Twenty-One #3
“Don’t I know it.” He chuckled, looking back at the blueprints. “That’s why I suggested to Melissa that she meet me here for dinner. We’re going to the Chop House.”
I nodded.
He turned and looked at me. “Would you like to join us? Melissa was just saying to me a few weeks ago that she never gets to see her Jory anymore.”
I liked Melissa Cogan a lot. She was funny and smart and could talk to me about chili dogs and sports and four-star restaurants and the ballet all at the same time. “Not tonight. I feel like a drowned rat. But soon. I’ll give her a call.”
“Do that,” he urged me, patting my squishy shoulder before looking back at the blueprints.
“What is this?”
“Project Miles is working on. I didn’t feel like walking back and forth from my office to his, so I had the guys make me an oversized set and tack them up in here.”
“From what, a digital file?”
“No,” he scoffed. “Listen to this—those guys at Delmar Construction only had one hard copy, can you believe it? How do you have only one set of plans to turn over?” He rolled his eyes. “So I had Jill take pictures of the other set and put it up in here.”
Had Jill take pictures.
Take pictures.
I went cold.
“Hilarious, right?”
“I—yeah.” I barely got it out before I bolted down the hall to Miles Brown’s office, opened the door, and turned on the light.
There on his wall was the exact duplicate of what was in Sherman’s office, except the one I was looking at was in pieces and the other was in long sheets.
And I was an idiot, because it had been staring me right in the face the whole time.
“Jory?” Sherman called out to me. “Buddy? You all right?”
The answer was no. I had made the biggest mistake of my life.
The drive out to Glendale Heights gave me time to think and put things together and just breathe. When I was almost there, my phone rang, and I saw Sam’s name on the display.
“Hi,” I answered quickly, distractedly.
“Hi? This is all you have to say?”
“Sam, I really don’t—”
“So where is it you live now?” He cut me off sharply.
“Sam—”
“What? It’s a legitimate question. I haven’t seen you since Sunday morning. It’s Thursday night.”
“No, I know, but could we talk about this later, ’cause—”
“If you wanted to know, if you cared at all, I’m at Hooligans with Pat and Chaz.”
“Okay,” I said, trying to get him off the phone.
“Where are you?”
“I’m on my way to Glendale Heights.”
“For what?”
“To see Susan Reid.”
He scoffed.
“What’s funny?”
“That you think that you have clearance at eight o’clock at night to see someone under criminal psychiatric evaluation. You’re a goddamn riot.”
“Oh.” I was deflating. As usual, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.
“I’m curious, though—why would you need to see her, anyway?”
“It’s a long story, but I think maybe—”
“Look, I know we fought, but this ain’t the way to fix it. Ignoring me is not going to make anything go away, it’s just prolonging the big blowout.”
“Are we gonna have a big blowout?”
“Oh fuck yeah.”
“And then what?”
“Then what—what?”
“What happens after the blowout?”
“I dunno… God willing we’ll have hours of makeup sex and then go on.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Why?”
“No, I just thought… I don’t know what I thought.”
“You thought what? This was the end?”
“I dunno.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Jory, we’re not breaking up ever again.
We’re together, and that’s it. Wrap your brain around that, all right?
I mean, we’re gonna fight, we’re gonna disagree, that comes with being a couple.
But it doesn’t mean shit. I’m gonna hafta deal with your friends, and you’re stuck with mine.
It’s the way it’s gotta be. I was just telling Pat and Chaz, “that they don’t have to kiss your ass—”
“Sam.”
“Because that’s my job, after all,” he said, his voice deep and sexy.
“Sam.”
He chuckled. “But they better be good to you, or we’re done.”
“You did?” I husked, absolutely floored. “That’s what you told them?”
“Of course,” he snapped at me. “You’re it. You’re the man I love, so yeah, they gotta get on board.”
“I said the same thing to all mine,” I told him.
“Well, see, lookit us on the same page an’ all.”
I took a breath.
“And so yanno, Pat and Chaz, they like you just fine, they just weren’t sure how to bond with ya, so we’ll fish next weekend and see how it goes.”
I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly.
“Jory?”
“Pardon me?”
“Pardon you what?”
“What’d you say?”
“When?”
“About next weekend.”
“Oh, we’re gonna fish.”
“Fish?”
“Yes.”
“Like with a pole and stuff—all day sitting outside?”
“Yep.”
“Oh God,” I groaned.
“I’ll get you a cool hat.”
“No, no, no, that’s okay.”
He chuckled, and the sound rolled right through me. I missed him like crazy. “And for the record, I know your friends like me. I just need to get comfortable with them too. I’ll work on it, you’ll work on it, and we’ll go on.”
“Jesus, Sam, you’re such a grown-up.”
“Somebody has to be.”
I let it go. “I thought maybe you wanted out.”
“Never want out.”
“Okay.”
“I wanna be in.”
Already I knew where this was going. “Uh-huh.”
“Like inside you.”
“I got it.”
“When?”
“When what?”
“When do I get my makeup sex?”
“Was that the blowout? I thought you said it was gonna be big.”
“Fuck the blowout. I want you back in my bed tonight. Do you understand?”
“I understand.” I sighed. “After I talk to Susan Reid. I’ll just go out there and sit and wait. Maybe they’ll let me in. I’m cute and nonthreatening. It could work.”
“I cut you off earlier—tell me why you’re going there.”
“You’re gonna kill me.”
“Oh God, what?” he asked me, his voice lowering.
“I think I made a mistake.”
“How?”
“I think maybe Susan Reid is innocent.”
There was a silence.
“Sam?”
“Oh fuck that, Jory!” he erupted with a roar. “That’s bullshit! Can you please just kill the drama before it kills you? Why the need to create—”
“No, listen. The stuff in the apartment wasn’t up in pieces; it was up in sheets.”
“I have no idea what—”
“That’s what’s been bothering me all this time.
It was too neat, but I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
If you were gonna create a shrine to someone, why would you create it, then take a picture of it and print it out in long panels that covered a wall.
You wouldn’t—it would just be up wherever you started it. ”
He was quiet.
“Don’t you see, Sam? That’s why there was no furniture in that one room, that’s why it made no sense—it was staged.
I bet Campbell Haddock’s bedroom set went to charity or something.
It was so clean in there, I bet it was professionally done.
It was all set up to frame Susan. I have no idea why she’s letting it happen, why she’s not speaking, so I’m on my way to see her right now. ”
“Wait.” Sam stopped me, and his voice had changed.
He had slipped into his cop tone. “Turn around and go home. I’m serious when I tell you that it’s well past visiting hours and they won’t let you in to see her without cause, and definitely not without her lawyer.
It needs to be set up, so let me do that.
I’ll call everyone, and we’ll go in the morning. ”
“But—”
“Listen to me just this once, all right?”
And I didn’t want to do it alone, because what in the world was I even going to say?
“Okay. I’ll wait.”
“For once he listens,” he groaned.
“I’ll meet you at home,” I said, and then I thought of something. “Or if you want, I can come and join you and your friends at—”
“I’ll see you at home.”
“Thank you for listening to me and loving me even though I’m difficult.”
He made the familiar rumble that was just for me. “It’s not actually that hard.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, baby. You kill me.”
It was all I needed to hear.
After I took a long, hot shower, I called Dane before I started making dinner.
He wasn’t sure I knew what I was talking about, but to humor me he promised to call his lawyer and see about talking to his mother.
I told him I was sorry for being wrong, again, but as he wasn’t absolutely convinced that I was yet, he said he would hold off on accepting my apology.
If nothing else, he assured me, my heart had been in the right place.
I was in the kitchen making soup, having tossed together a salad, when there was a knock on the door. My hands were full, and it was open, so I called out the invitation to enter. I was surprised when Steven Warren, my next-door neighbor, poked his head in.
“Oh, hey.” I smiled at him. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I don’t know if you knew, but Lisa and I moved to Downers Grove.”
“No, I had no idea.” My life had been much too busy lately to even be aware of what was going on around me.
“Yeah, so since I didn’t really get a chance to say goodbye—seemed like you had a lot going on—I drove by tonight and saw your light on and figured I’d stop.”
“Great,” I said cheerfully, motioning him inside. “Come in, come in.” He closed the door behind him and stood there, looking nervous.
“Please, when you get settled, call me. I’d love to see the new place—bring a gift, see Lisa.”
He nodded. “Sure.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Oh, no.” He smiled quickly, putting up his hand. “I can’t stay. Lisa’s got dinner for me, I’m sure. I just wanted to say goodbye.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at him, wiping my hands on the dish towel before starting across the room to him. “I’ll miss you guys.”
“Me too.” He smiled at me, and it was a strange smile; bittersweet.
I walked into him, wrapping my arms around his waist as I rested my head on his shoulder. His sigh was deep, contented, and when I shifted to step back, he clutched me tight, his face buried in my shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just… There was always stuff I wanted to say that I never got a chance to.”
“Like what?”
He shook his head. “It’s too late.”
I smiled as his hands slipped down my back, sliding up under my T-shirt. I heard the door click open at the same time.
“Who the fuck are you?”