Trouble

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

August 2014

Officer Thiessen hadn’t been her first, and he wouldn’t be her last. Her first had been a local cop down in Florence who had busted her at the local make-out point with her skirt around her waist and her panties around her ankles. A quick favor and he’d sent them on their way with a warning. Of course, her boyfriend had dumped her soon after. No appreciation these days, she’d thought and quickly moved on. She’d been using poor judgement, casual s*x, and anything that might tarnish the family reputation as weapons against her father ever since.

By the time she got home from Montana State with the bullshit trophy wife degree her father had forced her to take, she’d slept with three professors, managing a semester long affair with one of them, and “sweet talked” her way out of a dozen minor run-ins with the police and campus security, not to mention her string of boyfriends. All the boys she’d dated from the time she was in high school had been trouble. Drug users, drug dealers, alcoholics, gamblers, street racers, pick pockets, she’d dated them all. She’d partied hard and wild her entire stay at Montana State and there’d been more than one phone call home from the school administration.

She’d graduated a few months ago and her parents had attended the ceremony and helped her pack her things from her dorm room. On the long drive home, her father had explained how things were going to be.

“You’re finished with school now.”

“And we’re very proud of you,” her mother had added.

“Which means you’re also finished with this foolish behavior,” her father went on.

“What behavior?” Martha asked sweetly from the backseat. She was dressed for a Montana April, leggings, boots, light jacket, cute hat. She was studying her reflection in the mirror of the compact she kept in her designer purse.

“There will be no more run-ins with the police.”

“None of that was ever my fault,” she said.

“Which means you will also cut ties with the unsavory people who got you into that trouble.”

“Already done,” she said, the boredom obvious in her voice. “Long distance relationships are a headache anyway.”

“No more parties, no more drunken escapades, no more reckless driving.”

“Sure, Daddy.” There’s nothing fun to do in Florence anyway. I’d have to go to Missoula at least for any fun.

“I expect you to use your degree and help out with the plant. Twenty hours a week should be enough to make you look useful and still leave you the necessary time for socializing and networking. You’ll attend business dinners with me and your mother. It’s time you got married and that’s not going to happen if you keep acting like some feral creature.”

Her mother looked over her shoulder into the backseat. “We just want what’s best for you honey.”

“I expect you to act with poise and grace and decorum. You’ll conduct yourself in a way that shines the best possible light on this family. Are we understood?”

“Of course, Daddy. I wouldn’t dream of anything else.”

She’d been home a little over a year now and she was bored. She grudgingly worked twenty-hour weeks at the plant in the office helping with the marketing and hiring process. Even though her father had been diligent at keeping her unsavory escapades private over the years he still hadn’t managed to secure her a high-priced marriage. Her lack of interest in the stiffs-in-suits he brought home to meet her didn’t help matters, nor did the fact that he was setting his sight higher up the ladder than she thought was reasonable. And he wasn’t letting her out of his sight, practically, for fear she’d go off on one of her wild and embarrassing adventures again. He also hadn’t been paying her much beyond board and room and clothing, so she couldn’t afford to go crazy.

No matter, there are other ways to push his buttons, she thought. Like chopping her hair off. Her father had been furious when she’d come home sporting a pixie cut. It was nearly shoulder length again now.

She was sitting in the front room sipping a whiskey which she had poured from his liquor cabinet and staring out the window. Like a f*****g bird in a gilded cage. How can Mom stand to live like this? No wonder Kent took off.

That had been a scandal to eclipse anything she’d ever pulled. Her younger brother, Kent, had balked at attending a big shot university to get a degree in business and finances and whatever else their father had planned for him. Instead he’d attended a local community college and gotten certified as an electrician. True, he’d been in and out of school twice as fast as her and they’d graduated about the same time, but he was like a ghost in their house.

He’d converted some space in the garage into a suite and lived there, slinking in for food when he knew their father wasn’t home. Helping Kent was the only act of rebellion Martha had ever seen her mother undertake.

Fuck Kent, he may have won that little battle, but he’s still stuck here just like the rest of us.

There were steps in the hallway and she turned her attention from the window to the doorway as Benny tapped on the frame and looked in. “Drinking so early? It’s not even ten.”

“Cheers,” Martha said, holding the glass up a moment and then draining it.

“You don’t need to end up like Father,” Benny said.

“No? Have you talked to Susan at all?”

“You know I haven’t spoken to her in years. Why do you keep bringing that up?”

The corner of her mouth went up. “Just curious. I was sure you two were going to get married. Did you tell her your secret? Is that why she left you?”

“No. She never knew.”

“Then what was it?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Sure. And I don’t want to talk about what’s in my glass.” She shook the glass, making the ice rattle.

“Fine,” Benny growled. “I take it you have the day off?”

“You’re sharp. No wonder Dad picked you to be the lawyer.”

“I didn’t come here to fight. Just wanted to let you know that I’m leaving tomorrow, heading back to Harvard.”

“Have fun. Don’t study too hard.” She turned her attention back to the window.

“Martha …” He sighed. “Stay out of trouble, okay?”

She didn’t answer.