The Denver Cereal (24 page)

Out of nowhere, he heard
Celia’s voice: “Why haven’t you stepped into your
wisdom?”

Wiping his face and nose
on the sheet, he blew out a breath and cleared his mind. Closing
his eyes, he stretched his being. Not quite sure of what he was
doing, he remembered Delphie’s childhood instruction — clear your
mind of thought, create an open space, breathe, let the images
come . . .

The image of Jill walking
across hardwood floors came to his mind. Her naked body was covered
with goose bumps and her nipples were erect. The beeswax candle she
carried shook side to side with her shivers. The candlelight
reflected off the square cut diamond on her left ring finger.
Catching his look, and lust for her, she tipped her head sideways
and smiled.

“
Jake?”

“
Hey, Molly.” Jacob opened
his eyes to his concerned bookkeeper. “Is it
eight-thirty?”

“
Yes. Are you okay? Should
I get the nurse?”

“
I’m okay. Thanks,” Jacob
said. “There’s something you could do for me.”

~~~~~~~~

Aden Norsen slowed his SUV
to the curb at a small bungalow near Old Towne Aurora. Getting out
of the driver’s seat, he went to the back hatch for his kids’
backpacks and suitcases.

His children were supposed
to spend two months with their mom in the summer. She had reminded
him of their legal arrangement just last night. Of course, her
“visitation” only happened when she was in town, when she felt like
having them, and when whatever else that was more important than
her children was over. This year, Nuala wanted their kids
today.

Of course, if this visit
went the way of every other visit, the kids would get on Nuala’s
nerves in a couple of days. She’d “tough it out” for a couple of
weeks, and then the phone would ring. Aden would take them home.
His home. Their home in Park Hill. Even though he
knew
this visit would be
like all the others, he always hoped things would be
different.

“
Bye-bye, Daddy,” his
ten-year-old daughter, Noelle, said. She hugged him and then took
her backpack and suitcase from him. “I’ll call you
tonight.”

“
Bye, Dad,” his
twelve-year-old son, Nash, said. He hugged Aden. “See you
tonight?”

“
Soccer practice. I’ll be
there,” Aden said. He gave Nash his backpack, suitcase, and
skateboard. “You’ll . . .”

Nash smiled a half smile.
“I’ll call.”

Noelle was halfway up the
driveway when she turned and ran back. She threw her arms around
Aden. Too cool to initiate the hug, Nash wrapped himself around
Noelle and Aden.

“
Love you so very much,”
Aden said.

Standing with his arms
around his precious babies, he prayed for their safety. Every year,
he walked away with a knot in the pit of his stomach. Every year,
he brought two silent children home. Every year, he sat with them
night after night while they cried their hearts out. Aden let out a
breath and let go. The God that brought these beautiful creatures
to his life will care for them.

Nash picked up Noelle’s
suitcase. Noelle carried Nash’s skateboard, and the children began
their walk toward their mother’s front door. As they approached,
Nuala opened the door. With a lit cigarette dangling from her lips,
and an infant on her hip, Nuala was all class in her stained tank
top and no bra. She raised an arm to wave at Aden.

Working not to flinch at
Nuala’s hairy armpit and flopping breasts, Aden smiled. He watched
his babies greet their mother and then turn into the house. He made
it back into the driver’s seat before his emotions — rage, sadness,
helplessness, shame — caught up with him. Swatting the tears from
his eyes, he turned down Colfax toward Denver.

He was due in Jake’s
hospital room at ten.

Stopping at a traffic
light, Aden marveled at how life worked out. He had never planned
on having kids. In fact, he never thought he liked kids. But when
his crazy, wild girlfriend got pregnant, he did the right thing and
married her. In a desperate attempt to keep them off the streets,
he started as a day laborer for Lipson Construction.

Lipson was good for him.
Nuala was not. Fourteen months and another baby later, she was
gone.

But Lipson stuck. He
worked his way up one job at a time, one year at a time, to become
a site manager. He loved being a site manager. He thought he’d
retire as a site manager.

Four years and three
months ago, Jake appeared at the jobsite. Aden had worked at Lipson
almost ten years. He had seen Jake around the sites but hadn’t
spoken to the owner’s son before. After all, Jake was a carpenter,
a college boy, not an underground man. He wasn’t even a Lipson.
Aden swaggered over to talk to the kid.

“
I need a good man to help
me out,” Jake said. “Interested?”

“
Hire an assistant,” Aden
said. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve got to get back. We’re
expecting . . .”

Aden stopped talking when
Jake laughed. Aden shook his head at the kid and started to walk
back toward the site trailer.

“
You’d get to set your
schedule.”

Aden spun around to look
at Jake. He was about to walk away when he realized what that kind
of freedom would mean for his children’s lives. He could finally
coach a soccer team, participate in Noelle’s art
classes . . . and . . . He squinted
his eyes at Jake.

“
What do you
want?”

“
I told you. I need a good
man to help me out. I’m sure money’s not important to you, but the
job comes with a fifteen-hundred dollar raise.”

“
A year?” Aden
asked.

“
A month.” Jake
smiled.

Aden did the math in his
head. Fifteen hundred dollars was a chunk of change, but less than
a third of what he was making. How serious was this kid?

“
Two thousand,” Aden said.
“And annual raises. This doesn’t cap my salary.”

“
Done.”

And, as they say, the rest
was history.

He’d worked for about six
months before he realized Jake was grooming him, Aden Norsen, to
take over Lipson Construction. Jake made him finish college and
forced him through an MBA program. Scumbag, loser, dropout Aden
Norsen was an MBA.

The thought still made
Aden laugh.

Pulling up to the Detroit
Street workshop, Aden made his way through the tunnels to the
Castle. He tapped on the kitchen door and was met by Delphie.
Delphie gave him a small box and a hug.

“
They’ll be all right?”
Aden asked.

“
They’ll be home
tomorrow,” Delphie said.

“
Tomorrow?”

“
Tomorrow night,
late.”

“
Thanks.” Aden hugged her
again.

“
Enjoy yourself
today!”

Delphie raised an eyebrow,
then closed the door in his face. Aden made an irritated face at
the door. Delphie always told him just enough to relieve his
anxiety and pique his curiosity. She saved the full story for
later, after it was all over, as a kind of “I told you
so.”

Anyway, he planned to work
today then drink himself to sleep tonight. That’s what he did every
time he left the kids at Nuala’s house. In fact, he already told
Jake he was going to be hung over tomorrow. Lying in that hospital
bed, wrapped in gauze and sprouting tubes like hair, Jacob Marlowe
laughed at him.

Aden tucked the box into
his pocket and went through the tunnels to the workshop. Back in
the car, he worked his way down Colfax to Colorado Boulevard. He
had just enough time to run a couple errands before getting to
Jake’s room.

~~~~~~~~

Valerie waved from the
side door of the Castle. Her publicist, Jennifer Lowe, weaved
through the paparazzi with expert ease. Valerie hugged her. Jen
pulled back to give Valerie a long look.

“
I don’t know about this
whole marriage thing, but you look great,” Jen said. “A little
thin. How’s your brother?”

“
Better, thanks. Yeah,
I’ve lost weight this week,” Valerie said. “But I feel good. Really
good.”

“
You’re sure you want to
go out in public with this guy?” Jen asked.

“
My husband?” Valerie
asked. “Yes. I want him to be a part of my life. I thought we could
introduce him to everyone at a party next week? Maybe
Friday?”

“
What about Wes? He’s sure
acting like he wants you back something awful.”

“
Awful is the word.”
Valerie shook her head. “That’s all over. Plus, he texted me to say
he has a new ‘girl.’” Valerie imitated Wes’s voice, “‘No hysterics,
Val. I can’t wait for you forever.’”

Jen shook her head. “Will
you . . .”

“
I’m exactly where I want
to be,” Valerie said.

“
Okay, let’s take a look
at this guy,” Jen said.

“
My . . .”

“
Right, your husband,” Jen
said. Under her breath she added, “You’re going to have to say that
a million times.”

“
He’s painting in his
studio out back,” Valerie said. “I have to call him.”

Mike answered immediately
and said he would be right over.

“
I love this house, Val,”
Jen said. “It’s very . . . gothic-modern. Is this
his house?”

“
My mother bought it
before her death. Mike and my brother fixed it up. Of course, Mike
did the murals, ceilings, and detail work,” Valerie
said.

“
He’s very
talented.”

“
He is. I’m here probably
six months out of the year. A week here . . . a week
there. We have our own private apartment, plus all of
this.”

Mike came in from the
kitchen wiping his hands on a rag. Seeing Val, his face lit up in a
bright smile.

“
When did you get
back?”

As if drawn by a magnet,
Valerie fit under the arm he wrapped around her. He kissed her
head.

“
Jen wanted to meet you,”
Valerie said.

Jen had to wipe the
stunned look from her face. Mike was almost the exact opposite of
any of Val’s other men. He was big, muscular, and very hairy. He
looked like the kind of person you’d find at the end of a hockey
stick or maybe on top of a John Deere. He was not the kind of man
you’d find standing next to a movie star. Jen shook her
head.

“
He’s not going to work,”
Jen said.

“
What?” Mike asked.
“Why?”

“
We need to get Ramon,”
Jen said.

Valerie nodded.

~~~~~~~~

Turning right, Aden parked
in the lot behind Denver Health. On the elevator to Jake’s room, he
went through the list of things they needed to accomplish. With
Ashforth’s swinging straight pipe wrench, Lipson Construction had
ceased to function. Every jobsite closed. Everyone — employees and
clients — held their collective breath in hopes that Jacob would
survive.

They had to restart Lipson
Construction.

Today.

Then he’d get
drunk.

On Jack Daniels? No, maybe
Johnny Walker. One night a year, Aden allowed himself a serious
drunk. Of course, every year for the last four, Jake happened to
have some emergency on the night of his planned drunk. Tonight,
Jake was in the hospital. Four years of sobriety would be broken
tonight.

“
Hey, Molly,” Aden said.
“Jake.”

“
How are you?” Jake asked.
Molly gave Aden a hug on her way out of the room.

“
I’m . . .
all right,” Aden said. “See you, Molly.”

“
How did it go?” Jake
asked.

“
It sucked. It always
sucks,” Aden said. “Delphie says they’ll be home tomorrow
night.”

“
You need to renegotiate
that custody.”

“
Tell me something I don’t
know,” Aden said. “I just keep hoping she’ll go away.”

“
That’s not likely,” Jake
said. “Did you get it?”

“
Yep. When does the
illustrious Jill get here?” Aden asked.

“
She and a friend are
stopping by,” Jake said.

“
Should we get started?”
Aden asked. “Or wait for them to come and go?”

“
Let’s see what we can get
done,” Jake said.

Aden began setting up
their laptop computers. He was almost done when the door to the
room opened. Turning to catch a first look at Jacob’s Jill, he
gasped. The door slammed shut.

“
That’s the girl,” Aden
whispered.

~~~~~~~~

“
We start at Nordstrom and
we’ll work our way to Macy’s.” Sandy outlined their shopping plan
on the elevator up to Jacob’s room. “After all, you need all new
clothing for your new lifestyle.”

“
What about my
feet?”

“
What about your feet?”
Sandy asked. “You can get a personal shopper!”

Jill laughed.

“
Personally, I think I
deserve a few pairs of shoes myself. You know, best-friend tax.
Can’t you hear Jimmy Choo saying come and get me?” Sandy said.
“It’s a Platinum American Express card?”