Fort Collins

by Christian, Claudia Hall

  “I. . .” Sissy said. Sandy watched Sissy’s face. “I think that Defense Attorney was right. I was never good enough to do ballet. I mean, what was I thinking? Those women are so. . . and I’m. . . I mean look at me!”

  Sissy gestured to her injured body. Sandy hugged Sissy. As she had when Sissy was a child, Sandy said, “Shh, shh, it’s going to be okay. Shh.”

  “Everything okay?” Aden asked as they approached.

  Sandy let go of Sissy. She gave Sissy a hard look.

  “Everything’s good,” Sissy said after catching Sandy’s look. She made an effort to smile. “I just feel. . . emotional, you know?”

  “Was someone cruel?” Ivan asked.

  “Who do we need to beat up?” Aden asked.

  “Men,” Sandy said.

  She gave them an exaggerated roll of her eyes. Sissy giggled at Sandy’s pretense.

  “Huuh, huuh, huh,” Aden said as if he were a caveman.

  Ivan turned his head to look up at Aden. Grinning, Ivan joined in. Sissy began to laugh. Sandy kept her hand on Sissy’s shoulder so Sissy wouldn’t laugh so much that she’d lose her breath.

  “Let’s return to our mythical Castle,” Ivan said. “I feel the desperate need to have ice cream.”

  “And cake!” Sissy said with a grin.

  “But who would create such a delicacy for us?” Ivan asked.

  “Sandy made another one for us!” Sissy said.

  “Sandra,” Ivan said. “Our heroine, again.”

  Ivan’s mouth smiled at Sissy, while his eyes took in her wet cheeks and red eyes. He held out his hand for Sissy, and Aden rolled him nearer to her. Sissy took his hand. Reading his kind smile, Sissy nodded.

  “Oh, look — there’s Jill!” Sandy said as Jill pulled up in her huge SUV.

  Sandy rolled Sissy to the sidewalk and left to get the SUV ready for them. Aden rolled Ivan next to Sissy and went to help Sandy.

  At great cost to himself, Ivan leaned toward Sissy. She turned to look at him. He kissed her lips.

  “I love you,” Ivan said. Even though he was in pain, he held his face inches from hers. “Always.”

  Sissy kissed him. Ivan leaned back into his chair. He closed his eyes to absorb the pain that was shooting through him. Sissy squeezed his hand in support.

  “Shall we?” Jill asked.

  She touched Ivan’s shoulders and then went to Sissy. Aden helped Ivan into the SUV. Jill helped Sissy to her feet, and Sandy got the wheelchairs.

  “Did you help him?” Sissy whispered to Jill.

  “Guy shouldn’t have to suffer for kissing his beloved,” Jill said.

  She winked at Sissy and helped her into the SUV. Aden got in the driver’s seat.

  “What are you doing?” Jill asked in a pretend huffy voice.

  “Huuh, huuh, huuh,” Aden grunted like a caveman.

  While Jill looked confused, Sandy, Sissy, and Ivan laughed. He kept it up until Jill laughed too. She got in next to Sissy, and Sandy sat next to Ivan.

  “Driver?” Jill said in an exaggerated “rich” voice. “Take us home.”

  “As you wish,” Aden said.

  He took off toward the Castle.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Wednesday night — 8:40 p.m.

  Tanesha pushed open her front door and stopped short. Her breath caught in her throat.

  Jeraine’s bags were sitting at the front door.

  She swallowed hard. She forced herself to breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

  Images of his bags sitting by a variety of front doors flooded past the walls she’d set around them.

  “Breathe,” she commanded herself. “Focus on in. Focus on out. In. Out.”

  Her mind flashed. She was her knees, begging him not to go.

  “Breathe,” she commanded herself. In. Out. In. Out.

  Her mind jumped again. Jeraine was standing there, laying out his lies! His lies! His fucking lies! Rage flooded over her despair.

  “Breathe,” she commanded herself. She closed her eyes and felt the breath move in, and then out. In. Out.

  She blinked. Her eyelids were like shutters on dramatic seems of desperate love. She’d thrown her wedding ring at him. She’d screamed and cried. She’d been indifferent. She’d been angry. She’d begged. She’d thrown things at him. She’d been loving.

  And he’d lied.

  “Aw, baby, ’s all gonna be okay.” “You know I always come home.” “You is my one and only, baby.” “Ah, honey, I’d never lie to you.”

  “Just breathe,” she commanded herself. In. Out. In. Out. “You just have to breathe.”

  Feeling him approach, she looked up. His eyes on her face, he crept toward her as if he were a lion tamer approaching an unpredictable lion.

  “Hi?” he asked.

  “I thought you weren’t leaving until Friday,” Tanesha managed. In her head, she demanded herself to focus. Breathe.

  “No,” Jeraine said. “I have to leave in the morning.”

  “So that was just a lie?!” Tanesha’s voice rose with a mixture of panic and rage.

  “No,” Jeraine said.

  He looked like he wanted to say something else. Thinking better of it, he shook his head.

  “No, what?” Tanesha asked.

  “Uh,” he started but stopped talking.

  He looked at her. Her mind went completely blank. She felt like a bubble had formed where her thoughts should be.

  She raised an index finger. She set her book bag next to the table. She picked up her running shoes from the pile of shoes next to the door and left the house. Sitting in a rocking chair on their porch, she forced her mind to focus on changing her shoes. She didn’t bother to put her boots away. Once her running shoes were on, she took off running.

  She ran as fast and hard as she was capable of running. After a few minutes, she settled into a steady and rapid pace. She’d just completed a mile when she realized someone was running behind her. She stopped running and turned around.

  Jeraine ran up to her. She raised her hands in a “What?” gesture.

  “Where are we going?” he asked.

  For a long moment, they stared at each other.

  “Nowhere.” Tanesha’s grief-stricken voice came out. “We’re going nowhere.”

  “Nah,” Jeraine said with a grin. “We’re going somewhere.”

  They stared at each other again.

  “Come on,” Jeraine said. “Let’s run City Park. If you’re going to yell at me — and I certainly deserve it — you can yell while we run.”

  “Why City Park?” Tanesha asked. “It’s a long way.”

  “We’re supposed to get cake and ice cream with Sissy and Ivan. Charlie started testifying today,” Jeraine said. He gave her a cocky grin. Imitating her voice, he said, “Remember? Our life? You can remember our life, for once, can’t you?”

  Tanesha gasped a sob. He caught her before she collapsed. Hot and sweaty from running, she sobbed into his shoulder. After a few moments, she spun in place and took off running.

  “Catch me if you can!” she threw back to him.

  “Oh, it’s on!” he said.

  Jeraine took off after her.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Wednesday night — 9:15 p.m.

  “It’s very late,” Jabari said. He was holding onto Yvonne’s neck as she and Rodney walked toward the Castle from the parking lot. “That’s just the life of a rock star.”

  Yvonne pulled back to look at the little boy.

  “Are you a rock star?” Yvonne asked.

  “No,” he giggled.

  He buried his face in her neck.

  “What is it?” Yvonne asked.

  Rodney glanced at them. She nodded, and he knocked on the front door.

  “I don’t really want to go,” Jabari said.

  Yvonne held him close.

  “Can’t we just go to your house?” Jabari asked. “I can sleep in my big, grown-up bed? I can play with Mr. Chesterfield all day? Then I could go home, and Mommy would put me
to sleep? And I could play with her in the morning and then. . .”

  The Castle door opened. Delphie welcomed Rodney with a hug.

  “I thought you wanted to go with your Daddy,” Yvonne said.

  “I do,” Jabari said. “I just. . . um. . .”

  Jabari watched Rodney and Delphie talk. Rodney turned his body sideways and reached out to them.

  “Can you come with me?” Jabari asked. “And Mr. Chesterfield? And Mommy, too? And Mr. Rodney? And. . .”

  Jabari sighed.

  “What is this?” Yvonne asked in a low voice.

  She gestured for Rodney to go in. He shook his head and walked toward them.

  “I just. . .” Jabari’s eyes welled with tears. Imitating Rodney, the child shook his head.

  Rodney picked the small child up out of Yvonne’s arms. He hugged him tight.

  “This is the best my life has ever been,” Jabari said into Rodney’s neck.

  “Me, too,” Rodney said.

  “Certainly, that’s true for me,” Yvonne said.

  “I don’ want anything to change,” Jabari said.

  “What if it just keeps getting better?” Rodney asked.

  The little boy was so surprised that he leaned back from Rodney. He turned to Yvonne.

  “Is it possible?” Jabari asked.

  His eyes became so big and so full that they almost filled up his whole face. His mouth fell open in a tiny “o.”

  “Of course,” Yvonne said with a smile.

  “Really?” Jabari asked. “You wouldn’t just want me to go so. . .”

  “Stop,” Rodney said. “You know none of that is true.”

  “I do?” Jabari looked at him.

  “You know it here,” Rodney said. Rodney put his hand over Jabari’s heart. Jabari scowled. He put his own tiny hand over Rodney’s big one. After a moment, Jabari nodded.

  “You’re right,” Jabari said. “I do know.”

  Jabari smiled and held out his arm. Yvonne walked forward so Jabari could hug her, too. Rodney put an arm around Yvonne. The small child sat cocooned by two adults who loved him completely.

  “I still don’t want to go,” Jabari said.

  “We’ll try it for a day or so,” Yvonne said. “If you don’t like it, we’ll come right home.”

  “I forgot!” Jabari brightened. “You’re going with me!”

  “We’re going to try it out together,” Yvonne said. “If we don’t like it — even for a moment — we come straight home.”

  Jabari nodded. Rodney kissed his cheek.

  “Think of me,” Rodney said. “I will miss you horribly.”

  “Poor Mr. Rodney,” Jabari said.

  He threw his arms around Rodney’s neck in a tight hug.

  “Ready to go in?” Rodney asked.

  The gate to the Castle parking lot. Aden navigated the large SUV into the parking lot.

  “Can you wave?” Yvonne asked.

  Jabari waved to the SUV.

  “Let’s get out of the way,” Rodney said.

  Yvonne followed Rodney and Jabari inside.

  Chapter Three Hundred and Seventy-four

  Release

  Thursday morning — 6:15 a.m.

  “Gentlemen,” Jacob said. This was his first meeting with them, so he made sure to look directly into each of their eyes. “We are about to engage in a long-held Lipson Construction tradition.”

  He scowled a bit and gave a solemn nod.

  “Breakfast,” Jacob said. Seeing that he had their attention, he continued, “This is a time when we set aside any conflict or difficulty and focus on eating pancakes and enjoying each other’s company.”

  When he looked up, he saw that the person across from him was about to complain.

  “No,” Jacob said. He raised a finger. “This is a sacred time. We must dedicate ourselves to the task at hand — eating pancakes, eggs, and quite possibly a pork product. Your questions should be limited to which type of pancake — banana, blueberry, or plain old fashioned — you would like to have, which type of pork product — bacon, sausage links, or quite possibly ham — and, of course, how you would like to have your eggs made — scrambled, sunny side up, poached, or perhaps some other concoction.

  “I see the confusion in your eyes,” Jacob said. “You’re wondering why we would waste our time in this ritual when there is so much to do. Well, frankly, I understand your confusion. I once asked my father this very same question. You know what he said?”

  Jacob fell silent as the waitress brought menus and filled their water glasses. He opened his mouth to continue, but the waitress came right back to fill his coffee cup with the hot Nectar of the Gods. He waited until everyone had doctored their beverages before continuing.

  “I asked my father why we spent our time in this ritual,” Jacob said, to remind them what they were talking about. “He told me that, to get along with people, you must create stress-free situations in which to build shared experiences. What could be better at doing that than sitting down for breakfast? Especially at a fine dining establishment like Pete’s Kitchen.”

  Jacob nodded.

  “Truer words were never spoken,” Jacob said.

  “Jacob? Son?” Sam asked as he neared the table. “Are you feeling all right?”

  “Here is my father right now,” Jacob said. “Will you tell everyone why breakfast is important?”

  “Uh,” Sam looked across the table at Jacob’s twins — Bladen and Tanner. “Uh. . .”

  “Go ahead,” Jacob said. “We’re listening.”

  Sam leaned over so he was speaking into Jacob’s ears.

  “You realize they are babies, right?” Sam asked.

  Jacob grinned, and Sam laughed. He pulled out a chair and sat down.

  “Your father is right,” Sam said. “Breakfast can be the difference between a happy company and everything falling apart. At Lipson Construction, we get together for breakfast almost every day. We encourage all of the teams to follow suit. Most of them follow our lead. It helps people understand each other, especially with the teams of mixed types of people. Nothing is more important than getting along with others.”

  Sam looked up to see the boys watching his face. He glanced at Jacob.

  “That’s very. . .” Sam said.

  “Unnerving,” Jacob said. “Yes.”

  “They’re really listening,” Sam said.

  “I know,” Jacob said.

  Sam shuddered, and Jacob smiled. The waitress came to get their order. The manager came by to ask about Jill and introduce himself to the twins. One of Jill’s waitress friends picked up Tanner to introduce him to everyone. Bladen watched the interaction with intent interest. She came right back to swap Tanner for Bladen. When Bladen returned, Tanner gave him a wide-eyed look. Jacob and Sam ordered.

  Tanner pointed to Jacob and scowled.

  “Bah,” Tanner said.

  Bladen nodded.

  “You’re absolutely right,” Jacob said. “I do want bacon and not sausages.”

  “Bah,” Bladen said.

  “Good idea,” Jacob said. “I will order you a pancake.”

  Bladen looked at Tanner, and they looked back at Jacob. They gave him a grin.

  “You know what they’re saying?” Sam whispered to Jacob.

  “No idea,” Jacob said.

  Sam laughed. He put his hand on Jacob’s shoulder.

  “Thanks for inviting me to help you with your marriage-class homework,” Sam said.

  “This is their first Pete’s experience,” Jacob said. “You belong here.”

  Sam laughed. When the waitress returned, he placed everyone’s breakfast order.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Thursday morning — 6:15 a.m.

  “Katy-baby?” Jill opened the door to Katy’s room. “I thought you wanted to have a special ‘girls-only’ breakfast.”

  Still under the covers, Katy lay on her side with her back toward the door.

  “Katy?” Jill asked.

  Kat
y rolled her shoulder and head toward the door. Her dark eyes blinked at Jill.

  “What is it?” Jill fell to her knees next to Katy.

  “Scooter isn’t feeling very well,” Katy said.

  Jill noticed for the first time that Katy was wrapped around Scooter.

  “Scooter?” Jill asked.

  “Mommy.” Katy rolled back to look at her mother. “Scooter thinks it might be time to say ‘good-bye,’ but he’s too sad to tell you himself. I was just telling him that you wouldn’t want him to hurt, but he. . .”

  Katy sniffed back her tears. Her voice dropped to a whisper.

  “He’s never really healed from the. . .”

  “Serpent,” Jill said at the same time Katy said, “bad man.”

  Jill nodded.

  “He doesn’t want me to tell you,” Katy said. She rolled over so that she was facing Scooter. “He doesn’t want to say good-bye.”

  Jill went around Katy’s bed to the opposite side to see Scooter’s face.

  “He’s scared, Mommy,” Katy said. “Really scared.”

  Jill put her hands on Scooter’s face. In his kind face, she saw the puppy that was her bright light during a dark time in her life. She saw the friend who had been her playmate, running partner, and constant companion. Trevor, her abusive first husband, kept his own schedule. Scooter was Jill’s responsibility and her joy.

  Scooter’s dark eyes looked into Jill’s. For a moment, they simply looked at each other. When Scooter looked away, Jill knew that he’d been holding on long past what was good for him. He’d held on to spend time with her and Katy.

  Jill knew that his passing was to be expected. She knew that this was one of those moments when she should be an adult. But her heart spasmed with pain. She began to cry.

  “He doesn’t want to leave us, Mommy,” Katy said. Jill looked up to see her daughter’s eyes peeking out over Scooter’s head. “He wants to stay here with us.”

  “But he can’t do it anymore,” Jill said in a low voice.

  She rubbed his ears, and he licked her hand.

  “He says you can send him on,” Katy said. “But. . .”

  Her face wet with tears, Katy sniffed back her sorrow.