“Are you?”
“I’m good. Are you ready?”
“I’ve been waiting for this day all week. What do you think?”
“Bitches, we’re taking that skank down!”
“Malinda, are you all right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You look exhausted.”
“It’s been a long week.”
“Well, wake up girl! This is an exciting day!”
“Tapes are rolling?”
“Check.”
“And I’ve got Gill and Haak coming in about four hours. By then, she should have taken her last stash.”
“The blood is like, coursing through my veins like a herd of elephants.”
“Okay, odd comparison.”
“It was the best I can do.”
“Countdown?”
“Eighteen minutes to her arrival.”
“I’m shaking a bit.”
“I’m ten seconds away from peeing my pants.”
“I’ve been ten seconds away from peeing my pants all week.”
“Mindy, are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m just stressed.”
“He still hasn’t called, has he?”
“What does he have to do with anything?”
“You just never really get stressed. You take things pretty easily. So obviously you have something else going on.”
“No. He has not called.”
“And Rhett’s still on the road?”
“Would everyone please stop linking me to Rhett?”
“Sorry. When does he come – ”
“In a few hours.”
“He’ll call. They always do.”
“Countdown update?”
“Sixteen minutes.”
“Not a slick change of subject, by the way.”
With an exasperated grunt, Malinda walked away from Tyler and Mary, leaving them to discuss her pathetic state. They quickly tired of that and moved on to their almost frightening excitement over Lindsay’s impending arrest.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Rhett asked, surprised, as he walked into his apartment and found Malinda sitting on his living room couch. “Why aren’t you at work? I thought today was the big day.”
“It is.”
“Okay. This doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
“The game in Dallas was amazing. That was a great stop you made in the second. How’d your knee appreciate that?”
“It didn’t. What are you doing here?”
“Mary and Tyler are at the store. Lindsay got to work about two hours ago. We realized she doesn’t seem to steal when I’m around so I left for a little while. They’re gonna call me after she’s done her thing and I’ll head back. The police’ll be there when we call them.”
“Cool,” Rhett began pulling stuff out of his bag.
“And how are you doing? Last night’s game looked pretty rough. You tired?”
“Nope, I’m pretty good actually. How are you doing?”
“Not bad. Excited about today. A little tired. Pregnant. Sick of people asking about JC, because no he hasn’t called, and no, I haven’t called him.”
Still unpacking, Rhett nodded. “Good. Don’t give in. But then again, you really might not want to let it go too long. It was a pretty stupid fight, and like any other guy, he’s not gonna just turn around and admit he was wrong.” He paused. “Wait. What?”
“He already admitted he was wrong, just not to me, but Madison and I talked and he might be coming around. She did come up with this plan of espionage to trick him into calling me, but I don’t know –”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. What – when did you find out?” he sat down next to her.
“Four days ago. Right now I’m only about four weeks along. The saddest part is, I was so stressed out about everything else that I didn’t even realize I was late. It wasn’t until I say down to eat the other day and wanted to puke that I noticed something wasn’t right, and so I took the time to sit and think about it, and I realized that I was more tired than I should be, and everything I’d been eating all month never tasted quite right.”
“So what are you planning on doing?”
“What do you think I’m planning on doing?”
“Did you tell him?”
“Did you miss the part where he hasn’t called?”
“Are you going to?”
“No.”
“Don’t you think he should know?”
“I think he should call and apologize. Wait, let me put that differently: he should sprout a set of fucking balls. If he does, then maybe I’ll tell him.”
“And what if it’s too late by then?”
“Then it’s too late. Oh well.”
“You’ve thought this through completely?”
“Yeah.”
“Won’t change your mind?”
“Nope.”
“Because you know I’m here, to help you out, with whatever.”
“I know,” Malinda leaned against him. “But I’m not doing this again without there being a future, and until I get a phone call, I’m assuming there isn’t one.”
“Okay,” Rhett pushed her hair off her face and kissed her temple. “Hungry?”
“He asks the pregnant woman. And you know you ain’t got no food in this place.”
“You didn’t shop for me?”
“Was a little busy.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“Let’s stay near the store, so I can get there fast if I need to.”
“There’s that Thai place a few blocks over.”
Malinda groaned. “Baby doesn’t like anything spicier than salt. And unfortunately for the next seventeen days, Baby dictates what I do and do not eat.”
“Maybe you should refrain from calling it Baby.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Alright. I just don’t want this to be any harder on you that it already is.”
“I appreciate that, but I’ll be fine.”
“Okay. So, why don’t we head over that way and figure out where to go? I’ll meet you back at the store and we’ll go from there, okay?”
“Alright, see you in a few,” Malinda zipped up her hoodie and headed down to her truck. Shortly after she began driving, she heard The Clash playing from her phone. It was Tyler.
“Oh. My. God. Mindy!” he squealed. “She’s on break. She did it, she took the last hundred. Right now she’s outside having a cigarette and I think she said she was gonna go down to Arby’s or something. And I saw that ugly fuchsia Corolla pas by three times.”
“I thought it was magenta.”
“Fuchsia.”
“Whatever. Want me to call Gill and Haak now? They could be there as soon as anything happens.”
“Yes, oh yes! Hang on,” Tyler hissed Malinda’s plan to Mary, and Malinda heard Mary scream ‘hell yeah’. When Tyler spoke back into the phone, he stated the obvious, “Mary’s all for it.”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
“Make the call. Are you coming back?”
“I’m on my way now. Rhett and I were going to meet up there and then go get lunch, so I’ll check in with you in a few minutes, okay?”
“Got it. She’ll be back soon though, so hurry!”
“Yes sir! I’m calling now. Bye!” Malinda hung up with Tyler and called Lieutenant Gill. “Hey, Mr. Gill – ”
“Jerry.”
She giggled coquettishly, “Jerry. So Tyler just called me and Lindsay took the bait. Right now she’s on break, and her friend is hanging around the area.”
“How do you want to proceed?”
“Want to be in the back parking lot, that way you’ll be ready for both of them if the friend makes a move?”
“We’ll be there. Call us as soon as you’re ready.”
“Got it,” when Malinda hung up with Lt. Gill, Rhett was pulling up beside her at a red light. She rolled down her window and he did the same. “Change of plans,” she shouted. “But still meet me there.”
Together they drove to the Pageturner and parked in the rear lot, just moments before Lt. Gill and Det. Haak pulled in. Both officers stepped out of their unmarked vehicle and approached Malinda, as Rhett came up behind her.
“Hey Malinda.”
“Haak,” she nodded.
“So what are we doing?” he asked.
“Rhett and I are heading in now. You’ll want to watch for a bright pink Corolla. That’s the friend. You can’t miss her, she’s got pink in her hair and everything. The next time I call your phone, don’t bother answering it, just come in. Oh, this is Rhett, by the way. Rhett, this is lieutenant Gill and Detective Haak.”
Pleasantries were exchanged by the men before Rhett and Malinda walked around to the front of the store. At the door, Malinda took a deep breath. Rhett sensed her hesitation and gave her a few words of encouragement.
“Come on, you can do this, you’ve been waiting for this all week. You called me six times to talk about it. Now, you go in there and you do what you need to do. I’m going to Subway to get you some food. You’re gonna need it.”
“Thanks,” Malinda entered the store and Tyler swooped in on her.
“Are they here?” he whispered in her ear.
“Out back.” she whispered in return. “Lindsay?”
“Doing stock. Mary’s doing ‘payroll’ stuff,” Tyler utilized air quotes, “so she’ll have a total for the police.”
“Good. So we’re just waiting to see if Pinky comes in.”
“Yeah, I think it’ll be soon.”
“Great. Let me go put my stuff in the office. I’m so jittery right now.”
“I’ll be at the counter. Let the final countdown begin.”
“What do you want?”
“Who wouldn’t love a greeting like that?” Joe asked as Madison kicked JC’s door all the way open. The pair stepped inside and made their way through his house.
JC continued to stare at the empty doorway. “Oh hey guys, come on in,” he said sarcastically before slamming the door and following them. “So what do you want?”
“We can’t just stop in to see our very best friend?” Madison asked.
“Just stop in? Joe had to cross the country.”
“I was in town.”
“For?”
“A meeting.”
“For?”
“Stuff.”
“Sure.”
“He still hasn’t called!” Madison exclaimed from the living room.
“What?” Joe pushed past JC and followed the sound of Madison’s voice. “What about texting? Anything?”
“No.”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Joe asked JC.
“What are you talking about?” JC fired back.
The two men entered JC’s living room to find Madison going through JC’s cell phone, checking for all phone calls and text messages.
“What are you doing?” JC reacted in shock “Give me my phone! What the hell is wrong with you two?”
Madison sighed dramatically. “We are checking on your progress with Malinda. Or lack of it.”
“Dude, you’ve got to get over yourself. You really do. You are not that special. You are easily replaceable. Do you want to be replaced? I don’t think you do. So I suggest you call your woman before she’s not your woman anymore,” Joe said, hands on his hips.
“Well gee, when you put it that way.”
“Okay fuckface, listen up,” Madison was serious. “You’re already told all of us that you realize you’re an asshole. About both Rhett and leaving the way you did. You were wrong, and willing to admit it. So why don’t you grow up and tell it to the only person who matters? She loves you. I’m not sure why anymore, but she does. And you’re going to make sure things stay that way.”
“Almost sounds like a threat. Where’s the ‘or else’ part?”
“Or else I won’t be your friend anymore.”
“Smooth,” Joe rolled his eyes, hiding a grin.
“You’re a dork,” JC said. “Why can’t you let me handle this in my own time.”
“Because your own time was three weeks ago. Call her,” Madison said.
“What do you know? You get bored with guys after two months.”
“I do not!”
“Heard from Legolas lately?”
“Fuck you, JC Chasez!”
Joe watched Madison storm out of JC’s house before commenting. “Wow. That was pretty fucked up, Jace. I’ve never heard you throw out such a low blow in my life.”
“Truth hurts. I haven’t seen that girl in a lasting relationship yet. And for her to tell me how to fix mine? Damn near blasphemous.”
“Okay, I was going to bring Brianna with me, to subconsciously get you thinking about fatherhood and marriage so that you’d call, but now I’m glad I didn’t, because I wouldn’t want my daughter to see her uncle Jissy being such a dick.”
“You know, you did show up here uninvited, so you’re welcome to leave.”
Raising his eyebrows, Joe let out a low whistle. “The only difference between me and Madison is that you can’t hurt me. You’re going to listen to what I have to say, seeing as how I am in a lasting relationship: Quit your bitching and call Malinda. It’s not always about getting your way. As cliché as it sounds, it’s about compromise, sacrifice, and checking your pride at the door.”
“Thank you, oh guru. Are you done?”
“So I thought Madi was exaggerating when she said you were pissing everyone off. Guess I was wrong. Keep alienating us like this, JC, and you’re gonna end up all alone,” Joe started for the door. “And not even those of us who’ve been here for years are going to want to hear it. Don’t call me until you’ve apologized to Madison, and called Malinda and straightened this bullshit out.”
Laurel chewed on the end of her pen. She gazed out the window. She looked down at the open notebook on her desk. Sighed. Put her pen to the page. Sighed again. Lifted the pen. Tapping the pen against the paper, she let her eyes wander the room. Alicia Parker and Hannah Buchanan were scribbling away.
Laurel was sitting in her English/Language Arts class, working on her year-end project, ‘The Weekly Journal’. Every other Monday, instead of having regular class, the students spent their hour writing in their journals. The guidelines were simple; while the students were welcome to use a freestyle way of writing, they also had to display good use of grammar, and the point of writing bi-weekly was to see if there was improvement over the year. Plus, rumor had it that Miss Dalfonso kept them until they graduated high school, then mailed them out so each student could see how their lives, their worries, and their hopes had changed.
Having spent at least half of this class at a loss for a topic sentence, Laurel contemplated what to write. There were things she just wanted to keep to herself. She knew that only Miss Dalfonso would see what she wrote, but she was still apprehensive. The only thing on her mind lately was her mother. She sighed again and began to write:
‘My mom has always been my best friend. Even more than Alicia and Hannah are. We tell each other everything. She even tells me about when she goes on dates. No mushy stuff. Just where they went, movies they saw. My mom’s gone on a bunch of dates with different people, but none of them got to be boyfriends. They were too scared of me to be boyfriends. But not JC. JC and my mom were in love. Mushy movie type. It was like Cinderella or something. He even liked me. But he didn’t like mom’s other best friend Rhett. JC was jealous of him. My mom and him got in a huge fight and broke up. They haven’t talked in almost a month. My mom told me about the fight and I can’t decide who I’m mad at. They both said some stupid things. All I know is that Momma’s very sad and really mad. And now I think she’s sick. She barely eats anything, she always looks like she’s going to throw up, I heard her go into the bathroom and try to throw up, and she cries a lot. She doesn’t know that I hear her because she mostly cries at night. And my mom doesn’t cry. The last time I saw her cry was three years ago when the Sabres lost the Cup in the No Goal game. She cried for two days. I want my mom and JC back together. She was happy when they were together. I wish I knew how to fix it.’“Okay class, the bell will be ringing soon. Wrap up and hand in your journals,” Miss Dalfonso called out. Laurel’s head popped up and she snapped her notebook shut, shocked that she’d just written what she had. Usually she just wrote about things that had happened over the week, like what she and Alicia did after school, something funny she and Malinda watched on TV, what happened at the last Sabres’ game. But this was something real, from her heart, and she was nervous handing it in.
“Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom, hand this in for me,” she put her book under Hannah’s and slunk out of the room.
Malinda looked up when she heard the jingle over the door. She felt like she was in a Quentin Tarantino movie, she had tunnel vision; the only thing her eyes saw was the bright pink streak in this girl’s black hair. “Can I help you with anything?” she asked.
Pink Girl looked startled. “Um, no, I’m just looking.”
Nodding, Malinda reached into her pocket and withdrew her phone. Dialing Gill’s number, she watched the girl walk toward the back of the store and then slipped away from the counter and into the office. “Hey,” she spoke quietly to Tyler and Mary. They both looked up, excited. “She’s here. Where’s Lindsay?”
“She’s still in the stockroom.” Mary replied. “Want me to put her on register?”
“Yeah. I’m going outside. Wait until I’m out there before you bring her out. Haak and Gill need time to get inside and she still hasn’t seen me, I don’t want her to start now. Call me when it’s about to happen,” Malinda turned and exited the building, passing Gill and Haak on the way, giving them a brief nod, with no acknowledgement that they knew each other. When she got to the corner of the building, Rhett was standing in the alleyway the led to the rear parking lot.
“Chicken teriyaki on wheat, toasted?” he held out a bag.
“You’re amazing, as always,” she accepted the plastic and pulled the sandwich out, savoring the first bite.
“I saw that girl head in a minute ago. Is it that time?”
“It’s that time. I can’t think, I can’t deal. I’m shaking, look at me,” she held out her arm, showing Rhett the shreds of lettuce that were falling off her sandwich from the trembling.
“Everything’s working out now. You don’t have to worry about losing any more money. Now that you know that, you don’t have to stress about letting any more people go, and you can hire someone much better to take Lindsay’s place.”
“Great, so now I’ve got one thing under control, what about everything else that’s wrong?” Malinda tore voraciously into the rest of the sandwich. “I’ve even been avoiding Laurel, because she can see right through me, and I don’t want her to know what a mess I am.”
“You’re not a mess.”
“Yeah, yeah I am.”
Rhett sighed, despondent. “You’re not a mess, Mindy. Stop it. Finish your sandwich so you’ll be ready for whatever you have to do in there.”
“I’m waiting for a phone call from Tyler and Mary. Gill and Haak are in there now, Lindsay’s on register. I have no idea what’s going on in there right now, and I can’t stand it. Something should have happened by now. They should have called me by now. Oh my God, what is going on in there?”
“Malinda, relax. They’ll call. Just take a deep breath. You’ve still got a few bites left there. Keep going.”
“I’m not a freakin’ child Rhett.”
“Whoa, chill.”
Malinda groaned. “I’m sorry. You know I’m emotional. I hate this feeling. I hated it the first time around, and I hate it now. The only difference is, now it’s twice as annoying because there’s no big ending to look forward to.”
“You’re not looking forward to it being over?”
“Of course I am, but I’m talking about in general. Most women don’t care about the mood swings and all the bad stuff, because in the end, yippee!”
“Nice way of putting it. But seriously, finish your sandwich. I want you to keep your energy up. I brought you juice too.”
“Thank you Rhett. Honestly. I appreciate everything you do for me, I really do.”
“I know you do,” he pulled the juice out of his pocket. “Here you go.”
As Malinda reached out to take the juice, her phone rang. She froze. “Oh shit.”
“Go,” Rhett stuffed the small bottle of apple juice into the opposite pocket of the one Malinda was pulling her phone out of. All she got a chance to do was flip it open, and Rhett heard Mary’s half-scream, half-hiss: “Get in here!” Malinda looked up at Rhett, panic on her face. He gave her a gentle push, “Do it. You’ve been waiting for this.”
“Okay. I can do this. Can you pick Laurel up from school?”
“Good luck. See you later.”
JC sat on the terrace outside his bedroom, lost in his own thoughts. He’d been in his studio early in the morning, completely unable to finish any composition he began. He didn’t want to make an album entirely about Malinda, like Justin’s, where every song was about Britney, but he had no other inspiration to draw upon. After hours of ineffectual toiling, he gave up and went to his one place of solace. It wasn’t until he noticed the rush hour traffic on the roads that he could see that he realized he’d just spent his entire day staring at his own backyard, and he made a phone call.
“Hello?” a male voice responded.
JC stammered, “Uh…hi. Who’s, uh, this?”
“You called here. Who’s this?”
“Well I might have the wrong number, I thought I was calling someone else.”
The man sighed, “And who exactly are you looking for?”
“I was calling Ma –” JC stopped when he heard the girl’s voice in the background.
“Rhett, is that Momma? How much later is she gonna be?”
“Oh, it’s you,” JC said.
“Whoever you is,” he said into the phone, then in a muffled tone, indicating he’d covered the mouthpiece, “No, it’s not her, sorry.”
“This is JC. I’m calling for Malinda.”
Silence. “Oh. She’s at work.”
“Okay, I’ll try her cell.”
“She’s kind of busy right now. I don’t think she’ll have time to talk.”
“Unless you’re psychic, I’m not sure how you’d know that.”
“I wouldn’t be here right now if she wasn’t.”
“Do you know when she’ll be home?” For the sake of whatever was left of the relationship, JC was trying to be polite to this man, but he was detecting hostility and he wondered exactly what Malinda had said about him and the fight.
“I really don’t know dude. She had some problems with an employee and I’ve been with Laurel all day because of it.”
“Oh. Well, just let her know I called,” JC prepared to hang up, then changed his mind. “No, wait. Don’t. Don’t tell her. I’ll just…try again another time. Bye.” This time he did hang up, and promptly called Joe. “Alright, fucker, I called her.”
“And?” Joe replied. “Is everything all good or was she pissed?”
“Well, actually, I talked to Rhett.”
“Serious? Jace, this is great. You worked things out?”
“Umm…”
“What?”
“Technically, he answered her phone and she wasn’t home.”
“So you’re saying you didn’t actually call her.”
“I called.”
“Only in the mechanical sense. You are truly hopeless,” JC heard Joe sigh. “But at least you actually found the balls to make the call. I guess that’ll do for now. Did you leave a message?”
“No. And I told him not to tell her I called. I’ll try again some other time.”
“Okay, as long as you promise to call.”
“I will,” JC was silent for a minute. “Thanks for talking some sense into me.”
“Unfortunately talking was all I could do. I went out there to kick your ass, but Kelly talked me out of it just before I got to Madison’s house.”
“Speaking of…can you not tell her I called, if she asks?”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want her to know about it until I actually talk to Malinda. Plus…well…I still have to figure out how to apologize to her. I’ve been a real asshole the past few weeks.”
“Duh,” Joe said, then groaned. “Oh man, the door just buzzed. Kelly did some major shopping today and now I gotta go bring everything in.”
JC laughed. “Have fun with that.”
“Mock me now buddy, but one day, you’ll be in the same boat.”
“Maybe.”
“It’ll happen. Just stop being such a douche.”
“Goodbye, Joe.”
“Talk to you later man,” Joe hung up on JC, leaving him to rise to his feet and walk aimlessly into his room. Taking a deep breath, he gazed at the bathroom door, remembering the scene that took place behind it four months ago, remembering the words that he and Malinda spoke to each other, remembering how she clung to him.
Stomach growling, reminding him he hadn’t eaten all day, he headed down to his kitchen to make himself dinner. Along the way and while preparing the meal, he began mentally sketching his apology to Madison, knowing that it would be just as hard as his request for forgiveness from Malinda.