Chapter
10: Forgive and Forget
Evening had settled over
“Could the world get anymore complicated?” Jay asked herself aloud as
she rubbed her temples with her fingertips. She glanced at the clock,
About a mile away, Van sat on his own couch, contemplating whether or
not to call Jay and apologize to her and make up some story about the emergency.
He hated lying to her, but as long as she was keeping the truth from him as
well, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. But then again, she probably had her
own reasons, and maybe the truth would come out sooner or later. He’d give her
all the time she needed, and maybe he would never hear them, but he still hung
onto the hope that they’d be together after this case was over, and she’d get
to know the real Van, Ray not Strummer.
He finally picked up his cell phone and began searching through his phone
book for Jay’s number. Van was determined to bury the hatchet on this thing
before it pissed her off enough to leave him, and he’d be stuck in the shadows
looking out for her. He pressed “send” the moment he saw her name and waited
for her to pick up.
Jay aimlessly glared at the flickering light off the TV until she heard
her phone ring. At first she thought it might be Nadia or Daniel, but looking
at the caller ID, she realized it was a local number. With her hopes held high,
she answered, “Hello?”
“Hi, Jay?” Van replied from the other end.
“Hey,” she said nonchalantly.
“I’m sorry about this afternoon. I meant to call you, but you know how
emergencies are,” he tried to get her sympathy, figuring it was a long shot.
“So, what happened?” Jay asked.
“Well,” Van began, not really having thought of what to say. “My partner,
Deaq, nearly got into a fight with a customer.” And as luck would have it, Deaq
happened to walk into the apartment at that moment.
“Who are you talking to, Billie?” he asked, walking right past Van and
into the kitchen to drop off the groceries he had just picked up.
“Uh, hold on a sec,” Van told Jay as he cupped his hand over the phone.
“It’s Jack,” he whispered to his partner. “I’m trying to make up an excuse as
to why I had to run out on her this afternoon when you know who called me about
picking up the rest of the money.”
“You got the rest of it?” Deaq questioned, disregarding everything else
Van had said.
“Yeah, it’s in my room, now will you let me get back to my conversation?”
he irritably replied, shaking the phone in his hands.
“Sorry, V, please continue,” Deaq sarcastically responded, making his
way out of the kitchen and into the back of the apartment towards Van’s room.
“I’m sorry about that, Deaq just walked in,” Van quickly apologized as
he returned to the phone.
“You guys share an apartment together?” Jay questioned, a little surprised.
“Where?”
“Yeah, it’s in the
“That’s cool. You’re just a neighborhood away from me,” she replied.
“I live in the
“How’d I know you were going to say that?”
“I think the car gave it away, ya know?”
They both laughed, releasing the pent up tension between them and easing
back into the comfortable zone they were used to. From that point on, the conversation
seemed to shift away from the day’s events and into more meaningful things for
the both of them. More things began revealing themselves about Jay’s past life
and the things she used to do. She had to catch herself when she started talking
about the extreme sports she used to do after nearly telling him about her history
in the X-Games. It was at that point that she nearly stopped talking about herself
and decided to let him do some talking instead.
Unlike her, Van was an open book. He talked about his own sports experience,
the problems he had with his parents, the problems he had with his friends,
and the problems he had with his business. What she didn’t realize was how close
to the truth he was getting. Van had also reserved himself from saying anything
that would make her suspicious, especially after she had bottled up after talking
about once having participated in some pretty big sporting events that she didn’t
give a name to. He knew she was scared out of her mind. He was also. Telling
the truth became a pressing issue for both of them, but having skirted away
from it for so long, it seemed that the lies they told each other were as close
as they were going to get, and just about as real.
Finally at around two in the morning, well after Deaq had gone to sleep
and the ambient noise outside had died, they said goodbye to each other. Their
weekend plans had been finalized, as had their plans for the following week.
Van was relieved that the conversation was over. His phone was going dead, and
he really needed to charge it. He also had that need to talk to Billie and tell
her that he had acquired the rest of the money from Seth and was ready to take
the case to the next level, but something told him that right now wasn’t the
time, especially since he had just gotten off the phone with Jay and was unbelievably
excited that he’d be seeing her again at the week’s end. He decided to put the
phone on its charger and go to bed.
As for Jay, she was just as excited, if not more. The only thing she
could possibly think of doing was calling Nadia to tell her the news of her
recent hookup. With her luck, she’d probably catch her trying to feed Vince
or trying to persuade Daniel to move up the wedding. She picked up the phone
and dialed her cousin’s house in
“Hello?” Nadia angrily picked up, her voice sounding a little strained.
“Nadi?” Jay replied, hoping that she hadn’t caught her at a bad time.
“Hey, could you call me back in, like, an hour. I’m kinda busy,” Nadia
hurriedly answered just before hanging up the phone with her friend.
“Yeah, sure,” Jay said to a dead line just before she turned off her
own phone and contemplated why Nadia would tell her to call her in an hour.
It was obvious she was preoccupied; otherwise she would have realized that it
was two in the morning in
“Hello?” Jay sleepily answered as she yawned again.
“Hey, Jay, I’m so sorry about that,” Nadia was quick to apologize.
“It’s okay,” she replied. “What were you doing, anyway?”
“Um…” Nadia giggled, “Do you really wanna know?”
“Oh, God, Nadia!” Jay nearly yelled over the other end. “I don’t need
to know what goes on between you and Danny. That’s your business, please keep
it that way. I really don’t wanna know how my cousin likes it.” She was nearly
sick with disgust when she heard Nadia laughing uncontrollably on the other
end.
“Well, my soon to be cuz, that’s perfectly fine with me,” Nadia said.
“It’s not like I’d give away my bedroom secrets anyway. Besides, you probably
already know them from all the other times we’ve talked.”
“Oh, shut up, shut up, shut up!” Jay wanted to cover her ears. “That
is such a nasty mental picture. Please, change the subject!”
“Okay, sorry, I will. Why did you call?” Nadia asked.
“Good question,” Jay said as she walked over to the foot of her bed and
sat down on the comfortable mattress. “I’ve met somebody.”
“You what?” Nadia nearly screamed.
“I’ve met somebody,” Jay repeated.
“Okay, just the other day you ran into Darren and yelled at Danny for
not telling you he was in San Fran, and now a few days later you’ve met somebody?
How the hell did that happen? I woulda thought you’d retreat back into your
shell after such a meeting.”
“Well, aren’t you just the best judge of character,” Jay bitterly replied.
“Hey, don’t use that tone with me,” Nadia spat back.
Jay took a deep breath, trying to get past all the hostility. She knew
Nadia’s stance on her break-up with Darren, and it wasn’t all that nice. Jay
remembered the first night she had called Nadia from
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done to him, again?” Nadia asked.
“God, Nadi, he’s a grown man! He’s gotta learn how to take things as
they come,” Jack shot back.
“And you gotta learn to face your problems,” Nadia yelled at her over
the phone.
Jack nearly had to do a double take. This wasn’t how Nadia had reacted
when she left a few days earlier. Had things really changed that much since
then? “What the hell are you talking about? You weren’t the one standing trial
just a few weeks ago. You weren’t the one that lost the baby. You weren’t the
one publicly humiliated in front of the whole fucking world! I know that if
you were me, you’d never wanna show your face again! I’ve just chosen to pick
up where I left off before all this happened, unlike you! So excuse me if Darren’s
feeling a little heartbroken, but think about how I feel for once!” Jack was
now yelling at the top of her lungs as her eyes filled with tears while she
paced the empty floor of her apartment, feeling more alone now that ever before.
She wanted to curl up and die, but she stood tall and proud, determined to get
through this like she had everything else.
“Don’t you dare bring up the choices I made in my life,” Nadia coldly
answered. “You have no right going there.”
“Well, neither do you,” Jack spat.
“Okay, let’s not fight tonight, please,” Jay said, trying to cool her
nerves as much as she possibly could. It was hard, especially since they were
so far apart. The animosity was always present between them now that they were
an ocean apart.
“Alright,” Nadia coolly agreed. “So, who’s the new man?”
“His name is Van, and he’s a mechanic with his own garage. He’s really
nice,” Jay replied.
“Any other details you’d like to tell me… Age, height, weight, eye color,
hair color, cuteness…?” Nadia continued her questioning.
“He’s 27, tall, well built with beautiful blue eyes and this long, rich
chestnut hair. The man is a god, what more can I say?” Jay dreamily answered.
From that point, Nadia knew she had lost her. “Hey, Jack, you’re still
in the real world, don’t lose me now,” she said, trying to snap her friend out
of the dream world. “He’s cute, I get it. Now, what’s he like… in bed?” She
couldn’t resist. After all, her friend had very little experience outside of
the rape and her time with Darren, and she loved to mess with her head.
“Nadia!” Jay exclaimed in surprise. “We’ve only been going out for a
week! And I’m not planning on having any sex with anybody any time soon. Not
until I’m ready, that is, and I’m not ready just so you don’t have to ask.”
Nadia rolled her eyes, glad that Jay wasn’t anywhere near her or she’d
get bitch slapped for the expression that changed on her face. They ranged from
blind rage to amusement and now to exasperation. She was sick of hearing her
friend saying she wasn’t ready to have sex yet. It’s not like she was a virgin
anyway. Might as well have a few one nighters before settling down. “Jay, you
need to get fucked, badly!” she said with the hint of laughter in her voice.
“If this guy is that cute, you’d better be jumping his bones within the next
few weeks or get ready for another tongue lashing from me.”
“Jeez, Nadia, is sex always such a prominent part of your relationships?
Can’t you just get to know the person before jumping their bones?” Jay asked.
“Yes and no. Sex is important in a relationship because once you have
s guy by the balls, whatever you say goes. How else would I have gotten Daniel
to move up the wedding to December?”
Jay could hear the smirk in her voice, but was more startled by the news.
“You moved it up to December? When did this happen?”
“Some time between the time you called and the time I called you back.”
“Oh, you’re good.”
“No, babe, I’m just really, really smart. I use sex as a tool to get
what I want and when I want it. All it took was some time and I had him hook,
line, and sinker.”
Jay was dumbfounded. This was the first time she had ever heard her friend
speak those kinds of things. She was beginning to think that she was only after
Daniel’s money, but she had so much of her own. That’s what confused her, so
she asked, “And what about Danny? He’s gotta have some pull on you as well,
or he wouldn’t have waited this long to move up the wedding.”
“Well…” Nadia trailed off, thinking. She hadn’t been confronted with
that issue in a while. Her love for Daniel was as real as any could get. Hell,
she couldn’t go a day without him in her life. He had been her solid ground
ever since she found out she was pregnant. She sighed. “I love him, Jack. I
love him so much it hurts. I guess you’re right about him having a pull on me
as well.”
Jay smiled from the other end. Finally, what she was looking for, an
admission that Nadia was the right girl for her cousin. “Then you deserve the
best wedding ever. Just make sure you let me know when bridesmaids’ fittings
are so I fly in for them. And please get a date set. I don’t wanna keep guessing
so I can clear my schedule for that entire week before and after the wedding,”
she said.
“Believe me, babe, you’d be the first to know, if not from me, then from
Daniel, but I guarantee you that someone’s gonna tell you,” Nadia reassured
her. “So, now, about this guy you’re going out with…”
“He’s a great kisser, alright? I know that’s been on your mind all this
time, so I figured I’d beat you to the punch,” Jay replied. “What else do you
wanna know?”
The two talked for another half hour about Van before Jay’s eyelids became
too heavy for her to keep open. She hung up with Nadia around three thirty that
morning, feeling a little better about things. Sleep came quick as did sweet
dreams of the days to come. She couldn’t have been a happier person at that
moment. Van was a great guy, and Darren would be dating one of her best friends
aside from Nadia. What could be better?