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TERRY
TWO WEEKS LATER
“First of all, I want to know how you guys found me. Secondly, you have about ten minutes to tell me what you want before I walk out,” Jeanette says.
“It’s not that hard to track someone down when you really want to,” I say. “We just got our people on it, and they did their thing.”
“I think that’s creepy,” she says.
“Yet here you are,” Caleb comments. “If you really thought it was that creepy, why did you come?”
To be honest, I’m rather surprised she did show up. We managed to convince her to meet us at a small café that isn’t far from where she’s staying with her friend in California. She said she was bringing her friend along, but it doesn’t appear she actually got that far.
Unless, of course, her friend is waiting elsewhere. I don’t know, and I don’t ask.
The three of us are seated at one side of the table, and she’s on the other, alone, glaring at us.
“I wanted to know what you want,” Jeanette says as she folds her arms over her chest. “If I wasn’t curious about that and the baby, then I would have told you all to fuck off. In fact, my best friend says I ought to have said to fuck off anyway, so you should be happy that I love Hendrix enough to show up and see what you guys want.”
“We really wanted to apologize to you,” Caleb says. “We found out who submitted that article, and we took care of the problem. But with that knowledge, there was no way we could go on without at least apologizing to you about what happened.”
“Oh?” she asks. “Who?”
“The bus driver,” Julian says. “I caught him red-handed selling our information to the tabloids. He thought he was smooth, but I guess when you get cocky, you fuck up.”
“He clearly thought with you taking the fall for the article, he was free to do what he wanted, and with that arrogant outlook, he got sloppy,” I add. “We were so pissed when we found out, we fired him on the spot. As it turns out, it’s a lot easier to find new drivers than it is anyone else.”
“Like nannies?” she asks. “Is that why you’re really here? Now that you know I’m not the one who sold your information to the press, you’re going to come crawling back and see if I can come watch Hendrix again?”
“I guess you could say that,” Caleb says with a shrug. “More like, we found a way to have both you and Hendrix in our lives, and with that being the case, we didn’t want to wait another second without coming to find out.”
“Oh?” Jeanette asks. “And how did that happen?”
“We don’t have the time to go into that right now,” I say. “It’s kind of a long story. And the whole reason we tracked you down is to say we’re sorry and we want you back. I don’t think any of us wants to spend time talking about Clarissa when we get to spend time with you.”
She looks from each of us to the next, then she shakes her head. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I can do this again. You did this to me in high school, and you’re doing it to me again now. If you had any idea how much you broke my heart with what you did to me, I don’t think you would have the balls to show up and talk to me now. You might think you’re hot shit and everything, but it would take a lot for you to show up even after that.”
I exchange a look with my brothers. I know we’re all thinking the same thing. It’s tough for us to apologize about anything, and I don’t think any of us expected her to be so reluctant toward us now.
We came all the way to California from Tennessee when we found out she was here, and she’s still taking the stance that we were in the wrong and she’s hurt by it.
“Look,” Julian says, “I don’t blame you for being pissed off at us. We deserve it, there’s no doubt about that. But if you knew how hard it’s been for us since you left, I know you would see that we know we fucked up this time.”
“You said that before,” she says. “You told me you felt that way when you were assholes to me in high school, but then you did it to me again. I can’t keep falling in love with you and breaking up with you and falling in love with you again. It’s too much for my heart, and I can’t take it anymore. If you’re not going to be with me, then I can’t keep being around you and pretending like it’s all good.”
“But that’s the thing,” I say. “We came to tell you we want to be with you.”
“I mean, you have to be with me,” she says. “None of this friends with benefits thing we’ve been doing. You might say that’s not what we were doing, but you know as well as I do that it’s exactly what we were doing, and I’m not happy about it. I hate it, in fact, I do.”
“Jeanette, you have to listen,” Caleb says. “We were put on the spot that night when Clarissa came to the bus. You’re going to know when it’s your own child one day, but when someone tells you that you have to pick between the love of your life and your own child, you can’t just blurt out the answer. That’s why none of us made that move. We had to figure out a way for this to work for everyone, and we found that.”
“But what about Clarissa?” Jeanette asks. “I can’t live my life always wondering what’s going to happen when she’s around. She made it clear how she feels about me, and I can’t in good conscience be with you and wonder all the time if you’re just going to go with it if she comes on to you. It’s not fair to me.”
“We are working with Clarissa,” I say. “I know that’s not what you want to hear, but we’re dealing with her in the way we know how. We’re going to get to the point that she’s no longer going to be in our lives, but until then, you’re going to have to bear with us. It’s only temporary, but for the sake of us and for Hendrix, we’re asking you to do it.”
She hesitates, and I know she’s torn. I rack my brain for something more to say. Anything that I can add to this that’s going to make her want to come back. I don’t know if there’s anything else we can say or do that’s going to convince her to come back, but the thought of losing her altogether makes me sick to my stomach.
I can’t lose her.
