The Sugar Queen (20 page)

"Check your cell-phone messages!"

Josey went to her purse on the lounge chair. She pulled out the cell phone. There was one message. She retrieved it and put the phone to her ear, staring at Della Lee in the closet while she listened.

"Hi, Josey, it's Chloe." Pause. "I really wish I could talk to you. Um, I'm at Julian's house right now. I know I told you I wasn't going to see him again. I didn't mean to lie. Out of the blue, he came to see me today. He took me to see the woman Jake slept with. I'm not sure why I thought it would make me feel better. It made me feel worse, because I know now why he wouldn't tell me and it really was for a good reason." Another pause. "I saw Jake earlier this week. I don't think I told you. He found out I was buying the house. I wanted to tell him that I wanted him there with me, but then his father came up to us, and I got a bad feeling that he was telling Jake to move on. I miss him, Josey. I'm not supposed to, because he hurt me. But I do." Chloe took a deep breath. "Anyway, I'm here with Julian. He's in the next room pouring drinks. He's not all bad, you know. I know you think he is, but he's not. I . . . kind of like him. Not in the way I like Jake, but he doesn't have to be Jake. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Josey slowly lowered the phone.

"Go," Della Lee said frantically.

"Come with me."

"Go!"

Josey turned and ran out of the room.

She got in her car and raced down the street, forgetting to turn on her headlights until she was at the bottom of the hill and a car coming in the opposite direction flashed its high beams to tell her she was driving dark.

She made it to Della Lee's house in under fifteen minutes. Chloe's car was there and Josey pulled to a stop behind the Beetle at the curb. The lights were on in the living room and music was pounding from the house. She could almost see the house throb with the force of each bass note. It was a wonder the neighbors hadn't called the cops. Josey got out and ran up the walkway, then up the stairs, shivering in her light sweater and skirt because she hadn't stopped to grab a coat when she left the house.

She went to the living-room windows and looked in, trying to make out images through the thin curtains. There was no movement inside.

She went to the door and opened the screen. The door was locked, so she knocked. When that didn't get a response, she began pounding on the door and calling out Chloe's name until her fist hurt and her voice turned raspy.

Chloe was a grown woman. If this was anyone else but Julian, Josey wouldn't be doing this. But if Della Lee and all her rough ways couldn't handle Julian, Chloe didn't have a chance. She had no idea what she was getting herself into. Not every man was like Jake. Not every man was sorry when he hurt a woman.

She went back down the steps and picked her way around the house, scratching her legs on the thorns of a dead rosebush and falling once in the darkness. She managed to find the back door off the kitchen, but it was locked too.

The only thing besides her keys that Josey had taken with her was the cell phone she still had clutched in her hand when she ran out. She went back to her car and got in, her teeth chattering. She fished the phone out from under the seat where it had fallen, and she fumbled with the buttons. She called 911.

"This is Marcie Jackson and my neighbor won't turn down his music," she said, exaggerating her accent. "It's so loud that it's shaking my windows and it woke up the baby. The whole neighborhood is complaining. He's a nuisance."

She gave the address and they promised to send someone out. Josey hung up and stared at the house. She leaned forward when she suddenly caught some movement coming from inside. A shadow moved by the curtains.

Josey got out of the car again. She was at the bottom of the porch steps when she heard the tumble of the deadbolt, and then the door flung open. The music from inside rushed out like smoke, louder than ever.

Chloe appeared, her shirt half off and her lipstick smeared. She was carrying her coat and purse. Her words were muted by the music. It sounded something like "I thought I could."

Josey started up the steps.

Chloe was just pushing open the screen door when Julian came up behind her and put his arms around her in an embrace, causing her to drop her coat and purse. "Come on, baby," he said, talking loudly over the music. He sounded drunk. "Don't make me do it like this. It'll be good. I can make everything okay. I'm magic that way. You'll see."

"Let me go, please," Chloe said weakly, like she didn't understand what was happening, like she needed a good, deep breath of air. Julian turned and pushed her into the living room. He tried to close the door, but Chloe's purse and coat prevented him from doing so. He knelt to move them out of the way, and when he looked up, Josey was there.

"I'll be a fucking monkey's uncle," he said, slowly straightening. "The thief returns." He was wearing boots and unbuttoned jeans, but nothing else. The smooth tan skin of his bare chest almost crackled with electricity.

Josey opened the screen door and called into the house, "Chloe? Chloe, come on."

"Josey? Is that you?" Chloe came running up to the door. Julian blocked her way, his hands gripping the door casing, regarding Josey with a leer.

"Let her go," Josey said.

Chloe started pulling at Julian's arms from behind. "Julian, please. I told you I was sorry. I just can't do this."

"I had three hundred dollars in that wallet," he said to Josey, his voice a seductive hiss. "How about the money in exchange for Chloe? Will you give me more if she's un- fucked?" He tried to close the door in Josey's face, but Chloe's coat and purse were still there.

Josey caught the door and pushed against it as hard as she could. He pushed back for a few seconds, then he quickly stepped away, sending Josey flying into the house.

Julian kicked Chloe's things out of the doorway and started to close the door. Josey took Chloe's hand and was about to run to the bedroom at the end of the hall. She prayed the door had a lock, and that they could get to it before Julian got to them. The police would surely be here soon.

But then Julian's long hair suddenly flew behind him, off his shoulders, like a sharp wind had blown through the door. He staggered back toward the kitchen at the other end of the living room.

"What the fuck?" he said, when the wind blew at him again, sending him falling through the swinging kitchen door.

Josey saw the clear path and darted for the front door with Chloe. She had no idea what was going on until she heard Julian say, "Della Lee, is that you?" Josey grabbed Chloe's coat and purse and ran out just as they heard one crash, then another, like dishes being thrown, broken. "Get away from me, bitch!" Julian yelled.

How on earth did Della Lee get here? She must have come in through the back door.

She rushed Chloe to the Cadillac and got her into the passenger seat. She saw the police cruiser at the four-way stop down the street. Thank God. She ran to the other side of the car and got in, pulling away from the curb as the cruiser turned down the street. She didn't want Chloe to have to explain what she was doing there. In her rearview mirror, she saw the cruiser come to a stop in front of Della Lee's house. Two patrolmen got out.

She parked at the end of the road and watched as they walked up the steps and banged on the screen door.

Chloe was shakily adjusting her clothing. She tugged on her coat and sat shivering in the seat.

"Are you all right?" Josey asked her.

Chloe nodded and pulled her knees to her chest.

Josey caught some movement and looked back at the house. Julian had shot out of the door. One of the patrolmen caught him by the arm and Julian struggled against him, swinging his fist and catching the patrolman across the jaw. The other patrolman tackled Julian on the porch and together they cuffed him.

"Chloe, stay here. I'll be right back." Josey left the car running and the heater on high, then got out. Neighbors had come out of their homes, and a few were on the sidewalk in front of Della Lee's house. Josey walked up behind them.

Julian was yelling, "Get her out of my house! She's crazy! The woman is crazy!"

One of the patrolmen entered the house, and a few seconds later the loud music that was holding the neighborhood hostage stopped. The patrolman came back out shaking his head.

"She's in there! I swear to God,
someone
is in there! She threw plates at me!"

Josey backed away from the crowd, then jogged back to the car. Della Lee had left. Josey didn't want to imagine how she got there, or how she was going to get back. The words
grand theft auto
crossed her mind.

Chloe was leaning her head against the passenger-side window when Josey got in. "I'm going to take you home now, okay?"

Chloe nodded.

Chloe stared out
of the passenger-s ide window. Every muscle in her body was tight, and her stomach was churning. If she didn't move, if she kept her teeth clenched, maybe she wouldn't get sick. She bolted out of the car and raced ahead of Josey right after Josey parked in the lot beside the old fire- house. She knew Josey was following her, so she left the apartment door open and ran to the bathroom. She went to her knees in front of the commode and started to retch.

She stayed there on the cool tile floor for about ten minutes, her eyes closed, images of the evening swimming through her head. Desperation. Despite everything, this evening was still about desperation. She'd been desperate with Jake. She was desperate without him.

When would it ever stop?

Suddenly she knew she wasn't alone anymore. She'd left the bathroom door open, so she assumed it was Josey. She shakily made her way to her feet and turned to the door, but no one was there.

Her eyes went to the floor and there, in the doorway, was a stack of books. The book on the bottom was
Finding
Forgiveness,
the old warhorse. Even though books hated the bathroom,
Finding Forgiveness
was halfway across the threshold, as if carrying the other books toward her.

"You're going to get wet," she said as she walked to the sink. She turned on the faucet and splashed her face, then washed her mouth out. She dried her face and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. When she turned to leave, the books were still there, a little farther in, tiny droplets of water from the sink on the tile all around them.

She picked them up—
Finding Forgiveness; Old Love,
New Direction; A Girl's Guide to Keeping Her Guy; Madame
Bovary;
and
The Complete Homeowner's Guide.
She carried them into the bedroom and set them on the nightstand. She stared at the stack, the syllabus of her life for the past month, a map of what she'd been through. Then she couldn't look anymore and turned away.

After changing into sweats, she walked back into the living room. Josey was pacing, but stopped when Chloe appeared. "Are you okay?"

She was grateful for Josey, for her friendship. It had come at the best, the worst and the most unexpected time in her life. "I don't know. I don't know anything anymore. How did you know where Julian lived?"

Josey hesitated. "It's a long story. Did he hurt you?"

"No." Chloe went to the couch and sat, tucking her legs under her and grabbing a pillow to hug. "But I knew what he wanted. I've known that all along."

Josey came to sit beside her.

"I thought I could do it," Chloe said. "It wouldn't have been cheating. Jake and I aren't together. We're so not together I'm buying a house by myself. But I couldn't do it. I love Jake too much. Why didn't Jake love me enough not to do it?"

"It wasn't because I didn't love you enough, Clo," Jake said from the doorway. Josey and Chloe both turned, startled. Jake was standing there, his hair disheveled, his coat buttoned wrong. Adam was to his right, behind him in the hallway. "I love you more than my own life."

Chloe looked at Josey.

"I called Adam while you were in the bathroom," Josey said as she stood. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do. But I didn't ask him to come over, I swear."

Jake entered the room and Adam followed, reaching around Jake to take Josey's hand. "Come on," Adam said. "Let's go."

"No," Josey said, trying to shake him off.

"It's okay, Josey," Chloe said.

"I can stay."

"No." This needed to be done. "It's okay. Really."

Chloe watched Adam lead Josey toward the door. She could tell Josey was not happy with him. As soon as the door closed, Jake knelt in front of the couch where she was sitting and said, "Chloe, look at me."

She met his eyes. Those magnetic light green eyes.

"It was Eve Beasley," he said.

"I know."

Jake looked poleaxed. "You do? Who told you?"

"It doesn't matter."

"I didn't mean for it to happen. Neither did she. We instantly regretted it, and we haven't seen each other since. I don't blame it on the case.
I
am to blame. I know that. And if I could take it back, I would. I'm so sorry." He tried to take her hands, but she hid them behind the pillow she was holding. "I miss you, Chloe."

"What about your family? Your father said to stay away from me, and your mother brought me a parting gift." She jerked her chin toward the Christmas basket on the coffee table.

"My dad wanted me to stay away from you until you were ready. He didn't want me to push you. He wants you in our family. My mom brought the basket because she wants to be in your life, whether or not it's through me. It's their insane way of saying they love you." Jake shook his head. "We're parts of a crazy whole, Chloe. But we don't make sense without you.
I
don't make sense."

There was a clapping sound and a book that was sitting on the arm of the couch fell to the floor beside them.
Finding
Forgiveness.
Chloe pinched her lips together, tears coming to her eyes as she stared at the book.

Paper, string and glue.

Separately, they were just objects waiting for a purpose. Together, they were parts of a whole. Something significant, something solid.