31. Susie
31
SUSIE
I’ve seen Jasper act a lot of ways. When we were younger, he was angry, hurt, withdrawn, determined... and after he came back to town, he’s been rude, pushy, overbearing, and finally, understanding.
But I have never seen him act the way he started acting last night. It was downright scary. The way he stared at me. The weird questions he kept asking me, about a company called Sheffield Properties and a guy named Lucas Sheffield and Brooke and some guy named Lloyd Langley. He seems to think I should remember them. He got really agitated when I didn’t.
And I swear, I’ve never been to Manhattan. I don’t know why he kept asking me about different places in New York City.
After I graduated from high school, I went to LA and majored in theater. I tried, and failed, to make a career out of acting. I never went to the East Coast. He knows that. Why is he being so weird?
And then to top it off, he chose to sleep in my old bedroom, by himself, rather than be with me. I’d been aching for him, missing his touch, my headache completely gone. I made the first move. He said that he couldn’t take advantage of the situation and then ran off to my bedroom and shut the door.
What situation?
He’s been staring at me like I’m a stranger since the minute we woke up. He’s acting completely differently than the Jasper I’ve come to know and love.
The only bright spot in my morning is that we’re headed over to Dorian’s office to finally confront the little weasel and evict him from Jasper’s offices.
Of course, Dorian’s not going to want to go along with Jasper’s new plans to make some basic improvements on the downtown businesses and do rehab on the businesses that need it.
Yes, Jasper is going to be taking a huge loss after all the money he put into his plans so far, but he knows it’s the right thing to do.
Jasper doesn’t say a word to me as we walk to the old Victorian house that his company has rented. I’m starting to worry. Is he going to keep his promise and actually fire Dorian? I feel like I don’t know the man walking right next to me.
“There you are. Didn’t think you’d show.” Henry is standing in front of the building with Mr. Hardcastle, Mr. Vickers, and Serena, that famous author who’s come back to help run her grandparents’ hotel.
“Thanks for the show of faith,” Jasper says wryly. He gives me another one of his weird glances.
Then he looks at Serena, who nods at him. “We need to get this over with, with Dorian. For the story. We just have to keep going,” she says to him.
Yet another thing that’s making no sense. What story?
I shake my head in exasperation. “Serena, I need to talk to you.” Whatever is going on with Jasper seems to be happening to her too .
She looks at me, and she’s also got an odd, searching expression, like she’s looking for something and not finding it.
“Let’s deal with Dorian first, and then, yes, let’s talk,” she says to me.
I nod. That makes sense. I know it does. We’ve got to take care of this whole downtown situation once and for all, so we can get on with our lives.
But I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something really, really wrong here, something important, and I’m missing it somehow. What’s with the weird glances between Serena and Jasper? Why do they both look at me with such worry?
“Dorian’s in there with the investors,” Henry says. “They locked the door so we couldn’t get in.”
“Excuse the hell out of you,” Jasper says with annoyance. “What were you doing trying to stomp into my offices without me, anyway? You agreed to wait for me here.”
“And excuse me for having some issues trusting the man who wanted to destroy our entire town up until a few days ago.” Henry glowers at him.
Jasper shakes his head in exasperation and pulls out a bunch of keys from his jacket pocket. “Do I even have keys to this building? Of course I do.”
“Try the key that says office ,” Serena says dryly.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.” Jasper stomps up the steps and unlocks the door, and we all walk into the building.
It’s sparsely decorated, with old furniture in the foyer. There’s a worn Oriental rug and a plastic potted plant, and an old console table with chipped white paint.
Beyond the foyer, we can hear voices.
We hurry into a large sitting room where Dorian is standing with three men and one woman. They’re all wearing power suits, and they look very cheerful. These must be the investors. Obviously, Dorian hasn’t told them about the change of plans.
They all turn to look at us as we burst through the door. They were looking at architectural renderings that are displayed on the walls, showing Jasper’s former vision for downtown. I wince at the sight of the towering buildings that would have completely changed our small town’s character.
“There you are, sir.” Dorian’s smile is tight and nervous.
“Mr. Whitfield. So good to see you again.” A tall, silver-haired man walks forward and holds out his hand to Jasper.
Jasper shakes his head impatiently.
“I don’t understand why you’re all here. I have fired Dorian and cancelled the plans for renovating downtown. I told him that already. This project is over. Dead. Go home.”
“Oh, sir, you’re such a hilarious prankster!” Dorian’s smile is huge and crazed now, and his voice has gone shrill and panicked. He turns back to the investors. “He’s just joking. He always does that. Not everyone gets his sense of humor.”
“No, you’re really fired this time. It won’t work this time, Dorian,” Jasper glares at him.
This time? Jasper’s never tried to fire Dorian before, so what’s he talking about?
The investors are looking at each other in confusion and anger. “What are you talking about? We’ve already made our deposits,” an Asian man with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair says.
“What deposits?” Jasper demands. “What deposits, Dorian?”
Dorian’s eyes are wide and panicked, and he’s sidling towards a doorway on the opposite side of the room.
“We made the deposits you requested,” the silver-haired guy says to Jasper, his face flushing angrily.
“I didn’t request any deposits.”
“Yes, you did. Dorian told us you did. We had to make deposits to reserve our place in this project. He showed us paperwork with your signature on it. ”
“We paid substantial amounts of money to invest in this project,” the woman protests.
The door on the opposite side of the room opens, and Carmel walks in. She stops dead in her tracks, looking at everybody. “Hello, Jasper. I didn’t know you’d be here today. Hello, Susie. What’s happening? Why does everyone look like that? I, uh, I’m guessing this isn’t a good time for muffins?”
Dorian bolts past her, shoving her out of the way, and runs out of the room.
“Hey!” Carmel yelps indignantly.
“Should we go after him?” Henry asks.
Jasper shakes his head. “No, I’m going to go after him through the courts. I’ll call my lawyer to deal with this.” He turns to face the investors. “I need to see all the paperwork that you’ve signed. You can email it to me. Send it to my attention, not Dorian’s. Dorian must have forged my signature.”
“We’ll sue,” the woman snarls.
Jasper holds up his hands in a pacifying gesture. “I will repay you everything that you’ve paid to Dorian. I suspect he had you wire money to a private account of his.”
“Why would he do that, though? What was his endgame?” Mr. Vickers asks.
Jasper shakes his head wearily. “I don’t know at this point. He controls a lot of the company’s finances. Maybe he was going to drain as much money as he could from the company and then disappear when checks started bouncing. Of course, I cut him off yesterday after I fired him.”
His words are followed by a few minutes of angry complaining about their wasted time, and muttered threats, but finally, the investors stomp out, and Henry, Mr. Vickers, and Mr. Hardcastle leave too.
A huge sense of relief rolls over me. Jasper kept his word. Whatever weirdness is making him look at me like a stranger, at least he’s not a liar. Our town is saved. And so is Jasper. The hate that was brewing inside of him has dissipated, and he’s come to terms with his past and moved on.
Carmel looks around. “I’m so confused,” she says, looking at Jasper, her eyes wide. “What just happened? What am I doing? We don’t have a downtown project any more. What should I be working on?”
Jasper gives her a tight smile, even though worry lines are running along his forehead. “What I want you to do right now is to go to Velma’s and tell Theodore that you know about the muffins. Tell him that I told you everything. And ask him if he wants a partnership with you. Trust me, he’ll know what you’re talking about.”
“You know, I actually kind of think Theodore has the hots for you,” I chime in. “He’s been in a funk after a couple of family tragedies, including losing his wife, but there’s something about the way he looks at you...”
“Me?” Carmel gasps, clapping her hand to her chest. “Well, he is a very handsome man. He always acts so angry at me, though.”
“The timing just wasn’t right,” Jasper says. “It is now. I promise. Go talk to him.”
“Well, if you say so,” Carmel says doubtfully. She spins on her heel and heads out.
Now it’s just Serena, me, and Jasper, in the living room of an old mansion.
“How much you want to bet that Carmel and Theodore and Brenda and Miguel will have a double wedding?” I say cheerfully. “There’s a fancy sewing machine that Brenda wants, that sews through leather and canvas. I’m going to get that for her wedding present. Jasper, why are you looking at me like that? Seriously, you are freaking me the heck out.” I look at Serena. “What is wrong with you guys today?”
Jasper puts his hand on my shoulder. “If I... If I went to Manhattan, would you come with me?” he asks me .
“You’ve got this sudden obsession with Manhattan.” I shake my head in puzzlement. “I thought we agreed that we’d stay here and work on promoting the downtown and bringing in more tourists and just really commit ourselves to Green Acres. You’re going to open up a branch of your company here. You’re going to make your mark on this town in a positive way, not by bulldozing over it. Right?”
“Right.” He looks like he’s going to be sick.
“Brooke Langley,” Serena says sharply.
I look around, but there’s nobody but us in the room. “Who?”
“Serena, what do we do?” Jasper demands.
“I honestly don’t have a clue.” She looks at him in despair. “I’m out of ideas. I don’t know where to go from here.”
“We screwed up. We didn’t move fast enough, and now...” He looks at me again, and the expression on is face is pure heartbreak. He looks miserable. “I’m sorry. I know this affects you too,” he says to Serena.
“You two!” I yell at them. “You’re giving me another headache. I’m going home. I’m going to take it easy today, and we will be at the play tonight, and we will support my best friend from high school who is very nervous about her first lead role in a play, and you will be there for her and not make it weird. Do you understand me?”
I don’t even bother to look at them as I stomp off.
_ _ _ _
I can’t say that Jasper is looking or acting normal tonight, but at least he’s stopped babbling on about people I’ve never heard of.
The play is going beautifully. Nobody has flubbed a single line. They play their parts with passion and depth. The backdrops look amazing. I still am not sure how I remembered so much about set design—I was never into it before.
Jasper sits next to me, his hand on mine. He looks wretched, and I don’t understand it. Our friends are here, and Miguel is in the front row, beaming with pride and happiness. He’s sitting next to Christopher.
Serena’s sitting on the other side of me, and she looks like she’s attending a funeral, not a play.
All I can do is focus on my friends, so many people I know and love, bringing this ancient yet timeless play to life.
Jasper joked about Juliet’s age when we were at a picnic... something was different between us then...
A wave of dizziness rolls over me and I blink and shake my head. Taking deep, slow breaths, I focus my attention on the people on the stage.
When the play is over, the crew takes a bow, and they’re called back for an encore. The crowd jumps to their feet and we clap. I clap so hard my hands sting.
As the curtain falls for a final time, Jasper leaps to his feet and runs to the front of the theater.
“What are you doing?” I cry as he climbs onto the stage.
“Listen to me, everybody,” he calls out. “And Susie. Look at me. I know you think your name is Susie, but your real name is Brooke Langley and you live in Manhattan.”
My throat swells with fear.
Jasper has lost his mind.
“He’s right,” Serena says to me.
“You too? Why are you saying this? You know he’s wrong,” I say in despair. My head is starting to hurt again.
“Brooke Langley, your father is named Lloyd Langley and he has dementia and he’s living in a home. You miss him terribly.”
Tears fill my eyes and start running down my cheeks.
Why is he doing this to me ?
I’m crying for Lloyd Langley now. I’m crying for a man I’ve never met. A picture of an older man flashes through my mind, and he’s reading to a little girl, and I cry even harder.
“Brooke, you work for me at Sheffield Properties, but your dream is to do set design,” Jasper says, his voice booming through the room.
“No, it isn’t.” I can barely breathe. “I’m not an artist, I’m an actress.”
The audience is talking amongst themselves. “Big cities make you crazy,” Ruby says loudly, shooting me a look of pity.
Miguel leaps to his feet. “Jasper, I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but stop it. Get off that stage,” he calls out.
Jasper ignores him. “Brooke Langley. I have a confession to make. Those secret phone calls I’ve been making—I was calling my father. I was leaving him messages. I know he’ll never get my messages, but it was the only way for me to tell him what I’ve been thinking and feeling all this time. I told him how he makes me feel, and how sorry I am for disappointing him all the time, and how I wish I could have been a better son to him. When we get back to Manhattan, Brooke, there’s going to be a huge mess because we were missing for weeks, and I need you by my side to help me clean up. That’s what you do, Brooke. You make things better.”
My heart is pounding, and for some reason I can picture Jasper in a fancy Manhattan lobby with a chandelier and mirrored surfaces.
It feels so familiar, but I’ve never been there. He’s putting crazy thoughts in my head.
“Brooke, I’m not going to leave you here. I can’t live without you. Come back to me! Brooke, you know what I’m saying is true.”
“Stop it!” I shout. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!” My head is buzzing. Lloyd. Dad. I have to get home to dad.
My dad is dead .
My home is here.
My name is Susie.
Why is Jasper doing this to me? What have I done to make him hate me like this?
“Brooke, we’re going to go to Manhattan and I’m going to take you out to dinner for mac and cheese. We’re going home, Brooke, I swear we are. Don’t leave me, Brooke.”
Tears pour down my cheeks and splash on my chest.
I sob out loud.
“That does it,” Miguel snarls, and he leaps out of his seat. He lunges onto the stage and grabs Jasper.
Something in my purse is vibrating like an angry hive of bees.
“Keep going, Lucas, don’t stop,” Serena calls out. “We’re almost there.”
“Brooke Langley, I love you!” He shouts it at the top of his lungs. His voice echoes off the rafters. “I’ve always loved you. I think I loved you from the first minute you walked into my office. That’s why I’ve been running away from you so hard. Brooke, come back to me, please.”
I blink away tears and stare at Lucas in shock.
Did my boss, Lucas Sheffield, just tell me he loved me?
My purse feels warm now. No, hot.
The room flickers, fades, and turns black.