Celia's Puppies (16 page)

“
The universe offers many
chances at love,” Sam said.

“
I think you’ve spent
waaaaay to much time with Delphie.”

Sam laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Friday afternoon — 2:45 P.M.

“
Now is your rest time,
Val.” Ramon trailed after Valerie down the hall to her apartment.
“No hanky panky and no food. Just water. Sleep for at least an hour
then we’ll do the wrap and... Where is the farm boy?”

Valerie turned in place to give Ramon a
menacing look. Flipping around, she continued down the hall.

“
Fine. Where is
Michael?”

“
He’s in his studio. A
couple museums came today to see his work,” Valerie
said.

She opened the door to her apartment. Seeing
Mike standing naked holding chocolate covered strawberries and
champagne, Valerie spun in place.

“
Thank you for your help,
Ramon. I promise that I’ll rest,” Valerie said. “You’ll be the
first person I see when I get up. We’ll do the seaweed wrap; meet
with Cindy from Sol for lingerie; then hang out with the Martins
crowd. I’ll be picture perfect by six.”

She moved to close the door in his face.

“
Oh, I thought you’d want
to play cards.”

“
I need to rest. I’m
exhausted and I didn’t get much sleep last night. I was out dancing
with you until three and up at six to start getting
dressed.”

Valerie smiled. Ramon nodded.

“
He’s in there, isn’t he?”
Ramon asked.

Valerie kissed Ramon’s cheek then closed the
door.

“
You are a sight for sore
eyes,” Valerie said. “What’s your plan, Mr. Roper?”

“
You,” he said.

She moved across the room into his arms.

“
How did it go this
morning?” he asked.

“
Boring,” Valerie said.
“It’s fun to get all the treatments with Jill and her friends.
They’re so refreshing for me. I’m grateful they let me hang out
with them. That Tanesha could have her own comedy show.”

“
Samantha couldn’t make
it?” he asked.

“
She’s in trial,” Valerie
said. “Plus you know Sami.”

“
Beauty requires regular
maintenance,” they said together.

“
She gets these treatments
at least once a week. Even while she was in the Navy.” Valerie
shook her head. “How was your morning?”

“
The Met and the
Smithsonian... They both want a piece. If Adam Lerner wasn’t there?
I would have passed out. He did the negotiating. And you should
hear the money they’re talking. I... William Morris called and they
want to represent me. Frederec said they want me in their print
ads.”

“
And you?” Valerie asked.
“What do you want?”

“
You.”

“
Hmm, what did you have in
mind?”

“
I am drawing your bath,”
he said. “I made your favorite no-carb snack. And I thought we’d
sneak a little champagne.”

Valerie shook her head.

“
Bubbles,” they said in
unison.

“
Vodka?” Mike asked. “It’s
low carb and I promise to work the calories...”

Valerie jumped into his arms. Laughing, he
carried her into the bathroom where the tub was filling. One piece
of clothing at a time, he undressed her then set her into the tub.
Stepping in behind her, he grabbed the sponge.

“
I’m scared,” Valerie
said.

“
You? I’ve never known you
to be scared,” he said.

“
Things are changing very
fast,” she said. “My agent called to say that her phone has been
ringing off the hook… with great parts… for me... Like I’m an ‘A’
lister. That’s what she said. ‘A’ lister. I...”

“
I’m right here,” he
said.

“
For now! You’ll have
openings around the world. You...”

“
I’m right here. I have a
choice. And I’ll never leave you again. Never by
choice.”

“
You say that, but what
if...”

He kissed the top of her head.

“’
If’ has already happened
and I’m still right here. We’re very lucky.”

Valerie nodded.

“
How can I ease your
mind?”

“
I am kind of
tense...”

Mike popped out the tub. Valerie chased him
to the bed.

~~~~~~~~

Friday afternoon — 3:30 P.M.

Jill crept across Jacob’s apartment. After
being sent off to rest, Sandy, Heather, Tanisha and Jill giggled
and played with Katy. When Katy began to sag, the women settled in
to nap. It was going to be a late night and a little sleep would go
a long way. Right now, Katy and her friends were sound asleep.
Feeling like Scarlet O’Hara at the ball, Jill couldn’t sleep.

She had to know.

She opened the closet door slowly.

The closet door squeaked!

But didn’t wake anyone.

She let out a breath.

Going to the back of the closet, she dug
through Jacob’s old clothing. He told her he meant to get rid of
it, but hadn’t gotten around to it. Clothing from when he lived in
Maine. Clothing from four years ago.

Frustrated that she hadn’t found it, she
flipped one of the last hangers to quickly.

The hanger scraped!

She leaned back to see if anyone woke
up.

Everyone was still asleep.

She let out another breath.

Turning back, she saw what her hand was
touching. She bit her lip to keep from fainting.

She had to know.

She touched the lipstick stain on the
collar. Her thumb ran over the makeup on the lapel. Leaning
forward, she took a deep breath and smelled… lavender.

Oh. My. God.

Blue wool and… buttons?

Taking her button out of her pocket, she
looked at the left sleeve of the jacket. It was missing one
button.

Her button.

Clutching the jacket, she dropped to her
knees.

“
Jill!” Jacob whispered.
He rushed forward to kneel beside her. “Are you all right? Honey,
what happened?”

“
You had a
tattoo.”

Chapter Thirty-Six
Oh no you don’t!

“
I...”

“
JILL!” Sandy pushed past
Jacob to Jill’s side. Seeing the jacket in Jill’s hands, she said,
“Come on, honey, let’s get out of the closet.”

She touched the jacket, but Jill hung on
tight to the fabric.

“
Jacob, get her other
arm,” Sandy said.

Jacob and Sandy helped a sagging Jill into
the other room.

“
I think we need to
talk...” Jacob started.

“
Oh no you don’t. If this
has to do with our girl, Jill, you can talk right here.” Tanesha
put her hands on her hips. Looking at Jill, she saw the jacket for
the first time. “Especially if that’s what I think it
is.”

“
Really, I think...” Jacob
started.

“
Not. A.
Chance.” Heather’s hands went to her hips as well. “If
that’s
the
jacket as in
the button
jacket, then this is about all of us. You can talk right
here.”

“
What about Katy?” Jacob
asked. “It’s not really...”

Heather raced across the apartment to answer
a tap on the door. Opening the door, she found Delphie on the other
side.

“
I wanted to see if anyone
needed some ironing done. I’m doing it, so I thought I’d ask,”
Delphie said to Heather. Looking from face to face, she said,
“Oh.”

Delphie made her girlie smile at Jacob.

“
Would you mind watching
Katy?” Jacob asked. “We’re having a little...”

“
Epiphany?” Delphie
twirled back and forth with glee.

Jacob glared at her. Delphie cleared her
throat.

“
Why don’t you show the
girls what you’ve done with the rest of the attic?” Delphie asked.
“I’ll stay with Katy.”

Jacob looked down at Jill. Still clutching
the jacket, Jill’s eyes were hollow and blank. He looked over her
head to Sandy. Sandy nodded. With Jill between them, they went into
the bathroom.

“
Heather, there’s a key to
this door on a hook in the medicine cabinet. Can you get that,
please?”

Heather found the key and opened the
door.

And the women stood in awe.

The dusty, old attic space had been
converted into a stunning home. Gleaming hardwood floors gave way
to sedate groupings of furniture. A gorgeous sitting area with a
couple couches and chairs rested on a beautiful oriental rug next
to a gas fireplace. A formal dining table was set in an alcove by
the windows. The brand new full kitchen formed a ‘U’ out from the
outer wall of the loft. Along the garden side of the wide open
space, four rooms lay ready to be occupied. Twin bathrooms occupied
the corners of the back wall.

“
I have her, Sandy,” Jacob
said. “We’re almost done. We hoped to surprise Jill with this
but... Please go on in.”

Heather, Sandy and Tanisha went into the
open space. A plumber poked his head out of the bathroom.

“
It’s all right, Fred,”
Jacob said.

The plumber nodded to Jacob and went back
into the bathroom. With Jill tucked against him, he made his way to
a couch.

“
Delphie and Val have been
supplying the kitchen in secret. I don’t know what’s there. Would
you mind making some tea, Sandy? Heather? Can you turn on the gas
fireplace? I’m sorry. I get very cold.”

“
This is gorgeous,”
Tanisha said. “This was a surprise? Just an ‘It’s Saturday’
surprise?”

“
I was thinking of it as
more a two week anniversary of the non-date,” Jacob
said.

“
Jacob? What happened?”
Jill stirred next to him. She looked at the blue men’s jacket in
her hand. “Oh. Is this yours?”

“
Yes,” Jacob said. “It’s
my school jacket. The buttons are imprinted with the polar bear.
Polar Bears are Bowdoin’s mascot.”

“
Polar bear with a hockey
stick. That was your tattoo.”

“
On my pec,” he said.
“Aden got mercury poisoning from the red dragon tattoos on his back
and shoulder. Blane and I had our tattoos removed so he wouldn’t
have to go through it alone. You had a belly ring.”

“
I had to take it out when
I got pregnant.”

“
You didn’t have a soul
mate tattoo.”

“
Yeah.” Jill’s hand ran
over the tattoo on her wrist. Sighing, she noticed for the first
time that her friends were standing around. “Where are
we?”

“
Our new home,” Jacob
said.

Jill looked at him then turned to look
around the loft space.

“
Wow,” she said. “You did
this?”

“
Me, Val, Mike, Delphie
and Dad,” Jacob said. “We knew you couldn’t really go home, so we
wanted you to have a place that would be your home. At least I hope
it will be your home.”

Jill tipped her head up to kiss him.

“
This is very touching but
we need to sort out a few things,” Tanesha said.

“
Like what the hell?”
Heather asked.

“
And other things.” Sandy
set two cups of green tea on the end table then went into the
kitchen for more. “Jill, this kitchen is perfect. I’m going to love
cooking here.”

“
Do I get a tour?” Jill
asked.

“
When we’re finished here!
Who’s going to start?” Heather looked from person to person. “Fine,
I’ll start.

“
Trevor took a week’s
vacation every year on his spring break. Now you know he went on
Jill’s money and never offered to take her AND...”

“
I was mostly glad he was
gone,” Jill said. “We would have the funnest week. Sandy would
start planning the moment we knew when he was leaving. We’d dance,
stay up late, there was always at least one pajama
party.”

“
He would go with a group
of his guy friends including this guy, MJ. MJ’s a guy we went to
high school with.” Heather said.

“
You’ve seen him,” Jill
said. “He’s been here all week. He works with Alex. He has a limp
and stutters some times.”

“
Red hair? Tall?” Jacob
asked.

Jill nodded.

“
Hey! I’m telling a story
here,” Heather said.

Everyone laughed.

“
Please continue,” Jacob
said.

“
MJ joined the service. So
one year, Trevor and his jerk friends decided to fly to spend leave
with MJ. FLY!” Heather’s face went red at the cost and imposition.
“Well, Jill couldn’t afford to send him. So he recruited my brother
to go with them. My cousin throws baggage for Frontier Airlines.
He’s a good guy, just an idiot.”

“
Heather’s brother agreed
to get stand by seats for everyone and they were off to... “ Sandy
looked at Heather. “Anyone remember where?”

“
Thailand,” Jill
said.

“
That’s right. Jill’s
dream vacation,” Sandy said.

“
Is that your dream
vacation?” Jacob asked.

Jill nodded.

“
Let’s plan a trip,” he
said.

She smiled.

“
We are in
the
middle
here,” Heather said.