Hearts In Rhythm (8 page)

Instead, she felt nothing but two hands on her arms and heard a voice repeating, “Allie, it’s me. Allie. Allie. It’s me.”

She stopped screaming and opened her eyes to see Brandon standing before her with a black hoodie shrouding his face. His gentle eyes were studying her, pleading with her to calm herself and see him, for who he was, not who she was imagining him to be.

She threw both arms around him, erasing the earlier incident from her mind. She forgot the embarrassment and the attraction and was overcome with feelings of relief, comfort, and safety. She couldn’t loosen her grip. She wanted to hold onto him forever. She felt his arms wrap around her tighter and she pressed herself closer into him, willing herself to crawl inside his skin, to find a sanctuary within where she would never fear again. A place where her worries were blown away like fluff from a dandelion. She felt his arms around her like a blanket, warm and soft. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter hoping he would never let go.

* * * *

Brandon held onto Allie tightly as darkness settled over the entire town. It wasn’t late, but early December invited darkness to come at a ridiculously early hour. He leaned into her, breathing in the scent from the brown curly hair that was piled on top of her head. In the silence of the night, on this abandoned street, he heard her sobs being released into his jacket. She was so tender, and he couldn’t help but find that irresistible.

He understood now that she was putting on a façade with the tough act. She was a young mother, struggling to care for her son. She was willing to sacrifice so much for Samuel. She had needs of her own, and yet she had pushed them all aside to do what needed to be done. That in itself also made her sexy to him. Not to mention, she was smoking hot on the drums.

He knew he had tough decisions to make. He may have lost the woman he loved tonight, but the way Allie touched him, the desire that built hot inside him, the kiss she wanted all made him wonder if that was meant to be. He couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if Simone had not stepped in. As soon as he realized Allie had left on foot, he went after her. He could not even think straight.

He reluctantly pulled himself away from her.

“Hey,” he said softly. “Are you okay?”

Tears streamed down her face. He reached up and wiped them away.

She looked at him deeply. “I’m scared.”

He pulled her closer to himself again, caressing her back. She needed taken care of, not like Simone who had her family and also made sure he knew that she could take care of herself anytime.

“Let me walk you the rest of the way home,” he said and he smiled when she agreed.

The air was brisk as Allie and Brandon walked toward her house. A strong gust of wind rattled the dead leaves on the end of the oak trees, as the last few hung on. They were always the last to fall. The crunchy leaves blew across the sidewalk and Allie pulled her sweater closer. She wished she’d remembered a heavier coat when she left home. That seemed like such a long time ago considering all that had taken place.

Brandon noticed and pulled off his sweatshirt and offered it to her. It was warm from his body and smelled clean.

The moon was casting a soft glow on the sidewalks, lighting their way. She’d put her shoes back on. Even though it slowed them down it was better than the cold that was eating at her toes. Going slower also meant more time to be with Brandon.

She felt oddly comfortable with him now. So far he hadn’t said anything about her come-on or her melt down. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He had a strong jaw. Allie always liked that in a man. A squared off jaw revealed a determined man. Strong and capable. A man who could take care of a woman and her needs, both emotional and physical.

Unlike Dylan, who wanted to only meet his own needs, even if murdering an infant is what it took. When Allie thought of Dylan nowadays, it took everything she had to not physically get sick. Samuel was her life. She couldn’t imagine a life without him. Most days, she pushed back the guilt she felt. But time doesn’t heal all wounds, contrary to what well-intentioned people attempt to convince you.

Sometimes the memories of that day, the truth of what she almost did to Samuel overwhelms her. It chokes her. She hated Dylan for having suggested it. Not only suggesting it, but for looking up the number in the phone book and handing it to her scribbled on the back of a receipt.

Brandon turned his head towards her. Not wanting him to know she’d been staring at him while her thoughts wandered, she looked up in the sky above his head, averting her eyes upward.

“Beautiful moon tonight,” she said pointing overhead.

He looked up.

“Wow. You’re right it is beautiful. But it’s making me a little hungry. It looks like a big old pizza in the sky.” Without warning, he broke into song.
“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.”

As a big finish, he stretched his arms out with a wide flourish, hitting Allie right in the nose with the back of his right hand.

Her hands went to her face covering her nose as she doubled over in pain. The blood began to seep through her fingertips and splatter on the concrete sidewalk in dark drops.

“Oh my gosh, are you all right? I’m so sorry. Let me see, are you all right?”

Allie stood upright and removed her hands from her face revealing a bloodied nose and a busted lip.

“I think I have a tissue,” she said. She squatted on the sidewalk underneath a lamppost and began rummaging through her purse. She dug through lipstick tubes, a receipt from a clothing department store where she recently bought a pair of black stiletto heels that she had yet to wear, and no reason to. There was a toy truck of Samuel’s, and an unopened package of graham crackers that was nothing but crumbs.

Pens, notepads, crayons, and a broken watch were no help for a bloody nose. She searched for a tissue with no luck using her right hand. She kept her left hand pressed to her face to catch the blood droplets falling.

In frustration she picked up her purse and turned it upside down dumping all the contents out on the sidewalk. Not finding a tissue, she had to do what she had to do. There, lying on the sidewalk in the pile of purse debris was one of Samuel’s dirty socks. She had no choice. She put it to her nose and looked up to see Brandon’s reaction. He was nowhere to be seen.

She turned around scanning the night for any trace of him. Just another runaway hero, she thought. Then she saw his silhouette sitting on a bench half a block up. She tilted her head back squeezing her nose just like Nurse Dunham from Wingfield Elementary had taught her. When she was certain the bleeding had stopped, she stooped back down and scooped up her belongings back into her purse and began to walk toward Brandon.

“Well, how do you like that?” she asked reaching the bench. Brandon was sitting with his elbows propped on his knees, holding his head in his hands.

“Here I am, a damsel in distress, a bloody nose and a busted lip, caused by
you
I might add, and what do you do? You high tail it out of here!”

She double-checked to ensure the bleeding had stopped and then tossed the bloody sock in the wastebasket sitting beside the bench.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “It’s just that…well it’s a bit embarrassing.”

“More embarrassing than everything that’s happened to me?” Allie interrupting pointing to her shirt with several blood spots on it. What could be worse than being slapped by his girlfriend, running and crying like a scared child, and stopping a bloody nose with a dirty sock?

“It’s just, I can’t handle the sight of blood. I get sick to my stomach.” He answered.

“You’ve got to be kidding me? Had you been a true gentleman, you’d have offered me your handkerchief, but instead you’ve been over here barfing in the bushes?”

He raised his head and looked at her. “Yep, puking in the park.”

She laughed, “Yakking on the yard?”

Brandon paused thinking, then continued, “Vomiting in the vicinity.”

Laughter ensued. He stood and put his arm through Allie’s walking toward home.

“Spewing in the snow.”

“Retching in winter.”

“Hey, that doesn’t work.”

“Why not, it starts with the same sound. Almost.”

“You know, this is the second time you’ve seriously hurt me, said Allie. “You do remember the tumble we took at Given’s Grocery? I had a sprained ankle for two days; I could barely walk. I think you need to make it up to me.”

“Do you have any suggestions?”

“Well, for starters,” she said with a slight grin. “I’d like you to finish your song.”

Brandon laughed. “Okay, but make sure you stand back this time.”

He began to sing loud and deep,
“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s Amore. When the world seems to shine like you’ve had too much wine, that’s Amore. Bells will ring ting-a-ling-a-ling, ting-a-ling-a-ling and you’ll sing Vita Bella.”

Allie felt her heart smile. She hadn’t enjoyed someone else’s company in a long time, and it felt good to have fun.

Brandon finished the song and looked at Allie. They stopped walking and stood staring at one another.

“You know what sounds really good?” Allie asked.

“Pizza,” they both said at once. Brandon looped his arm in hers once again and they walked toward the pizza parlor.

Chapter Eight

Allie and Brandon sat across from each other at Leo’s Pizza Parlor. It felt good to be in a warm place and out of the cold. Allie’s first stop was to the restroom to clean her face and hands. She looked terrible. Her cheeks were bright red from the cold, one worse than the other from the slap Simone delivered. Her tears had caused the eye make-up that she had so carefully applied to run, leaving black streaks running down her cheeks.

Her eyes really did look black now. She took a paper towel and wet it under the hot water. She wiped her eyes clean and scrubbed the splatters of blood from her face. Her top lip was busted in the middle and had grown larger than usual. What a night. She couldn’t wait to get home and put on pajamas and fuzzy socks on her cold feet.

The restaurant was quiet with only another couple sitting across the room. She slid into the booth across from Brandon and opened the menu. Deciding on a pizza proved to be another hurdle of the night.

She wanted pepperoni, but it gave him heartburn. He liked olives; she would rather stick her hand in a lawnmower than eat an olive. After several minutes of deliberating the type of pizza to order, they finally decided they would order half pepperoni, and half Canadian bacon with olives. It was all settled until the waiter asked what kind of crust: thin, hand tossed, or thick. Brandon rested his head on the back of the booth, looking up at the amber light that hung over their table.

“Allie, just choose. I’m too hungry to fight anymore.”

“Thin,” she said.

Brandon popped his head up.

“There is hope,” he said smiling.

Allie smiled back, noticing for the first time the dimple in his left cheek. She wondered why she hadn’t noticed yet. His eyes usually held her attention. Boldness got the better of her and the words came out before she could stop herself.

“What a great smile you have. You should show it more often.”

The waiter cleared his throat. “Will there be anything else?”

Brandon turned to the waiter, remembering he was there. “No, I think that will be all.”

“Very well,” he said, “We’ll have it right out.”

Brandon turned back to Allie.

“So, let’s talk business. What do you think about playing
Fallen Sky
at this next gig? Do you think we can get it down by then?”

      “Okay, time to embarrass myself
again
, but I’m not familiar with
Fallen Sky.
Who sings it?”

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and took a sip of her soda from the straw.

“Actually, Brandon said, “me.”

Allie raised her eyebrows. “You wrote it?”

Brandon nodded, “I’m pretty proud of it, too. I’ve got a recording at the house, I’d like for you to hear it soon.”

The waiter arrived with the pizza and sat it on the table. Allie turned it to where the pepperoni was facing her.

“I’m sure it’s great, and I’d love to hear it,” she said.

He smiled again revealing his dimple and reached for a piece of pizza.

Allie felt something stir inside her. This was serious. Yet, she still didn’t know what had happened between he and Simone tonight. She figured if he wanted her to know, he would tell her. Besides, she was enjoying herself too much to risk ruining it with talk of her.

* * * *

Sunday morning came too early. Allie couldn’t keep from yawning. She scanned the bag of potato chips and put her hand up as a sign of politeness. She finished ringing up the elderly ladies groceries.

“Excuse me. Anything else?” she asked.

“No, honey, that’s all.”

      “$56.24”

The lady began pilfering through her purse, digging loose change from the bottom. She handed her $56.25 and said, “You know, honey, you wouldn’t be so tired if you went to bed at a decent hour. You young kids today stay up too late. Listening to music, talking on your cordless phones, doing all that computer stuff. Why, back in my day it was early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy,” the lady paused. She looked at the ceiling tiles, as if in a vain attempt to remember. “And , something, something else.”

Allie handed her a penny along with her receipt.

“Yes ma’am,” she said. “I’ll be sure and remember that. Have a nice afternoon.”

Allie suppressed another yawn. She was burning the candles at both ends. She couldn’t afford to take off work while Samuel was in the hospital, and she certainly couldn’t depend on Dylan to be any help.

She actually called him when Samuel got hurt. She knew she was opening a can of worms but she needed some support, financially and emotionally. And she thought there might be a slim chance he might care. She was exhausted from spending her nights at the hospital, staying with Samuel most of the day, and then working. If only that old woman accusing her of being a kid really knew why she was so tired. It’s not like sleep is a common occurrence on a sofa in a hospital room.

It was a low moment when she’d called Dylan. He hadn’t answered and Allie had hung up without leaving a message. She was thankful now that he ignored her. In the meantime, Maureen had stepped in and offered to help out by staying with Samuel while Allie got some rest after her shift today. Maureen was great. She was a 35-year-old single mom, except her kids were well into their teenage years and really wanted nothing to do with her anymore. They’d hit the stage where friends outweighed family. Allie could relate. It wasn’t that long ago when she was their age.

Maureen wore her hair in an early 90’s style; big and poufy with bangs. She was caught in a time warp and wore button down bright shirts covered in geometric designs. But her heart was big and she was willing to help anyone in need. Allie knew of times that she paid for people’s groceries who had fallen on hard times. There was even one elderly gentleman that Maureen would deliver groceries to, which wasn’t a service of Given’s. Maureen had also stepped in to help with Allie’s car trouble.

Yesterday, Allie had Maureen pick her up for work since her car was still sitting across the street from Brandon’s house. She didn’t have the money to fix it and was going to have to depend on others for a while. Since her mom was off work today, she was able to borrow her car but that wasn’t going to last for long since her mom was going to need it as well. But Maureen said it wasn’t any trouble to swing by and get her.

Allie felt the phone in her apron pocket buzz, notifying her of a text message. She pulled it out quickly reading it between customers. It was from her mom. The hospital was discharging Sammie today. A smile spread across Allie’s face. Things were looking up. The infection was gone and Samuel could recover at home until it was time to remove the casts. Then he’d be back to his old ornery self.

The clock ticked slowly as the hours of the day passed. Samuel had gotten home around one o’clock Gail had informed her. The two hours until her shift ended felt like two days. At 3:00 she clocked out and walked to her mom’s car, anxious to get home and see Samuel.

She approached the car and found a note under the windshield. It was a receipt from Kline’s Music House. Scribbled on the back were the words
Come by my house when you get off
. It was simply signed B.

She wanted to see him badly. It had been two days since she’d seen him last and he was on her mind now more than ever. She still didn’t know what had transpired between him and Simone or if she was still in the picture.

Simone probably hated her guts and blamed their problems on her, maybe she even called her a “home wrecker” to her friends. She didn’t really care. She secretly wanted their relationship to end so she could have him for herself.

Many thoughts passed through her mind as to what he might want with her. But also she wanted to see Samuel and spend time with him. After sitting behind the wheel wondering, she decided she’d never find out unless she went. Samuel would understand.

Brandon opened the door with wide smile. Allie’s heart did a triple beat.

“Come in, have a seat,” he said pointing to the futon. The pillow and blanket that was there the other night still lay on it as if someone had been sleeping there regularly.

He walked to the stereo system and put in a disc.

Allie walked over and gently pushed the blanket out of the way. A scent arose from the blanket, a manly smell. She sat down on the edge of the futon with her hands clasped between her knees.

The music began blasting from the speakers. Brandon turned it down, apologizing softly, and walked over to Allie. He picked up the blanket, tossed it to the end of the sofa and sat on the seat next to her. He leaned all the way back and crossed his legs.

The music floated through the air, a simple melody on a keyboard, and then Brandon’s soulful voice began to sing.

“I didn’t know you played the piano,” Allie said.

“Shhhh, listen,” Brandon said, putting his finger to his lips. He closed his eyes, completely relaxed, losing himself in the music. Allie sat back farther on the sofa and closed her eyes too. She allowed the music to fill her, and in an instant she felt alone, forgetting that she was here in Brandon’s modest house, next to a blanket and a pillow that smelled like a man.

The song was about a woman, lost and abandoned, searching for someone to rescue her. A woman with bad decisions in her past, struggling and yearning for forgiveness and a second chance. In the end she received love and began to live a life anew.

Of course Allie had never heard the song before, however it was ironically familiar. She thought of herself and how the song mirrored her. It was her life. It was her story. It was her. She was the woman in the song. She had made bad decisions in the past, hoping for someone to love her. Hoping for Dylan to come through as a dad and yet left disappointed. Now, she was struggling and yearning for that love that everyone else seemed to grab a hold of but it only fell through her fingers. She hoped her story would end like the woman’s in the song, where her prince Charming came and made everything better.

When the song ended, she opened her eyes and saw Brandon sitting next to her. A visible shiver came over her. He must’ve noticed because he picked up the blanket and draped it over her shoulders.

“It is chilly, isn’t it?” He said.

She hugged the blanket around her, not sure whether it was cold she was feeling or the heat from the moment causing the goose bumps to appear. She wrapped the blanket tighter hoping to shield herself from this new feeling coming over her.

It had been a long time since Allie had been alone with a guy. After she discovered she was pregnant with Samuel, and his dad deserted them, she swore off guys forever.

“Honey, men are no good,” her mom said that hot summer day while turning fried chicken in the skillet. Allie sat at the kitchen table, a wadded Kleenex in her hand filled with her tears and snot.

“I’m sorry you’ve had to discover this so young, but really, I’ve been trying to tell you since you were a child. Haven’t you learned anything from watching me? I mean, if I taught you anything, surely I’ve shown you that you can’t depend on a man.”

She didn’t need any more words from her mom to validate this truth. Her broken heart was telling her all she needed to hear.

There had been other guys show interest in her. She always declined their invitation and advances. After Samuel was born, she decided there was no other person more important than him. Guilt pained her as she thought of Samuel at home while she was here with Brandon. Shouldn’t she be there?

She was not going to let men come and go through the doors like she had watched her mother do. Her mother went through boyfriends faster than some women go through shampoo. Some of the men had been okay, but the majority of them had not.