Chapter 4

Josephine O'Bannon loves her twin sister. Really, she does. Still seeing her get her happily ever after stings a bit.

[4]

　

　

　

If Jill was angry she didn’t show it. She listened to me speak about how such behavior was unacceptable then nodded with all the patience and charm of someone humoring my anger and impulsiveness and said simply, I’ll handle it.

 

Instead of wasting my time doubting her I decided to spend my leasure time going over my job prospects. A smart phone internet search revealed what I’d been dreading since Jill had brought the list of acceptable offers to my attention. Concierge services. I hated concierge medicine. It was nothing but coddling rich people. Listening to them b***h about their bad backs, and trying to find reasons not to refill their Oxycontin prescriptions. It was boring and extremely involved, but the pay was usually out of this world.

 

I shoved the list back into my purse as a man named Tanner escorted me to a waiting SUV and informed me he’d be with me for the immediate future. This must be my new shadow. My bodyguard. As if I needed protection.

 

Tanner was a sight to behold. He wasn’t a big burly bouncer type like you saw celebrities with. He was lean and tall with a short military haircut and a stern looking gaze. By the look of him he could melt glass with a glare and something about him told me he could punch a hole through a brick wall.

 

We rode together into the city, him up front with the driver, me in the backseat. The driver was a heavy man with a greasy haircut and a suit that appeared to be a size too small. Neither man spoke to me during the drive and only spoke to one another about logistics. I took the quiet ride as an opportunity to do some reading. Someone had left a fresh crisp copy of the New York Times on the backseat and the news of the day was Jo’s wedding. There was a picture on the front page of her standing with my father, walking down the isle. She looked beautiful and something in my stomach turned a bit. Of course she looked beautiful. Of course that was on the front page of the newspaper under the headline, Inspiration.

  

A quick wave of shame came over me. I was pouting, pouting and more than a bit jealous. She was my sister, I was supposed to be happy for her. Deep down I knew I was, her happiness was just as important to me as my own. On the other hand I wanted my happiness to eclipse hers, just a bit. Selfish, maybe. Pitiful, probably. Honest, absolutely.

 

I flipped the page determined to move past these childish feelings. The inside cover of the newspaper was filled with more about the wedding. Attendees, decorum and juicy details and gossip. It wasn’t until I read over the menu from last night that I saw my photo on the left hand page.

 

The title of the article was one I wasn’t expecting. Fixer of the Bride. I was more than a bit intrigued but confused as hell at what it meant. The first sentence set me straight and my interest turned to anger. It was a complete hatchet job.

 

Every Jack Kennedy needs a Bobby. A loyalist who will do all the dirty jobs you can’t do in order to maintain popularity. The best loyalists are usually siblings, their loyalty is unquestioned and they will almost always take a bullet for you. For JoAnne Lucas that person is her second in command. Her twin sister Dr. Josephine O‘Bannon. A raging pit-bull in a designer skirt often described as being aloof, doggedly focused, and a witch with a capital B. Pop Quiz: Which person has she threatened with physical violence in defense of her sister? A. Doyle Lucas. B. Chuck Dillon, The Governor of Tennessee. C. A floor full of doctors and nurses. Or D. All of the above.

 

I couldn’t believe it. The article made me sound like a raving lunatic. Aloof? A pitbull? What the hell is this? Since when did I become Bobby Kennedy? I wasn’t the hatchet man. Was I? Did people see me as the person who’d pull the trigger if necessary. That was disturbing, sure I had a temper but I wasn‘t out of control.

 

I didn’t know how to take any of this. Having people respect you was one thing. Having them scared you were going to freak out and cause a scene was another. I mean where the hell did that even come from? The speech? That was supposed to be humorous. F*****g reporters.

 

Was everybody back home going to read this? Were my grandparents going to see it? My parents? I wasn’t sure where my parents had disappeared to today, I hadn‘t seen them since last night. I knew if I could ask anyone, it would be them. They loved me, anything they said would be filtered through love and parental rose colored glasses. Since I spent half the night having anonymous sex with a stranger I didn’t get to see them before they left. I dug my phone out of my purse and called my mother.

 

The phone rang once before she picked it up and called my name. My mother and I had a strange relationship. She loved me, there was no doubt about that but we weren’t close. We’d never been close. She’d bonded with Jo over shared interests. Facials, manicures and trips to the salon were staples of their time together. My mother and I had never did these things. Once I left for college our relationship became much more formal. Rigid. We spoke sporadically on the phone but most of our communication was through emails. Actually speaking to one another was a luxury we both avoided. It was strange but it had gotten comfortable.

 

“Mom.”

 

“Josephine. What happened to you last night? We didn’t get a chance to say goodbye, your father was upset.”

 

My father? What about YOU. “I turned in early.”

 

“Oh. Well are you coming home soon?” She seemed disinterested. I didn’t get the feeling she DIDN’T want me to come, but it didn’t seem important to her that I should either.

 

“I’m sticking around for a while.”

 

She sighed. “Josephine don’t crowd your sister.”

 

Crowd HER, as if I didn‘t see her face every time I turned around? What was that supposed to even mean? “Mom the Vice President asked me to stay. He said it was important that I be around for Jo. They even got me job interviews.” I was going to regret saying this but I forced it out anyway. “Maybe you and daddy should consider coming out here too. I mean Jo and I will both be here on the East Coast now.”

 

“We’re fine sweetheart. Luke and Jo bought your father and me that farm we always talked about retiring to. Actually it’s not a real farm. It’s more like a ranch. It’s right on the water. Two hundred acres. In Crossville. Grandma and Grandpa are even coming with us.”

 

A ranch? That was generous. “It sounds nice.” My parents had always been country folk at heart. For as long as I could remember they’d dreamed of living on their own ranch. It seemed a silly dream to me but it was THEIR dream, what did I care?

 

“It’s very nice. Extermely generous of them. However we need to be careful not to impose on them Josephine. I don’t want your sister feeling obligated to take care of us.”

 

That was funny. Jo never felt obligated to do anything. She had always done just whatever she wanted. Skip out on a year of college, check. Travel the country with a strange boy, check. Ignore a top notch education to get a job in law enforcement, check. I doubted there was anything anyone could say to change her mind once she’d made it up. With the exception of Luke. He had a way with her, still she won most of their fights.

 

“My sister does what she wants mother, she always has.”

 

“That’s true.” she said with a bit of a chuckle. “So where are you?”

 

“On my way into the city. I was calling to see if you’d looked at the New York Times. There’s an article in it about me.”

 

My mother made her comforting noise. She read it. She probably cut it out and put it in her purse. “I wouldn’t pay that too much mind Josephine. It’s just the newspapers, nobody takes any of that stuff seriously. Besides there‘s nothing wrong with looking after your sister.” Only southern folks thought the news was only generally true. The whole concept of impartiality was lost on them. Southerners were all about taking sides.

 

I knew my mother and her friends wouldn’t think of my behavior as inappropriate. If anything it was a badge of honor to look out for family. Especially important family. She would always tell us growing up that if YOU don’t protect the reputation of the people you love why would anybody else? “It makes me sound like a crazy person.”

 

“It doesn’t. You’re just overprotective. You have to be. Jo is a free spirit. She always has been. She‘s your sister and you have to look out for her. It‘s your duty. Do you know how many times I had to pull my sister‘s rear out of the fire?”

 

That was true. My mother and my aunt Roxanne were extremely close. They fought like cat’s and dogs but as per Southern custom all disagreements were kept ‘in house’. Knowing all this, I still asked the inevitable question.

  

“Do people think I’m crazy?”

 

She paused. Paused just enough to let me know her answer without her having to say it. “No, of course not.”

 

Lies. All lies.

 

~

The Presidential Hotel took up a whole city block. It was widely regarded as the fanciest hotel in the world and of course it was where Jill booked my room. I had always dreamed of being able to stay at places like this when I finished medical school and became a big shot doctor. The whole world was supposed to fall at my feet. That all changed when Jo became front page news. My life had been put on hold to care for her. After taking a few selfish weeks to study for my medical boards exam I refused to take any interviews or entertain any job offers. Everything I’d worked so hard to accomplish had fell to the wayside, five minutes before I was supposed to cross the finish line. My dreams of big money and big shot living disappeared overnight.

   

Riches, a mansion, a Porsche, those were just a few of the things I planned to get for myself. Of course none of that happened. My dream of becoming a surgeon had faded over time and I’d realized my true calling was family medicine. A generic term used to explain somebody who treated colds and gave flu shots. It was boring work but it would allow me to build a steady patient list and allow my practice to grow with me. Of course in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t romantic, or high paying. Specializing would have earned me much more money, but being a doctor had never been about the money to me. At least not since I’d actually started practicing medicine. I knew I’d never be the girl with the big house, and the fancy car and I’d made my peace with that.

 

That was why being at the Presidential was such a big deal. It was probably the one and only time I’d get to stay someplace so fancy. When the car pulled to a stop in front of the large glass doors Tanner stepped out of the car and gave the street a cautious look. I almost laughed. I wasn’t Jo, nobody wanted to shoot me. I hadn’t gotten anybody arrested, I was a doctor. A young one at that, I hadn’t had any time to make any enemies.

 

I stared at the large monstrosity that sat dead square in the center of midtown Manhattan. It was impressive even from the outside. It was beautiful, a large dark stone brick castle surrounded by rock carved angels and a host of national flags. Tanner gently placed a hand on the small of my back and whisked me inside before I stood on the street gawking like a tourist.

 

I suddenly remembered I had bags but when I turned to check on them I saw a bell boy, which actually happened to be a tiny dark haired girl, grabbing them and loading them onto a luggage cart. I didn’t get a chit for the bags so I wasn’t sure how they were going to work it out, luckily there seemed to be some sort of process that was over my head.

 

The check in desk was busy with activity. The lobby was beautiful, large expensive looking art with marble floors and hustling lodgers. Nobody seemed to look in my direction but I’d been expecting that. It was New York, people minded their own business.

 

“Dr. O’Bannon, right this way please.” A tall man with an English accent practically whispered to me. He was wearing a suit that looked expensive but not unique or impressive, and his hair was perfectly cropped on his head.

 

He was ushering me to a young woman who didn’t have any customers in front of her despite the almost line starting to form. She smiled at me and addressed me by name and I suddenly wondered if life would always be like this. Would everybody know me every place I went?

 

“Welcome to the Presidential. We have everything already set up for you, all we’re going to need is a photo ID and a couple of signatures.

 

I nodded dumbly. The Englishman disappeared from sight so it was only Tanner and me and Tanner wasn’t paying attention to my new found celebrity status. His eyes were peeled on the crowd.

 

“Thank you.” Was all I could think to say. What were you supposed to say in a situation like this? Was there some sort some of high society rule book I was missing? Was I supposed to be snobby and ignore her. I decided it best to stick with the southern hospitality rule. When worse came to worst southern charm was always a reliable fall back plan.

 

“Your sister’s dress was beautiful,” the girl behind the counter said. She was typing on her computer her attention suddenly shifted from me to her work.

 

I nodded with a smile I’d practiced for days. “It was lovely.”

 

She didn’t seem to hear me. “Okay here we are. Mrs. O’Bannon and Mr.” She paused. “Hmmph. It just says Tanner.”

 

She looked over at my silent companion with an arched eyebrow. “Is that Mr. Tanner?”

 

“Just Tanner.” Was all he said.

 

The girl behind the desk looked as if she wanted to say something but held it in. “Okay. Then Tanner it is.” She slid two thin envelopes across the counter and smiled politely. “Here you are. Adjoining rooms, as requested.”

 

Requested? Jill again, this must be standard procedure. I never had a bodyguard before so I didn’t know enough to be happy or a little bit uncomfortable by it. Instead I just decided to keep my mouth shut.

 

“If you need anything else just give us a ring. Will you be requiring a wake up call?”

 

I had absolutely nowhere to be. “No, I’m fine.”

 

“Well Nicole will show you to your room.”

 

I hadn’t seen the tiny bellhop sneak up behind us with our bags but here she was politely waiting for us to finish. She was cute for a tiny little thing, not classically pretty but still attractive. Her short black hair was tucked behind her ears and I noticed the tips were streaked with red. Her eyes were decorated with a thick layer of eye shadow that seemed to make her eyes sparkle bright blue. She had a black wooden cross around her neck held there by a makeshift chain, a string of some kind that looked curiously like a shoelace, and she had two thick black bands adorning each wrist. I assumed they fit the bill as some sort of bracelet but they were unlike anything I had ever seen before. I was surprised by her semi-casual and non conformist appearance, places like this didn’t usually allow that sort of thing. I didn’t figure some hotshot wall street wizard wanted to be staring at some tattooed and pierced freak with red and black hair.

 

“Lead the way.” I said an extra layer of polite southern charm.

 

Tanner took the keys and silently followed my lead as I did my best to chat up the bell girl.

 

“So, do you like this job?” I asked her.

 

She shrugged. “It’s okay. It’s only for a few more weeks until I start college. Hopefully I’m starting at Columbia soon.”

 

Columbia was a great school. Very selective and expensive. She had to be smart to have gotten in. That or she had connections, I was beginning to learn that knowing the right people opened all sorts of doors that had been previously closed. Still she looked young, much too young to be going to college. “How old are you. You look like your twelve.”

 

She laughed a bit under her breath. I could tell she probably got this a lot. “I’m eighteen. I’m just small for my age.”

 

She pushed the large luggage cart onto the elevator, grunting as she did, and pushed the button. “This was my semester to rebel and learn how the real world works.” She chuckled again. “Like your sister actually. She inspired me to take some time for myself and have some fun.”

 

Working didn’t sound like fun. Jo and Luke had spent a lot of time traveling. They visited all fifty states and saw the country. They had albums filled with photo’s they’d taken at all these cool places. The Grand Canyon, Alcatraz Prison, Mt. Rushmore, The largest bottle of ketchup. A lot of the photo’s are up on Jo’s internet profile page. They were what people noticed first about Jo and Luke, their adventurous spirits. They loved traveling. Even now on their way to Paris the French tourist office had put together a detailed list of cool things for them to see while they were in the country. Half the high school kids in the country wanted to imitate the trip.

 

Of course this girl modeled herself after Jo. “How did that work out for you? Were your parents okay with that?”

 

She shrugged. “They didn’t mind. My dad figured maybe I’d learn something. The value of hard work and money. My mother thought I’d find some cute boy to go with.”

 

“Did you go anywhere?”

 

Nicole nodded almost excitedly. “I went a bunch of cool places. I went to Virginia with my friends Maxine and Quinn, we went to Arlington and looked at the old plantation estates. Then Maxine went home and Quinn and I went to Washington DC and saw all the cool stuff there. Then we met back up with Maxine and we all went to Spain to go exploring.”

 

That did sound like fun. Especially at that age. One of my biggest frustrations with Jo was that she’d done all her exploring without me. I would have loved to go on that trip.

 

“Well what did you learn?”

 

“That work sucks, big time. I spent so much time talking to people and everybody talked about their jobs and how much they wanted to take time off to travel and see stuff. It didn’t matter where we went, everybody said the same thing. It’s sad too because I’m probably going to go to college, then maybe business school, get a desk job, join the real world like everybody else and become some drone just waiting to die while collecting paychecks and paying bills.”

 

Tanner finally showed some emotion, laughing lightly to himself in the corner.

 

“What do you actually want to do with yourself? Musician?”

 

She gave me a strange look. “No, why would you think that?”

 

Oh great now I was stereotyping people. “I just assumed, because of the hair and the...”

 

She laughed playfully cutting me off. “No, I’m just goofing with you. I actually, and this is going to sound crazy, but I actually wanted to cure cancer one day.”

 

What’s silly about that, it was a noble goal? “That’s not crazy at all, you should do it. Go to college, then medical school and cure it.”

 

“Yeah it shouldn’t be a problem at all. I’ll cure it, never mind the thousands of doctors before me who tried and failed.”

 

When did kids get so cynical? Weren’t they supposed to be brash and optimistic? “Hey my sister went to college to learn to work on computers and within five years her and her boyfriend discovered a way to police the internet. She’s personally responsible for arresting over a thousand pedofiles. When she told me she wanted to be a cop I laughed at her. I thought she was going to get herself killed. What would have happened if she‘d said, it‘s too hard, nobody else has done it so I probably can‘t either?”

 

“Didn’t she get shot and almost die? You technically were right.” Nicole said.

 

“Small price to pay for a legacy that important.” Tanner said from the corner. I couldn’t disagree. Jo was liable to go down in the history books. She’d already made the cover of nearly every magazine I could rattle off the top of my head. The world would remember her name. That sounded worth it to me.

 

~

My phone rang at nearly six thirty, a local number that I didn’t recognize showed up on the caller ID. I didn’t know anybody in the city. At least not anybody who’d have my number. I went to school with a few doctors who now called New York home but nobody I kept in close contact with.

 

“Hello.” I answered cautiously.

 

“Josephine, it’s Clint Baker.”

 

Oh God, I was on booty-call status with this guy already. Nice one Josie. Giving it up to a strange guy after a night of drinking was a brilliant idea. “Clint.” I threw out with hesitation. If he mentions sex I’m going to crawl under my hotel bed and die.

 

“I was wondering what you were doing for dinner tonight.”

 

Was he asking me out? How did that work? He was supposed to buy me dinner BEFORE I put out. Doing it this way was just weird. What was his end game? Dating was pretty straight forward. You went out with a guy and sized one another up. He tried to impress you so he can get into your pants, you measured him for long term potential and if he fit the bill you got naked with him, it was a tried and true method. Nowhere did I ever hear about it working the opposite way. You had anonymous sex THEN started dating. Why take me out on a date if he wasn’t simply interested in getting me in bed? We barely knew one another. Unless I rocked his world so good last night he just had to have seconds. That would be flattering. A little disturbing since I had no memory whatsoever of last night, but still flattering. For all I knew I pulled out every kinky porno trick in the book and should be more ashamed of myself than I already am.

 

“Are you kidding?” I asked him a bit confused. “You seriously want to have dinner.”

 

He laughed at me. “I don’t have an ulterior motive. No expectations of anything besides that. Just have dinner with me.”

 

Well a free dinner wouldn’t be a terrible idea. Besides it would give me a chance to figure out what he was up to. At the very least I wouldn’t have to eat alone tonight.

 

“Fine. We’ll have dinner.”

 

Clint seemed to snort a laugh through the phone. “Great. Let’s say Regio at eight.”

 

I looked down at my watch. It was creeping towards seven. I had to get up and get ready. “I’ll see you there.”

Author's Note

Is anybody reading? Feedback? Or am I wasting my time?