My Sunshine (6 page)

Chloe
never returned to school or to her job. She stayed in the apartment in a daze, not willing to be a part of society.

She would hardly talk to
Daniel and the only conversations she had were with the voice in her head. Daniel was afraid to leave her alone, scared of what she might do. Because of this, he hardly left the house or garage. His girlfriend, Rebecca, took care of all the shopping and errand running. On a rare occasion, she would come and sit with Chloe if Daniel absolutely had to go somewhere.

One day, while
Daniel was out on a business call, Rebecca talked Chloe into going with her to WalMart. She thought it would be good for Chloe to get out and see people. The trip was going well until she made a wrong turn down the aisle of Halloween costumes. Just like a scene from a bad horror movie, the costumes came alive and real monsters started chasing Chloe. At least that's how Chloe saw it.

She ran from one side of the aisle to the other, smashing into
costumes and knocking things off the shelves. Rebecca tried to grab her, to hold her, to calm her down, but it was impossible.

Chloe
pushed small children down trying to get away. Her screams were deafening. Security was called and three strong security guards held her down until the paramedics got there and administered a sedative. She was only in the hospital two days before the doctor came up with the correct diagnosis: schizophrenia.

                   Chapter Four

“Hey, Cath,” John said stepping over the threshold into his older sister’s kitchen.

“Good morning,
John.” She sat a bowl of oatmeal in front of one-year-old Kidd. “Can I interest you in a bowl of oatmeal?”

“No thanks.” He poured himself a cup of coffee. “Where’s
Jeremy?”

“Playing golf. You just getting in?”

“Yeah, and I’m trying to avoid the wrath of Mom.”

Catherine
smiled. “She called here already looking for you.”

She spooned some of the cereal into
Kidd’s mouth. “So what did you do last night? Or should I sa
y
wh
o
did you do last night?”

John
smiled. “I ran into Rachael Durham last night at

Junior’s.”

Catherine frowned. “You mean that old roadhouse down by the highway? I don’t like that place. It’s a rough crowd that hangs out there.” She paused for a second. “Did you say Rachael Durham?”

John
nodded. “Yeah.”

“That I went to high school with? That
Rachael Durham?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?”

“John!” Catherine squealed. “She’s married.”

John
shook his head. “No. She didn’t say anything about being married and she wasn’t wearing a ring. Maybe she’s separated.”

“No, she's not. Jeremy’s sister is married to
Rachael’s husband’s brother. She’s married to a man named Scott Gerber.”

“
Scott Gerber?”

“You better stay away from her,
John. That Scott Gerber is bad news. He just got out of jail.” She studied his expression.

“Do you know him?”

“Yeah, we have a history and not a good one. What was he in jail for?”

“A bar fight. He beat a guy senseless with a table leg. He
served the better part of a year. It would have been longer, but the other guy started it. So what’s your history with him?”

“We were both on the baseball team in middle school. We
were never friends and the girl he liked, liked me. It was all pretty stupid. Anyway, one summer when I was home from school, I went to this party at Steve Alvin’s house and I got to talking to this girl--Veronica, I think her name was. She was his girlfriend, and of course, she didn’t happen to mention that to me. So we were outside making out and Scott comes up. He was drunk and we got into a fight and I had to kick his ass.” He glanced at the baby. “Sorry. Anyway, I think this girl set it up because she knew he hated me.”

“Stay away from her,
John,” Catherine advised.

“I didn’t know. I wasn’t looking for a married woman.”

Another married woman.

“Maybe you should slow down at little. I know you’re a
young guy, and you’ve got all this opportunity, but, it’s dangerous. I worry about you.”

“I play it safe. I’m just having fun.”

“Doesn’t it bother you that most of these girls just want to sleep with you because you’re famous?”

He shook his head. “Should it? I’ve never led any girl to
believe that she would be my girlfriend.”

“Do you want a girlfriend? Do you want a wife and kids
and all the things that the other guys have?”

He shrugged. “Not now. I’ve got plenty of time for all

that.” He yawned. “Can I crash here for a while?”

“Sure.”

John left the kitchen and walked down the hall to the guest room. He kicked off his shoes and removed his jeans. He stripped off his shirt and climbed in between the cool sheets.

Damn, why did she have to be married? Why did he have
to be married to Scott Gerber of all people? He was an asshole then and I can’t imagine that he’s any different now. By Catherine’s description, he’s worse. Well, I’ll just have to stay far, far away from Rachael Durham - Rachael Gerber - whatever the hell her name i
s
. He willed himself to think about more pleasan
t
things and he wasn’t surprised when Chloe’s faced flashed i
n
his mind.

The next morning, after spending the previous evening with
his parents, Garby, Catherine, Jeremy and Kidd, John jumped in the Lexus to head back to Orlando, but instead of driving south toward Florida, he found himself heading east into the mountains of North Carolina.

Chloe
glanced at the clock. It was three-thirty and the place had been empty since one. The lunch rush had been pitiful. She was sure the owners were losing money by having two employees there. She grabbed a couple of sleeves of cups out of the storeroom and carried them to the front. She smiled at John’s picture as she shoved the cups into the dispensers.

“What are you doing tonight?” Her co-worker, Justin asked.

Chloe shook her head. “Nothing. Probably doing

Daniel
’s books.”

“Jeez,
Chloe, it’s a Saturday night. You should go out.”

Chloe
-banana can’t get a date, the voice sang. Hannah banana will be an old maid. Hanna-banana, quiet as a mouse, will spend her life in the nut house.

“
Chloe, are you okay?” Justin asked.

“Yeah, I just got a headache all of a sudden.” She put her
fingers to her temple. “I’m going to go to the bathroom.” She stood in front of the sink and stared at herself in the mirror. “It’s not true,” she said. “I can get a man. I got John.”

That was just sex, banana-brain. He doesn’t care about
you.

“Go away!”
Chloe demanded. “I don’t need you.”

Yes, you do. I’m your only friend.

She splashed some cold water on her face. She looked at her watch: only fifteen more minutes until she was off. She took a deep breath and left the bathroom. She joined Justin in the back room, and together they sliced tomatoes. The door buzzer sounded and Chloe wiped her hands on a towel.

“I’ll get it,” she said.

She walked to the front of the store. Her heart jumped into her throat. It was John. He was standing in front of the door, the afternoon sun hitting his back. She squinted against the sunlight. “John?”

He smiled at her. “I was hoping you’d be here.”

“I am.” She bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling too broadly.

He approached the counter. “When do you get off?”

“In ten minutes, or whenever the other girl comes in.”

“Good. I’ll wait.” He sat down in a booth.

“You want something to drink?” She offered him a large cup. He got back up and took the cup. “Are you on your way back down to the beach?”

He shook his head. “Actually, I’m on my way back to

Orlando.”

“Did you miss a turn somewhere?”

He smiled. “I don’t think so.”

Chloe
’s heart was beating a million times a minute. She glanced at the clock. Surely, Justin would let her slip out a few minutes early. “I’ll be right back,” she said to John. She found Justin in the back room talking on the phone. “Justin, do you mind if I leave a few minutes early?”

“Why?” He held his hand over the mouthpiece. “You said
you didn’t have any plans. I was going to ask you to work for me until eight and let me go home now.”

“Well, now I have plans.”

“What kind of plans?”

“I’ve got a date. A customer just asked me out.” She took
off her apron and hat. “So I’m leaving.” She walked back into the dining room, knowing Justin was following her. “Let’s go,” she said to John.

John
took her hand and led her out into the parking lot.

They stopped at her car. “You feel like going out?” He backed
her against the driver’s door and leaned down to kiss her.

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his lips on
hers. “Daniel’s gone for the weekend. I’ll be home all alone.”

He shook his head. “No, you won’t.” He kissed her again.

“So what do you want to do tonight?”

“What do you want to do?”

“I thought maybe we could go get something to eat and maybe go see that new Mel Gibson movie.”

“That sounds good to me, but we’ll have to drive into

Asheville to see a movie.”

“Why don’t I follow you back to your place so you can get
changed. We’ll take my car.”

Chloe
looked down at her uniform. “You don’t like this?

It’s the new fall colors.”

“You’re beautiful.”

“You're sweet.”

Johngot into his own car and shook his head
.
What is going on here? What am I doing here
?
He couldn’t eve
n
remember making the decision to come to see her. This ha
d
somehow turned into more than a one-night stand. He kne
w
how it must look to her, and for some reason it didn’t bothe
r
him that he may be giving her the wrong impression. “I don’
t
want a girlfriend,” he said aloud.

Chloe
glanced in her rear-view mirror. She couldn’t believe that John was there. Sure, he had asked for her number when he had left last weekend, but she had been certain that she would never hear from him again.

He’s just here for the sex, banana-brain. You’re so stupid
to think anything different. You gave it out so freely the first time; of course, he came back for more. Tell him about me. See how long he sticks around then.

“No! Damnit, why don’t you just go away? Why did you
come back?”

You love me,
Chloe-banana and you know I’m your only friend.

“That’s not true. I have Justin and
Rebecca and Daniel.”

She pulled into her driveway.
John stopped his car behind hers and followed her up the stairs to the apartment she shared with Daniel. Chloe was apprehensive as she unlocked the door.

He had waited downstairs in the shop when he had been there
last weekend and he had never seen the inside of her home. She was sure that he was accustomed to much nicer accommodations.

John
entered the apartment behind Chloe. It was smaller than he expected, only taking up about half square footage of the shop downstairs. It was clean and homey, though, and rooms were furnished with just the basics, except for the living room, which was overwhelmed with one of the biggest televisions

John
had ever seen in someone’s home.

“Seventy inches,”
Chloe said. “Absurd, and he’s going to be paying out the butt for it for the rest of his life.”

“He must really like his TV,”
John commented.

She shook her head. “He doesn’t even watch that much
TV. He likes his video games. Boys will be boys, I guess. I’m going to go jump in the shower real quick. The remote’s on the coffee table.”

She went into her room and stripped out of her clothes. She
put on her robe and slipped quietly into the bathroom. John was sitting on the couch watching MTV. She showered and washed her hair. It was naturally oily and although she had washed it

that morning, she knew that by the end of the evening it would
look terrible.

After her shower, she found her medication in the medicine
cabinet and took two of the pills. It was earlier than she usually took them, but she was afraid of forgetting them later. She put her robe back on and left the bathroom. John was no longer sitting on the couch. He was lying on her twin-sized bed in her closet-sized bedroom.

“Hi, dear
,” she said, smiling.