Chapter 19 Memphis City Blues
Memphis City Blues
Jamie
Casey Gallagher: Don’t be alarmed, but Dad had a (minor?) accident. Was in the ER, but he’s home now. I was thinking if you have time this weekend, you could drive out to see him? I know he’d like that.
Jamie hated having a phone. If it weren’t for Jack, he wouldn’t; and if it weren’t for Jack, he wouldn’t be predisposed to noticing every instance of it buzzing, chiming, or ringing, no matter when or how far away.
And he wouldn’t be staring at a text from his brother, guilting him out of his cozy spot in bed, just beside, or rather, underneath, Eve.
He didn’t want to move. Hell, after the night they’d just had, he wasn’t sure that he could move.
But he’d had every intention of basking in the afterglow of their time together.
He’d already imagined morning sex and coffee, in no particular order, and the nonpareil bliss of lying in bed naked all day.
But alas, duty as the elder brother, and the one who stayed close to home, was calling, and he would never be able to justify hanging around doing nothing when his father had been in the emergency room.
He was at that precarious age when concerns about parents and kids converged, and he seemed to exist in a constant state of latent distress.
Seeing his dad in the flesh would relieve some of that, at least.
He whispered Eve’s name and gently ran his fingertips along her back in an effort to stir her, only reminding him how soft her skin was. She was warm to the touch and barely twitched in response. “Evie…”
She woke up with a groan. “What are you doing, man? The sun isn’t even up yet.”
“I know.” His sigh was full of regret as he continued to coax her awake. “But I gotta go.”
That got her up. Even if she was glaring at him. “You ‘gotta go’ where?”
He smiled at the demand in her voice, making it clear that for once, she really didn’t want him to leave.
“Come here.” He reached out to pull her back into his arms, hoping to reassure her that he wasn’t taking off because he wanted to.
“My brother just texted to let me know our dad had an accident. He’s okay,” he added when he felt her concern give way to tension in her back. “But I really should go see him.”
“Oh.” She sounded disappointed, but she nodded anyway. “Of course.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize.” She turned her head in his direction. “Unless you’re lying.”
Jamie laughed before kissing her cheek. “I’m not.”
“So the sex wasn’t bad and you’re not running away because you don’t know how to tell me?”
Jamie couldn’t even fathom the idea that the sex was bad.
It was transcendent. It was taking every ounce of his own resolve not to ask for another round now that she was awake.
“I’m not gonna dignify that with a response.
” He did plant another series of kisses along the crook of her neck as she giggled, and the sound of her laugh was somehow just as arousing as her naked body.
They’d just started doing…this, and already, he was going to miss it.
“Do you have a little more time for me before you go?” Eve asked.
He’d never seen her so demure before. Sex really brought out the tender side of this woman who’d done her best to hide her soft spots.
“A little,” he rationalized between kisses, figuring another hour wouldn’t change much about his four-hundred-mile drive to Memphis.
“Any chance you can come back before Friday this week? Just to make up for our lost time?”
“Or maybe you can come with me,” he said, pausing his kisses.
He was always painfully aware of their limited time together, and it seemed that she was, too, but still, he was wary of asking for too much.
And inviting her along to meet his dad was exactly the opposite, but after the last night and the way his feelings had ballooned into something much more serious than a situation, he had to try.
“It’s not because I want you to meet my dad, but…
because weekends are all we have, and I don’t wanna lose this one…
” His words trailed into silence as she contorted out of his embrace.
“You want me to come home with you? Right now?” She pulled the sheets up around her body as she shifted to the edge of the bed. “Jamie…”
If this was her reaction to a simple road trip, he could only imagine how she would react whenever he wanted her to meet Jack. “Not if you don’t want to, Eve. It was just a suggestion.”
She nodded, but it was clear that the curtain around her had somehow gone back up in a matter of seconds. Just when he’d managed to get it down.
“I don’t think I’m ready for that,” she said. “But I hope everything’s okay. With your dad.”
Jamie had nothing substantive to say, his euphoria replaced with diffidence. He offered a half-hearted smile and nod, but he, too, hoped everything was okay.
With Eve.
—
Half past 2:00 p.m., Jamie arrived in Collierville, the little Memphis suburb where he grew up.
His dad’s place was a typical middle-class Tennessee home, nothing particularly special about it, other than the childhood memories it evoked.
Jamie’s upbringing reflected the conventional nuclear family: two parents, two kids, and a dog, complete with a picket fence.
Until their mother, the human wrecking ball, sent it all crashing down.
He was nearly finished with high school when he learned of his mom’s affair, but Casey was barely an adolescent, and Jamie felt particularly affronted on his behalf.
He carried that betrayal as his own personal baggage, so of course he ended up with someone who did the same.
The cliché of it all only added insult to the injuries.
Jamie let himself into the house, not wanting to disturb his quasi-incapacitated father, and instantly detected the sound of laughter emanating from the living room.
He smiled at the sound until he recognized the culprit: Diane Gallagher, speak of the devil, sitting just beside his father, a lit cigarette propped between her manicured fingers, the red nail polish and her square face giving him shades of a Disney villain.
She grinned as their eyes met and put out her smoke. “Jamie. Hello.”
He was suddenly gripping his keys tighter, the ridges practically threatening to draw blood. “I didn’t realize you were here,” he said flatly.
“I’m the one who suggested Casey text you,” she said.
She stood from the couch, looking more like a housewife now than she ever did, dressed in a silky blouse and cropped pants; her curly hair was fully gray now and chin length.
She looked elegant, and the falsity of it all made Jamie recoil when she approached.
“Dad, what happened?” he asked, brushing past his mother to examine his father. His dad had an ugly bruise above his left cheek, morphing into something like a black eye. His pale face was splotchy all around, Jamie noticed, as he touched the stitched lacerations along his forehead. “Jesus.”
Sam sighed at the contact. “It’s nothin’, kid. Just missed a step.” Jamie knew Sam hated to be fussed over, but Jamie couldn’t help himself. His dad was relatively fit for his age, yet suddenly, he looked frail. “I’m fine. Embarrassed more than anything.”
Jamie caught sight of his newly chipped tooth, one of the upper incisors missing a small chunk. “You said it wasn’t bad,” he said, scrutinizing his other teeth for further damage. “That looks pretty fuckin’ bad.”
“It looks worse than it feels.”
“It was a little spill,” Diane said, gliding across the room to join his dad on the couch again.
“The doctor says he took it well. The dentist will be able to see him on Monday.” She flashed her own grin at Sam, nicotine stains and all, in a way that felt flirtatious, and Jamie felt vaguely sick to his stomach. “He’ll be good as new.”
“Where’s Jack?” his dad asked, seeming eager to switch subjects.
“He’s with his mother,” Jamie said, eyeing the two of them. “She has weekends.”
“I’m surprised she agreed to that,” Diane said.
“It was court ordered,” Jamie mumbled as he went to investigate the staircase. As if it were the culprit in his father’s fall, rather than time and lack of coordination catching up to him. “Dad, was it late when it happened? Or early in the morning?”
“It was the middle of the night, Jamie,” his mother said. “What does that matter?”
“Can he speak for himself?”
“Jamie…” His father’s blue eyes pleaded for his civility.
“Was she here when it happened?”
“I was.”
Jamie shook his head. “You two are unbelievable.” He wanted to turn and leave, but he didn’t drive six hours to see his dad just for his mother to run him off. “This is really what you want?”
Sam rubbed at his gray stubble the same way Jamie often did when he was ill at ease. “What do you want me to say, kid?”
“I want you to say that you remember how she treated you. Us. She couldn’t just leave like a normal person; she had to cheat on you for years .”
“And she’s apologized. She wasn’t happy.”
“Nobody is fucking happy,” Jamie shouted. He felt like a child, screaming into that void where parents think their children are too young and too dumb to listen to. “That’s not a reason to treat people like shit.”
“Jamie,” Diane cut in, “I was young. And selfish—”
“She’s gonna do the same thing again,” he said, leaping into her sentence. “And I know you know it. That’s why you kept it from me.” Jamie scoffed at his father’s lack of reply and rubbed his hand over his stress-riddled face. “I can’t believe I drove out here for this.”
“We kept it from you because you’re so goddamned judgmental,” his mother said. Her voice was even, but her stare wavered.
“Excuse me?”
“No one can make a mistake around you. You see flaws like a bull’s-eye, and it’s the only thing you focus on.”
Jamie scowled at her. “That’s not true. And how would you even know?”