Color of Forgiveness (3 page)

With her head down, she makes a beeline for
the garage, hoping and praying that Jackie isn’t around. She has to
get to the airport and she’s definitely not in the mood to talk to
anyone right now, especially her. Just as she reaches out and
touches the doorknob to the garage, she hears Jackie’s voice
calling her name. She cringes. What is Jackie doing, watching out
the window for her? Closing her eyes, she takes in a deep
breath.

“Where are you going?” Jackie asks. “Why do
you have a suitcase? Are you taking a vacation? You didn’t mention
anything about a vacation.”

“Philly. I’m going to Philly,” Myra says,
turning towards her. “Susie’s father passed away.”

“What? Oh my god. What happened?”

“He had an aneurism.”

Jackie gasps. “Poor Susie… that’s terrible.
I feel awful for her, just awful. She must be going through so much
right now. I can’t even imagine losing my dad like that. It was bad
enough losing my grandpa. Is there anything I can do for her? Does
she need anything?”

“No, just some prayers.”

“Of course… of course, I’ll send up lots of
prayers for her. Do
you
need anything? What about the house?
Do you need me to get your mail or anything like that?”

Myra frowns. “Oh. Yeah. I totally forgot
about the mail.”

“Don’t worry about it; I’ll take care of it.
You know I’d do anything for you.”

Myra stares at Jackie’s sincere expression
for a moment and feels like a heel for not wanting to talk to her.
Jackie has such a big heart. “Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. It’s really no
problem.”

“Um, I do have something important to ask
you…”

“Sure, anything… what do you need?”

“Well, it’s about… Dylan.” Just saying his
name makes Myra’s insides hurt. “He, uh, he doesn’t know that I’m
leaving town. And I don’t want him to know. So if he stops by and
asks you where I am or what I’m doing, please don’t tell him
anything, okay? I’m… well, I just don’t want him contacting me
right now.”

“Absolutely,” Jackie readily agrees. “I
won’t tell him a thing. What’s going on? Are you guys fighting? I
thought everything was going really well with you two. Did you
break up or something?”

Myra hates how her eyes fill up with tears.
She doesn’t know how to answer Jackie because how can they be
broken up when they were never really together to begin with?
“We’re not together. He’s just, I don’t know. He’s not the person
that I thought he was. He…” Myra stops to wipe her eyes.

“Myra, I’m so sorry,” Jackie says, touching
her arm. “What did he do? Do you want to talk about it? I’m a
really good listener.”

“No, not right now… I have to go or I’m
going to miss my flight. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone so I’ll
just call you in a couple of days, okay?”

“Okay. Please tell Susie how truly sorry I
am and that she’s in my thoughts and prayers,” Jackie says. “Tell
her I miss her so much.”

Myra sniffs and wipes her eyes. “I
will.”

* * *

After Dylan finishes shaving, he scrounges
around in his bedroom trying to find something clean to wear. But
dirty clothes are all he finds. He pulls on a pair of jeans he
deems to be not too dirty by his standards; meaning they’re musty
smelling but don’t have any large stains on them. He manages to
find an extremely wrinkled but clean T-shirt and tugs it over his
head.

Once dressed, he steps out into the hallway
to make his way to the kitchen, but stops, worried that Sabrina
might still be there. Listening for a moment, he hears nothing. But
just to make sure, he steps back into the bedroom and looks out the
window. Relieved to find her car gone, he walks into the kitchen
and pokes around in the fridge to find something to eat.

After eating a quick bite, he drives the
short distance to Myra’s house and is surprised to find that for
the first time ever, he actually wants to talk. It’s time that he
got all of this shit off of his chest. He doesn’t know how Myra’s
going to respond to everything, but he hopes they can put all this
shit behind them and move on. Go back to how things were between
them.

Climbing the few steps of her porch, he
knocks. Tucking his hands in the front of his jeans, he looks over
at Jackie’s house while he waits.

Getting no answer, he frowns and knocks
again.

Knocking a third time, he peers through the
small window in the door but can’t see anything. Glancing at the
windows, he finds that all of the curtains are drawn. Pulling out
his phone, he dials her number; it goes straight to voicemail.

Walking over to her garage, his brows pull
together when he sees that her car’s gone. He told her he was
coming over, so where the hell is she?

Climbing back into his truck, he decides to
wait on her. He smokes and listens to the radio for a while before
he pulls out his phone and dials her number. Once again, it goes
straight to voicemail. He drums his fingers on the center console
as he contemplates what to do next. Flipping open his phone, he
sends her a text.

Im at ur hse –D

Anxiously, he smokes another cigarette as he
waits for her to respond. But she never does.

Another half hour goes by before he finally
decides to go back home and wait for her to either call or text
him. He drives home confused with an uneasy feeling brewing in his
stomach.

* * *

After an uneventful flight, Myra’s plane
finally lands. Staying seated, she pulls out her phone and turns it
on. Her heart stutters when she sees Dylan’s missed calls and one
text pop up. She pinches her eyes closed shut after she reads his
text. Her heart hurts picturing him at her house, waiting on her.
But she can’t dwell on that right now. She’s here for Susie. Susie
needs her and that’s all that matters. Taking in a deep breath, she
quickly sends Susie a text.

Just landed. I’ll catch a cab and be there
soon. –M

A response almost immediately pops up.

Nonsense. Jeff’s there to pick you up.
–S

Myra frowns. Jeff should be home with Susie;
not running half-way across town wasting time picking her up.

You shouldn’t have. I love you –M

I love you too –S

Myra exits the plane and after picking up
her luggage, she makes the long trek through the crowded airport to
find Jeff waiting on her.

“
Myra,
” Jeff says with a grin on his
face before grabbing her in a hug. “It’s so good to see you
again.”

“You too... how’s Susie?” she asks while
Jeff places her luggage in the trunk.

“Not so good,” he says. “She’s having a
tough time. It was just so sudden and came out of nowhere. I think
she’s still in shock; it really hasn’t sunk in yet.”

Myra understands. She felt the same sense of
shock for weeks, even months after her father was killed.

“What happened?” she asks as they get into
the car. “She didn’t give me any details.”

“He got up early to go on his usual Saturday
morning golfing jaunt with his buddies and took a shower. Lisa was
downstairs making breakfast and heard a loud thump so she went
upstairs and that’s when she found him. He’d gotten out of the
shower and had collapsed on the bathroom floor. She called an
ambulance. But it was too late.”

Her throat tightens. “That… that must have
been so hard on Lisa… How’s she doing?”

“She’s doing as well as can be expected. But
Lisa’s a strong woman. I think she’ll be okay.”

Lisa, Susie’s mom,
is
one of the
strongest women Myra’s ever met. She hopes Jeff is right about
her.

“I’m glad you were able to come out here,”
Jeff says, glancing over at her. “Susie really needs you right
now.”

Myra nods at him then stares out the window
at the familiar Philly landmarks. No matter what, she’s going to do
everything she possibly can to help comfort her best friend. There
will be no wallowing in self-pity over what happened with Dylan.
Susie comes first right now, nothing else.

* * *

Dylan glares at the clock. It’s been hours
and he hasn’t heard a single fucking word from Myra. Pacing around
his living room, he angrily kicks clothes out of his way as he
fists his phone in his hand. Scrubbing a hand through his hair, he
mumbles a ‘fuck it’ and flips open his phone and dials her number
again. He wants to punch the shit out of something when it goes to
voicemail.

He decides to leave a message and quickly
clears his throat. “Myra, I don’t know what the hell is going on,
but I’m really fucking worried about you. Where are you? I know
you’re pissed at me and shit but I, well, I thought you were going
to let me explain everything. Call me.”

Flipping his phone shut, he tucks it in his
pocket and grabs his coat. He has to go check on her. She’s
probably at home, ignoring his calls, but he has to do something.
He can’t sit around here worrying otherwise he’s going to go
fucking insane. Because if she’s not home… his stomach clenches as
he runs a hand through his hair again. Just about every scenario
possible has been going through his mind: Did her car break down?
Did she get in an accident? Is she lying in a fucking ditch
somewhere? Did she run into that Marshall fucker? If that piece of
shit came anywhere near her, he’ll kick his goddamn ass into next
week.

He groans in frustration when he pulls into
her driveway and sees the house is dark. He knocks on her door
again but of course he gets no answer. His stomach churns when he
looks in her garage and finds that her car’s still missing.
Glancing over at her neighbor’s house, he notices that her car is
sitting in the driveway. But he can’t remember what the hell that
woman’s name is. All he can remember about her is that she’s
annoying as hell and talks way too damn much.

But desperate times call for desperate
measures and he’s a desperate man right now. After a quick knock,
she opens the door with a hateful stare and an accusing look in her
eyes. Dylan frowns because he hasn’t done shit to this woman.

“Um, yeah, I don’t know if you remember me
or not…”

“Of course I remember you,
Dylan
.
What do you want?” she asks, her little eyes narrowing.

He wishes like hell he could remember her
name. “Uh…” he stutters before clearing his throat. “I’m sorry,
what was your name again?”

She sighs in an irritated sort of way.
“Jackie.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. Uh, I was supposed to
meet Myra at her house, but she’s not there. Do you know where she
is?”

“Yes. But I’m not allowed to tell you.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to
mean?”

“What did you do to her?”

“Huh?”

“You heard me. What did you do to her?”

“Uh… Why? What did she tell you?”

“She wouldn’t tell me anything. But I saw
how upset she was. Did you do something stupid? Because I don’t
like seeing my friend like that, and I get really pissed at anyone
that hurts her.”

That pain in his chest is back. “I… things
are just… We had a misunderstanding. I just, I
really
need
to talk to her. It’s really important.”

“Well, that’s too bad because she doesn’t
want to see you.”

“She told you that?”

“Yep, she sure did.”

“Where is she?”

“Did you not hear me? I told you she doesn’t
want to see you.”

“Did she leave town?”

Jackie’s eyes flash angrily. “I’m not
telling you anything. And you know what? I haven’t liked you from
day one – although, I’ll always be thankful to you for what you did
for my grandpa because that was heroic even though I hate to admit
it. But that doesn’t mean I have to like you. I’ve always thought
you were… mean and hateful and just… not a very nice person. And
Myra is one of the sweetest gals that I’ve ever met in my entire
life. She’s my best friend in the whole world, and I would do
anything for her. Now go away and leave her alone and don’t come
back.”

“But I didn’t—”

Dylan’s mouth drops open when Jackie slams
the door in his face.

“Goddamn it,” he mutters under his breath
before raising his fist and pounding on the door again. He ends up
knocking three or four times, but Jackie refuses to answer.

Pissed, he walks back to Myra’s porch and
plunks himself down on her steps. He yanks a cigarette out of his
pocket and just as he goes to light it, his phone rings. He almost
rips his back pocket off trying to dig it out of his jeans.

He wants to destroy something when he sees
the name on the caller ID. “What?” he shouts angrily into the
phone.

“Damn, dude. Can you get any more hostile,
you shithead? Goddamn. Now listen, bro, prepare yourself. You
seriously might need to go take a muscle relaxer for this because I
hate to see what your mood is gonna be like after you hear this
shit. I’ve got some bad fucking news,” Chad announces.

“Is it about Sabrina?” he mumbles around the
cigarette hanging out of his mouth. “I already know.”

“What? Well, shit. She already showed up?
That woman sure doesn’t waste any time, does she? Did she tell you
what she did?”

“Yeah,” he says as he lights his smoke and
takes a drag on it.

Chad chuckles. “She fessed up? I have to
fucking admit that girl has some massive man marbles. They might be
almost as big as mine. And you know I’m packing some damn
softball-size cojones down there. What the fuck did she say?”

“That she saw the kids in the backyard and
stopped and asked them where I lived. Of course they didn’t know
the address, but Jackson mentioned ‘Nyssa’. Once she had that, all
she had to do was Google me.”

“That chick’s slick… Did she tell you that
she swore them to secrecy and bribed them with a bunch of fucking
candy?”

“Yep.”

Chad barks out a non-humorous laugh.
“Ballsy, I tell ya. I guess she stopped by last weekend, but I only
found out about it a few minutes ago. I overheard Joseph asking
Jackson when the ‘pretty candy lady’ was coming back. Joseph
doesn’t remember Sabrina, but of course Jay and Jackson do. I kinda
freaked out and went ape shit on their asses thinking some child
molester or abductor or some shit had been talking to them.”