by Harper Lin
Dan nodded at Amelia. She could see that Dan was thinking maybe the father had put an end to the forbidden relationship, but he was out of town. That still didn’t rule out a hit.
“Well, you’ve been very helpful, Miss Furton.” Dan handed her another twenty. She took it with a nod. “One last question. You don’t know where I’d be able to find Jasmine, do you?”
“Well, it’s still fairly early. She’ll probably be at Metro tonight. If she’s skipping school, that is just the preparty. The main event ought to be at the club starting around eleven.”
“The last thing I want to do is hang outside a club waiting for an underage girl to roll out of there. I’m in bed by eleven,” Dan grumbled as he and Amelia drove off the Peterson property.
“Would you like some company?”
“A little Chinese takeout?”
“Hot coffee from a thermos?”
“You sure do know the way to my heart, Amelia.” Dan smirked again. “I’ll pick you up around ten. That way the kids will see you for a while.”
“And you know the way to my heart, Detective.” She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek before hopping out of his car and letting herself into her house.
She made the kids a special dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs with chips and pickles. There was some frozen pound cake in the freezer for dessert if they promised to eat some strawberries with it.
“I’m just trying to make it a little healthy for you guys. That’s all.”
“Mom, we know you put spinach in our smoothies in the morning. Come on. We aren’t in kindergarten anymore,” Meg joked with a mouthful of burger.
“Nope. You’re not.” Amelia sighed.
She told them she’d be with Dan and that she’d have her cell phone if there was any kind of emergency but to call 9-1-1 if they needed help right away. Amelia had been telling them that same procedure for more than a year, and still she was afraid if she didn’t say it, the kids would forget those three magic numbers.
“Got it, Mom,” Adam said, squirting mustard on his third hotdog. “If Meg starts acting up, put her outside and call 9-1-1.”
“Adam, don’t you ever get tired of sounding stupid?” Meg shot back.
“What is with you two?” Amelia said. “Do you really like fighting with each other all the time? Because if you do, I’m going to have to move out. I just can’t take it anymore.”
“It’s how we say we care,” Adam said.
“Yeah, Mom. Don’t you know that?” Meg giggled.
“This is how you say you care? By insulting and picking and whining at each other constantly to slowly drive your mother insane?” Amelia shook her head. “I think you’ve got it wrong. Sorry. I’m at the end of my rope. I’m putting you both up for adoption.”
“No one will want Adam. Unless you advertise him as a guard dog. Then maybe.” Meg laughed at her own insult.
“At least I’m housebroken,” Adam shot back, making Meg laugh as well as Amelia.
“All right. If you guys are enjoying yourself, I’m going to take a shower. Dan and I will probably be late like I said. Call me if you need anything.”
The kids nodded and then went on discussing some tidbit of gossip that had happened at school. Someone had broken up with someone, and someone else was happy about it while another person was sad about it. Teenage drama never changed.
Chapter Eleven
Dan picked Amelia up at ten o’clock on the dot. He stopped in for a moment to say good-night to Meg and Adam and tell them he’d have Mom home safe and sound in a couple hours.
“When can I go on a stakeout with you, Dan?” Meg asked while yawning.
“When you can stay up past ten o’clock,” Dan teased. “How about you, Adam? Want to go on a stakeout sometime?”
“You know it.” Adam smiled.
“All right. I’ll talk to the boss.” He jerked his thumb toward Amelia. “And see what I can do.”
As Amelia climbed into the car, the smell of egg rolls, pepper steak, and sweet and sour shrimp hit her.
“I think this is the most romantic date you’ve taken me on since the last time we went on a stakeout together.” Amelia inhaled deeply. “This food smells wonderful.”
“I know. I haven’t eaten all day.” He tapped a few things on his phone, looked at it quickly, then stuffed it back down the pocket of his suit jacket. “All right. The Metro is a crappy club that has a bad reputation for underage drinking. They charge a fortune at the door to get in, and they have a dress code. If there are any celebrities in town, this is the place they’ll go to. Are you excited?”
“I’m more excited about the egg rolls,” Amelia admitted.
It took half an hour to get to Metro. There was just a simple sign outside a double door covered in graffiti and a large man sitting on a barstool while another large man stood next to him with a clipboard in his hand.
A tiny velvet rope stretched out about four feet from the entrance, and a couple of girls with their fellows stood there before it, waiting impatiently.
“This is it?” Amelia asked.
“This is where all the excitement is.”
“It looks like the projects.”
“Well, you know how dumb trends are.” Dan sighed as he parked the car across the street from the entrance. “Give this place another three months and it’ll be closed down and replaced with the next overpriced, overhyped club.” He took out his binoculars and spied on the front door.
They ate their food quietly, talking about the kids and about work and Beatrice Mooch, the never-ending supply of mystery and amusement at the Pink Cupcake.
“I’m just so happy to have her. And Lila likes her. It’s really a miracle that it’s all fallen into place so well,” Amelia said as she grabbed the fortune cookies.
“When you make good choices, things have the tendency of working out.” Dan smiled.
“Deep,” Amelia teased then took the binoculars and aimed them at the door as people were exiting.
They’d been sitting at the club for more than forty-five minutes when Jasmine Peterson walked out of Metro hanging on to the arms of two men who were laughing loudly.
“There’s our girl.”
As expected, Jasmine was wearing an outfit that left very little to the imagination. She was just a few years older than Meg. Suddenly she wasn’t the annoying spoiled rich girl Amelia knew she’d be. Instead, Amelia saw a girl who needed a good swift kick and then a hundred hugs and kisses from her mother and father.
It broke Amelia’s heart. Didn’t the Petersons worry about her? If Amelia thought anything she could say would get Jasmine to change her wild ways, she’d grab the girl, throw her in the back of Dan’s car, and read her the riot act. But sadly, this little girl in her mother’s heels wasn’t in any condition to be told anything. She was lost, but the last thing she wanted was directions.
Without hesitating, Dan jumped out of the car with his badge in his hand and stepped in front of Jasmine and her two escorts.
“Jasmine Peterson? I’d like to have a word with you,” Dan said, holding up his badge and letting his sidearm peek out from his jacket.
“If this is about my speeding tickets, my father will pay them,” she said.
Amelia got out of the car, careful not to get in the way. Dan started questioning Jasmine just as Amelia stepped onto the sidewalk. Something caught her attention. Not a face, but a shadow she thought looked familiar. It took a second for the image to register in her brain.
Did I just see what I think I saw?
For a moment, she wondered if she hadn’t just had a daydream or a memory had just popped into her head. But as she turned and looked down the sidewalk, what was approaching was no shadow. It was a man. He was tall with a strut that Amelia knew all too well.
I’m not seeing this. Her mind froze along with every muscle in her body. But she was seeing it. In vivid Technicolor at a little past midnight, Amelia was watching her ex-husband approaching, and he was with a woman who wasn
’t his wife.
She stared at him just long enough for him to lock eyes with her. Then she quickly looked down and turned around to see Dan talking with Jasmine. Her two escorts had obviously left the scene.
But Amelia couldn’t focus on that. She couldn’t focus at all.
As she watched John walk past, the woman he was with was searching for and finally found his hand to hold. She didn’t see him turn and look back at Amelia. She wanted to chase after him and confront them both. That woman might not know he was married with a baby on the way. He had probably told her he was divorced but left out the tiny detail that he had remarried and his wife was expecting their first child.
Amelia stared at the couple for what felt like half an hour. She couldn’t be sure how long she just stood there like a slack-jawed yokel. It felt as if she’d blacked out but could still see. Or she had a seizure but remained coherent. This was a bad dream, and that was putting it lightly.
“Well, that was helpful,” Dan said, snapping Amelia out of a trance. “Hey, are you okay?”
“No, Dan. No, I’m not.” Amelia squeezed his arm. “Can you take me home?”
He nodded without saying anything. She linked her arm through his, and they quickly got in the car as Jasmine hailed a cab and disappeared.
“I’m sorry, Dan. I’ve just got to get home.”
“Did something happen?”
“Yeah. It was John. He walked past with another woman. Not his wife. Not his pregnant wife.”
Now it was Dan’s turn to sit slack-jawed as he drove.
“Are you sure it was him? It was kind of dark on the sidewalk.”
“Nope. It was him, all right. Of all the dumb luck. Why did it have to be me who saw him?” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Suddenly, I’ve got a terrible headache.”
“I bet you do. Close your eyes, Amelia. I’ll get you home.”
Dan didn’t make a huge fuss out of it. He drove Amelia straight home and promised to check on her the next day. With nothing more than a kiss on the top of the head, she went inside and headed straight to bed. Once there, she couldn’t sleep.
A quick catnap before the sun came up was all Amelia got. Her mind raced so fast, juggling this new information around and around, that when she woke up, she felt more tired than she had when she had lain down.
Going to the Pink Cupcake and seeing Lila and Beatrice was like getting a vitamin B shot. When she told them the news about John, they were not shy about voicing their opinions on the matter. Their discussion was as serious as the Nuremberg Trials, and it went on for hours.
“I don’t think I even know where to start,” Beatrice said. “I feel dirty just hearing that story.”
“Lila, what do I do? It isn’t like I spotted him driving a sports car or caught him getting his hair frosted at a salon. This is serious.”
“It is,” Lila said. “I’d ask you what you’d want if you were in Jennifer’s position, but you already were in that position.”
“I know! And I would have liked my friends to have told me about his cheating, but none of them had been married to John before. I’m afraid Jennifer will see this as a trick or some kind of scheme.” Amelia laughed as she frosted the seventh batch of cupcakes for the day. “As if I’d want John back. It’s a terribly bad joke, and I feel like the punch line.”
Just then, as if things couldn’t get more bizarre, Amelia looked out the order window and saw that same figure she had seen the night before. John smiled and waved as he approached the truck.
“This is a nightmare,” she whispered.
“Hey, Amelia.” He waved. “You’re looking really good up in that window.”
Amelia mustered a smile and slowly nodded.
“Hey, can I get half a dozen of those peanut-butter-and-jelly cupcakes to go?” He looked at her the way he had when they’d first started dating and things were getting serious.
Did he really believe she was going to fall for that soulful look? Back when she was young, John seemed so professional and polished. Now he looked like the poster boy for a midlife crisis or maybe a Viagra ad.
“We don’t have the PB&J cupcakes today. You have to pick what’s on the chalkboard. That’s all we’ve got right now.”
“Wow. These all sound good.”
Amelia was ready to start laughing. John had never complimented anything Amelia had ever done in all their years of marriage. This was almost comical.
“You know, I thought it was about time I stopped by.” He was stuttering. “After we talked the other day, I just wanted a chance to tell you thanks for listening.”
“Uh-huh. Are things better?” Amelia asked carefully, as if she were sticking her hand into a dark hole and any sudden movement would incite a swarm of spiders or a rattlesnake to strike.
He let out a deep, pathetic sigh. “Not as good as I’d like them to be. But I’m not giving up. Money might be tight, but we can survive.”
He smiled, and Amelia saw the dimples on both cheeks that Adam had inherited. They looked so much alike. She prayed Adam would keep his father’s good looks but keep the good heart he’d gotten from her side of the family.
This poor act was annoying Amelia. She was surprised John didn’t show up at Food Truck Alley wearing a barrel. There was no way Jennifer was spending that kind of money, and even if she was, it didn’t give John a reason to cheat on her. Amelia remembered her life with him, and she was frugal in comparison. It didn’t make a difference. John was going to do what John wanted to do.
“You don’t have to buy any cupcakes, John. I know why you’re here.” Amelia looked at Lila before leaving the truck and walking around to meet her ex-husband.
“No, you don’t,” he snapped. “I just thought I’d pick up some cupcakes for Jennifer. You remember her. My wife.”
“I remember her. Do you?” Amelia muttered just loudly enough for him to hear.
“What did you say?” Amelia had seen John mad before, but this wasn’t mad because she told him to get milk at the store and he forgot. This was animal-backed-into-a-corner mad. And Amelia was ready for it.
“You heard what I said, John. I saw you. I saw you last night, and now here you are trying to find out what I’m going to do.” Amelia folded her arms across her chest.
“Yeah. So. You saw me last night. I was with a coworker. We had to work late, and so we got some food and I was walking her home. It can be dangerous out on the streets at night.”
“So dangerous you didn’t care what your ex-wife was doing out on that dark street?” Amelia started to laugh. “John, have you really forgotten that I’ve heard all the ‘working late’ excuses? That woman was holding your hand.”
“She’d had a little too much to drink.” Amelia was sure she saw a slight shine of sweat around John’s temples as he spoke. “She was just using me to balance.”
Now Amelia really started to laugh. She wasn’t sure what was funnier, John’s excuse or the fact that he was so nervous. But then she remembered Jennifer, and it was as if an ice cube materialized in her gut.
“My gosh, John. Let me ask you, did you tell that woman that Jennifer was spending your money? Like you told me?” He swallowed hard. “You did. Well, isn’t this a fine how-do-you-do? Poor John is the victim of not just one but two terrible women who have taken advantage of his giving nature.”
“It’s typical that you would turn this around and make it about you,” John hissed.
“Oh, this is about me, all right. This is about me deciding if and when I should tell Jennifer what you are up to. You’re darn right it’s all about me.” Amelia stepped up to John. Looking up at him, she stared into his eyes and felt absolutely nothing for him. He wasn’t the father of her children or the man she had married. He was a lying jerk who wanted her to be a lying jerk with him.
“Tell me, John, if it were the other way around and I was the one who had broken your life into a million pieces and you saw I was going to do it to someone else. What would you do?”
“I can tell you that. I’d stay out of other people’s business. That’s what I’d do.” He leaned down until he was just a few inches from Amelia’s face. “And even if you did tell Jennifer you saw me walking with a woman from work, why would she believe you?”
“Because I don’t have a dog in this fight.”
“Don’t you? The new young bride is having a baby, and the older ex-wife is so consumed with jealousy that she’d say anything.” John leaned back and smirked.
Amelia knew she was standing there with her mouth hanging wide open.
“So, what do you say, Amelia? Give me half a dozen of these here mojito cupcakes. That doesn’t sound too good to me, but Jennifer’s cravings have been so strange that she’ll probably like them.”
“What did he just say?” came the angry voice of Beatrice from the truck and a frantic Lila going shush, shush.
“I’ll take your money, John. It spends as good as any other customer’s.” She turned and took a few steps before facing John one last time. “But you better think about what you are doing, John. Jennifer is having your baby. Don’t punish her because you are a son of a bitch.”
John jerked his head back slightly. In all the years he’d been with Amelia, she’d never used words like that. That made it seem all the more hateful and vulgar when he heard it.
“Give him a box of mojitos, would you, Lila?” Amelia yelled up at the window. “And give him the family discount. He’s having a hard time.”
Amelia climbed up the back of the truck and smoothed the nape of her neck. She had always done that. Ever since she’d cut her hair short so long ago, she soothed herself by stroking the back of her neck. It was comforting. She stood and faced the ovens, her back to the window, as Lila handed the hot-pink box down and took John’s money.
“Keep the change,” Amelia heard John say.
“Is he gone?” she asked after a few minutes.
“Yes. He’s gone,” Lila replied.
