by Nancy Adams
Even now on the metro, she brought it out of her handbag and gazed at the worn piece of paper.
Please call me. Seeing you again was like waking up after so many years of sleep. I only want to talk.
“Seeing you again was like waking up,” she said aloud to herself, a smile raising itself on her face. When she read that, she felt the same. Like the light was being switched on and she was regaining consciousness and everything that had gone before was nothing but a dream. And Sam, he was the real life, the life she was waking up into. Hearing his voice tonight had confirmed so much. When he’d given her that napkin it wasn’t a case of if she’d call him, but when. As the days of the week had passed, each hour had become more and more stretched by her mind whirling with him. Until it simply couldn’t go on anymore. She had to call him. Had to hear him. Had to do something.
And then there was poor Paul. What has he ever done to deserve this? she’d asked herself over and over. Nothing, was the quick answer. As her heart had raced away with Sam, her mind had stung her often with reproaches of Paul. What had he done to her except love and support her? He knew something was up, he’d sensed it. But in his delicate way he had held back from her, given her space to breathe. He looked like a man helplessly watching everything he holds dear fall through the earth. Her refusal of his proposal had cut him badly, it was obvious from the way he had been so quiet around her lately, so forlorn. On his face, Claire could tell that he was looking for a reason to talk things over. But not wanting to impose himself too much, he’d said nothing. And in truth, Claire had done everything to aid him in this and avoid a confrontation.
It was at night when she would feel her worst though. At night she’d lie in bed beside Paul while he slept and attempt to nestle into him. But he felt different now. He wasn’t as warm. As she attempted to feel something from his body, she sensed that something had changed about it. Since seeing Sam, Claire had found sleeping in bed with Paul uncomfortable in a way that she never had before. Even his smell appeared alien to her now and something was dissolving in her feelings for him. Did I ever love him? she wondered. Was it simply a trick to rescue me from my all-consuming thoughts of Sam? She was sure that she felt something very strong for Paul, but the love she had for him was very similar to the love she had for Kyle: she cared deeply for him, but not as a lover.
With this final sad thought, Claire arrived home at her apartment.
She made it quickly inside and into the elevator, before being whisked up to her floor. When she got inside the front door of her apartment, she glanced to her right while she took her shoes off and saw that Paul was seated on the sofa, his back to her. She found it odd that he hadn’t turned to her when she came in and that she also couldn’t hear the television set on.
Having removed her shoes and her coat, Claire gingerly ventured into the lounge. When she entered, he finally turned to her and she could see that he’d been crying.
“Are you okay?” she asked automatically.
He smiled gently and told her to sit down next to him, which she did, sitting on the opposite end of the sofa.
“We really gotta talk,” he said after a moment of silence.
Claire went numb and she felt in an instant by his appearance that somehow he knew everything.
“I see you have your handbag on you,” he then said, making her heart leap in her chest even more.
Claire looked down at her lap. She did indeed have her handbag sitting there.
“You know my mother always told me never go through a woman’s handbag, it was extremely rude,” he began. “But sometimes you have to be rude to get to the truth. You see, my ma always held her handbag dear, but you Claire, you’ve never really been one for caring for your handbag. Most of the time it just stays by the front door. But lately, ever since you saw him, you’ve taken that thing everywhere you’ve gone. Now I’m not usually the most suspicious person, but then I’ve usually got nothing to be suspicious about. Anyway, without beating around the bush any longer, I have to confess that when you went into the bathroom this morning, I spotted that you’d left the thing on the foot of the bed. My first thought was to leave it. But then I felt that I couldn’t just leave it, so I opened it up and had a rummage around.”
“Please, Paul, just say what you’ve got to say.”
“You have his number,” he put to her sharply.
Her heart sank at the words and she found it difficult to breathe.
Paul now turned to her with red eyes and asked in a sad tone, “Why would you have his number? Or was it someone else’s, because it didn’t have his name. But then I thought that it had to be his. How did he get it to you? Did he have one of his people search you out in the crowd or did he invite you backstage?”
“He asked me and Annabel backstage and she insisted we go. I didn’t want to.”
“Oh! You didn’t. Well, that’s okay then. Did you want to take his number and then keep it heavily guarded in your handbag for a week?”
“Please, Paul.”
“Just tell me one thing,” he began in a trembling voice, “have you called him yet?”
“Yes,” Claire answered, without pausing.
Paul instantly felt like his heart was falling out of his chest. His whole world was disintegrating around him and he sensed that there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. Everything that had felt like stone only a week ago had turned out to be sand and was now being blown along in the wind.
“I called him a short while ago,” she continued, every word feeling like a dagger to Paul’s heart. “I went to Central Park and we talked for about five or ten minutes.”
“What about?”
“Does it matter?”
“I guess not, but I’d like to know.”
“It was nothing. He apologized for everything that happened before and I asked him what he wanted from me.”
“And what does he want?”
Without looking at him, she replied in a blank tone, “He wants to meet.”
“And you’re going to meet him?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t believe you, Claire,” he burst out, leaping up from the chair. “I don’t believe you’re this stupid or even this cruel. You were going to do it all behind my back?”
“Yes—I mean no…Oh! I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to see him.”
“After all these years you could just go and do this!?”
“I’m only going to see him, Paul. It’s not an affair.”
“But it will be,” Paul cried out, his face contorted into a horrified grimace.
Claire looked up at him as he stood before her. His face was so angry that it scared her. She’d never seen such anger in him before. Never. His eyes were no longer sad but furious, bulging out of his skull and aimed straight at her.
“There’s no reason to see him, Claire. No reason at all,” he continued. “He only wants to rekindle some sordid affair that he had while his wife was dying. Now he’s got himself a new woman, he wants the thrill of an affair again and why not with the same nineteen-year-old naive medical student that he did before.”
“You have it all wrong, Paul. It’s not like that.”
“Isn’t it!? Do you seriously hear yourself? You’re gonna leave all of this and—”
“I didn’t say I was leaving,” she interrupted.
“Really!?” he frowned. “And how’s that? You’ve already admitted to setting up a secret meeting with him. At this moment you’re one step into an affair with him.”
“We’re only meeting up so that we can talk. There’s a lot of things that we have to talk about, a lot of unresolved issues.”
“What, like how he’s got a five-year-old son God-knows-where?”
Claire shone furious eyes up at him sharply and his expression melted slightly at seeing such recrimination in her.
“How dare you?” she snarled at him. “That was a low blow, Paul.”
“Wow! Really!? You’re gonna come in here after arrangin
g a secret rendezvous with your ex and then talk to me about low blows?”
Claire stood up abruptly and, looking Paul square in the eyes, said, “I’m going.”
With that she rushed off to the bedroom and began packing a small case. As she did, Paul followed her around and pleaded with her not to.
“I’m sorry,” he said as she packed her wash things in the bathroom, “it was a terrible thing to say. I wanted to talk tonight, not argue. But my anger got the better of me. Please forgive me. We need to talk. Stay and we can. Please, Claire.”
But she wouldn’t listen to him and merely packed her stuff, put her coat and shoes on and left the apartment.
When she stepped out onto the street, she had no idea where she was going. She felt so alone and the thought of a hotel filled her with dread. She needed a friend tonight, someone to talk to. She called Beth, but got no answer. In the city she had very few friends, having only been there for the past three months. Only one number in her phone stuck out at her. Annabel’s. She called the doctor and was thankful when there was an answer. Claire explained that she'd fought with her boyfriend tonight and, without even waiting for her to go on, Annabel had asked her to come over. Feeling relieved that she hadn’t had to explain things further, Claire told her that she would be there soon.
Claire hailed a cab that happened to be passing the very moment she’d gotten off the phone to Annabel and jumped in. As it pulled away toward Annabel’s apartment, Claire glanced out the back window at her apartment. She felt such sadness at seeing it disappear in the distance.
With a shudder she turned around and faced the front, sensing that everything was about to change.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jules and Jose were driving into the trailer park. It was Friday and they’d just finished work. Jose was taking the pickup for the weekend as he was moving his cousin. So Jules was driving it home and then Jose would take it after that.
However, as they reached the trailer they found a terrible scene awaiting them next door at the Mathiesons. As they approached in the pickup, they spotted several people standing on the street outside Gwen and Charlie’s place. When they pulled up, Jules saw that Juliette was hammering on the front door of their trailer. He immediately parked up, jumped out and jogged over to her. On getting there, he noticed that David was standing just off of Juliette crying.
“Papa,” the boy cried out when he saw Jules. “Papa, he’s going to kill her.”
The instant Juliette heard her son, she turned to Jules with terrified eyes.
“He’s killing her, Jules,” she cried.
It was then that he heard a thumping sound emanating from inside the trailer.
“She was leaving him,” Juliette went on. “She was packing her things and going to her sister’s place in New Mexico. But one of the bastards in this place tipped him off. They called him up while he was out and he came back just as she was packing their things.”
While she said this, Jules heard the sounds of one of the boys screaming at their father to stop.
“Okay,” Jules let out.
He glanced over at the pickup and saw Jose standing outside of it with a worried expression. Jules left Juliette and began walking briskly toward the pickup.
As he passed David, Jules turned to the boy and said softly, “Davey, you go back inside our place. It’s okay. Just go in.”
Still sobbing his little heart out, the boy nodded and, like a dutiful angel, began walking back to the trailer.
When Jules reached Jose, he said, “Well, kid, you got your chance. Get the crowbar.”
Jose smiled and like a shot he took the crowbar from the back of the truck while Jules grabbed a pickaxe handle. They then both marched over to the trailer and Juliette immediately got out of the way. Jose attacked the door with the crowbar and within seconds he’d snapped it open. Jules was waiting eagerly for it to pop open, gripping the handle of his club tightly in his hands. The second it opened, he tore into the trailer with bulging eyes, Jose instantly following him with the bar.
When Jules got in there he found Charlie bent over something. He was repeatedly hitting it and hadn’t even noticed Jules and Jose busting into the trailer.
“CHARLIE!” Jules screamed at him.
The big man instantly turned around and Jules saw that he was crying. The big man’s tear-filled face creased into a scowl the moment he saw Jules and he leapt up. But Jules wasn’t going to let him and he swung the handle at the guy’s head the moment he moved. A wet smacking sound rang out as Jules split the big man’s eye open, Charlie reeling back. Without rejoicing in the blow, Jules immediately laid another on him, this time gripping the handle and thrusting the end into Charlie’s face, crunching his nose into his skull. The guy went sprawling backward onto a table, breaking it in half as his massive weight came down on it. As he fell, Jules readied himself to lay another blow, but he felt Jose’s hand on his shoulder and he stopped mid-swing.
While Jules stood there with bulging eyes, his whole body tense with the flow of utter hatred, his heart pounding and his breathing rapid, he saw that Charlie had lost consciousness as he lay on the trampled remains of the table. Jules stood for several seconds glaring at the unconscious man while Jose saw to the bloodied heap that lay on the floor.
“She’s real hurt, Jules,” Jose said from behind him.
Jules snapped out of it and turned to his friend. It was then that he saw what Charlie had been leaning over. There on the floor lay what could only be described as a bludgeoned pulp. It took a while for Jules to recognize that Gwen still had a face, so smashed and covered in blood was it. In fact, there was blood everywhere, all over the kitchen, all over Gwen and all over the beast, Charlie. The brute had beaten her unconscious and then attempted to beat her to death.
“She’s still alive,” Jose said as he felt her pulse.
Just then Juliette walked in.
“Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed when she saw the poor woman, instinctively placing her hands over her mouth, her eyes instantly brimming with tears.
“Mummy!” one of the boys called out from the hallway.
Jules looked over and saw the two boys holding each other and peering out of a doorway.
“Have you called an ambulance?” Jules asked Juliette.
“Yes, a while ago. They should get here soon.”
“Okay, boys,” Jules said softly as he turned to them, “I want you to step in here and come with me.”
“But what about Mummy?” the eldest asked.
“Mummy’s gonna get cared for very soon. But you need to come with me. We can go over to my place and play video games with David. You wanna play video games while the people help Mummy?”
“Yeah.”
“Then come on over.”
The two boys moved gingerly into the kitchen and Jules took them both by the hand and ushered them quickly out of there. As they passed their beaten mother, they couldn’t help looking. But Jules was swift to get them out before they saw too much, Jose and Juliette doing their best to block their views.
Jules took the boys over to his trailer and found David waiting in the kitchen.
“Hey Randy. Hey Casper,” he said to the boys when they entered with his pa.
“I was wondering if you could look after these two for a while,” Jules asked his son. “Is that okay, Davey?”
“Of course, Papa.”
“Can you take them in your room and play games with them?”
“Sure.”
The boy, so sweet, came in between the tearful brothers and placed his arms around them.
“Come on, we’ll play Halo.”
They both smiled and the three went off to David’s room.
In that moment, watching the compassionate actions of the boy, Jules heard the siren of the ambulance as it arrived. He darted out of the trailer and back over to the neighbors. As he reached the drive, he found Jackson waiting there.
“He’s killed her hasn’t he?” Jackson asked almost
in a whisper as Jules passed him.
“Don’t be dumb, Jackson. She’s gonna be fine.”
Jules popped his head into the door and said, “The ambulance is here and the cops will be soon. Jose you need to get outta here just in case.”
“Sure,” Jose said. “But I feel weird leaving her.”
“Well, you’ll feel weird if the cops show up and arrest us both for breaking Charlie’s face, so skedaddle.”
“Good point.”
Jose got up and said goodbye to Juliette, who smiled in return.
“Call me later and let me know how it all went down,” Jose said as he passed Jules at the door.
“Will do, kid. And thanks for everything.”
Jose gave Jules a friendly pat on the shoulder and was then on his way, passing the paramedics as they came to the door.
At the door of the trailer, Jules showed the paramedics in and they immediately swooped down on Gwen, moving Juliette out of the way as they did. As she stepped back, she couldn’t help but gaze down at the terrible sight of Gwen.
“Okay we need to get her out of here quick,” one of the paramedics said.
Juliette came over to Jules at the door and threw herself into his arms as one of the paramedics shot out of the trailer to get the stretcher.
“It’s my fault,” Juliette whispered into Jules’s ear. “I told her to leave him and now he’s killed her for it.”
“It’s not your fault. This was always bound to be the endgame even if she didn’t leave him.”
Soon the paramedics had gotten Gwen out of there and the ambulance was away, a crowd of people watching it go from the road. As for Charlie, the cops had arrived a few minutes after the ambulance and bounded into the trailer where they cuffed the thug once they’d asserted he was still alive. It was then that he had come to, just as they were loading Gwen onto the stretcher. As though he didn’t know what had happened, he immediately screamed out, “GWEN! Where are you taking her?”
