The stinging behind my eyes intensified, and my frown began to tremble. I don’t know if I would have been able to stop her if she’d tried to hug me then, but she didn’t. Instead, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“I already know how this is going to go, which is why I’m sending an email to your dad’s lawyers the second I walk out this door. I can’t do much, but unless they want me going to your mom’s lawyers first thing in the morning, they’ll do what I want.”
I stiffened when she came toward me, but she stopped an arm’s length away and offered me the folded piece of paper.
“That’s Mrs. Cho’s new number. It took me a while to track her down since her old number was from a phone that your mom was paying for, but there’s only so many Korean churches in this city, and when I told my mom I was leaving your dad, she helped me look.”
I took the paper with a shaky hand, and Shelly drew back, shoving both hands into her back pockets.
“Anyway, she hasn’t found a new job yet, and once I’m gone, your dad is going to need somebody to be here with you. I know it’s not perfect, but...”
I opened the paper and saw Mrs. Cho’s number. And Shelly’s beneath it.
Shelly hurried to add, “My number’s only so you can call me if the lawyers try to get out of the rest. I don’t think they will, but they are lawyers, so... Oh, and I just called Mrs. Cho and she’s on her way over, so you won’t have to be alone or go back to your mom’s right away unless you want to. She’s really excited to see you again.”
The words and numbers started to blur the longer I looked at them.
“So, um, yeah. I guess that’s it. I don’t entirely know if that bag is going to fit through the door, but thank God the elevator is fixed, right?” She tried to laugh, but it was forced.
Still staring at the paper, I sensed Shelly moving, groaning as she picked up her heavy bag and shuffled toward the door with it. I heard the hinge squeak as she opened the door, and the sound of fabric scratching as she forced the bag into the hall.
“I hope good things for you, Jolene. Better things than you can possibly imagine.”
And then, softly, the door closed behind her.
* * *
I caught her as the elevator doors were opening. She turned, and I saw that the tears streaming down her face matched my own.
“I was supposed to get to hate you forever.”
One side of her mouth lifted. “You still can.”
I shook my head. And I hugged her.
FIFTEENTH WEEKEND
April 9–11
ADAM
I was heading down the hall toward Jolene’s apartment with dragging feet when my phone buzzed.
Jolene:
Hey.
Adam:
Hi. I’m knocking at your door.
Jolene:
Good luck with that.
Adam:
Are you gonna let me in? I need to talk to you about something.
Jolene:
I’m not there.
Adam:
Where are you?
Jolene:
Behind you.
I turned, and saw her coming up the stairs, her hair half pulled back and half loose. I moved quicker than she did and we met in the middle of the hall. I knew I held her too tight, but she didn’t complain.
“It’s okay,” she said after I released her from a hug. “I already heard your dad is moving home.”
I expected my gut to bungee more than it did, probably because I’d expected the news to hurt her as much as it had both hurt and thrilled me. My dad moving home was great, but losing my weekends with Jolene... But she didn’t look devastated.
“I would have called you but—”
“You only just got your phone back.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s awesome, Adam.” She hugged me again, and it felt like there wasn’t a single part of her that didn’t mean it. “I’m happy for you.”
“Really?” I said. “Because I’m happy for my family, but I hate that this...is ending.”
She looked away, then grimaced when she noticed that we were standing in front of Guy’s apartment. She moved us until we were in front of mine.
I couldn’t help it. I glanced back at Guy’s door. I knew he was gone, but still. “Did you tell your parents?”
“Everybody knows and everyone is blaming everyone else.” Jolene tugged the sleeve of my shirt so that I’d follow her down to sit on the ground.
“That can’t have been a fun conversation.”
Jolene shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I let the lawyers do the honors with my parents.” She sighed before speaking again. “I, um, ended up reporting him to the police. Shelly was with me when a couple officers interviewed me, and she...wasn’t horrible about it.” She hunched her shoulders ever so slightly. “The officers talked to me again after interviewing Guy, and he denied everything. He said he barely knew me and that after I tried to come on to him he kept his distance so as not to encourage me.”
“That son of a—” I wasn’t aware that I’d started to push to my feet until Jolene stopped me with a hand on my forearm.
“Adam.” She said my name softly and it helped to slow the rage-induced adrenaline coursing through my body. “He’s gone, remember?”
“He belongs in a cell,” I gritted out, lowering back to the ground.
“Yeah, well, he has a squeaky-clean record, and there’s no proof—”
“There’s you!” I said, feeling my face burn for very different reasons than it usually did around her.
Jolene’s face went hard. “Honestly, I’m just glad he’s gone. Actually, no. I’m glad he’s gone and I’m glad that his record won’t be so squeaky-clean if anyone else ever reports him.” She slid her hand off her lap to brush against mine. “According to Shelly, his face was bruised enough that maybe no one will ever have to.”
I looked down, watching her fingers reach for mine, and forced mine to unclench. My knuckles had been bruised for a few days after hitting Guy, but the skin was fine now. “I didn’t hit him hard enough.”
She laced her fingers through mine and I could feel her gaze on me. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to my cheek. The soft, sweet touch dimmed the fury still shouting at me to find Guy and make him hurt. Her fingers were so small compared to mine, she was so small and he’d—shame, slick and heavy, kept my head from lifting to see hers.
“I’m sorry that I wasn’t there, that I didn’t understand when you brought us to his apartment. I would never have left you.”
“I know,” she said, laying her head on my shoulder. “And it’s not your fault.”
“It’s not yours,” I said, jerking up to find her face, the need to make sure she knew that superseding everything else.
Her nod was stiff and she didn’t say the words, but I had to hope that someday soon she’d be able to. Slowly, a smile lifted her mouth.
“Does it make me a bad person that I’m glad you hit him?”
“No, and I did more than hit him. I kicked him in the nuts so hard he nearly puked.”
Jolene’s smile stretched wider. “Did you really?”
“Yeah. Jeremy hit him, too.”
“Jeremy was with you? He hates me.”
“He doesn’t hate you. In fact, he wanted me to give you this.” I shifted so I could reach into my back pocket and hand a ticket to her. “It’s for the play. Opening night is next week.”
Jolene took it and raised an eyebrow. “The play your ex-girlfriend Erica is also in?”
“Trust me, she is completely over all that. Last night at dinner, she and Jeremy were—”
“She’s eating dinner at your house now?”
“Just a few times so far, but we’ve talked and we’re good.
She’ll tell you the same thing if you come to the play. Will you?”
Jolene looked at the ticket without saying anything.
“I know it’s not the same as a whole weekend, but you could come for dinner and go to the play with my family.”
She bit her lip.
“Or, you don’t have to come to dinner if you don’t want. My mom will be crushed but she’ll understand.”
Jolene’s eyes were a little shiny. “What about you, will you be crushed?”
“Completely.” That made her laugh, though I wasn’t remotely kidding.
“I’m glad Jeremy went with you,” she said, referring to Guy. “It has to be a big-time brother bonding moment to beat up a sexual predator together, huh?”
She meant the comment lightly, but she wasn’t wrong. Things with Jeremy and me had changed that day for the better. I could actually see a future where we were friends as well as brothers. With an odd but not unpleasant ache in my heart, I knew Greg would have been happy to see our relationship shifting. “Yeah, I think so.” I glanced over at her. “I guess things are pretty different for you now, too?”
“You could say that.”
“But things are better with Shelly, right?”
“Actually, Shelly’s gone. I don’t think she even left my dad a note.” There was a touch of bitterness in her voice when she said that last word, but it was gone the next second, replaced by something that sounded almost sad but couldn’t have been, because she was talking about Shelly. “Anyway, she’s gone and, just like she predicted, my parents’ lawyers went for each other’s jugulars.”
“Who won?”
Jolene was gazing down the hall toward her dad’s apartment and frowning. “I guess I did.” She shook her head. “Or at least, neither of my parents did. My mom’s lawyers initially tried to go after my dad for negligence, but then his lawyers got Tom to divulge a bunch of stuff about my mom, and it ended in a stalemate. It would have all come down to Shelly, except when she left my dad, she promised not to help my mom, as long as he agreed to do three things for me.”
I mirrored Jolene’s earlier frown.
“Yeah, that was me for a straight week,” Jolene said, noting my expression. “I hated her for so long, you know? I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about her now, since she helped me when she could have so easily helped only herself. I’m still working through it.” Then she sighed and smiled at me. “Well, aren’t you going to ask me?”
My brain was tripping over that turn of events, but something about the way Jolene’s eyes were boring into me kicked the right question to my lips. “What did you ask for?”
“Just so you know, Shelly didn’t get me a blank check. I had to keep my requests within reason. The first thing was so much easier than it could have been, because Shelly’s mom found her for me before she left—”
“Who?”
Jolene grinned wide. “Someone has to stay with me at my dad’s, and since even he doesn’t rebound that quickly, I got him to hire Mrs. Cho. And he can’t fire her, no matter how many future girlfriends parade through the place.”
Then my smile came, easy and as full as hers. I caught her up in a hug that nearly tugged her into my lap.
Jolene made a fake grunting noise. “I think you’re almost happier than Mrs. Cho was.”
“Good,” I said, still not letting go. “She should be happy to get you back. She was, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah, she was. I guess you were right about my mom lying.” Jolene squeezed me tighter, strong enough that I almost didn’t have to fake a grunt. Then she released me suddenly and leaned back, cool as ever, a smile playing at her lips.
“Ready to hear about wish number two?”
“I’m still really happy about wish number one.”
Her smile grew. “It’s the money and the time away for the film program.”
“Jo—” My own smile started to spread but then dimmed. “What about the letter?”
Her smile slipped, but not all the way. “Venomous Squid wrote me one. It’s not the most cohesive recommendation letter since they traded off between paragraphs, but they talked about the music videos I made for them and basically credited all of their success to my artistic brilliance. Like, that’s an actual line from the letter.”
I grinned. “I still don’t love their music, but I’m totally buying their first album.”
“It was actually Cherry’s idea. We had a chance to talk when I dropped off the music video last week. It started off a little rough and we’re not 100 percent back to how things were but I’m starting to think we might get there.” Jolene drew her knees up and hugged them. “She broke it off with Meneik. She and Gabe have been talking a lot since my birthday. And her mom. And her dad. And her grandmother. And they got through to her.”
“And you,” I said, bumping her shoulder.
“And me,” she agreed. “I told her, not everything, not yet anyway, but she immediately thought of having the band write me a totally unconventional letter. It’ll have to be enough. It will be enough. And if it’s not, then I’ll find another film program, and another after that if I have to. I’m not giving up. Maybe I won’t win an Oscar by the time I’m twenty-five, but I’m going to make movies.”
“I know,” I said without missing a beat.
“You really believe that, don’t you?” She inhaled and exhaled, her smile returning in full force. “Are you ready to hear about wish number three? I got my Lexus back! Not the exact same one, obviously, but...” She dangled her keys up high in front of us. “And my mom can’t make him take this one back. My dad had to up her alimony to ensure that, but I don’t care. Anyway, if I’m going to have to drive half an hour to see you all the time, we can split the gas.”
“Fifteen minutes,” I said, finally throwing her off balance for once. I shifted to pull my wallet out and I held my brand-spanking-new driver’s license out to her.
“You got it!”
“Your complete shock is doing wonders for my self-esteem.”
Jolene pulled her own license out and had me mirror the way she was holding hers under her chin. Then she laid her head on my shoulder and mine dropped against hers as she lifted her camera out in front of us. “Okay, this is better.” I slid an arm around the small of her back and breathed in the subtle honeysuckle scent of her hair.
“Say ‘bikes are for chumps!’”
The camera flashed but even after she lowered it, she kept her head on my shoulder.
“We don’t have to send pics to my mom anymore.”
“Maybe they can just be for us now.”
I’d been so afraid of seeing her today, having to look at her when I told her I wasn’t coming back. I didn’t know if she’d try to brush me off or if she’d let me glimpse any of the pain I was expecting to inflict on her. I didn’t think I’d get to hold her while she absently traced the edges of my license and teased me about how I probably now had my picture framed at the DMV for bestest test taker ever.
I never thought I’d be laughing or that my heart would feel so full.
When she finally lifted her head, she loosely linked her arms around my neck, and there was a hint of pink flushing her cheeks. “I would have driven half an hour.”
“And I would have biked five.”
Jolene smiled at me, and the gap in her teeth did all kinds of wild stuff to my heart. I didn’t mean to stare at her lips, but after not seeing her for two weeks, I couldn’t seem to help it.
“You really want to kiss me, don’t you?”
Heat danced up my neck, and I was glad that she saw it, because she smiled wider.
“Yeah. Constantly. Always.”
She stiffened slightly and pulled back until she was sitting on her heels. When she reached for her hair in that nervous way of hers, I covered her wrists with my hands before she could start braiding
it.
“Hey. Where’d you go?”
She lowered her hands to her lap and squinted hard at me. “You can’t just say you’ll always want me. I mean, it’s gonna be different, you know that, right? We’ve been fine seeing each other a couple weekends a month—okay, we’ve been more than fine,” she allowed when I started to say the exact same thing. “But now you want me to meet your mom, and what happens when you realize that you only like me in small doses and—”
I kissed her. I mean I seriously kissed her. My hands went to her jaw and sealed her mouth with mine. I didn’t have to worry if it was the right move, because her hand came up to curl around my wrist, holding on to me. My pulse exploded and my heart raced. We were both gasping when we broke apart.
“That’s not an answer either,” she said in an unsteady voice that had me fighting the urge to kiss her again. But she needed words from me more.
“Yeah, it is.” I brought her palm to my chest so that she could feel my heart beating, fast and strong, for her. “All that stuff I told you about our futures... I want the video chats when we’re at college. I want the holidays where we fly out to meet each other, even if it’s only for a couple hours before we have to fly back. I want the summers together doing I-don’t-even-care-what.” When she tried to lower her head, I bent mine to hold her gaze. “I want to be there for your first movie, and you need to be there for me to talk me down when I want to chuck my first book. And later when it’s published to middling reviews.”
She laughed a little at that.
“And I know you’re gonna break my heart at some point. I might even break yours.” I pressed her hand more firmly against my chest. “But it’s yours to break and mend and hopefully not break again, because, like you’ve said many times, I have fragile boy emotions.” My fingers slid up to her chin and urged her to look at me. My pulse kicked impossibly higher when I drank in the features I knew better than my own at that point. “I want all of you. Prickly, funny, sarcastic, brilliant, and sometimes a little mean you. And I’m not gonna make a joke here even though I can feel you squirming. There’s nothing funny about the way you make me feel. I love you, Jolene. I love you like a movie with the perfect lighting and the sweeping camera, the kind where the music swells and—Jo...?” My voice trailed off and my heart came to a slamming halt because she was shaking her head and tears suddenly spilled silently down her face.
Every Other Weekend Page 37