr. O'Malley sighed and looked at his notes. He straightened in his chair and looked thoughtfully at Daniel.

"Well, son, it looks like Herbert Wilson doesn't have any kind of case. If anything, we're talking civil litigation. And even that is shaky. But here's what I would suggest. Mind you, I'm not your lawyer- yet, so we're just talking 'what-if's' here." He looked down again and then back up at his friend, with a wicked grin and then at the young man in front of him.

"Depending on what shit-for-brains does, we counter-sue and depose everyone, getting them on the record. Then we demand a jury trial, or at least a hearing before a family court judge. Then we can introduce everything into the public records. I'm quite confident he wouldn't want that. Then, depending on what you want to do, we counter-sue again for damages against your reputation, and libel and slander enter into it.

"This IS Texas, son, and her actions 'besmirch' your reputation. Not to mention hers and Herbert's family's. But of course, that's up to you." He sat back with a satisfied grin on his face and looked at Mr. Dutton like he had just won the lottery. J. D. chuckled and said, "Then you'll owe me, Brian." They both shared a laugh.

Daniel was a little uncomfortable with all this scheming. He looked at the two older men- one he admired a lot, the other he had just met.

"Mr. O'Malley, you've thrown out a lot of shit that I have no clue about. Can we cut through the B/S and tell me,.... WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??"

Brian O'Malley smiled and looked at J.D.

"You win the first one. He's sharp. I like him." He handed J.D. a dollar. He turned back to Daniel.

"This is between us, the three of us. It goes back to our high school days.

"We were a 'gang' back then, me and my girl friend Rosa, J.D. and Alice, a couple of other friends and their lady friends. Your mom and dad were friends, but didn't hang with us. J.D. and I were the only ones who married our high school sweethearts. The others broke up. It's probably one of the reasons J.D. and I are best friends. Anyway, Rosa, my wife, had a twin sister, Carmen. It was almost impossible to tell them apart. Not for me, but then I was a little CLOSER to Rosa then anyone else." He grinned and continued.

"Herbert Wilson was NOT in our click. He had money, and we were consorting with 'minorities'. But he had the hots for Rosa."A dreamy look came over Brian's face as he remembered his wife's face from back then.

"He tried putting the moves on whom he thought was Rosa. Actually, it was Carmen. He tried to schmooze her, forced her and raped her, beat her, and left her for dead. Fortunately, she survived, and identified her attacker. But his family's money, coupled with her nationally, got the case thrown out. She was traumatized, left to stay with her maternal grandparents, and eventually joined a convent. Today she is Mother Superior Josephine Gonzalez. She lives in Athens, Georgia. She is the abbess at the mother house there. She is still close to her sister, and has forgiven her attacker. My wife and I have not. So this is personal, son. You can help me, but this is all about you."

Daniel was stunned. He shook his head and turned to look at Mr. Dutton, who in turn stared right back at him.

"Son," said J.D., "This IS all about you. It is just a small way of 'paying back' Wilson for what he has done. He'll know what is going down, but he won't be able to do a damn thing about it. Brian will give you his word, and as a former Seal and my closest friend, I will vouch for that. But you will give him a wonderful gift, and he will be eternally grateful."

"Not to mention how grateful my wife will be. I imagine you and your lady friend will get several invitations to dinner to say 'Gracias'."

Daniel snapped back to Brian and asked, "Lady friend??"

"Oh, come on, son I've seen the way the young lady....what is her name? Janice. How Janice looks at you. It's quite obvious that she is 'smitten' with you, like we used to say."

He turned to J. D. and gawked at him.

"You mean to say he doesn't know??"

J.D. was still staring at Daniel.

"I guess not. I thought he was smarter than that." He tossed the dollar back to Brian and grinned.

Now Daniel was beginning to put things together. He looked at the two older gentlemen and laughed.

"Good thing I wasn't in on this game, because I only have a few singles in my wallet. Otherwise, I might be broke." The two older gentlemen broke out in laughter as Daniel blushed.

Brian reached into his expensive briefcase and pulled out three business cards.

He held them out to Daniel but kept them just out of reach.

"SO. To business. Am I retained as your attorney in the ongoing matter of any litigation between you and Mr. Herbert Wilson, Mrs. Eunice Wilson, Ms. Sarah Wilson, et all, and any associated matters?? That ought to cover everything," he smiled.

Daniel hesitated.

"I don't know if I can afford all that, sir. I don't want to be......" Brian held out his hand, J.D. sighed and forked over another dollar.

"And you're drinking my good Bourbon, too."

Brian laughed.

"Like I said, son. It's pro-bono. All good. On me. I'll even handle any traffic tickets you get." Then he sobered. "Because Wilson has a lot of 'friends', and it could get nasty. So watch your back."

"In that case, sir, you're my lawyer," Daniels said. He took the business cards from Brian.

"Good. One of them is for my associate, Agatha Jenson. She will be taking the lead. Don't worry, I will be the 'second chair', pulling the levers behind the scenes until the time is right. But she will be the face of your legal team. The other two are for you, my card, with my personal cell.

"Any papers served on you, get them to Agatha. Refer anything to her. And if you have to, give her card to anyone who inquires." He extended his hand. "We got a deal, right?"

Daniel pocketed the business cards and took Mr. O'Malley's hand.

"Yes, sir, we do."

"Good. That's how I like to do business."

They adjourned, but J.D. asked Daniel to stay and called Janice into his office.

She hesitantly entered and J.D. offered her a seat. Then he and Daniel sat and he looked at The two young people.

'I hope I get this right,' he thought.

"O.K., Janice, so you know all the sordid details about Daniel's cratered romance. Thank God you didn't have to see the 'graphic details'. You're too nice a person."

Janice blushed. Daniel chuckled, but he was looking at the young lady as if for the first time.

'She is cute. How did I never notice her in high school?', he wondered.

Mr. Dutton surveyed the two young people.

'A much better match, if I'm not mistaken. Let's hope this works out.' He cleared his throat.

"It has come to my attention that there may be a certain amount of 'under the surface tension' in the office. Any ideas where that may be originating from?"

Daniel was still kind of clueless; he could guess, but having been bitten once, he was a little 'gun-shy'. Janice, not so much. She blushed so badly that she might pass out from the lack of blood flow to her brain. She looked down at her sensible office shoes and started to contemplate the pattern in J.D.'s Mexican-themed rug. Mr. Dutton smiled and thought he had guessed correctly.

"Well, then, if no one knows anything, then why don't we get back to work and maintain a professional atmosphere in the office, and work our tails off, for the foreseeable future?"