An Autumn to Remember: A Novel (Elmtown Series Book 1) (9 page)

   “Like I said, it’s OK Chelsea, you really don’t have to explain anything. I care about you and if that’s what will make you happy then it’s fine.”

   “I feel so bad. It sounds so ridiculous and childish. I’m sorry.”

   I thought so too, Jamie thought. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t want him to get the wrong idea about you and I either so it’s cool. Can I ask you a question though?”

   “Yes of course, go ahead.”

   “Umm...you know what, never mind.”

   “Please Jamie just ask.”

   “Are you crazy about him?”

   “Yes I really do care about him.”

   “No I’m asking whether you are crazy about him.”

   Jamie noticed a slight pause before she replied, “What’s the difference?”

   “You’ll know when you become crazy about someone. Bye Chelsea.” I know the difference, because I am crazy about you, he thought.

   “Bye Jamie,” she said wondering why he asked.

   Throughout the conversation, Jamie could hear the awkwardness in her voice. I mean who tells their girlfriend they can’t hang out with their male friend in the twenty-first century? Jamie hung up the phone, switched it off and tucked it under his pillow. He opened his laptop, closed the video he had been watching and started a math assignment he was halfway through. This was the class that would complete all the credits he needed for an early graduation with the other December grads. He and Jerome were going to fulfill their goal of graduating in three and half years. The only difference was that Jerome now had a job lined up in Allen City’s financial district. Jamie only had one thing, his dreams.

   He closed the laptop and set an alarm for 3:00 a.m. He couldn’t complete the math paper yet, not with his thoughts running all over the place like gazelles in flight. Damn it, I’m missing that girl already, he thought.

12

   Jamie read the letter again. He wasn’t sure whether to be excited or not. It was the type of letter that often times made human beings leap for joy, or scream or do a happy dance. It was the type that usually made the recipient call a friend or family member and share the good news. But Jamie held that off-white paper in his hands, not knowing how to react.

   J.B. Hamilton Investments had finally given him an offer and although it was not as much as they used to offer new analysts before the events of 2009, sixty thousand dollars a year was still a very good salary for a new graduate. The other good thing was that he was going to be working from their office in Elmtown which meant he and his mother could still live together rather than having two separate rental expenses. He had four weeks to accept their offer.

   He put it back in the envelope and placed it on the table. He grabbed his jacket from the bed and headed out. It was Thursday. Jazz night. He considered whether he should go ahead with accepting the offer already on the table or still try his hand out at a music career. He would still be open to what John had in mind but with the incident that happened the other day, it didn’t make sense to place his hopes in mere words. It would be strange to work with him now anyway, he thought.

   “Hey Mom, I’m off to the nightclub,” he said after finding her in the kitchen doing dishes.

“OK dear, did I get anything interesting in the mail?”

   “No, just your bank statement.”

   “Nothing exciting there for sure. See you later.”

   He felt a surge of guilt grabbing him as he walked out. She didn’t ask if I got anything interesting. She asked if
she
got anything interesting, he thought. Truly she didn’t but he knew he wasn’t telling the complete truth. The job offer was something she deserved to know about immediately. She had been waiting for that response for months so it wasn’t just about him. He decided he would think more about it so he could figure out what he was going to do. He also felt a need to rub minds with Jerome about something that night.

   The club was unusually packed, as though it was already Friday. Every single song they did was met with wild applause and loud whistles from the very tipsy audience. At the end of the show, Mr. Guerini came to show some appreciation and gave each of the band members an extra forty bucks for the night. It was a first. They guessed he was either in a good mood or they were just that good at the new version of jazz that they did.

   “OK that’s a new one,” Jerome said, finding space for his two twenty-dollar bills in his wallet.

   “Let’s do these songs again next week,” the drummer said.

   “Why? I already emailed you guys the songs we are doing next week,” Jamie said.

   “I dunno. Maybe there’s something about these songs he likes. If he gives us extra cash again next week, then we just keep doing the same songs every week.”

   They all laughed.

   “See you guys later,” Jerome said.

   “Hey man, wait, I need to talk to you.”

   Jamie hurriedly put away the microphone stand and then walked out of the club with Jerome.

   “Whats up man?”

   “I just wanted to tell you I got an offer from J.B. Hamilton.”

   “I told you it was going to come. I told you,” Jerome said excitedly and offered Jamie a fist bump then patted his shoulder. “So you’re coming with me to Allen City, right?”

   “Yes I am,” he sighed. “The job is in Elmtown but yes I think I’m still gonna move to Allen City.”

   “I don’t understand. If the job is here in Elmtown, why would you need to move to A.C.?”

   “‘Cause I’m thinking of not taking the offer.”

   Jerome looked at him as if he said the most profane, insane, vile thing anyone could ever say.

   “You are not taking the offer becaaaause?” Jerome gestured with his hands, waiting for Jamie to fill in the blanks.

   “Jerome you know what I’m thinking. Look at how those people in there responded to us tonight. We have something here we shouldn’t let go of. We could build a life around this thing,” Jamie said punching his palm for effect. “A while ago, I spoke about what we do at Chelsea’s place and her boyfriend was so impressed he wanted to sign me up to his father’s record label.” He rubbed his face then cautioned, “Although with everything happening now, that might not happen. But that’s beside the point. The point is we have something valuable.”

   “Wait wait wait. What are you talking about? Who is we?”

   “You and I could take this thing to the next level. See what Michael Buble is doing with big band? We can do the same with jazz. We’ll be working hard but doing what we love, enjoying ourselves and making money while doing it.”

   Jerome began walking away then he looked back. “Now I know you’re really crazy. Are you nuts? After everything you’ve been through with your mom? What did she say about this?”

   “I haven’t told her yet.”

   “Dude, stop this nonsense. You know jazz is like a living-dead genre. You are trying to sell horses in the era of cars and planes. Sure there are people who like horses but that doesn’t mean it will ever compete commercially with cars.”

   “We are not going to be selling horses. We will be selling cars built in the shape of horses.”  

“Jamie, this is a joke right?”

   “No it’s not. What we create is new and fresh. It’s just built on the foundation of jazz.”

   “So you’re telling me to call the HR woman at Preston’s and tell her I am no longer resuming in January? Because my friend thinks our future is in music and his best friend’s boyfriend has promised to sign him up? The one who asked him to stop hanging out with his girlfriend?”

   “I know it sounds crazy but yeah something like that.”

   A woman with a cat in her hands approached them asking for directions to the Friendly Pets Veterinary Clinic. Jamie waited as Jerome explained the directions to the woman, pointing towards the next left.

   “Jamie, don’t do this to yourself. I’m sure not going to let you do it to me but dude, don’t do this to yourself either. It’s a dark road that leads nowhere.”

   “But that’s the whole point of taking risks, you never know where they could lead. That’s the whole point of adventure. You think Mark Gregory would have done what he did with computers without taking risks?”

   “Adventure can kiss my behind. I’ve got bills to pay bro and so do you.”

   “We can’t go hungry. We’ll work part-time, deliver pizza, wash dishes, do whatever we need to do to eat and keep a roof over our heads. People do this all the time in places like Hollywood and Allen City.”

   “Do you know how much rent costs over there? You think it’s like Elmtown? My brother pays like two grand for a two bedroom with one small bathroom. Oh, you think he wants us to get a place together because he loves my face? No man, it’s hard out there. You gotta have a proper job to survive in the big cities.”

   “I’ve already considered all the risks and I still think we should do this.”

   “Will you stop using the word ‘we’? There’s no we in this. Get that crap outta your head. There’s you and there’s me. Get it?”

   “We started doing this together. I like the chemistry we have on stage.”

   “I’m sorry to disappoint you Jamie. You’re my friend but I just don’t share in your fantasy. I’m too practical.”

   Jamie sighed in surrender. “Alright then. I hear you. You know how to reach me if you change your mind.”

   “I won’t.”

   Jamie watched him drive away. He knew Jerome wasn’t going to change his mind. He was now certain if he had to do this, he would have to do this by himself. It was his choice, his path and his cross–he would carry it alone.

13

   “Mom, its a twenty-first birthday, not a royal wedding.”

   “Mmm, you wait until your wedding, this is nothing,” Teresa said as she settled down on one of the kitchen stools and opened her notebook/planner. She was going to throw Chelsea a mixed-generation twenty-first birthday bash.

   “Really, Mom we don’t need to spend this much. It’s all too elaborate for my liking,” Chelsea protested. Her birthday was on the twenty-sixth of October but the party was to be held on the thirtieth, a Saturday, at the Five Diamond Hotel.

   Chelsea poured some brownie mix into a silver cake tin, she read the instructions again and then mixed it with some eggs, water and oil placed it in the pre-heated oven. Cake mixes were lifesavers–she didn’t care much for baking things from scratch. Did it really make that much of a difference to justify all that stress?

   “Why can’t we do it here at home? We really don’t have to rent the hotel,” she continued.

   Teresa ignored her, she had already booked everything. “So I’ve ordered the cake from Maggie’s Cakes, drinks will be provided by Redstone Cocktails. I like the food at the Five Diamond but they are not so good with drinks. I was glad when the manager said they let you bring your drinks. OK, let’s see here…” Teresa ticked a few items off her list and added new ones as she remembered them. Her daughter’s twenty-first birthday had to be elaborate and grand, especially being the first party she was going to host since they came back home.

   “I’ve added the Hathaways, the Williams and the Smiths to the list. They all have children around your age so there’ll be a good mix of adults and youth. How many of your friends are coming from school?”

   “Just ten. I hope this dinner party you’re planning ends early enough.”

   “Why what’s the rush?”

   “I’m still going to go out with my friends that night. I’ll let you have your party but I’m still gonna have mine,” Chelsea said shaking her head. “According to our culture, I’m now an adult aren’t I? And that deserves some dancing.”

   “You mean drinking?”

   “No I meant dancing. Of course I’ll join them in having a drink or two but I don’t get that whole getting drunk situation because you are now twenty-one. So I’m supposed to prove my passage into adulthood by getting drunk and doing something stupid? Yeah that makes perfect sense. I’ve been drunk before and I hate how it makes me feel.”

   Teresa laughed.

   “I’ve never thought about it that way, anyway don’t worry the dinner will be done by 9:00 p.m. You can go dance the night out with your friends. By the way, there’ll be about fifteen family members too. Mostly your uncles and aunties from your father’s side of the family.”

   “You’re inviting people I haven’t even spoken to in years?”

   “Look darling, both your grandmothers are Italian so you should get used to this big-family-big-party stuff.” She gestured with her hand.

   “I prefer my parties small. I was born in Elmtown, not Milan.”

   “Well God help you. You know John’s father is from a really big family too. I don’t know how you’re going to pull off a small wedding.”

   Chelsea’s face furrowed and she frowned. “Where did that come from?” she asked. “We are not even there yet. You can’t be talking about weddings just yet Mom. Relax. That’s like talking to a five-year-old about SAT scores. I hope this party quenches your thirst ‘cause I’m not getting married to anybody anytime soon.”

   Teresa shrugged. “Things have really changed these days. We used to get married in our early twenties. Anyway, what are you both waiting for? You’re perfect for each other. There’s nothing wrong with getting married in the next year or two. You are both old enough and you’ll both be done with graduate school.”

   Maybe that’s why you and Dad were hardly happy, you didn’t get to know each other,
Chelsea thought
.
“These things take time Mom. We’ve only been dating for six months now. There’s a long way to go and I’d rather bide my time and do it right. Besides, I have a whole career to build and so does John. I don’t think I’ll start thinking about marriage until I’m at least twenty-six or twenty-seven so trust me, there’s a loooong way to go.”

   “That’s nonsense. I already found a local designer for your wedding dress. Anyway that’s a topic for another day.”

   “You’re kidding right?” Chelsea asked, pouring some orange juice into a glass. “Your eagerness to see me get married as soon as possible sometimes makes me wonder, maybe you’re trying to get rid of me. I can just move out if that’s the problem.”

   “I was the one who suggested that you stay home for graduate school remember? How could I be trying to get rid of you?”

   “So why the sudden change? As soon as I started dating John, all you started talking about was marriage this, wedding that. You never used to talk about marriage until he came along.” She paused then, making funny faces at her mother said, “I guess anybody would be eager to have an elite family as in-laws.”

   “You don’t have to think so low of me,” Teresa said, not denying the fact. Who wouldn’t want to be in-laws with the Stanleys, she thought. We could even have the wedding at their place at the Hamptons.

   “Just wait for me to find out if John is the one and if he is, that doesn’t mean I’d get married to him straight away. It’s a big step and I’m not going to rush into it, not for you or an angel from heaven. Don’t worry you’ll be the first to get the memo once I get to that stage.”

   “Whatever makes you happy. Moving on, so we have fifty-three guests all together now. I’ll check if I have missed anyone. Check your brownies young lady.”

   Chelsea removed the brownies from the oven and left them out to cool. Then she made two cups of tea. The chill autumn wind had started racing through the streets in the evenings. Oddly, she always drank tea in the fall and then coffee in the winter.

   Suddenly her mother’s words made Chelsea remember she hadn’t invited Jamie yet. They hadn’t talked for about a month. It seemed like he was avoiding her and she couldn’t blame him. She didn’t mean to alienate him completely. She was just trying to be a good girlfriend to John, trying to show that she was willing to make sacrifices for the sake of their relationship. She didn’t want to end up like her parents whose relationship didn’t have many compromises on either side.

   Wasn’t that the right thing to do? She calculated that Jamie must have taken it wrong.
Not even a text, email, or facebook message–I didn’t mean we couldn’t talk at all, she thought. In any case, there was no way she was going to have a party without him.

   She sent him a text an hour later and added him and his mother to the guest list. As she waited for his reply she wondered what John meant by “I don’t like how he looks at you.” She wondered if John was right, if Jamie looked at her in a way that suggested he felt something for her. She was surprised when she realized the thought of Jamie having feelings for her made her smile. OK, why am I smiling like an idiot, we are just friends
,
she thought.

   She still couldn’t stop smiling. This doesn’t make sense.
She tried to remember how she felt anytime she was with Jamie and realized that she not only felt good but she wanted their time together to linger and often looked forward to when next she could be with him.

   Later that evening, John came over to hang out with her. They sat in the living room watching his favorite movie,
The Dark Knight
, and sharing a heap of tortilla chips with homemade salsa. They usually just watched what he liked because he didn’t like romantic comedies, horror flicks, or foreign dramas, which were her and Jamie’s favorite genres. Chelsea always ignored the fact that they never watched something she chose but deep inside, it hurt just a little bit. It wasn’t a big deal, she reasoned.

   He sat at the far end of the couch, opening his legs so she could sit between them. She reclined into him, her head on his chest, as he held the remote control and he stroked her hair. In her thoughts she scolded herself for thinking about Jamie instead of focusing on the movie.

***

   Jamie was certain he kept his corduroy jacket in his suitcase when they moved. Although he hadn’t seen it since then, he could swear that he did. He brought out everything inside the suitcase and dumped it on the bed, checking carefully through it but he couldn’t find the jacket. It was nowhere in his room. It was the day of Chelsea’s party and that jacket was the only thing he had that could give him something close to a formal look. He didn’t have a black suit or bow tie like the email invitation stated but at least the jacket would look much better than just wearing his sky blue shirt and jeans. He figured he should have managed to buy another twenty-dollar jacket at that thrift store the other day. Frustrated, he went to Helen.

   “Mom have you seen my blue corduroy jacket anywhere, by any chance? I can’t seem to find it and I really need it for tonight,” he said looking concerned.

   He replied to Chelsea’s text message the other day confirming that he would be there but said nothing else after that. Things seemed a bit cold between them. It wasn’t even like they had a fight or anything but not communicating created a sort of barrier between them. The invitation even came as a surprise to him and though his first reaction was to say no, he found his reply mirroring his heart more than his head.

   He attempted to convince himself that his desire to look his best was just for himself and not because he was going to see Chelsea.

   “Check in one of my suitcases, I think I saw it there.”

   Then it all came back to him. He kept the jacket in his mom’s second suitcase because his suitcase was really small and was already full. He didn’t want to let go of that little suitcase that had always been a companion all those years–those years when they moved from one house to the other, one shelter to the other and one town to the other. It was the only thing that symbolised consistency in his life, that gave him some kind of balance. Life may take away other things, his father, his happiness, but he always had that blue suitcase.

   “Found it. Thanks,” he said after discovering the jacket. It was all rumpled so he quickly ironed it on his bed and went into the bathroom.

   He tucked his shirt into his jeans, buckled his belt, wore the jacket and stood in front of the bathroom mirror. Who was he deceiving? he wondered. He wanted to look good because of Chelsea.

   Jamie knew John would be at the party and it could be awkward but he didn’t care, that was John’s problem and not his. He had more important things to worry about.

   He thought about how he should tell Helen about the job offer right away or maybe when they got back. It had been many days and she still wasn’t aware of it. She would have to know sooner or later so why not get it over with? he asked himself. I know what she’s going to think. She’ll think I’m being completely stupid. Jamie was not someone who was swayed by the opinion of the majority but he valued his mother’s opinion. It was harder to go against what she thought about something because most of his life, she was right about many things.

   He told himself he wasn’t going to hide things from his mother anymore. You don’t hide important things from people you love
,
he reasoned. Not the way he had hidden his dirty little secret from her for five years all because of the same fear of being judged. He decided he wasn’t going to do that anymore. He needed to be a more open person now.

   They met a couple and their daughter at the front desk of the hotel asking for directions to the conference room where the party was being held.

   “Hello I’m Rachel, this is my husband Richard and our daughter Ricci.” Richard. Ricci. Rachael. After Helen threw him a squint, Jamie quickly killed the grin that tempted to emerge on his face. It seemed like they had a thing for names that started with r’s, not that it was bad but it just sounded funny to him.

   “I’m Jamie, a friend of Chelsea’s. This is my mom, Helen.”

   “Hello,” Helen said.

   They all walked together towards the elevator as the rest of the r-name family said their hellos. They went all the way to the fifth floor.

   The restaurant’s private dining room had been rearranged to have a pink and black twenty-first birthday theme. It had a bar on the right side, chandeliers and a dance floor that was made of marble.

   People were standing in different clusters around the bar with drinks in hand, some walked around and a few people sat down talking. Although everyone was dressed formally in their suits and exquisite dinner dresses, the atmosphere had a cool, calm casualness to it.

   Jamie handed over their IDs to one of the waiters who led them to their seats and informed them they could go ahead and get drinks at the bar. A couple of ladies in uniform walked around with trays filled with all kinds of hors d'oeuvres
,
the main food was going to be served in half an hour.

   “Hey look Father Joseph is here,” Helen said to Jamie. “Quite a number of people from St. Peter’s actually. I’m gonna go say hi. Do you wanna come with me to the bar?”

   “No I’m good Mom, you go ahead. I’ll come later,” Jamie replied looking around, his eyes trying to find Chelsea. His heartbeat increased a little bit and he felt his palm getting a little sweaty. Then he saw John standing near the bar in his black tux with three older men chatting. He looked to the far left and still didn’t see her.