Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (21 page)

This wasn’t over.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon — 3:40 P.M.

HARD AS NAILS DENVER WOMAN STANDS BY HER
MAN.
– Denver Daily News

“
Mommy?” Katy asked from
her bed.

She had been sleeping with her fairies when
she thought she heard her mother say something.

“
Mommy?”

Katy got up from her bed and wandered across
the loft looking for Jill.

“
Mommy?”

Katy opened Jill’s office door. Jill was
sitting at her desk with her head in her hands. When she looked at
Katy, tears were streaming down her red face.

“
Mommy?”

Katy climbed up onto Jill’s lap. Katy’s hand
brushed Jill’s face.

“
Mommy, you’re face is
wet,” Katy said.

“
I feel really sad,” Jill
said.

“
I know.”

Katy put her head against her mother’s
beating heart and fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday early morning — 12:40 A.M. (3:40
P.M. Denver)

Prague, Czech Republic

VAL PREGNANT WITH WES’S BABY! MIKE STORMS
OUT!

“
Did you see the
photo?”

Valerie leaned forward so that Mike could
step into the bathtub behind her. Once in, Mike pulled her between
his knees.

“
Is the water too hot for
the baby?”

“
Nope,” Valerie said.
“We’re all right. Did you see the photo?”

“
Photo?”

“
How can you storm out if
you don’t keep up with the tabloids?”

“
Storm out?” Mike asked. He
moved Valerie’s long hair over her shoulder and kissed her neck.
“Before you ask again, I saw a photo of your
huge
baby belly.”

“
A la Photoshop!” Valerie
said. “How stupid are people? How could I wear those tight leather
pants if my belly was that big?”

“
They don’t really know
what you’re doing,” Mike said. “Plus they’d just say it was movie
magic.”

“
We’ll be home before I
really get that big,” Valerie said.

He reached for a hair brush and began
brushing her hair. She melted against him.

“
You sound like you want to
go home,” Mike said.

“
I do,” Valerie said. “I
miss everyone. I miss the lovely chaos of the Castle.”

“
I thought you liked your
privacy, having your own life, working on movies.”

“
That was the old me. The
new me wants to go home.”

“
I thought the old you
wanted to go home and the fake you wanted the movie
life.”

“
I’m getting confused with
all these me’s,” Valerie said.

She picked up a washcloth and began washing
his feet.

“
Which you is having Wes’s
baby?” Mike asked.

He wiggled his feet for her to stop. She
scooted back to lie against him.

“
None of me,” Valerie
said.

“
Wes says you’re pregnant
with his child,” Mike said. “He says he has proof.”

“
Well, he’s wrong,” Valerie
said.

“
Well, what Wes doesn’t
know, is that I don’t care,” Mike said. “My baby? Wes’s baby? As
long as it’s your baby? I’m in.”

“
You say the nicest
things,” Valerie said.

She looked up to kiss his lips.

“
What if we decide to
adopt?” Valerie asked.

“
Whatever,” Mike said. “I
like kids. You like kids. If we adopted, they’d still be your
babies.”

“
Our babies,” Valerie
said.

“
Our babies,” Mike
said.

“
Did you really storm out?”
she asked. “You look pretty pissed in the photo.”

“
I was painting! The
vultures came out of nowhere,” he said. “They kept trying to get a
photo of what I was painting. I had to pack up and leave. Yes, I
was pissed. I stormed out.”

“
What were you
painting?”

Shaking his head, Mike didn’t respond.

“
What?” Valerie
asked.

“
It’s a present,” Mike
said.

“
For who?”

“
My girlfriend,” he
said.

“
You have a girlfriend? Why
don’t the tabloids know about her??”

Refusing to answer, Mike fell silent.
Valerie laughed. She shook his knees. He kissed the back of her
head. She sighed.

“
I love you,” he
said.

“
And?”

“
That’s all,” he
said.

“
That’s enough.”

~~~~~~~~

ADDICTION IMPAIRS RELATIONSHIPS – Denver
Magazine

Wednesday night — 9:40 P.M.

“
I may kill Nash,” Sandy
said.

She set a bowl of soup down at his place and
returned to cutting a fresh loaf of bread. Aden bought in a pitcher
of water.

“
They’ve been a handful
this week,” Aden said.

“
They want to see you,”
Sandy said.

“
I saw them today,” Aden
said. “I picked them up from school.”

“
They talk non-stop about
you,” Sandy said.

“
That’s funny,” Aden said.
“When I see them, they talk non-stop about you.”

“
I wonder what they’re up
to,” Sandy said.

He sat down at the little table in her
apartment. She sat down across from him.

“
Oh wow, this is good,” he
said. “I didn’t realize I was so hungry.”

“
You’re teeth are bad,” she
said.

He nodded and took another spoonful.

“
Does the heat
hurt?”

“
It’s better than cold,” he
said. “I’ve always wanted nice teeth. In the end, I’ll have really
nice teeth.”

“
Speaking of teeth,” Sandy
said. “We need to get Nash in to see about braces.”

Aden nodded. He fell silent eating his soup.
When he finished his bowl, she stood to refill it. He mashed the
soft warm bread into pieces he could chew.

“
I need to ask you
something,” he said. “I mean, it’s hard for me to ask you for
something else. You’re taking care of my kids. You’ve fed me every
night, taken me to the dentist and picked me up.”

“
It is your car,” she
said.

“
Well, you’ve just been
great. But I need something… else.”

“
What?”

“
For us to
work…”

She scowled.

“
I really want us to work.
I think we can work,” Aden said. “I love you and you love me. We
can do this.”

Crossing her arms, she shook her head. He
took a breath for courage.

“
I need you to go to an
Alanon meeting,” he said.

“
You have an addiction. You
have a problem, not me.”

“
Because I’m an addict,
people who care about me can become codependent. I want to have a
healthy relationship with you. I want us to work. I want to spend
the rest of my life with you,” he said. “And that means you’ll have
to go.”

Sandy shook her head. She sat down across
from him.

“
Will you think about it?”
Aden asked.

“
My Mom used to go,” Sandy
said. “She said it was a stupid waste of time. Everyone sits around
complaining about how their lives suck. No one
does
anything. They just
complain.”

“
Your Mom’s not the most
positive person in the world,” he said.

They fell silent while he ate the rest of
his soup. She held her hand out to get him some more but he shook
his head.

“
You’ll think about it?” he
asked.

“
I’ll think about it,” she
said. “No promises, but I’ll think about it.”

“
For me?”

“
For the baby.”

“
And for me?”

“
Sure,” Sandy sighed. “God,
you are Nash’s father.”

He laughed.

CHAPTER
ONE HUNDRED and TWO
Found

Thursday morning — 10:15 A.M.

Aden pulled up to the Midtown office
building. Parking his car in the lot, he jogged across the parking
lot to the entrance. He skid to a stop in front of the listing of
doctors. Trying to calm his pounding heart, Aden stepped onto the
elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. The elevator
filled with other people and Aden pressed to the back. He had to
bite his tongue to keep from screaming when someone held the
elevator for one more person. Finally at the top floor, he followed
three or four women out of the elevator. He held the door for them
and then followed them into the doctor’s suite.

Aden was standing in a sea of women. They
instinctively shifted away from him and he made a beeline for the
desk.

“
I understand that my
fiancé is having trouble with our baby,” Aden said to the
nurse.

The room full of women fell silent. All eyes
were on Aden at the desk.

“
Who’s your fiancé?” the
nurse raised an eyebrow at the suspicious man.

“
Sandy…”

“
Sandy? Trouble?” the nurse
said. “The only trouble she’s having is trying to figure out if
she’s having a boy or a girl. Her kids are all up in it. They fight
about it every time they’re here. Weren’t you supposed to bring her
kids?”

Confused, Aden shook his head at the
woman.

“
Sandy’s in trouble,” Aden
repeated.

“
Not that I know of,” the
nurse said. “Come on, I’ll take you back and you can see for
yourself.”

The waiting room filled with chatter the
moment he stepped behind the desk. Glancing back at the sound, Aden
followed the nurse through a maze of rooms. The nurse tapped on the
door before opening it. She held the door for Aden.

“
Well go on,” the nurse
said.

The nurse gave him a little push into the
room and closed the door. Sandy was lying on a table while a woman
spread gel on her belly. They were engrossed in a conversation
about the baby. Aden blinked.

“
You’re getting an
ultrasound,” Aden said.

His voice caused the technician and Sandy to
look at him. The medical technician touched Sandy then left the
room.

“
Where are the kids?” Sandy
asked. She gave him a confused smile. “Nash said you were picking
him and Noelle up.”

“
Nash called and said you
and the baby were in trouble,” Aden said. “He made it sound
like…”

Aden collapsed into a plastic chair next to
the door. Sandy got up to go over to him.

“
Are you all right?” Sandy
asked.

“
I thought…” He looked up
at her concerned face. “He made it sound like you were losing the
baby, like you were dying. I… I’m going to kill him.”

Sandy smiled and moved back to the
table.

“
Did you buy him an
iPhone?” Aden asked.

“
It was our agreement. He
got an iPhone if he got caught up in school,” Sandy said. “He and
Teddy did a good job.”

“
Are you seeing Teddy’s
father?” Aden asked.

“
Zack?” Sandy asked. “No.
We’re old friends. We get together once a week or so when he’s in
town. I’m supposed to have lunch with him tomorrow.
Why?”

“
Noelle said he’s been
sleeping over with you,” Aden said.

“
I haven’t noticed another
man in my bed. I think I would. It’s a fairly small bed,” Sandy
laughed. “Where would he sleep? On top of you? You’ve been there
every night this week.”

Aden smiled. Sandy got back up on the
table.

“
Nash told me you were
bringing him and Noelle. I’m a little surprised they aren’t here,”
Sandy said. “They’re making a huge sacrifice to give up their
ultrasound appointment. They’ve come to every one. The nurses love
them.”

“
They want us here
together,” Aden said.

“
They usually come with
me,” Sandy said. “We get lunch and sometimes ice cream. Who will I
have lunch with now?”

“
I’d be delighted to take
you to lunch,” Aden said.

“
What about your
teeth?”

“
I’ll manage,” Aden
said.

“
Have you done this
before?”

Aden shook his head. The technician came
back into the room. She went around the end of the table.

“
Where are we now?” Sandy
asked.

“
Most of the money is on a
boy,” she said. “Hi. We haven’t met. You look just like
Nash.”

“
I’m Aden.”

The technician began to move the wand over
Sandy’s belly.

“
What’s the bet?” Aden
asked.

“
We’ve had the hardest time
finding out if Sandy’s having a girl or a boy,” the woman said.
“It’s usually not a big deal, but Nash and Noelle have been so
cute. We made a little pool that I would find out today. People are
betting on boy or girl. We really like it when the kids come with
Sandy. They brighten up our day.”

The technician continued to move the
wand.

“
Let’s see… here’s the
head,” the technician said. “The baby is getting big Sandy. For
such a tiny person, this is going to be a big baby. Here’s a hand.
Everything looks good.”