The Denver Cereal (12 page)

~~~~~~~~

Jacob woke to the sound of
his Blackberry buzzing. Someone had sent him a text. Jacob shifted
his shoulder and Jill rolled over. The clock read 3:07 in glowing
red numbers. The site managers start up at five, so it couldn’t be
work. He lay back against the bed.

The Blackberry continued
its persistent buzz.

Someone needed his
attention.

Slipping from the bed,
Jacob crept across his apartment. He dug around in his laptop case
until he found his vibrating phone. Looking at the face, he saw the
same text repeated three times.

“
Where the fuck is my
sister?”

Mike.

“
She’s asleep,” Jacob
texted back.

“
Stupid fucker,” Mike
texted.

Hoping to not wake Jill,
Jacob slipped out of the apartment. He had just reached the bottom
of the stairs when Mike pounded on the door. Jacob opened the
door.

Mike hit him like a ton of
bricks. Jacob stepped aside, redirecting Mike’s energy, and Mike
fell forward.

“
I cannot believe you
would take advantage of my sister when she is
vulnerable.”

Mike took a swing at
Jacob, which Jacob easily avoided.

“
You done?” Jacob
asked.

“
No.”

Mike shifted to throw
Jacob over his hip, but Jacob defended his position. The men stood
in the small landing looking at each other.

“
You want me to be with
your sister. You’ve said that over and over again,” Jacob said.
“Plus, nothing happened.”

“
Then why don’t you have
any clothes on?” Mike was mad but calming down.

“
She cried on my T-shirt.
I took it off because it was soaked,” Jacob said. “Besides, who are
you? The morality police?”

“
As far as my baby sister
is concerned, asshole.”

“
I’ve never come after you
about my sister. And she was fourteen years old!”

“
Fifteen. But I was only
seventeen.” Mike grinned. “I love Val. You know that.”

“
I love Jill. You know
that. So what’s the problem?”

Mike looked at his boots
for a moment, and then shrugged. “Breakfast?”

“
Sure,” Jacob
said.

Jacob pointed to the door
that connected the attic stairwell to the house. Mike
nodded.

“
Val’s here,” Jacob said
as Mike passed through the door. Mike stopped walking.

“
What? Why?”

“
She said she didn’t want
me to have all the fun. Tomorrow’s the step-whore’s prenuptial
meeting.” Jacob put his hand on Mike’s back. “Cereal?”

Mike nodded. They went
through the darkened house to the original kitchen. Even though
Jacob had installed small kitchens in the apartments, everyone used
the main kitchen. Jacob pulled cereal boxes from the cabinet and
retrieved the Royal Crest milk from the refrigerator. Mike ate a
bowl of Cap’n Crunch before saying anything else.

“
Trevor came to the
hospital,” Mike said. “He made a huge-ass fuss. I guess he saw
something on the news and put two and two together. He rushed into
Katy’s room, saying this proved that Jill was an unfit mother. I
guess he was all but foaming at the mouth. That crazy fucker tried
to take Katy from the hospital. He said he was going to kill Jill
for putting his daughter in harm’s way.”

Mike poured another bowl
of cereal.

“
Katy took one look at her
father and started screaming in horror. I . . .”
Mike shook his head and poured milk on his cereal. “Did Val mention
me? I mean, do you think I should call her?”

“
You and Val have a
complicated relationship. If you want to call her, I know she’d
like to see you.”

“
Then why didn’t she tell
me she was coming?”

“
A very good question to
ask Valerie. If it helps, she didn’t call, email or text me
either.” Jacob shrugged.

“
I drove this bachelor
party tonight. Stupid fuckers. They picked up hookers for blow jobs
all around. While his wasted friends cheered him on, the groom
screwed some girl in the alley behind Vinyl,” Mike said. “All I
could think was why does this jerk deserve to be
married?”

“
You and Val will work it
out eventually,” Jacob said.

“
God, I hope so,” Mike
said.

“
You were telling me about
Trevor?”

“
How did you know he would
show?”

“
I just figured it would
happen. Who was there?”

Jacob had asked his
midnight hockey team to keep an eye on Katy in case Trevor showed
up. Mike set up a schedule so someone was there at all
times.

“
Colin.”

Mike smirked.

“
What?” Jacob
asked.

“
Colin beat the crap out
of Trevor when Trevor was in high school.”

Jacob raised his eyebrows.
“What?”

“
Colin’s little sister is
about four years older than Trevor and Jill. Trevor started really
hassling Erin. I mean, Colin’s what six-four, six-five? Erin’s not
even five feet. She’s tiny — smaller than Jill, even. Colin was
home on leave before he went into Special Forces. He went to pick
up Erin at school and saw Trevor pawing at Erin. Colin isn’t known
for his restraint, especially when it comes to his
sisters.

“
So Trevor’s there ranting
and raving about how he’s going to take Katy, minus the hospital
bill, of course. Colin took one look at Trevor and laughed. You
know all those Hargreaveses are fucking nuts. I guess he tossed
Trevor onto the sidewalk,” Mike laughed. “Trevor was so freaked he
scrambled away.”

“
He told Colin that he was
going to find Jill,” Mike said. “I had just dropped the assholes
off at the bride-to-be’s house when Colin called. I found Trevor
trying to get into Jill’s apartment.”

“
What did you
do?”

“
I called the cops. But
then I couldn’t find Jill and . . . I guess I went a
little nuts.” Pointing his spoon at Jacob, Mike said, “You should
be glad I’m not Colin.”

“
So noted. I do have a
black belt in Brazilian jujitsu.”

“
Well, big
whoop-de-fucking-do. They teach everybody that in the military.
Colin’s like an expert in every martial art.” Mike shrugged.
“Sorry, man.”

“
It’s not a problem,”
Jacob said.

“
Why’d you bring her
here?” Mike asked.

“
She didn’t want to go
home. She said it would be too hard to be around Katy’s things. She
was freaked enough about money, so I didn’t want to check us into
the Adam’s Mark. Plus, Scooter and Sarah are here.”

“
She saw Scooter?” Mike
asked.

“
The dogs were really what
she needed.” Jacob nodded. “She played with them for a while and
then took a shower. She’s exhausted. What a horrible
day.”

Jacob looked up from his
cereal when Mike didn’t respond. Mike’s face was completely blank.
Jacob turned to see what Mike was looking at.

Valerie.

Val’s dark hair hung in
waves over the spaghetti straps of her silk shorty. She beckoned
Mike with her hand. Like a man in a trance, Mike stood up from the
table and walked to Valerie. Jacob was just closing the door when
Valerie giggled and squealed.

Guess Valerie and Mike are
“on” again.

After cleaning up their
cereal, Jacob went back upstairs to his apartment. Jill stirred
when he came in but fell right back to sleep. Sarah had taken his
side of the bed. Rather than fight the dog, he went to the table to
work. He needed to clear his day so he could be available for
Jill.

One last glance at Jill
and he set to work.

One step forward

Mike slipped Val’s long
hair over her shoulder so he could caress her back. He was sitting
behind her in the big bathtub tucked against a glass-block window
to the Castle’s backyard garden. Her elbows wrapped around his
knees. The light from the setting moon danced against the wavy
glass.

“
Are you going to ask me
for a divorce?” Mike asked.

Valerie turned to look at
him. Her motion in the warm water caused her breast to float into
Mike’s hand. He smiled. Unable to risk looking at her face, his
eyes focused on the beautiful nipple rising to his
touch.

“
No,” Valerie said. “I was
going to ask you if you’d like to make a go of being
married.”

Mike’s head jerked up in
surprise.

“
I’ve tried to love
without you. I’m incapable of loving anyone other than you, Michael
Roper. And too terrified to let myself just love you.”

Mike nodded.

“
Say something,” Valerie
whispered.

“
I’m afraid if I say
anything you’ll change your mind,” Mike said.

She turned and leaned back
against him.

“
What about this Wes guy?”
Mike asked.

“
I had this
dream . . . I . . . I saw Mom. She
was knitting this beautiful golden blanket. When I got closer, I
saw that every strand of the blanket was one of the people she
loved — me, you, Jake, Jill, Delphie, even Dad. The sun surrounded
her in a hazy, warm light. She smiled at me
and . . . When I woke up . . . I
guess it was yesterday . . . I realized that I only
want to be with you. I think about you all the time, every day,
almost every minute of every day.
I . . .”

“
I think about you all the
time too,” Mike said. “Is this guy gay?”

Valerie laughed. “You
mean, am I back because my fiancé is gay? No. I’m back because I
want to be with you.”

“
I heard
that . . .”

“
What?”

“
That you have a movie
coming out on Friday. You told
TMZ
you were going home to your husband to generate
press for the movie,” Mike said. “Candy watches
Entertainment Tonight
for me when
I’m working. I . . . It’s the only way I get to hear
about you every day.”

“
I don’t know why I said
that. It just came out,” Valerie whispered. She shook her head,
“I . . . I’m sorry. I’ve really hurt you.
I . . . I don’t have any
excuse . . .”

“
I’m sorry for everything.
I never should have left you. I regret it every single day,” Mike
said. “I can’t imagine what it was like for you. You lost your
family and then me . . . To lose your
mom . . .”

“
It was the baby that
really did me in.”

“
What baby?”

“
Before I tell you, I want
you to be clear: I left Wes. I left the ring, the beach condo,
everything. I don’t want to be with him. Tomorrow, Wes is going to
say he loved me enough to encourage me to sort out my life. My
publicist talked him into it as a way for him to save face. He can
be vicious if he’s humiliated.”

“
But that’s not
true?”

“
No, that’s not true. I
left him a note saying I was leaving. I don’t know why I said that
at the airport. It’s like my soul spoke the truth — I wanted to
come home to my husband,” Valerie said. “I was just one of Wes’s
women, one in a long line of trophy brides.”

“
Why would you want that?”
Mike asked. His voice held hurt and confusion.

“
It’s safe. I don’t have
to risk . . .”

“
Losing again.” Mike
finished her sentence. He settled her back against him and kissed
her head.

“
I want to be here with
you. This is my choice and my choice alone. It’s been a long time
since I’ve made my own choice . . . It feels
good . . . right.”

“
What about the meeting
tomorrow?” Mike asked. “Jake said you have
a . . .”

“
The meeting got me off my
ass yesterday. I’ve wanted to come a million times, a billion
times. I’ve wanted to beg you like I did when we were kids. I just
never had the courage.”

“
And now?”

“
I want to see if we can
make it work. I mean . . . if you
. . .”

“
There’s nothing in this
world I want more than to be your husband every single day,” Mike
said. “But Val, what baby? How . . .?”

He didn’t know how to ask
the question. He knew she wasn’t pregnant with his
child.

Valerie turned again to
look at him. He looked away when her eyes filled with
tears.

“
We were pregnant — you
and me. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to be sure. Remember you
asked me if my breasts were bigger or if I’d gained
weight?”

Mike nodded. “Your body
changed. I could see it in the photos.”

“
Couple days after Mom
died, I lost the baby.”

“
Oh, Val,” Mike said. He
gathered her close. She nestled her head on his shoulder. “Oh
God . . .”

For the first time since
that awful month in Hollywood, Mike cried. Lying together in the
bath, he cried for himself and her. He cried for their baby. Then
in jerky unplanned sentences, he told her about the days and nights
he was dead to the world.