An Autumn to Remember: A Novel (Elmtown Series Book 1) (10 page)

   “Excuse me sir,” one of the waiters said from behind him. “Miss Chelsea asked if you could come over to the balcony.”

   “Oh...where is it?”

   Jamie followed the waiter’s gaze to the large doors behind them. “Thank you,” Jamie said as he pushed himself out of his seat and walked down towards the balcony doors.

   He moved the curtains aside, opened the door then saw her.

   Chelsea stood at the edge of the balustrade watching tree branches dance as a strong wind blew. She wore a black mesh bodycon dress that held tight to her body. Not too tight for a formal dinner, it looked just right. Jamie stood there for a second, his hands tucked in his jeans pocket. He watched her. Her hair was held in a low bun that was fastened at the nape of her neck. The hairdresser had paired it with loose tendrils of hair. It was probably the most beautiful Jamie had ever seen her.

   “Hey it’s your birthday remember? What are you doing out here by yourself? It’s getting chilly.”

   She turned around, smiled and walked over to him. “Hey.”

   They hugged each other. “What are you doing out here?” Jamie asked.

   “Just thinking about my life.”

   “Hey that’s my line.”

   “It isn’t patented as far as I know.” She remembered how Jamie used to say it back in the day as if thinking about one’s life was a pastime.

   “What’s up?”

   She walked back towards where she had been standing and he followed beside her. “This twenty-one business got me thinking about the things I consider important in life.”

   “And?”

   “My friendship with you seems to be at the top of the list.”

   Jamie smiled. “It’s important to me too. But I understand if John still...”

   “Shh...no,” Chelsea cut in. “I think I’ll find a way to sort that out. He doesn’t have anything to worry about. I would never ask him to give up his friendship with anyone because of me so why should I give up any of my friendships? I chose to trust him so why can’t he trust me too? Anyway, I wanted to ask if you could do a speech today. Nothing serious. Just something short about me. Mom wanted a few of my friends to say something so it’s not just her that gives a speech.”

   “Sure, I think I know enough bad things you’ve done to come up with a decent speech.”

   She smiled. “Thanks. I should go inside before they start looking for me.” She put her hand through his arms as he led her back inside.

***

   With everyone now settled at the table eating their main courses, Chelsea sat with John and her mother at either side of her. Her father Cameron sat beside Teresa but they didn’t say anything to each other. He wasn’t going to be invited at first but Teresa knew people would wonder why he wasn’t there and she wasn’t ready to answer any questions. Chelsea was just indifferent to it all. She loved her father but still couldn’t bring herself to forgive him for what he had done.

   Jamie sat with his mother and ate as music played in the background. The DJ’s playlist was a mixture of the old and new, reflecting the diverse audience.

   After their salads, Jamie chose slow braised beef short ribs in natural jus for his main course while Helen went for the stuffed chicken breast with oven dried tomato, goat cheese, oregano and truffle essence.

   “Mmmm, this chicken is really good. We should try to make it at home.”

   “Oh good. I was scared off by the ones with very long names. You never know with these fancy courses,” Jamie joked about the long descriptions given to the entrées.

   “They just write them like that to make them seem fancier than they really are,” Helen scoffed.

   “This looks like a pretty simple dish to me.” She cut into the chicken breast with her knife.

   “OK I’ll check out a recipe online for you. Let’s see if you can pull it off. Just remember we buy groceries from Dollar Savers.” They both laughed. “I think its time for the speeches. I’m gonna go up soon,” Jamie said as he saw one of the waiters handing over a microphone to Teresa.

   Teresa’s speech was short and quick. She talked about how she was happy to be able to give her daughter a befitting twenty-first birthday party, was grateful to everyone present and then touched a bit on how she admired her daughter who always did the family proud.

   Cameron, Chelsea’s estranged father sat there watching everything, wondering how it had all gone wrong, why his daughter wouldn’t even let him explain himself. They always shared a special bond, a special father-daughter relationship, and now he felt like a stranger at his own daughter’s party.

   After Teresa was done, John was given the microphone. He remained in his seat as he spoke.

   “I’ve known Chelsea for six months now. The first time I saw her, I was like wow, I have to meet that girl. She just has to be mine.” A few people in the room giggled. “It’s been a wonderful ride with you so far. I love you baby.”

   He kissed her and gave the mic back to the waiter. Chelsea didn’t expected much but she didn’t think both speeches would be that short with nothing much said about her really. Jamie was told earlier it would be his turn to speak immediately after John’s speech so he walked up towards the front of the room near Chelsea’s table and took the mic from the smiling waiter.

   He cleared his throat and began, “The first time I saw Chelsea, I was only ten but even then I knew this was no ordinary girl. There was a special aura radiating around her and you just knew it was something that came straight from a very beautiful heart.”

   The gaze of every single person in the room was now focused on Jamie. He continued speaking over their pin-drop silence. “I didn’t know there was more to what I had seen on the surface. I didn’t know I was still going to discover many more wonderful layers that make up this person called Chelsea. That day she beat me at Mortal Kombat on her video game console. That was the beginning of a friendship I have held dear to my heart until this day. If there was time to tell you all the wonderful things about this beautiful young woman, I’d keep you all here for the next seventy-two hours. But I’ll just say this one thing, she always leaves people better than she met them. She may be imperfect like every other human being ever born into this world but you can never spend time with Chelsea and remain the same person. Personally, I’m just so glad that she exists.” Then he raised his wine glass and looked at her. “To Chelsea.”

   “To Chelsea,” everyone responded, and then as if by reflex they all began to clap. It was definitely the best birthday speech anybody there had ever heard before.

   Chelsea’s face beamed with happiness. She was glad she had that little talk with him earlier on. She thought there was no way in the world she was giving up her best friend for anyone. As she looked at him, she saw how different he was from everybody in the dining room, not just because of his different attire but because it was he who knew her more than anyone else and he actually looked really handsome in that jacket.

   John looked at her from the corner of his eye, there was no smile on his face. He couldn’t put up a fake a smile like Chelsea’s mother had. He decided he had to put an end to this farce. Is he deliberately trying to make me jealous or what? The nerve with that fool, he smouldered.

   Teresa, despite joining in the applause, didn’t like the speech either. She knew that the speech was good but she wished it had come from John and not Jamie. It was so obvious to her that the sneaky boy wanted her daughter desperately and was trying to score all the points that he could. She noticed how his eyes burned when he looked at her. Questions flooded her mind. Was it lust? What did he want exactly knowing Chelsea had a boyfriend? Did he see her as his ticket out of poverty? Wasn’t he graduating from college soon? Even if Chelsea didn’t have a boyfriend, she didn’t think Jamie was the appropriate person for her.

   About half an hour later, John walked up to Jamie’s table.

   “Hello there,” he said to Helen.

   “Hi, how are you?” Helen asked. Jamie dropped his cutlery and wiped his mouth with the napkin.

   “I’m very well, thank you. Umm...Jamie can I please have a word with you?”

   “Sure. I’ll be back Mom,” Jamie said, reluctantly getting out of his seat. His face flushed with heat, the corner of his eye twitching involuntarily. He really didn’t like John but wanted to hear what he had to say.

  John started towards the balcony as Jamie followed reluctantly behind. What in the world could he want to say now? Jamie wondered. He quickly calculated that it was going to be one of two things: it could be about the intended business collaboration in music they had talked about or, it could be about Chelsea. He hoped it was the former.

   “How are things going?” John asked. He lit a cigarette and offered his gold cigarette pack to Jamie.

   “Thanks, I don’t smoke,” Jamie said wanting him to get the point. “Things are going well. You?”

   “Good...good,” John said then took a long drag of smoke. “I have good news.” He noticed he had Jamie’s attention. “I spoke with the A&R that will be working with me at the record label. He and the other execs want to meet with you. But actually since I have the last word, I’ve decided to give you a deal. Half a million dollars to begin with.”

   Jamie’s eyes blinked, he rubbed sweat off his nose and said, “I don’t understand. What...what deal?”

   “It’s a record deal. You are going to be the first person I’m signing once I resume in January.”

   “I...I don’t know what to say.”

   “Well, ‘yes’ would be a good start.” He blew out another puff of smoke.

   “I can’t reject an offer like that. I’m pretty much in shock right now.”

   “Yeah, I connected with the things you said about your plans and I always go with my gut feeling when I do business. I think you know what you are doing and I would like to be a part of it. The strategy we’ve agreed on is to carve new niches and yours sounded like a new version of jazz.”

   “So when do I have to meet these guys? I’m ready to start work like yesterday.”

   “Whenever you’re ready. We’ll have to go on a weekend because of my MBA classes during the week. But you have to agree to the other part of the deal.”

   “What is that?”

   He looked intently at Jamie as he took another long drag as if what he was about to say was heavier than anything else he already said. “We want you to also do some other sounds besides jazz, for commercial reasons. Just some stuff for the radio.”

   “I could try that, I guess,” Jamie said wondering what they might have in mind. “I mean it depends on what genre you’re thinking about. I could do something along the lines of R&B.”

   “OK cool. Oh, and one more thing.” He pressed the cigarette against the concrete then flicked it over the railing. “I want you to stop your friendship with Chelsea completely. I don’t want you to talk to her, call her or be around her. I don’t want you to as much as look at her from a distance. I don’t want her to exist in your world anymore.”

   “What?” Jamie asked glancing down at John. He tried to decipher the words he just heard.

   “You heard what I said.”

   With his eyes narrowed, Jamie felt a vein pulse in his forehead. The rage forming under his bones clenched his hands into fists. He felt insulted that John had the audacity to even attempt to say what he said. So people with money really think they can buy anything with it?

   He looked at John straight in the eye and said, “You underestimate how much she means to me.” He sighed and shook his head. “Did you just really try to buy me off? Dude, you have no idea how much I value her, not even your father’s entire empire can replace what she means to me. You can take your record deal and shove it up your nose. This will be the last time we ever speak. Goodbye.”

   As he turned to walk away, both he and John were shocked at seeing Chelsea standing by the door. From the look in her eyes, it seemed she might have heard everything or just enough to make her mad. Jamie paused as his feelings subsided like a storm coming to a peaceful calm.

   “Chelsea what are you doing here?” he asked.

   “I was looking for you but do you mind if I have a word with John?” she sniffed.

   “Yeah, I’ll be inside.”

   He walked away and rejoined his mother at the table.

***

   “Hey bestie, let’s go join the others on the dancefloor.”

   “Hi Amy. Go ahead without me. I wanna sit here for a while.”

   “C’mon hun, what’s wrong? It’s your party. Shouldn’t you be on the dance floor with John or something?”

   “He’s leaving as we speak. Just go on Amy. If it’s my party then I should be able to cry if I want to, right?” She gave Amy a playful wide smile.

   Amy persisted, “You know you can talk to me if something is bothering you. Let’s go outside for a minute, it’s too noisy here.”

   Many interesting conversations happened on the balcony that night but what Chelsea didn’t know was that there was more to come.

   “So he’s really jealous about your friendship with Jamie?” Amy asked after Chelsea told her everything including how she caught John trying to bribe Jamie and how he later told her to choose between him and her friendship with   Jamie. He called it her
thing
with Jamie and gave her a week to decide.