The Denver Cereal (35 page)

Jill shook her
head.

“
Sandy said you painted as
a way to pay for your rent. Is that true?”

“
I’m no freeloader. It’s
nice that they let me and Katy stay here,
but . . .”

“
How did you pay for it?”
Mike asked.

“
I know the guys at
Belcaro Paints. They give me seconds and returns.”

“
And you give
them?”

“
I work as a color
consultant,” Jill said. “It’s easy,
and . . .”

“
Jill
! That’s what? Your third job?” Mike was so exasperated he
could barely speak.

“
Fourth.
But . . .”

“
When did you eat
last?”

“
At Pete’s on Wednesday. I
always eat at Pete’s when I work. It’s one of the reasons I work
there. But Pete won’t let me work, so . . . What am
I going to do, Mike?”

“
You’re going to let me
give you money,” he said. “I make really good money, Jill. When
your feet are healed, and you take in all that’s happened, you’ll
decide what you want to do.”

“
I will pay you every
penny back,” Jill said.

“
You will not. I won’t let
you.”

“
But . . .”

“
Dad was wrong, Jill.
About so many things. Just plain wrong. He never would have let me
marry Val. Never. Not because she wasn’t good for me or didn’t love
me or even because she isn’t Catholic. He wouldn’t let me marry Val
because he was afraid. He didn’t want us to have friends or make
connections here. He was afraid they would
get . . .”

“
Discovered,” Jill
said.

“
You remember what
happened?”

“
I’ve always remembered
what happened. But whenever I talked about what happened, I was
told that I was wrong.”

Mike hugged Jill
again.

“
Do you
want . . .”

“
I don’t want to talk
about that now,” Jill said.

“
When you’re ready, I know
someone who has all the answers about our parents.”

“
Okay,” Jill said. “I
can’t deal with it today. Is that all right?”

“
Of course. What’s going
to make this better, Jill?” Mike asked. “If I had known how hard it
was to be with Trevor, I would have helped you.
I . . .”

“
I know,” Jill said. “I
couldn’t let you help. I mean, I begged Megan to let us get
married. One week into it, I wanted to come home. I screwed up.
Then, it was one tiny step at a time into a complete nightmare.
I . . .”

“
And now?”

“
I don’t know.” Jill
sighed.

Mike nodded.

“
What would you
eat?”

“
You know, I’d love to go
to Pete’s. I really miss it,” Jill said.

“
Let’s go,” he
said.

“
Do you
mind . . .”

“
I know how hard it is to
believe, but normal people don’t care about paying for a meal or
helping out. They want to do it.”

“
Are you saying you’re
normal?”

Mike laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Sandy wasn’t sure what to
make of Aden. Ever since she flew down the stairs from Val’s
apartment, he had this weird smile on his face. He was so awkward
and odd that she was sure she’d offended him. He just held her hand
like a prom date.

But she didn’t dare ask
him in front of Sam.

Tucked into the blue
dress, she was cinched, bolstered, pressed, and made up to where
she looked like . . . a movie star. She was even
wearing a pair of Valerie’s Christian Louboutin black pumps. Her
toes stretched into the toilet paper Valerie had stuffed into the
toes. As long as she didn’t have to pee or sneeze, she was in good
shape.

Yep, Sandy was
prettified.

And Aden was
weird.

They dropped Sam in front
of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Colfax. The limo
driver turned onto Logan Street before Sandy said
something.

“
You are acting very
strange,” Sandy said.

Aden pressed the back of
her hand to his pants.

“
Oh,” Sandy
said.

“
I’m a little
uncomfortable,” Aden replied. “No blood flow to the
brain.”

The limo driver pulled
over on Logan Street to let them out.

“
I’m not wearing
underwear.” The driver opened the door for her and she scooted out
of the limo. Under her breath, she said, “Can’t have panty
lines.”

“
Now, that’s just unfair,”
Aden said.

Sandy giggled. Aden
followed her out of the limo. Kissing her on the sidewalk, his
hands moved to check the underwear promise. She grabbed his
hands.

“
You’re very
beautiful.”

She smiled. Hearing the
music for the wedding, they hurried down the sidewalk and up the
stairs into the Cathedral where Trevor’s wedding was about to
start.

There is something you could do

Sam sighed.

Like the kind, stupid
step-father he had become, Sam waited outside the bridal chamber.
His eyes drifted over the pews filled with the society people
Tiffanie had befriended with his money. He wasn’t even Catholic.
Out of nowhere, a single thought echoed in his head:

“
I’ll never see any of
these pretentious, stupid people ever again.”

Sam beamed. He nodded to
Aden and Sandy as they came through the door. They sat in the back
pew of the church.

The music started and the
wedding party began down the aisle. Trevor waited at the end of the
aisle for his bride.

Sam steeled himself for
the walk down the aisle.

The door opened a crack.
Tiffanie was pushed out of the bridal chamber by small hands with
acrylic French tips.

“
Sam,” Tiffanie
said.

“
Do
.
It
.
Now
.” His
stepdaughter whispered through the crack in the door.

“
Sam,
I . . .”

“
She doesn’t want to be
married to you anymore.” The step-whore pushed her mother out of
the doorway. Dressed in her wedding finery, her made-up face
twisted with hate and anger. “You stupid fuck. You look ridiculous
in that tuxedo. Give. Him. The. Papers. Mother. DO. IT.
NOW.”

“
Tiffanie, you don’t have
to do this,” Sam said.

He felt more than saw Aden
get up from the pew.

“
Yes, she does,” the
step-whore said. Whipping around, her train flipped into the aisle
and the step-whore stood at the end of the aisle.

The wedding crowd stood
for the bride.

“
I was going to have you
walk me down the aisle. But I didn’t want an incompetent fool like
you to soil my day. This is the start of
my
new life.”

Her hand pushed at Sam’s
chest.

“
I don’t want you to
be
any
part
of
my
life. We
don’t want anything to do with
you
.”

Watching this drama
unfold, the crowd began to whisper to each other.

“
MOTHER!”

Tiffanie’s face held a
gentle smile for Sam. She gave him a stack of papers. He opened the
divorce papers and shook his head.

“
Now get out of this
church!” the step-whore said. “TREVOR!”

“
Tiffanie . . .”

“
It’s okay, Sam,” Tiffanie
said. “Tell Jacob not to worry about the bill.”

“
You don’t have to do
this.”

Tiffanie kissed his
cheek.

“
Sweet Sam,” Tiffanie
said. “I’ve never been able to say no to her. Her father, either.
It’s for the best.”

Trevor and his best man
reached for Sam’s arms to throw him out of the church. But Aden
blocked their way. Trevor moved to hit Aden. Aden shifted. In one
easy movement, Aden threw Trevor over his hip. Trevor landed with a
thump on the ground. The best man took one look at Aden and stepped
back.

“
Trevor!” the step-whore
screamed. “Oh my God! Mother! Look what you’ve done!”

“
Come on, Big Sam,” Aden
said. “We have other things to do today.”

The step-whore flew at
Sam. Her fists battered his chest. Her acrylic nails reached for
Sam’s eyes.

“
May I?” Sandy
asked.

Aden shrugged.

Sandy grabbed the
step-whore by her shoulders and threw her off Sam. Leaving Trevor
and his bride on the floor of the church vestibule, Sam, Aden, and
Sandy jogged down the Cathedral steps.

Tiffanie stood at the door
and waved good-bye.

The music started inside
the church as they walked up Colfax to the parking lot. Sam opened
the limo door for Sandy. Aden scooted in behind her. Sam bent to
speak to them.

“
I’m going to walk a
little bit,” Sam said.

“
Are you all right?” Aden
asked. He moved to get out of the limousine. “We can walk with
you.”

“
I
feel . . .” Sam’s eyes welled with tears. “My Celia
is right here with me. I have my wife . . . my
life . . . back . . . I can’t explain
it. I . . . I’d like to walk with Celia for a while.
Don’t worry. I’m fine. Jacob wakes up at four o’clock?”

“
Four o’clock.
Right.”

“
I’ll be there,” Sam said.
He laughed. “There is something you could do for me.”

“
Anything,” Aden
said.

Sam gave Aden the divorce
papers and yanked an ornate wedding ring off his left hand. He
smiled and handed the ring to Aden. He took off his bow tie and
unbuttoned his shirt. Pulling out a long gold chain, he jerked a
worn silver band from the chain. He gave Aden the broken chain and
slipped the ring on his left ring finger. Sam’s face broke into a
huge smile. He walked off toward Sixteenth Street. Sam waved to
them as they drove by.

“
Wow,” Sandy said. “What
are you going to do with that?”

Aden rolled down the
window and threw the ornate wedding band out the window. Sandy
watched it bounce along the payment until it dropped through a
sewer drain.

“
Where to?” the limo
driver asked.

“
My house?” Sandy
asked.

“
Oh, yes.”

~~~~~~~~

“
We need to make sure
we’re there when Jacob wakes up,” Delphie said to
Valerie.

“
What’s the big deal?”
Valerie asked. “He’s been in and out of medication for the last
week.”

“
Medication blocks a
psychic’s ability. I know it sounds weird, but for a true psychic,
your ability to intuit is like a third leg. When your intuition is
clogged, you don’t remember the most basic things. It’s like being
brain damaged.”

“
Like when you had your
hysterectomy?” Valerie asked. “I’d better call the hospital
immediately.”

Valerie dialed Denver
Health on her cell phone. She waited on hold for Jacob’s
nurse.

“
My hysterectomy? That was
not good,” Delphie said.

“
You couldn’t remember
your name,” Valerie said. “You kept asking me how I grew up so
fast. You thought I was twelve. It was hilarious.”

“
Yes, it was,” Delphie
said. “All of that medication is going to catch up to Jacob. You
know how intense your brother can be.”

Valerie held up a finger.
Talking back and forth, she thanked the nurse and hung up the
phone.

“
He’s awake and with the
doctor now. The nurse said he will be released at four o’clock.
Something about medication half-life . . .
something.”

“
We’d better be
there.”

Valerie nodded.

~~~~~~~~

“
Oh my God,” Aden
said.

He fell onto the bed.
Sandy laughed and rolled onto her side. He caressed her naked
shoulder.

“
Sorry about the dress,”
he said.

“
The zipper was stuck when
I tried it on. It’s just restuck.”

“
Re-stuck? That sounds
very fun.”

He helped her out of the
rest of the dress and slipped on top of her. She lifted her head to
kiss his lips. His eyes gently moved across her face.

“
I love you,
Sandy.”

Sandy’s entire body
reacted in horror. She pushed him off her. Her body vibrated with
emotion but she was too upset to speak.

“
What?”

She threw his shoe at him,
then another.

“
LIAR!”

“
What
happened?”

“
GET OUT OF MY
HOUSE!”

Aden ducked to avoid a
half-full champagne glass that flew across the room at him. Sandy
balled up his tuxedo and undergarments. Stomping to the door, she
threw his clothing outside her apartment door.