by Jeremy Asher
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re beautiful and smart and you could have any guy you wanted. Trust me when I say that you don’t want to have anything to do with a guy like me.”
“Isn’t that my decision to make?”
Jesse was silent. And then, finally, Kate said, “You’re right, you know.”
“I am?”
She nodded. “I am too good for you.”
“What?” This was a first.
“But this isn’t a contest of who’s better than the other.” She placed a hand on his arm. “I like you and your faults. It’s what makes you who you are, and I…I like you. A lot.”
Jesse had no idea what to do. This wasn’t how the script was supposed to go. “So what exactly are you saying?”
Kate smiled. “I’m sorry.”
“You are?”
She nodded. “I care about you. And if takes you a week, a month, a year, or ten to figure out what you want, then I’ll wait.”
“You will?”
She reached up and pushed a few strands of his hair off his forehead. “You’re worth it.”
“I am?”
The bell rang, signaling another customer. Jesse didn’t even look; Kate had done something that no other woman he had been with had done and he was still struggling to process that information.
“Jesse!”
He turned toward the front of the store to see Aunt Sherry barreling his way, nearly knocking over the new display he had just set up.
“What’s going on?”
Aunt Sherry charged her way between them, forcing Kate to take a few steps back. Jesse had been used to his aunt’s eccentric behavior, but she had never been rude. Something was wrong. He hadn’t seen her this upset since the day Uncle August was admitted to the hospital.
“I have to tell you something,” she said, struggling to breathe.
He placed his hands on her arms, preparing himself to catch her if she fainted. “Take your time. Catch your breath.”
She heaved for air. Jesse looked at Kate, still unsure if his aunt knew she was standing there. Kate shrugged her shoulders, looking just as confused as he felt.
“It’s a disaster,” Aunt Sherry wheezed.
“What’s a disaster?”
Her eyes grew large as she gave Jesse the news that he had expected but not been prepared for. “Robbie’s been arrested!”
Chapter 22
Robbie
“Malone!”
“Right here.” Robbie got up from his urine-stained cot and walked over to the barred entrance of his cell.
“You have a visitor.” The guard’s militant voice rang loud. Robbie wondered if that was something they taught all prison guards when they got the job. “Turn around and slide your hands through the opening.”
Robbie did as the guard directed and gave a nod to his fellow inmate roommates, who looked a bit jealous. “See you guys later.” The guard gave his hands a firm pull, then slapped a pair of cold steel bracelets around his wrists. Putting handcuffs on as painfully as possible must have been another trick they learned.
The door slid open and the guard waited for him to walk through. “I need you to stop at the line. Do not go any further.” The guard slammed the door shut and locked it. Then he marched Robbie into a room filled with cafeteria-style tables.
“Stop here.” The guard turned Robbie around and then unlocked his cuffs. He gave him a firm turn one more time and cuffed his hands in front. Robbie stared at the cuffs and realized for the first time that for the next ten years he’d never experience life outside of prison without a set of these strapped to his wrists.
Robbie rolled his shoulders, giving them a stretch. “Much better.”
The stoic guard seemed unaffected by Robbie’s prison wit. “Have a seat.” He pointed to the empty table next to Robbie.
“When am I going to see—” Robbie didn’t finish his sentence. There was no need. The guard was already halfway out of the room. Not much of a talker. Lesson three of training a hard-nosed prison guard: do not associate with the inmates.
Most of the other tables were empty. A large man with a ponytail sat across from an old man who Jesse suspected was the inmate’s father. Another man, bald with tattoos covering his arms and neck, was sitting at a table by himself. Like Robbie, he appeared to be waiting for someone.
Robbie looked down at the table and thought about the last thing he remembered before waking up in this place. Old Man Neeter shooting a stun gun into Robbie’s chest. The bitter taste of batteries still lingered on his tongue. Stupid. What made him think that he could trust Ernie? After all these years and he was still the same spineless snake who never got his hands dirty and never took the fall when shit hit the fan. And boy did it hit this time. Robbie would be lucky to make it to trial once Jesse and Aunt Sherry found out. They’d most likely kill him before he ever spoke to a judge. Not that he could blame them. This wasn’t his first time ending up in a place like this.
He took a look around at the lime green brick walls and gray floor. The thought of Felicia visiting him brought a shooting pain to his stomach. The thought of meeting his unborn child for the first time in a place like this brought tears to his eyes.
Stop it. Not here and not now, he told himself.
“Robbie.” Her voice brought him back to here and now. He watched as she made her way to his table. She definitely didn’t fit this place. Too beautiful, too graceful. The other inmates must have agreed. Robbie watched as their heads turned as if she were the only woman left on the planet. He hated himself for letting her see him like this, and in a place like this. For letting anyone see him like this.
Robbie stood as she approached and waited for her to have a seat.
“Malone! Sit down.” The command blasted through the intercom system. Robbie looked over at the two-way mirror, then gave it a wink and a two-handed wave.
He turned back to Sarah. “Thank you for coming.”
“I’m not sure what choice I had,” Sarah said, looking around the room.
Robbie watched as she scanned their surroundings, waiting for the what the hell are you doing in here speech, but she said nothing.
“I bet you’ve never been here before?”
“Can’t say as I have.”
“I’m sorry I had to call you here.”
“Why are you here?”
Robbie looked up but shame caused him to avoid eye contact. “I got busted doing a little B & E.”
“B & E? What’s that? Some sort of a drug?”
“No,” he said, pulling his head back in disgust. “I may be a lot of things, but a drug dealer I’m not.” He threw his cuffed hands up. “I do have some standards.” He relaxed and thought of the best way to describe his situation to a criminal virgin. “B & E stands for breaking and entering.”
“Breaking and entering! Are you out of your mind? Why would you do something like that?”
“I have my reasons.”
She leaned forward and calmly said, “I hope it was worth it.”
Starting to doubt his decision to call her here, Robbie decided to change the subject. “What I did isn’t important anymore. I mean, it is, but that’s not why I asked you here.”
“So why did you? And how did you get my phone number?” Sarah asked. Impatience clawed its way into her voice now.
“I looked up your number in the phone book?”
“And?”
“And what?” Robbie held up his hands.
“And why did you call me? It’s not like I know you all that well. And I certainly don’t know the first thing about getting you out of this place. So why did you call me?”
Robbie looked down at the cuffs imprisoning his hands. “I’ve made my fair share of mistakes. And each time Jesse has made it a point to bail me out of trouble. I just want you to make sure he doesn’t do that this time.”
“Me? Why me?”
“Because you’re the only person he’d listen to.”
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Sarah sat back in the chair and crossed her arms. “That’s not true.”
Robbie let out a sigh and looked Sarah in the eyes. “Jesse’s stubborn. And when he’s set on something, nothing can change his mind. But you seem to have an effect on him, like a magical spell or something.”
“Are you trying to tell me that I rode the bus all the way down here so that you could ask me to ask your brother not to help you?”
Robbie shook his head. “Aunt Sherry and Jesse don’t have much money. The store is all they’ve got and it barely pays the bills as it is. I know Jesse and he’ll try to borrow against it if he can. Or worse, sell it in order to bail me out. I want you to make sure he doesn’t do that.”
“You’re his brother. I barely know him anymore. Not since we were kids. Besides, he’s made it very clear that he doesn’t want to see me again.”
Robbie didn’t believe it. He saw the way Jesse looked at her. Never had he seen such a lovesick look with any other girl Jesse had been involved with. There was no way Jesse would not want to see Sarah again. She meant too much to him. “Trust me. He’ll listen to you.”
Sarah uncrossed her arms and sat up straight. “Do you really think Jesse would sell the pet shop?”
Robbie nodded. “In a second. He can’t help himself. Ever since—” He paused, looked over at the tattooed inmate whose visitors had just arrived: an attractive woman with two young boys, probably five and seven years old, each holding an action figure. Robbie remembered when he and Jesse were young. Jesse had always tagged along behind him. Thank goodness that had all changed. This was no place for a guy like Jesse.
“I understand the whole brother thing. But why is he is so protective of you?”
Robbie leaned forward and spoke just above a whisper. “Now that’s something you’re going to have to ask him yourself. What I will tell you is that he thinks he’s repaying me.”
A curious look crossed Sarah’s face. “Does he owe you a debt?”
“No, he doesn’t owe me anything. But try telling him that. Like I said, he’s stubborn. The most stubborn person I’ve ever met.”
“Must be a Malone thing.”
Robbie noticed the tattooed inmate reach up and wipe a tear from the attractive woman’s face. He thought about Felicia. She still didn’t know he was locked up. How could he tell her that the man she was having a baby with was a loser? Then he noticed the younger boy handing the tattooed man his action hero. He bit back tears, realizing that he would never get to see his child’s first steps or first birthday or experience all the things that made growing up so memorable. The handcuffs made it difficult to wipe away a few loose tears that had escaped the walls of his eyelids.
Sarah followed Robbie’s line of sight. Then she placed a hand on his and said, “I’ll do it.”
Chapter 23
Jesse
Jesse forced the accelerator down like a hammer. His temper climbed along with the orange needle on the speedometer. “How could you be this stupid?” he shouted, slamming the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. He should have seen this coming. Anything to do with Ernie Montico was bad news. “I should have kept a closer eye on you, Robbie.”
His phone chirped; the caller ID read Aunt Sherry. He shook his head and prepared himself for the verbal attack. He flipped open the phone and listened while Aunt Sherry released an earful of frustrations onto Jesse. When she stopped for a breath he chimed in: “I didn’t wait for you because I wanted to handle this by myself. You don’t have to deal with this.”
“Jesse Malone. Are you trying to tell me that I can’t handle this?” Jesse hoped it was just a rhetorical question. Aunt Sherry was great, but when it came to a crisis, she wasn’t exactly calm. Jesse had broken his arm at the park when he was fourteen and Aunt Sherry passed out when she saw him. She ended up getting stitched up in the hospital bed next to him.
“Of course not. I just thought—”
“No you didn’t, Jesse. You didn’t think at all. When I came over to tell you about Robbie, I didn’t mean for you to get up on your white horse and rescue him by yourself.”
“First of all, it’s a red truck.” He paused, hoping the humor would ease her anger. “Second of all, I’m not going there to rescue him. I’m going there to murder him. Assuming his cellmate hasn’t done that already.”
“Now that’s not funny. Robbie’s had it rough.”
Robbie’s had it rough. If only he had a quarter for every time he had heard Aunt Sherry say that. “I know. I know.” He agreed to avoid hearing the entire speech. “Listen. I just wanted to go find out what’s going on. Talk to him. And see if there’s any immediate damage control I can do. Then I’ll come get you and we can go see him together.”
Silence on the other side. This couldn’t be good.
“Aunt Sherry? You still there?”
“I’m here. I’m not happy. But I’m here.”
“I’ll call you in a little bit, okay?”
“Fine. But be careful, and don’t be too rough on him.”
“All right. Talk to you soon.” He hung up the phone feeling relieved that she didn’t make him turn around and pick her up first. And for the first time since he got into the truck, he felt his blood pressure stabilizing.
The sun had begun its descent by the time Jesse pulled into the parking lot. He hadn’t called to find out what time visiting hours ended, but he was hoping for just twenty minutes with Robbie. Long enough to get the scoop and figure out what the next move should be.
He parked his truck in a visitor’s spot and headed for the entrance. Just as he was about to open the door, the last person he expected to see at a place like this walked out.
“Sarah?”
“Jesse, how’re you doing?”
“I’m fine,” he said, blinking as if at minute, she’d vanish like a stress-induced mirage. “What are you doing here?”
She adjusted the purse around her shoulder. “Robbie.”
“Robbie? How did you know he was here?”
“He called me.”
“What?” This had to a mirage because there was no way Robbie would call Whispering Meadows Sarah, and certainly not from jail. “When?”
“This afternoon. He said he needed to see me. That it was important.” She remained dispassionate, as if she had something better to do.
“Oh really?” Jesse asked, crossing his arms.
Sarah nodded. After a silent pause she added, “He was worried about you.”
“Let me get this straight. He was worried about me, so he called you.”
She nodded.
“Doesn’t he realize which one of us is in jail?”
Sarah didn’t reply.
Jesse ran a hand through his hair and took a step back. He watched as cars drove past, trying to make sense of everything. Then he remembered the reason he drove here in the first place. “What did he steal? Or should I say how much did he steal?”
Sarah shook her head. “I don’t know. He said he was being charged with breaking and entering. But he didn’t give me the details.”
“Breaking and entering,” Jesse said, shaking his head. A felony. “That’s just great. Did he tell you that this is strike three?”
Again, Sarah didn’t reply.
“I hope he’s comfortable in there. He won’t see the outside of his prison walls for at least ten to twenty years. What an idiot!” He kicked a stone across the parking lot.
Sarah placed her hand on Jesse’s shoulder. Like dropping ice into a bowl of steaming hot soup, his temperature dropped, uncoiling some of his tension. “I’m so sorry, Jess.”
Jesse looked into Sarah’s soft blue eyes. “He’s only twenty-five, Sarah. His life is ruined.”
Sarah rubbed his shoulder. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You said he called you here for me. What did you mean?”
She looked down and drew in a slow, deep breath before letting it out. “He wanted me to convince you to not help him.”
> “Why doesn’t he want me to help?”
The wind blew strands of her hair like a kite, reminding Jesse of the moment right after their first and last kiss together. The storm that day had blown in the monster from Arizona, forever changing their lives. And now Robbie was walking the same path as his father. “He’s worried that you might do something drastic.”
“Drastic? What’s more drastic than getting arrested for breaking and entering?”
Sarah tucked the loose strands of her hair behind her ear. “He’s worried that you and Aunt Sherry would sell the pet shop to bail him out.”
And there it was. The difference between the monster and Robbie. Robbie never wanted to hurt anyone. Well, anyone who didn’t deserve it. So why would he do this? Why now?
Jesse took a seat on the jailhouse steps. He picked up a pebble and rolled it around in his hand. Sarah took a seat next to him. “What am I supposed to do? He’s my brother.”
She shook her head. “I can’t tell you what you should or shouldn’t do.” She paused. “What have you done in the past?”
He looked up at the sky, half expecting to see storm clouds. “We’ve always bailed him out.”
“Seems to me that bailing him out hasn’t worked. Maybe Robbie knows what’s best for him. Maybe that’s what he’s asking for now.”
“And just let him rot in prison? Without a fight?” Jesse shook his head. “I can’t let that happen.”
“At some point, he has to run out of get-out-of-jail-free cards. He’s going to have to stand on his own two feet and realize that this is it, his life. And own what he’s made of it.”
The pebble in Jesse’s hand slipped through his fingers and onto the concrete step. “So you’re saying I should just let him go?”
“Maybe that’s what he needs.”
A lump formed in Jesse’s throat. The thought of Robbie spending ten years in prison, after all he had done for Jesse, didn’t seem fair. He’d take his place in a second if he could. “I can’t do it, Sarah. I can’t abandon my brother.”
Sarah gave him a studied look and pulled a piece of gum from her purse. “What’s going on with you two?”
