She went back to her own bedroom and took a shower, and as the water cascaded down on her, she decided again that it was best not to ask any more questions. What had happened was over long ago, and it was better to let it stay dead.
Sixteen
After two more days with Janice and Patsy, Bailey admitted defeat. It was clear to her that the three of them had the knowledge to run the company once it was started, but getting it started was out of their league. For one thing, they couldn’t even agree on a name. And where were they going to get the money, if they did get themselves organized?
Bailey made herself a cup of tea, took a pen and a sketch pad outside, and tried to come up with some ideas for a name and logo for the company, but she was stymied. After an hour, she went back inside to get more tea, and on impulse, she picked up the cordless phone and her address book, took them outside, and punched in a number.
As the phone rang, she held her breath. What would her reception be?
Carol Waterman answered on the first ring. All Bailey had to do was give her name, and words came flooding from Carol’s mouth. “I thought maybe you were Phillip calling. He’s never home now, and the children and I haven’t seen him in a month. He wants to quit working for ‘them,’ and he’s told them twice that he’s quitting, but their response has been to give him more money—so much money that Phillip agrees to stay a while longer. Phillip won’t tell me what those two are up to, but from the look on his face, it’s not good.”
While Bailey was listening, she was doodling on the sketch pad. In front of her was the mulberry tree, and she idly outlined the undulating branches of the old giant. For the life of her, she couldn’t work up any sympathy for Carol. What had the two of them expected when Phillip took a job with lowlifes like Atlanta and Ray? That receiving billions would turn Atlanta and Ray into nice people?
“So what you’re saying is that you have time on your hands and access to lots of money.”
Carol hesitated. “I guess I am,” she said tentatively. “What do you have in mind?”
“I was wondering if maybe you’d be interested in joining in a business that I and a couple of friends are starting.”
“What kind of business?” Carol asked cautiously.
“It’s—” Bailey looked at the sketch on her pad. “Before and After is what we’re working on now. It’s a branch of . . . of the Mulberry Tree Preserving Company.
”
“I won’t have to cook anything, will I?”
“No, that’s my job.”
“I see,” Carol said, and her voice was cold. “So what else do you want from me, besides to give you and your friends money?”
Bailey knew too well what Carol was feeling. When she was first married to Jimmie, a lot of people had offered her a lot of things, but she soon found out that all they wanted was his money. “How about publicity?” Bailey said off the top of her head. “Advertising. Think you’d be any good in that area?” Heaven knew that she and Janice and Patsy weren’t!
Carol was silent so long that Bailey thought she was going to hang up. “Before I married Phillip, I was training to be an actress.”
Bailey wanted to say, What good is that to us? but she didn’t. She couldn’t afford to offend Carol, a person with access to money. “Maybe you could . . . You could . . . be the lead actress in our commercial.”
“Great! What’s the plot of it?”
“We’re still working on it, and of course we’ll need your input.”
“You haven’t written a word, have you?”
Bailey laughed, and when she did, the tension left her body. “Not even one. I can cook; Patsy can run a factory; and Janice is a money manager. But the three of us are stuck about what to do to let people know that we have a bunch of jams and jellies to sell. You think you could help us?”
“Maybe,” Carol said slowly. “If I can find time between hair and nail appointments. You know how that is.”
“All too well,” Bailey said, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice. She’d called Carol hoping to get money, but talent as an actress was even better. “Maybe you could—”
“Get the next plane out of here and meet with you and your new friends and do something with my brain besides decide whether to wear the navy or the black?”
Bailey laughed. “Do you know where I live now?”
“I have no idea, but I have a pencil right here in my hand.”
Bailey gave Carol the address, hung up the phone, and managed to sit still for half a minute; then she jumped up and started dancing. “Yes!” she said as she grabbed a branch of the mulberry tree and kissed it. “You old sweetheart,” she said, as she grabbed her sketchbook and went inside and upstairs to Matt’s fax machine. Now all she had to do was persuade Janice and Patsy that this was the right name for their company.
Bailey photocopied her sketch and sent her idea to both Janice and Patsy. To Patsy, she said she wanted her to sew a label like her sketch. Janice faxed back that everyone would think they sold only mulberry products. Then Patsy faxed that most Americans have no idea what a mulberry is.