In the Details

by H. Claire Taylor

  Destinee reached out and placed a hand on Jessica’s cheek. “Not at all. You know I was single for years before I started fooling around with this one. There’s nothing wrong with being single. What’s wrong is staying in a relationship for the sake of not being single.”

  “You mind if I keep in contact with him?” Rex asked timidly. “I just mean, I enjoy keeping up with his career, and I’m not sure who else is gonna remind him to line up his hips before he throws on the scramble …”

  Probably his professional coaches will do that. She swallowed down the sarcasm. “Yeah, of course you can stay in contact with him, Rex. Hell, I might still stay in contact with him. We decided that was okay, that it didn’t have to be a clean break.”

  Destinee and Rex exchanged a quick glance.

  “What?” Jessica said. “What’s that look for?”

  Destinee was the one who explained. “Sometimes a clean break is the only way to keep from torturing someone when you end it. You may have called it quits on good terms, but if you keep up communication, you’re likely to end up obsessing over who they’re with and so on until you become so jealous you decide to ruin them for everyone else if you can’t have them.”

  “Sounds like you’re speaking from personal experience,” Jessica remarked.

  Destinee nodded and jabbed a finger up toward the ceiling.

  Rex stood. “I gotta take a quick piss.” He rushed into the bedroom.

  Jessica watched him go, almost tripping on his own feet in his hurry. “He still doesn’t like you talking about your eternal ex?”

  Instead of answering, Destinee leaned forward and whispered, “It’s getting out of control, isn’t it?”

  “Huh? What is?”

  “His feminism.”

  Jessica wrinkled her nose. “I mean, it’s a lot, but—”

  “I haven’t gotten a full night’s sleep in two weeks! You know why?”

  Jessica had her suspicions, so instead of replying, she cringed, hoping her mother would take the hint.

  She didn’t. “That man is hellbent on giving me multiple orgasms before he gets down to the business himself. It’s stressing me out. And I feel like his tongue’s going to fall right off from overuse. I swear to your father, the man was slurring his speech the other morning! I think he pulled a muscle. I ain’t joking! Meanwhile, I just want to bang. I like it! It’s fun, and it’s about all the cardio my saggy ass gets. But no, he won’t even consider it until I get mine, and then I’m so stressed and annoyed, I can’t deliver!” Her cheeks were flushed by the time she finished, and Jessica could tell her mother had been bottling up that complaint for a while.

  “You’re telling me,” Jessica replied slowly, “that Rex’s feminism is hurting your sex life?”

  Destinee slapped the counter. “Yes!”

  “Because he wants to give you too many orgasms?” She hoped she wasn’t grimacing as intensely on the outside as she was on the inside.

  “Exactly. You nailed it, baby.”

  The toilet flushed and Destinee quickly hissed, “Don’t tell him I said any of this.” Then she stuffed her face with food a moment before Rex appeared again.

  As he lowered himself onto the stool, he added, “I just thought of this while I was taking a leak. I want to be clear how impressed I am by your desire to be independent, McCloud.”

  She decided to take the compliment because she needed it, but then followed up with, “You mean because I’m single now?” She’d considered herself independent in a lot of ways even before the break-up.

  “Because I know Riley was helping you pay the bills to keep the bakery afloat, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but to cut yourself off from that … Bold. Brave.” He applauded her, an audience of one.

  Meanwhile, her heart dropped into her stomach. “Oh … shit.” She set her fork down slowly so that if she passed out, she wouldn’t accidentally impale herself with it. “I hadn’t … it hadn’t even occurred to me.”

  “Baby,” Destinee said, jumping up. “Are you hyperventilating?”

  Jessica couldn’t answer the question, though, because she was hyperventilating.

  “Breathe, McCloud!” Rex shouted, which didn’t help. “Hands over your head. Open the lungs! Tap into the strength of the divine feminine!”

  “Knock it off!” Destinee spat. “She is the divine feminine, for christ’s sake!” She shoved him to the side as she rounded the island to rub Jessica’s back.

  So caught up in trying to control in the angst and emotion that came with the split, she hadn’t even examined the practical fall out. Chris’s money was an integral part of her operational budget until she found a way to generate more profit each month. Sampson had even snidely commented that if she didn’t have a man helping her out, her business would be shuttered in a matter of months.

  Man, she hated Sampson.

  Could she still ask Chris for money now that they’d broken up?

  Of course she could and he wouldn’t turn her down.

  But she wouldn’t. That wasn’t how this worked. She was on her own now. The bakery had to be completely self-sufficient. No more room for low sales days, no more room for setbacks.

  “I’m fine,” she said, catching her breath. “I’m fine. Everything will be just fine.”

  But she knew that those words had never been uttered by someone who actually believed them.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Jessica was not fine.

  She stared up at the living room ceiling on a weekend afternoon when she should have been at work.

  Of course the first vacation I take is one I can’t enjoy.

  Destinee hadn’t left her much of a choice, though. She’d practically run her out of her own bakery on a Friday and said don’t come back until Monday. Jessica might have been the boss, but Destinee was still the boss.

  It had taken two weeks and one skin-tight billing cycle before the reality of the break-up hit like an oncoming bus. Sampson had all but lost his mind when she’d explained one of their main streams of income had dried up. His snide and subtle comments she’d grown accustomed to gave way to unfiltered wrath on the next phone call. And she’d simply leaned against the wall behind the display case in the bakery, phone to her ear, and accepted the verbal abuse from her employee like it was a doctor-prescribed bloodletting. This is fine, she’d assured herself.

  And not unsurprisingly, it was shortly after that when the minor breakdown began to unfurl.

  She’d forced herself out of bed that morning since the mattress reminded her too much of Chris, and found herself spread out on the couch a minute later. Had she been there for an hour? Five hours? Eight hours?

  IT’S BEEN TWENTY MINUTES.

  Not you.

  HEAVENLY CHILD, THIS IS NOT A GOOD LOOK ON YOU.

  I don’t care.

  THOU SHALT PULL THYSELF TOGETHER.

  She knew what happened when she refused his thou shalts. It was never good. But she hadn’t been kidding when she’d said she didn’t care.

  No.

  There was a moment’s pause before: I’LL LET THAT GO, BUT ONLY BECAUSE I KNOW HOW MISERABLE YOU ARE EVERY TIME YOU BREAK UP WITH ANGEL BOY.

  You truly are the most merciful of gods.

  (THERE IS NO GOD BUT ME.) FOR THE HOLY RECORD, THE LORD SENSES YOUR SARCASM.

  Great. That was the hope. This is all your fault anyway.

  ALMIGHTY SHOCKER RIGHT THERE, MAKING ME THE SCAPEGOAT FOR YOUR PROBLEMS.

  It’s your goddamn path I got back onto! You wanted Chris and me to break up a while ago. No matter how hard I try, it looks like I don’t have a choice after all.

  DID I EVER TELL YOU ABOUT THE NIGHT I MET YOUR MOTHER?

  What? Ew. No.

  Considering her birth was a result of a one-night stand, she didn’t want to know the details.

  OBVIOUSLY YOU WERE CONCEIVED THAT NIGHT, BUT THAT WASN’T UNTIL WE WERE IN THE BACK SEAT OF HER CAR. PREVIOUS TO THAT, SHE SAT NEXT TO ME AT THE BAR AND I OFFERED TO BUY
HER A DRINK AND ASKED IF SHE WOULD BE INTERESTED IN GOING HOME WITH ME. SHE TURNED ME DOWN.

  Is there a point to this story other than admitting you’re a predator? Wait, is this confession for you?

  HUSH. THIS IS IMPORTANT.

  She thought her concerns were pretty important, too, but she listened anyway.

  YOUR MOTHER WAS NOT THE FIRST TO REJECT AN OFFERING FROM THE LORD. IT WAS WHAT SHE DID NEXT THAT IMPRESSED ME. SHE CALLED ME A CREEP—

  You were.

  —AND MOVED TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BAR. THIS WAS NOT PART OF THE LORD’S PLAN. I HAD NOT FORESEEN HER REACTION, AND IT WAS THE FIRST TIME IN MANY, MANY YEARS THAT I WAS SURPRISED.

  Sounds like you got a little too cocksure about your game. Good for her.

  I APPROACHED HER AGAIN, APOLOGIZED FOR BEING SO FORWARD. SHE GRABBED HER DRINK AND RETURNED TO HER PREVIOUS SPOT AT THE BAR, BUT NOT BEFORE TELLING ME TO LEAVE HER BE.

  BUT I COULD NOT! NOT WHEN I WAS SO SHOCKED BY HER BEHAVIOR.

  You’re such a stalker.

  I DO NOT DENY IT. I RETURNED TO SIT NEXT TO HER AND EXPLAINED THAT I WAS GOD. AND YOU KNOW WHAT SHE DID NEXT?

  Not a clue.

  SHE SLAPPED ME ACROSS THE FACE.

  Of course she did. Why would she believe you were God?

  YOU MISUNDERSTAND. SHE DID BELIEVE ME. SHE TOLD ME SO. AND THEN SHE SLAPPED ME ANYWAY. AND SO IT WAS THAT SHE HAD THRICE DENIED THE LORD.

  I assume you didn’t see the smack coming, either. Jessica hadn’t expected this story to cheer her up, but by god, it did.

  THE LORD DID NOT.

  You deserved it.

  INDEED. SHE LAID OUT THE HARDSHIPS OF HER LIFE AND, YES, EACH ONE WAS MY FAULT. IT WAS ONLY AFTER SHE HAD DELIVERED HER VERBAL LASHING THAT SHE CALMED DOWN AND WE BEGAN TO TALK. AND THEN ONE THING LED TO ANOTHER—THAT WAS PART OF MY PLAN—AND A MIRACLE WAS CONCEIVED.

  Okay, so glossing over that last bit, why are you telling me this?

  THERE IS NO SET PATH. THERE IS AN EASY PATH, AND THAT IS THE ONE MOST PEOPLE TRAVEL. BUT NOT YOUR MOTHER. YOU MCCLOUD WOMEN ARE FULL OF SURPRISES.

  But I ended up on your path after all. I broke up with Chris.

  YOU DID. BUT YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO. LOTS OF PEOPLE WOULDN’T HAVE. THE RESULT WAS THE SAME OVER TIME, BUT YOU TOOK ANOTHER PATH TO GET THERE, AND THE CHOICE WAS YOURS.

  The phone rang from her bedside table. It was so far away …

  That’s what voicemail was for.

  Perhaps if she’d had this conversation with her Father at a different point in time, it would have proved helpful. But as it was, God’s words brought her little comfort because they brought her no money.

  Who do I know who’s rich?

  God didn’t speak. For once, he let the rhetorical question sit without answering it. He must really feel sorry for her.

  Jeremy Archer was rich. He owned an entire media empire, for shit’s sake. He could have afforded to buy Jesus his own mansion to live in.

  Which begged the question of why he didn’t, why he insisted the messiah share his two-bedroom condo …

  Jeremy was also batshit insane from years of denying to himself and others that he was an angel. And that meant he would likely give her the money if she asked (the angelic part) but it would come with so many strings attached, she’d end up just another one of his marionettes that he could jerk around when his next insane conspiracy coursed through his bloodstream.

  The only other rich person she knew was Jameson Fractal, and hell no.

  Chris was the only person she felt comfortable taking money from without needing to repay it, and she’d cast him off.

  The phone rang again.

  Should I get that?

  THOU SHALT.

  She decided not to push her luck and did as He commanded this time.

  Swinging her legs around, she pushed herself off the couch with a moan. By the time she’d reached her phone, it’d stopped ringing again. She unlocked the screen, and before she could see who the missed calls were from, it started ringing again.

  The contact was Mom.

  “What’s up?”

  Destinee’s voice sounded like someone had lassoed her vocal cords as they struggled against the ropes. “Don’t freak out, baby, but, well, I don’t know how else to say it other than we have a little disaster over here, and it might be best if the boss showed up.”

  Jessica gripped the phone tightly as if she could intimidate it into delivering better news. “I’m gonna need more details.”

  “Best if I don’t give those to you before you get on the road. Just come over here. And like I said, don’t freak out. But, gahdamn, what a disaster.”

  Jessica ended the call and scrambled to find her flip-flops and bag, then she was out the front door.

  It was only when she nearly walked right into Jeremy Archer on her doorstep, and he said, “I dig your style today, Jessica,” that she realized she was not dressed for public consumption. But it didn’t matter. She reached in her canvas tote, grabbed her invisibility sunglasses and cap, and marched toward the parking garage.

  By the time she arrived at It is Risen, she was expecting to find a pile of rubble and ashes in place of the structure. Her worst fear would have been confirmed, that whoever had set fire to her food truck had come back to finish the job.

  But instead, the building was still there, not even the least bit charred, and the only sign of something being awry was that the Open sign was flipped to Closed.

  She pulled around the back and parked, then rushed inside.

  Destinee was waiting by the phone, leaning against the paperwork shelf.

  Jessica shivered. The kitchen was freezing. Was her mother having hot flashes already? “Okay, I’m here. What the hell is going on?”

  “Follow me.” She nodded around the corner toward the cold storage, and Jessica hurried after her.

  Destinee pulled open the freezer door, and when no frost swirled out, the problem became obvious.

  Dwayne hadn’t properly shut the freezer door. “That dumb son of a bitch! Was it open all night?”

  “Yep,” Destinee said.

  “I told him to make sure to shut the damn thing,” Jessica growled. How much inventory had been wasted? And just when they were running so tight.

  “It wasn’t just a little bit open, Jess. I think more of the food would have made it if it was just a little bit open.”

  “He left it wide open?”

  Destinee nodded.

  “But that’s … that just sounds malicious.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I just don’t get why he’d do it on purpose. I hardly ever interacted with the guy—he always had his earbuds in—but he seemed fine enough, coming in early. I guess you just don’t know about some people.”

  If only that were the case, but Jessica had never had a great feeling about Dwayne. They’d gotten off to a rocky start, and things had never improved. Sure, he got the job done, but each time she spoke with him was an exercise in holding her tongue.

  She put her hands on her head, staring at the dough that was probably crawling with bacteria now. And never mind the expense of leaving a freezer like this open all night to cool the entire place. Could she cook away the bacteria? Maybe she had some sort of sanitation miracle up her sleeve.

  NOPE.

  “It’s fine,” she said. “It’s fine. We can make it work.”

  IT IS NOT. THE LORD THOUGHT HE MADE HIMSELF CLEAR ABOUT SANITATION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

  Destinee cleared her throat awkwardly. “There’s one other thing.”

  Jessica whirled away from the crime scene to stare wide-eyed at her mother. “What other thing?”

  “Breathe,” Destinee said.

  “No, no, no …” She pointed accusingly at her mother. “You’re being too calm. Oh no, it’s really bad isn’t it?” Destinee cringed. “It is. It’s terrible. What is it? Just tell me. Did Judith quit? Are there naked pictures of me floating around? Oh God! Did so
meone accuse Sir David Attenborough of improper behavior?!” She covered her mouth to hold back the scream.

  “Knock it off,” Destinee snapped. “You’re talking foolish! It’s none of those things.” She reached in her back pocket and pulled out a folded up letter, which she flattened and handed to Jessica.

  Before Jessica’s mind could make sense of the red lettering at the top, Destinee provided a rundown. “They’re claiming the mortgage is two months overdue.”

  Jessica screwed up her face. “What? No, it’s not.”

  “They say it is.”

  “But Sampson said he paid it.”

  “Well, he didn’t.”

  It didn’t compute. “But, does that mean we have two months’ of mortgage sitting in the account?”

  Destinee grimaced, gazing sympathetically at her daughter. “Oh, I doubt that’s how this went.”

  “There’s only one way to get to the bottom of this.” She reached in her bag and pulled out her phone.

  “I don’t know that he’s gonna answer, but okay.”

  Jessica called him anyway.

  She got his voicemail. “Hey, Sampson. It’s Jessica McCloud. Just got a letter from the mortgage company saying we’ve missed two payments. Maybe you sent it to the wrong address or something? Just let me know and I’m sure we can figure it out.”

  As soon as she hung up, she realized what a fool she’d been. She narrowed her eyes at her phone screen. “He stole it, didn’t he?”

  Destinee nodded. “That’d be my guess. And, um, it wasn’t just the mortgage.” She led Jessica over to the stacks of bills on the shelf. “I opened a few of these. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Jessica pinched the bridge of her nose. “Balls.” She inhaled and let it out slowly. There was no getting around this nightmare. “I assumed those were just invoices, so I kept passing them along to him. I didn’t even open them. I just wanted them off my plate.”

  Destinee put her arm around Jessica’s shoulder. “You didn’t do anything wrong, baby. I know how overwhelmed you were.”

  Jessica looked up at her mother. “You’re awfully calm about this.”

  “If I didn’t already believe Sampson’s ass was on a beach in Mexico, I’d have tracked him down and put some lead in him. But he’s beyond my reach now, so I gotta let it go. Can’t shoot ’em all.” She sighed mournfully.