Broken Lives (17 page)

“
Doll, I think we should
throw a party.” 

I look over at Bobby; he is crushing pills in
a bowl. A spoon, lighter, and needle are next to him on the
nightstand. 

“
Who would we invite to
come? Since we have been staying here, we haven’t really seen
anyone from the streets.” 

“
Let me take care of
that.” 

“
Sure, why not? I could use
a pick-me-up. I’m going to shower, and save some of that for me,” I
say, nodding to the bowl of crushed pills. 

“
Sure thing,
Doll.” 

I shower, dress in my old dirty clothes, and
walk out of the bathroom to see Bobby passed out on the bed with
the needle still stuck in his arm. I walk over to him and pull the
needle out for him, and I also unloosen the belt he used for the
tourniquet.

I look at the bowl on the nightstand — it is
empty. I knew Bobby would use everything he crushed. Deciding he
will be out of it for awhile, I get my car keys, pocket a few pain
pills lying on the nightstand, and leave. 

I stop by Walmart and pick Bobby and me up
some new clothes and some snacks for later. Next I drive by my old
house I shared with my husband and daughter and stop when I see the
FOR SALE sign in the yard. I look at the quaint house Alec and I
picked out together for our family home.

“
Molly, close your eyes, I
have a surprise for you,” Alec says, smiling his toothy white
smile.

“
Alec, you know I hate
surprises,” I say, unable to control the smile on my
lips.
 

“
This is one surprise I
think you’ll love.” He leans in and kisses me on each side of my
mouth.

He holds up the black-striped tie that he is
intending to use as the blindfold. “Close your eyes, Molly, or no
surprise.” I pretend to pout and he says, “You do realize I find
pouty Molly very sexy, don’t you?” He secures the tie around my
eyes and ties it in the back. “Can you see anything?”

“
No I can’t see anything,
and I didn’t realize you liked pouty women,” I say, pretending to
pout again.

“
I don’t like pouty women, I
like a pouty Molly.” I get goose bumps as he leans closer to me and
I can feel his breath on my neck. “No peeking and we’ll be there in
just a few minutes.”

“
Where are we going?” I ask,
sitting back in the seat of the car.
 

“
It’s a surprise, so if I
tell you, you won’t be surprised.” He holds my hand and interlocks
our fingers together. We drive the short distance before he stops
the car and puts it in park. “Stay right there, and no
peeking.”
 

I don’t say anything, and he doesn’t wait
for an answer. He opens my door for me and helps me out of the car.
“Be careful,” he says, as he holds my hands and walks me through a
grassy area. He turns me around and kisses me again before he
removes my blindfold. I blink a few times and stare at the white
house in front of me with red shutters. It has a large porch and a
very large moss tree in the front yard. The sidewalk is cobblestone
lined with red and white flowers. A large three-car attached garage
has a basketball hoop over the center door.

“
I found this house and
thought it would be perfect for our family. I wanted you to see it
first before I make an offer on it.”

I look up at him and say,
“It’s perfect, I love it.”
 

“
You haven’t seen the inside
yet.”
 

“
I don’t need to see the
rest of it, I love it.”
 

Alec bends down and swoops me up in his arms
before carrying me into the empty house. We made love in the house
before we even bought it.

I wipe away the steady stream of tears from
my face. How could I have messed up the best thing that has ever
happened to me? I take the pain pills I put in my pocket earlier
and chase it with some tequila I have in my purse.

I watch as a beautiful dark-haired woman
walks out of the house. She locks it up before walking to her car
and driving off. I stare at the FOR SALE sign in the yard before
going home to Bobby. 

Alec

“
How is everything
going?”

I look over and see Brice getting a beer from
the cooler. 

“
It’s going better than I
expected,” I admit. 

“
What do you mean?” Brice
asks, while opening his beer and taking a long
drink. 

“
Truthfully, I didn’t think
Emma’s friends would take too kindly to me. You know, they were
very close to Max. I thought they might look at me as the other
man, or someone she was cheating on Max with.” 

“
I was afraid of that, too,
so I called them and told them she was seeing
someone.” 

I smile at him and raise my beer to his,
“Good thinking, Brice.” 

“
Just between us, they were
relieved to hear that she was seeing someone. They were afraid she
was still in mourning over losing Max.” He takes a drink of his
beer and adds, “The last they knew, she was in pretty bad
shape.” 

I nod and look over at Emma. She is talking
with several of the guys while they play with James on the jungle
gym. She looks up at me, smiles, and waves. “I hate that she had to
go through that.” 

“
Me, too. She was always the
go-to-person for the ‘Army wives.’” He laughs and uses air quotes.
“They always went to her for support or advice.” 

“
I can see them doing that —
I know that she has inner strength. Just look at her today.” I
watch Emma before looking back to Brice. 

“
After Max’s death we didn’t
get to return home for his memorial service. We all sent sympathy
cards to her, James, and the family.” He takes a drink of his beer
and says, “When we did return home, she and James were already
gone.” 

“
Gone? What do you mean they
were gone?” I watch him and give him my undivided
attention. 

“
Brooke said that Max’s
parents and her parents packed them up and moved them back to
Florida right after his memorial service. Emma
didn’t have much time to say goodbye to anyone or
anything.”

“
Why are you guys looking so
serious? This is supposed to be a party.” Emma smiles and wraps her
arms around me. 

“
I was asking Alec if he
wanted to help me clean out the gutters tomorrow,” Brice says with
a serious face.

“
Unfortunately I have work
and won’t be able to. Sorry, Brice, I really wish I could help you
with that.” I laugh and take another drink of my beer.
Good thinking, Brice.
 

When everyone leaves for the night, Emma and
I get the kids bathed and ready for bed. Brooke and Brice stayed
over and helped us with the cleanup in the yard. I have work
tomorrow morning and have arranged for mom and dad to keep Raelynn.
Emma’s friends will still be in town, and Emma and James will do
something with them. I shower in the guest bathroom while Emma
takes a bubble bath in the master bath. It has been a long
emotional day for James and Emma.

Emma comes to bed, wearing a white tank top
and blue sleep shorts. I lift the covers for her to climb under.
She leans over and kisses me. “Thank you for being here with us
today.” 

“
You’re welcome. Did you
think I wouldn’t be?” 

“
No, but I’m just glad you
were here. I was afraid maybe you would feel out of place or
uncomfortable,” she says, wrapping her small arms around my stomach
as she rests her head on my chest. 

“
You’re welcome. I thought
it was a very nice party, and it was exactly what Max would have
wanted.” I kiss the top of her head and say, “Emma, I was looking
over the list Max wrote for you to do and I was thinking, would you
like to go on a sunset dinner cruise with me next
weekend?” 

She lifts her head from my chest and looks at
me, “I would love to go with you.” 

“
Good, I’ll call Marina
Jacks tomorrow and make the reservations for us for
Saturday.”

“
I’ll see if mom and dad
will keep the kids for the night,” she says, smiling at
me. 

“
For the night, as in the
entire night?” I ask hopefully. 

“
That is usually what ‘for
the night’ means: all night long, until dark to daylight, nighttime
until daytime.” She laughs at me. 

“
I know what it means,” I
roll over until I am lying on top of her. “I’m just a little
excited to think that I’ll have you for an entire night alone.” I
kiss the tip of her nose, before kissing her on her
lips.

The next morning Emma asks me if Raelynn can
stay with her at the house. She tells me that whatever plans the
girls make, she would like Raelynn to be included. She also tells
me that the guys are renting a charter fishing boat for the day and
won’t be around.

On my way to work, I call mom and tell her I
won’t be needing her after all. I get a call from Madison, who
tells me she has an offer on the house and it is just below the
asking price. I tell her to accept it and do whatever needs to be
done to get the sale finalized. I am seven months into the year,
and I am ready to move forward with my life. I call Marina Jacks at
lunch and book a sunset dinner cruise for Emma and me. Excited to
have her to myself for an entire night, I text her and tell her to
arrange child care for the kids for Saturday night.

Work goes by quickly. We have a stroke
victim, an older couple in a motor vehicle accident, along with a
male brought in from a jet skiing accident. People should not drink
while boating. I give report to the on-coming shift and shower
before heading home. Emma calls me and asks what I want for dinner,
so I stop by Bob Evans and get one of their family meals.

When I walk into the house,
Emma, James, and Raelynn are playing the game
Operation
at the dining room
table. 

“
Hi, daddy,” Raelynn says,
smiling with red cheeks.

I smile, walk over to her, and say, “Hi, Rae,
did you have a good day today?” 

“
Yep, we went to the beach
today and Brooke built the biggest sandcastle ever!” she says,
excitedly.

I kiss Raelynn, ruffle James’ hair, and kiss
Emma after I place the food on the table. “That sounds like
fun.” 

“
We went to the beach and
took all the kids. The ‘Army wives’ wanted to go to the beach
before they leave to return home, so we spent the day swimming and
building sandcastles.” 

“
James, did you have a nice
time today?” 

“
I did, and I found another
lucky rock.” 

“
Wow, another lucky rock,
good for you.” I lean over and see that he is holding a black sea
rock in his small hands. “That sure looks like a very lucky
rock.” 

I follow Emma into the kitchen with the food
to get some plates, drinks, and silverware. We sit around the table
and share events of the day. Emma is returning to work tomorrow
after taking a couple days off. I am off the next two days; I’ll
watch the kids since they are out of school for the summer.

The next night we meet
everyone at the Cheesecake Factory at the University Town Center,
where we have dinner. Emma’s Army family is leaving to return home
tomorrow and they vow to stay in touch
and
to get together again next year. Emma cries as she says her
goodbyes to everyone.

“
To the beginning of a new
tradition,” Lanford says, holding up his water
glass. 

“
Until next year,” Wilson
adds. “We’ll have it at our place next year. July
4
^th
is a
great time to party.” 

We clink our glasses to the toast and a new
tradition. We talk excitedly about doing this again next year, but
finally we must say our goodbyes. 

On Saturday, Millie and Gene pick up the kids
at noon. Emma and I don’t have plans until this evening for the
sunset dinner cruise. Millie and Gene are planning on taking the
kids to the movies, out for pizza, and then play a round of mini
golf.

“
Raelynn, I should assume
you’ll be a good girl while you’re away.”

“
Yes, daddy. I’ll make you
proud of me.” She giggles, and it reminds me that she doesn’t need
to be reminded to be good.

“
James, should I also assume
you’ll also be a good boy while you’re away?” I say,
jokingly.

“
Yes, Rae’s daddy, I’ll make
you proud of me, too.” James giggles.

Emma and I kiss and hug each of the kids
before they leave. We stand on the front porch and wave as they
back out of the driveway and leave. I hold the door open for Emma,
but she stops in the doorway. “Do you hear that?” 

I walk in behind her and listen, “No, I don’t
hear anything.” 

“
I know, I think it’s a
first. No noise, nothing but silence. Aww, I love this
sound.” 

I close the door behind us and Emma and I
have a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade. The fruit trees in the
back that she and James planted are producing a small amount of
fruit. We stay in the house in the air-conditioning and just enjoy
the silence. Once it becomes too much, Emma turns the music on
low.

“
You couldn’t take the
silence any longer, could you?” I smile at her. 

“
No, I couldn’t. I know I’m
pathetic, but I miss the kids.
Besides,
whenever it is too quiet, I think that James is getting into
something he should not be getting into.”