Three Days of Rain (5 page)

Danny walked on board with Mike, the new kid.

“Jake, this is Mike. Show him around a bit. He’ll be on board with you today.”

They shook hands and Jake invited Mike over to help him unload some of the gear.

“So, Mike, you ever been fishing before?”

“Sure have. My dad’s got a boat and used to take us out all the time. I love it. He wanted me to go to college but I figured I could do that anytime. I wanted to see what I could make of myself on a boat. My friends and I went out this past weekend to celebrate my first day as a fisherman. Lame, I know. But I usually do what my dad wants and they were all psyched I stood up to him.”

This guy could talk. If he kept chattering like that, someone was gonna throw him overboard. Jake figured it was his job to let the kid get it all out before they cast off and his gabbing pissed off the captain.

“You went out, huh? Where’d you go?”

“Well, I’m from the next town over so we just went to the local bar and partied a bit. Met a hot chick, too. Gorgeous blonde hair, awesome body—just hot, you know? I think she was older. She certainly knew what she was doing, if you know what I mean?”

The glint in Mike’s eyes was familiar to Jake. He knew all about going out, hooking up, giving out fake numbers, and all that.
Good for you
, he thought. Someone had to keep the party scene going now that Jake was attached to a ball and chain.

“Yeah. I know what you mean. You get her name and number?” He flipped through his mental Rolodex and tried to picture all the blondes he knew who hung out at the bar the next town over. None came to mind. He was usually partial to brunettes and red heads, anyway. Maddie was the only blonde he every really noticed enough to remember.

“Yeah,” Mike crowed. “Maddie something. She was a spitfire, too. She could drink us all under the table. Her friend left without her so she came back home with me, if you know what I mean.”

Jake was too stunned to process much of what the kid said. He heard two things: Maddie and a second “if you know what I mean.”
Why do people say that
?
Of course, everyone knows what you mean
.

“Maddie was her name?” Jake asked, incredulously. “It couldn’t be. It had to be a coincidence. Jake had to mentally count to ten before he went nuts. But she did stay with her girlfriend over the weekend. He was painting the bathroom. She said she couldn’t stand the fumes and was going to stay at her friend’s house. He had to know if it was
his
Maddie. Trying to keep his anger under control, he asked, “Mike, this girl have any tats? Any that you noticed?”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact. She had a guitar tatted on her lower back. Why, you know her?”

“And you screwed this girl?”

“Hell, yeah!”

As Mike threw up his hand for a high five, Jake punched him in the face, threw him overboard into the bay, and stormed off the boat.

Danny ran after him. As Jake hopped into the truck, threw it in gear, and drove home, he got into his minivan and tried to keep up.

Jake barely put the car in park before he was out and running up the walk. He threw the door open and yelled, “Madison! Madison! Answer me.”

She came out drying her hair with a towel. “What? I thought you were at work.”

“I was. What did you do this weekend?”

Eyes wide, she took a step back when she saw the look on Jake’s face. “What do you mean? Calm down, Jake. You’re scaring me. I stayed at Angie’s.”

“Saturday night? Did you stay at her house Saturday night?”

Jake caught the flash of recognition in her eyes before she yanked it back. He grabbed a picture frame from the table and shattered it against the wall.

She ducked for cover. “I’m so sorry, Jake!”

“Sorry you did it or sorry you got caught?”

He was inches from her, eyes wild and vibrating with anger, and she just cowered on the floor.

“I’m just sorry. So sorry. It was a mistake. Please forgive me.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Forgive you? Why? Why would you do that to me? I take care of you. I put up with your shit and this is how you repay me? Get your fucking shit out of my house before I get back here or I swear to God, Maddie, I will throw your ass out on the street myself.”

“Jake!” Danny yelled.

He burst through the door as Jake threw another frame against the wall, directly over Maddie’s head. Danny pulled his brother away. Maddie leaned against the wall, holding her leg where some glass from the frame had imbedded itself.

Danny shook Jake back to reality and when Jake saw what he’d done, tears streamed from his eyes.

He crouched in front of her. “Oh my God! Maddie! Are you okay?”

“Jake, leave her alone. I’ll handle it. Go cool off.” Danny tried to remain level-headed but all he wanted to do was beat them both silly. He’d lost count of the number of times he had to handle their fights.

Jake pleaded for forgiveness as Danny shoved him outside. “Maddie, I am so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

She’d stayed with Danny and Megan for the next week before she decided to come back home to Jake. Within that week, he’d taken all the blame for what happened, almost forgetting her betrayal. He’d felt so bad at how he reacted. He hadn’t even given her time to explain, to defend herself. He swore he’d never get angry enough to hurt her again.

Instead, he just found reasons to fight with everyone else. He spiraled and no one could stop him.

***

Lily interrupted Jake’s traipse down memory lane. “Here you go boys.”

Grateful, he started on his dinner.

“Thanks,” Danny said as he grabbed his plate from her, too.

“Hey,” Billy said. “You’ve met my niece? Lily, this is Jake and his brother Danny.”

“We’ve met, Uncle Billy. I didn’t tell you? Jake’s the one who helped change my tire this morning.”

Billy’s eyes snapped to Jake. “Did he now? Well thanks, Jakey. You done a good thing helping Lily. Hey, sweetie, a new table just popped in. Could you go help them out?”

“Sure thing. See ya, Jake. Nice meeting you, Danny.”

As Lily walked away, Billy leaned in towards Jake, picked up a French fry and pointed it at him. “I love you, Jakey. You know I do, right?”

Mouth full of crab cake, Jake responded, “Right, Billy.”

“Then you won’t be surprised or offended when I tell you to stay away from Lily.”

Danny stopped mid-gulp, looked at Jake and waited for his temper to flash.

Carefully placing his fork on the table, Jake leaned back and lifted his beer. “What would make you think I’d want anything to do with her, Bill?”

“Nothing. Just saying.”

“Well, thanks for the advice, but I think I’ll be okay if I don’t fawn all over your niece.”

“Good, then. We understand each other. Eat up boys. Enjoy your dinner.”

Jake watched him walk away.

“What the hell was that all about, Jake?”

“How the hell should I know? I just changed her fucking tire.” Jake stood and dropped money on the table. “Whatever. Listen, I’m not hungry anymore. I’m gonna go.”

“Aw, man! Don’t leave. I backed out of Meg’s meatloaf for this. Just stay. We’ll eat. Everything’s fine.”

“Nah. I’m good. Take my food home to Meg. She’ll like it. Talk to you tomorrow.”

Danny dropped his head onto the table as Jake walked out of the bar. Everything wasn’t fine.

Lily watched Jake make a beeline for the door and moved to head him off. “Hey.”

He stepped back when he realized he almost ran right into her. “Hey.”

“Where’re you going?”

“Home.”

“But you didn’t finish your dinner.”

“Not hungry anymore.”

She looked over her shoulder at her uncle and squinted her eyes. “Did my uncle say anything to you?”

“Who? Billy? What would make you say that?”

“’Cause he told me to stay away from you. Said you’re really nice but messed up right now. Something about some girl who broke your heart. I told him you looked like you needed a friend.”

Jake had to do a double-take.
Talk about blunt.

“I don’t need a friend, Lily. I just need to be left alone.”

She put her hand on his arm. “Everyone needs a friend, Jake.”

“I don’t.” Jake shrugged her off and walked out the door.

Lily watched him leave and cursed the foot that apparently was wedged between her teeth. She looked over at Billy, who was looking at her, and noticed him shake his head before pulling another beer for a customer at the bar.

CHAPTER 6

It was early Saturday morning and Jake had yet to return to Billy’s since Wednesday’s crab cake special. He’d spent the past two days working and sleeping, not leaving the house for anything other than to earn his paycheck and to go running. Billy called to apologize but since no one answered the phone, the apology was left on voicemail. Jake hadn’t called him back. He really didn’t feel like talking to anyone about anything. He saw Danny at work and, other than a brief conversation with his father last night, he hadn’t really spoken to anyone.

He’d finally cleaned up the shattered mirror from his bedroom floor and tossed his broken guitar in the trash. He felt bad, really, for destroying the thing, but it wasn’t like he’d ever play it again. It was the broken glass that upset him more than anything. It reminded him of his relationship with Maddie...

***

After two years of bullshit, he’d finally ended things with Maddie. He’d found out she’d started using and he wasn’t having it. What she was using, he didn’t know exactly and, at that point, he didn’t care. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He’d been drama free for a week when she finally called him, sobbing.

“Jakey, I am so sorry for everything.”

“We’ve been over this. Apologies don’t matter anymore. We aren’t good for each other.”

“That’s not true. You are good for me. You make me a better person. Please let me show you I can be a better person, that I can be good for you, too. I need to show you I can change.”

“How many more times do I have to hear you say that? You haven’t changed. You’re the same Madison you were before we started dating, and I’ve become the chump who puts up with you. I’m tired of being a joke.”

“No, Jakey. Please. You aren’t a joke. I love you.”

“No, Madison. You don’t. I can’t do it anymore.”

“Please, Jakey! Please, just let me come over and we’ll talk. Just talk.”

He was tired and didn’t need this right now. And to top it off, she sounded high or drunk or something. As much as his heart was breaking, he needed her out of his life.

“No. No. I’m done. Goodbye, Maddie. You go hang out with that drug dealer boyfriend you’ve got and leave me out of it.”

“He’s not my boy—”

He hung up on her protests. He finally saw what everyone else saw. Maddie hadn’t changed. He couldn’t believe he’d hung on for so long, dealing with her crap, making excuses for her, and believing
her
excuses.

He walked around the house, gathering up anything that was hers, placing it all in a trash bag. He wasn’t sure if he’d throw it all out or give the bag to his brother to pass on to her. He sure as hell didn’t want anything in his house that reminded him of her. One thing he did know was that he never wanted to see Madison Olsen again. He put the bag on the front steps.

It was hours before he passed out in his bed, filled with exhaustion and disappointment.

In the middle of the night, he awoke to the sound of glass breaking. At first he thought he was still dreaming but when he heard it a second time, he climbed out of bed and reached into the closet.

Baseball bat in hand, he quietly made his way down the hall to the bathroom. The door was closed but light streamed out from underneath.

“What the hell?”

He put one hand on the knob, held the bat at the ready with the other, and gently pushed the door open. What he saw almost brought him to his knees. Madison was on the floor, clothes torn and dirty, with mirrored glass all around her. She looked like hell. He could tell she wasn’t in her right mind.

Tentatively, he placed the bat on the floor and took a step into the bathroom. “Madison? What are you doing?”

Her voice was small and shaky and she wouldn’t look at him. “Don’t come any closer.”

Hands up, he quietly responded, “Okay. Okay. What’s going on Maddie? Talk to me.”

Her eyes darted around the bathroom, not resting on anything in particular. “Now you wanna talk to me? This is all your fault, Jake. You threw me away like garbage. You didn’t even bother to try to help me.”

Trying not to sound defensive, he asked, “What did I do to you? What’s my fault?”

“This. All this. You did this to me.” Her hands shook as she looked down at herself. It was then he noticed the shard of glass in her hand and the blood on her wrist.

He froze. “What are you doing?”

Still looking down, she answered, “The only thing I can do. You won’t see me or talk to me. This is all I can think of to make you talk to me. You need to see what you did.”

As much as Jake knew they shouldn’t be together, he knew he didn’t want to see her like this. “Don’t do this, Maddie. You want to talk? Let’s go out into the living room and talk. Just you and me. Let’s talk.”

“You don’t want to talk to me. There’s nothing else I can do.”

He watched as she turned over her wrist and stared at it like she was contemplating something. The cut didn’t look too deep and he took another step into the tiny bathroom, hoping he could get through to her before she did any real damage.

She pointed the glass shard at him. “Don’t, Jake.”

Hands up, he stopped moving. “C’mon, sweetie. Please.”

She started sobbing, shaking her head. “I fucked it all up. You don’t want me. No one wants me.”

“I want you, Madison.” He half believed it.

“Liar!” she screamed, placing the glass against her wrist and closing her eyes.

Vibrating with fear, he said as calmly as he could, “Don’t. Come out here. We’ll talk. You wanna talk? We’ll talk.”

“It’s too late, Jake. You threw me away. Now I am going to show you what you did to me.”

With that she shoved the glass deep into her arm. Her scream ripped through him. He dove on top of her, cutting himself as he wrestled the glass from her hands.