Lights Out (7 page)

Finally they made it outside. Jake led Christina down the porch steps, across the patio.

‘Where’re we going?’ Christina asked.

‘Just come on.’

They went across the lawn to a row of thick bushes.

Jake parted the bushes and said, ‘Cool, it’s still there.’

‘What’s still there?’

‘Secret passageway. When I was a kid we used to make it all the way to Avenue J, going through backyards.’ He stood aside to let Christina pass, then said, ‘Go ahead.’

‘Why do we—’

‘Just go - quick. Before anybody sees us.’

Christina hesitated, looking back toward the house, then bent down and went through the bushes. Jake followed her through the hole in the fence into the backyard of the house behind Jake’s parents’. As Christina brushed dirt off the bottoms of her jeans, Jake said, ‘Come on,’ and led her toward the fence at the end of the lawn, adjacent to the next backyard.

‘I can’t climb fences,’ Christina said.

‘I’ll help you.’ Jake crouched. ‘Get on my back.’

Christina climbed on. She was heavier than Jake expected, and he realized this wasn’t such a bright idea - if he pulled a muscle or something it could throw him out of whack for next season, his contract year, and it could wind up costing him millions. She managed to hoist herself up, and Jake stood to help her over, noticing her ass again.

‘I can’t make it,’ she said.

‘Yes, you can.’

She struggled, getting the top of her body over, and then Jake helped with her legs and ass, finally getting her all the way over and on the other side. Jake climbed it easily.

‘I’m not climbing or crawling anywhere else,’ Christina said.

‘We only have to go through a few more backyards,’ Jake said, and then decided that right here, behind these bushes, would be a great spot for a quickie. He kissed Christina hard, running his fingers through her unconditioned hair.

With his lips pressed against hers, Christina managed to say, ‘What’re you doing?’

Jake kissed her even harder. He pushed her back against the fence and undid the button and zipper to his pants, freeing willy.

‘Stop it,’ Christina said, trying to push him away.

‘All right, chill, chill,’ Jake said.

‘What’s the matter with you?’ Christina was fixing her hair. ‘You’re like an animal.’

‘It’s been so long, baby,’ Jake said. ‘I just thought it would be nice to—’

‘Nice? You were attacking me.’

‘God, you look beautiful.’ Jake reached out and held her cheeks, as if about to kiss her, then guided her head downward.

Christina pushed him back again, then said, ‘Are you out of your fucking mind?’

‘Wait, I get it - you don’t feel comfortable doing it outside.’ Jake reached into his jacket pocket and took out a little pill container. ‘How about some E? It’s great shit - I guarantee it’ll loosen you up.’

Christina started to walk away, and Jake reached out and grabbed her hand. She tried to yank her arm free, but Jake wouldn’t let go.

‘Sorry, baby, sorry,’Jake said. ‘It’s just you’re so beautiful, and I haven’t been with you in so long, I just wanted to, like, be close with you. Is that so wrong?’

‘I have to tell you something.’

‘Me, too.’

‘I think we should—’

‘Let’s go for it.’

Christina seemed confused for a few seconds, and then said, ‘Go for what?’

‘We’ve been engaged for what, six years now?’ Jake said. ‘That’s way too long, baby. I mean, before, I had my career to think about, and I knew it wouldn’t be fair to you if I couldn’t, you know, devote myself to you. But now that we’re older and more mature and whatever, I’m ready to do it. So let’s do it.’

‘Do what?’

‘Set a date, baby. And trust me - it’s gonna be the best wedding in the world. We’ll spend a hundred grand, two hundred grand -whatever. Maybe we’ll have it on an island somewhere, by the water. How about Hawaii? Rick Reynolds - maybe you heard of him - he’s a pitcher for us, used to play for the Cubs? Really cool dude. Anyway, Rick got married last year out on Maui, said it was fuckin’ spectacular. You’ll spend fifty grand just on your dress and you’ll invite anybody you want to, all your family and friends, and then the exclusive photos will come out. We’ll get my PR guy to leak them; then they’ll be in every newspaper in the country.’

Christina stayed deadpan for a while, then finally said, ‘This is a joke, right? I mean, we barely see each other anymore. When was the last time I spoke to you on the phone, two months ago?’

‘What’re you talking about? I called you last week.’

‘Yeah, for two minutes - to tell me you were coming home.’

‘Come on, baby, try to understand - I’m not just a baseball player; I’m a
celebrity.
I’d love to spend an hour on the phone with you every day, but I’ve got people on my back twenty-four, seven.’ Jake’s cell phone started making a farting sound, the ring tone he’d set for calls from his agent. ‘See what I mean?’

He clicked on and said to Stu Fox, ‘What’s the good news?’

‘Don’t got any good news,’ Stu Fox said. ‘I got bad and I got very bad.’

‘Gimme the bad.’

‘Ken won’t budge. Nixed the limo, nixed the private trainer.’

‘You tell him I’m not reporting to spring training?’

‘No, I didn’t tell him that.’

‘Call him back and tell him that now. Tell him I’ll sit out the whole season if I have to.’

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea, Jake. Think about it - next year’s your contract year.’

‘So?’

‘So don’t you think it’s best to make like a model citizen, not rock the boat?’

‘Just take care of it,’ Jake said, and clicked off. Then he said to Christina, ‘Sorry ‘bout that, baby - what was I saying? Right, the wedding . . . Look, I know we haven’t seen a lot of each other lately, but that’s why people get married, right? I mean, we’ll have our whole lives to sit around looking at each other.’

‘Why do you think I’d want to marry you?’ Christina asked.

‘What do you mean?’ Jake said. ‘Because we’re in love.’

‘Oh, really? You love me? That’s why you never talk to me, why you’ve been cheating on me for years?’

‘Whoa, I’ve never cheated on you, baby.’

‘You think I’m an idiot? I know what’s been going on - I even knew in high school. You screwed my own cousin behind my back!’

‘Cousin? What cousin?’ Jake was truly lost.

‘Sophia,’ Christina said.

‘Sophia Scarramuchia.’ ‘Sophia Scarra-who-chia?’Jake said. ‘Who the hell is . . .’ Then it clicked as Jake remembered Sophia - tall, skinny, good-looking. ‘Oh,
that
Sophia. Nothing happened with us - I swear.’

‘What about all the other women? Every day, it seems like, I open the papers and see a picture of you with this model or that actress.’

‘That’s trick photography. Everybody knows that. They splice and dice - do crazy shit just to sell papers. What, you think when you see those two-headed freaks on Mars they really
exist}’
Jake’s cell phone started farting again. ‘Shit.’ He clicked on and said, ‘Look, I’m in the middle of something.’

Jake was about to hang up again when Stu said, ‘Want to hear the very bad now?’

Jake braced himself. ‘What is it?’

Christina had her arms crossed in front of her chest. Jake held up two fingers and mouthed,
Wait.

‘Got a call from Ronald,’ Stu said.

Ronald Lufkowitz was Jake’s lawyer.

‘What did Fuckowitz say?’ Jake asked.

‘He spoke to Mr Fernandez’s lawyer today about your offer. Bottom line - they won’t make the deal. Now Fernandez wants two hundred grand wired into his bank account by midnight tonight or he’s going public with the story.’

Christina, looking away, didn’t seem to be listening in, but Jake cupped his hand over the earpiece just in case.

‘How did this happen?’ Jake said, trying to disguise his panic.

‘Don’t know all the details,’ Stu said. ‘Ronald suggested we conference later to strategize, but I think you see my point about the SUV and trainer issues. Hopefully we’ll be able to resolve the Fernandez mess with no harm done. Who knows? Maybe he’s bluffing.’

‘Did Jimmy find out anything?’ Jimmy Mulligan was the detective Jake had hired.

‘Spoke to him before too,’ Stu said. ‘Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to dig up any dirt so far. The girl’s never been arrested, and no one else in the family has a record either. I really think you’re gonna have to play ball with this guy and make some kind of payment.’

Jake looked back over his shoulder and smiled at Christina. Then he said, ‘I won’t do that.’

‘Look, I can tell this is probably a bad time to discuss all this,’ Stu said. ‘Wanna gimme a shout later on? I’ll be home or you can get me on my cell.’

‘Righto,’ Jake said, and ended the call.

‘I wanna go home,’ Christina said.

‘Yeah, sure,’ Jake said, distracted.

As Jake helped Christina over the next fence and into the next backyard, he realized how serious his situation was. Now that it looked like the Fernandezes were going to go public with the rape claim, Jake had to announce his wedding date to his high school sweetheart ASAP - ideally in tomorrow morning’s papers - to get some positive PR going.

At the bottom of the fence Jake said, ‘So how ‘bout next December?’

‘How about what next December?’

‘The wedding. That’ll give us over a year to plan it. And you’re gonna need time to pick out a dress and—’

‘If you think I’m marrying you, you’re out of your mind. I came out here to break up with you.’

‘Baby . . .’ Jake tried to put his arms around her but she shifted away.

‘Don’t touch me.’

‘All right, just chill, just chill.’

He led her over another fence and through another backyard, and then they emerged onto Avenue J.

‘Bye,’ Christina said, and she started walking away.

‘Wait up, where’re you going?’ Jake was next to her, trying to keep up.

‘Home.’

‘I’ll walk you.’

‘It’s okay, I—’

‘Come on, you can get killed out here at night. I promise - I’ll be a gentleman.’

They continued along Avenue J. Jake tried to break the ice, cracking jokes, but Christina wouldn’t even look at him.

When they got to the corner of Christina’s block, she said, ‘I can walk home from here.’

‘No way,’ Jake said. ‘I’m walkin’ you to the door.’ Then, when they reached her house, he said, ‘Hey, can I use your bathroom?’

Christina deep-breathed and looked away.

‘Come on,’ Jake said, ‘you don’t want me to have to piss in the bushes, do you? I’m just gonna use the bathroom, then I’ll go - I swear.’

Christina continued to look away, shaking her head; then she turned back to him, with her arms crossed in front of her chest, and said, ‘Fine, but you’re just gonna use the bathroom and then you’re leaving.’

The house looked the same as it always did - dark, dingy, and dirty - and it smelled like a dog lived there, even though Christina and her father didn’t own a dog. It had the same old wall-to-wall carpeting, stained in places, and the furniture had to be fifty years old. Jake decided this would be great, like a real Cinderella story. Jake Thomas rescues the beautiful girl from her dirty, ugly house, and they ride away together on a white horse.

Jake followed Christina, wincing as he noticed her ass, which seemed even bigger than it had before. The TV was blaring in the living room - it sounded like horse racing, which meant Christina’s degenerate father was home.

Passing the living room ahead of Jake, Christina said, ‘Daddy, Jake’s with me.’

The TV immediately went off, and when Jake reached the living room, Al Mercado had already stood up from the couch. His thin gray hair was a mess, and he was tucking a wrinkled pin-striped button-down shirt into gray sweatpants.

‘Hey, Jake, what a surprise . . . Wow, this is really great.’

Al came around the coffee table to greet Jake. He wiped his palm on the seat of his pants a couple of times before shaking hands with Jake, but his hand was still sweaty. Jake noticed about a quarter of the
Racing Form
sticking out from underneath a couch cushion.

‘So what’re you up to?’ Jake asked.

‘What? Oh, nothing, just watching a little TV. So how’re you doing? You look great, really great, and you had another big year, huh?’

‘I did all right.’

‘Look how modest he is. The best baseball player in the world and he says, “I did all right.” That’s why you’re such a great guy, Jake - that’s why everybody always tells me how lucky I am to have you as my future son-in-law.’

‘Thanks, man,’Jake said. ‘That’s really nice of you to say. And I’d be lucky to have you as a father-in-law too.’

Christina looked away, shaking her head.

‘Hey, that’s really something - wow,’ Al said. ‘Well, I don’t want to get in your way. I mean, I know you haven’t seen each other in a long time and probably have a lot of catching up to do, so I guess I’ll—’

‘Jake’s just coming in to use the bathroom,’ Christina said.

‘Oh,’ Al said. ‘Well, that’s too bad. You should stay - have something to eat. I don’t have anything to offer you right now, but I can go out and, um, pick up some stuff, or—’

‘You know, that sounds like a great idea,’ Jake said.

‘No, it doesn’t,’ Christina said.

‘Why not?’ Jake said. ‘I’d love to hang for a while.’

‘Great,’ Al said. ‘I’ll just run to the store and pick up some—’

‘Jake isn’t staying,’ Christina said firmly. ‘He’s using the bathroom, then he’s going home.’ She turned to Jake and said, ‘Go ahead,’ stepping aside to let him continue onto the staircase.

‘Be back in a sec,’ Jake said, smiling.

Jake went upstairs, along the wall-to-wall-carpeted hallway, and then right into Christina’s room and turned on the light. The room smelled like Christina, like Eternity - Jake made a mental note to buy her a classier perfume - and it looked pink and girlie in a Marcia Brady, Barbie-doll kind of way. The wallpaper, carpeting, and bedsheets were all pink, and she had the same pink dresser opposite her bed that she’d had since high school, with a large pink-framed mirror hanging over it. In the corner near the window there was a vanity, also pink, with all of her makeup, perfume bottles, and combs and brushes spread out.