Unlovable

by Sherry Gammon

  “Those movies are classics.” I mouthed the words as he said them.

  When we got to my house, I ran in and found Hoffman sitting alongside my mother, each with a drink in their hand. She hurled a couple of insults in my direction while Hoffman’s eyes grazed over me. Yuck! I grabbed the novel and left.

  At Seth’s, we found Booker parked in the driveway, leaning against the hood of his car. “Hey, Booker, good to see you.” The two men greeted each other with a warm handshake.

  “Hello, Maggie.” He smiled as Seth wrapped his arm around my waist. “How is your mom doing?”

  “About the same, thanks for asking.” Seth led us into the house, and I sat down on the bar stool while they stood in the kitchen talking.

  “How’s Sam?” Seth asked, pouring Booker a glass of homemade lemonade.

  “That’s why I’m here. There was another murder last night. This one was on the east side of town near my place.” Seth’s eyes narrowed as Booker described what happened.

  “One of my father’s friends, George Keifer, was taking out his garbage around 11 P.M. When he didn’t return, his wife went looking for him with their two portly bulldogs in tow. She found him on the side of the house with two men hovering over him as he lay on the ground. They took off running when the dogs broke free.” Seth led him into the living room and they sat down on the couch.

  “He’d been stabbed several times and died within seconds after she reached him.” Booker adjusted the huge gun that sat on his hip as they talked. I got the feeling they wanted privacy so I excused myself and started preparing lunch, clanging bowls and doing my best not to listening. Try as I may, a few words still broke through, words like “revenge,” and “drug trafficking,” words I didn’t want to hear. I hoped Booker’s grandfather was safe because it sure didn’t sound good. When they finished, I asked Booker if wanted to stay for lunch.

  “No, thanks,” he smiled. “You are a lucky man, Seth. Better not let her go.”

  "Not a chance," he said firmly. I blushed, they laughed.

  After lunch, we sat on the couch eating homemade chocolate cookies we’d baked last night. Seth hadn’t mentioned Booker’s visit, but I could tell it was bothering him. Sam was his friend and he was probably concerned for his safety. “I got the impression Booker’s worried about his grandfather. Is everything alright?”

  “He’s a little anxious because the murder was so close to his home. Now,” he said, abruptly changing the subject, “how about we watch a movie? Maybe something scary. I’m thinking Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho?”

  I shuddered. “A scary movie? Is that some kind of subliminal plot to trick me into snuggling with you?”

  “I hoping to steal a few of those incredible kisses of yours during the movie.”

  “Like you have to steal those from me. For you, they’re free for the taking.” I wrapped my arms around his shoulders; they were tense. I thought to press the whole Booker issue except it seemed a little hypocritical of me to pry. I pressed my mouth to his instead. The tension slowly eased from his body the longer we kissed.

  “Okay, lets watch Psycho,” he said, breathless.

  “Why don’t we snuggle and you can scare a few kisses out of me instead of watching a creepy movie?”

  “No way! It’s a great movie, you’ll love it.” He rubbed his hands together sinisterly.

  “I doubt it.”

  And I was right. By the time the movie finished I was a nervous wreck. Half the time my face was hidden behind a pillow, the other half was spent wishing my face was behind a pillow, and never once did I kiss him.

  “I’ll never watch another movie like that again.” He began mimicking the music from the horrid shower scene, laughing at my tightly pinched expression. “You are sick!”

  “Mags, Psycho is a classic, it’s one of the all-time greats.”

  I shivered. “Speaking of Psycho,” I got up from the couch, “I’d better go home and check on my mom.” I couldn’t help but smile as he tried not to laugh.

  20

  Seth

  “Game’s over, kid,” Booker said when we got back into the car. We’d spent the morning at George Kiefer’s funeral, and Booker was a mess. He hated funerals. They only served to remind him of everyone he’d lost. We hoped the services would draw out the killers. It didn’t, just sorrow-laden family members and friends.

  “Game? What game?” I flipped on the radio and searched for something to calm his nerves.

  “I’ve gotten the okay for you to tell Maggie about us,” he said heavily.

  “Why?” I’d been waiting for this, dreading it beyond measure. I wasn’t ready to tell her, not yet.

  “She needs to know before it all blows up in your face. Things are getting dangerous, Seth. These guys want us dead.”

  Before he died, Mr. Kiefer told his wife the men were heroin dealers and they wanted revenge on us, but he didn’t live long enough to tell his wife their names, so we still can’t ID them. Disgruntled drug dealers commonly mouthed off about getting even with the cops who arrested them and it was usually just talk. Evidently, these two were serious.

  “She’s under constant surveillance. I spoke with the city sheriff and requested a local detective be assigned to watch over her whenever I was unavailable.” The captain readily agreed. He’d lost his son to a heroin overdose last summer and was more than sympathetic to our cause. He wanted the two men brought to justice, and he committed to do whatever it took to make it happen.

  “You’re wearing yourself ragged, Seth. The longer you wait, the harder it’s going to be.”

  “What exactly do I tell her? 'Hey, Maggie, I’ve been lying to you all this time. I’m really a cop, MET to be exact. Oh, and one more thing, we believe your mother is somehow involved in a heroin ring, so despite the fact that you have major trust issues, don’t let this mess with your head.' ” I wasn’t being fair, this wasn’t Booker’s fault.

  His tone softened. “Listen, Kid. She’s going to find out sometime. Besides, if you tell her now we can search her place and clear her mother’s name.”

  “Her mom’s not involved, I told you that already. She’s a drunk, a mean, heartless drunk, not a junkie!”

  “You know that, and I know that, but the chief isn’t going to take our word on it. We need to search the house.” Booker still had doubts about Maggie’s mom, and out of respect for me, he’d held off on questioning her. He desperately wanted to search their trailer, but purposefully hadn’t gotten a search warrant. For that, I was grateful.

  He changed the subject. “We have a stake-out scheduled Thursday night, and it’s your turn to ride shotgun.”

  “I rode shotgun last time, and I also did the food run, twice. Why don’t you ever ride shotgun?” He playfully tapped his captain bars in answer to my question.

  I was more than happy to let the argument about Maggie drop, even though I knew he was right. She had to be told, but if we could just wait a little longer, maybe she’d be so crazy in love with me that she’d take it all in stride.

  Yeah, right, who was I kidding? She was going to flip out.

  “Someone broke into Cole’s house again, and I’m putting a security system in for him this afternoon. He still hasn’t finished the upstairs, so it will go quickly,” Booker said. “I could use your help.”

  “I thought he didn’t want a system. What happened to protecting the indigents from the brutal winter?”

  “They swiped his TV.”

  21

  Maggie

  Thanks to Parent-Teacher conferences tonight, there was no school tomorrow, which meant a three-day weekend, I could hardly wait. I had it up to my eyeballs with my insuperable Calculus class. If I never saw another derivative again, it’d be too soon. To celebrate the long weekend, I refused to study for Monday’s test until Sunday night, late. Seth quieted the radio as we pulled up in front of my house.

  “I have some bad news. I’m going out of town tonight and won’t be back until noon tomorrow.” />
  “Do you have to go?”

  “Sorry, I’ve got some things to take care of, although I won’t be having fun if that helps.” It was the third time since we started dating that he had to go out of town to take care of things, yet he’d never say exactly what it was he’d be doing.

  “While I’m gone, think of something fun you want to do when I get back.” He leaned over and kissed me good-bye.

  “You’re leaving now?” He nodded weakly. “Fine, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I got out, slamming the car door a little too hard.

  “Don’t be angry, Maggie,” he said, lowering the window and leaning across the leather seat.

  “I’m not angry, I’m disappointed. I was looking forward to being with you.”

  “That’s a good thing, right?”

  I turned to see his grin smoldering in my direction and melted. “Yes, Pollyanna, it’s a good thing.”

  “I thought you slept through that movie?” I shook my head. “I’ll try and call, love ya.”

  I moped into the house, tripping over several empty alcohol bottles strewn across the floor. “Hoffman must have been here again, not even she can drink this much by herself.” I cleared the discarded bottles to a chorus of soft snores before searching the fridge to see if she had eaten anything and found several more unopened bottles inside. I was tempted to toss them except I didn’t want to suffer her wrath when she discovered them missing, besides, she’d only buy more. I covered her up, went into my room, and sunk my teeth into my vampire romance novel till I fell asleep.

  Early the next morning, I awoke to an icy cold house. I turned the thermostat up, but the heater didn’t turn on. “I know I paid the electric bill.” I tried a light switch, still no response.

  I opened the front door, and my eyes landed on the problem; a bright yellow Termination of Services notice tacked to the doorframe. I called the power company and was informed that my check was never received, but they’d be happy to reinstate my service as soon as the balance was paid.

  My mother must have forgotten to mail it, it wasn't the first time. Thankful that we had a gas stove, I turned the burners and oven on, at least we'd have some heat. Next in my effort to warm up, I pulled on Seth’s fleece, drawing in a deep breath. “Mmmm.” It still smelled like him, although the scent had faded somewhat.

  After a bowl of Honey-Nut Cheerios, my new favorite cereal, I grudgingly took out my Calculus book. My new plan was to study while Seth was gone, then I could spend all my time with him when he got back.

  Before long, the sky outside went gray, and subsequently, so did our trailer making it impossible to get through my work. It also was getting colder. I piled all of our blankets on my mom to keep her warm and did some jumping jacks to get my blood pumping. The phone rang, saving me from having to jog in place.

  “Hello, beautiful,” said the delectable voice on the other end of the line. “I’m about 30 minutes away, I’ll stop by and pick you up.”

  “No, my mom didn’t mail the electric bill, and we have no power here, I’ll meet you at your house. I need to keep moving to stay warm.”

  “Maggie, I don’t want you outside by yourself. The killers are still out there somewhere.”

  Oh, brother, he was too protective. “All the attacks have been at night, it’s only noon,” I reminded him.

  “Maggie, please.”

  “Seth, I’m freezing!”

  “I’ll b—”

  “Seth?” My phone battery died and without power, there was no way to charge it. I checked on my mom once more, her skin was toasty warm, shut off the stove to prevent any accidents and left.

  Seth’s overreaction made me a bit jumpy. More than once, I felt as though I was being followed and increased my stride. He came tearing into the driveway ten minutes after I’d arrived, skidding to a stop.

  “You don’t listen very well, do you?” Agitation ruled his face as he flew across the lawn.

  “Would you prefer me frozen?” I snapped back at his Neanderthal attitude.

  “I prefer you alive.” He grabbed me and planted a searing kiss on my mouth. Instantly, my heart began its familiar dance in my chest. I wondered if all our disagreements would end up like this. I sure hope so. He set me free all too quickly, his mood considerably lighter. “Sorry, I’ve been worried about you.”

  “I locked my windows and doors like you told me. In any case, the murderers have never broken into a home to kill someone.” Silly boy. “You look tired, have you been out necking all night with another girl?” My subtle attempt to evoke a confession fell flat.

  “I was with Booker,” he said. I cocked an eyebrow at him suggestively to which he rolled his head. I took his hand, leading him toward the house. We could finish this conversation inside, it was freezing out.

  “Maggie, we need to talk. There’s something I have to discuss with you.”

  I dragged him straight to the kitchen, forcing him to sit down on a stool, I stood facing him. “Did you really miss me?” I didn’t give him time to answer before stretching up to his neck, kissing its length. “I missed you,” I whispered against his skin, he smelled wonderful, which reminded me.

  “You know the jacket you gave me?” he muttered what sounded like a yes. “I can barely smell you on it. You need to wear it around for a few hours and make it smell good again.” He nodded and pulled me to his mouth.

  Yep, he missed me!

  Dragging myself out of his arms, I said, “I really wish you weren’t such a great kisser.” He looked at me as if I had lost my mind. “Hear me out. If you kissed like Zack, you know, all wet and sloppy,” I involuntarily shuddered, “I wouldn’t want to kiss you all the time. And if I didn’t kiss you all the time, I wouldn’t have to force myself to stop kissing you all the time either.”

  “I think your brain’s frozen. Have you eaten today?”

  “Yes.” Evidently, he didn’t appreciate my logic.

  “Well, not enough.”

  He led me around to the counter where we made up some chicken salad with nuts and cranberries. While we ate, Seth wore the fleece to ’stink it up’, as he said. He offered to sprinkle some of his aftershave on it, but I protested, insisting the smell came from off his skin.

  I drained the last of my milk and set the cup in the sink. “We should probably check on my mom, she may have sobered up.”

  “I’ll make up a sandwich for her.” He gathered the chicken salad and whole wheat bread from the fridge.

  “What did I ever do to deserve you?” I worked my arms around his waist from behind, resting my cheek on the back of his yellow shirt while he began making up the sandwich.

  “I was thinking the same thing.”

  “You were wondering what I did to deserve you too?”

  “Now you’ll have to kiss me for that remark.” He twisted around to face me, licking his lips repeatedly, until they glistened with spit.

  “What are you doing?” I held his face at arm’s length.

  “I’m making my kisses wet and sloppy so you won’t have to force yourself to stop,” he said, innocently.

  “Don’t you dare!” I quickly wiped off his mouth before he could kiss me.

  “Spoil all my fun.” He turned back to the sandwich.

  On the way to my house it began to sprinkle, I unrolled my window a crack to smell the damp air. Since it was still a little chilly out, I turned on the seat warmer instead of rolling up the window. Seth laughed.

  I shrugged. “I love the smell of rain.”

  “Do you think your mom’s awake?” He handed me the now Seth stinky fleece. Mmmm.

  “I don’t know. If she is she’s probably upset I’m not there to insult.” I said it jokingly, though we both knew it was the truth.

  “Maggie, she’s hidden behind the alcohol for so long, she doesn’t know how to show her feelings anymore.” He pressed my hand to his lips.

  “Hmm,” I said, noncommittally, and unrolling the window a bit more, before snuggling further into the seat.
>
  We slid to a stop as Seth pulled up in front of my trailer, “What’s wrong?”

  “Did you leave your bedroom window open?” He pointed to my open window on the side of the trailer.

  “No, there’s no heat, why would I leave …” Someone must have broken in. I shoved the door open, but before I could get out Seth was at my door blocking me.

  “Stay here!” His fierce tone left little doubt he wasn’t making a suggestion. He crouched low and went around the side of the trailer, looking through the open window. Coming back to the front, he pulled out his cell phone.

  “I’m not waiting for you, I’m going in. Hurry.” He stuffed the phone into his pocket, cutting off the protests from whoever was on the other end.

  He walked over to the car. “Don’t follow me! Do you understand?” He flipped the passenger seat down horizontal. “Get down low.”

  “Please don’t go in alone.” Ignoring my plea, he locked the door and hurried off. He ran around to the back of the house, hopping a rickety six-foot fence in the process.

  I panicked and cautiously climbed out of the car. Unable to climb the tall fence, I ran straight to the front door and opened it just a crack. To my surprise, the two creeps from the park greeted me. Why can’t I get away from these pathetically dressed goons?

  “Well, well, well. Lookie who we got here,” the larger of the two said as he tugged the door open widely. He grinned, or maybe it was a sneer, it was hard to tell.

  “What did you do to my mother?” I demanded, wiping the droplets of rain from my face.

  “This old drunk’s your mama?” he laughed. “Small world, ain’t it, girlie?” He ran a hand over my cheek and clicked his tongue, his grin widening. “I’ve been wanting to meet you something bad.”