Music City (12 page)

When Derek told Shelly he had located Thomas
Bradshaw at the Friendly Garden Extended Care Facility in Auburn, Alabama she was thrilled. She was surprised he was in Alabama, when everything indicated he had worked out of Erie, and since he had left the trucking job to be with his family more, she assumed he would have still been in the Erie area.

Shelly told Derek she was anxious to arrange for a visit to see Mr.
Bradshaw. She really wanted to thank him, and hoped he could truly understand how deeply grateful she was for his great concern and help. Shelly thought that the fact that he was in an extended care home and had a daughter with little ones was sure to give her an opportunity to help. She only hoped that she could, in some small way, repay the kindness he had shown her so many years ago. Shelly called Vani first, Shelly always called Vani first, when it came to these matters.

Vani got right to work arranging Shelly’s schedule, as well as her own, so they could fly to Alabama to visit Tom
Bradshaw and his daughter. The first stop was going to be at Noel’s home, as she had requested and from there they would go to the extended care facility that Tom now called home. Shelly thought that taking Tom’s daughter with her would be easier on him. She didn’t want to upset him by barging in with a bunch of strangers in tow.

Shelly thought back to the meeting with Dorothy and Billy Joe. In part, she felt sorry for Dorothy, but that her own sister could have anything to do with her husband’s extortion repulsed Shelly. She had always wanted to believe that her family had fared alright, had managed to become decent upstanding citizens in spite of their conditions, but after meeting Dorothy, she couldn’t hold onto that ivory tower dream. Honestly, she just wanted to ignore the whole mess, but knew she couldn’t. She would have to handle everything delicately and remember to keep Alex and Derek in the loop, so that they could handle as many issues as possible, perhaps give her advice as to how to handle things on her side, without relying so much on Vani.

Tracy sat in a wooden swing in a dark corner of his yard, studying the faint wisps of fog rising up from the pool. The coke in front of him was barely touched, the condensation rolled down the sides and was making a puddle on the table, but he noticed neither the ever-expanding water ring, nor the passing of time.

He thought about his family and where he was in his life right now. He felt as though he were headed in the right direction, though he couldn’t explain why he knew that. He always wished to be more like his sister, when it came to knowing what he wanted. Vani, as a small child, fell in love with their Dad’s business, with its power and various aspects of control involved…and being the good father that he was, Trent was thrilled. He helped her enormously. On the other hand, Tracy was different. Tracy wondered what people felt and what they wanted from life; he wanted to understand why people wanted what they did and most of all, Tracy wanted to write.

“Hey, Trace, mind if I join you?” His sister asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Tracy scooted over on the bench seat of the swing, “Of course not, there’s always room for you, sis,” he smiled.

Vani rocked the swing gently with her foot. A steady back and forth. She was confused about all that had gone on in the past few days. They had a good life and she liked everything the way it was all these years. The existence of possible new family members made her shudder with apprehension. Finally, she voiced her concerns to Tracy.

“We do not know for sure, Tracy, if those people are really related to Momma or not.” She shook her head and sighed. “If this becomes public, we have a big problem and that is all I want to prevent.”

Tracy nodded in agreement, but his heart tugged at his curiosity to know if he had more family that he never knew existed.

Vani waved her hands out at the span of the grounds, they looked at as she proclaimed, “Momma and Daddy built all of this for us and no one is going to change any of that.”

Tracy put a hand on his sister’s leg. “Vani, finding out we have more family doesn’t mean that things will change here,” he said quietly. “Try to think of it as just enhancing what we already have, not taking anything away.”

Vani shook her head, “Tracy, you don’t understand. Our entire lives, it’s been us. Just us. I’m afraid if we find out we have all this extended family, it won’t ever be the same again.”

Tracy hugged her to him, “Vani, things change all the time, you know that. Just because there is the possibility of a change, doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a bad change.”

Vani shrugged, “It doesn’t guarantee it’s going to be a good change either, Tracy.”

“No, nothing is guaranteed, we learned that a long time ago, didn’t we? But, I think we also learned that we can turn change into a good thing, or at least manage it without too much changing us.” Tracy stood up then and faced his sister. “Look, when Dad died, that was about the biggest change any family could ever experience. Some people would have never gotten over it, they would have turned to addictions to comfort them, or they would have crawled in a hole never to be heard from again. We didn’t do that, we stuck together and got through it together, because that is who we are and that is what we do.”

Vani shrugged again, but Tracy knew she was listening to him.

“It’s what we do Vani, we stick together, no matter what, and finding out we have a bunch of cousins, or new aunts and uncles isn’t going to change that unless we let it. We’re still the same people, and we will always be the same, adding new people to our lives isn’t going to change who we are... I know you know that. I think this is something that is important to Momma. It’s her family, we need to support her in any way that we can.”

Vani sniffed, and swiped at her face, a sure sign she was crying, “We’re her family Tracy. She’s never needed anyone else before, why does she need someone else now?”

Tracy’s heart broke for his sister. He pulled her up from her seat and into a hug. “Momma is always going to need us Vani, no matter who else is in her life. Even if she gets married again, she’s always going to need us.”

Vani’s eye shot up at that comment and Tracy knew he had just scared his sister. He decided he better smooth that comment over quickly. “Vani, I’m not saying Momma’s going to get married again, good grief, she’d have to go on a date with someone first.”

Vani shrugged, “I know you’re right, and I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m being such a baby about this.”

Tracy smiled at his sister, “You never liked sharing, even when we were little.”

Vani playfully slapped at her brother and laughed. “I didn’t like sharing with you because you were always trying to organize me, and sort my dolls’ clothes by type, color, and my books in alphabetical order, you were always trying to fix me!”

Tracy laughed, “That wasn’t me trying to fix you, that was me trying to keep you from being a total slob.”

Shelly moved away quietly, and went back through the patio doors, and shut them behind her. She was standing there listening, loving hearing her adult children confiding in each other as had done all of  their lives.  She knew she should leave them their privacy, but couldn’t help hearing the concerns they had. “Bless their hearts.” She whispered. She knew she had to be careful with their feelings in her search.

Tracy was distracted, Derek could tell. He wasn’t sure if it had to do with his Mother going to visit the trucker he had found in Alabama, the girl he had met at the party, Brandy, or something else entirely.

“The
Frederick report?” Derek asked a little more loudly than he had the previous three times he had asked while standing here at Tracy’s desk. Tracy sat oblivious in his chair, lost in another world.

Derek walked around Tracy’s desk a
nd put his hand on his shoulder which startled Tracy and he jumped out of his chair and turned to face Derek.

“Tracy, are you alright?” Derek asked.

Tracy just shrugged.

“Come on Tracy, I thought we were friends. What is going on with you? You were a million miles away just then.”

Tracy looked up at Derek, and Derek could see the pain in his eyes. He led him around his desk and to the comfortable sitting area that Tracy had designed himself. Alex and Derek had a few plastic chairs sitting there before Tracy came. Derek sat down on the overstuffed chair and pointed to the sofa. “Sit,” he ordered.

Tracy sat down on the sofa and sighed.

“What’s up?”

Tracy shrugged again and kept his eyes trained on Derek’s feet. “It’s a woman,” he finally admitted with a groan, rubbing his eyes wearily with his hand.

Derek smiled, this was one area he could help him with. “Brandy’s a nice girl. So, have you seen her since that night at your Mom’s party?”

Tracy shook his head, “No, I haven’t seen Brandy, but Brandy’s not the problem.”

Derek was surprised, “There’s another woman? I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”

“I’m not.”

Derek was lost. “If you’re not seeing anyone else, and Brandy’s not the problem, I’m not sure I understand what has you so upset.”

Tracy took a deep breath, clearly trying to decide where to start. Derek sat back in the chair and relaxed. Tracy would start talking when he was ready. After a few moments had passed without a word from Tracy, Derek decided he needed a little prodding.

“Okay, so it’s not your Mom, it’s not Brandy, who is it, Tracy? Why don’t we start there?”

Tracy ran his hands through his curly dark hair in agitation. “Her name is Cheryl.”

Derek nodded, though Tracy wasn’t looking at him. “Okay, what about Cheryl?” Derek pushed.

Tracy took a deep breath. “My sophomore year of college, I took a creative writing course. It was taught by what I thought was one of the best teachers on campus. Everyone loved taking her classes, she had a reputation of being tough but fair.”

Derek nodded, “Okay, I’m with you so far.”

“About halfway through the semester, I was having trouble finding the voice I wanted to use on this piece I was working on. I went to her, explained the problem I was having and asked for her feedback.” Tracy got up and went to the water cooler they kept there for clients to use and poured a glass of water. He brought the cup to his lips and drank the entire glass in one gulp. Quickly refilling it, he finished his second cup and returned to the sofa, unconsciously rotating the paper cup between his fingers.

“She told me she saw where she thought I wanted to go, and asked if I would mind coming with her to her office, to go over it. I didn’t think anything of it. Once we got there, she went over it, and pointed out where she thought I was having trouble and told me how she would proceed if it were her.”

Derek nodded, “I’ve had professors help me like that before too.”

“Well, after that, she struck up a conversation with me... She was just so easy to talk to. Before I knew it, I was in her office for over two hours, just talking. It was nice, you know, having this person I admired seem to take an interest in me. She was gorgeous... that didn’t hurt things at all.”

“So after a little bit, she points out the time, and says we’re having such a good conversation, we should continue it at this little place she knows downtown, we can grab a bite, have a drink and enjoy ourselves a little while continuing our conversation. So, I agree, drive to the place, go in get seated, and our conversation continues.”

“I can’t explain how she did it, but she made me feel like I was so special. Someone important... she said she saw so much potential in me, and I guess I fell for it hook line and sinker, because before I knew it, well, after a few drinks, I found myself in her bed.”

Derek sighed, “Oh boy.”

Tracy nodded, “Yeah. You can see where this is going. But that’s not the worst part.”

“It’s not?”

Tracy shook his head, “No. She is—or was—married. Her husband, from what I understand, is gone a lot for his job. But, I didn’t know that at first. I really did think she was single when I started seeing her.”

“Not to be the moral police, but you do realize you should have ended it as soon as you found out she was married?”

“Yes, I know I should have, and I meant to, I really did mean to. At first I was afraid she’d fail me in her class. Then I found out that I had to take another class from her that was required for my degree and she was the only professor who taught it.”

Derek was starting to see where he was headed. “So, you have had this relationship with Cheryl since you were a
sophomore in college?”

Tracy nodded, looking even more miserable.

“And now you need advice on how to break up with her because you met Brandy?”

Tracy shook his head, “No. Yes. I mean, yes, I don’t want to start a relationship with Brandy while I still have this thing with Cheryl going on the side. I won’t do that to her. No, I don’t need advice on breaking up with Cheryl. I met with her last night, and told her I had met someone and I couldn’t see her anymore.”