23.
J ANIS
“I swear I’m fine,” I insisted for at least the hundredth time in the past twenty-four hours.
Pop managed to calm my father down, probably by encouraging him to plan some sort of bloody retribution against what was left of the gang that kidnapped me, and I was eventually released from the hospital only to be taken to the police station for questioning. Corey stayed with me every minute, a calm and reassuring presence at my side through it all.
Unlike my father, who was much more verbal about things, the only way I knew that Corey was upset was by his tense posture and the fact that he couldn’t stop touching me. Throughout the time I spent at the police station, Corey was either holding my hand or had his hand resting on my leg or shoulder, as if he was afraid I’d float away if he let me go.
Once we were done at the station, he took me back to his house and made quick work of taking care of his chickens and then hovered over me until it was time for bed. Even then, our lovemaking was different - more intense somehow. I understood that he was trying to cope with the fact that I had been kidnapped and appreciated the fact that he cared so much for me.
But if I didn’t get some fucking space soon, I was going to explode and leave another trail of bodies in my wake.
“You’re gonna shut the fuck up and let me examine you like a good little patient.”
“Aw, Jewel. I didn’t know you cared.”
Jewel took a deep breath as she put her hands on my biceps in a firm grip. She took another breath in through her nose and slowly through her mouth before she finally said, “Word spread like wildfire that you were in danger, and I was very relieved to hear that you were okay.”
“Jewel, I’m fine.”
Her grip got even tighter before she ground out, “And you’re going to let me make sure of that, not just for my own piece of mind but because your father is so fucking beside himself that my father called me at six this morning to ask if I had any tranquilizers handy. He and Papa Smokey have determined the only way to keep Hank calm is to medicate him. Otherwise, it’s highly likely that he’s going to try to take out half of Rojo on the off chance that they had something to do with what happened to you.”
“Dad is not handling this well.”
“Since your diagnosis, he has spent every waking minute worrying about you. He and your mother have gone to the ends of the earth to find the best treatment options for your disease, only to nearly lose you to some wannabe gangsters with a vendetta against your goddamn boyfriend!” Jewel screamed.
The door flew open, and Jewel’s brother Terran burst into the room. I assumed it was to see what had upset his sister until he yanked me off the exam table in a crushing hug.
“She is the most maddening person on the planet,” Jewel complained.
Over Terran’s shoulder, I saw Emerald Hamilton, another of the elders that I had known my entire life, appear in the doorway.
She rushed in and put her hand on Terran’s shoulder before she murmured, “Let me talk to her before you squeeze all her stuffing out, okay?”
Terran backed up and stared at me with a frown for a few seconds before he stormed out of the room.
“Jewel, give us a minute,” Emerald ordered.
Jewel scowled and huffed before she stalked out of the exam room and slammed the door behind her.
“Thanks for the rescue, Em.”
Emerald, Jewel, and Terran were some of the oldest of our generation in our extended family, and we referred to them as the elders. They’d been our babysitters, protectors, and even tormentors throughout our lives. We looked up to them whether we wanted to admit it or not.
“Girl, you’ve caused quite a shitstorm.”
“It’s not like I planned this.”
“I get it. I do. But you’ve got to think about the gamut of emotions we went through, knowing that we could have lost you yesterday. All of us have watched you grow up, but Grunt’s kids have literally been beside you since the day you were born.”
That was true. Grunt, or Pop, as I called him, and his wife, my Gigi, were my parents’ best friends and had lived next door since before I was born. I spent just as much time in their house as I had my own, which meant that Spruce, Jewel, Terran, and Petra had helped raise me. From pictures and stories I’d heard throughout my life, Jewel and Petra had considered me their real-life baby doll come to life. That didn’t end when we grew up.
I wasn’t nearly as close to Emerald, although I’d known her my entire life too. I had sought her counsel many times to help me with the emotions my diagnosis had caused, not just because she had gone on to become a psychologist, but because I respected her and knew that she and I had a lot of common thoughts and ideas.
Any other mental health professional would have probably called me certifiable, but Emerald seemed to understand my thought process, which had been formed by the way I was raised and also by the trauma of my diagnosis that came at such a young age.
“I guess I’m not taking this as seriously as I should, but I’m really okay. I promise.”
“I heard you got kidnapped and stuffed in a trunk by some dastardly villains.”
“It wasn’t quite that dramatic, but yes. But then, I stuffed one of those villains into the trunk, plowed over three more with a massive boat of a car, and shot one who was aiming a gun at me.”
Emerald barked out a laugh before she said, “That’s fucking awesome, Jan.”
“I know, right?”
“I need to cover my bases professionally and mention that you might experience long-lasting mental health effects after the trauma you experienced yesterday. I’m here for you in any capacity that you might need to help you deal with those.”
“Okay. Consider the bases covered.”
“Now that we’ve got your mental health out of the way, let’s talk about everyone else’s.”
“Yeah, let’s do that. I swear if one more person hugs me, I’m gonna lose my shit. Help me figure out how to not do that.”
“I’m not sure that’s possible, but I can give you some things to try.”
◆◆◆
COREY
I took in the man riding the motorcycle beside me and saw that Hank was still wearing that grim expression he’d had since yesterday. When he appeared at my house this morning, he’d found me sitting on the porch wondering how in the hell I had managed to fall in love with the most infuriating woman on the planet when there were so many other normal women out there. I listened to him rant about how his daughter couldn’t seem to take anything seriously before he listened to me rave about how fucking crazy she was to go and open the bakery like it was a normal fucking day.
Like she hadn’t been kidnapped the day before or something.
I didn’t think it was too much to ask for her to take a day off, maybe even two. Janis scoffed at the idea.
But then I’d received a call from the hospital letting me know that my “uncle” was causing a ruckus, and they were worried that if they released him, he wouldn’t be able to care for himself until his injuries were healed.
Hank and I parked the motorcycles and then walked into the hospital together, a place I’d visited way too many times recently. We then took the elevator to the third floor to find my “uncle.”
Carl was laying in the bed with a cast on one arm and an IV in the other, his head wrapped in a mummy-like bandage, and his leg propped up on a pillow.
“Is she okay?” Carl asked. “I tried to get to her, but they stopped me.”
“You tried to help Janis?”
“Yeah, man. I was sitting at the end of the alley eating my dinner when those fuckers appeared out of nowhere. I knew they were going to hurt her, and I tried to stop them, but they overpowered me.”
“Holy shit,” Hank muttered.
“It took me a minute, but I managed to get into the bakery to use her phone so I could call for help. At first, the cops thought I was a burglar, but they finally listened to me and then hauled my ass up here.”
“Obviously, you needed medical attention.”
“Well, yeah, but now I want to leave, and they’re talking about putting me on a hold or some shit. I don’t like to be penned in, man. You said you’d pay me back for helping you out, but I need more than a bottle or two right about now.”
“You hired him to watch out for Janis?” Hank asked.
“Sort of. I asked him to hang out around the back when she’s there passing out food. I just wanted to make sure she was safe from someone trying to rob her. I had no idea that they’d followed me there and decided to hurt me through her.”
“Well, is she okay or not? Nobody around here will tell me shit.”
“She’s fine,” I assured him.
“I’m sure she’s shaken up,” Carl said sadly.
Hank tilted his head before he said, “I don’t know, Carl. I think she’s handling it all better than the rest of us.”
“Are they talking about keeping you on a psych hold or . . .”
“No, they want to put me in long-term care, whatever the fuck that means. I need you to spring me from this joint. Lie and say I’m coming to your house or something. Don’t let them keep me locked up in here.”
“You need a place to stay while you recover, Carl.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“If I find a place where you can be alone and come and go as you please, will you consider it?”
Carl leaned his head back and said, “Maybe. I haven’t been this clear-headed in a while. Even though I want a drink more than my next breath, it’s sort of nice to see the world around me without that haze over everything.”
“You want to quit drinking?” I asked.
“I’ve done it before, but after what happened yesterday, I think I want to try to make it stick this time. But I can’t do that in some hospital. There’s too much noise and too many goddamn people around at all hours of the day and night to get a decent minute’s rest. I need to get out of here and find a peaceful place in the shade where I can gather my thoughts.”
“Let me make a call and see what I can do.” I motioned toward Hank before I said, “This is the bakery lady’s father. I’m sure he can entertain you for a minute.”
“She’s a sweetheart,” Carl said with a smile aimed at Hank.
“I’m kind of fond of her myself,” Hank said with a matching smile.
◆◆◆
“Let’s talk while we wait on Zoey and your brother to get here with Carl,” Hank suggested as he sat on the porch steps of the tiny house that would be Carl’s for the foreseeable future.
When Carl said that he knew he needed help but wasn’t willing to give up his independence, I had an idea that I wasn’t sure about, but decided to try anyway. I called my brother and explained how Carl had gotten injured and told him he needed help and a place to stay. I told him what I knew about the man - that he was a veteran who was in the throes of alcohol addiction and most likely needed some counseling for his mental health, which was something I knew I could talk to Zoey and my brother about. They had access to excellent resources that could prove useful.
Garvey said he needed to talk to Zoey, and within half an hour, they appeared at the hospital and explained our idea to Carl, who was very receptive and also very grateful.
Zoey and Garvey were good-hearted people who had made it their life’s work to help those in need. They not only offered him a place to stay - one of the homes that had been built on the property where Zoey was opening her flower business to help support and provide for women who were rebuilding their lives after incarceration, but they also gave him a job as on-site security with the stipulation that he maintain his sobriety.
Carl was eager to accept their offer. I knew that it was going to be a long road for him, especially since he was just now starting to feel the effects of withdrawal from the alcohol that had ruled his life for so many years.
Our friends Spruce and Jewel Parker, both doctors here in town, had arrived soon after and listed themselves as Carl’s physicians on record with the hospital staff. They assured Carl that they’d be with him every step of the way, and when we left Carl with Zoey and Garvey so they could transport him to his new home, the glimmer of hope in his eyes was enough to make tears well in my own.
“I’m not sure where to start,” I admitted.
“Tell me what’s going through your head right now,” Hank suggested.
“She’s acting like there’s nothing wrong, and it’s making me crazy. When we got back to my house last night, she was flitting around like it was an average day. Then she woke up at her usual time this morning and went off to work as if hadn’t been life-changing!” I complained.
“She’ll break sooner or later. When that happens . . .”
I interrupted Hank and said, “I’ll be there to hold her together until she’s able to work through it.”
“I’ve been wondering about what’s going on with you two, but I think that answers my question.”
I managed to resist the urge to move farther away from Hank before I said, “I’m in love with her. I slipped up and told her once and . . .”
I was interrupted by Hank’s laughter before he asked, “And how did that go?”
“She said she liked me a little bit.”
Hank laughed again, but suddenly got serious - his emotions spinning on a dime, just like Janis’ were prone to do. “And you know about her lupus?”
“Yes.”
“You understand that’s never going to go away. It can be controlled to some extent, at least right now, but that could change.”
“I understand.”
“And she’s allergic to pretty much everything but air,” Hank explained sarcastically.
“I’ve got a list, and I understand she adds to it now and then.”
“Like a few months ago with the ants. Fuck! That was terrifying, but then again, she’s been scaring the shit out of me since I found out Nichole was pregnant with her.”
“I know that I have to tread carefully about some things when it comes to your daughter, but I feel like I should level with you.”
“I’ve had a rough twenty-four hours, Forrester. I’m not sure that right now is the best time to get me all worked up.”
“It shouldn’t do anything but calm you and make you happy, or at least, I hope that’s the case.”
“Hit me with it,” Hank ordered.
“I’m gonna marry your daughter and spend the rest of my life trying to figure out how to navigate the world around her specific kind of crazy.”
“You think so, huh?”
“I hope so. But, then again, this is Janis we’re talking about. At any given time, she could decide I’m a waste of space and oxygen and end me in a horrifically painful way.” Hank grinned, and the longer he looked at me, the wider his smile got until he was laughing uproariously, as if I’d just told him the funniest joke he’d ever heard. When he finally settled, I said, “I’m serious about spending the rest of my life with her.”
“I have no doubt you are, and I appreciate the fact that you understand that life with my daughter could pose a challenge at times.”
Now it was my turn to laugh, because that was the biggest understatement I’d ever heard. Life with Janis was a tornado of laughter, coffee addiction, love, anger, and exasperation.
But that was the life I wanted to live.
“I love her, and I’m gonna get her to admit that she loves me, too, someday. When that happens, I’m gonna drag her to the altar before she can change her mind and then build a family with her. Hopefully, we’ll have boys with her smile and girls with a portion of her attitude.” I held my fingers about an inch apart and said, “Not all of it, just a little.”
Hank laughed again before he said, “Good luck with that, Corey.”
“You’re okay with me marrying your daughter?”
“If I wasn’t, you’d already be dead,” Hank said, as if he’d just commented on the weather or something else much more mundane than murder. “I can’t believe my daughter’s marrying a cop.”
“I know that there are things she won’t be able to tell me, just like the rest of the family has to tread carefully with on occasion. But you know that my family and the people I love always come first - before the badge or anyone else in the world, right?”
“Also another reason you’re still breathing.”
“Looks like I’m batting a thousand.”
“I guess it’s time to test that theory,” Hank said ominously. “Those men belonged to a gang that showed up here in town a few months ago and has been steadily increasing in number.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“What’s going to happen to them?”
“Well, a couple of them are already dead, and the one from the trunk is in jail.”
“And the rest?”
“The ones who were taken into custody when the cops arrived were charged with a multitude of offenses. There were enough guns there, most of them stolen, and ammunition to take over a small country besides the bevy of stolen vehicles in various states of dismemberment.”
“And there’s not a doubt in my mind that the ones that weren’t there knew what was going to happen yesterday.”
“I believe they were the ones following us a while back when Zoey called for help.”
“You’re probably right.”
“And I’m sure that means that they all knew about the plan.” Hank growled and then pressed his lips together as he leaned back to look at the sky. “If something happens to the men, and even any women who might have known what was going on, I wouldn’t mourn them at all. Would you?”
“Absolutely not.”
“I’m sure that there’s a list of known gang members floating around somewhere at the station.”
“It might be nice to get a look at that list.”
“It would, wouldn’t it?” I asked rhetorically. “If I happen to come across it, I’ll be sure to make it available to you.”
“And when that list shrinks, what will you do?”
“When I became a police officer, I took an oath to protect the citizens of Rojo. If there are fewer citizens, then that just makes my job easier, doesn’t it?”
Hank’s smile was just as maniacal as the one I’d seen Janis’ sport over the years. I knew that he was going to make sure that the criminal population of Rojo decreased, at least the portion that had anything to do with his daughter’s kidnapping.
And I was perfectly okay with that.