by Kim Hornsby
She let herself in to the house from the garage, her eyes drifting immediately to a white Persian cat on the kitchen table. “Hello, Cat.” She smiled to herself. The fact that her parents had found themselves a pet softened her heart, made them seem more normal, like her parents were lonely and needed something.
She put her bag down on the granite counter top and crossed to the cat. It was purring before she even got to the table, and she had to wonder how affectionate her parents were with their pet. The fluffy, white feline rubbed against Tina as she stroked its back. According to the collar’s tag, its name was Mr. Boo. A snort laugh escaped Tina’s mouth. Had her studious father chosen that name? She couldn’t imagine her mother calling anything by that name, but then two hours earlier, she couldn’t have imagined her mother tolerating a cat.
“Hello, Mr. Boo. You must be a boy, with a name like that. Do you have food and water?” She looked around the slate floor and saw bowls by the butler’s pantry. Tears pricked at her eyes to think that her mother and father would remember to feed a pet. It was silly to be choked up, but she’d never known them to care about animals. They were devoted to each other. And her. She couldn’t wait to tease her mother and ask the same questions she’d been asked about Obi. “Do you let that thing sleep with you?”
Walking through the sprawling house with Mr. Boo on her heels, she looked for anything else that might have changed. The house was built in the traditional style of the 1920’s, with all four bedrooms on the top floor. The main floor had the kitchen, dining room, living room, conservatory/sunroom, and an office. The lower floor was comprised of a billiards room, as well as separate maid’s quarters where their full-time help lived. Millie had been with the Greenes for over seventeen years, ever since Tina left for college. She never came upstairs after five pm, unless scheduled for a party.
On the top floor, Tina immediately turned right for her bedroom at the end of the hall. The door still squeaked, something her father said he didn’t fix when she was a teenager. “We liked knowing your comings and goings,” he’d revealed only a few years earlier. She smiled at the thought.
A poster of Metallica stared down from her wall, and she chuckled to remember her musical taste eighteen years ago. Mr. Boo jumped up on the bed, meowing. “You can sleep with me, Mr. Boo, but not right on top of me.” Didn’t cats like to do that? She needed to see that letter. Until then, she wouldn’t be able to sleep.
In the master bedroom, nothing indicated that her parents left in a hurry, a state of worry and ill health. Everything looked perfectly placed, as usual. She crossed the expensive, plush carpet to her mother’s desk and opened the top right drawer.
Who in hell would write a letter to warn her parents about Hank? Not Noble, not Pepper. Maybe one of her other friends, although she couldn’t believe that anyone would contact her parents before they’d talk to her.
As expected, her mother’s desk was orderly and the letter was exactly where she said. The envelope was legal sized, white, non-descript, with her parents’ names and address on the front. Typed. Mailed from Lahaina, Maui. The date of the letter meant nothing in particular to Tina. It was a month after she and Hank were married. Inside, was one sheet of white paper, also typed.
Hank Perez is a criminal. He has warrants for his arrest in California and is after your daughter’s money. He is not who he says he is.
Signed,
A Friend
Tina had hoped for more. She read the letter again, but got nothing more from it the second time. What had she expected? Recognizable handwriting with initials? Her hands shook, jiggling the paper. She felt violated, not saved from a future with a criminal.
It was almost nine p.m. and she was exhausted--ready to fall into bed without brushing her teeth, tired. Back in her room, she set the letter on the bedside table and pulled back the down-filled duvet. Maybe something would come to her tomorrow, but she doubted it. The post office stamp told her nothing. Months ago, the words gave her mother all she needed to know to investigate Hank. And once Elizabeth Greene got the information straight, she launched her campaign to have Hank leave the marriage.
Tina pulled her jeans off and slipped into the cool cotton sheets. Thoughts of Jamey in a house only forty minutes down the road made her feel safe and loved. Tomorrow, she’d see him. And tomorrow she’d brush her teeth.
Reaching to turn off the light, she glanced briefly at the letter lying open on the table. Who the hell took the time to type that letter, then went to all the trouble to find her parents’ address and send the thing? And why would anyone want to ruin her life like that?
***
Jamey followed Tina’s instructions on how to reach the Greene’s house on Mercer Island, speeding down the highway towards Seattle. He crossed to the island and pulled off Interstate 90 heading for the upscale neighborhood where Tina was raised. He’d been looking forward to this ever since they’d spoken that morning. Although her parents weren’t sold on the idea of him being their daughter’s boyfriend, Tina had assured him that her mother felt badly about Maui. “She had no idea how important you were to me,” Tina said on the phone. “And that you were helping me find Hank’s body. Telling my mother more than that, especially about dream jumping, is not an option,” she’d added. He’d hoped she’d say that.
The street was lined with enormous houses, and Jamey found the number of the Greene’s house on the fancy mailbox at the end of a long driveway. It was a huge property. The house looked elegant and stuffy, just like Tina’s mother. As he pulled his old truck up to the front of the house, he saw Tina waiting on the front stairs. She wiggled her fingers in a wave, and he smiled in anticipation of her. His Tina.
She ran down the walkway, the dusky light of a seven p.m. spring evening illuminating her small form. He’d never seen her wear so many clothes before.
Stepping from the truck, he grinned and shook his head. “I hardly recognize you in all those clothes!” He opened his arms and she ran towards him, laughing.
“Maybe I should take some off.” She jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his hips.
He kissed her, then pulled away. “Maybe we should slow down, Tiger. What will your parents think?”
“They aren’t here. Dad’s physician didn’t release him tonight, after all.”
Jamey searched her face. “He’s okay?”
“Yes. He’ll come home tomorrow. My mother is staying the night again.”
He let her down and they walked arm in arm up the stairs and into the house’s grand hall.
Jamey whistled. “Nice place.” It looked like something out of Architectural Digest.
“I’ll show you the main floor later. Come see my room.” Tina’s small hand fit in his and the look she gave him let there be no doubt what they were going to do once they got to her bedroom. “I missed you, Jamey.”
Her eyes reflected sadness, like she missed more than the physical relationship they had. “Me too, Baby. Being apart sucks.” They held each other for a while, then Jamey pulled away, kissed her lightly and smiled. “Now, show me your room.”
They barely got inside the bedroom door when they started pulling off each other’s clothes. Jamey’s hands were inside her shirt, lifting it up, above her head. “Nice bed, but the cat’s got to go.”
“Mr. Boo.” Tina ripped his jean shirt open and pulled it over his broad shoulders.
“I’ll show you, Mr. Boo.” Jamey smirked.
She stepped out of her shoes and they lowered to the bed. With shirts off, they rolled around kissing and fondling each other like it was their first time in some college dorm room. Tina always made him feel like it was his first time. Her little tits, tight ass, and kisses reminded him how great sex could be. He pulled off her jeans--Man, she looked good in those things--threw them on the floor, and stood to rip off his own, the flimsy material of his boxers revealing how much he wanted her.
Tina scooted up to lay her head on the pillow and stared at him with lust. “Get do
wn here, big guy.” She reached for him.
In a surge of excitement he hadn’t felt since high school, he almost lost it, right then. “You ready?” He eased onto her and pressed his erection into her thighs. “I want to make this last… maybe another half minute.”
“I want to fuck fast, and then do it again, and again.” Her look was hard, raw.
“If that’s what the lady wants …” Jamey rubbed himself over her mound and tried to ease in gently, but she thrust up to meet him.
“Like this,” she said, biting his neck and arching her back to grind her hips into him.
He matched her fierceness, slamming into her over and over. Tina’s moans filled the room, escalating in intensity, until she let out one final moan of ecstasy, matching Jamey’s.
***
Tina lay on top of Jamey, her ragged breathing mingled with his. After years of only adequate sex, she now couldn’t get enough of Jamey. He was the best lover she’d ever had, and probably because of that, she liked to get this physical thirst quenched first thing. But a little voice warned her that this would even out eventually, and there had to be more when that happened. She needed to know her love for him was more than how he made her feel sexually. And for him too.
They eventually disentangled and lay in her bed talking about how she’d never done this in her own house before.
Jamey laughed. “Feeling naughty?”
“Didn’t you notice?” She raised up on one elbow and smiled slyly at him. She stroked his muscled abdomen, circled his navel and lightly traced the hair leading lower. “I want to do this all night, because tomorrow morning, my parents come home.”
His laugh was gratifying. “You sound like a teenager, left alone in the house for the weekend.”
She kissed his neck and burrowed in under his chin to fit her face in the hollow. “I feel like a teenager. You do that to me. Do you think that will ever end?” She hated to imagine.
“I don’t know, but let’s stay together long enough to see.” He pulled her in tighter.
“Deal.”
“Ah, Tina,” he sighed. ”I want you to meet my dad and the girls. How long are you here?”
“A week maybe. Business is slow on Maui.”
“Perfect timing.” Jamey got up to go to the bathroom, and when he got back in bed, he seemed distracted.
“I forgot to ask you. How are the girls and Pops?” she asked.
“Everyone is great. They can’t wait to see if you’re as wonderful as I say you are.”
They talked about his daughters, and the birthday party planned that weekend, then Jamey voiced concern for Pops’ health. His emphysema was worse. “I made him promise to quit smoking, again. I’m hoping he can stay away from those things.” His fingers circled her nipple. “I know you’re busy tomorrow, but Friday, can you get away to join me in Carnation?” He sounded unsure, not quite himself.
She looked into his blue eyes. “I would like nothing better than to meet your daughters. And your father. And your ex-wife, her children, Katie’s father, Carrie’s husband, your kids’ friends. I want to meet everyone! The more people I meet, the harder it will be for you to get rid of me if you ever get the notion.” She smiled into his face, but when his expression became serious, she wondered if she should take back the last words.
“I never want to live without you again, Tina. I can’t imagine what hell that would be. Always remember that.”
A shiver dominoed up her spine. The morning Hank died, he’d said almost the same thing.
Chapter 10
Jamey was royally fucked! Tina had the letter. He had to tell her now that he wrote the damned thing.
It was sitting on the counter in the bathroom when he went in. All he needed was to take the envelope in his hands to know inside was the note he’d typed to the Greenes about Hank. He opened it anyway, careful to be quiet and read the words he’d painstakingly chosen. Damn! She now had physical proof that someone tipped off her mother.
This was bound to happen--only a matter of time before Elizabeth Greene revealed how she knew Hank was a criminal. For Jamey, accepting some of the blame for Hank’s death had been inevitable. Without her knowing, he and Tina’s mother were in cahoots. He’d wondered lately if Tina would think better of her mother’s interference when she found out that it all started with him writing that letter.
He had to come clean.
If this relationship with Tina was going to be forever, with no secrets and total disclosure, he had to confess. Selfishly, he wanted her to meet his family, his girls, his dad, before he confessed. Like she said, meet everyone to make it harder to lose each other. Dig in a little deeper before he blew the top off the beautiful thing they had.
Slipping back into bed with Tina, he hoped they could survive this potential crisis. He’d act normal until the moment he confessed he’d sent the letter. He couldn’t do it now. He’d wait until after her father was doing better, was stronger. After Tina became a part of his family, he’d sit her down and reveal his part in all this, that he’d met Hank. He’d been to her house to drink some beers with this guy he met in the bank lineup, but when he sensed that Tina was his new buddy’s “sexy girlfriend” who was “loaded,” Jamey cut out early. The last thing he wanted that night on Maui, was to be standing in Tina’s kitchen drinking beer with her boyfriend when she walked through the door. Driving away from the house that day, he couldn’t pretend that deep down he hadn’t hoped that when Hank died, he might find Tina again. But he promised himself he wouldn’t wait for that to happen. He’d just joined Sixth Force and was being pulled in another direction. And, it might be decades before Hank died. That much had not been clear in the dream about their wedding. Only that Hank would die early.
One thing had been very clear to him when he saw Hank a year later. Hank was out to swindle Tina--the woman Jamey’d given up to keep a promise to his uncle about not messing with the future. And that made him mad, he had to admit. He’d given her over to this scum, it ended badly, and there was nothing Jamey could do.
Except live with the guilt that he might have killed Hank by altering the future.
***
Tina’s parents were laughing about something in their bedroom when she entered the room. They’d just finished bowls of Millie’s famous split pea soup and were deciding on a movie. She perched on the end of their bed and made her announcement. “I want to tell you something,” she said nervously. “I’m in love.” Her mother’s eyebrows knitted together, and her father looked slightly amused. “With Jamey Dunn, the man you met at my house. He came back into my life eight weeks ago. As you know, he helped me find Hank’s body.”
Her parents still didn’t know all the particulars of the rescue, and didn’t seem to care how Tina knew to dive inside a cave off Molokai. Unless they asked for details, she wouldn’t have to lie about a dive group on Molokai seeing his body in the cave and the police alerting her. Lying to her parents wasn’t something she enjoyed. “Jamey handled all the details of the investigation, and the cremation. He’s been amazing throughout this whole thing.” She looked straight at her mother when she said the next part. “What you don’t know is that Jamey Dunn was my boyfriend ten years ago on Maui. We split up and he went back to Carnation, eventually marrying a woman and having twin girls.” Her parents looked frozen in time, they were so still. “They divorced a few years ago. His ex-wife, Carrie, couldn’t handle being a cop’s wife, and she left him. After that, he went to Afghanistan for two years. Jamey is very much a part of his daughters’ lives and is, once again, my boyfriend.” It sounded so juvenile to call him that when he was so much more. She wanted to admit he was the love of her life, that when Jamey left her, she couldn’t find another love like his. Then Hank came along and made her feel happy again. But she didn’t want to say that. Tina would not belittle her relationship with Hank to her parents, even if she thought it might make them happy to hear Jamey was her soul mate-- the one man she loved like the world would end without him. �
��He’s back in Carnation now, visiting his daughters. He’s going to move over to Maui, but we’ve decided to take it slowly, see where this goes.” She nodded at them for approval.
Her father smiled. “You deserve some happiness, and if this soldier gives that to you, then I’m happy.”
Tina didn’t know why it mattered so much what they thought. It never had before. “He’s on disability leave, and probably won’t go back to Afghanistan.” When her mother raised her eyebrows to indicate she needed more information, Tina relented. “Migraines,” she said, and when her mother pulled one of her ‘that’s ridiculous’ faces, Tina continued. “Severe enough that he loses vision when he gets them,” Tina then realized that it sounded like her new boyfriend was pitifully fragile. “The gunfire brings them on.” She had to stop all this lying. The hole she was digging was getting bigger with each sentence. “Today, I’m going out to Carnation to meet his daughters.” Tina smiled. “That is, if you’ll be fine without me for the day.”
Her parents nodded. “Of course we’re fine,” her father said.
Millie had come to get the lunch trays, and was now standing at the foot of the bed. She smiled at Tina. “I’ll keep an eye on your parents, Kristina. You enjoy this beautiful day.” Tina was very fond of Millie. She’d been so faithful to her parents over the years. With two sons grown and a husband buried, Millie had made the Greenes her extended family.
As she pulled out of the garage and turned the car around in the circular driveway, Tina was deliriously happy. The sun was out in full force, and the day was shaping up to be one of those rare days in Seattle when the temperatures get in the seventies in late April. She’d promised Jamey regardless of the temperature, she’d wear her tight jeans to Carnation. “It’ll never get warm enough here for me to get in anything less than jeans and a sweater,” she’d said to him on the phone that morning. Her thin blood was used to Maui temperatures.