The more I studied the case, the angrier I got. The guys took her to their dorm room and one blocked the door while the other one raped her. Then they swapped. I was going to go after these bastards. Someone had to stand up for those who couldn’t, and I had decided a long time ago that it was going to be me.
Every time I prosecuted a case with a young girl, it brought back memories of that night. I had worked through all my demons, but sometimes, in the quiet of the night, they’d return just to show me they could. They’d taunt me and remind me that they had won.
I didn’t speak up like the young girl in this case. I wasn’t smart like she was; I didn’t go to the hospital and get a rape exam. I allowed my voice to be silenced by a threat I was too young and naïve to believe.
For a long time, I wanted to confront Smith. I daydreamed about it. Usually I imagined that I’d show up in a public place where he was and confront him. I’d embarrass him in front of everyone. Then I’d watch him get smaller and smaller and smaller until he was no bigger than an ant and unable to hurt anyone. The ant-size Smith would scramble along the sidewalk trying to escape being smashed by my high heels. He’d make it into the grass and think he was safe among the sharp blades. But he wasn’t.
I love running in bare feet through the grass.
****
Mike
I picked up Jack to take him to school on my way to work.
Jack crawled into the front seat and stashed his backpack between his legs.
“You look sleepy,” I said.
He yawned. “You try sleeping with a baby in the next room. Paige is a pain. I don’t know why Mom wanted another kid anyhow.”
I smiled. “Ah come on, Jack. You were a baby once.”
“Yeah, and Mom says I didn’t cry like Paige does.”
“You were a pretty good baby as I recall,” I said. “Except the time you peed in my mouth.”
Jack scrunched his freckled nose. “Eww! That’s seriously gross, Dad.”
“Tell me about it. I was changing your diaper, and as soon as I took off the soiled one, you let loose all over me. My mouth was open. Yeah, it was pretty gross.”
Jack laughed. “What it taste like?”
I laughed. “That I don’t remember, but it definitely didn’t taste like anything I wanted to taste ever again. After that, I didn’t take any chances. I threw a towel over you until I got the new diaper on.”
“Did you ever want another kid?” Jack asked.
I pulled into the school. “Never really thought about it. I have you and you’re enough to handle.”
Jack opened the door and jumped out. He threw his black and red backpack over his left shoulder. “Bye, Dad.”
I watched as he walked toward the entrance and disappeared through the glass doors. My boy was growing up so fast. Too fast.
I blinked back tears. Jack was so much like me that it scared me sometimes. Not that I was a bad kid, but I always had to learn everything the hard way. Just like Jack. I remember when he was around four, I told him not to touch the fireplace door because it was hot. Next thing I knew, he had touched the door. I thought Lisa was going to kill me when I dropped him off with both hands wrapped in bandages. But that’s how Jack is. He always has to learn everything on his own. And I know how dangerous that can be.
As I pulled away from the curb, I glanced back at the school entrance. Truth was I had lied to Jack. I would have loved to have had more kids. I planned on it. But life had some different ideas.
****
“Large coffee, room for cream,” I told the barista. I tilted the stainless steel carafe and poured half and half into my coffee. I heard a high-pitched voice and it sounded familiar. I turned around. It was Lynn Reynolds. I hadn’t seen her since high school. First Cookie, now Lynn.
“Cameral latte,” Lynn said.
“Is that you, Lynn?” I asked.
She turned around. “Oh. My. God. Mike Parker. How the hell are you?”
Yep. It was Lynn. Same squinty eyes and narrow nose.
She walked over and hugged me. “It’s gotta be ten years.”
She scanned me from my head to my feet, nodding in approval. “You look great.”
“You, too,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
Lynn sipped her latte. “I’m meeting with the country club staff to go over some reunion details. You are coming, aren’t you?”
I grimaced. “Haven’t decided. But now that I know you’re planning it, maybe I will.”
Lynn was our class president. She had planned our high school prom and made a career as an events planner in a town in the northeast part of the state where she went to college. Gina used to say how Lynn obsessed about the tiniest details. I remember Gina telling me how Lynn threw a party for her parents, who were birders. Everything had a bird theme. The party favors were natural twig bird nests filled with Godiva chocolate truffles. Gina always said that she wanted Lynn to help plan our wedding. God, I wish that had happened.
“You can come alone,” Lynn said. “What I mean is, you can bring somebody, but if you don’t have anybody you want to bring, still come. There are several people who are coming alone. So it’s not like you have to be a couple to come. In fact, my husband, Jerry, will be in Germany on business so I’ll be coming by myself.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“I mean it, Mike. You’d better come. You haven’t been to any of our reunions. This one’s going to be the best yet. Promise!”
****
Gina
I couldn’t wait to lace up my sneakers and head out the door when I got home from work. Pinching those two inches killed me. I went to Weight Watchers once and gave up after a few weeks of counting points. The points thing just wasn’t for me. Besides, I figured I could lose fifteen pounds on my own if I really tried. I started running and watched the snacks and it worked. I figured a few weeks of running and watching what I ate would leave me a little slimmer by reunion time.
Running was also good thinking time. Whenever I ran, I let my mind wander. I often worked out problems or ran through cases as I exercised. I thought about my current case, the one involving the co-ed that I was preparing to present to a grand jury. The poor girl quit school to live at home and attend a community college. She was having a tough time but thankfully she reported the rape and got help immediately. I worked closely with the victim witness coordinator and detectives assigned to the case. Together, we’d bring these boys down.
The asphalt running path around the perimeter of the park wasn’t very wide, maybe enough for two people to walk side by side. A guy was coming toward me with a chocolate lab and just as I went into the grass to pass them, I tripped and fell.
“Damn!”
The guy stopped. “Are you OK?”
He held out his free hand.
I waved it away. “Yeah. I’m such a klutz!” I got up and took a deep breath. I wiped my sweaty face with the small white cotton towel I always ran with.
“You don’t seem like a klutz. I’ve watched you circle the park three times now. Each lap is about a mile and a half. So, I’d say you’re working on mile five here.”
I held out my hand. “Hi. I’m Gina. Gina McKenzie.”
He nodded. “Rob Miller.” He patted the dog. “And this is Molly.”
The guy was steamy in his torn jeans and white button down shirt. He had short black hair peppered with gray around the temples. Thick brows and a dimple in the middle of his square chin. And straight teeth.
I reached down to pet Molly. “How old is she?”
“She’s pushing 10. I got her when I was 30. She’s the only lady who’s ever stayed with me,” He laughed.
“Do you come here every day?”
“Pretty much every day,” he said. “We live close and can walk here. We moved in about six months ago.”
“What kind of work do you do,” I asked.
“Promise you won’t laugh?”
“Promise.”
“
I’m a proctologist.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed a little. “An ass doctor?”
He smiled. “You said you wouldn’t laugh.”
“I know. I know. Sorry. We do need ass doctors after all.”
Rob laughed. “What about you? What do you do?”
“I’m a prosecutor.”
“So what do you prosecute?” he asked.
“Sexual assault cases.”
“That’s intense.”
“Yeah,” I said. “But someone’s got to put the bastards behind bars.”
Rob nodded. “Well, we’d better get going. Maybe I’ll see you here again. Sorry if I messed up your run.”
“You didn’t. It was nice meeting you, too.”
As Rob and Molly walked away, I felt a tiny tingle that I hadn’t felt since high school. It caught me off guard. I never thought I’d ever feel that tingle again, and certainly not after just meeting a guy for the first time. I went home thinking that I would have to run in the park more often.
****
I looked at the caller ID. “Hey, Mom. I was going to call you later. Did you get my email with the donor profiles?”
I heard Mom clear her throat. “Are you sure there’s no other way, Gina?”
“Well, the only other way I know of is to find someone to screw. And finding a screwable guy that meets all of my requirements isn’t easy.”
“I know. I know,” Mom said. “This just seems so, so unnatural.”
“And picking someone off the street corner isn’t? Look, Mom. I kissed a lot of frogs in my life and none of them were my prince. That’s just the way it goes.”
Mom wasn’t about to let up. “What about a good friend?”
“Mom!” I shouted. “Are you suggesting I ask a good friend to get me pregnant?”
“Well. It might work. People do it in the movies.”
“That comes with other complications. Like what if the good friend decides he wants to be a part of my baby’s life?”
“Well, you’re an attorney. Couldn’t you get him to sign something?” Mom asked.
“Mom! And besides, all of my good male friends have wives or girlfriends and I don’t think anyone would be willing to lend her man to me for a night or two.”
“What about that gay friend of yours? He seems nice.”
“Scott? He is nice. But I could never ask Scott, or any other gay man, to get me pregnant.”
“I was just thinking that he might be willing. It’s not like he needs his semen.”
“Mom!”
“OK. OK. I guess it does sound pretty dumb.”
“Yeah, Mom. But I love you. Look, I wish this wasn’t the way it had to happen either, but I have no choice if I want a child of my own. And besides, you of all people should understand what I’m going through.”
I was an only child. Mom and Dad had adopted me as a baby after trying to have one of their own for years.
“You’re right, Gina. Let’s just hope it works. I’ll pray for good semen. And I’ll get all of my friends to pray for good semen.”
Mom made me laugh. She had a funny way of phrasing things.
“I’ve decided to come home for the reunion,” I told her. “You gonna be around that weekend?”
Mom checked her calendar. “Bad news. That’s the Saturday I’m going on the overnight bus trip to New York. But I can cancel.”
“Don’t you dare cancel. I’ll fly home Friday and spend the day with you before your New York trip. I won’t be around Saturday anyhow if I go to the reunion.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
****
Mike
Jack was waiting for me on the curb in front of the school. I pulled up, and he opened the door and climbed in.
“How was your day, bud?”
Jack sighed. “OK.”
“Just OK?”
Jack looked like a deflated balloon. His eyes scrunched and he grimaced like he had struck out, dashing his team’s hopes for a come-from-behind win.
“Well, I kind of didn’t do too well on my spelling test today,” he said.
“What’d ya get?”
Jack shook his head. “I don’t want to say.”
“It can’t be that bad.”
Jack nodded. “Trust me, it is.”
“70?”
“Lower.”
“65?”
“Lower.”
“Lower than a 65? Geez, Jack. Didn’t you study?”
“I kind of got an F?”
“F?” My voice jumped a few octaves. “OK, Jack, what happened?”
“I forgot to study, and I figured that I could cheat, just this one time. Turned out Miss Sharp caught me and I got an automatic F.”
Inside I was smiling because I had done the same thing when I was Jack’s age and got caught, too. But the father in me knew I had to handle this moment in a fatherly way. “Well, guess that’ll teach you not to cheat.”
Jack’s eyebrows arched. “So you’re not mad?”
“Of course I’m mad. Disappointed is probably a better word. Have fun telling your mom when you get home.”
“Do I have to tell her?”
“What’d you think?”
Jack was quick on the draw. “No. I don’t think she needs to know.”
I smiled. “Think again Jack-ster.”
“Dang! Mom will go parental on me. She hates cheaters. Every time I try to cheat in Monopoly, she catches me.”
“But wouldn’t you rather be the one to tell her and not your teacher?”
Jack sighed. “I suppose. I wish I could start today over.”
I rubbed the top of Jack’s head. “Some days are like that, bud. It’s called life.”
Jack shifted in his seat. “Oh, forgot to tell you. Mom said that you should go to your high school reunion.”
“Oh, yeah? How does she know about that?”
“She ran into someone who went to school with you and they mentioned it. Mom said she hopes that you go; something about Gina.”
“She mentioned Gina?”
“Yeah. Who’s Gina?”
“Just someone I went to school with?”
“Was she your girlfriend?”
“Yeah.”
“Was she hot?”
“Jack!”
“Just asking if she was hot, dad. Geez.”
“Yes, she was pretty.” I looked at Jack. “OK, Hot. She was pretty hot.”
I dropped Jack off at Lisa’s and went home. I picked up the reunion invitation and read it again. Oh, what the hell. Guess I’ll go. Even if I don’t stay for very long, as least I can say I went. And it might be nice to see some of the old gang again. Most of them moved away after high school.
Chapter 9
Gina
Every day, I’d run after work and I’d look for Rob. I felt like a pathetic teenager with raging hormones, but I wanted to see if I felt that tingle again or if it was just a freak thing. I call the tingle The Mike Effect.
I’ve been with a few guys since Mike, and none of them made me feel the tingle. We had OK sex, but nothing that wowed me like when I was with Mike. Even the first time Mike and I did it, it wasn’t as bad as most of my friends had told me it would be. We were both virgins, and Mike was so gentle.
I remember the night so well. You never forget the night you lose your virginity. We were under our make-out tree on his sleeping bag. We were all over each other, and I felt like I was going to die I wanted him so badly. My body quivered and I felt his hardness against me. I couldn’t take it anymore. I pulled him toward me.
“Gina, baby, are you sure?” Mike asked, stopping to hold my face still so he could look me in the eyes and see that I really meant what I was guiding him to do.
“Yes, please. I want to.”
“God, baby, I love you.” And Mike was kissing me in places I never knew could bring me so much pleasure.
He grabbed the condom he had brought, just in case, and I heard it rip
open.
“I don’t want to hurt you, baby. If I am, please tell me and I’ll stop.”
Mike eased his way into me all the while kissing me and telling me how much he loved me and wanted me. I felt a little pang but it didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. Mike came so hard I thought he was hurt. And it was the first and only time I didn’t have an orgasm. After that, things got pretty incredible pretty fast and sex with Mike was like a drug I could never get enough of.
****
I was about ready to give up on Rob when he and Molly turned the corner. I saw Molly’s head before I saw Mike.
My pink shirt was soaked with sweat and I was sure I reeked, but I stopped to whisper a breathless hello.
“Whoa, Molly!” Rob pulled slightly on Molly’s leash so she would stop. “I was hoping to see you here.”
I wiped the sweat off my forehead with my running towel. “Really?”
“Yeah, I … I wondered if you’d like to get coffee sometime.”
I huffed. “Coffee?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m more of a tea girl.”
Rob laughed. “OK. Tea for you and coffee for me.”
I huffed. “When?”
“Is tonight too soon?” he asked. “I’m headed out of town tomorrow.”
“Sure. Tonight’s great. When and where?”
“Nine at the diner on the corner of Park and Roosevelt?”
I nodded. “See you then.”
I picked up speed and ran as fast as I could the rest of the way home. I couldn’t believe that I had just accepted an invitation for coffee from someone I barely knew. But it was in a public place so that made me feel better. One of the things I’ve had to work on with my therapist is trust issues. Ever since the rape, it’s hard for me to trust any guy. If I were honest, that’s why the few relationships I’ve had didn’t last.
Gina & Mike (The Yearbook Series Book 1) Page 7
