I flipped open my phone. “Jimmy?”
“Hey Gen-girl. The missus and me are really looking forward to tomorrow night.”
I really liked him. “Jimmy, think you can get a tux between now and then?” I asked.
“Well, I suppose. I didn’t know it was a formal event. I better tell the wife. She’s gonna want to—”
“Jimmy,” I spoke softly, not wanting to draw attention. “I wonder if you would like to give me away. The man who was going to do it recently passed away. He was old, so this isn’t like a drummer of Spinal Tap gig. You aren’t going to drop dead if you agree, I swear.”
He laughed into the phone, and after he’d composed himself enough, he said, “You know, it would be an absolute honor. You sure?”
“Jimmy, I am. If it’s cool with you. Somehow, it seems right that it worked out this way.”
“Something I should tell you, Gen-girl.” His tone changed to serious… his heart-to-heart tone.
I was certain he was going to tell me something about Ahren, something I would not like hearing. So I stopped him.
“Whatever it is, Jimmy, it’s okay. Whatever you know about Ahren that he may not have shared with me, I don’t want to know.”
Jimmy was Ahren’s cab driver, too. I always thought this must have been the work of our dearly-departed, pulling strings in the great beyond.
“No, Gen. It’s not that. It, uh…” He started to get choked up.
I knew that sound like I knew the sound of Ahren’s car keys when they dropped in the bowl by the front door.
“I’ve always wanted to do that…walk my daughter down the aisle.”
“I’m sure, when your son gets married one day, your future daughter-in-law will insist on a dance, at the very least. Listen, I’m going into The City tonight. If you’d like to meet for coffee, I’d risk a piece of pie for you. I think Ahren told you I’m pregnant. I’m afraid to eat anything I really love in case I get sick afterwards, then pie will be ruined forever. But I’d have that memory with you… It’d be worth it.” I smiled.
“I’m working the bridge tonight.”
Jimmy had mentioned this before, but I didn’t know what it meant. I knew he went through Marin and over the Golden Gate then turned around and came back again. I assumed he picked up commuters, so I never asked.
“All right. Well, if you get done early or something, give me a call. And if I see your cab on the bridge, I’ll be sure to honk twice and wave like a wild woman.”
“Right. I’ll have a tux for tomorrow night.”
“Jimmy, I—”
“It’s not about Ahren, honey. About me. Something I should’ve told you. Anyway, no big deal. The missus is going to be happy about this. She thinks the pie she made you kids a year ago had magical powers.”
“It totally did, Jimmy. It totally did.”
****
“Everything’s ready,” Rocky informed me.
I listened on the hands-free thingy Ahren had bought me. He didn’t want me to talk on the phone in any capacity while I drove, but if something happened and I needed it, he wanted me to have the technology at hand.
“Thanks, Rock.”
I was completely Zen about the fact I was getting married tomorrow, no stress at all. Everything was as it should be. Nothing was left until the last minute, and now, I had just finished telling Rock that Jimmy would walk me down the aisle. She was going to fashion an ascot for him to wear in the Clare tartan, which I thought was awesome.
“No biggie, five minute job,” she said.
But now we were heading into that territory of handling me with care and it was almost pissing me off.
“Gen, are you sure you’re okay?”
“If you keep asking me, I won’t be,” I replied patiently. “Anyway, listen, I’m about to get on the freeway. I need to hang-up so I can concentrate. Ahren worries.” I rolled my eyes, knowing, just by my tone, she probably knew.
“Right…uh, sorry to pester you.” Her words were filled with concern and a little bit of hurt.
“Hang on.” I pulled the car over and put my hazards on. “You are not pestering me, but I know you think I’m gonna freak out, or I’m delicate or something. But I’m not. I’m really not.” Before she could say anything else, I cut off further questions by telling her, “I’m sure, honey. Really.”
“Are you still driving?”
“I pulled over to talk to you.” The other line beeped. “I have another call though. Better go. See ya tomorrow?”
“Oh yeah. Not every day I get to wear a plaid maid of honor dress.” She laughed.
“It’s going to be awesome.” I smiled. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
Ahren calling.
“Baby,” he said, and I knew he was grinning into the phone.
“Beloved. Where are you?” I said through my own grin.
“Look across the street.” He was pulled over on the opposite side of the road.
I waved to him like a loon. “Did you go to Delilah’s?” I asked.
“Yeah, and I think I may have revived and saved seventy-five percent of the plants you tried to kill.” He chuckled.
“I guess I’ll have to mark ‘plant-killer’ off my skills list.”
He kept laughing. “I thought something was wrong with your car. Next week, that thing is going to charity. Trade cars with me. I’ll turn around and we’ll switch.”
“No, no, no. My dress is in the back. The old girl and I are going across the bridge and back. Our last hurrah.”
“Gen…” he tried to interrupt.
“It’s two hours. Think of it this way, driving a shitty car across a bridge pretty much cancels out that bridge falling into the ocean from an earthquake.”
He sighed, long and frustrated. “Call me when you cross the bridge. And call me again when you get to Gloria’s, and then call me again when you leave.”
“Sure you don’t want to just come with me?” I offered, though he knew I wanted to have this time to myself.
Neither one of us had wanted a bachelor or bachelorette party. We just decided we’d do our own thing during the day. We’d be together that night and share Mexican he was going to pick up from this awesome little dive in Santa Rosa.
“No, baby, it’s all right. Just indulge me by calling, okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed. “I love you, Ahren.”
“Me, too, Gen.”
****
Ahren
He’d called Rocky in a desperate attempt to feel Gen out and make sure she was okay. Surprisingly, Rocky was happy to participate. She said it was better to have the bride annoyed at the maid of honor rather than the groom. He told her he appreciated that, more than she would ever know, and left it in her hands.
No sooner had he and Gen ended their call when Rocky called him back.
“She’s fine. She has a surprise for you.”
“Thanks, Rochelle.”
“Anything for you guys, Ahren.”
God, maybe that was it. Maybe she was having twins. Maybe she’d booked a three-month cruise to Tahiti without telling him. Still, before he left the house for Delilah’s, and while the tents and chairs and tables were being set up for tomorrow, he went to her parents’ graves and asked that they watch over her.
The day before, he’d done the same with his parents, and now, an hour later, he sat at the back of St. Francis Catholic Church in Santa Rosa and waited for his phone to buzz with her calls. She’d already crossed the bridge and decided to walk around Golden Gate Park for a while. She was having a great day, and as soon as the sun went down, she was heading to Gloria’s, then home to him.
He was staring at the display on his cell before it even rang. “Hey,” he answered.
“Hey yourself. The coast seems clear. There are a few other flowers on the front steps. There’s a light on inside, so I wonder who’s been there. Anyway, I’ll call again soon. ‘K?”
“Yeah,” he said quietly.
“Where are y
ou? You sound…quiet.”
“I’m sitting in the Catholic church across the street from El Serape.”
She sighed into the phone. “But, you’re not Catholic, Ahren.”
“Every little bit helps. Besides, I don’t really think God cares about where you pray.”
“Is it pretty?”
“Candles are lit everywhere, Gen. You should see it. There’s a huge nativity at the front of the church. People are kneeling, lighting their candles, going in to confess their horrible sins.” He laughed.
“I’ll call before I hit the bridge, okay?” she assured.
“Love you.”
“I love you, too.”
****
Genevieve
I wanted to leave a mini Christmas tree with baubles, but I finally decided on red roses with little crystals gleaming on bouncy, white-frosted wires. They were set in a box tied with snowflake ribbon and glittery silver tissue paper, and though small, it was absolutely gorgeous. I set the arrangement on the steps next to the others that had been left.
There were two candles lit inside the front windows. I hadn’t met Gloria’s partner, and I didn’t want to pry or draw attention to myself, but I was happy it wasn’t just me who thought about the one left behind.
Gloria’s partner, whether she was in the house or not, this was her first Christmas without her. I knew that feeling, and it sucked. I said a silent, little prayer, thankful for everything, thankful I wasn’t going to be alone on holidays any longer, when the door suddenly opened, and a thick, foreboding man walked out and down the steps. I turned and quickly walked away, until I heard him say, “It’s all right, Genevieve. I know who you are.”
I stopped, but didn’t turn around. This was Gloria’s father. I saw him on the news. I saw what an absolute asshole he was, and I did not want to talk to him. I gave a small nod to the side, but didn’t look at him. I continued up Broadway toward my car parked three blocks away.
“Please,” he said, desperation in his voice. “Please, I just want to talk to you.”
I stopped moving, but had my phone in my hand, ready to call for help. He stood a few feet from me, keeping his distance
“I followed her one day,” he said. “She said she wanted to make peace. She called her mother, then me, but I refused to accept…”
I stood completely still and let him say what he felt he had to. Then I would leave.
“And I saw you.”
Uh oh.
“My wife and I, we’ve spoken to Lauren. She’s in the house now. She told me no one was with our Gloria. I know she wasn’t with her in that hotel room. I’m glad she wasn’t…” he shook his head. “I hate the idea that she would have watched her go like that. I don’t know what would be worse, watching her waste away to nothing, or die…like that.”
“Mr. Rhodes…” I tried to interrupt, but he continued.
“I will never forgive myself that she died alone. I would have helped her. God forgive me, if that’s what she wanted, I would have been there with my little girl.”
I had no idea what to say to this man, but I didn’t trust him.
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
“Was she alone?”
“Are you asking as a lawyer or as a father?” My question left him speechless and I took advantage of his hesitation. “Your job binds you to secrecy and so does mine. You could probably find all sorts of ways to screw with me and force me to say anything, but out of respect for your daughter, I can’t help you find the peace you should have accepted from her yourself when you had the chance.”
“I asked the question as a father, Ms. Clare. I know everything about you. I’m not proud of some of the things I’ve done, but I can assure you, I’m asking as a father.”
The front door opened, and an older woman I assumed was Mrs. Rhodes joined her husband’s side. Then the beautiful Lauren came up beside them.
“What’s going on here?” Mrs. Rhodes looked from me to her husband and back again.
He reached down for his wife’s hand. “This young woman was a friend of Gloria’s.”
Knowing that Lauren knew who I was and that I knew the last person Gloria spoke to was her, I said, “We were just discussing the fact that we hoped that Gloria wasn’t alone. In the end.”
“She wasn’t,” Lauren said, her eyes on me. “The phone was on speaker. I talked to her until the battery ran out.” Her voice hitched as she spoke, but she told them the information that wasn’t mine to tell. It was between Gloria and Lauren.
Mrs. Rhodes and her husband took Lauren into their arms and hugged her in a collection of tears. I hoped, wherever Gloria was, she was smiling.
I drove to off Lincoln to the gates of the San Francisco National Cemetery. I did this because I’m me, but even so, I needed a minute to regroup. I was also desperate to talk to my man.
“Are you over the bridge?” he asked.
“Nope. I’m sitting outside that neat cemetery. I’ve never been here. We should check it out sometime. Everything is white.”
“It’s getting dark. In fact, it is dark, Gen.” He sounded a bit touchy.
“Her dad was there,” I said, just to get it out of the way. “It was short, it was intense, but it was actually good. He was…sad, Ahren. So sad.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute, but it felt like an eternity. “I’m heading to you. We’ll eat in Sausalito.”
“I’m all right. I swear. It was just sad he couldn’t have figured it out while she was still alive.”
“Gen,” he said abruptly. “You are going to think I’m fucking crazy, and maybe I am. Maybe I need some serious meds, but this feeling, I can’t shake it. I’m not going to wait for you to come to me. So you don’t think I’m completely insane and call off the wedding, I’ll meet you in Sausalito. We’re leaving your car there. I’ll call for it to be towed, whatever.”
I didn’t say anything, because I had no idea how to respond. He was freaking me out though. That was for sure.
“You’re kinda scaring me.”
“I’m sorry about that, I really am. But I—”
“It’s okay,” I relented. “Sausalito it is. Traffic seems to be moving… A miracle. I’ll be there in about forty-five.”
“I’m not crazy,” he announced firmly.
“I know,” I said in the softest voice I could. “You’re a man who’s worried about his future wife, who happens to be carrying his future child. We both lost loved ones in traffic accidents. I get it.”
“I’d feel better if you were in a safer car.”
“Honda’s are safe cars.”
“A 1990 Civic Hatchback is not a safe car.”
“I’m starting the safe car now,” I said sarcastically.
He finally laughed. “See ya soon, baby.”
“Love you.”
I paid my toll, paid no attention to anything going on around me, and drove forward onto the Golden Gate Bridge. I glanced casually at every taxi I saw, until I noticed one with a Grateful Dead sticker. I was behind Jimmy. I was about to pass him so I could wave like a loon, as promised, but he started to slow down until he came to a complete stop. The car in front of him had stopped. The car behind me began to lay on his horn, honking and swearing out of his window, calling me a fucking bitch, but I was watching Jimmy, who was lifting his leg over the short railing and approaching someone with their feet propped on the bottom of the outer railing.
“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
I popped in the bluetooth and called 911. I gave the dispatcher the exact location.
“I see a number thirty-five on a pole.”
She said that was great and tried to keep talking to me, but I saw other people were now approaching, all on their phones, so I disconnected and called Ahren.
“Oh God,” I whispered.
“Talk to me,” he demanded.
“Jimmy was in front of me… Spooky, right? But he’s talking to a jumper, Ahren, a fucking jumper.” Said jumper was now sitt
ing on the railing.
“Gen, baby, get out of there. Let Jimmy do his thing.”
“His thing?”
“He works the bridge, Gen.”
“What do you…”
“His daughter jumped. It’s why he quit driving a truck. He came home after she died and became a cab driver. Five nights a week, he drives up and down the bridge and keeps his eyes peeled. He’s only failed twice. Get out of there…please, Gen, in case he can’t do it this time.”
I started crying as Jimmy’s earlier statement hit me. He said he’d always wanted to walk his daughter down the aisle.
“As soon as you can, get out of there, Gen.”
I sat there for a few minutes and watched bridge security, police, and lookiloos who got out of their cars to watch the fucking show… But Jimmy was there. His hand was at her back. She turned into his arms, and he brought her to the ground and held her there. He rocked her back and forth, slowly, and a paramedic knelt down and wrapped a blanket around her. The wind had picked up then, biting and icy. Suddenly a hand was on the hood of my car, alerting me it was time to go.
“Ahren?” I asked, almost forgetting he was on the phone.
“I’m here,” he said quietly.
“Traffic’s moving now. I’m on my way to you. I’ll take the Sausalito exit. Meet me there. Please meet me there.” I went through the Waldo Tunnel and came out the other side. That was the closest and safest place for me to stop. All I wanted was to be with him. I couldn’t believe what I’d just witnessed. The enormity of it, of what Jimmy had just done. “He saved her life,” I told him.
He breathed out his relief. “Thank God. I’ll stay on the line with you, Gen. Fifteen minutes, I’ll be at the turn off.”
“‘K,” I muttered, shaken.
I drove quietly, no radio, and neither of us spoke. This part of the freeway was beautiful, driving through hills and into the city of Marin. I loved where I lived, and, as awesome as the city of San Fran was, I was always happy to head toward the rural-ness just off the freeway, where grapevines, valleys, fruit trees, rivers, forests, and small town life awaited me. It was during this thought that my dash flickered.
The Morbid and Sultry Tales of Genevieve Clare Page 22
