The One That Got Away (7 page)

On his end of the phone, Tony simmered impatiently, his cell phone still pressed close to his ear. The line had gone dead, which was fine with him. He had no need to flee the pain flooding him; it was nothing but motivation.

From the edge of death, to another continent, to your backyard. Serena, I've come too far to quit.

W
hen the time came for a “come to Jesus” sit-down with her older daughter, Serena knew she would need help. Given her own impatience with Dawn's antics and Jamie's aloof parenting style, a conference among the three of them would have ended with nothing but shouting, screaming, and someone inevitably storming off with hurt feelings. To head this off, the intervention occurred on neutral territory—her parents' massive ranch home out in Glendale, the suburban enclave where she'd made all the same stupid moves her daughter was intent on reliving.

With her mother, Jan, away from the house at Sydney's ballet practice, Professor Charles Height was on hand to serve as sole judge and mediator. One thing was certain; as jumpy and rebellious as Dawn was, she'd never “ack” a fool with her poppy.

Seated comfortably in his puffy leather rocking chair, Charles listened calmly as Serena and Jamie summarized Dawn's recent truancy and attitude issues. When they were finished, he tented his fingers and looked across his family room, where Dawn sat on a bright green beanbag chair, her head resting in her hands. “Pumpkin, these are serious matters. Tell your parents why you're doing these things. They're going to set you on the right path, but you can help them out by explaining yourself.”

Scooting forward and placing her elbows on the knees of her snug jeans, Dawn looked straight at her grandfather. It was like she didn't even see Serena and Jamie, who sat to her left on a beige sectional sofa. “Poppy, I just get bored in class sometimes. Some of us girls like to kill time in other ways. We don't go out and do drugs or nothing crazy.”

“Dawn,” Serena said, turning an intent gaze onto her daughter, “life is not always going to be about your amusement. There are rules, child, and until you can support yourself, you're going to have to follow them.”

Dawn's nose wrinkled up at first, as if offended by her mother's words, but a glance toward her poppy reminded her to dial it back. “Mom,” she said, sighing and picking her words with admirable care, “I've told you about this. Everybody at school feels the same way. They're teaching us out of twenty-year-old textbooks half the time, and the teachers spend so much time making the goof-off kids shut up, they don't have time to challenge us with anything new.”

“Well, then, take good notes,” Serena replied, a sarcastic grin creeping across her face. “When you get your Ph.D. in education some day, you can use your experiences as evidence of what
not
to do. In the meantime, you need to get as much as you can out of your teachers.”

Dawn responded by blowing air through her lips, then standing while keeping her eyes trained on her grandfather. “Typical,” she said, shrugging and pointing toward her parents without looking in their direction. “That's all I get from her, Poppy. She acts like she's never been in my shoes!”

“Okay, that's enough.” Serena stood, clenching her fists instead of getting in her disrespectful child's face. “Don't talk like you don't see me sitting right here.”

Jamie reached up, tugging at the elbow of Serena's suede sport coat. “Be cool, Dee. Focus on the positive in what the girl just said.” When his wife instinctively jerked out of his grasp, he bit his lip but continued on. “She's bored at school, you heard her, and Ms. Wilson says she's one of the brightest kids in her class.
She just needs to be somewhere that will challenge her, but also teach to her in a way that feels relevant, up-to-date, you know?”

As Serena boiled in her own stew of creeping rage, her father nodded and began stroking his beard. “You're thinking of Rowan Academy again, right, son?”

“Well, yeah,” Jamie said, tugging at Serena's elbow again. “Why not try it, Dee?” Standing, he lumbered over to Dawn and draped an arm over her shoulder. “I'm going to be brutally real right here, in front of all of you, okay?” He turned toward Dawn, pecked a kiss onto her cheek. “I've failed you so far, young lady,” he said. “Dawn, I know you think sometimes I favor Sydney over you, just because she's actually my flesh and blood.”

Jamie paused long enough to acknowledge Serena's warning stare, then regained his momentum. “I've been guilty of that,” he continued. “I get caught up in my own issues and struggles sometimes, and as a result I haven't always fought this male ego thing that makes me put Sydney first. Bottom line, I want you to know that from this day forth flesh and blood don't matter anymore. You are my child, mine. All due respect to your father, may he rest in peace, when he left his earth the creator pulled me off the bench and substituted me in for Brady. I'm going to live up that call from now on.”

Serena was impressed with her husband's touching speech, but the disrespect she'd just suffered at Dawn's hands complicated her emotions as she watched her daughter's face flush with a bald, shocked glee. Reaching to wipe a tear away, Dawn spoke in a newly husky voice. “You didn't have to say that, Poppa Jamie.”

After kissing Dawn again, Jamie turned toward Serena. “What do you say, Dee? Why don't we let Dawn try out a new environment—”

“She's
not
going to Rowan!” Serena's interjection burst from her so fast, she wondered whether she'd actually said it out loud. The boom in her voice, matched by the acid anger lacing the words, left the room eerily silent for several seconds before Jamie removed his arm from around Dawn's shoulder. “Why don't you just trust me on this one, Serena? Let me lead. You don't have to
bear every weight. That's why I made the decision we talked about the other day.”

As Serena tried to ignore Jamie's knowing wink, her initial warning to Tony hit her square in the chest. She'd told him he couldn't handle it,
it
being the grown-up challenges of raising a troubled family. Hell, at times like these she wasn't sure she could handle them herself.

Serena heard the tremors in her voice as she looked past Dawn's frown and stared into her husband's pleading eyes. “Let's not talk about your
news
right now, okay?”

“Yeah, you're right,” Jamie said, flinging his long arms heavenward. “You weren't impressed by it anyway.” The next thing she knew, her husband had an accusing finger leveled at her, just like her daughter had minutes earlier. “You're carrying grudges, Serena, and that's real sorry of you, real sorry.”

Searching for a calm and serene response, Serena took a beat but came up empty-handed. “Who the hell are you to pass judgment on anyone? Are you kidding me, Jamie?”

Serena's words ringing in the air, Charles hopped to his feet. “Sounds like you two should have your own conversation,” he said, walking over to Dawn and taking her by the hand. “Get out of here. I'm not playing.” He reached into his pocket, tossed a set of keys to Jamie. “You know you've been coveting that Navigator since the day I brought it home,” he said, referring to his spanking-new SUV. “Knock yourself out with it, just bring it back it back in one piece, please.” He turned toward Serena as he tightened his grasp on Dawn's left hand. “When you get back, your daughter will accept your decision about where she'll go to school.”

As she slammed the passenger-side door of her father's luxury vehicle, a cloud of new-car smell engulfing her, Serena decided she was too worn around the edges to be evasive. “Look, you may as well know why I'd just as soon keep Dawn out of Rowan.”

Backing the Navigator out of her parents' long driveway, Jamie flicked an eye her way. “Dee, I realize it wouldn't look good to your cronies at work, but—”

She laid a finger on the shoulder of his leather bomber. “That's not it.” Twisting a finger through a stray curl of hair, Serena gave her husband a thumbnail sketch of Friday's call from her first love. As sweet as Brady, Dawn's father, had been, he was simply her
first
. Love had first come calling in the person of Tony Gooden, and the very sound of his first name was all Jamie needed to hear.

He raised his eyebrows, but Serena could swear she saw the hint of a smile on her husband's face. “You're kidding me. Gooden's actually working for the academy?”

Still trying to read his reaction, Serena stuttered out her answer. “I-Isnt' that what I said? You sound like you already knew he was working here, Jamie.”

Jamie let Serena stew for a couple of silent minutes, until they were zooming down Springfield Pike. “Wondered how long it would take you to fess up to that nigger being in town.”

Her brain trying to calculate the possibilities, Serena didn't bother to respond.

“If you're wondering, one of the bros at the mosque knows Larry Whitaker,” Jamie continued, as if she'd asked. “He mentioned meeting a new hire of Larry's earlier this week. I just knew I heard the brother wrong when he said the guy's name. Even once I confirmed it was ‘our' Tony, though, I figured he was working for the corporate side of Whitaker's firm. Tony was always a soldier of fortune, not a do-gooder.”

Looking out her window, Serena nodded. “I was surprised, too.”

“So, uh, when were you going to tell me about lover boy's call?”

Serena whistled hot air from between her lips. “Please. It was a phone call, Jamie, nothing more. Damn.”

“Yeah,” Jamie replied, eyes locked onto the road as if she wasn't there. “A call you took two days to mention. But as you like to say, whatever.”

“Yeah,” Serena said, a fake chuckle rattling her tone. “Whatever.”

“Sounds like your boy's a little worse for the wear, though, Dee. Apparently he's got some funny-looking limp, wears a short 'fro, and this scraggly beard.” The twinkle in Jamie's eyes betrayed a joy at the thought of his battered rival. “I'll bet he's lost that cocky little swagger he had when he tried to take you from me.”

“He tried”—Serena raised her eyebrows, letting her eyes spray plumes of fire—“to take me from you, huh? As if I was some
thing
of yours, is that what you're saying?”

“Don't go getting all feminist on me, Serena.” Jamie replied, glancing dismissively in her direction. “You know what I meant. He tried to replace me in your life, in front of our family and loved ones. He's a selfish, smug ass.”

“Well, for better or worse,” Serena said, sighing, “you won that battle. So, can we talk about how to get Dawn back on track?”

“We'll handle that in a minute,” Jamie said, opening up on the gas as he exited the ramp leading onto I-275 west. He rolled his right eyeball in her direction. “How'm I gonna go back to Italy next week, without worrying you're laid up with Gooden?”

“Oh, you have got some nerve.” Serena looked away, out her window. “If I based my life around worrying whether you were laid up with folk, I'd never make it out of bed.”

“Okay, dammit! Just stop it, now.” The forceful volume of Jamie's voice slowed Serena's rebellious spirit. He'd never hit her or made her fear for her safety, but he knew how to show when he meant business. “I'm not perfect, Dee, but I've done right by you for a while now.”

Serena shut her eyes. “Jamie . . . please.”

“No, I'm not going to leave it alone.” Jamie kept his eyes on the road but his voice grew even louder. “I know I was a damn stereotype for years, especially when I was overseas. I never once lied to you about how I rolled, though, did I?”

Serena sucked her teeth and looked out her window.

“Most men cheat; there's nothing unique about my weakness. But that doesn't mean I felt good about it, baby. I mean, I could make excuses—plenty of 'em. But I won't. I owed it to you to stop laying up left and right, and I have.”

Serena crossed her arms, keeping her eyes on the road as if she were the one driving. “Well, bravo. Gold star for Jamie, okay?”

“My point,” he said, barking his words and slapping the steering wheel for emphasis, “is that you don't get to reset the clock now that your ex is in town. I mean, I know women, and I know if Tony sidles up to you and whispers about how you deserve to be happy and shit—” Jamie waved a hand suddenly, silencing himself. “Forget it.”

“Uh-uh,” Serena replied, a bitter laugh pouring forth. “Let me finish your thought for you. You're scared Tony will tell me about whatever time he caught you out somewhere with some ho, aren't you?” She couldn't know for certain, but either Tony and Jamie had crossed paths under embarrassing circumstances, or her husband was crazy with paranoia.

“What happened years ago is not the point.” A vein popped out on Jamie's right temple, confirming Serena was right on target. “I'm just saying that our slate should be wiped clean. I can tell you haven't let all that go, and Gooden's just the type to play on it.”

“Oh, my God.” Serena shook her head and blinked as if banishing a bad dream. “Tell me you're not serious. You're preemptively accusing me of planning to have an affair, when I've always been faithful to you? I think you need to get some serious help.”

Smoldering with frustration, Jamie couldn't meet her eyes. “There's a lot I've never told you, Serena, but it's not what you'd expect—”

“I don't care, “Serena replied. “I don't care why you stopped cheating. I don't know if I care whether you ever cheat again, okay? I got pretty used to assuming you were with other women, to insisting you use a condom every time we make love.” She hunched her shoulders. “So spare me.”