Worth the Weight

by Eileen Palma

  “Shit. Can we hurry up and get to the station?” asked Jack.

  “Sure thing. I think your niece has had enough pictures taken of her for one day,” said Officer Nunez.

  “When I was a little girl, I had the biggest crush on Bruce Willis. I’ve always loved the rough around the edges kind of hero.”

  Kate Richards, The Haute Life

  Chapter Twenty

  Kate found herself having yet another meal in a Chelsea Piers ballet studio. Unfortunately, this time it was just take-out with Dana in between Zumba voiceovers.

  “That New York Today mention was like a gift from the Gods! You got three hundred more Twitter followers since yesterday and this morning’s KidFit episode had the highest ratings we’ve seen all season.” Dana was on another one of her juice fasts. She sucked the cayenne lemonade through a straw and instantly puckered her lips before swallowing.

  “I just don’t get it. Why do all these strangers care who I’m dating?” Kate shook her head and took a bite of her grilled chicken and arugula panini.

  “With all these reality shows, people feel like they’re entitled to knowing everything about their favorite celebrities.”

  “Jack didn’t sign up for this.”

  “That’s bullshit. You don’t go out with a celebrity and think you’re never going to end up in some gossip rag.” Dana took another sip of her drink and practically crossed her eyes when she swallowed.

  “Honestly, I don’t think Jack really gave it much thought.”

  “What did he say about the article?”

  “He didn’t seem thrilled about it yesterday and I haven’t heard from him since.” Kate spoke through a mouthful of food and looked at the large clock over the ballet barre. She only had a few more minutes till the sound guy would come looking for her.

  “If he walks away from you because of two sentences in a blind Today item, then it’s better to find out now that he can’t hack it.”

  “He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would walk away so easily. I’m hoping he just got wrapped up with Lauren.” Kate washed down her last bite of sandwich with a huge sip of SmartWater. She stood up and brushed the flaky crumbs off her camouflage Lycra pants.

  Dana pulled her iPad from her Hermès canvas tote. “Don’t go yet. We have to see if New York Minute posted your interview.”

  “I hope they include footage of the kids doing Zumba.” Kate sat back down, glad for the excuse to hold off getting back to work for a few minutes. Voiceover work could be very long and tedious.

  “I liked when you were going over the diet plan with that really fat girl. I couldn’t believe the shit her mother was feeding her!” Dana scrolled through the rows of little square apps till the page appeared on the finger-smudged screen.

  “That must be the story. Look, it’s Chelsea Piers.” Kate pointed to a frozen clip with the bright blue Chelsea Piers field house front and center. Dana clicked on the black arrow that floated in the middle of the building.

  A statuesque woman stood on the pier, the wind fighting against the hair spray in her blown-out blond hair. She was wearing a charcoal gray dress with a navy blue New York Minute windbreaker over it.

  “I’m Gloria Mainstay with breaking news. A pedophile was apprehended today at the famed Chelsea Piers, where thousands of Manhattan’s kids come to play.” The camera panned out to the pier that was lit by the setting sun and dotted with skateboarders, and kids of all ages in various sports uniforms.

  “Joey Rocco was witness to the arrest when he was waiting to board the Spirit Cruise ship for an evening cocktail party. Joey, can you tell us what you saw?”

  A man in a three-piece black suit garnished with a red-on-red-patterned bow tie leaned towards the microphone and looked straight into the camera. “This creep posed as a magazine photographer to lure a little girl into taking pictures with him. He got into it with the girl’s uncle when the uncle figured out what was going down. The uncle held the guy down till the cops got there.”

  “Mr. Rocco was quick enough to get the whole thing on video with his phone.” The woman spoke while the screen lit up with grainy cell phone footage of two men arguing. Then the burlier man clocked the smaller one in the eye and tackled him.

  “The bigger guy on top is the pervert.” Joey Rocco’s voice cut in over the video.

  “Is that…” started Dana.

  “Holy shit! It is!” Kate grabbed the iPad from Dana. It was hard to see his face on the blurry phone footage, but Kate knew that was Jack caught in the rough tumble on the ground. He was wearing the exact same outfit she had seen him in the day before.

  “You can’t really get a good look at his face, but who else wears tee-shirts with such stupid sayings on them?” Dana leaned over Kate, her hand pressing into Kate’s back.

  “Both men were brought down to the precinct after this fight, but the only one detained was Timothy Rainard, a Staten Island man who was on probation after serving time for lewd and lascivious acts with an underage girl.”

  The tuxedoed man leaned towards the microphone and cut in. “We all told the cops that the uncle was just looking out for the niece. And they were fighting over the camera which had pictures of the little girl on it.”

  “That camera was later used for evidence to hold Timothy Rainard. The other man, who was unanimously called a hero by all the witnesses, was originally brought down to the station as well for his part in this fight. But after Mr. Rocco showed police this footage, it became quite clear that the man was just protecting his niece and himself.”

  “Can you believe the guy wants to remain anonymous? He’s a freakin’ hero!”

  “I’m Gloria Mainstay and this has been a New York Minute ‘Quick Break’.”

  “I guess that explains why Jack didn’t call you back.”

  “That is so scary! Poor Lauren. I hope she’s okay.”

  “Sounds like it was a close call.” Dana shoved the iPad back in her bag. “If the blind item writer only knew your mystery man was also New York Minute’s big hero of the day.”

  “Don’t you dare! The poor guy probably just wants some peace and quiet.”

  “Jack saving all those kids at Chelsea Piers from a convicted pedophile actually bumps him up to almost your league. We would have to do some kind of makeover too before we leak the news. A keratin treatment and a good stylist would be a good start.”

  “Absolutely not!”

  Dana stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder, expertly balancing the weight on six-inch stilettos. “Think about it. I have to get out of here. Mandy has her court hearing today and that girl needs someone to literally dress her or else she will show up looking like she belongs on a corner at Hunt’s Point.”

  “I’ve thought about it enough. Leave Jack alone.”

  Kate picked up her phone as soon as Dana shut the door.

  Jack answered on the first ring. “I’ve been meaning to call you.”

  “But you’ve were too busy being The Greatest American Hero.”

  “Shit! How did you find out?”

  “New York Minute. Don’t worry, they kept you anonymous and you can’t really see your face that clearly. But it was hard to miss the tee-shirt.”

  “I’m trying to keep the whole thing on the DL. Lauren was already embarrassed enough.”

  “Poor kid.”

  “I literally wanted to throttle her and hug her at the same time. She actually thought that dirtbag was going to put her on the cover of Sportastic.”

  “How the hell did that creep get close enough to photograph her?”

  “I was distracted talking on the phone and picking up a burger for her at the food truck. Next thing I knew she was posing for pictures by the water for some pervert.” Jack exhaled slowly in long breaths that exuded guilt.

  “Good thing you got to her in time!”

  “I know. That piece of shit had pictures of Lauren and her friends in their leotards. You
could tell by what the girls were wearing that he had been there several times over the past few weeks.”

  “That is so scary!”

  “I know. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

  “How’s your face? Looks like you took a pretty hard punch.”

  “I have a pretty nasty shiner. But that’s okay. It’ll give me street cred.”

  “How’s Lauren holding up?”

  “Hard to tell. She was holed up in her room on Skype with Harper for awhile last night.”

  “Does she have practice after school?”

  “Not today. Why?”

  “Why don’t I take her off your hands for a few hours?

  “You don’t have to do that. Besides, she’s grounded for life.”

  “Start her punishment tomorrow—for your sake. You sound like you really need a break.”

  “To tell you the truth, I do have a splitting headache. That guy sure knew how to land a sucker punch.”

  “Great. This will give me the chance to get to know Lauren a little better before the shoot anyway.”

  “Just don’t bring up the photographer. She’d be mortified, as she likes to say.”

  “Got it. What does Lauren like to do in her free time? Besides gymnastics of course?”

  “Bowling,” answered Jack, instantly.

  “Okay. I’ll pick her up in at 3:30 and we’ll head over to Lucky Strike.”

  “How’s your father doing? Did he make it back to Westchester okay?”

  “Yes. My sister and her husband drove him right up to the rehab in Brewster. They took him a night early and stuck him on a cot somewhere.”

  “How long’s he in for?”

  “As long as he needs. So I better get off my ass and get this damn cookbook on the store shelves.”

  “Good thing for him you are a second chance kind of girl.”

  “Second, third and hundredth chance in this case. So, I’m a little burned out when it comes to everyone else in my life.”

  The rest of Kate’s day flew by in a blur of voiceovers and editing. Before she knew it, she was on her way to pick up Lauren.

  “OMG! Are you really taking me to Lucky Strike?” Lauren must have been watching for Kate, because she swung the door open before Kate had a chance to ring the bell.

  “Yes, unless of course there’s something else you’d rather do?”

  “Duh, of course not. How’s my outfit?”

  “Perfect,” said Kate. “A love for ironic tee-shirts clearly runs in the family.” Kate took note of the tee-shirt Lauren wore layered over a purposefully weathered long-sleeved white shirt. She had dressed the outfit up with a black lace flounced skirt and black sequined flats.

  Lauren smoothed the hot pink shirt down, which said If gymnastics were EASY, it would be called FOOTBALL. “Uncle Jack got this for me for Christmas.”

  “Of course Jack picked that out. Where is he?”

  Lauren jerked her chin in the direction of the patio door. “On the phone.”

  “Okay. Why don’t you get your stuff together and I’ll go tell him we’re leaving.”

  Diesel assaulted Kate, as soon as she slid the glass door open. He jumped as high as her chest, greeting her with barks interspersed with whines.

  Jack was sitting with his legs propped up on his weathered picnic table. He jumped up when he saw Kate, and scrambled to scoop up the scattered papers that covered the table. He stacked them all into one semi-neat pile and put them under a terra cotta pot of mums. He motioned for Kate to shut the door behind her. Kate slid the glass door closed and got down on the ground so she could give the little dog the proper attention he was looking for—a vigorous belly rub with a lot of exaggerated praise.

  “She needs to know what’s going on.” Jack’s voice was hushed but clearly irritated.

  “Two more days, and then I don’t give a shit what you say; I’ll fly her out there myself.

  “Yeah, whatever. Love you too.” Jack threw the phone down on the table and stretched his arms up into a long stretch.

  “Harper?” whispered Kate.

  “Yeah. She’s driving me crazy.”

  “How’s David?”

  “That’s the thing. He’s doing better. They’re pretty sure he’s going to regain all his vision.”

  “Then why can’t you tell Lauren?”

  “David doesn’t want to tell her till he finds out for sure about his eyes. But I think it’s mostly because his friend didn’t make it and he’s having a hard time. They did three tours together.”

  “Your poor brother-in-law.”

  “I know. But I think seeing Lauren will make him feel better.”

  “It would be good for her too. Especially after what happened yesterday.”

  “I know. Part of me wonders if she would’ve been so eager to go with that guy if she wasn’t missing her own dad so much.”

  Lauren slid the door open. “You coming with us, Uncle Jack?”

  “Nah. I can’t show my face in the bowling alley after you kicked my butt so bad last time.”

  “That triple turkey was pretty awesome.”

  “She got such a high score, they announced it over the loudspeaker.”

  “Yeah, it was me and this old guy who’s been on the bowling team for like a hundred years.”

  “Your punishment is officially suspended for the next two hours. As soon as you get back I’ll have a list of chores for you,” Jack said in an official sounding tone.

  Lauren groaned, but she still reached over and gave Jack a sideways hug followed by a complicated series of high fives.

  Jack mouthed “Thank you” over Lauren’s head.

  Kate and Lauren took a quick cab ride to 42nd Street and left behind the bright sun of the afternoon when they entered the club-like atmosphere of the bowling alley. As soon as they walked in, Kate spotted the small clumps of people waiting to bowl. Kate felt like kicking herself for not thinking to call ahead for a reservation.

  “We’ll never get a lane,” said Lauren.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll put our names on the list and grab a bite to eat while we wait. I don’t have to be anywhere. Do you?”

  “No, I just figured you have a lot of stuff to do.” Lauren picked a fleck of purple nail polish off her thumbnail.

  “Right now the only thing on my calendar is an afternoon of bowling with you. Come on. Let’s give them our names.”

  The girl at the reservation counter had two thick shanks of flat-ironed hair covering both sides of her face as she leaned over the reservation sheet. “The wait time is between forty-five minutes to an hour. I can give you a beeper, but it only works in the building or right outside, so you can’t…” Her voice stopped in the middle of her monotone speech when she finally looked up and noticed Kate.

  “You’re Kate Richards.”

  “I bet that means you can bump us up higher on the list,” said Lauren, with a conspiratorial wink at the hostess.

  Kate had been in situations like this before and she usually didn’t like taking advantage of her semi-celebrity status in this way. But it was written all over Lauren’s face how cool it would be to cut the crowd.

  “You are totally going to the top of the list. The last time we had a celebrity in here, a bunch of photographers came and next thing you know I was being interviewed for Gossip Matters.” The girl’s left ear was pierced with a silver bar that ran from the top of her ear lobe through the cartilage at the bottom of her ear. Her right hand had a small silver ball stabbed in the meaty part of her flesh between her thumb and pointer finger. It made Kate nauseous to look at it, so she looked up at the girl’s face.

  “OMG! Was it Brangelina?” asked Lauren.

  “When they come we just close down the whole place to the public. But that other time it was Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift.”

  “I bet Selena comes back with her boyfriend,” said Lauren.

  “If they’re not broken up again
.” She came out from behind the counter and Kate was surprised to see this Goth girl was wearing a perfectly normal black skirt and fitted white button-down shirt. “Follow me.”

  Kate could hear the groans of annoyance as soon as the crowd of people realized the people who were just walking in were getting a lane first.

  “Sorry, reservation,” Kate called, over her shoulder.

  Lauren wrapped her small hand right above Kate’s crooked elbow and giggled as they hurried to keep up with the hostess.

  Lauren chose a neon green bowling ball for herself and a purple one for Kate. Kate had just finished adding their names to the computerized screen when a waitress brought over a tray of food for them.

  “On the house, Ms. Richards. We selected the healthier items from our menu for you and your friend.” The waitress set the food on the table and Lauren beamed at the word “friend.”

  “Awesome!” Lauren took a coconut-encrusted shrimp from the plate.

  “Thanks, so much,” said Kate. “I’ll be sure to mention some of these foods on the show.”

  As soon as the waitress walked away, Lauren said, “How come rich and famous people are always getting things for free?”

  “Good question.” Kate grabbed some sort of fish wonton. It was light and crispy on the outside but when she bit it into a burst of spicy flavor filled her mouth.

  “Try one of these skewer thingies. They’re spicy, but really good.”

  “So what do you like about bowling besides the fact that you’re amazing at it?”

  “My dad and I bowl together when he’s home. He’s in Afghanistan right now.” She looked off to the side over Kate’s shoulder, and her brightness seemed to dim. All Kate could think about was this poor girl’s dad sitting in a hospital.

  “Jack was bragging to me about what a hero your dad is. He must be a pretty tough guy to be a Marine.”

  Lauren jerked her chin up. “He is. When he’s home we do conditioning together, like running, push-ups, stuff like that. He says I help keep him in shape.”

  “I’m sure you do,” said Kate. Her mouth was burning from that skewer. She sucked back a huge sip of water.