Jill gasped, thinking the truth and hearing it were two different things. “Was it Heather?”
He nodded.
Tears rose immediately to Jill’s eyes as she heard the truth confirmed. “Oh, God.”
Nick embraced her. She put her head on his shoulder, welcoming his arms around her. “I’m sorry.” He truly was.
She shook with anger and sadness.
Nick leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. She responded slowly, kissing him harder with revenge. Realizing her actions, she quickly pulled away and wiped her mouth.
“I’m not like him…I’m not like that.”
Nick straightened his tie. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”
“I have to go.” Jill began walking away, rushing to her car for salvation.
“Are you going to be okay?” Nick called out.
“What do you think?” Jill got in her car and sped away. She picked up her cell phone and dialed the radio station.
“WORR.”
“Yes, I’d like to speak with Heather, I believe she’s an intern there.”
“Hold on,” Jill heard the operator ask if anyone knew of an intern named Heather. She heard someone in the background confirm she worked at the station in the programming department. The operator returned. “Yes, I’ll connect you.”
Jill waited impatiently.
“Hello, programming, this is Heather.”
“So you’re fucking my husband?”
Heather nearly lost her lunch. “Is this Jill?”
“Look, I know about your tawdry affair and I want it to stop. Leave my husband alone.”
“Oh, honey I can’t leave him alone, Jonny cares about me.” Heather’s fangs came out. She’d fight for her man.
“Don’t fool yourself, all he likes is the easy sex.”
“Right, so that’s why he’s paying to have the tires on my car fixed, you know, the ones you slashed.”
“Look bitch, we are married.”
“If he wants you so bad then why has he been sleeping with me?”
Jill had no response. Now his affair was really confirmed.
“You got nothin’ to say to that right? That’s ‘cause you know it’s true. Give up Jill. He doesn’t love you anymore.”
Jill hung up the phone. There was no use arguing. Jonny was definitely sleeping with Heather.
Their marriage was over.
Chapter 49
Heather ran into the studio.
“I just got a call from your wife.”
Jonny was stunned. “What?”
“She is in a rage.” Heather leaned on the counter to catch her breath.
“What did she say?”
“She said you didn’t really care about me. I told her she was the one who was wrong, if you didn’t care about me then why would you be sleeping with me?”
He turned white. “What did you say?” he croaked.
“I told her we’re sleeping together.”
Suddenly Jonny realized that expecting discretion from a nineteen-year-old was expecting too much.
Heather continued, “I don’t know why you are so freaked out. We’re a couple Jonny, it’s time she knew.”
“You should not have spoken to her.” His voice was angry and firm. “Where was she?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
He was panicked and angry. He walked around the console to Heather and grabbed her by the arms. “Don’t play games Heather, this is my life. Where was she?”
“Ow, you’re hurting me.” She wriggled free from his grasp. “How should I know where she was? It sounded like she was on a cell phone. She could be anywhere.”
Jonny released his grasp. “I have to go home.” He looked at the clock. He was still on the air for another two hours. He figured he could voice track the rest of his show and skip out. He’d tell Ted he had an emergency. Not untrue.
“Why are you going home? It’s good she knows, I feel better it’s out in the open. Now we can be together.”
“Heather, you don’t get it. I don’t want to lose my wife!”
His words hit Heather like stones. She finally realized she was nothing more than a fling to him. She started to cry.
“Look, I can’t deal with your tears right now. We’ll talk later. Now you have to leave so I can voice track and get the hell out of here.”
Jonny’s angry voice scared her. She sullenly left the studio.
Jonny quickly looked over the playlist and began recording breaks. An hour later he was done, speeding out of the studio to Ted Reed’s office.
Ted was on the phone. Jonny interrupted him with two quick raps on the door. “I have an emergency, I voice tracked the rest of my shift. I have to leave.”
Ted looked at the frantic man in front of him. “Is everything okay? Is it Jill?”
“Yeah, I can’t get into it. I gotta go.”
“Drive safe,” Ted said, but Jonny was already gone.
He sped home, screeching into his complex. Outside his apartment door was a pile of stuff. His stuff. Clothes, CDs and other personal effects lay strew on the front walk.
Obviously Jill was home.
He put his key in the lock. It didn’t turn. He tried again. She must have changed the locks. Jonny dialed Jill on his cell phone.
“Hello,” she tearfully answered.
“Jill, it’s Jonny, please don’t hang up.”
He heard her breathing heavily.
“Please let me in. I want to talk to you.”
“I have no use for you. Find someplace else to sleep.” Her voice was terse.
“Jill.”
Click.
She hung up on him.
He called her back again, but she didn’t answer. The third time he tried his call went straight to voicemail.
Jonny didn’t really blame her. He betrayed her in the worst possible way. Shamefully, he gathered up his belongings, taking several trips to load them in his car. On the last trip, he woefully placed his hand on the doorknob, hoping it would open, hoping it wasn’t too late. In his heart he realized it probably was.
He drove back to the station lost in thought. Jill was the love of his life, but something in him was never satisfied. Now that he was losing her he realized he wanted her more than ever. He was so angry with himself for giving into the temptations of Heather. With Jill, his life had structure and meaning. Jill was the type Dana was looking so hard to find and he threw her away.
He rushed through the station to find Dana. Thankfully she was in her office.
“Dana.”
“Hi Jonny, what’s up?” she asked cheerily.
“Jill threw me out.”
“What! Why?”
Jonny entered her office and closed the door. “I blew it.”
“Oh, Jonny,” Dana peered shamefully at him. “It was true wasn’t it? You and Heather?”
He nodded slowly.
Dana looked at her friend differently. “Why? Why would you do something like that?” It was more an admonition than a question.
“I…I don’t know,” he lied, not wanting to admit his own twisted dissatisfaction with his wife’s body, not wanting to reveal his inane shallowness.
Dana was incredibly disappointed in him. “How is Jill?”
“She’s a mess.”
“So now what?”
“Well, I sorta need a place to stay…”
Dana started shaking her head, “Oh no Jonny, don’t you drag me into this. Jill’s my friend, too.”
“Yeah, but I was your friend first.”
“Don’t play that game with me. You’re the one wearing the black hat here.”
“I know that…please, Dana, I have no other place to go.”
“What about Heather?” Her tone cut through him. “Why not stay with her?”
“I’m not involved with her like that.”
Dana raised her eyebrows.
“I mean…it’s not what you think, it didn’t mean anything.”
> “That makes what you did even more stupid.” Dana crossed her arms, so upset that her friend was the epitome of everything she feared in a man. “Why would you hurt your wife and betray her with someone you don’t even care about?”
“I have no answer for you,” his voice trailed. He took a deep breath, “Dana, I’m begging you…can I please stay at your place? I won’t get in the way, I swear. I’ll cook for you, clean, whatever you need. Please. I’m calling in a huge favor here, please.”
Dana eyed him with disdain. “I have no idea why I’m doing this…fine, you can stay.”
“Oh, thank you,” he said, throwing his arms around her.
She shook him off. “Don’t thank me. I feel guilty enough as it is.”
“Okay, I get it. So I guess I’ll just hang out here with you till your shift is over, then we can go home?”
“My home. To my home. This is not permanent and I really think you should look into other arrangements.”
“I will. Thanks again.”
“Don’t mention it…really, don’t mention it.”
Chapter 50
It was time for Larry to outline his plan and to do that, he needed space.
He cleared off his kitchen table and took out a stack of crisp white paper, a brand new fine tip black marker and a ruler. Larry had examined his two-story townhouse very carefully, devising a solution to his lovesick heart. He recalled hanging a painting in his dining area three years ago. The nail he had pounded a bit too hard broke through the wall revealing a small crawl space beneath the stairs. Larry sealed the wall and painted it. No one could ever tell that there was an imperfection. It was the painting, a scene of a lone man by the river that inspired Larry.
He measured the wall, visually determining how the stairs ascended upwards. On the paper he drew the diagonal wall, indicating the staircase railing with two lines. He measured three feet down from the railing and marked the spot. It was three feet up from the floor as well. Larry diligently began to sketch the outline for his project.
A secret room beneath the stairs.
Nimbly his hands moved across the paper, transcribing the idea in his head. When it was complete, he took out another sheet of paper and began retracing his drawing with the ruler, creating his project to scale.
Larry eyed his drawing. It was perfect.
He got in his beat up car and drove to the local home hardware store. The day was sunny and clear. It was as if God was giving him his blessing with easy weather for driving. He entered the store, fortunately it wasn’t that busy. He was greeted by a man whose badge identified him as Trevor.
“Can I help you, sir?”
Sir.
“Yes,” Larry said, taking out his crude blueprint, “I need wood to build a storage space under my stairs.”
Trevor looked at his plans. “You going through cinderblock?”
“I think so.”
“You got a drill?”
“Yes.”
“Good, you’ll want to use a masonry bit to get through the block. You’ll also need some pine. It’s inexpensive and it’ll work.”
Trevor was a gold mine of information. He walked Larry through the entire process, helping him collect all the supplies.
“Thank you Trevor. You’ve been a great help.”
“You’re welcome, sir.”
Another sir. Trevor showed him great respect. Larry knew he’d have to put him on the wedding list.
The bill for the supplies was a bit hefty, but overall it was a small price to pay for the woman he loved.
Larry returned home and began work on the project that would make Dana his.
Chapter 51
Jonny’s short stay at Dana’s turned into a week. They lived as awkward roommates, Jonny taking residence on the couch. In a way, Dana liked the company, she just wished it wasn’t under these circumstances.
For Jonny, his time at Dana’s was lonely and scary. Jill refused any contact with him. He tried calling her every day – at home and at work. It was to no avail. She refused his calls and returned his letters of apology, unopened.
Jonny heard Cody call Dana every day. He was jealous of their growing intimacy. It made him long for the closeness he had with Jill.
“So I go to the Bahamas this weekend,” Dana said, interrupting Jonny’s journey into depression.
“Yep. You must be excited to see Cody.”
“Well, yeah.” Dana looked down, trying not to gloat her happiness.
“You can say you’re excited Dana, it won’t hurt me, I hurt myself, remember?”
She chose to ignore the latter half of his comment. Avoidance was the only way she could deal with him living with her. “Okay…truth is I can’t wait. Are you going to be okay here by yourself?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’ll be good for me. Time to reflect and wallow.”
“You should wallow…in fact you should stew in your misery.”
“I get the point.”
“I’d hope so. I still can’t believe you…”
“I did a bad thing, okay? I don’t want to hear it from you,” Jonny snapped.
“Don’t yell at me. I’m the one putting a roof over your sorry ass.”
“Let’s just change the subject. I’ll take care of your place, water your plants…”
“I don’t have any plants.”
“Great that makes my job even easier.”
Dana smirked. “I’ll leave you my phone number at the hotel so you can reach me in case of an emergency.”
“Okay, Mom.”
Dana glared at him. “Not funny.”
“Dana I know most of your information…it’s a station trip that I helped set up…remember? You’re going to promote the hotel, not to rendezvous with Cody.”
“I know that.” Dana threw a pillow at Jonny.
“Just making sure.” He threw one back.
Dana ducked to avoid getting hit in the head. “Okay, so I take the seaplane tomorrow and I come back on Sunday night.”
“Dana, really, I am aware of your schedule.”
“I feel better saying it. You are house-sitting.”
“If it makes you feel better say it all you want.”
“What a prince you are.”
“That’s me, Prince of Nothing.”
She tossed the pillow at him again. “Don’t depress yourself too much. I’d hate to find you sprawled unconscious on my couch because you overdosed on Rocky Road ice cream.”
“Won’t happen. Go, pack…your flight leaves early tomorrow…you start broadcasting in the afternoon.”
“Okay, okay.” She pulled the pillow from him and placed it back neatly on the couch.
“Remember this is work.”
Dana put her hands on her hips, “Yes, I know, work.”
But inside it was all about Cody.
Chapter 52
Larry stared at the picture of Dana, took his pen and pushed it into her heart.
“Do you feel the pain I feel?” he pondered aloud, removing the pen, sad to see a deep blue mark marring his picture. “You brushed me off without even getting to know me. But I’ll fix that. You’ll give me a chance and see what I already know…that we were meant to be.”
Larry taped the picture on the wall as inspiration and began work. This was going to be a grueling job. It had already taken him days to arrange all the supplies and prepare the house. He laid sheets down on the floor, taping the edges of the sheets to the walls to prevent any mess from getting on the carpet. It was a chore to be so organized, but he couldn’t live any other way. Disorder drove him mad, visual chaos caused internal chaos.
He always attributed it to his childhood. The never-ending instability of moving from foster home to foster home created a life without order. Larry took every step necessary to have order in his life.
His desk was a prime example. Pens were lined up in descending order of size. Smaller pads were set on top of larger pads, their lower left corners perfectly in line with each other
. To balance out the notepads on the left side of his desk, Larry put his calculator and file folder system on the right side of his desk. In everything he did there was symmetry.
That included his relationships. He gave and expected back equally.
He invested so much time listening to Dana on the air and calling her.
But Dana wasn’t reciprocating.
And now he’d have to make her.
Chapter 53
Friday morning and Dana was on her way to the Bahamas. Sharon, the promotions director for the station, picked Dana up at her apartment. Jonny was there to send her off.
“Be careful and have fun.”
“I will,” she said, kissing him lightly on the cheek. “Take care.”
Sharon, a pleasant, cherubic brunette, had only been working at the station for six months. She still had the glow of a radio newbie – so excited for the opportunity to work at a radio station that it compensated for the low wages.
They arrived at the seaport in Miami and boarded the small seaplane. The craft, which sat seventeen passengers, was full. Dana sat next to Sharon
“This is awesome,” Sharon said as they buckled up.
“It should be fun,” Dana agreed, absentmindedly looking out the window.
“I mean this is really cool to be going to Nassau like this…for work.”
“It’s a good perk.” Dana answered. But it won’t pay your bills.
“I’ll say.”
Dana settled into her seat and thought about Cody. They had grown so close so fast. Time, distance and mystery were a powerful elixir for love. Dana felt herself falling hard. She couldn’t wait to spend some real time with Cody to find out if this was real.
The propellers started to spin and the engine roared. The small plane rode quickly across the water and then up into the sky. They were just a hop, skip and a jump from Paradise Island, Nassau.
“Oooh we’re off!” Sharon’s innocent excitement was more contagious than annoying.
Rock Radio Page 19