Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (10 page)

“
Sandwich would be
wonderful,” he said.

He stood at the kitchen bar while Jill made
him a turkey sandwich. She watched him gulp down every bit.

“
Happy?” he
asked.

“
Are you sufficiently
restored?” she asked.

She laughed at his mock indignation. Turning
in place, she started toward their bedroom. Laughing, he chased
her.

CHAPTER
NINETY-FIVE
In the
Glow

Wednesday early morning —
5:20 A.M.

“
I see that we’re running
out of things,” Jill said to Honey.

Jill was standing in the middle of the
kitchen pantry. Honey and her sport wheelchair were in the
doorway.

“
No Captain Crunch with
Crunch Berries, no chips, no chocolate chips, no dried mango and
less of everything else?” Honey asked.

“
Yep, that’s what I see.
We’ll be out of peanut butter by tonight.”

“
You watch.” Honey wheeled
backward to let Jill out. “This pantry will be full by the time we
return from work.”

“
I’m sure there’s a
reasonable explanation,” Jill said.

Honey raised an eyebrow.

“
It’s not magic,” Jill
said.

“
Not like objects that fly
through the air or people surviving death or knowing the future…”
Honey squinted at Jill.

“
But this is
food.”

“
Uh huh,” Honey said. “And
I’m telling you that’s a magic cabinet.”

“
How did it get to our
apartments?”

“
Exactly. How did it get to
our apartments?”

“
Honey, really.”

“
Magic!”

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday morning — 7:25 A.M.

Ring!

“
Ah fuck.” Sandy heard the
phone ring while she was in the shower. “Noelle can you get
that?”

“
You owe the jar five
dollars,” Nash yelled at her. “No f-bombs.”

“
Fine,” Sandy said. “Will
one of you answer the phone?!?”

Sandy tried to finish washing her hair. Her
head was under the water spray when she heard her name.

“
What?”

“
It’s Daddy but they won’t
let us talk to him.” Noelle extended the portable phone in her
direction. “Has to be an adult. Please, please, please can we talk
to Daddy. Please?”

With the shower curtain draped around her,
Sandy grabbed the phone from Noelle.

“
Hello?”

“
Are you an
adult?”

“
Last time I checked,”
Sandy said.

“
Will you accept the
charges from Aden Norsen in Canon City Correctional
Facility?”

“
Yes,” Sandy
said.

“
Sandy? Sandy? Don’t hang
up! Sandy?” She heard Aden’s voice as she pushed the phone to
Noelle.

“
Daddy? It’s Noelle. She’s
in the shower, Daddy.” Noelle’s eyes welled with tears.
“But…”

Noelle held the phone out to Sandy. Turning
in place, Noelle ran off to her room.

“
Great job, jerk-off. You
just broke the child’s heart. What do you want?”

“
I have to talk to you,”
Aden said. “We’re getting out, Pete and me.”

“
What? Why?”

“
Because of the fight and
the fact that we’re better. They’re putting us on house arrest.
Ankle bracelets.”

“
Good thing your house
hasn’t sold,” Sandy said.

“
I want to come home to you
and the kids.”

“
I want a billion dollars.
We don’t all get what we want,” Sandy said.

“
Sandy, please. If you
don’t agree, I have to stay here,” he said.

“
You don’t get to upend our
lives on a whim again,” Sandy said. “We already have a very full
day. We don’t need to add you to our list.”

“
I don’t want to upend your
life. I just want to see you,” Aden said. “Hold you. Love
you.”

“
I’m going to finish my
shower,” Sandy said. “Why don’t you talk to your children? You do
not have my permission to discuss this with them. And I’m reminding
you, I am their full legal guardian now.”

“
I won’t. Sandy,
I…”

“
Try to ask them about
themselves. They miss you. God knows why…”

Holding the phone, and his bullshit, away
from her head, Sandy grabbed her terrycloth bathrobe. She stomped
down the hall to Noelle’s room. Noelle was laying face down on her
bed crying.

“
Sweetie, your Daddy wants
to talk to you,” Sandy said. “Can you do that? Are you okay to do
that?”

Tears streaming down her face, Noelle
nodded. Nash came to Noelle’s door.

“
Hi Daddy,” Noelle said.
“It’s okay, Daddy. I only cried a little bit.”

Sandy closed Noelle’s door. Walking back to
her bedroom, she returned to the shower. As she pulled the curtain
closed, she felt nothing but the cold chill of her wet wandering in
the apartment.

Then, like the water falling onto her head,
a wave of desperate sorrow overcame her. After working her butt off
for the last month, everything would change. The children would go
back to their father and she…

And she…

Her mother would never speak to her again.
Her father was dead. Her condo was rented by Elizabethe. Her
private secret was spread around the world and back again.
Everything she once had was gone. Everything she’d worked so hard
for was gone.

She had nothing.

She was nothing.

Again.

With each tear, her sorrow transformed to
resolve. Today she would get Nash back into school. Tonight, she
would move out. Aden could have his house, his children, and his
life back.

She would tell no one. Not even Jill.

She’d just leave. She would disappear from
Denver. Forever.

Stepping out of the shower, she felt calm
and ready. She dried off and combed her hair. She had a plan. Now
all she had to do was work her plan. She nodded to herself in the
bathroom mirror.

It was for the best.

Opening the door, she stepped out into her
bathroom.

“
It’s not for the best,”
Delphie said.

“
I thought you were dead,”
Sandy said.

“
I’m not dead enough to let
you do something stupid,” Delphie said.

“
I’m not being stupid,”
Sandy said. “There’s nothing left for me here.”

“
The children love you,”
Delphie said. “Aden loves you. Jill would be devastated if you
disappeared. That’s not to mention Heather and Tanesha and all of
your clients and everyone in this house and even me. What’s wrong
with you? Why would you hurt all those people?”

“
You wouldn’t understand,”
Sandy said.

“
Try me. You’d be surprised
at what I can understand.”

Sandy sniffed at Delphie. She moved around
the woman and started to get dressed.

“
I get that you’re mad at
Aden. He’s been a complete ass. But that’s his path, Sandy,”
Delphie said. “He has to discover himself.”

Sandy scrapped the hangers around in her
closet.

“
And making my life and the
kids life a complete mess is how he ‘finds’ himself?”

“
Sadly, yes,” Delphie
said.

“
Not fair,” Sandy said.
“And I don’t really like it that you read my mind. It’s very rude
and intrusive.”

“
I’m trying to keep you
from doing something dangerous and stupid,” Delphie
said.

“
Dangerous?” Sandy pulled
on underwear and a pair of black pants. The pants wouldn’t close.
She groaned. Taking off the pants, she put on a green broom skirt
and pulled a purple long sleeve shirt over her head. “How is it
dangerous?”

Delphie patted the bed next to her. Sandy
sat down.

“
You’re still in danger,”
she said. “Not from other people but from inside you. When you and
Aden connected, you let your heart open. If you close your heart
now, it will never open again, even for your child.”

Sandy looked deep into Delphie’s eyes. After
a moment, Sandy shook her head.

“
I can’t do it,” she
whispered.

“
Yes, you can,” Delphie
said. “You and I… We’ve suffered under the hands of selfish men. I
lived with that shadow all of my life. Your shadow is gone. You
could live the rest of your life in the glow of everyone who loves
you. But you have to let go of the shadow.”

“
What shadow? You sound
crazy, Delphie.”

“
The shadow of what
happened to you,” Delphie said. “You lived a lot of years sucked
dry by your cruel father and selfish mother. Now, when you feel
exhausted, you relive those experiences, like a shadow.”

“
Is that why you think
you’re dead? Because your shadow is gone?”

“
I am dead,” Delphie
said.

Delphie glared at Sandy to prove her
certainty. Sandy shrugged.

“
Give Aden a chance,”
Delphie said.

“
I don’t know
how…”

“
We have plenty of room,”
Delphie said. “Let him take a room in the basement. Let him prove
himself to you and the children. If he can’t do it, then move on.
But at least give him a chance.”

Sandy shook her head slightly.

“
I can’t think about this
now. I have a hearing in…”

Sandy went to the door of her room.

“
We have to leave in ten
minutes!” She yelled.

“
Ok,” Nash
yelled.

“
I’m ready,” Noelle said
from the living room.

“
The children love you,”
Delphie said. “You’re their mother, for now and always. It’s a soul
contract. Don’t abandon them.”

Delphie hugged Sandy.

“
You’re a good woman.
You’ll make the right choice,” Delphie said.

“
Speaking of choice,” Sandy
said. “Can I do your hair? Dead people really need better
hair.”

“
They do? I hadn’t thought
of it.”

“
Of course, dead people
need near perfect hair,” Sandy said. “You haven’t noticed that
Celia’s hair is better now?”

“
It is better,” Delphie
said. “You’re right.”

“
How about tonight?” Sandy
said. “I’m working on Val’s hair. I can do it tonight.”

“
What about
Aden?”

“
He’s not disrupting my
plans,” Sandy said. “You want to be his dead guardian, knock
yourself out.”

“
I like the way you think,”
Delphie said.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday mid-day — 12
noon

“
I was just about to order
your lunch, Mr. Marlowe,” Evette, the new secretary
said.

“
Uh.”

Jacob looked up from the bid he’d been
reviewing. Wearing a skin tight pink silk dress, his new blonde
secretary swished her way across his office until she stood next to
him. She shifted her hip so it brushed his arm. He rotated his
chair back and away from her.

“
Thank you, but I’m having
lunch with Blane. He and his wife are bringing Mack
into…”

“
Hey,” Blane said at the
doorway.

Evette wrinkled her nose at Jacob then
swished out of the office. Blane stepped aside for her to
leave.

“
What was that?” Blane
asked.

“
I asked for someone to
fill in while you’re out,” Jacob said. “The office manager, said
Evette was really eager to help out. She’s a little too eager. You
know?”

“
Glad Heather didn’t see
that little interaction,” Blane said.

“
Nothing happened,” Jacob
said.

“
You’re bright red. Her hip
was pressed right into your face. When I walked in, you move away
from her,” Blane said. “Yeah, it’s not what happened
it’s…”

“
She’s not even a great
secretary,” Jacob said. “Can’t type, gets my appointments messed
up…”

“
Get rid of her,” Blane
said.

“
Who’s the bitch at your
old desk?” Heather asked. She came in the room carrying Mack in his
car seat. “Hey Jake.”

Jacob shook his head.

“
What happened?” Blane
asked Heather.

“
I asked if you were in
Jacob’s office and she gave me this whole line about how ‘Jake was
a busy man’ and ‘Jake shouldn’t be bothered with women like
me.’”

Jacob and Blane looked at each other then at
Heather.

“
What did you say?” Blane
asked.

“
I told her that Jacob was
a married man. And that if she thought she was going to get her
claws into him, she had another thing coming. She wouldn’t like
Jill when Jill’s was angry.”

Jacob and Blane looked at each other
again.

“
I’ll talk to Heather,”
Blane said. “You need to get rid of her.”

“
Talk to me about what?”
Heather asked.

“
I think Jake needs me
here,” Blane said.

Heather looked at Blane then looked at
Jacob. She raised her right index finger and pointed to Jacob.

“
You better watch your p’s
and q’s, Mr. Bachelor of the year. You have no idea the misery you
will feel if you fuck up. Jill talks about what Trevor did to her
and he was brutal. But he was always having some mysterious thing
or another cut off him. He never figured it out, poor
bastard.”