by Jeremy Asher
“Speed dating?”
“Yeah. I heard on the radio that there was a speed dating session tonight at Shotsy’s and you were kind of down on love back at the plant nursery. Since you aren’t really dating anyone, I thought I could help you pick out the right girl.”
Jesse sat back in his truck and stared out the windshield. He had almost walked into a speed dating session set up by Sarah. Could life be more confusing? “What makes you think that you know who the right girl for me is?”
“Because I know you, Jesse Malone. Not this cute but warped man in front of me, but the real you. The caring and selfless person who I knew when I was a little girl. He’s still inside you.”
“You think so?”
Sarah nodded. “I saw him tonight.”
The sky let out a thunderous roar. Jesse was no longer that boy. But he knew that it would do little good arguing that with Sarah.
He slid the truck into drive. “I’ll drive you back to your car.”
“Actually, I was wondering if you could just take me home. It’s closer. I can take a taxi back to my car in the morning.”
“Are you sure?”
Sarah nodded.
Jesse remembered the way to her apartment from the night of the party. The fight resurfaced in his mind, the way he had exploded on Kevin in front of everyone, just like his father would have. Then he wondered what it would have been like if he had had a father more like Stanley. How different things would be for him today.
Pulling up to Sarah’s apartment, Jesse parked. The silence was louder now that the engine had fallen still. Sarah looked up at her place as if debating whether or not to get out.
The sound of thunder cut through the quiet followed by a downpour of rain.
“Looks like I missed my window of opportunity.”
The blackened sky held the moon and stars hidden from sight. Puddles formed on the sidewalks. Nearby lights illuminated yellow cones of cascading droplets.
“It can’t rain this hard for long. You can wait it out in here if you want.”
Sarah turned to Jesse. Her puffy eyes pulled at his heart. “You can come in if you want.”
Jesse didn’t say anything at first. There was something about the way she looked at him. An almost longing for him to not leave her alone. The same look Kate had given him several times—except with Sarah it seemed real and sincere. He opened the door a little and said, “Are you ready?”
The slightest smile curved Sarah’s lips. She nodded.
Jesse knew that going upstairs with her was probably a mistake. But that was the funny thing about mistakes: your heart always found a way to rationalize, a way to explain it away as you stepped ever further to the abyss, even if your mind knew better. ‘Nothing will happen. We’re just two friends hanging out, right?’
Jesse pulled his shirt over his head, trying to avoid the rain’s assault. But—
“You’re drenched,” Sarah said as they reached her apartment, catching her breath.
“Me? Look at you?” Her T-shirt was soaked enough to ring out. Jesse couldn’t help but notice the way it clung to her body, revealing a shape of pure beauty. He shifted his gaze to her face. Blond curls stuck to the side of her face and her smile went from ear to ear. Her eyes lit up as if the rain had somehow rejuvenated her, washing away the darkness, leaving only light. She looked incredible.
She pulled her hair back, tying it into a ponytail. “Stay here. I’ll get you something to dry off with.”
Jesse stood with his arms away from his body, trying to keep his cold wet T-shirt from touching his skin. He watched as Sarah vanished into the room on the other side of the kitchen. The place seemed larger now that it wasn’t full of people. He looked over at the sofa that he had tackled Kevin over and the spot where he had received his bruised ribs. It was definitely not one of his finest moments. He walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. The sounds of opening and closing drawers filled in the silence as he waited.
She returned a few moments later, wearing a pink sleeveless sweatshirt with an oversized collar, revealing her smooth-skinned shoulders. The EVERLAST logo reminded Jesse of the bags hanging at the gym where he used to help Robbie train for a fight. White workout shorts showed off a pair of perfectly shaped legs. “Here you go.” She handed him a towel.
Jesse rubbed the towel over his head. “I don’t think I’ve seen rain like that in…” He thought, trailing off. “I guess ever.”
Sarah leaned against the counter beside him and crossed her arms. “It’s like a hurricane out there.”
Jesse blinked. Had she just been checking him out? Before he could tell, though, she glanced away.
He wiped his face and arms, but his clothes were drenched, making it impossible for him to get dry.
“Why don’t you give me your shirt and pants and I’ll throw them in the dryer.”
Jesse studied her. “You do realize that I’m not that easy, right?”
Color filled Sarah’s cheeks. “Don’t worry,” she said, “I promise to be a good girl.” There was something about the way she said this that sent Jesse’s heart fluttering. “You’re safe with me,” she whispered.
“I don’t know. Something tells me that I’m never safe when I’m with you.” Nevertheless, he stripped down to his boxers, feeling self-conscious, and handed her the pile of wet clothes.
“I’ll go ahead and toss these into the dryer.” She vanished into the hallway.
Goose bumps covered Jesse’s exposed skin. He shivered as he took the towel he had been using to dry off with and wrapped it around his waist. He tried crossing his arms, rubbing them with his hands, but that didn’t seem to do much good either.
A minute later Sarah came walking back into the kitchen with a plain gray t-shirt and a pair of gray sweat shorts. “Here, I hope these fit you,” she said, handing them to Jesse.
He stared at the clothes, wondering where she had gotten them. Then it hit him. “Are these Kevin’s?” He’d just as soon be wet and naked than wear her fiancé’s clothes.
Sarah shook her head as if the idea was absolutely absurd. “No. These are my dad’s. I took them from him about a month ago.”
Jesse grinned, thinking this was probably equally weird. “Do you always steal your dad’s clothes?”
“I didn’t steal them. I borrowed them. I took him to the hospital for a treatment. He wasn’t feeling well when I got him home, so I ended up staying a few days, and I wasn’t exactly prepared so I borrowed some of his clothes. I just haven’t returned them yet.”
“Oh, sorry,” Jesse said, feeling like a total ass for making a joke about it. “I didn’t know.” Feeling more naked than he did before, he quickly put the clothes on.
Sarah took a step back to check him out. “Wow, they fit almost perfectly. They’re usually a little too large for my dad. But they seem to fit you quite nicely.” She turned her gaze toward the living room. “So, do you want to sit down?”
He followed her to the living room and sat on the sofa next to her. The sofa faced a modest television, not too small, but definitely not something you’d want to watch the Super Bowl on. A circular window peered out from the wall, lending a perfect view of the storm. A bare-brick wall surrounded the window, giving it an urban feel. “I’m not sure if I told you this before, but this is a nice place you have here.”
“Thank you. I love it here. There’s not much to it. This is the living room, and there’s the kitchen, which separates this room from the bedroom just beyond it.” Jesse noted the beautiful brick archway that separated the kitchen from the bedroom. Didn’t offer much in the way of privacy, but then again, this place wasn’t meant for more than two people. Sarah pointed to the hallway off of the entrance. “That leads to the bathroom, a linen closet, and the laundry area.”
“Nice,” he said. “It sure beats my place.”
“Where’s that?”
“Just above the pet shop.”
“Really?”
Jesse nodded.
“When my uncle took it on, there were newlyweds living upstairs. I don’t know if it was the sound of barking puppies or the wonderful fragrance that comes from having a pet store beneath you or if they just decided to get a larger place, but shortly after we moved in, they decided to move out. I thought it would be a convenient place for me to live, since I spend most of my spare time at the shop anyways. Cut down on transportation costs at least.”
“Yeah, that does make sense,” Sarah replied, staring at him. “So how is Little Jess doing?
“Little Jess?” Then he remembered her puppy. “Oh, yeah. He’s doing great. Though I think he misses you.”
“Really? Did he tell you that?”
Jesse nodded. “In a way. When I was feeding the pups yesterday, all of the other puppies ran for the food, except him. He came over to the side of the cage and stood up the same way he did the day you were there.”
“Aw, how adorable. You can tell him that I miss him, too.” She stared at the blank television, wearing a happy smile. “I wish I had a dog.”
“Then you’d have to potty train, walk it, feed it.”
“You sound just like my dad. What is it with men and always looking at the practical side of things?” Jesse just shrugged. “Would you like something to drink?”
“Sure.”
She stood up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen. “What would you like?”
“Whatever you’re having is fine with me.”
He watched as Sarah opened the fridge and leaned forward to get a better look, her face lit up in the dim room. Jesse couldn’t help but stare. The twelve-year-old girl he had once loved was now this beautiful and independent woman. He tried to think about what life would have been like if they hadn’t been separated. Would they be together now? Would she still be marrying Kevin?
She tucked a few loose strands behind her ear, exposing the smooth skin on her shoulders. Jesse couldn’t remember the last time he had seen a woman this beautiful.
She reached inside the fridge and pulled out a bottle. “How about some wine?”
“Sounds good to me,” he said. He turned toward the television, attempting to erase her beauty from his memory. Out of sight, out of mind. If only it were that simple.
The sound of rain dancing on the roof filled the silence while she poured their drinks.
Sarah came back to the couch with two glasses of crimson wine and handed one to Jesse. “I feel like you know a lot about me, but you haven’t told me much about yourself.”
Jesse swirled the wine in his glass. “There isn’t much to tell.”
“Really?” Her eyes narrowed. “I find that hard to believe. So why aren’t you seeing anyone?”
“It’s simple, really. School and the pet shop keep me plenty busy.”
“I see,” she said, giving him a peculiar look as if trying to decide whether she should believe him or not. “What are your plans after you graduate? Grad school?”
Jesse placed both hands on his glass and rested them in his lap, not taking his eyes off of the swirling liquid. “That was the plan.”
“Was?”
“When my uncle died, it created a void.” He paused. “He took care of my aunt. I mean, he took care of everything. When he passed away, it left Aunt Sherry with just me and Robbie.”
“Can’t Robbie watch after her while you’re at grad school?”
Jesse took a drink. “What is this stuff? It’s really fruity.”
“It’s my favorite,” Sarah said, bringing her glass to her lips and taking a sip. “It’s Arbor Mist.”
Jesse looked at his glass in disbelief and then at Sarah. “Are you serious? A Whispering Meadows princess drinking Arbor Mist?”
“Hey, don’t knock it. It’s good. I didn’t realize that Jesse Malone was a wine snob.”
“I’m not. This is right up my alley and my budget. I’m just surprised that you drink it.” Jesse took another sip. “But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” He shot her a wink.
“I knew I could count on you.” She held out her glass for a toast. “I can always count on you, Jesse.” They tapped their glasses together. She brought it up to her lips, never taking her eyes off of Jesse as she took a large drink, nearly finishing what was left in her glass.
Thunder let out a mighty roar just outside her building. Jesse’s muscles tensed.
“You okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” Jesse said. “I’m just not a big fan of thunderstorms.”
Sarah turned her gaze toward the window. “They’re usually harmless.”
Jesse didn’t respond. Thunder only reminded him of his father’s menacing rage.
“So what’s the story with Robbie?” Sarah asked.
“What do you mean?”
“He looks a little…scary. Especially with all those tattoos,” she said, motioning to her arms.
Jesse smiled. “He’s not that scary. Underneath that thick neck, shaved head, and tattoos, he’s just a teddy bear.”
“You two seem so different. Except for those big blue eyes, you guys don’t look anything alike.”
Jesse settled back into the couch, making himself more comfortable. His eyes fixed on the storm outside the window, trying to push away the memory of his father. “Robbie’s had it pretty rough.”
“Haven’t you, too?” Sarah commented.
“Not like Robbie,” he replied. “When my aunt and uncle took us in, for the first time in my life I thought we’d have a chance at peace. And for a while we did. But it didn’t last.”
Jesse finished the last of his wine and set it on the coffee table.
“Would you like another?”
“Sure.”
Moving to the kitchen, Sarah refilled both their glasses before returning to the couch. “So what happened?”
“Like I said, things were good at first. We moved to a big city where no one knew us, we had new clothes, a new place to live, and we started going to a new school. Nobody knew who we were and everything was great.” Quickly, he added, “Don’t get me wrong. We missed our mother terribly. Losing her was…the worst thing ever.” The smiling image of his mother hung vividly in his mind. “For the first time, things felt normal. No more running from our father. No more looking over our shoulders. We thought this was it. This was how normal kids lived. Until the kids at our school found out who we were. They started talking behind our backs. Our friends would stop hanging out with us. Then the rumors started flying and the kids started calling us the Murdering Malones.”
“That’s awful.”
“Kids are kids. They’re often cruel just because they don’t know any better. But Robbie didn’t take it well. He’s never been good at turning the other cheek. He started getting into a lot of fights until he was eventually kicked out of school.”
“I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”
“By the time he was sixteen he had been kicked out of four schools and had fallen in with the wrong crowd. My aunt and uncle didn’t know what to do with him.” Jesse paused and stared at his drink. “He eventually dropped out of school altogether. That’s when he got into boxing. I guess all those years of fighting gave him a propensity for it.”
“Are you serious?”
Jesse nodded. “He did well at first, winning a few golden gloves titles, hoping to turn pro when he was old enough. But he started hanging out with some pretty bad guys.” Bad guys like Ernie Montico. Nothing but trouble came from spending time with that maniac. “He started taking jobs that paid him to rip people off. In that line of business they run into some pretty nasty and angry people, and they figured Robbie, with his set of skills, would be a valuable member of the team.”
“So then what happened?”
Jesse ran a hand through his cool, damp hair. “He got caught. Not only did he get caught, but the rest of them got away, leaving Robbie holding the bag.”
“Did he go to prison?”
Jesse nodded. “He already had a strike against him from
a bar fight he had gotten into a year before that. And because he refused to cooperate and give up the names of the guys he worked with, they threw the book at him. He ended up serving two years.”
Sarah looked down at her glass. She looked just like Jesse felt: frustrated. “So how is he doing now?”
“He’s fighting again. He has a girlfriend, Felicia, and she seems to really care about him. But…”
“But what?”
“I don’t know. Robbie’s been acting strange lately. And he was talking to one of the scumbags that he used to be involved with years ago. I just…I just have a feeling that something’s not right. You know?”
“You really care about him, don’t you?”
“Other than my slightly crazy aunt, Robbie’s all I’ve got.”
Sarah smiled.
“What’s so funny?”
She brought her glass to her lips. “Nothing,” she said, grinning at him over the rim.
“What is it?”
“I was just thinking about the other day when he called you Ponyboy.”
“Oh, that,” Jesse said, now wishing he had just let it go.
“Why did he call you that?”
“He’s called me that ever since I was in the eighth grade. My teacher, Mrs. Randolf, made us read The Outsiders.”
“I’ve read that. That’s actually one of my favorite books.”
“It’s one of my favorites, too.” Jesse wasn’t sure if it was the dim lighting, the drinks, or if he simply hadn’t noticed until now, but Sarah’s eyes sparkled, like light dancing off a pond or a lake at night. “Robbie reminded me of the greasers. I begged him to read it, but he always said he was too busy.”
“He doesn’t strike me as the type to read a novel, especially a classic.”
Jesse let out a short laugh. “No. He’s more of a magazine type of guy.” He turned the glass in his hand, watching as the red liquid slid up and down the sides. “One day he and his buddies were racing their cars, and he got into a wreck and nearly died.”
“That’s terrible.” Turning sideways, Sarah tucked her legs beneath her.
“Robbie injured his back pretty good. He had to wear a brace that kept him from doing much. I read to him every day. The first thing I read to him was The Outsiders.” Jesse paused to finish the wine in his glass. “Robbie cried when Johnny died, but don’t tell him I told you that because he would kill me.”
