Help Wanted (24 page)

The sight of True running wildly down the middle of the street shook Hayward out of his shock. “I have to go and get her. She can’t run off like that. I need to know where she is.” He tried to move away from Evan, but his son wrapped his tiny arms around his leg.

“Daddy, don’t leave me,” he cried. “I’m sorry I didn’t help Kevan better.”

Dave touched Hayward on the shoulder. “You take Evan and get everyone back in the house and wait for the police. I’ll go after True and bring her back.”

Hayward looked like he wanted to argue but instead he nodded at Dave. Picking up Evan, he watched as Dave took off after True. “Please God…don’t let this happen to me twice in my life,” he prayed as tears poured down his face.  “The police better find the son of a bitch who took my son before I do because if they don’t I’m going to would kill the bastard.”

Chapter Forty-Six

Two days later

“Dad, can I talk to you?”  Trevor asked as he sat down in a chair next to Jim’s outside on the patio.

“I thought you were in your room playing a video game,” Jim said looking over at his son. Trevor had been staying with him instead of Kathy ever since he found the bruise on his son’s face. He wasn’t letting his son go back anywhere near that environment.

“No, I’ve been thinking about something you told me.”

“What is that?”  Jim loved his son dearly, but he didn’t want to get into a long conversation. All he wanted to do was sit out here and think about how he could have been so wrong about Keira. It had been close to forty-eight hours and he couldn’t believe that he had broken up with her.

“Remember you told me that you will always love me no matter what?”

“Yes and it’s true. I’ll always love you no matter what. You’re my son and even if you make a huge mistake in life I’ll love you.”

“Does that include telling a horrible lie about someone?” Trevor asked nervously.

“Who did you tell a lie on, son?”

Looking down at his tennis shoes, Trevor kicked a rock around with the toe like he didn’t want to come clean but he knew that he had to. “Dad, did you love Ms. Keira?”

Jim thought about lying but changed his mind. Trevor needed him to be honest. “Yes, I loved her very much Trevor. That’s why it hurt so much when you told me she was the one who hit you. I’m so sorry that I let someone like her around you. I can promise you’ll never see her again.”

“Keira didn’t hit me,” Trevor blurted out. “I lied. I didn’t want you to leave me for Keira. Mommy was the one who really hit me. She was buying her boyfriend something with the money you sent for me the day I called you from the mall. I told her that I was going to tell you that she didn’t buy me the new shirt I needed and she slapped me. She told me I better not tell you because you were tired of my asking for stuff and since you have a new girlfriend I didn’t matter to you anymore.”

Jim closed his eyes, feeling utterly miserable. A deep, unaccustomed pain filled his chest as the words he’d spat at Keira came rushing back to him like a landslide. “Trevor, do you know how much damage you caused with your lies?”

“Dad, I’m sorry. I was scared you wouldn’t love me anymore if you married Ms. Keira. I know mommy doesn’t care about me and if you didn’t care anymore, I wouldn’t have anyone.”

“Trevor that is no excuse for lying on Keira,” Jim said trying to keep calm. “Do you know if I had reported Keira to the police how much trouble she could be in because of your lie?”

“I know,” Trevor said still looking down at his shoe. “I can apologize to her and that will make her care about us again.”

Jim doubted any kind of apology from either one of them would get Keira to stay five minutes in a room with him or his son. The knowledge of that twisted and turned him inside out. “Trevor, go back inside. I need some time alone to think about what I’m going to do.”

Standing up, Trevor looked at him. “I promise to tell Ms Keira I’m sorry when she comes back and I won’t cause anymore problems with her,” his son said and then ran back into the house.

Jim waited until he was sure that Trevor was gone before he dropped his head into his hands.  The pain he felt as the reality of his situation set in tore him to shreds. Keira had been telling him the truth! He had ripped the woman he loved apart. The insults that came out his mouth were barbed and hurtful. Dave warned him to stop, but he didn’t listen. He had been intent at lashing out towards Keira.

Tears burned his eyes as the look in Keira’s beautiful eyes flashed in front of his face the second before she’d hit him and told him to stay away from her. How could he do that now? She was his everything. He was having a hard time staying away before Trevor told him the truth. There was no possibility of him not trying to win her back now that he knew she wasn’t responsible for the slap.

He had to mend the love between them and there was no time like the present.  Lifting his head, Jim got up from his chair and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He pressed one on his speed dial and waited for Keira to pick up.  She might not answer the phone once she saw it was him on caller id, but that wasn’t going to stop him. The phone rang three times before her answering machine picked up.

“Hello…I’m not home. Please leave your name and number. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

Jim waited for the beep and left a message.

“Keira…Hmmm…Baby, we need to talk. Please call me,” Jim discontinued the call and shoved the phone back into his blue jeans. He knew that Keira wasn’t going to call him. Hell could freeze over and she wouldn’t pick up that phone. So he needed a second plan to get Keira back.

He couldn’t believe that he would never wake up again during the middle of the night to find Keira’s leg slid between his or find her hand wrapped around his hair. He loved all of these things about her and they all might be gone out of his life because he’d rushed to judgment.

“Shit!” Picking up a small table, Jim threw it across his backyard. “I have to think of a way to apologize to her. She can’t keep me out of her life forever. I need her too much.”

Not knowing what else to do Jim retook his seat and dropped his head back into his hands scared that he might have lost the woman he wanted to make his wife.

* * * *

 “True, I’m so sorry to hear about Kevan,” Keira said as she sat beside her friend on the couch and took her hand. “Is there anything I can do for you? Have you heard anything from the man who took him?”

“No, Dalton hasn’t contacted me at all.” True cried brushing away her tears “I’m pissed the police didn’t let me know as soon as he had escaped from prison. They shouldn’t have expected me to have seen it on the news.

 “I swear if he hurts my son in any way I’ll kill him. I can’t take much more of this. I haven’t eaten or slept in days. How can I think about taking care of myself if I don’t know how Dalton is treating Kevan? All of this is my fault. If I hadn’t gone to California and testified against him, none of this would be happening.” She wept out loud, rocking back and forth on the couch with her arms wrapped around her.

Placing an arm around her shoulder, Keira drew True closer to her body until her head rested on her shoulder. “You have to get yourself together because you need to be strong when Kevan comes back home to you. Can I get you something to eat?  Where are Hayward and the boys?”

“Hayward and Clinton took them to see his father because he was scared for them to be here with Dalton running around. I told him I wasn’t leaving until I got my baby back.  I know he blames me, but he’s not saying anything to my face.”

Keira was torn about what she could do to help True. It was hard for her to be here because she didn’t want to run into Jim. He had left a message on her phone, but she wasn’t about to call him back.  After the cruel and horrible things he’d said to her nothing he had to say would
ever
make her see him in the same light she used to.

“Honey, I know how much Hayward loves you and he wouldn’t ever think anything like that about you. Where is everyone else?”

“Jenisha went out with Charisma and Dave to get me something to eat. Jenisha wanted to stay here with me, but I told her to go. I needed some time to myself to think. They should be back any minute.” True moved her head off her shoulder and brushed the remainder of her tears away. “Hey, how are things going with you and Jim? I heard that Trevor told the truth about who hit him.”

“Jim isn’t in my life anymore and that’s all I have to say about him. However, I do have some excellent news. Dr.  Gearan signed all the forms I need to get back in the air. My first flight is in two days and I can’t wait. I’ve missed being a flight attendant.”

“Keira, I’m so happy for you. I know how hard it was for you to get over those nightmares and go see Dr. Gearan about them. Have you told Jim about this?”

“No, it isn’t any of his business. He has his own life now and I have mine. I’m not going to take someone back who talked to me the way Jim did.”

“I think…”

The sound of the front door opening and closing drew Keira’s attention to the entrance way of Jenisha’s house. She silently sent up a prayer that the person she didn’t want to see wouldn’t make an appearance, but her prayers weren’t answered.  Jenisha, Charisma and Dave walked in and a few seconds later Jim appeared behind them.

His eyes zoned in on her the second she got up from the couch and Jenisha spoke to her. “Keira, I’m glad you could make it over here. I was concerned about leaving True by herself while we went out for food; that’s why I called you when we were at the restaurant.”

“Oh, it wasn’t a problem, but since all of you are back, I need to leave.” Looking down at True, she touched her friend on her shoulder. “Please call me if I can do anything else. I’ll make it back over to see you soon and hopefully we will all be celebrating Kevan’s return.”

Keira made her way towards the three people and then slid her way past them without touching Jim. She way halfway to the door when a hand wrapped around her arm and a voice whispered by her ear. “Are you really going to leave like you never saw me?” Jim asked. “Baby, we need to talk…please.”

She shook off Jim’s touch and then spun around to look at him.  She tried her best not to get lost in his eyes. “This isn’t the time or place for you to be bothering me. We are over. I’m not interested in what you have to tell me.  You said enough the day Trevor accused me of hitting him. I replay your comments in my head over and over.”

“If you give me a chance to apologize I can wipe all of those horrible words from your mind and replace them with words of love…because I do love you with everything I have in me. Trevor is so upset that you aren’t around anymore. He wants to talk to you and tell you how sorry he is.”

“No, I see that this relationship wasn’t going to lead anywhere especially since you only went out with me as a favor to Dave. I have my confidence back and I don’t need to be with someone who never truly cared about me. I’m looking for a man now who isn’t put off or scared by a strong and independent woman.”

Spinning around, Keira headed for the door only to be stopped by Jim grabbing her arm again. “I swear if I find out another man has touched what is mine, I will kill him. I…”

“You have no right to tell me any of this because we aren’t together anymore. Maybe you can do Dave another favor and ask him if he has another woman who needs some help, but I’m no longer that woman. You did your job well. I’m completely healed.  Hell, go find Bambi. I’m sure she won’t turn you away.”

“Fuck Bambi…I’m not in love with that girl. I love you. Hell, you made me want to get married again. I never thought I would want to take that plunge with another woman until you came into my life.”

Shaking her head, Keira wished that they could go back in time but they couldn’t, so it wasn’t any use in trying.  “Jim, we are over. Just let it go. True is going through hell right now and she needs all of the support and positive thoughts she can get. I’ll make a real effort to be cordial when we happen to run into each other here, but nothing has changed between us.”

Hell…he wasn’t going to beg for Keira to be with him. He was a man, for God’s sake. If she didn’t want him then he was fine with it. He knew of plenty of women who he could call and they would be at his door step when he got home.

“You know what. You’re right. Why bother trying to fix something that isn’t worth fixing. I might give Bambi a call after all,” Jim tossed back pissed he wasn’t getting through to Keira. She was out of her mind if she truly thought he wanted any other woman but her.

Keira didn’t even acknowledge Jim’s outburst. Instead, she turned away from him, opened the door and walked out closing it softly behind her.

“DAMN IT!” Jim shouted as he punched his fist through the nearest wall.

“What in the hell is going on?” Dave asked as he ran into the entranceway.

“Keira won’t listen to me. She told me to find another woman because she was going to find another man. I warned her that I would kill any man who touched her and she just brushed off my comment,” Jim said holding his bleeding fist. “Shit! I have to go and find her. She isn’t listening to me but I can make her. I always find ways to make her listen to me.” He started to leave, but Dave stepped in his way.

“First, we need to see if your hand is broken and get it bandaged up. Secondly, you need to calm down. Ordering Keira around isn’t going to get her to come back to you. I learned that first hand with Charisma. Let’s go into the bathroom. You don’t need to drip blood on Jenisha’s hardwood floors anymore than you already have.”

“Didn’t you hear what I said? Keira is going to find another man. I can’t let her do it.”

Dave pushed Jim in the direction of the bathroom. “I heard you but I don’t think a new man is going to appear tonight. Take care of your hand and then we will think of a way to get Keira back where she belongs.”

Chapter Forty-Seven

“I never thought when I finally got my dream that I would give it up for something more important,” Jim said as he stood outside next to Dante staring at Keira’s house. “I saved up for years to be the owner of a motorcycle shop and I can’t get any pleasure from it because the woman I’m in love with hates me.”