Chapter Forty Two

 I felt like calling my sister after Beth left.  There was no answer at her office, but I got her on her cell.  “Hey, Sara.”

 “Hey,” she said.  Something sounded wrong.

 “Are you okay?”

 “Not really,” she sighed.

 “Why?  Did something happen?”

 “Well, I found out why Brian hasn’t been returning my calls.  I was getting so worried about him, I started calling him about every half hour.  That’s reasonable, isn’t it?  I mean, I thought he was hurt or something.  That’s all.”  She was speaking fast and sounded defensive, I could tell she was upset.

 “Did you get a hold of him?”

 “Oh, yes.  He let me know he won’t be coming back.  He’s found something better.”

 “A job?  A place?”

 “A woman...  I’m assuming the one I heard laughing in the background.”  Sara, my older sister who was always the strong one, broke down crying.  “He told me to take a hint next time, and hung up on me.  Oh god, I think I called them right in the middle of...  Things.  That’s it, Laura.  After four years that’s how he leaves me, and all I can think is what did I do to deserve this?”

 “Sara, nothing!  You didn’t deserve that, and he doesn’t deserve you!”  I had almost forgotten my own troubles, I was so furious with Brian.  I hadn’t ever liked him very much.  He always struck me as cocky, and I felt like he looked down on me because of where I worked, and for being a single mother.  “When did this happen?  Why didn’t you call me?”

 “Yesterday...  I tried calling but there was no answer...”

 “Oh.  Yeah, I guess you could say a lot happened here yesterday, too.”

 “I don’t like the sound of that, little sister.”

 “I don’t either...  In short, Earl and some of his friends jumped Jay.  I took him to the hospital, and the neighbors watched Madison.  They probably didn’t want to answer my phone.”

 “Well?  Is he alright?”

 “Oh yes, he needed some stitches and he’s kind of banged up.  He’s hurting, but he’s fine.  Sleeping at the moment, actually.”  I paused as a thought occurred to me.  “Sara...  Are you working tomorrow?”

 “No...”

 “Why don’t you come spend the night?  I feel like we could use each other.”

 “You and Jay could use each other.  I’m fine.”

 “Sara, bull.  If you need to be alone, I can understand, but you just said you’re not okay a few minutes ago.  You won’t be intruding if that’s what you’re worried about.  And Maddie would love to see you, she always does.”

 “Alright, you win...  Do I need to bring my air mattress?”

 I reddened slightly.  “No, you can have the spare room.”

----

 I heard Jay talking from the bedroom later.  “Hey man...  Well, I kinda got in a fight...  Not just him, he and three other guys jumped me last night...  Yeah, I mean I’m pretty banged up, but yeah...  I don’t know, I fought them until they weren’t fighting anymore.  Fucked one guy’s face up pretty bad, it turns out.  Then I smashed up Earl’s car...  Hell, I don’t know.  I was nuts, man.  They were out to get me, one of them even had a knife.  On top of it, he pretty much told me they were going to come here and gang rape Laura afterward.  It seemed like everything in my head shut itself off then, and I fought.  Then it was just...  Over.  And I was still going...  He said he’s going to kill me, is what he did.”

 There was some silence, and Jay gave a calm sigh.  “I don’t know...  Laura has been fantastic.  You know how many girls we’ve known that would just eat this s**t right up.  Well, not her...  Because I asked her?”  He laughed.  “Yes, I asked her...  I asked her what she ‘saw’, and she understood my question completely...  She feels awful about the whole thing.  That’s the worst part, man.  I mean really, it’s not her fault.  And I can’t ‘make’ her feel better.”  You just did, a little...  “Well, that’s it man, I won’t keep you.  I’m in love, and I got in a fight, and everything hurts.  I just wanted to keep you up, and vent a little, I guess...  I will.  Thanks, man....  I love you too.  Later.”

 I heard him getting dressed.  “Shoulder’s fine indeed,” Jay said when he came out.  “It still hurts like hell, and listen to this.”  He raised his arm, and there was a loud pop as he lowered it that made him cringe.  “Every time I do that.”

 “Quit doing that,” I said, trying to act unaffected by what I’d overheard, and Beth’s news.

 I must have had some measure of success, because he went on.  “Everything hurts, damn it.  I don’t think I broke any ribs though.  Cracked, at worst, but probably just bruised them.  Still, I’m glad I took the day off.  I couldn’t work like this.  Well I could, but it would be torture.  I owe Beth one.”

 “So, who were you on the phone with?” I asked.

 He looked at me as he poured a mug of coffee.  “Tristan, my friend from up north.  I used my cell, don’t worry.”

 I shrugged.  “I do have free long distance, you know.”

 “I wish I’d known.  Oh, well, we didn’t talk long.”  He sat, and hesitantly asked, “How much did you hear?”

 With a smile I admitted, “Everything.”

 “So, that’s why you’re smiling,” he said with one of his own.  “Well, you know how I feel.  None of that should be news to you anyway.”

 “Do you have anyone else you want to call?” I asked.

 “Nah.  Thanks, though.”

 “Not even...  Your parents?”  He noticed something in my tone, and with a simple glance invited me to explain.  “I’m sorry, it’s just...  If they were alive they’d be the first ones I wanted to talk to.”

 He nodded, trying to form his answer carefully.  “I’ll tell them at some point.  Probably when I actually see them next.  Awhile from now, when I’m healed and this is all just a story.  If I told them now...  They wouldn’t know how to act, truthfully.  So they’d overdo it, like they think they’re supposed to.  And then I’d feel compelled to act like they think I’m supposed to, when all I want to do is relax.  It’s not like this isn’t a big deal to me, I just don’t like...  Making a show of things.  You heard me talking to Tristan.  He gets me.  I don’t have to show a bunch of emotion, yell, cry...  I can just talk to him.”

 “Alright,” I said, willing to leave it at that.

 He picked up on my dissatisfaction.  “Laura, I don’t have the relationship with my parents that you had with yours, I don’t think.  We care about each other, but...  We came out as completely different people.  I don’t get them a lot of the time, and they don’t get me.  We’re driven by different things, we live in different worlds.  I’m grateful for them, don’t get me wrong.  They just can’t help me right now.”

 I nodded, and we held hands.  My eyes watered a bit.  It was for the memory of my parents, but also a feeling I got from what he’d said about his own, brief as it was.  It was what I’d heard in his voice.  Somehow, it explained so much about him.  I imagined him going to his books, and his friends for his answers in life.  I saw him as someone lost, finding their own way through the world.  I get you...  And I’ll never leave you.  “I understand, I think,” I said with some confidence.

 He squeezed my hand lightly with a gentle smile, and noticed the printouts.  “What’s that?”

 “You want to read it, or you want me to tell you?  Beth stopped by to check on you, and dropped those off.”

 “I don’t know...” he said, and sat.  He must have made up his mind quickly, because he started reading them.  “Holy s**t...”  He sat back, holding the edge of the table.

 “You okay?”

 “Died in surgery...  Who the hell dies from a fractured facial bone?  What did he do, choke?”

 “What rhymes with choke?”  Jay looked at me, bewildered.  “Beth told me the anesthesia killed him since he failed to mention having done coke earlier.  He didn’t die from the fracture.”

 “Are the police after uh...  The guy that did that to him?”

 “I haven’t heard anything about that...  I doubt it though.  It’s not like you’re at fault.”

 “No, until they want to know why I didn’t go to them in the first place...  Damn, this is getting complicated.”

 “What do you want to do?”

 Jay spaced out for awhile.  “All I did was hit him in the face when he tried to stab me.  It’s all over, I wasn’t planning on going to the police in the first place...  If they do, they’re likely to incriminate themselves even more than they would me.  They’d have to tell everything, or else get them to believe I attacked them all myself, unprovoked.  I think I’ll leave well enough alone...  Still, though.”

 “Still what?”

 Without replying he shuffled to the next sheet absently, and saw the circled obituary.  “Family man, eh?  I wonder if the wife knew what he was up to.”  He sighed.  “Is this going to quit getting more messed up, at any point?”

 “You’re taking it better than I expected,” I said.

 “Maybe.  It bothers me, and I’m sure it’s not even going to really hit me until later.  I thought about him for awhile before getting out of bed, though.  I mean, a fractured maxilla...  I can’t even imagine how that has to hurt.  I actually tried for a bit, and I really can’t.  So I was feeling bad about it, but I talked myself out of it.  Like I said last night, all I did was hit him in the face to get him away from me with that knife.  He made a decision to risk his life, and he lost it.  You can’t attack someone like that and expect to not have your life endangered in return.”  He looked at me almost warily.  “Do you think I killed him, Laura?”

 “No.  No way.  Beth said...”

 “Yeah, surgery.  This was all his fault.”  He looked at the paper again.  “His family though...”

 “Jay, I don’t know why I’m telling you this.  Maybe I don’t want there to be anything unsaid, maybe I’m getting it off my chest...”  I told him about the man looking at Madison, watching his eyes widen at first, then narrow.  “I think...  Part of me is glad he didn’t make it.”  My eyes watered.  “Does that make me a bad person?”

 His hands were shaking, and he was silent.  “Let’s lay down,” he said finally.  “I need to hold you.”

 We went to my bed and I climbed into him, speaking into his chest.  “It’s not that I’m glad he’s dead exactly, and I do feel bad for his family...  But I can’t help being glad he’s not roaming the streets anymore.  He...  He seemed awfully comfortable, looking at Madison like that.”

 “Shh...  Try not to think about it anymore.  Oh, like I’m one to talk...  All I can think of is what might have happened if they’d beaten me.”  His arms tightened around me, as if he were afraid I’d fly away.  “Only, I can’t really think about it.  I don’t even know what my mind is trying to do right now!  And Earl’s words are coming back to me...  I don’t know that he was just trying to get me angry.  Why would he admit something like that if it’s true, though?  Laura, what the hell is going on?”

 “I don’t know...  And I just called Sara a little while ago.  Her fiancée left her, rather abruptly and cruelly.  She’s coming to spend the night.”

 “Is that a good idea?  What if Earl picks tonight to start?”

 “There’s safety in numbers,” I said.  “And Earl’s a coward.  He didn’t even want to face you without backup.  I think we’ll be safe, maybe even safer with an extra car out there.”

 “Maybe...  Wow, I actually thought I was starting to get this all sorted out.  Are you sure about that guy?  Looking at Madison, I mean.”

 “Jay, I felt him looking at my daughter.  Don’t question me on it.”

 “Alright, sorry,” he backed off.

 I squeezed the flesh in my hands.  “I’m sorry.  I’m just so upset, about everything.  It’s all falling apart.”

 “No, don’t look at it like that.  Life has its ups and downs, we’re just in a down part for sure.  Look at it this way, things can only get better, right?”

 “Right,” I said as I held him tightly.  As long as Earl doesn’t kill you.

Reviews

[Sarah]

Ah, I forgot about Brian! He sounds like such a dick. I mean, I don't know how realistic it is to leave someone after four years together, but I suppose stranger things have happened. Again, I would love more on them because I feel like I'm only getting a piece of the story with them. Like something is missing. Why he really left? Why he was getting tired of Sara? Etc.

I always think it's cute when a guy says I love you to another guy. Great little touch.

I liked the ending scene where Laura and Jay lie down together. I could hear the concern and worries in their voices and their attempts to relax one another. A realistic scene of the intensity and connection between them. Well done.

[Christopher Miller]

This wouldn't come for quite some time probably, but I've had the idea to do a sequel about Sara. Maybe when Lavender 3 is done, and maybe 4, and Ops, and my theology book...
To be perfectly honest, I was just writing conversation with Laura and her sister and it turned into that.

[Sira YR]

This is getting more and more interesting. I can't say that i feel sorry for that guy, but i can say that i feel sorry for his family. He shouldn't have gotten in that situation in the first place. I can't wait to read more, and again thank you so much for continuing it. You should definitely publish this.