After Midnight

by Lacy Hart

  I tried to contain myself, hoping to calm myself down and figure out what to do. The officer, Officer Hernandez, who had come to the diner often, came to speak with me. He was a kind man who brought me into the back break room so he could speak with me.

  I gave him the details of what had happened, explaining that Jared had come in, obviously drunk, and was making inappropriate remarks and threateningly moved towards me. It was then that Adam jumped in and moved him away and the fight broke out.

  “Well, we’ll have to take them both in and sort it out. Do you want to press charges against him?” Officer Hernandez asked me.

  I thought about it for a minute, considering the consequences of what I would do.

  “Yes,” I said strongly.

  “Okay,” he said to me. “We’ll be in touch with you. You may want to think about getting a restraining order against him to keep him away from you. At least then if he shows up again, we can have a good reason to hold him. You know how it goes with the Sterling family. Their lawyer will probably have him out in a few hours.”

  “Thank you,” I said to Officer Hernandez as he walked out of the break room. I followed him out, so I was back behind the counter. I tried to shake off what had happened and not worry too much about how I had just sealed my fate.

  The booth where Adam’s friends were had cleared out, no doubt to go home or find out more about what was going on. I went over to the booth where Lizzie’s friends were sitting and asked them if they were okay.

  “That was kind of scary,” one of the girls said to me.

  “Yeah, it was, but thankfully, that’s over,” I said to them. “Let me get you guys some refills and find out about getting you some food.”

  I turned and went back to get refill sodas behind the counter. I was refilling glasses when I heard a voice behind me.

  “Sarah?” the voice asked quietly. I turned around Aaron was standing there.

  “What’s up?” I said to him as I kept filling glasses.

  “What should I do with this?” he said to me.

  I turned around to look at him. Aaron was there holding a cell phone.

  “What is that?” I asked him.

  “It fell out of that drunk guy’s pocket when he hit the floor,” Aaron said to me. “It had slid under our table. I didn’t pick it up until after all the commotion.”

  It was Jared’s cell phone that Aaron was holding in his hand.

  “I’ll take care of it,” I said to Aaron as I took the phone and slipped it into my pants pocket.

  29

  Caleb

  After my visit with Dr. Weber, I went back to my apartment and crashed. The last day or so had been draining on me and I knew I needed some rest, especially if I was going to need my wits about me to figure out what the next best step was to take with Sarah.

  By the time I pried my eyes open, it was well past six, and I had slept the day away. I rolled out of bed, barely even having the energy to go into the bathroom to shave and shower. I decided I needed to do it anyway, thinking it might make me feel better, but it did little to boost my spirits. Once I was done with everything and got dressed, I decided to make myself a sandwich to tide me over since I had slept so long.

  While I munched away on a chicken salad on rye, I checked my phone to see if there was anything at all from Sarah. Once again, no calls and no messages showed up. I did see a text message from Adam, reminding me of his game tonight if I wanted to go. Going to the game seemed like a good distraction for me, and I decided I would go over and cheer him on.

  I arrived at the school just in time for the tipoff and got myself a good seat to watch the action. Swanson completely overmatched their opponent tonight, the high school from Garrett High School not too far away. Adam was a real star tonight, racking up over thirty points and making nearly every shot he took. Winning this game clinched their conference title for them, and the crowd went nuts as the final buzzer sounded and Swanson had won the game handily.

  I waited outside the school for Adam, making sure to send him a text message that I was here if he was looking for me. Adam came walking out with his friends, including his cheerleader girlfriend. I waved to him when I saw him, and instead of walking over to me by himself, he waved me over to him.

  I walked over and stood in front of his friends, two other guys and what I assume were their girlfriends. They all got quiet when I arrived over there, watching to see what I would say and do.

  “Great game tonight,” I said to Adam proudly.

  “Thanks, Dad,” Adam replied. “Dad, this is my girlfriend, Ashley.” The girl politely extended her hand to me to shake.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Wilson,” she said with a smile.

  “It’s nice to meet you too,” I replied.

  “And this is Jack, and Felicity, and Preston, and Lisa,” Adam said, pointing out the rest of his friends.

  They all said hellos and seemed like nice kids. They stood around looking at each other, waiting for someone to decide what to do next.

  “We’re going to head over to the diner to celebrate,” Adam said to me. “Are you going over there?”

  As much as I wanted to say yes, I knew that I couldn’t.

  “No, why don’t you guys go ahead and celebrate. I think I am going to just head home and crash, maybe watch some TV,” I said to Adam. I started to walk away when Adam came over to me.

  “Dad, is everything okay?” he asked me. “How come you aren’t going to see Sarah? She should be there.”

  “Sarah and I… she just wanted a little space right now, I guess,” I said to Adam.

  “I’m sorry Dad,” Adam said. He took a quick look back at his friends and then at me. “If you want, I can just come and hang out with you if you don’t want to be by yourself.”

  “No, you go hang out with your friends and have fun. I’ll be okay Adam, really.”

  “Okay,” Adam replied, not really believing me. “I’ll send you a text when I’m on my way home.”

  “Thanks, bud,” I said to him. “Have fun.”

  Adam jogged back over to his friends and then walked over to where their cars were parked. I went back to my Jeep, got behind the wheel and headed back home, taking my time to get there since I had nothing really to do for the night. I even took a slow drive passed the Moonlight, and I could see the place was crowded with cars and teenagers everywhere. I resisted the temptation to go in and see Sarah and instead worked my way back to the house.

  I went up to the apartment, opened a bag of corn chips that I probably never should have bought and flipped on the sports channel to see what was going on today. They had a game on that I didn’t really pay much attention to. When I was overseas, it was a big thrill to get to listen to a ball game on the radio or, even more rarely see one on TV someplace. Now it didn’t seem nearly as special as it used to be to me.

  It was a little after eleven when I thought about switching the TV off and calling it a night. No sooner had I turned off the TV than my cell phone was ringing. I thought maybe it would be Adam letting me know he was on his way home, but the number came up as an Unknown Name.

  “Hello?” I answered, wondering who it could be.

  “Dad?” I heard Adam’s voice, but he sounded different.

  “What’s up? Why aren’t you calling from your phone?”

  “Dad, I’m at the police station,” Adam said with a slight crack in his voice.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked with a panic. “Are you okay?”

  “Sort of,” he said to me. “There was a fight at the diner, and, well, the police took me in.”

  “You got arrested?” I said in disbelief.

  “Well… no… I mean, I don’t know what’s going on. They told me I could call you though.”

  “Alright, I’ll be down there in a few minutes. Just hold on.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Adam answered, and then I heard the phone disconnect.

  I pulled my sneakers on, grabbed my keys and was out the door f
ast. On my way down to the Jeep, I pushed dial on my phone and called Linda.

  “Are you checking up on me?” Linda said jokingly.

  “Linda, I need your help,” I said urgently.

  “What’s the matter?” she said, sensing my panic.

  “Adam is down at the police station. He said there was a fight at the diner and they brought him in. That’s all I know. I’m on my way there now.”

  “I’m leaving right now,” Linda said to me. “I’ll make a call over there and see what I can find out before I get there. Caleb, just keep calm and don’t lose your temper, okay?”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said to her as I backed out of the driveway. “See you there.”

  I hung up and swung the jeep down the street. I hadn’t gotten very far before I realized I wasn’t even sure where the police station was in Swanson. I pulled over to the side of the road to look it up on my phone and then let my GPS guide me the rest of the way there. It was further up towards where the college was located, so it took me a little longer to get there than I would have liked. I finally found it and pulled into the parking lot to park my car. I raced into the building, and up to the front desk, and said I was Adam’s father and wanted to see him.

  “He’s in with his attorney now, Mr. Wilson,” the desk sergeant said to me. “They should be done shortly, and then you can see him.”

  I took a seat on one of the benches located just beyond the front desk and tried to wait patiently. I had hoped Adam wasn’t hurt, and I pitied the person that may have been involved that hurt him. All kinds of scenarios ran through my head about what I would like to do, and none of them were very pleasant. Most were properly illegal in some way.

  It took about ten minutes of impatient waiting before I asked again and was told to just have a seat. More than two hours later, the door opened, and I saw Linda walking out with her arm around Adam. I ran over to them and met them as they were coming down the hallway.

  “Adam, are you okay?” I said quickly.

  “I’m fine Dad, there’s nothing wrong. I just have a scratch on my head from when I hit the floor.” Adam reached up and rubbed the scratch that marked his forehead.

  “What the hell happened?” I asked as we walked out of the building.

  “He got into a fight with one of the other patrons of the diner,” Linda said before Adam could say anything.

  “Why would you get into a fight?” I asked, feeling a bit upset now.

  “Dad, let me explain. The guy was more than rude to Sarah. He was saying nasty things and tried to put his hands on her, so I pulled him away and then he hit me. After that, we ended up on the floor before the cops came.”

  I was trying to process everything that was happening, and then Linda added more to it.

  “I talked to everyone involved, including the other guy’s attorney, and they aren’t going to press any charges if we don’t press any charges. Adam walks away with a clean record,” Linda said.

  “So, this guy gets away with assaulting Sarah and Adam? That doesn’t seem right. Who was it?”

  “Caleb, promise me you are not going to fly off the handle about this. Adam is a lot easier to get out of trouble than you will be,” Linda said as she tried to calm me down.

  “Who was it, Linda?”

  “It was Jordan Sterling.”

  “The same Sterling family? Are you serious?” I couldn’t believe we were dealing with this family yet again.

  “Yes, he’s Brandon’s cousin. The cops cut him loose too, but he had to get released on a bond. I guess Sarah wants to press charges against him. Good for her,” Linda said to me.

  “Jordan Sterling? A weaselly looking guy with blond hair?”

  “That’s him,” Adam said to me.

  “I saw him when we went to Peter’s for dinner. He was outside hassling Sarah. She told me to just leave it alone.” I thought back to when I confronted him the parking lot.

  “Well I guess they know each other,” Linda said to me. “Are you two all settled here now that you both ruined my date tonight?”

  “I’m sorry Aunt Linda,” Adam said to her, giving her a hug. When they broke the hug, Adam turned to me as he reached into his jacket pocket.

  “Dad, I forgot, Sarah gave me this. I’m supposed to give it to you.”

  Adam handed me a folded piece of paper. I unfolded it and saw it was a sheet from her order pad, and I began to read what she wrote:

  Caleb,

  Know that I would never leave things that way with you without a good reason. I’ve run into some trouble here and at home and can use your help. This is the only way I can get in touch with you. Please come to see me at the Moonlight when you can.

  Love,

  Sarah

  I folded the note and stuffed it into my jeans pocket.

  “Linda,” I said turning to her, “Can you give Adam a ride home?”

  “I guess so since my date is over now,” she said to me with a huff. “Where are you going?”

  “I need to get over to the Moonlight, now.”

  30

  Sarah

  It wasn’t much longer after all the hubbub at the diner that Doug showed up to see what had happened. He had an immediate concern about the staff and me, making sure that we were okay. He spent some time talking with me to find just what occurred, and I felt I had to be honest with him and give him all the details, past and present, so he wouldn’t be surprised by anything. After I finished telling him everything in the privacy of the small office he had behind the kitchen, I didn’t quite know what to expect.

  “Doug,” I said to him, “I’ll understand if you want me to leave. I don’t want to bring problems or bad publicity to you and your business with all this mess. Tonight will probably be in the newspaper somewhere, and if those pictures get out, well it might get worse for you.”

  “Sarah,” Doug told me, looking straight into my eyes, “I don’t want you to leave. None of this is your fault or doing. If we get some bad press from it, so what. If there are people that care about nonsense like that instead of the truth, well they can go somewhere else. You’re one of the best people I know, not just one of the best employees I have ever had. You’ll always have a place here if you want it as long as I own the Moonlight.”

  “Thank you,” I told him, feeling deeply touched by what he had said to me.

  I sat back in the chair I was in and let out a big sigh, resting my head back on the top of the chair.

  Doug looked at the clock and saw it was two-thirty in the morning.

  “Why don’t you go home?” Doug said to me. “It’s been a tough night for you. You look like you could use a break.”

  I wasn’t sure if going home was really going to be the best answer for me since I knew that Denise was likely waiting for me at this point. Once she found out that Jared had been arrested and I was willing to press charges against him, she would push him to send out the pictures, and I would have to deal with the fallout from all of it. Even with all of that, I did feel spent from everything that had happened, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to concentrate much on work. I still had hope that Adam would give Caleb my message and he would show up, but there is no way to know when or if he would be here.

  “Thanks, Doug,” I said to him as I stood up from the chair. “I think I will knock off early if it’s okay with you. I’m pretty drained by everything.”

  “Not a problem,” he said to me. “Things have quieted down enough where I think Fran could handle it for the rest of the night. Give me a call tomorrow and let me know how you are and if you think you can make it in. I want to make sure you are okay. If you need anything, you just let me know.”

  I left Doug’s office, went to the breakroom to gather my things, and got ready to leave. I walked out into the diner and saw there were just a few patrons in here now, and Fran was taking care of it all like a pro. I saw her waiting on the tables and gave her a quick wave to let her know I was leaving and she smiled and winked at me.

&n
bsp; I stepped out into the night and the quiet of Swanson. Nothing was going on in the town at this time of the night/morning, making my footsteps on the sidewalk the only sound I could hear as I went along Oak Street. My mind kept flashing back to what had happened, and then I remembered that I had Jared’s phone in my pocket. That phone was probably my ace card since it more than likely had texts between Jared and Denise on it. I had to make sure I could get a look at what was on the phone to see if there was anything I could use to help myself.