The Fourteen Day Soul Detox, Volume Two (5 page)

“I think so,” I said,
leaning down to Sarah. “Do you still want to go to the movie
angel?”

“Yes movie,” she said.

“Okay, let’s do this then,”
Amy said, tilting her head toward where the theaters were. She lifted
the two big tubs of popcorn. “They gave us one for free.”

“Wow, how generous,” I
said, dryly.

“It’s all yours, Jamie.
Peter already got us one. You said you’re trying to gain
weight,” she said, lifting the basket up sporting a small,
amused grin.

As we walked in the theater, a golden
retriever flew across the long black movie screen, his cape billowing
behind him. ‘Space Pup Returns, Coming May 4th’ lit up in
big letters.

“See, still previews,” I
said as we scanned the dark theater.

“There he is,” Amy said,
pointing. Walking halfway down the aisle, Amy stopped in front of her
husband.

Peter looked up from his phone on his
lap. “Oh, hey honey, I was just texting you,” he said as
he stood.

“Hey Peter,” I said,
reaching over to give him a hug.

“Hey Jamie, Sarah,” he
said, giving me a pat on the back and waving at Sarah. He motioned
past him. “Here, go on in.”

“Thanks,” I said. I made my
way down the aisle first so Sarah would be sandwiched between me and
Amy. We pushed down our velvet seats and sat down.

Sarah smiled at me, shoving a handful
of popcorn into her mouth. I picked up a piece of the non-butter
soaked popcorn and examined it for a minute before popping it in my
mouth. Whatever the girl had poured all over the popcorn, it sure
tasted like butter. It tasted like butter and salt exploding in my
mouth.

I cringed a little, but after a minute,
I scooped up a handful of popcorn and shoveled it into my mouth.

The movie started with a loud
trumpeting sound. Sarah bounced up and down in her seat, popcorn
flying out of the bucket in her lap and going in all directions.

I grabbed the bucket and placed it at
her feet.

“Candy,” she demanded.

“Shoot.” Leaning over to
look at Amy, I whispered, “Did we get candy?”

Amy nodded and kept her eyes on the
screen as she pulled a bag of candy out of her purse. She opened it,
handing Sarah a couple, but keeping the bag.

Sarah gobbled up all the candies in
record time. “More,” she said to Amy.

“You know the deal, Sarah,”
Amy said.

Sarah kicked out her legs and refocused
on the movie.

The movie started with a racing scene:
a small man was on top of a horse, gripping the reins, then the
camera panned to the horse’s feet thundering down the track.

Sarah’s eyelids were wide, the
lenses of her eyes reflecting the movie. I focused on the plot and
felt myself being drawn into the plot as the racehorse tripped mere
feet after crossing the finish line. I shoveled handfuls of popcorn
into my mouth, my gaze never once wavering from the screen.

The protagonist, a preteen boy, turned
to the jockey and yelled, “Dad! They’re going to kill
Lucky!”

“Oh, son.” The boy’s
father pulled him into a hug. “Sometimes an animal’s
injury is just too great and the vet needs to put them down.”

“Not the doctor, Dad! He said
Lucky could heal but never race again. Mr. Jones and Mr. Hamilton are
going to kill Lucky so they can get twenty million dollars from their
insurance! Please, Dad, you have help him!”

“I’ll help him, son,”
the jockey said.

A tear crawled down my cheek. As the
jockey went to guard Lucky Stars until the doctor and police got
there, more tears spilled from my eyes. For the rest of the movie, my
face was wet with fresh tears.

And at the end, when Lucky Stars raced
again, winning the Kentucky Derby, I was positively sobbing. I
stuffed yet another handful of popcorn in my mouth, and when I went
for another, my fingers scraped the bottom of the bucket.

A hand touched my elbow.

Wiping my face on the shoulder of my
shirt, I turned.

My sister was leaning over Sarah, who
was still completely captivated by the movie.

“Hey, you okay?” Amy
whispered.

“Yes,” I whispered back.

“You sure? You’re a little
bit… loud. Go to the bathroom, I’ll keep an eye on
Sarah.”

“I’m sorry.” I
laughed, wiping the tears away with my hand. “Yeah, maybe I
should go to the bathroom.” Standing, I stepped over each of
their legs in turn, and then walked up the aisle. At the trash can, I
threw away my now-empty, large, popcorn container.

In the bathroom, my reflection stared
back at me. I looked like an absolute mess. Red splotches covered my
pale face and gathered at the tip of my nose. I washed my face over
the sink, scrubbing at my cheeks.

“Did you watch a sad movie?”
the elderly woman at the next sink over said.

I tried to grin at her. “Yeah.”
I grabbed a handful of paper towels and dabbed my face with it.

“Which movie was it?” she
asked as she pushed down the lever for the paper towels.

“Um, it was called Lucky Stars,”
I said.

“The kids’ movie?”
she asked. “I saw that with my granddaughter. It had a happy
ending.”

“Yeah, I’m a sucker for a
happy ending. Have a nice day,” I said and rushed out of the
bathroom as fast as I could without running.

I waited outside the theater as the
doors opened and people started pouring out.

A couple walked by me with a pair of
young kids. The man leaned in close and whispered to his wife,
“That’s the woman who was bawling.”

I quickly looked away from the couple,
fixing my gaze on a ‘Space Pup Returns’ poster. The
golden retriever had a tongue lolling out of his mouth as he flew
superman-style through the air.

“Hey Jamie,” a voice said
from beside me.

I turned to see Peter step up beside
me, he smiled but his gaze quickly turned to the Space Pup poster.
“Amy took Sarah to the restroom; she says she’ll meet us
here. So… how’s everything going with you?”

“Fine, just suffering some minor
humiliation for bawling my eyes out at a kids’ movie,” I
said, trying on a smile for him.

He shrugged. “I doubt anyone
noticed.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I
appreciate the kind lie, thanks. How’s everything going for
you? How’s life at the firm?”

“Very busy. I’m sure Amy
told you that I’ve made junior partner, so, definitely been
great,” he said.

“Yeah, congratulations. That’s
huge, right?”

“I suppose,” he shrugged,
though there was a hint of a smile on his face. “So, Sarah has
class with Patrick’s daughter? That’s quite a
coincidence.”

“I know,” I said.

“And Amy says Patrick asked you
out?” he asked, his lips fighting what I knew was a smile.

I shot a glare toward the women’s
restroom.

“Kind of. Not really. We’re
sort of becoming friends,” I said.

“That’d be interesting, if
you dated Patrick. I’d love to see how people reacted to that.
It would be like the two opposing sides of Amy’s life coming
together. She’d probably love you to come to the club
sometime,” he said.

“Uh-huh. But Patrick and I are
not dating. And no offense, but I don’t think the country club
is really my scene,” I said.

Peter was definitely smiling now. “No,
I don’t suppose it is.”

“Excuse me, Peter. I think I’m
going to go check on Amy and Sarah, they’ve been gone for a
long time.” I patted his arm as I passed on my way back to the
bathroom.

Just as I reached the restroom, Amy and
Sarah came out. “Hey, I was going to meet you back at the
theater. Didn’t Peter tell you?” Amy asked.

“Yeah, you were taking so long I
decided to check on you.”

“Oh, yeah sorry, there was a long
line,” Amy said as we turned and continued walking toward Peter
and the exits.

“Did you like the movie, angel?”
I asked as I leaned down to kiss Sarah on the head.

“Yes. You cried,” she said.

“Yes, a lot,” I said,
taking her hand.

Amy cleared her throat. “So what
time is this barbeque? I think Peter wants to pick up a host present
on the way.”

“Shoot, I didn’t even think
of something like that. What are you thinking of getting?”

“I’m going to leave that up
to Peter. Patrick’s his friend. Do you know what time the
barbeque is?”

“Um, I think Patrick said the
barbeque would be at five-thirty,” I said.

“Five-thirty? You mean five
minutes ago?” Amy checked her phone, nostrils flaring.

“Calm down. It’s casual.
You know, I think I’ll call Patrick and ask if he wants me to
bring anything. Oh, and I should probably tell him that you’re
coming,” I said.

“Hmm, maybe that’s a good
idea,” Amy snapped.

“That’s me, always full of
great ideas,” I said as I pulled out my phone. “Need a
great idea? I’ll give you seven, one for every day of the—”

“Oh my god Jamie, just call him,”
Amy said.

I grinned as I peered down at my phone,
and thumbed through my contacts to ‘Patrick Kelly’. I
offered my other hand to Sarah, who took my hand only to use it to
twirl herself around, again and again.

“Hey there,” Patrick
answered in a low voice. I could almost hear his smile when he said,
“I knew it was you because ‘Sexy mom’ popped up on
my screen.

“Ha,” I said, turning away
from where Amy hastened ahead to Peter.

“So, I’ve been meaning to
ask you… do you and Sarah like steak?”

“We love steak,” I said.

“Good, because we already have a
couple steaks on the grill. You ladies heading our way?”
Patrick asked.

“Yeah, we are. So… weird
coincidence, I think you know my sister and her husband.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Amy and Peter Smithson?
They’re members, or whatever, at the same country club as you.”

“Oh.” The cheerful tone had
disappeared. After a short stretch of silence, he said, “Bring
them along. It’ll be great to see them, too. We’ve got
plenty of food.”

I paused, confused by his hesitation.
“Are you sure? Because we can totally sit this one out.”
Sarah finally got dizzy twirling around my hand and I grabbed her
with one arm, holding her weight.

“No, really, that’s the
opposite of what I want. I’m sorry. The grill distracted me.
Please, come. And bring them too, it’ll be great.”

“If you’re sure. Is there
anything we can bring?”

“Just yourselves,” Patrick
said.

Sarah broke away from me and I spun
round to see her running over to where Amy and Peter were deep in
conversation. When they both turned to her, I turned back and said,
“Okay, but if you think of anything, just text—oh, shoot!
Are the kids in the pool? I completely forgot to bring Sarah’s
swimsuit. I might have to take a quick trip home and be there a
little later,” I said.

“No problem, Sarah can wear one
of Kay’s,” Patrick said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Okay, that works, thanks. Are
you going swimming?”

“I will if you do,” Patrick
said, the smile returning to his voice.

I breathed out a laugh. “Probably
not tonight,” I said.

“Alright then, I’ll see you
real soon,” he said.

“Yeah, soon,” I said before
hanging up.

When I walked up to my group, Peter
immediately turned to me. “What did he say?” he asked,
his gaze intent on mine.

“He said you guys are welcome to
come. He’s got plenty of food and we just have to bring
ourselves,” I shrugged.

Amy stepped toward me, lips pursed and
said in a low voice, “Peter wants to run by a liquor store to
pick up a host present, but I was thinking I could go with you and
watch Sarah while you get ready.”

“I’m ready,” I said,
then following her gaze, I glanced down at my ripped jeans and ‘The
Rolling Stones US Tour T-shirt’. “This is what I’m
wearing. Did you guys want to grab your suits?”

Amy frowned. “No, definitely not.
How about you follow us to the liquor store, then we’ll follow
you to Patrick Kelly’s house.”

“You probably know the way better
than I do,” I said.

Amy shrugged. “Either way. Would
you mind texting me his address?” she asked.

“Sure.” I scrolled up to
the text and forwarding it to her.

“Well, let’s not waste any
more time,” Peter said, glancing at his watch.

Sarah did a cartwheel as we walked
through the lobby toward the exit.

“Sarah, don’t do that,”
Amy said in a low voice with a hand to her chest. “There are a
lot of people around.”

“Not here, angel,” I said,
rushing forward and grabbing her hand. “Did you know we’re
going to Kay’s house to go swimming?”

Sarah jumped up and down and squealed.
Then she asked, “Do you want to go swimming in the pool, Mom?”

“Probably not tonight. How about
you, do you want to go swimming?”

“Yes!” she shouted.

“Well, you definitely can. Let’s
get to the car,” I said. When I looked up, Amy and Peter had
already left the lobby and were waiting outside, locked in what
looked like a tense conversation. I tried not to disturb them as I
exited the theater, but they immediately looked over.

“Hey guys, I feel really bad. I
totally changed plans on you and it seems like it’s stressing
you out. We could still cancel if—”

“No, really, let’s get
going there. We’re already late,” Amy said.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Definitely,” Peter said as
he pulled out his keys. They turned to the parking lot, Amy’s
arm threaded through Peter’s.

“Peter is parked over here, we’ll
pull around to you,” Amy said over her shoulder.

“Okay,” I said, heading the
other way.

By the time I got Sarah in her car seat
and gave her my phone to play with, Peter and Susan had already
pulled up in his sleek gray sports car. When I pulled behind them,
Peter sped ahead. He weaved through the traffic, and by the time we
exited the movie theater parking lot, having followed him by cutting
off three people, I stopped trying to keep up. A few blocks up, Peter
stopped dead, waiting for me.