Gold Hill (8 page)

Jeraine scowled after him
and went back to staring straight ahead. He felt overwhelmed by a
growing sense of futility. His eyes welled with tears.

“
They’re right, you know,”
Noelle walked across the room and sat with him on the bed. She took
his hand and held it. He turned to look at the girl. “If you want
your life to be different, you have to do different things. I think
it’s harder for us artists. We’re used to creating, making
something. We don’t really understand that we make our life too.
It’s easier for Daddy or Charlie because they use logic – I do
this, I get this. But creative people, we don’t think like
that.”

Taken back by the girl’s
wisdom, he couldn’t think of anything to say.

“
So how do you do
something new and scary?” Noelle shrugged. “I’ll tell you what I
do. I think of it like a picture. Where would I start? What color
would I use? Like being a girlfriend. I don’t know how to do that,
so I think – what color would I use? I like pink but Teddy, he
likes brown and tan.”

“
Burnt orange.” The words
surprised him. He hadn’t meant to speak.

“
That’s exactly right,”
Noelle said. “I like flowers and butterflies and fairies. Teddy
like cars and martial arts
and . . . ”

“
Dragons,” Jeraine smiled
at the child.

“
So what are you going to
make today?” Noelle asked. “Drugs and girls or your real life? How
would you write this song? How would you sing it?”

“
Hey! Are you macking on
my girl?” Teddy asked from the doorway.

“
No man, I wouldn’t do
that,” Jeraine said. “I’m married.”

“
Hasn’t stopped you
before,” Teddy sniffed.

“
It’s okay,” Noelle stood
up. “He knows what to do now.”

“
Then he should go do it,”
Teddy nodded his sincerity. Jeraine smiled.

“
I fell for Miss T when I
was your age,” Jeraine said.

“
Good reminder,” Teddy
said. “I’m not going to fuck up like you did.”

“
I bet you won’t,” Jeraine
said. “I bet you won’t.”

“
Are you ready to go,
Jeraine?” Aden asked. “Noelle what are you doing?”

“
Going to shower Daddy,”
Noelle hugged her father. “Good morning.”

“
Teddy?” Aden
asked.

“
I’m making sure this dick
doesn’t take Noelle . . . ” Teddy
started.

“
Enough,” Aden said. “Go
kick Charlie out of the shower.”

Teddy glared at Jeraine and
left for the other guest bedroom.

“
If you want to come with
me, you have to come now,” Aden said. “I need to get to
work.”

Jeraine stood from the
bed.

“
You’ll need a shirt,”
Aden said. “It’s cool out.”

“
Oh,” Jeraine looked down.
“I was sitting on the bed with your daughter with no shirt and you
didn’t beat the crap out of me? My jeans aren’t even
buttoned.”

“
Looks like Teddy had that
covered,” Aden smiled. “I know my daughter. She might get behind or
come in late but she does everything from a very pure
place.”

Jeraine pulled on a long
sleeved T-shirt.

“
Pants?” Aden pointed to
his jeans.

Jeraine buttoned his pants
and followed Aden out of the penthouse. They took the elevator to
the basement where they went to Aden’s SAAB. They were driving down
Seventeenth Avenue when Jeraine looked at Aden.

“
You really think Tanesha
wants to know this stuff?” Jeraine asked. “She doesn’t want me to
deal with it on my own.”

“
I think she’s your wife,”
Aden said. “That’s more than not screwing other women. It’s sharing
your life. I haven’t been married long, and I’m no expert. I can
just tell you there’s nothing like sharing my worries with Sandy.
She has a way of making everything seem all right.”

Jeraine turned
away.

“
Better than telling your
addiction,” Aden said. “My addiction only has one
response.”

“
Feed me,” Jeraine
said.

“
Exactly,” Aden pulled up
in the alley behind the Castle.

“
Where’s the papz?”
Jeraine asked.

“
Public thoroughfare,”
Aden said. “There’s a video camera on the pole to make sure they
don’t come back here.”

Jeraine looked up at the
Denver Police video camera on the light pole behind the
Castle.

“
You can see Jake there?”
Aden pointed to the back of the Castle.

Jacob was standing on a
thin decking attached to the second floor of the house. There was a
gorgeous unfinished spiral wooden stairwell up to the decking.
Jacob was drinking a cup of coffee and looking at the
project.

“
The girlfriends are just
inside,” Aden said. “He’ll let you in. You know the
code?”

Jeraine nodded and moved to
get out of the car.

“
Good luck,” Aden
said.

“
Noelle,
she’s . . . ?” Jeraine started.

“
No one knows,” Aden said.
“At least I don’t. She seems to be hooked into a greater knowledge
of the world. Did she help?”

Jeraine nodded.

“
That will make her
happy,” Aden said.

Jeraine got out of the car.
Standing in the alley, he wavered. He could easily slip away.
Tanesha would never know he was here. He looked down the alley
where Aden had gone.

“
Jer?” Tanesha opened the
gate. She was out of breath as if she’d been running. She was
wearing her pajamas and her hair was still wrapped in the straws
that she slept in. “Jake
said . . . ”

She hugged him
close.

“
Did you come to tell me
something?” Tanesha asked.

Jeraine nodded.

“
Were you going to use
instead?” Tanesha asked.

Jeraine nodded. Tanesha
hugged him tight. When she pulled back, he saw tears in her
eyes.

“
Thanks for coming,” she
smiled. “Come on. Sandy made some muffins.”

She took his hand and led
him from the asphalt alley into the plush, blooming garden. The
lush, green garden infused him with a sense of joy.

And he knew. This was one
of those crystalline moments he’d never forget. Just one thing
leading to the next leading to the next and on the other side was
the life he wanted. He stopped walking near the vegetable gardens,
pulled her to him, and kissed her hard.

“
I love you,” he
whispered.

“
I missed you last night,”
she said.

“
Really?” he stroked her
face.

“
Really,” Tanesha said.
“Jake said sometimes you have to invite a person over the threshold
of their new life. Are you in your new life?”

“
Yeah, I am,” he smiled.
“How’s Val?”

“
It’s going to be hours,”
Tanesha said.

“
We’ll have time to
talk?”

“
Lots of time.”

Tanesha took his hand and
they went inside.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday morning — 8:25
A.M.

“
Any word?” Sandy
asked.

She gave Heather a cup of
vending machine coffee. Heather looked up and shook her head. Sandy
sat down next to her in the surgery waiting room at Saint Joseph’s
hospital.

“
We spend a lot of time
here,” Heather said.

“
I was just thinking
that,” Sandy smiled. “Maybe this is the start of something new. Val
and Jill are going to have the babies at home. Blane will get well
and . . . ”

Sandy looked up to see
Enrique, Blane’s ex-boyfriend, walk into the waiting room. He gave
Heather a look of disgust and sat down with his back to
her.

“
What’s his problem?’
Sandy whispered.

“
He’s been like that all
morning,” Heather said. “He and that guy from Blane’s doctor’s
office.”

“
Rubén?” Sandy
asked.

“
Mmm,” Heather said. “I
heard them whispering about me.”

Sandy hugged
Heather.

“
Is it taking long?” Sandy
asked.

“
He said it would be a
long time in set up,” Heather shook her head. “They have to x-ray
him while they do the surgery. I guess it takes a while to get
everything going. They’ll be done soon.”

“
Hi,” Ava came into the
waiting room.

Heather and Sandy looked up
at her.

“
Seth told me you’d be
here,” Ava said. “We . . . ”

She pointed to her
colleague, Nelson. He smiled at Heather.

“
We wanted to see if there
was anything we could do. We’re off today,” Ava sat down next to
Heather. She leaned over. “I thought maybe you’d need someone to
translate the doctor-speak.
Plus . . . ”

She tugged Nelson to sit
down next to her.

“
We brought pastries,” Ava
nodded to Nelson.

“
I heard they were going
to be here,” Nelson said in a low voice. “Have they been
dicks?”

Heather nodded.

“
Sorry, we hoped we’d get
here before the real dickery happened,” Ava said in a low
voice.

“
Why are they here?” Sandy
whispered.

“
Enrique thinks Blane is
going to ask for him when he wakes up,” Nelson rolled his eyes. “He
told everyone he’s going to put an end to Blane’s farce of a
marriage today.”

“
Rubén has a crush on
Blane,” Ava said. “He thinks this will be his chance.”

“
How do you know all of
this?” Sandy whispered.

“
My roommate,” Nelson
said. “He’s one of Enrique’s current . . . friends.
He gets home from the bars when I get home from work. He said it
was all the talk last night.”

The women turned to give
Enrique and Rubén the stink eye and ate their pastries.

“
Mrs. Lipson?” A nurse
came out of the back.

“
I think you’re looking
for us,” Enrique said. Enrique and Rubén stood up.

“
I don’t know who you
are,” the nurse said. “Mr. Lipson asked me to get his
wife.”

“
Ma’am,” Heather
said.

“
There you are,” the nurse
walked around Enrique to Heather. “The procedure went really well.
The doctor said he’s healthy which made it easy.”

“
It seemed like it took a
long time,” Heather said.

“
We waited until he was
out of the worst of the anesthesia to get you,” the nurse said.
“The doctor likes to do that so you don’t see him drooling. He’s in
recovery but you can go home after that.”

Heather glanced at Sandy.
Sandy nudged her forward. Heather followed the nurse to see her
husband.

Chapter One Hundred and
Ninety-Two
Let’s have a
baby!

Wednesday morning — 9:45
A.M.

“
How did it go?” Jill
hugged Heather at the side door to the Castle.

“
Okay, I guess,” Heather
said. “Blane’s healthy. That’s what the doctor said at least. I
mean, healthy enough to need a new liver.”

Heather’s face flushed with
despair. Jill hugged her again and stepped aside so that she could
come into the Castle. They took the long stairwell to Jacob’s old
apartment and passed through the bathroom to Jill and Jacob’s
loft.

“
What happened with
Jeraine and Tanesha?” Heather followed Jill to their kitchen
area.

“
He has brain damage,”
Jill said.

“
We knew that,” Heather
said.

“
He didn’t,” Jill said.
“It was really touching. He was afraid Tanesha would lose faith in
him if he didn’t go to med school.”

“
He didn’t know we already
knew,” Heather said.

Jill nodded. She poured two
cups of decaffeinated coffee and gave one to Heather.

“
Did she tell
him?”

Jill shook her head. She
held up the milk and Heather nodded. Jill passed her the milk and
Heather doctored in her coffee.

“
Does he know about his
money yet?” Heather asked.

“
No,” Jill said. “Tanesha
is adamant that he needs to find that out from
Schmidty.”

“
Why?” Heather asked. “I’d
want to know right away. I mean, you’re not holding anything back
from me, are you?”

“
Never,” Jill said. “But
Tanesha . . . You know, she’s been through this so
many times. He seems to really get it now. But he’s never really
understood the repercussions of his addiction. She’s hoping if he
gets it one step at a time, it will sink in. You know, ‘I give in
to my addiction, I get this response’ kind of thing.”

“
She’s afraid he’ll go
back,” Heather nodded. “That makes sense.”

“
I understand, I guess,”
Jill sighed.

“
Trevor?” Heather watched
her friend’s face.