•••
Heather and Jessie, carrying two bottles each, walked around the back of Kennedy’s house. It was your typical white painted wooden-siding walls with dormer windows in the roof and all the windows edged with shutters painted in a dark blue. A pathway edged with green shrubbery and small trees led them to where the other guests were. Kennedy, in her usual cheery manner, spotted them as they arrived and vocally introduced them to everyone as she made a bee-line for them. “Well there you two are,” she said with a glass of wine in her hand. “Now are you going to get yourselves something to eat? There’s plenty to go around and Joe, well he just loves to hog that barbeque. Oh look at him in his silly apron.”
Jessie looked over at Joe to see that he was wearing a black apron with Grill Champion embroidered in red lettering.
“Did he win a contest?” Heather asked her.
“Why, yes he did. Oh my, you are observant. Now I know Jessie here has met Joe but you haven’t. Come on, I’ll introduce you.” She removed the two bottles of wine from Heathers hold and plonked them down on a table and then grabbed hold of Heather’s arm and basically marched her over to her husband, who was happily grilling burgers and sausages. “Joe, this is Heather, Jessie’s um, Jessie’s friend, I suppose I should say.”
Heather peeked over the top of the barbeque to see how the burgers were doing. “Hi, Joe. They smell good.”
He prodded a burger with a long fork and then plucked a bun from the plate on the table next to him and slapped the burger into it. “You can help yourself to any of the relishes, there’s plenty to choose from,” he said handing her the burger on a red paper plate and showing her the selection.
“I’ll just have ketchup,” she said.
“So you’re Jessie’s friend? Did you two meet in Vancouver?”
“No. Actually we met at a bar here in town the same week of Ned’s funeral.”
“There you are,” Jessie said, interrupting their conversation and handing Heather a glass of the wine that they had brought with them.
Heather sipped on it. “Umm, that’s really good.”
Joe flipped another burger and then handed it to Jessie in a bun on paper plate. “There’s one for you, Jessie. So how’s the burger?” he asked Heather.
“That’s good too, Joe. I’ll be back for seconds.”
“Make sure that you do,” he said proudly, standing with his hands on his hips.
As Jessie and Heather walked away across the grass and were just about to sit down at the patio table, Blake and Edie walked into the garden. Edie looked as though she had been crying—her eyes were swollen and red and her head lowered. Blake arrogantly walked in front of her and headed straight for a clean glass and twisted open his bottle of whiskey. He poured a large amount into the glass and knocked it back quickly. Edie was left to get her own drink, as by this time, Blake had no intention of offering her one.
Kennedy came trotting over in her beige flat-heeled open sandals. “Why, Edie, let me get you a drink and you look as though you could do with something to eat. Come on, let’s get you sorted out.”
Blake wiped his nose with his hand and then focused his attention on Jessie and Heather. “Why, if it isn’t you two again.”
“That’s enough, Blake,” Jessie growled at him in a low tone.
“Since when do I take orders from a dyke?” he snarled.
A few guests who were in earshot, stopped their conversation to nosey at what was taking place behind them.
Kennedy had just passed Edie a glass of wine when she heard Blake curse. “I’m not quite sure what’s going on here,” she said nervously as she stepped toward them. “But if there’s any kind of dispute going on, then perhaps my home isn’t the rightful place for that sort of thing, don’t you think? Hum. Blake? Jessie?”
“No it’s not, Kennedy. My apologies for Blake’s rude behavior,” Jessie said.
Blake shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t need your sort apologising on my behalf.”
“Blake, I think we should go,” Edie spoke out.
“I’m not going anywhere. If anyone should leave, it should be them, not me.”
Kennedy took another step toward them. “I think that you should all leave. I’m sure that all of my guests would agree with me on that matter. We don’t like that sort of talk around here, Blake. Making such accusations like that. Why, we’re all respectable people around these parts.”
“Bigots, more like,” Jessie grumbled.
Heather stood up and encouraged Jessie to do the same. “We’ll leave, Kennedy. Sorry if any inconvenience was caused by this misunderstanding.”
“There was no misunderstanding. Edie told me all about you. You should be locked up for trying to rip her clothes off and with my daughter just feet away behind a wall. Yeah that’s right, she told me all about it on the ride over here. You tried to paw your disgusting hands all over her but Edie, she’s not like that, she likes to be with men.”
“That answers why she’s not with you then,” Jessie commented.
Edie stepped in front of Blake to prevent him from making any physical mistake. She stuck out her arm in front of his chest and shook her head. Her eyes were bulging with fright as she looked at him.
“Now that’s enough,” Kennedy said loudly.
Heather took hold of Jessie’s arm and guided her away from the house. “Sorry, Kennedy. We should never have come.”
Tears fell from Edie’s eyes. She knew that her exaggerated version of events had caused this drama. She had foolishly thrown herself at Heather and then attempted to make her want her at the ranch and had failed. Her jealousy toward Heather and Jessie had clouded her judgment and caused her to have some sort of breakdown. Even she couldn’t answer why she had lied, but even after her divorce from Blake she still feared his outrages and she had leaned in the past that it was better to lie to him and tell him what he wants to hear, rather than tell him the truth.
•••
The ride home was spent in silence. Jessie was angry with Heather. Not only had she not let her stand her ground with Blake but now she had doubts in her mind as to whether Heather was telling her the truth about her and Edie.
Once home, an argument erupted between them. It began with just a few sniping words coming from Jessie as she tried not to allow her emotions to take over her logical thoughts. It didn’t work and the two of them went from room-to-room yelling and accusing and defending their own actions.
For Jessie, this was not what she was about. After everything she had gone through with Kelly, deception from Heather just wouldn’t do. Her only fault in this argument was that instead of releasing her feelings out on Kelly when she had found her cheating, she had kept them inside and now that Heather was in the spot light, she somehow managed to throw everything that she felt toward her instead.
The argument lasted well into the night and led to Heather sleeping on the couch. It continued the next day, with silence starting the morning off and then Jessie going full throttle once again.
Heather opened the door to let Blue out for a run, which, according to Jessie was the wrong thing to do as she wanted to feed him first. Heather couldn’t put a foot right and amidst all the tension and throwing out the best comebacks to score points, her phone kept going off. She ignored the calls at first but when they were coming at a constant rate she decided that something must be important enough for her to answer it. She pulled the phone out of her front jeans pocket and went outside to the porch to answer the call. As she sat down on the swing, Jessie stormed out of the house and marched over to her truck. She climbed in and sped off down the driveway.
Not recognising the number, Heather still answered the call. “Hello, who is this?” she asked.
‘My name is Amelia Carson. I’m a nurse at Blue Mountain Hospital in Calgary. This may come as a shock to you but your father has been a patient here for some weeks now. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was released from prison to this hospital for his medical ca
re. I’m sorry to have to inform you like this but your father only has days left to live and his request was not to let you know, but late last night in his sleep he was asking for you. I found your number in his prison notes. I’m so sorry, Ms. King, but your father really needs you here in his final hours of need.’
Heather whimpered as she heard the words being spoken with much empathy. Her chin quivered, her eyes filled with tears and she began to tremble. “Are you sure that it’s my father that you’re talking about? I know I haven’t been to visit him in prison for some time but are you really sure?”
‘Yes, ma’am, we’re really sure. We have all of his documents here at the hospital and the prison governor was the one who advised us that we should contact you before he passes.’
Heather paused and sighed heavily. “I’ll be there tomorrow. Please tell my father that I’m coming and that I love him very much.” She ended the call. Moments later, the realisation hit her hard—cradling her head in her hands she screamed as loud as her lungs would let her.
•••
It was late in the afternoon and Jessie still hadn’t returned home. Heather had called her cell phone several times but all calls went straight to message. She paced the kitchen, then feeling agitated, she went out to the porch to see if she could see Jessie’s truck approaching down the road. After three hours she felt that she had been put in an awkward predicament and needed to leave in order to get to the hospital by tomorrow afternoon. She had already packed a carry-case with a few items of clothing and loaded it into the trunk. After failing to reach Jessie she decided to leave her a note:
Jessie,
I’m so sorry that we ended up arguing and I want us to put all the hateful words behind us. I have fallen in love with you and it sucks that we have allowed something so trivial to come between us. Yes, I’ve said it first, I love you. I have received a phone call regarding my father’s health. Apparently he has been diagnosed with cancer and has a matter of days to live. I’m driving out to Calgary to be with him until he passes away. Please forgive me for not being here when you get back. Call me when you get this note, I’ll be waiting to hear from you.
I love you,
Heather. XX
She placed the note next to a magazine on the kitchen counter-top knowing that Jessie would look there, then she called for Blue to come indoors and locked the door behind her. As she drove away from the ranch she checked her rear-view mirror and through the kicked up dust from the tires, she could just make out the house as it grew ever-smaller.
Chapter Nine
Jessie had driven to a secluded lake a few miles away from the ranch. She had switched her phone off purposely and sat on the low-raised wooden dock with her legs dangled over the side and her bare feet in the cool water. She had rolled her jeans up her legs and sleeves of her shirt up her arms and gazed at the reflective sun sparkles that danced on the surface of the almost still water—just a few ripples stirred where fish and undercurrents caused the movements. It had had a calming effect on her mood—turning it from angered to tranquil. This was the spot that she had come to with a girl once when she was about seventeen. Her first kiss had taken place exactly where she sat. It was her secret place and a somewhere that she could go to relax. “Oh, Rachel Wood. I wonder where you are now?” she said out loud.
The serenity had made her feel sleepy and lifting her feet out of the water, she moved her boots and shoes out of the way and laid her head down on the weathered wooden slats, where she closed her eyes and listened to the finches chirping and the light warm breeze rustling the leaves in the surrounding trees. Her lack of sleep from the previous night had caught up with her and it didn’t take too long for her to fall asleep.
It was almost dusk when she woke from her much needed sleep. “Shit!” she grumbled as she checked the time on her wrist watch. Her boots and socks were warm from being exposed in the full sun and the tip of her nose had slightly burned because she’d forgotten to apply protection cream. She jumped into her truck and looked in her rear-view mirror. “Jesus Christ, when will I ever learn?”
•••
The house was in darkness when she arrived home, which was unusual, but the door being locked and Blue on the other side of it gave Jessie the idea that he had been locked in for some time. She unlocked the door and let him out to run around the ground. “Don’t go far, Blue,” she yelled out to him.
Blue ran right up to the first tree and cocked his leg up and urinated.
Jessie entered the house and turned on the lights in the front room and walked through to the kitchen, where she switched on the lights and then went directly to the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle beer from the door shelf. She looked around to see that the washing up was still in the sink and Heather’s half-drunk mug of coffee was still on the kitchen table. Her monthly farmers magazine was on the floor and torn into shreds, the criminal obviously being Blue. “That damn dog,” she complained. She scooped up the pieces and threw them in the garbage bin, unaware that she had also thrown away Heather’s note.
An hour went by and Heather still hadn’t returned, so Jessie decided to be the bigger person and call her. She had left her cell phone in her truck so she dialled Heather’s number from the house phone and stood with it propped between her ear and her shoulder while she filled the sink with warm water to do the washing up.
•••
Heather had been on the road for a few hours and had the radio on loud. She preferred to drive with it on when she was on her own, to give her the confidence to drive on the busier highways. It had started to rain about an hour into her journey, so she chose to drive in the slow lane for her own safety, as there had been a few jerks driving past her at high speeds, even though visibility had been reduced. She heard her phone buzz in her bag on the passenger seat and with her eyes focused on the road ahead, she rummaged around in her bag until she felt her phone. She pulled it out from her bag and glanced quickly at the number displayed on the screen. This would prove to be a drastic mistake, as she hadn’t seen a car changing lanes in front of her. She ploughed right into the back of it—her Mustang pitted the back of the car and skidded into the concrete barrier and rolled over three times before it came to a final stop.
Heather remained unconscious as the car had landed on its roof—drivers behind who had witnessed the accident stopped their cars and rushed to Heather’s aid. One driver who was an off duty police officer rushed to her and tried to bring her back to consciousness by talking to her calmly. He evaluated the situation and then pulled out a pocket knife, where he cut through her seatbelt to release her. He got help from a man who stood next to him and together they dragged her free from the car and to the safety on the grass embankment.
Moments later the car caught fire. “Get back, everyone,” he yelled out.
Luckily they all stood back as the car exploded into a fireball.
•••
It was dark outside, so Jessie called Heather’s phone again and still there was no answer. “Shit, will you just pick up,” she complained.
She waited well into the early hours for Heather to return. She even picked up the book that she had been reading and got into it before she fell asleep on the couch. It was due to Blue licking her face that she woke up a few hours later. He was desperate to be let outside for his morning pee, so he wouldn’t leave her alone until she got up. She got up and let him out. Not seeing any sign of Heather’s return she had a sickened feeling in her stomach—like a sense that Heather may not return. Panic set in, so she called Travis for his advice.
Later that day Travis arrived at Jessie’s ranch but he didn’t have any news to give her. As far as he was concerned after listening to Jessie’s version of events, was that Heather had just upped and left her. It wasn’t unheard of and there were no signs of foul play.
Jessie sat at the kitchen table. She drummed her fingers nervously. “Where is she, Travis? Why hasn’t she called me? Surely she must know that I’m worried about he
r by now?” She looked over at the counter top where she had discarded her truck keys and remembered that she had left her cell phone in the truck. She scooted the chair back and ran out to her truck. Her phone was on the seat and when she picked it up she saw that there had been numerous missed calls from Heather. “Oh thank god,” she said relieved that Heather had been calling her cell. She checked through the calls and saw that they had all been made earlier in the day before. It confused her even more as she know that Heather would have seen her missed calls from the house phone.
Travis stood on the porch with his arm rested up against the door frame. “Any news?” he called out to her.
Jessie slammed the door shut and shook her head angrily at him. “Where the fuck is she,” she groaned as she walked past him back into the house.
He followed her back inside. “You might have to face it, Jessie. It seems as though she’s left you. Maybe the issue with the argument over Blake’s outburst gave her a good cause to leave now rather than later when she’s in too deep.”
“Too deep?” Jessie criticised. “It’s a bit late for that, Travis.” She marched over to the couch and sat down. With her head in her hands she cried out that she wanted Heather to come home.
Travis couldn’t do anything for her and awkwardly stood by while he watched her cry for someone whom he assumed wasn’t coming back.
•••
Heather had been in a coma for three days when she finally showed signs of waking. Movement under her eyelids were detected by the nurse, who called for the doctor immediately. It would be another two days before Heather was fully awake and aware of her surroundings.
Once she was able to respond fully, the off duty police officer who had rescued her, had been given the assignment to find out who she was, because Heather’s purse had been flung from the car but all of her ID had been left in the carry-case in the trunk, where she had thrown whatever she could in without thinking. All that she had on her person was a photo of a blonde-haired woman and a photo of a horse with the name Summer written on the back of it.
Chasing Yesterday Page 9