Oblivion (2 page)

Things went bad quick after that. When Jace turned twelve he was going to work, taking every paper route and odd job he could find to keep food in the house. The state paid the utilities but their food money fell prey to Everett’s addiction every third of the month.

Jace had his hands full with the kids and trying to avoid truancy officers. Finally at thirteen, he was emancipated and able to get his driver’s license and a work certificate. His grades suffered then. Lindsay Morgan was assigned his tutor in eighth grade science and math.

She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen with her huge blue eyes, creamy complexion, and bouncy blonde curls. The first time he saw her he knew he would marry her one day. From that moment on they were inseparable.

She brought up his grades. If not for her, he would have never gotten a passing score on his SAT exam to get into Georgia Tech. Coach Dawes assured him it was just a formality.

They wanted his throwing arm bad enough to overlook the score. He took it personal. He strived to do his best on it. His score wasn’t nearly as high as Lindsay’s was, but few could claim that. Lindsay was one of those naturally brainy people who never forgot anything they were taught. She wanted to be a doctor one day.  

“How do you think I’d feel if I left knowing they were in foster care, Lindsay?” Jace asked her in a choked voice thick with emotion. “Do you think everything would just be hunky dory knowing I walked out on them?”

“I worry you’ll wind up like your dad if you stay.”

“I won’t ever be like him,” Jace said in contempt, staring over the dashboard.

~ ~ ~

Unlike the rest of his football team that caroused back at the party in the woods; Jace didn’t drink. Considering what he went through with his dad; who could blame him?

Lindsay had to sober up before he dropped her at the two-bedroom apartment above the grocery store. Deborah Morgan kept Lindsay tight under her manicured thumb. Curfew was non-negotiable, midnight, even if she was eighteen.

Lindsay knew it tormented her mother’s pride to live in the two-bedroom apartment above the store where she worked. Lindsay’s father owned the only hardware store in town. He had the money to put them up in a better place until the divorce was final. He just didn’t.

His twenty-four year old girlfriend aside; he was selfish and moved on in his own life. The fact he waited until she was eighteen to file for divorce told her that. Her mother would get modest spousal support and a small settlement, but no child support.

Deborah worked for room and board. Her mom and Mr. Merriman dated occasionally, but since his wife left him too, they both just needed a shoulder to cry on. What little extra her father gave his wife and daughter was spent on food.

Lindsay was relieved her tuition was prepaid. Her grandparents set aside a large trust of money for her when she was born. Her dad and mom couldn’t touch it, much to her relief. Her brother took his and ran recently.

“We can talk more about it tomorrow,” she said moodily as she stared out the window. “I don’t want to think about it now, Jace.”

Jace sighed. “Your Ma will be happy. She never did like the thought of us living together out there.”

“My mom is having a tough time right now, Jace. Leave it alone.”

“No, you put my dad down for being a drunk and a loser. Why don’t we look at your Ma? She’s done nothing but toss out the negative since the day you told her we’re going to Georgia. She’s been filling your head full of shit ever since you’re dad walked out! You can hate him all you want, Lindsay. You know he did it to get away from her,” Jace said harshly and pulled out on Cutter’s Pass, the road leading back to Main Street in Little Bend.

She refused to answer him. Old arguments they were. Deborah Morgan made anyone in her vicinity miserable with her negativity and pessimism. Lindsay loved her mother, but grew tired of her endless whining, complaining, and blaming.

“I knew you’d bring her up. The difference is my mom does what she can. Your dad could care less.”

“You even sound like her now, Lindsay. You pass judgment on everybody; just like her.”

“Just drop it. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“No, you don’t talk at all anymore, Lindsay. You hear something you don’t like and you go off; just like her.”

Lindsay wasn’t defending herself or her mother. He was right. The last year changed everything. Finding out about her dad’s affair and the divorce pretty much affected her for the worst.  Gone were the trips to Helena for designer clothes, movies, and eating out. These days, she relied on rented DVD’s and frozen pizza for entertainment.

Overnight they were moved out of their sprawling home in an affluent neighborhood in to a cramped, dinghy apartment above Merriman’s Food and Drugs. Even her car went back to the dealership to save on expenses.

Her brother Lance took it the hardest and just packed up and left in the night. He left a note saying he couldn’t take it anymore and he was gone. They hadn’t heard from him since.

She drove her mother’s five year old BMW station wagon now. The cute, sporty Volkswagen Beetle with the personalized plate was gone. Being the only daughter was to her advantage once. Her mother bought her whatever she wanted. Now it was a struggle to pay for her senior pictures, cap and gown, and the prom was out of the question. Jace didn’t have the money to take her anyway. A party was planned instead up at The Point with their friends. Cameron was planning it and said it would be the blow out of the year.

 Her father felt no guilt in dumping his old life, wife, and kids. His girlfriend Margene moved into their home and the forty-year old went crazy. He got a membership at the gym and squired his young girlfriend around town like a trophy.

 Margene was in it for the ride. She worked at Hooligan’s as a barmaid. The heavily-made up hussy was on every guy’s short list to score with on the weekend. She had two kids from two different guys that lived with her parents.

 Latching onto the middle-aged businessman was the best she could hope for in Little Bend. Known to be as easy as she was on the eyes didn’t hurt. Her father was acting like an idiot now and it pained her to watch it.

Yeah, she was bitter. Who wouldn’t be hating life about now?
Maybe not Jace,
she thought. For all his problems, you didn’t hear him whine like she did. They endured the drive back into town. They didn’t talk. She was too upset and he had no fight left in him. He pulled into Merriman’s and she got out, tripping over the strappy sandals again. She cussed under her breath, eyes bruised to know this evening didn’t end as it should have.

Jace came around to her side and looked resolved. “I’ll call you tomorrow. We can talk, but my mind is made up.”

“I’m not giving up,” she retorted as she snatched up her purse off the seat and made for the single stairs leading to her apartment. “You aren’t getting off the hook, pal.”

Jace grinned then, displaying that charming smile that dubbed him the cutest boy in school all his life. He laughed and blew her a kiss.

“Round two can pick up after I drop Dougie at probation. Sara has to babysit for Mrs. Alton. I’ll call you while I’m waiting on Dougie. I love you, Lindsay. Please don’t forget that. We can do this; just trust me.”

“I love you too,” she said with a catch in her voice. She loved Jace too much. He was everything to her. Didn’t he know he made it impossible for her to leave now? She knew that was the reason he waited to tell her.

“No more talk about breaking up, Lindsay. We can make this work for a year,” Jace said and looked hopeful. “Sleep on it, babe.”

Lindsay nodded and was glad he didn’t kiss her goodnight. She didn’t want to turn into a marshmallow the minute his lips touched hers. She wanted to be sore as she watched him get in the truck and pull out of the lot. Standing there as all went dark and silent with only the scurrying of stray cats in the dumpster nearby; she began to cry.

She didn’t want to go in right away. Her mom would see her face and hone right in on her misery. For now, she needed to be alone with her thoughts. Thinking of leaving alone come August made her cringe.

  Her mother would be pleased to learn her boyfriend was staying behind. Deborah Morgan seemed to think the world should be miserable because she was. She would enjoy knowing she finally gotten her way. For some reason her mother always hated Jace.

Her boyfriend was always a gentleman; always got her home on time. The heavy-petting never went beyond set boundaries.  He was the perfect boyfriend and he couldn’t have ever pleased Deborah. Jace knew it finally and gave up walking her in when they were sophomores.

Lately, she’d been the pushy one to have sex but he refused. They would wait, he said, until they had their own place. Jace said he wanted everything to be right when they became lovers finally.

She felt like the only virgin in her graduating class and was disgusted by it. Out of all the irresponsible boys she went to school with that pressured their girlfriends for sex, she dated one that was content to wait.  

Unlike Deborah, her dad liked Jace. The two had a lot to talk about. Jace worked for him for a time. Money was tight now. He had to let all the part time kids go to keep Sal, his fulltime worker. She should have been happy her dad approved her choice. That was hardly any consolation given how angry she was at him right now. No, her life stunk, no two ways about it.

The porch light went on alerting her that her presence was known. Deborah thought Jace and her were out here making out. She wished they ended the evening that way. Instead she would cry herself to sleep knowing there was nothing either of them could do.

~ ~ ~

Lindsay woke up glad her mother was working. The argument the night before still stung. Deborah was pleased Jace wasn’t going with her daughter and made no bones of it.

“You’re better off and don’t even know it,” her mother had raged, holding a cigarette between her fingers, her embittered red-rimmed eyes attesting to how she spent the evening. The half-empty bottle of vodka aside, her mother’s misery could never be drowned. Still, she tried, when thoughts of how her husband betrayed her nipped at her. Something must have set her off tonight. “Turner’s are nothing but trash, through and through.”

“Mom, just go to bed,” Lindsay snapped as she tossed her purse on the kitchen table. “I’m not talking to you when you’re like this.”

Deborah got ugly then, her once-pretty face filled with resentment. “You got your nerve, Lindsay. When things were good; my daughter never talked to me with disrespect. Now the money’s gone and your brother’s gone and you talk to me like this?”

“You’re drunk! I’m not fighting with you, Mom!”

“I told you that boy was nothing but trash, didn’t I?” her mother flung and laughed in a raspy voice. “In the end that’s what they all do, daughter. They just let you down. I’m not surprised.”

Lindsay was angry enough over her confrontation with Jace. She didn’t need her mother ranting against him too. Without thinking her hand swept her mother’s drink off the table. The glass crashed and splintered onto the floor. Her blue eyes bore into her mother’s.

“He’s the best thing that ever happened to me. Don’t you ever put him down to me again, do you hear? You never gave him a chance, thinking we were too good for him. Well take a good look around, Mom! We don’t have much more than him now. Instead of sitting here bitching about Dad and drinking; why don’t you get off your ass and do something about it?”

Deborah had looked like she’d been hit. Lindsay never talked to her that way before. With everything else, she couldn’t take it right now. Her mother dissolved into sobs. She went to her room and threw herself on her twin bed, feeling horrible to make her mother cry.

She didn’t hear her get up. Deborah was at work when she went out of her room and saw the little apartment was picked up. The mess in the kitchen was cleaned. One thing about Deborah; she never went to bed with a messy house. The apartment might be old and the carpet and tile needed replacement, but she kept it spotless.

Lindsay eyed the phone. The microwave clock said it was half-past nine. She’d let Jace suffer a while yet. When he called, she’d let the machine get it to punish him. Smug to think that would make her feel better; she went into the bathroom and ran a bath.

~ ~ ~

Jace put the truck in park and glared at his younger brother. The small dark-haired boy wore a mutinous expression that went along with his attitude. His little face frowned ominously and he hunkered down in the seat.

The probation officer was a nice older man in his early forties named Jack Miller. He volunteered at the YMCA. His little brother just thought the guy was a joke, refusing to see the man had any interest in him outside of settling his six months probation for shoplifting. No, Jack cut Dougie a lot of slack, not violating his probation time and time again when he could.

This Saturday counseling was the price, in addition to their meeting for hoops at the YMCA twice a week. Jack liked the kid, even if he had a chip a mile wide on his shoulder.

Extenuating circumstances allowed for Dougie to get off easy this last time. It wasn’t his first offense. Jace knew it was because they didn’t have any food in the house at the time. Dougie got caught in Merriman’s stealing a bag of Doritos and a frozen burrito.

Had it been anybody but a Turner, old man Merriman might have caved and not prosecuted. As it was, Merriman had his nose broken in high school by Everett Turner. His son was given no benefit of the doubt.

“Go on, get in there.” Jace sighed tiredly. “We got a month till you’re off probation, Dougie. You know the drill. Just get in there and get it over with.”

Dougie eyed him balefully. “What does it even matter? Were just gonna get taken away, Jace. Why do we have to keep coming here?”

“Shut up! Nobody’s going anywhere!” Jace practically hollered at his little brother. “I’m staying here. I’ll be eighteen in a month and your lawyer says I can get custody of you two, alright? Now get in there.”

Dougie’s eyes widened. “You aren’t going to Georgia? Jace, what do you mean you’re not going?”