by Jesse Jordan
“Thank you, Mama. I think I'll go introduce Andrea to the gym. We'll be back in time for dinner.”
“I hope so....” Mama replies, teasingly. “You're cooking.”
Chapter 13
Andrea
My website looks great, and I'm working in another window, getting ready to check my upload of my interview with Ian about his favorite foods. It's a total fluff piece, but it allows me to do more than just copy and paste the same article from the band's website to my blog. I know that James told me that I can do just that, but I also know that one of the big things that drive website traffic is unique content. Selfies alone aren’t going to do that, even though my recent work with Joey at the gym makes me think I might just be looking good enough for a halfway decent booty-selfie. No duck lips though. Never duck lips.
Thankfully, Ian was glad to let me film us going out for lunch at a food truck in Huntington Beach, and the video is going to be the centerpiece of the article. The food truck was, of course, more than happy to let us film, and I even got a plug from them so that once it's uploaded to my website and it launches, the article will also include a link to their Facebook page. It's sort of a mutually beneficial relationship. I friend them, they friend me, I try to drive a little bit of traffic to their pages, they try to drive some stuff my way, and in the end, our network grows bigger.
I'm typing in Ian's comment about what he likes on his favorite burritos when my phone rings. It's a strange ring, and I realize with a bit of surprise it's coming in over my Skype app, I remember I used it yesterday to call one of the contacts that Harry forwarded to me. It's safer and more anonymous than using a regular phone number.
I open my app and see that the user ID is unfamiliar, but I figure I might as well, maybe it's one of Harry's contacts reaching out to me, although if that's the case I need to talk to Harry about being more careful with that. He said he'd notify me before he gave out my information to anyone. “Hello?”
“Well, well, I finally remembered you had a Skype ID.” Chad. Son of a... I take a deep breath, reminding myself that I'm sitting at the dining room table, with two other people in the house while Joey takes Maria out grocery shopping. Teresa is working on her paperwork in my bedroom, and Angel is content to work on some coloring pages next to me while the two adults do their work. Angel looks up when I start speaking, but shrugs, he's heard me talk to all sorts of people recently.
“What do you want, Chad? Wanted to ask what my plans were for Thanksgiving?”
“From what I hear, sucking on chorizo,” Chad taunts, and I pick up my phone, turning off the speaker to spare Angel any of this ugliness. Was I always surrounded by this much ignorant hatred?
“That's disgusting, even for you Chad. Now, one last time, what do you want?”
“Where are you living now, Andrea? I'd like to come by and see you some time, but the last time I went by your place, it was empty. I even went by to see your dad, and Darren tells me you've quit at the paper? So, what's going on?”
“Just what you've seen and heard, Chad. I left the paper, I moved to a new place where I have my freedom to be who I am, to spend time with the people I want to spend time with. Why got a problem with that?”
“Damn right I do. I mean, we've all played on the wild side, but dating a guy like that... what the fuck is wrong with you?”
“I'm dating a man now Chad. Something I doubt you're ever going to be. By the way, how's the DA treating you?”
I really shouldn't, but he's gotten under my skin, and I'm this close to hanging up on him right now. The only reason I haven't is a lifetime of being taught not to be rude to people on the phone, and the journalistic instinct to pump a conversation for as much information as possible, even if it turns my stomach to listen to it. Still, I can't help but get some digs in on Chad, let him know how I feel.
“A man?” Chad scoffs. “Is that what you're calling him? He's a punk from the fucking barrio, and that's all he's ever going to be. I don't care if he outsells the Beatles and makes a billion dollars. You can take the boy out of the barrio, but not the barrio out of the boy.”
“He’s got Marine blood running in his veins, and if you keep it up, he might just introduce you to that. In case you've forgotten Chad, you and I are done, finished. We broke up months ago, back in June to be precise.”
Chad laughs harshly, sounding slightly unhinged. Or maybe drunk, he's never been someone who felt you had to wait until after five o'clock on the weekdays to start enjoying a good drink. “You mean you got your panties in a wad back in June, and you still haven't unclenched them. Like I said, I get it, he's giving you a tick on your bucket list, I did the same thing with a girl from Compton a few years back. But that doesn't matter. Where are you now?”
“I'm not telling you, Chad. And after this, I'm blocking this ID, going private. So, goodbye.”
“I'm not worried,” Chad says before I can hang up the call. “After all, between the P.I.s that work for my Dad, and those that work for yours, I'm sure someone's going to find you and your barrio boyfriend. Goodbye... for now.”
The call hangs up, and I resist the urge to slam my phone down on the table. Instead, I set it down, saving the work on my laptop before I stand up, forcing myself to stretch my arms overhead to try and calm myself down. Instead of going back to work I go into the living room, walking around for a full hundred count before I come back into the dining room, watching as Angel is working on a picture. “Hey, buddy, what're you drawing?”
“Mommy and me playing at the park,” Angel says, referring to the large brownish blobs on the paper. His imagination is a lot more advanced than his drawing skills, like most little kids. “I'd like to go there again.”
“Cool. So where is this park, anyway? I haven't really had a chance to look around town too much.”
“By the big kids’ school. It's a big park, with a play area, baseball fields, and basketball. Mommy takes me there if the weather's nice. I'd like to go have a picnic,” Angel asks, looking up at me. “That'd be cool. What do you drink?”
“You'd let me join your family outing?” I ask, touched. “Thanks, Angel.”
“Joey loves you, of course, you come! You're fun, too, you know. You make Joey laugh, even more than Mommy does.”
“I love him too, Angel. He's really a good man.”
Talking with Angel helps me feel at least better when Joey and Maria come home, and I help them unload Joey's car, bringing in the week's worth of food. I load up my arms with four bags while Joey goes Hercules and carries a staggering eight full heavy bags, and Maria carries another four. Just helping them unpack and put away all of it takes them nearly a half hour. “Okay, as soon as I've got some money I'm going to get my own car so that I can help with that. Joey, are you sure we're not going to be putting another fridge or a chest freezer out in the garage if this keeps up?”
Joey shakes his head, his eyes twinkling. “I can think of at least a hundred things I'd rather put in the garage.”
Maria rolls her eyes, and I guess he came out to her about our intimacy because she gives me a knowing look. Joey goes in to check on Angel, and Maria stays behind, giving me a look. “Maria....”
“He's my brother. So yeah, I'm the kid sister, but still, he's blood, he's family. I like you a lot, Andrea. Don't screw it up, okay?” she says quietly, then smiles. “And he said he really loves you a lot. I gotta give you props for that.”
“Thank you. Listen, something happened while you guys were out, I think I should tell you both. Can you get Joey in here quietly?”
Maria nods, her dark eyes full of concern, but she gets Joey and they come back in, Joey's face concerned. “What's up?”
“Chad called me via Skype,” I explain, recounting my conversation. “I'm just worried... Joey, they've got the resources to find us. I don't want to put you guys in danger here.”
“Uh-uh, don't even start with that thinking,” Maria interrupts me. “I saw how he was those days you weren't calling, and
I didn't even know why. I saw the way you were when you came in that first night, you slept like the dead because you were exhausted, and I don't mean just from the work. We're a family, and we're going to stay family. And yes, that means you too, Andrea. Now, are we going to stop that, or do I throw you to both in the garage and lock the door until you two figure that part out again?”
Her voice is quiet but intense, fiery as she looks at both of us. With a strength that I've seen before. A strength built from years of working hard and sticking together as a family no matter what, and this time it's supporting me. I swallow, and instead of answering I give her a hug, squeezing her petite frame tightly. “I love you, Maria.”
“Te amo, Andrea. Te amo.” Maria hugs me back, wiping at her eyes. “Okay, now that we've had our little emotional moment, I'm going to go check on Mama. You two talk things over or something, figure out what you want to do this evening. I've got a babysitting job I'm doing near Moorpark, so I've gotta rush. You mind if Angel stays home? It's going to be one of those late jobs.”
“We're good,” Joey says. “I think Andrea and I might go for a walk though. You mind if we take off for an hour or so?”
Maria's cool with that, she'll prep dinner for everyone tonight, giving us time to be alone. Outside, Joey and I walk, holding hands for a couple of blocks before Joey has us turn down a side street, one I haven't been down before. “What's here?”
“A block up is an elementary school, it's one of the reasons I chose this house for us when we moved. It's close enough to the school that once Mama and Maria get their paperwork taken care of, they're going to have plenty of clients who are within walking distance, and it'll be good for Angel too. The school district is a good one. I don't know how long this music thing is going to last so I'm going to make sure my family is taken care of and set up while I can,” Joey says. “I... until I met you, I thought taking care of them was enough. But now, I want more. I want you too.”
“Joey, I don't know how to be a good girlfriend, or spouse, or mother, or any of that,” I admit, sighing. “I mean, I'm trying, but... my mother left when I was seven. And considering what I've found out about my father, I'm surprised I'm not as bitter and hateful as he is.”
“What happened?” Joey asks quietly. I see the school up ahead, and we climb the short dirt hill that's on the corner, going up into the parking lot where I see that school's still in session, the buses are idling to take their students back home. We sit on the ground underneath a big oak tree at the edge of the parking lot, watching the school as the minutes tick by. The bell rings before I can start, and soon students are coming out of the classrooms, bikes rolling, kids running, and some lining up for the bus. It seems to go so fast, but it can't have been more than ten minutes. Finally, when it quiets again, I start talking again.
“I don't really remember the details, I was young and my parents were both trying to keep it quiet. I do remember that Mom and Dad started taking dinners apart from each other, and sometimes I'd eat with Dad, but normally with Mom when she was around. The one argument I remember, Mom was yelling at Dad about a dress he'd bought for me. I don't even remember the dress, really. But Mom was yelling that it was totally inappropriate for me, and there was no way in hell that she was going to let me be treated that way. I didn't really understand it at the time, all I knew was that Mom and Dad were fighting and that it was somehow about me. I felt like hell, and I shrunk down in my room, trying not to listen. Not that it helped, they were both too loud this time to hold back. Dad yelled back that I was his daughter to raise as he saw fit, and that if he wanted to buy me a dress, he was going to buy me a dress. Mom then said something that I still don't quite understand to this day. She threatened him with going public about his habit, something about his tendency to order in. As a child, I had no idea what she meant, and even now, knowing some of the different meanings of ordering in, I can't quite peg it except that I think it was something illegal or at least publicly embarrassing. Darren Coates likes to drink, but he never did any sort of hard drugs that I know of, and I never saw him with anyone that could be classified as an escort. Besides, he had plenty of girlfriends after he and Mom got divorced, he didn't need to find an escort unless it was on business trips or something like that. I never saw anyone I'd classify as a call girl around the house, that was for sure.”
“So, your Mom left?” Joey asks, and I shake my head. “What happened?”
“Dad happened,” I reply simply. “I found out some of the details in high school by poking around in his home study, but basically he kicked her out. He had a team of legal eagles, including Chad's father, more or less bully her into accepting a no-fault divorce that kept to a prenup that she'd signed a long time back plus an extra ten million dollars. He kept full custody of me, and she was given enough money to keep her mouth shut. The agreement stated that if she contacted me, or tried to give even a single interview about the marriage, she'd forfeit all the ten million, and be left with just the prenup money, which wasn't much, barely a half million. Mom was a decade younger than Dad. I don't think she understood what she was signing at the time.”
“Did you ever try to find your mother?” Joey asks, and I shrug, shaking my head after a moment.
“Until I left for college, I didn't have the means. Dad showered me with stuff, but beyond a credit card that he had full control over, I didn't have any money of my own. And I was too angry, too. Until high school, I thought she'd walked out on us, not the other way around. At college, I thought about it, but a lot of things got in the way. I mean, I haven't seen her in fifteen years, Joey. What if she's moved on? What if she's got a new family, maybe even a new child? Like I said she was younger than Dad by a good margin too, she'd only be forty-three right now. That's still young, young enough to have remarried, had a new family, all sorts of things. What if she doesn't want to see me?”
“What if she does?” Joey asks quietly. “What if she knew that your father was a bastard, and has worried about you ever since? Even if just to tell her that you're free now too, maybe you might want to tell her that much.”
I think about it, then shake my head. “Maybe you're right, but not until this shit with my father is over and done with. I won't have him polluting any chances with Mom. Also, I've got to figure out my own feelings about some of the things Mom had to be aware of, things that I wasn't, like Dad's racism, and whatever this ordering in is. Besides, you've got a gig to get ready for, and then a wedding to do.”
Joey chuckles, nodding. “Yeah, tomorrow night out at Twenty-Nine Palms. I still can't believe the guys agreed to that, with the wedding just a week from tomorrow.”
“You guys are rockers. It's what you do, it's who you are. Besides,” I muse with a grin, “I've got one hot date for the Marine Corps Ball. Sounds like a lot of fun to me, and I already have something to wear. All that crap that you helped me move in from my old place? There's a dress in there for that, I'm sure of it.”
Chapter 14
Joey
“Dude, looks like you're going to get dressed up normally. No stage makeup?” Ian asks as I help him load up the Gashouse van, putting the garment bag with my clothes for tonight inside, hanging it on the side wall. Gashouse maintains two vans that today are being used to transport a small performance kit to the Marine Corps Ball location.
Rocky's taking responsibility for making sure my family is safe so this evening Mama, Maria, and Angel are going to spend the night with Cora and Bella at Rocky's house, having a 'sleepover' for the kids. I figure with three grown women and both Rocky and Cora's parents being within a few miles of the house, they're safe.
Rocky, on the other hand, is escorting Andrea from his house to the ball in his personal car. We're going to be on the base itself, which I'm both dreading and looking forward to. It's been a very long time since I've been on a Marine Corps base. The Fragments have played on Army bases, Air Force bases, and even a Naval base... but not the Corps. I was just a little kid the last time I was t
here. I was so angry at the Corps, even though I know Papa chose that life. At the same time, I know he got a lot of his strength from the Corps and he taught me how to have that same strength.
“Tonight's not a night for going over the top. This is the Corps, and well… you know,” I explain to Ian as I pick up the biggest of the amps and lift it into the van. We don't know what equipment the Marines are going to have in the big ballroom that they're holding this at, after all. Better to be prepared to have to play with just these instead of banking on a sound system that may not be available.
“Good idea,” James says. He's helping us out and will be driving the van. “And not just from a publicity standpoint.”
James holds out a kit piece to Ian, but Ian doesn't take it from him. Instead, he's looking across the parking lot, his eyes squinting. “What the... who the fuck is that?”
James and I follow Ian's look, and I see a guy on the other side of the parking lot, poking around some of the cars. He's looking very intently at the license plates, and every occasionally, he's taking photos of cars too. With what Chad told Andrea yesterday, my alarm bells are ringing already. “Hey! Hey, buddy!”
I start walking across the parking lot, and the guy looks up. He recognizes me immediately and turns, taking off running. I chase after him, but he's off and around the corner before I even reach the sidewalk, and a moment later a dark blue SUV pulls out into the street, nearly sideswiping someone before pulling away. Ian comes running up behind me, huffing. “What was that?”
