Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4

by Claudia Hall Christian

  “Who are these munchkins?” the receptionist asked.

  “I’m Katy!”

  “I’m Paddie. Who are you?”

  “I’m Clara,” the receptionist said. “Your kids?”

  “Jake’s daughter,” Valerie said. “And her best friend, Paddie Hargreaves.”

  “I thought Jake had a daughter. There are pictures of her and Jill of course, all over his office, but I also heard he didn’t have any children,” Clara said.

  “Just me!” Katy said.

  “Anyway, you can go back,” Clara buzzed the door. “We’re all so relieved that Aden’s back. Blane called and said he’s coming in tomorrow. It’s like things are getting back to normal here.”

  “That would be very nice,” Valerie said. “Thanks.”

  With a child in each hand, Valerie went through the door to the back office. Once through the door, Katy yanked her hand from Valerie’s. Katy took off running toward Jacob’s office. Not to be outdone, Paddie jerked out of Valerie’s grasp and ran after Katy. Valerie ran after the children. They were a laughing, giggling parade through the office.

  Valerie was around the corner when she heard, “Hey, you can’t go in there.” She sped up. Turning the corner into the hallway that held Jacob, Sam and Aden’s office, she heard Katy’s distinctive cry. A blonde woman in a risqué dress and five inch heels had Katy and Paddie by the wrist. Katy had a red welt on her face.

  “This child assaulted me!” the woman said.

  Valerie looked at the small child and back at the woman.

  “She’s pretty good at martial arts,” Valerie said.

  “No child should treat an adult this way,” the woman said.

  “So you slapped her?” Valerie asked.

  “What are these children doing here?” the woman asked.

  “I was raised in this office,” Valerie said. “Children have always been in this office. Who the hell are you?”

  Valerie dropped to her knees. She held her arm out for Katy and Paddie.

  “Let go of them,” Valerie said.

  “I will not,” the woman said. “I am escorting these wild children out of this office this instant.”

  Katy began to howl. Paddie began to cry in sympathy for Katy. People poked their heads out of their offices. Aden’s secretary was moving across the space toward them.

  “Evette, let the children go,” Aden’s secretary said. Her voice was calm and soothing. “Evette’s new, Val. She just doesn’t know. Evette, this is Valerie Lipson. Mr. Marlowe’s sister.”

  “The soap opera slut,” Evette said.

  Aden’s secretary stepped back in horror.

  “Mr. Marlowe does not need to be bothered by your nonsense or some bastard children,” Evette said.

  “DADDDDDDYYYYYYY!!!!!!” Katy screamed.

  Jacob and Aden flew out of his office. Quick to assess the situation, Jacob’s face set in sheer rage.

  “Mr. Marlowe…” Evette started.

  “Let go,” Jacob said. “Now.”

  Evette released the children. Katy ran to Jacob. Valerie picked up Paddie.

  “Be in my office in an hour,” Aden said to Evette.

  “I was just…” Evette said.

  “One hour,” Aden said.

  With his secretary trailing him, Aden walked into his office. His secretary closed the door. With one last look at Evette, Jacob and Valerie took the crying children into his office. Valerie sat on the couch with Paddie and rocked him back and forth. Jacob sat down in his office chair with Katy.

  Jacob’s heart sank with guilt and sadness. He had no idea what to do for Katy. He just held on to her and tried to say soothing things to her. He was about to call Jill when Katy began to take a few deeper breaths.

  “That lady hit Katy,” Paddie said.

  Jacob pulled Katy back to look at her. Katy nodded and pointed to her cheek. Jacob kissed her cheek.

  “Can we still go on the road-a-vores?” Katy hiccupped through her sobs.

  “Road-a-vore?” Jacob asked.

  “The b-b-big machines,” Katy said. “Mommy said they eat the street.”

  “I promised the kids they could drive the big equipment today,” Valerie said. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea…”

  “It’s totally my fault,” Jacob said. He rocked Katy against him. “I knew she was…”

  “Insane?” Valerie asked.

  Jacob nodded.

  “They’re going to have bruises on their wrists and Katy’s face…” Valerie said. “Jill’s going to kill you. Have any arnica?”

  “At home,” Jacob said. “I don’t get bruised in the office.”

  “Softy,” Valerie laughed. “I have some in my bag from the movie. I think it’s in the car.”

  There was a knock at the door. Aden’s secretary poked her head in.

  “I brought some ice for Katy’s cheek,” she said. “Aden said to give you this.”

  She gave him a tube of Arnica gel. Standing with Paddie, Valerie took the Arnica and ice.

  “Thanks,” Valerie said.

  Aden’s secretary nodded then closed the door.

  “Fix the door,” Valerie said.

  “Done.”

  Jacob worked his skill to seal the door closed. Valerie put arnica gel on Paddie’s wrists then tossed the tube to Jacob. Jacob put the soothing gel on Katy’s wrist and face. He wrapped the ice pack in his handkerchief and held it against Katy’s cheek. He said a silent prayer that the arnica gel would help to keep the bruise down.

  “Chocolate?” Jacob asked Katy.

  As if agreeing to something important, Katy gave him a solemn nod. Jacob took out the box of ‘fancy chocolates’ he kept for Katy’s visits. Paddie jumped off Valerie’s lap to explore the box with Katy. Tears calmed, the chocolate seemed to sufficiently restore the children.

  “Road-a-vores?” Jacob asked.

  Katy and Paddie clapped their hands.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Valerie said. “Can you come?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it,” he said.

  He unsealed the door. Moving quickly, they walked past the crazy secretary. They never gave her another thought. With road-a-vores and chocolate around, who could think of anything else?

  ~~~~~~~~

  Thursday afternoon — 3:30 P.M.

  “Hey Pete,” Sandy said.

  She’d seen him standing outside her hair studio. He looked up when her client left but didn’t come to the door. She opened the door.

  “Would you like a haircut?” Sandy asked. “I have time.”

  Pete nodded. Sandy washed his hair. Because of the surgery, she had to shave his hair down to less than a half an inch. She lathered him up and gave him a shave. They went through the ritual in silence.

  “You’re done,” she said.

  “Molly says I need to have a job before she’ll talk to me,” Pete said. “I’ve been looking all day. I mean really looking. No one will hire me.”

  “What about Lipson?” Sandy asked.

  “You have to be clean six months to work there,” Pete said. “I’ve burned a lot of people with my drug use. Plus, I look like a homeless person. At least now I look like a homeless person with a good hair cut.”

  “Do you use drugs any more?” Sandy asked.

  “No, Jill helped me with it. I mean, she gave me a start but I still have a long way to go,” Pete said. “I was clean in prison. I went to three meetings today and I got a sponsor. I’m done with drugs. I need someone to give me a chance.”

  “I know that feeling,” Sandy said.

  “Yeah, I bet you do,” Pete said. “I heard about what happened, you know, with your Dad?”

  “Father,” Sandy said. “You remember my Dad? He was the cop.”

  “Yea, I remember him. Great guy.”

  Sandy picked up a load of towels and began walking toward the back.

  “I wanted you to know I never thought anything bad about you,” Pete said. “You were always nice about me and Molly. I knew
something was going on when we were in high school. I always thought it was that pilot guy. He was old and so… dashing.”

  Sandy stopped walking. She nodded to him and put the towels in the hamper.

  “When I heard, I still don’t think anything bad about you,” Pete said. “Bad things happen to people. Doesn’t make them bad.”

  “Thanks,” Sandy said.

  “I bet you could use some help here,” Pete said. “I could help you. You wouldn’t have to pay me but I…”

  “The boys were helping me, Pete,” Sandy said. “Nash and Teddy but they’re back in school. I could use some help. I really need someone here at night. It’s not the greatest neighborhood.”

  “Like live here?” Pete asked. “I could do that. Molly let me stay in the basement last night. She’d be glad to have me gone for a while.”

  “I don’t want to be in the middle of you and Molly,” Sandy said.

  “Molly made me sign divorce papers,” Pete said. “But she didn’t file them. She’s really mad at me, hurt. The kids don’t trust me. I’ve really fucked up.”

  “I’ll talk to Molly,” Sandy said. “Why don’t you come back around five? I can show you what I need done. You can look at the space and see what you think. If we agree, we can call probation and set up an appointment.”

  “Thanks Sandy,” Pete said. “I won’t let you down.”

  “Let’s just take it one day at a time.”

  Pete hopped to his feet. He hugged Sandy.

  “I’m not going to be your girl, Pete,” Sandy said. “Just your boss.”

  “I only want Molly,” Pete said. “But I could really use a friend.”

  “Friend? I can do friend.”

  ~~~~~~~~

  Thursday afternoon — 3:30 P.M.

  “I think you know why we’re meeting,” Aden said to Evette. “We’d like you to clear out your desk. Ms. Roberts has your last check.”

  Aden nodded toward the director of Human Resources.

  “Mr. Norsen, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Evette said.

  “Today will be your last day at Lipson Construction,” Aden said. “We have a number of offenses, but more than anything, you’re not qualified for your position. Ms. Roberts?”

  “We find your typing and general secretarial skills to be insufficient for our staff.”

  “Jake doesn’t need me to type,” Evette said. “He uses me for other things.”

  “Such as?” Ms. Roberts asked.

  Evette batted her eyes in the direction of the Human Resources director.

  “Are you suggesting that you and Jacob Marlowe have been intimate?” Aden asked.

  “Intimate is a word for it. Passionate is another.” Evette flipped her hair. “He’s amazing. So you can’t fire me.”

  “Colorado is an ‘at-will’ state,” Aden said. “Your employment is not working for us. We are, in fact, firing you.”

  “Suit yourself,” Evette said. “I’m sure the world would love to know about Jakey and my relationship.”

  “What relationship?” Ms. Roberts asked. “There is no...”

  Evette winked at Ms. Roberts.

  “I’ll take thirty,” Evette said. “To stay silent.”

  “Thirty what?” Aden asked.

  “Thirty thousand,” Evette said. “That’s the going rate.”

  “Get out,” Ms. Roberts said. “Now.”

  Evette took the check from her hand and flounced out of the room. Aden and Ms. Roberts stared at each other.

  “You don’t think…” Ms Roberts said.

  “I don’t,” Aden said.

  Aden’s secretary looked in the open door. Aden made a motion and she closed the door.

  “Lawsuit?” Aden asked.

  “Worse,” Ms. Roberts said. “Women like her make big bucks making accusations against wealthy men. It’s disgusting. I’m sure the media will eat it up.”

  “Any way to protect Jake? Lipson?’

  “We’ll just have to hold on through the storm,” she said. “That’s what we’ve always done for Valerie.”

  “Should we tell Jake?”

  “Jacob Marlowe could not care less about this kind of tripe. This is not the first time some woman has gone to the papers about her fictitious relationship with him.”

  “Yes but it’s the first time since he’s been married and had a child.”

  “I’ll talk to him,” Ms Roberts rose to leave.

  Aden let out a breath. It was going to be an interesting ride.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Thursday evening — 6:30 P.M.

  “Wow, you got really dirty with Daddy today,” Jill said. She was washing Katy in the big bathtub off her bedroom. “You must have had fun.”

  “We had so much fun!” Katy said. “

  “So many bruises,” Jill said.

  “Professional construction workers, like me and Paddie, get bruises.

  Jill smiled.

  “Mommy?”

  “Yes honey,” Jill said.

  “What’s a bastard?”

  CHAPTER NINETY-SEVEN

  Stealing

  Friday morning — 3:20 A.M.

  ”Don’t talk,” Jill said.

  “But…” Jacob said.

  “Not one more word,” Jill said. “My head is going to rotate off my shoulders.”

  “You don’t get to dictate…”

  “QUIET,” Jill said. “I need to get my head straight.”

  Jacob stood up from their living room couch. He opened his mouth. Jill shook her head.

  “Shhhh,” Jill said.

  Jacob closed his mouth and walked to their kitchen. He filled two glasses of water and carried them back. Her eyes glanced up at him. She took the water then returned to staring out the front window. He sat down next to her. When he touched her, she moved away from him.

  “Listen…” he started.

  She glared at him and looked away. Shaking his head, he leaned back on the couch. After hours of screaming at each other, he should be grateful for the peace and quiet.

  He’d never seen Jill so angry. Thinking they would have a romantic night, he’d opened a bottle of wine, lit some candles, and set out her favorite snack. Romantic was not a word for this night. The fact that Katy was still asleep was a miracle.

  He looked over at Jill. Even angry, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met, known, touched, talked to, or slept with. She meant everything to him. He would never risk losing her. Never.

  She’d already said she was leaving tonight. He should be happy she was still sitting here.

  “I’m going to talk,” Jill said. “And you’re going to be silent.”

  “Why don’t I get to talk? You’re not some queen here, Jill. I…”

  Shaking her head, she got up from the couch.

  “I can’t do this,” she said. “I’m tired of fighting with you. I’m going to pack my things. I’ll sleep with Katy tonight. We’ll be gone in the morning.”

  “You cannot take my child from me.”

  “Maybe you should have thought of that before you fucked your secretary!”

  “Jill… I never ever…”

  “Save it for someone who believes your bullshit. I’m not doing this again,” Jill said. “I will not subject my child to anger and hostility because of some lying cheating… bastard.”

  Jill turned to face him. She opened her mouth, then shaking her head she walked to their bedroom.

  “STOP!” Jacob said.

  And everything stopped.

  Unable to move, Jill was stuck in place. Tears began to roll down her paralyzed face. Jacob let out a breath and everything began moving again.

  She flew at him.

  “How dare you?”

  She came at him with her palms out. He caught her hands to keep them away from his body.

  “I didn’t know I could do that,” he said. “I’m… sorry. I’ve never done that before. I’ve never felt this desperate before.”

  “Let g
o of me!”

  “Don’t infest my body with some horrible cancer.”

  “Cancer? Why? Are you afraid your girlfriend will get it?”

  “Please, Jill, please. This is me, Jacob, not Trevor. Me. I have a lot of baggage. I’m not perfect. I am a deeply flawed individual but I don’t cheat. I’ve never cheated on anyone, ever.”

  “Is that what Miss Precious is going to tell the papers?”

  “We’ve been around and around about this,” Jacob said. “I don’t take my phone with me when I go to lunch with family. I went to lunch with Blane and Heather on Wednesday. I met with Aden’s probation officer on Wednesday afternoon. That’s the time that those texts were sent. I didn’t send them. I didn’t even see them until you found them.”

  She turned her face away from him.

  “Think about it Jill,” Jacob said. “Have I ever said the kinds of things that are in those texts? Have I ever sent you texts like that?”

  “Clearly you’re more passionate about that whore!”

  “No, Jill, no,” he said. “I’m more passionate about you than I’ve been with anyone, ever, in my whole life.”

  “Then why don’t you send me texts like that?”

  “Because my mother would chop my hands off!” Jacob said. “Even now, she would wash my mouth out if I ever was so crude.”

  Jill scowled at him.

  “And anyway, that’s not love. It’s disgusting.”

  “I don’t know you very well,” she said.

  “Think Jill, think! I have all these powers. Why would I leave something secret on my phone for you to find?”

  “You thought I wouldn’t look,” she said.

  “We trade phones all the time. Why would I let you have my phone for a week if I was sexting some girl?”

  “You have powers…” she said.

  “Jill…”

  “And Katy’s not a bastard,” Jill said.

  Jacob held his breath. Jill seemed to be calming down. But every time he’d thought that tonight, she got angry again.

  “And you are my husband,” she said.

  Jacob nodded.

  “And why did you keep her?”

  “Katy?”