Last Night's Kiss (17 page)

Adam walked to a credenza and put his hand on top of a large worn wooden box. “That’s not a bad idea.”

Rosa went to him and ran her hands up his back. She looked down at the box.

“What’s this?”

“A present. For you.”

“Me!” She smiled, struggling to look over his shoulder. “I like presents. What is it?”

He pushed it toward her. Releasing her hold on him, she moved around and opened the box. Inside were cameras. They weren’t new, but they had been lovingly maintained. There were three of them, a collection of lenses, filters, a light meter, flashes, and rolls of film.

“I don’t know if the film’s any good,” Adam said. “I’ve had them for two years.”

Rosa stared at the contents. She rubbed her hands on the cameras, lightly touched the filters standing up in a tray.

“Adam, I can’t take Maureen’s cameras.” She spoke softly as if she had entered a graveyard.

“She would want them used.”

He hadn’t denied who had owned the cameras.

“I’m sure she would have liked you,” Adam said.

Rosa looked up. “Are you sure?” She wasn’t sure which question she was asking. Would Maureen really have liked her or would she really want her cameras used? “I’m not a professional. Photography was her life.”

Rosa looked through the viewfinder of one of the cameras. She lifted a lens out and snapped it in place. She liked the feel of the instrument. There was no film loaded in it, but Rosa snapped a few shots anyway. Lowering the camera, she looked from it to Adam.

“She couldn’t have used these on assignment,” she said.

Adam shook his head. “They were what she used when she wanted to do things for herself. She had a huge collection of photographs that she said she was going to turn into books.”

Rosa knew she never got the chance. “What happened to them?”

“They belong to her son. When we packed up her apartment, I had them put in storage. When he’s old enough I’ll make sure he understands what they are.”

Rosa turned and faced him. “Are you sure you want me to have these?” she asked. “I mean, I can’t take them, but I wouldn’t mind borrowing them.”

“Use them as long as you like.”

Rosa looked up at him. “I’ll take very good care of them.” Then she lifted her face and kissed him.

“What is this?” Ben Masterson shouted into Adam’s ear when he answered his cell. “You’ve sunk to doing nonsensical human interest stories.”

“I love you, too, Ben. How’s it going in the newsroom?”

“I can’t believe this.” Ben ignored his question. Adam heard paper rustling and Ben began quoting his article. “Thomasina Evans, an aspiring local model, will get the chance at a national magazine layout because of the efforts of visiting model Rosa Clayton. Ms. Clayton—”

“You don’t need to read it to me, Ben. I wrote it.”

Adam stood at the window of his bedroom. He looked toward Rosa’s house, although he couldn’t see it from where he stood. It was nearly midnight, but to Ben time only meant something if it was 6:00
PM
or 11:00
PM
when the cameras had to roll. Other than that he assumed if he was awake so was the rest of the world.

“Adam, this is not you,” he continued. “You do hard news. You investigate, expose, you don’t write fluff.” His voice grew louder with each action. Adam could imagine his face getting redder and redder.

“Ben, this is not the way to convince me to return,” Adam told him.

“What should I say?” Immediately, Ben changed his voice level and his tone. He was serious and all business.

“Nothing, I’m not coming back.”

“I don’t believe you. You wrote this story. That shows you’re still interested in the news.”

“How did you get that, anyway? I gave it to a local cable station.”

“They thought it was good enough to send out on the wire.”

“Wire? Cable stations don’t have wires.”

“Apparently, yours does. Your highly recognizable name popped up and someone brought the story to me. So how about it? I’m holding a chair for you.”

“No dice.”

“I can hear the wall cracking, Adam. Give it some thought. You could be permanently stationed here, work regular hours instead of the chaotic ones you’re tired of doing.”

“What about the unknown world events?”

“We can’t predict those, but you’d have your choice. If you want to be on the scene, we’d write it in your contract that you get to choose.”

Adam hesitated. Then he remembered the reasons he’d left the newsroom. “Ben, give it to someone else. I’m staying here.”

“And working for a cable company? Adam, you’re better than that. You think about it. I’ll call you in a week.”

Ben rang off before Adam could tell him not to call. He knew his former boss did it on purpose. He didn’t want to hear what Adam had to say. Ben had to notice that Adam hadn’t hung up on him the way he’d done in the past. Adam had enjoyed writing the article on Tommie and Rosa. Despite his frustration in getting started, when he’d gotten into it, it flowed like water. All the training from years in the field, from filing a story over the phone came back to him in a flash.

The cable station had even asked him to sit in as a guest reporter and read it on camera. Adam had refused that, but the pulse in his blood to get in front of the camera was there.

Then his phone rang again.

Rosa had been checking the cameras Adam had loaned her since she got home. One was an antique. She took it out of the box and displayed it on a shelf. The other two had been used regularly, she thought. Rosa opened them. No film. Looking at the canisters, she found them, expired. She didn’t expect they were any good, but she loaded one anyway. Looking around the room, she quickly used the film, taking pictures of the cabin. It was too dark to try anything outside.

As she lifted the camera to take the last shot, she heard something hit the door. Rosa looked at it, expecting the knock to come again. She hadn’t heard a car drive up. She wasn’t expecting anyone, but Adam was unpredictable. Her heart beat faster. He might have seen her lights and decided to come by.

Curiosity got the better of her. She went to the door and peered through the small glass at the top. Darkness was the only thing that greeted her.

“Is anyone there?” she called. No response.

Rosa looked through the peephole again. Still she saw nothing. She wondered if someone had thrown something against the door. With the safety chain on, she opened it a crack. The slit of light that painted the darkness on the ground showed her nothing. Then she heard something.

“Adam,” someone said. The voice was low and tired sounding, barely more than a whisper. But it came again. “Adam.”

Rosa closed the door and removed the chain. She pulled it inward and looked outside. A body fell on her. She stepped back to keep her balance. The male was short, thin, not much heavier than she was. She couldn’t remain upright. The two of them went down. She pushed herself free of him, and he remained prone on her floor. Rosa scrambled away. Approaching him, she gently turned him over. His eyes opened. He tried to sit up, but fell back. He was thin, hardly more than skin and bones.

“Who are you?” she asked.

His eyes rolled and he closed them. Rosa got up and rushed to the kitchen. She got a glass of water and another of orange juice. He was exhausted, but he wasn’t bleeding and she didn’t see any scars on him. He’d called for Adam. Rosa had a sneaking suspicion she knew who this was.

Going back, she raised his head and coaxed him into drinking a few sips of water.

“Adam,” she said, hoping the name would spark conversation.

“Walked…” He trailed off.

Rosa took the orange juice and helped him sip it. He couldn’t be more than twelve years old. His clothes were dirty and he needed a bath. She looked at his shoes. They were worn, the heels practically walked away.

Taking the water, she poured a little in her hand and patted it on his face. “Wake up,” she said. “Wake up.”

He opened his eyes.

“What’s your name?”

“Joel,” he said.

“Joel? Joel Carter? Maureen Carter’s son?” Rosa already knew the answer to her question.

The boy nodded. He reached for the glass of water in her hand. She helped him drink it.

“Is Adam here?”

Rosa shook her head. “He doesn’t live here.”

She saw the child’s face fall.

“He lives nearby,” she told him. “Can you sit up?”

He nodded again. Rosa helped him to a sitting position. She’d never seen anyone who looked as if they were starving to death.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

“I’m going to help you to the sofa and then I’ll get you something to eat.”

“Could you call Adam for me?”

“I will. It’s after midnight. He may be asleep. And we should get you cleaned up before we let him know you’re here.”

Rosa knew how Adam felt about Maureen. He’d been devastated when the judge denied him custody. Rosa was sure Adam shouldn’t see Joel in this condition after an absence of two years.

Again she saw his face fall, the desperation in his eyes.

Putting her arm around him, she felt through his clothes to the skeletal bones that supported him.

He stood up. Most of his weight was on her as he limped to the sofa. “Do you think I could use the bathroom?”

“Of course,” she said. She took him to the small bathroom and opened the door. “Will you be all right?”

“I think so.”

Rosa eased him down on the toilet seat, not wanting to drop him for fear he’d break. She thought of Vida and her osteoporosis. This kid felt as if his bones would snap at the slightest movement, but she could tell he still wanted his privacy.

Leaving him alone, she went to the kitchen and looked to see what she had to feed a kid who probably hadn’t eaten in days. Her refrigerator had mainly salad fixings, diet drinks, and fresh vegetables. She found a container of leftover spaghetti that Medea had sent her home with two nights ago.

Popping it in the microwave, she went to the bathroom door. “Joel, are you all right?”

After a moment, he said, “I’m all right.”

Rosa didn’t think he sounded all right. “Do you have any other clothes?”

“Not with me.” He opened the door. “I had a suitcase, but I left it in a locker in St. Louis. It was too heavy to carry.”

Rosa wanted to pull him into her arms, but she had enough brothers to know he wouldn’t like that.

“I made you some spaghetti. After you eat it, you can take a bath. I’ll find something for you to sleep in.”

“What about Adam?”

“I’ll call him.”

Draped in a soft Mexican blanket, Rosa waited outside for Adam to arrive. He stopped his truck when its lights hit her, and she raised her hand to shade her eyes.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked after he parked and jumped down from the cab.

“Joel is inside. I didn’t want you to wake him.”

“Joel?” He glanced toward the front door and back at her. “Joel Carter? What’s he doing here?”

“He walked most of the way trying to get to you. He thought you lived here.”

“Why didn’t he call?”

“Apparently, his aunt tore up the paper with your phone number on it and confiscated his cell phone. He didn’t remember the number. Only that you lived in the Valley. He set out for you ten days ago.”

“He’s been on the road for ten days? He’s only twelve years old. Something could have happened to him.” Adam started toward the door.

Rosa grabbed his arm and stopped him. “But it didn’t. He’s asleep. He’s exhausted and very thin. I fed him. He took a bath, but he’s so weak I had to help him in and out of the tub. I also examined him for any cuts or sores on his body.”

Adam looked at her. She shook her head. “He doesn’t have any. I didn’t think of beatings, Adam. I thought of the road, sleeping outside, eating out of trash cans.”

“What? He did that?”

“I don’t know. My brothers did it when they were homeless. Before they came to live with the family. I don’t remember it, but they told me stories after a while.”

She looked at the door to the house. Joel slept inside. “Only his feet have sores. They’re swollen and cut from walking so far. The soles of his shoes were nearly walked away. After I got him out of the tub, he fell instantly asleep. I think sleep is what he needs most, but it would be good if a doctor examines him.”

“I’ll make sure he sees one.”

Rosa saw the hurt on Adam’s face. Without thinking, she opened her arms and enfolded him inside the blanket with her.

“He’s all right,” she said. “He’s here. He just needs some sleep and food.”

Adam’s arms went around her. She felt his weight sag against her body. He trembled with fear for the child only a few yards away from where they stood. For a long moment they held each other. She knew he felt helpless and guilty that Joel had gone to such lengths to reach him, that the child had put his life in danger by traveling so far alone.