“Hi, Hattie,” Elise said. “Listen, I just dropped by to have a little heart-to-heart with you.”
“About what?”
“Davis.”
“What about him? Is everything okay?”
“No, everything is not okay,” Elise said. “My brilliant ex-husband somehow found a way to run his family’s jewelry store into the ground. Turns out he sold our building to an ‘investor’ who since sold the whole block to a developer from Atlanta, who in turn has now tripled the rent on Heritage Jewelers. Davis is behind on child support and behind on alimony and God knows how much money he owes people that I don’t know about.”
“Oh my God,” Hattie said. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah. Me too. So, what I want to know, and why I came here to see you today is this—how the fuck does he write you a check for forty thousand when he can’t pay for our child’s preschool tuition?”
Elise picked up her Louis Vuitton pocketbook and fished around inside until she found what she was looking for. A single piece of paper. She waved it at Hattie. “And don’t bother denying it. I’ve got the proof right here.”
It was a copy of the receipt Davis had given her for her engagement ring.
“Where did you get this?” Hattie was stunned, then furious. “This was a confidential business arrangement between Davis and me.”
“I’ll just bet.” Elise crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair. “To answer your question, the judge ordered him to show me the books. One of the first red flags I see is a payment for forty thousand made to Hattie Kavanaugh.”
“Stop it, Elise. There is absolutely nothing going on between your ex-husband and me. But even if there was, it wouldn’t be any of your concern.”
“If it has to do with money, it actually is my concern,” Elise said. Even though she was frowning, her forehead and face remained immobile. Botox?
Hattie looked down at her ringless hands. They were clean, but she badly needed a manicure, unlike Elise, whose nails were flawless and painted a very pale shade of lavender.
“Okay. Here it is. I pawned my engagement ring. So that I could buy a house to flip.”
“Ohhhh. Right. The old Creedmore house. Two doors down from Granny Hoffman’s beach house. How very convenient for both of you.”
“I’m telling you the truth. I needed cash. Davis appraised my engagement ring, and made me a fair offer of a loan, which I intend to repay as soon as I flip the house on Tybee.”
Elise’s upper lip puckered in disbelief. “Right. Like Hank Kavanaugh’s shanty Irish family could ever afford a ring worth anything close to that kind of money. Just tell me this. How long has Davis been in your pants?”
“You’re disgusting,” Hattie said.
“I’m disgusting? Riiiight,” Elise said. She crumpled up the paper and tossed it at the trash can—and missed. “Admit it, Hattie. Davis has always had a thing for you. Always.”
Hattie blinked. “That’s not true.”
“My problem was, I was always too available. His folks loved me. God knows my mother loved him. He was from an old Savannah family, they owned a successful business. Speaking of engagement rings, did you know his mom picked out mine? She wanted to make sure I had the biggest rock in town. Which I did.”
Elise leaned forward and fluttered her left hand in Hattie’s face. It was true, the diamond solitaire in a platinum setting was approximately the size of a hubcap. A diamond as big as the Ritz.
“You were the one he had the hots for, not me. I was always second best as far as Davis was concerned. Being with me was convenient, that’s all.”
“I don’t … I don’t believe that,” Hattie said. “But even if it’s true, I never, ever did anything to encourage him.”
“Just being unavailable was a turn-on. He wanted you because Hank had you. He was obsessed with Lanier Ragan because he knew she was getting it on with Holland Creedmore.”
Hattie clutched the edge of the desk with both hands. “How do you know that?”
“Back in high school, Davis and I used to go out to the beach behind his granny’s house and smoke weed and fool around. One night we were out there and we saw Holland, with a girl. They were skinny-dipping, jumping off the Creedmores’ dock. We snuck over there, to try to see who the girl was. There was a clump of bushes right by the seawall. We hid there, and waited, and sure enough, after a while, they came running up to the house, both of them naked as jaybirds. I didn’t know who the girl was, because I went to Country Day. But Davis said it was his coach’s wife. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, and when I looked down, he had the biggest boner I’d ever seen.”