A Painted Smile

by B. M. Hardin

  Our relationship had definitely changed.

  We hardly ever spoke and our friendship was almost non-existent. For a while I tried to reach out more often but she was always unavailable, so the calling slowed down again on my end.

  As far as I knew, she was still in California, and still with Jasper’s ex-wife.

  Come to think of it, all of my friendships seemed to be hanging on by a thread.

  Simon and I hadn’t spoken much either. And every time that we’d managed to speak, he was always in a hurry to hang up as if he was avoiding me.

  As far as I knew nothing had gone wrong between us so I could only figure that he was going through a few issues of his own and so I didn’t press him for explanations.

  So, my life was basically my husband, my kids, my parents and the daycare.

  And to be honest, I’d never felt so fulfilled in my entire life.

  I had everything that I needed and everything that I wanted. It wasn’t perfect, not at all, but I knew that I was going to be alright.

  Everything was going to be okay.

  “Hey honey.”

  “Hey baby, how are you?”

  “I’m okay but I have some bad news. You are going to kill me, but I have to stay late at work tonight,” Jasper said.

  Though I trusted him again, every time he had to work late, I thought about the past.

  Hopefully one day I would fully be able to let it all go.

  “Okay.”

  “Okay baby. It shouldn’t be too late. I have to be there before midnight to bring in our anniversary. I’m going to tear that ass---“

  “Watch your mouth mister! I have to go. I’ll see you tonight when you get home,” I chuckled and hung up the phone.

  I headed out of my office to go peek in on the twins. They were crawling all over the place and getting into everything as usual.

  The staff that worked for me now knew that they were my kids and they didn’t have a problem making me chase after them.

  To my surprise, walking into one of the play rooms, I saw my parents.

  I hadn’t even seen them come in.

  As for Mama, she absolutely adored the twins.

  She treated them like they had come from my very own womb. She loved them so much and she seemed different now that they were in the picture.

  She was always so happy. She didn’t fuss or pry as much. She never even asked anymore questions about the situation. It was as though they were keeping her feeling young and as though she was looking forward to a long future around them.

  The twins seemed to have made us even closer.

  Our bond as mother and daughter had always been there and had always been strong, but our relationship was definitely different.

  But I liked it

  “Hey, we just stopped by. We missed them,” Daddy said.

  I smiled at him.

  “So, we were thinking that we would take them home with us tonight. Your anniversary is tomorrow right, so I’m sure you guys want some time alone tonight,” Mama expressed.

  “Jasper has to work tonight.”

  “Well, still, can we take them? Please. I already have all new clothes and stuff at the house for them. We don’t need anything. Actually we can take them now.”

  Little did she know she didn’t have to beg me; I’d wanted to scream hell yes as soon as she'd made the offer.

  I had them all day, every day, and a break was just what I needed.

  “Take them.” I smiled and kissed them both. I made my way to Kylie first to kiss her and then to junior. I didn’t even stay around for my parents to get them ready to leave, instead I headed back into the office to try and figure out what I wanted to do for Jasper on our anniversary.

  I wanted to do something totally different and considering that the interruptions never seemed to cease, when the last child was gone that day, I rushed home so that I could enjoy some time to myself and to put a little more effort into planning.

  Arriving home, before getting out of the car, Zara crossed my mind and I decided to give her a call but as always she didn’t pick up.

  I was surprised that she had gone so long without speaking to me. She’d always been the needy one, the one that required a little more conversation than most, even before the passing of her husband so I was definitely surprised.

  But I had a feeling that Shannon had something to do with it.

  I decided to call Simon afterwards just to see if he’d heard from her.

  “Hi.”

  “Hi.”

  “How are you?”

  “I’m okay. I was about to ask you the same thing. I hadn’t heard much from you or Zara in a while,” I said to Simon.

  Simon didn’t say anything for almost a minute. He was being extremely awkward and I knew then that something just wasn’t right.

  “Storm?”

  “Yes Simon, what’s wrong?”

  “Vivian had an affair.”

  Immediately, I felt sorry for him.

  I could definitely relate to the feeling and I knew of the pain and heartache that he was going through.

  “How do you know? How did you find out?”

  “Well, the positive AIDS test results were a dead giveaway…literally.”

  To hear something like that come out of his mouth almost made my heart explode.

  I gasped and immediately, I started to whimper as though he’d just given me the same test results.

  I couldn’t believe it.

  He was my friend. He was the one of the only people in the world that I completely trusted.

  I loved him and I knew that he truly loved me too.

  Simon was one of the good guys. Something like this just wasn’t supposed to happen to him.

  “Do you know with whom?”

  “No, she wouldn’t tell me, but I guess that who it was doesn’t really matter at this point. So, forgive me if I’ve been a little distant, I’ve been sick and not to mention stressed. Coming home to someone you hate everyday ain’t easy. I’m stuck with a cheating, lying, conniving bitch for the rest of what little life I have left. I figured that I might as well stay with her; no one else would want me anyway.”

  My tears steadily flowed and Simon reassured me that everything was going to be okay.

  Of course he was telling a lie, but I forced myself to calm down because I knew that I had to be strong for him.

  He needed me now more than ever.

  It was crazy. The two most consistent people in my life were now going through situations that I just couldn’t save them from.

  Lord knows I just wanted to save them.

  We hung up and I sat still, quiet just to think about him a little more.

  I felt so bad for him and I wanted to beat the crap out of his wife Vivian. It was always something strange about her. I could never put my finger on it, but I knew that something bad would come out about her one of these days.

  But I didn’t understand what she could have possibly been lacking or missing.

  Simon was perfect for someone like her.

  But I guess I didn’t know everything about their marriage just like no one knew everything about my own.

  I vowed right then and there that I would make sure that I made time for him, to spend with him.

  He needed me and I was going to be there for him just as he had always been there for me.

  It was just that simple.

  Walking toward the front door, I realized that I hadn’t even asked him about Zara but I was sure that he probably had been so consumed with his own problems, that he more than likely hadn’t spoken to her either.

  I shook my head and turned the door knob.

  “What are you doing here?” I said to Jasper, who was just standing there in front of the door.

  His patrol car wasn’t outside so I wondered how he’d gotten home.

  I immediately noticed the luggage that was stacked neatly only about a foot away from him.

  “I thought you had to work late?�
��

  “I lied…but in a good way.”

  Just as he’d responded, a horn beeped and I turned around to see that it was a cab.

  Still lost, Jasper headed out the door with suitcase after suitcase. With the last one in hand, he smiled at me and reached for me to take his free hand.

  “Jasper what is this?”

  “Don’t worry about it, I got this. Everything has been worked out. Your parents were involved as well as your staff, so Big Daddy has everything covered. I love you.”

  I smiled at him.

  I was a tad bit jealous that he’d beat me to the punch with doing something extreme and special for our anniversary, but the only thing that mattered was that we were together.

  I placed all of my thoughts and feelings of Simon on the back burner and grabbed my husband’s hand.

  I hadn’t realized how lucky we had been to have bounced back from all of the issues but at that moment I was more than grateful for where we were in our relationship.

  As Jasper told the cab driver to take us to the airport, I silently thanked God for sending me not a perfect man…but a man that was perfect for me.

  **********

  ~Never give up and never give in. In order to get to the best, you have to see troubles through all the way to end.~

  ~Anonymous

  Chapter Eight

  Jasper and I had the best one year anniversary of all times.

  He’d taken me to one of the places on my bucket list, Brazil.

  I’d always raved about wanting to see the huge Jesus sitting high and looking low over the city of Rio, and Jasper had gone out of his way to make that dream come true.

  I was very impressed with how well organized everything was and with the effort that he’d given our special day, just to make me so happy.

  Of course it crossed my mind as to how he’d paid for all of it. I’m sure that he probably had to dip into his little stash from his dead previous wife, but I tried not to think of it in a negative light.

  What he’d done for me was more than amazing and no matter how he paid for I was thankful and appreciative of it.

  Now we were home and after a week of not seeing our babies, we couldn’t wait to see them.

  I squealed at the sight of them and we both hugged and kissed them. Afterwards, Mama led us into the kitchen where she reached for Kylie.

  She put Kylie down on the floor and I gasped at what happened next.

  Kylie took about five steps before hitting the floor.

  “Oh no, I missed it! I can’t believe I missed it! I can’t believe she’s stepping on her own already. She’s not even a year yet. What about junior?” I asked Mama but she shook her head no.

  Oh well, that’s fine. Girls usually move faster than boys anyway.

  We stayed for a little while longer and before long it was time to head home.

  As we got the kids situated in the car, my phone began to vibrate.

  I smiled when I saw that it was Simon.

  I hadn’t talked to him again since Jasper and I had been on vacation, partly because I had little to no service while there. We’d had to call and check on the kids from the hotel room.

  The phone stopped ringing just as I’d fastened my seat belt but I was surprised to see that he called right back.

  This time I was able to answer.

  “Hey, how are you?”

  “Storm?”

  From the sound of his voice I knew that something was wrong. My heart became full of fear and I almost dreaded having to hear his next words.

  “They found her, in some abandoned warehouse….dead.”

  They found who? Who was dead?

  “Zara. They said she’s been dead for weeks. They found her body, naked, in some warehouse, with a gunshot wound to the head. They have no leads and no clue as to who would have done this to her. Imagine my surprise when her so-called girlfriend called to tell me that my sister was dead. I didn’t even know that she’d crossed over to that side. It’s almost as if my sister had some secret life that I knew nothing about and now she’s gone.”

  My cries caused Jasper to pull the car over and my sobs frightened the kids to the point to where they started to cry as well.

  Zara was dead?

  I couldn’t believe it!

  How? Why? When? Who?

  Who would do something like this to her?

  And furthermore, Simon didn’t know that Zara had gone to California with another woman?

  Why hadn’t she told him the truth?

  There were so many unanswered questions that neither of us would ever know the answer to but something sounded fishy about the whole situation and I was going to find out the truth.

  Simon continued to babble but I didn’t hear much of anything else. I’d heard what I needed to hear and that was that Zara was gone.

  After a while, we were finally able to make it home. I sat in the car as Jasper got the twins inside of the house and gave me some time to myself.

  I felt as though I’d failed her.

  Zara had always been there for me and I had been so consumed lately with my own life and family that I hadn’t even attempted to make much time for her.

  She’d needed me although she hadn’t said it and I wasn’t there for her.

  I should have been there and I wasn’t.

  And the biggest question of all was who would kill her and why?

  Zara was so sweet and innocent that I was sure that she couldn’t have made many, if any, enemies while out there.

  So who would do something like this to her?

  Suddenly, Shannon crossed my mind.

  Shannon…she had to be responsible for this!

  I scrolled through my contacts.

  Of course I’d stolen her phone number out of Jasper’s phone a long time ago I wasn’t sure if it had been changed but I was going to call it and find out.

  She was guilty, I was sure of it.

  “Hello?”

  “What did you do to her?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me, what did you do to Zara?”

  “I didn’t do anything to her. I swear I didn’t,” Shannon stated softly.

  “Liar!”

  “I swear. I’m taking this hard enough. All this time I’d thought that she’d left me. She’d stated over and over again that she was ready to go back home and that whatever she and I had, wasn’t really what she’d wanted. Her exact words were that she’d been going through some kind of phase. I’d tried convincing her to stay but nothing worked and one day I came home from work to find her and all of her things gone. Whenever I called her she wouldn’t answer and I figured that she was really gone.”

  Shannon’s story sounded somewhat convincing but I still didn’t believe her.

  If that had been the case, why hadn’t Zara called to tell me that she was coming back?

  How does she just leave with all of her things one day and then weeks later found dead?

  It just didn’t sound right.

  It just didn’t add up.

  “Where is Jasper?”

  Her question almost made me curse.

  “Why?”

  “I need to talk to him. He’s the only one that can help me get through this. He was the only friend that I had. I don’t have any family and no matter what happened in my life, I could always depend on him to help me get through it. Please, no disrespect, I just need to talk to him. I just need to talk to someone.”

  “Hell no.”

  She got quiet for a moment.

  Was she out of her mind?

  I didn’t want her talking to or coming anywhere near my husband or my kids.

  She had caused me enough problems.

  But I guess it was sort of a double standard.

  After all, I was still very close friends with Simon.

  But Simon hadn’t nearly cost us our marriage, so it just wasn’t the same.

  The desperation in her voice made me uneasy.

  It was j
ust something about the way she’d said things that made me think that things could turn real ugly, real fast.

  But I couldn’t give her what I wanted.

  But I could give her what she claimed that she needed.

  Besides, who better to talk to her about Zara than me?

  “You can’t talk to Jasper…but I’m here. You can talk to me.”

  Lord what was I getting myself into?

  ***

  The day of the funeral came and I was a complete mess.

  I wasn’t ready.

  I didn’t think that I was going to make it through it.

  With Jasper on one side and Simon on the other, I held the both of their hands as we stood watching the casket lower into the ground.

  Across on the other side---was Shannon.

  She was far off and wore sunglasses as if she wanted to make sure that Jasper wouldn’t see her.

  She’d even sat way in the back of the church during the home going service for Zara.

  She’d stated that she didn’t want anyone to know that she was the girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend of Zara. She’d said that she didn’t want to answer their hundreds of questions or make anyone upset.

  The police had ruled her out as a suspect and the more and more I talked to her, I was sure that she was innocent as well.

  Maybe it had been purely coincidental.

  But whether it was or not, I could only hope that one day the killer would be found and Zara’s family as well as myself would have some type of justice and closure.

  Shannon lifted up her sunglasses, glanced at me briefly through her tears and then turned and walked away.

  I felt bad for her in a way.

  From what she’d told me, she’d grown up as an orphan, back and forth in the system.

  She’d said that she’d been placed with one terrible family after the other until finally she was sent to a group home where she stayed until her time was up. Shannon said that she never knew her parents or any of her folks for that matter.

  So, basically she was in the big world all alone.

  And then she’d said, one day, almost immediately after leaving the group home, she met Jasper and he had been helping her along the way ever since.

  She’d finished high school and managed to earn a degree online. Since then, she’s worked in corporate America and from my understanding was pretty good at what she did.