Balk (Home Stand #2)

by Lacy Hart

  “Brian?” Kristin voiced.

  Brian looked up and saw Kristin there, tears drying on her face.

  “Kris? What are you doing here? Karen said she dropped you off at the game to be with Wes. Why are you crying? Is everything okay?”

  “Brian… can you please… please take me home?” Kristin wept.

  “Of course,” Brian said, putting his arm around Kristin. “I’ll take you to my apartment. Karen is there waiting for me.”

  The two got into Brian’s car, and he started off towards his place. Along the way, he pressed the Bluetooth on his steering wheel and called his apartment number to reach Karen.

  “Hey there, Tiger,” Karen purred. “I can’t wait for you to get here. I’m wearing that leopard thing you like so much and we…”

  “Karen!” Brian interrupted, “I… I have Kris in the car with me.”

  “Kris? What’s wrong?” Karen asked.

  Kristin started crying again.

  “I… I was with Wes… and everything was great… and he went out to get ice cream, and then this other woman showed up, and she said she and Wes were… Karen, it was a mess. I just ran out of there. Can… can you take me home, please?”

  “Of course, sweetie,” Karen said to her. “I’ll meet you guys in the parking lot.”

  Brian hung up the phone and kept driving silently.

  “Thank you so much, Brian,” Kristin told him. “I’m sorry I ruined your evening.”

  “Hey, it’s not a problem, really,” Brian assured her. “The wedding is in a few days anyway. We should… I mean…” Brian was all flustered.

  “It’s okay, you don’t have to explain… Tiger,” Kristin said, wiping her eyes and smiling.

  Brian pulled into his parking spot, and Karen was already outside, waiting for them to arrive. She opened the passenger door, and Kristin got out, immediately falling into Karen’s arms. Karen held Kristin and hugged her to console her.

  “Tell me what happened,” Karen asked.

  Kristin went into the story of what happened with each detail. When she was done, Kristin felt spent.

  “I can’t believe Wes would do that,” Karen said. “Something’s not right about this.”

  “It all seemed pretty clear to me,” Kristin insisted. “I don’t know what to think anymore. Oh God, I’m gonna be sick.”

  Kristin turned back towards Brian’s car.

  “No, not in the car!” Brian yelled.

  It was already too late as Kristin vomited all over the front passenger seat and the dashboard not once, but twice.

  “Oh man,” Brian bemoaned.

  “Brian relax,” Karen chided. “We can clean the car… well, I mean you can clean it,” Karen said, looking at the mess and taking in the smell.

  “Come on, Kris,” Karen said to her friend. “Let’s go back to my house.” Karen guided Kristin over to her car.

  “I’ll call you when I get home,” Karen said to Brian, leaving him to stare into the open door of his car. Brian just nodded his head as he tried to figure out how he was going to clean up.

  ****

  After trying to reach Kristin by phone, Wes raced down the stairwell to the lobby floor and ran to the front desk.

  “Excuse me,” he panted. “Did you see a woman in a yellow dress, she was probably upset, maybe crying.”

  “Yes sir, I did,” the clerk explained. “I called her a cab about fifteen or twenty minutes ago. It’s been a weird night. First her crying and then some woman screaming and cursing all through the lobby wearing nothing but a t-shirt. I almost had to call the police.”

  “You probably should have,” Wes muttered.

  “Do you know what cab company you called?”

  “Yes, sir, Confident Cab company. Do you need a cab, sir?” the clerk asked.

  “No, I just need to talk to the driver that picked her up,” Wes said, getting exasperated.

  “Oh, that’s easy enough. This time of night during the week it’s always Harry over here. He’s probably out front waiting to see if anyone needs a ride.” The clerk pointed to the front door.

  “Thanks,” Wes said as he walked outside, fixing the sneaker that was untied that kept slipping off.

  Wes looked around and saw a cab parked under one of the lights in the parking lot just beyond the hotel entrance. He jogged over to the taxi and knocked on the driver’s side window rapidly.

  The cabbie tentatively rolled down the window, and a puff of smoke came from the cab. Wes recognized the aroma right away.

  “Harry, I need you to answer some questions,” Wes demanded.

  “Dude, are you a cop? Because I hardly have any weed in here. Not enough for a ticket anyway,” Harry told him, his eyes glazed over.

  “Harry I’m not a cop…” Wes went on.

  “Well I hope you don’t need a ride right now, ‘cause I’m kind of baked,” Harry said, giggling to himself.

  “I don’t need a ride, I need you to focus, Harry,” Wes said while he grabbed Harry’s denim jacket collar.

  “Okay, okay,” Harry insisted.

  “You picked up a woman at this hotel a little bit ago. A woman in a yellow dress, remember?”

  Harry considered the question. “Oh yeah, a really nice lady. Gave me twenty dollars for a $2.50 fare and said: ‘Harry, keep the change.’” Harry laughed again.

  “Great Harry,” Wes told him. “I’ll give you a hundred if you tell me where you took her.”

  “No way,” Harry said, staring at Wes.

  Wes opened his wallet and took out a hundred-dollar bill and held it in front of Harry.

  “Where did you take her?” Wes insisted.

  “Over to the mall,” Harry said. “I told her it was closed, but she had me take her around to the restaurant entrance and leave her there.”

  “Thanks, Harry,” Wes said, handing him the bill.

  “You bet,” Harry yelled as Wes ran off towards his truck. “You need any other information, you come to Harry!”

  Wes jumped in his truck and headed out towards Brian’s apartment, figuring that is who Kristin looked for. He drove his vehicle quickly over I-70 to where he thought Brian’s apartment was but found the wrong place and had to double back until he found the right one. Wes pulled up and saw Brian on his hands and knees at the passenger side of his car.

  “Brian!” Wes yelled as he got out of the truck. “Where’s Kris?”

  “Wes, what the hell is going on tonight?” Brian asked. “Kris showed up at the restaurant as I was leaving in tears and asked me to take her home.”

  “Did you take her home? To my house?”

  “No, Karen was here at my place. She had driven Kris to the game to watch you tonight. Nice game, by the way,” Brian added.

  “Brian, not now,” Wes said in an annoyed tone. “Where is Kristin?”

  “I brought her back here,” Brian said.

  Wes started up the path towards Brian’s apartment.

  “She’s not here, Wes,” Brian yelled.

  “You just said she was here,” Wes said. “Can’t anyone just give me a straight answer tonight?”

  “She was here to see Karen. She told Karen what happened, puked in my car, and Karen took her back to her house.”

  “Okay, great,” Wes said, moving back towards his truck. Wes peeked his head over the roof of the truck before he got in.

  “Kris puked in your car?” Wes asked. “Why?”

  “How should I know? All I wanted to do was come home and have sex with my fiancée, and all this happened.”

  “Too much information, Brian,” Wes said. “Thanks for your help. Good luck with the car. Tell me the bill to go have it detailed.”

  Wes sped off back towards Chandler, not caring about speed limits, red lights, or traffic. His only goal was to find Kristin.

  ****

  Wes arrived outside of Karen’s house about forty minutes and one speeding ticket later. His truck came to a stop right behind Karen’s car in her driveway. Wes sprinted
up the walkway, reached the front porch, and knocked furiously on the front door.

  Karen appeared moments later wearing her robe.

  “Wes, she doesn’t…”

  “Karen, I don’t care, you have to let me in so I can talk to her.”

  Wes tried to push his way past Karen to get inside the house, but Karen shoved him back.

  “Wes, I love you, I really do, but you try that again, and I’ll have to slug you. I have three brothers, and I kicked all their asses regularly, so I can take you. You and I both know it.”

  Wes looked Karen over and could see her seriousness.

  “Come here,” Karen said quietly, getting Wes to follow her over to a couple of wicker seats on the porch.

  “What happened?” Karen asked.

  “I don’t know,” Wes said, putting his head in his hands. “We had a great night, I went out to get ice cream, and when I got back, Kris was gone, and this crazy woman Sabrina was in my room. She said she convinced Kris that the two of us were fooling around so Kris would leave and she could be with me. The woman is nuts. She works for the team and has been coming onto me since we met. You must believe me, Karen. I would never do anything to hurt Kris, ever.”

  “I know you wouldn’t, Wes,” Karen told him.

  “How am I going to fix this?” Wes said, getting up from the chair and pacing around, creaking porch boards along the way.

  “Well, you aren’t going to fix it tonight,” Karen answered. “Go back to Washington, and we’ll figure something out.”

  “We’ll figure it out?” Wes questioned.

  “You clearly can’t do this by yourself, my friend.” Karen led Wes down the porch. “Give me a day to see how things go. Play your game tomorrow, and I’ll let you know what I come up with.”

  “Okay, thanks Karen,” Wes replied and walked back to his truck.

  Wes took his time going back to Washington. The entire ride he pondered the day’s events, and how they had gone from so good to so awful in a matter of minutes.

  20

  Kristin awoke in the morning hoping the night before was nothing but a bad dream, but she realized when she saw her yellow dress hanging on the back of the bedroom door that it had all happened. All through her shower and when she dressed, she went over the details as she sought to decipher what went wrong and how Wes betrayed her like that.

  Kristin got downstairs and saw Karen in the kitchen, fixing coffee.

  “Coffee, Champ?” Karen asked, holding up a mug.

  “Thanks,” Kristin said. She took the cup and sat down at the kitchen table. Karen looked over at Kristin and saw her fidget in the chair, rolling her head back and forth on her shoulders.

  “You okay?” Karen asked.

  “I just didn’t sleep well, I guess. My neck, back, and shoulders all hurt. I feel miserable.”

  “Kris, why don’t you take today off, call in sick. It was rough yesterday.”

  “I can’t Karen,” Kristin said, as she sipped the coffee. “I have a board meeting today at 3. We’re finalizing everything about the fundraising dinner, which is tomorrow, then I have Izzy’s opening night on Thursday, and your wedding is Friday. There’s too much going on.”

  “That’s why you need some me time,” Karen advised. “Just take the morning off and come in for the board meeting. I can cover what’s going on at the library. Besides, after tomorrow, I am off to get ready for… MY WEDDING!” Karen shouted, making jazz hands.

  Karen’s actions brought a smile to Kristin’s face.

  “Okay, you cover the morning, and I’ll go to the board meeting,” Kristin agreed.

  “It will be fine,” Karen said. “Besides, we have all the part-timers working for the next few days to cover for us. There’s plenty of help. Go take a walk. It’s beautiful out. Or go back to bed and take a nap.”

  “I’ll do something, I promise.”

  Karen walked over and gave Kristin a kiss on the top of her head.

  “Okay, see you later,” Karen said as she grabbed her bag and walked out of the house.

  Kristin sat and sipped her coffee for a while, walking out to the front porch to listen to the birds chirp and feel the warmth of the sun. She looked at her phone a couple of times and saw countless messages from Wes, but she deleted them without listening to them.

  When she finished her coffee, Kristin took Karen’s advice and went for a walk. She had put on her white and blue floral dress, which seemed ideal for this warm May day. Kristin walked around town, something she did not do very often. She window shopped at some stores and spent some time in the florist smelling the latest flowers and bouquets and talking to the owner about the flowers for Karen’s wedding.

  Kristin left the flower shop and felt the stiffness in her neck again. It was then she noticed the shingle hanging outside a place up the street that read Dr. Richard Trainor, Chiropractor. Kristin took a few tentative steps down the sidewalk, stopped herself, and then started up again with conviction and walked right into Dr. Trainor’s office.

  Kristin shut the door quietly since she heard nary a noise in the office. She peeked around the corner and into the waiting room and didn’t see anyone. There wasn’t even anyone at the receptionist desk.

  “Hello?” Kristin said, hearing her voice echo.

  “One second,” she heard in reply. A moment later, Dr. Trainor popped out from behind the door that led to the exam area.

  “Kristin, what a pleasant surprise,” Dr. Trainor said with a smile.

  “I’m sorry, Dr. Trainor if you’re not open…” Kristin said as she started to turn back towards the door.

  “No, it’s fine,” Dr. Trainor remarked. “My office hours are later today. My receptionist Robin doesn’t come in for another hour or so. Please, stay, and call me Richard.”

  “I don’t want to bother you if you’re not seeing patients,” Kristin added. “I just thought, well, I’ve had some pain and stiffness and…”

  “Come on back,” Richard said with a smile as he held the door open.

  “Are you sure? I don’t have an appointment or anything.”

  “It’s fine,” Richard offered, picking up a clipboard.

  He opened the door to one of the exam rooms, and Kristin saw the padded table in the center of the room. Richard then handed her the clipboard.

  “Okay, just fill this out the best you can so I can get an idea of your medical history and what’s wrong, and then we’ll get started. I’ll be back in a moment,” Richard left the office, closing the exam room door as he went.

  Kristin worked through the forms, answering questions about the pain she felt and what might be causing it. She simply answered “stress” and went on to answer other questions about her activity levels and health.

  The door clicked open and startled Kristin as Richard walked through.

  “All done?” Richard asked, and Kristin handed over the clipboard.

  “Okay, now I’m just going to do a few basic general tests, no big deal.”

  Richard checked her blood pressure, which he noted was a little high, and then held Kristin’s wrist in his hand to check her pulse.

  “Your pulse is racing,” Richard said quietly.

  “I guess I’m a little nervous,” she answered.

  “Nothing to be nervous about,” Richard replied. He picked up his stethoscope off the table and put it in his ears. “I just need to listen to your respiration. Breathe normally,” he asked, placing the stethoscope on her back.

  Kristin inhaled and exhaled a few times as Richard moved the stethoscope around, but he surprised Kristin when he moved to her front, placing the stethoscope just over her right breast.

  “Good,” Richard said, putting the scope down. He then wheeled over a stool and sat in front of Kristin.

  “I need to check your reflexes,” he said and used his small hammer on her hands and arms first.

  “Can you lift up your dress a little bit,” Richard asked bluntly.

  “What? Why?” Kristin asked.r />
  Richard chuckled.

  “So I can check the reflexes in your knees, of course.”

  “Oh, right, sorry,” Kristin said, feeling embarrassed.