by Jenna Brooks
“Yeah?”
“Yes. For a long time.” She hugged him again. “Thanks, Grady. We’re going to head over there now for a few minutes.”
“Enjoy. You got my number, and the numbers for everyone that works on the place is taped inside the sink cabinet.” He tipped his hat to Max. “See you ladies in the fall.”
Jo was gazing absently down the road, toward the turnoff to the house. There was something drawing her that way; and that feeling, almost like a thrill, went through her again. “Yeah,” she murmured. “See you then.”
chapter 5
THEY MADE THEIR way to the house, circling around to go in the back door. Daisy whined and yelped from the back of the truck.
“Aw. Poor mutt. Think she’d take off?” Max asked.
Jo turned back to the truck. “Naw, I’ll have her leash.” She cupped her hands to her mouth, “Okay, Daisy, you spoiled brat. Hold on.”
Daisy slurped her face as she reached in for the leash, wrapping it around her wrist a few times as she helped the dog jump down. “Stay with me.” Daisy set her nose to the ground, dragging Jo up the walkway. At the flower bed halfway down the side of the house, she picked up a scent, and started digging furiously.
“Hey! Daisy, stop!” Jo reached for her collar, but Daisy jerked away and kept digging, throwing a shower of new mulch and dirt behind her.
Max brushed the mess off of Jo’s hair and clothes. “What’s up with the Daizer?” She stooped to examine where the dog was pulling something out of the ground: it was a bright yellow, softball-type toy.
Jo was staring at it, her eyes very wide–and, Max thought, very wounded.
“Oh my gosh.” Daisy dropped the ball into Jo’s outstretched hand. “This is Lady’s favorite toy. We buried it here with her, last time we were up here.”
“You had another dog?”
Jo nodded, still gazing down at the ball in her hand. “We got her when Johnny was a baby. She was a Lab–she was like Daisy’s mother.” She looked down at Daisy, sitting at attention at her feet and studying the spot where Lady was buried. “How would she find this? It was years ago.”
“Dogs have incredible senses. And long memories.”
“I guess.” She handed the ball to Daisy, who took it in her mouth and trotted ahead of them as they went to the back of the house. She laid down on the brick patio at the foot of the steps to the elevated deck, nosing the ball between her paws. As she laid her head on the toy, Jo felt her heartbeat speed up–the pain in her chest stifled her breath for a moment. Suddenly unsteady, she sat on the bottom step beside Daisy.
“Hey,” Max stood in front of her, “you okay?”
“Yeah. I just…I don’t know. It just hurts. Thinking about her. And Daisy was so young…still needed a mother. I was too young to be without a mother.”
Max caught it. Jo apparently did not, and Max didn’t comment on the slip.
They stayed that way for a few minutes, with Jo lost in thought and Max watching her; then, Max said, “Let’s go see the inside.”
Jo looked up at her and nodded. “Wait until you see the bedrooms. Each one has a view of the lake.”
“Sammy?” Jo set the phone on the cup holder as they pulled on to Route Four. “You’re on speaker, babe. Can you hear me okay?”
“Yeah. You on your way back?”
“Yup. Be there in about an hour.”
“Max there?”
“I’m right here. What happened today?”
“Tell you when you get here.”
“You sound tired.”
“I am. I’m gonna go lay down again, okay, guys?”
Max frowned. “Do that, honey. We’ll be there soon.” She reached down and closed the phone. “What’s up with her?”
“We’ll find out soon enough. Something’s really wrong, though.” Jo didn’t feel like dealing with misery at the moment. She pushed a CD into the player. “This should cheer us up.”
Max stared straight out the windshield for a second, then leaned her head back and groaned. “Oh, crap, where did you get that?”
Disco music came up loud, and Jo started singing. At the chorus, she yelled, “Everybody now!”
They finished the song with a flourish of bad harmony, and Max said, “I wanted to be a professional disco dancer when I was twelve.”
“I think I was twelve when I decided I was destined to be a teen idol’s wife. Had this plan to travel to Hollywood one day and meet them all.”
“Lots of them live in Florida now, I think.”
“Ah, so you kept tabs on seventies idols, Maxine?”
“Hey, I heard it on one of those Hollywood news shows.”
“Right.”
“Look, Bimbo, you’re the one with the disco CD in your car.”
Jo lit a cigarette, blowing the smoke out with a laugh. “Two points for you.”
Max grabbed Jo’s soda. “You mind?”
“Go for it.”
A ballad was playing. “Ooh, I love this one,” she sighed as she turned up the volume.
Jo smiled wistfully. “Secret for you. This one reminds me of God.”
“Yeah?” Max listened for a minute. “I can see that. I guess.”
“That’s what I always thought.”
“Didn’t you used to go to church and all that stuff?”
Jo rolled her eyes, tossing the cigarette out the window. “Yeah.”
“Why’d you stop?”
“I don’t get along very well with churchy people.”
Max grinned. “I can see that, too.”
“They thought I asked too many questions.”
“For real?”
“Yup. And they thought I was an interloper.”
“Well, of course you are, you spawn. What did you do to them?”
“I told them I thought that there was more to the Christian life than just praying and waiting.”
“And you said it just like that?”
She chuckled. “Not exactly. They were talking about how Christians need to pray, pray, pray. Which, by the way, I do agree with.” She paused as she turned the stereo down. “But then they said we should do nothing but pray, and wait on God, and I said, ‘Look, guys, if I’m bleeding to death, then yes, please pray for me. While you get me a freakin’ tourniquet.’”
“You said ‘freaking’to a prayer group?”
“No–I got carried away there for a second. Anyway, then they all stared at me like I had suddenly spit up green stuff, and they started to group-pray that the ‘interloper’in their midst be either healed or removed from them.”
“Yow. That’s creepy.”
“It was. After that, I thought it better that I go my own way, you know?”
“Good idea.”
“I mean, I had to wonder if they had ever even read the Bible.”
“Sure, most Christians learn whatever they know from whoever’s giving the sermon. I mean, what’s all the ‘armor’ for, anyway? We put it on, and wait for the General to do all the fighting?”
Jo glanced at her, surprised. “You know the Bible?”
“Yeah, pretty well. I actually studied Theology for a while in college.”
“Wow. What did you want to do with it?”
Max shrugged, looking out the window at the farms and the fields. Storm clouds were gathering to the west. “Looks like thunderstorms coming. See, my dad was a pastor, so I went into the same thing. The problem was, I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with it after, so I quit.”
“You quit theology?”
“That, and college. I had one semester to go.” She laughed bitterly. “Mom and Dad were something less than supportive.”
“What did your mom do for a living?”
“Housewife. Pastor’s wife, and that in itself was three full-time jobs right there.”
“So, what happened after college?”
“They kicked me out.”
Jo flinched. “Oh.”
“I don’t know how bad Mom really wante
d me out, but Mom never argues.” She stretched her legs, rubbing her neck. “I got accepted to the police academy in Concord that fall. Did all but a few weeks of the training.” She looked in Jo’s direction, taking in the surprise on her face, then returned her gaze to the window. “I’ll tell you about it sometime.” It was strange, she thought, that they were as close as sisters, yet knew so little about each other.
“Why…Okay, sure.” She reached for her hand.
Max squeezed it twice. It was the old, secret message among the three friends that meant “all’s well.”
“Lots of blessed time ahead of us,” she said.
“That’s right, Max. Lots.”
“Hey, let me buy us a twelve pack for tonight. Stop at the Mini-Mart.”
“That’ll work.”
They found Sam asleep on the sofa as they went into Max’s apartment. Jo rubbed her back briefly. “Hey, you. Wake up.”
“C’mon, Sammy. We come bearing beer.”
Sam sat up quickly, disoriented, goggling at them. “Wow. I was out.” She cleared her throat a couple of times as she reached down to scratch Daisy’s ears. “Hey, mutt.”
Max plopped down beside her on the sofa. “Hungry?”
“Depends on who’s cooking.”
“We’re ordering pizza,” Jo called out from the bathroom.
“Can we get pepperoni this time?”
“Sure.”
“Okay.” She pulled her legs up to her chest as she laid back down, leaving room for Max. “How was the house?” she yawned.
Max swung her legs onto the arm of the couch. “Absolutely incredible.”
“Lucky.”
“There’s three bedrooms, Sammy. Come with us.”
“Can’t. What do I do with Tyler?”
“Well, when he goes to see Dave in–when is it?”
“Whole month of July.”
“Okay. July.”
“Maybe. I need to deal with the Jack issue.”
Jo was coming out of the bathroom. “Yeah. We need to talk about that.”
“Order the pizza first. I’m dyin’ here.” She picked up the stereo remote. “Music.”
Jo was on the phone as Sam’s cell began to beep. She moaned. “He’s been texting me all day. Apparently, Mom let him know I left before I even got out of the driveway.”
“Fifteen, twenty minutes,” Jo said, turning her phone off and sliding it into her pocket. She curled up in the overstuffed armchair opposite the girls. “Toss me a beer, Max.”
“Here.” She opened another and handed it to Sam, who sat up and took a couple of listless sips, and then set it on the coffee table.
She laid down again, her arm over her eyes. “I don’t know what to do.”
Jo and Max waited quietly.
“Here’s the thing,” she finally went on, “I just don’t want to be with him anymore. At all. Not for a long time now. He’s a pain in the ass when he’s at his best, and lately, he’s getting more and more violent.” She moved her arm up, looking back and forth between the girls. “I swear, my mother likes him better than I ever did.”
“Irrelevant,” Max mumbled, tapping an unlit cigarette on the arm of the sofa.
“Yeah, it is. She is. That’s part of what hit me today. How much of my life she tries to live. Like when I met Dave. She got between us immediately. She even tried to keep him from Tyler, you know? It’s like, kind of like I’ve been her project for thirty-eight years now, and I’m tired. I’m fed up with everyone and everything I’ve ever known.” She looked apologetically at them then, but Max waved the comment off. Jo nodded, encouraging her to continue.
“Yeah, you guys know what I mean. Anyway, I started thinking that maybe, I’ve played a pretty big part in creating my own miserable life.”
Max raised her eyebrows, impressed. “That’s quite the insight, Bim.”
“Yeah. I’ve been sitting here wondering if I had my first adult thought today.” She propped herself on her elbow. “So, Tyler’s coming home from Boston in two days, and I have nowhere to take him. Unless I go back to Jack.”
Jo turned the volume down on the stereo. “Sammy, what about the other night?”
She nodded, then, “I don’t know. I…” She sighed, exasperated with herself. “Oh, hell. I’m not going to play virgin-in-flight anymore.” She sat up then, grabbing her beer. After a long drink, she stood up and went to the window, looking out as she spoke. “Simple. He just had a hair across his ass all day. I wasn’t ‘friendly’ enough in the morning. That’s what he calls his one-sided sex acts. Then, I didn’t come running home after work, and he started screaming at me before I got my jacket off.”
Her phone beeped with another text. She gave it a cursory glance, then rolled her eyes. “If Tyler didn’t need me to have this, I’d drown it in the toilet right now.” She handed it to Max. “Answer him whatever you’d like.”
Max gave her an odd look as she took the phone from her, then glanced at Jo.
She shook her head, mouthing, “No.”
“Well, this time–the other night–I got pissed. I came right back at him. Told him what I thought of him and his attitude, how sorry I am that I ever met him. And he started throwing me around.” She started to tremble slightly; whether it was fear or anger, Jo couldn’t tell. “I managed to lock myself in the laundry room long enough to get to you.” She looked over her shoulder at Jo. “I didn’t thank you for coming, and so fast, by the way–thanks.” She gave them a weak smile.
Max nodded. “Of course we did.”
“You’re good friends. The best. And I want to do the right thing here.”
Jo got up to place a fan in the window, to exhaust the smoke from the cigarette Max was lighting. “Any idea what the right thing is?”
“Flush him,” Max said.
Jo gave her a disapproving look as Sam chuckled.
“Oh, what?” Max demanded, staring petulantly at Jo.
“Her choice, Max.”
“I know. Doesn’t mean I can’t comment, though.” She exhaled loudly, annoyed. “Just how hands-off should I be, anyway?”
As if by reflex, Jo glanced at her hands. “Just don’t push, okay?”
“It’s fine, Jo.” Sam sank back onto the couch, her long nails tapping the sides of the can she was holding. “I do know what I want to do. I just need to figure out how.”
“You leaving him?” Max asked eagerly. “You and Tyler can stay here until you’re on your feet. I have that small bedroom that I don’t even use. I can take that one, you and the kid can share my room.”
Sam tried to smile, but it was shaky.
“Or you and I can share the big bedroom, and give Tyler his own space. I’ll be up at the lake with Jo for the summer–it’ll give you plenty of time to figure things out before I get back.”
Jo leaned forward. “What are you thinking, Sammy?”
“I need to figure out how to keep us both safe. I don’t know how to do that.”
“Your mom doesn’t know where we live, does she?”
Sam shrugged. “She might. Even if she doesn’t, she can find out. It’s not that hard.”
“She wouldn’t tell Jack…?”
Sam wouldn’t look at her. She took another drink. “I really can’t tell you what she’d do anymore. She’s just not on my side, I can tell.” Tears welling, she whispered, “I just feel like such an orphan today.”
Max crushed out the cigarette, and put her arm around her. “C’mere, hon.”
“I don’t even have any money,” she sobbed, laying her head against her shoulder. “He makes a ton selling his cars, but he keeps it all. Even all the child support Dave sends. He gives me a little here and there–but right now, I don’t have anything but what I put in my bag this afternoon.”
“We can take care of that,” Max said, looking over Sam at Jo.
Jo was staring out the window. “Don’t worry, Sammy,” she said. “We can take care of whatever you need.” She handed her a box of tissues, caressing
her cheek for a moment. Sam looked up at her. “I mean it. Don’t worry about money.” She glanced out the window. “Hey, the pizza’s here. Be right back.”
Jack Seever wasn’t happy.
“Liz, I told you I’d be here at seven.”
He wasn’t a big man–only five-feet, nine or so inches tall, and slender–but he was muscular, and there was something menacing about his affect.
“I know that, Jack. And I told you when she left this afternoon.” She came out onto the front steps, reluctant to allow him into her house.
He leaned against the railing, looking knowingly at her. He smiled. “So, where is she?”
Liz thought his expression looked like a threat of some kind. “I don’t know.”
His smile faded. “Yeah, you do.”
Liz sighed, nervous, but hoping she sounded merely annoyed. “No, Jack, I don’t.” She hurried to continue as his face turned hard. “But…I would assume she’s with Josie and Maxine.”
His face relaxed a bit. “Okay. Where would I look, then? They live off the main drag in the city, right?”
“You know those old houses that the city converted into apartments? They live in the same apartment house, but I never asked Samantha which one.”
Jack looked doubtful.
“It’s one of those places near Pine Street.” She took an unsteady sip of the wine she was holding, keeping her eyes on him. “I’m serious, Jack. I don’t know the exact address. I know it’s a light blue Victorian, backs up to the conservation lands.” She was talking fast, anxious for him to leave. “Remember, I’m the one who told her to see you tonight.”
He studied her for a long moment, deciding to believe her. “And for that, I thank you, Liz.” He handed her the white roses he had brought for Sam, and gave her a perfunctory kiss on the cheek.
As he jogged down the walkway, Liz called after him, “Let me know when you find her.”
Max was at the sink washing a few dishes when Jo came in. She jumped up to sit on the counter, grabbing a dripping plate from the rack, and then a towel. “She fell asleep.”
“Poor kid.”
Jo was stacking the plates to the side. “I’m going to move her car to the parking garage on Concord Street. Get it out of view. And you know, I may need to get to the bank soon. She needs things, not the least of which is a lawyer. Unless Dave wants to step up, that is.”
