Rosemary Run Box Set

by Kelly Utt

  “My point exactly,” John said.

  “John,” Lana began, calmly but surely. “Freddy and I were always proud of each of our daughters, Bea included. You’re right, she worked hard as a waitress during high school to save up extra money to put gas in her car. We weren’t wealthy, but we did okay. We were able to support Bea through art school. We were happy to do so because that was her chosen field. I hope Max will be given the same opportunity to make his own decisions.”

  Max turned to his grandma and gave her a big, approving smile as he nodded his head. It was more than Lana had ever said to John before in her daughter or grandson’s defense and the timing could not have been better as far as Bea was concerned. Normally, Bea would have avoided making a dramatic scene at all costs. But tonight she felt like a tea kettle full of steam and ready to blow. Besides, John was the one creating the tension. Not her.

  John scoffed. “That might be true, Lana. But a lot of good it did. Your daughter is nothing but a drain on my wealth, generosity, and patience. If you knew some of the things I’ve had to do for her, you’d be singing a different tune.”

  Now it was Bea’s turn to scoff. “And if I tallied up the things I’ve had to do for you,” she said to John. “We’d be here all evening. For starters, I’ve washed your clothes. I’ve cooked your food. I’ve cleaned your house. I’ve dressed up and smiled politely for the endless stream of people you’ve been desperate to impress. Not to mention, I’ve raised your son. And for all of it, you’ve been ungrateful. I’ve become a shell of my former self thanks to your insults and mistreatment. And for what? Aside from my dear Max, who is the best thing to ever happen in my life, none of it has been worth it.”

  Everyone at the table was uncomfortable now. Other guests in the restaurant were taking notice. The men in business suits who John had been so preoccupied with were looking in his direction.

  “Yeah, is that so?” John asked, turning in his chair and placing one arm on the table and the other around the back of his wife’s. It was a territorial pose. He thought he owned her. All bought and paid for.

  “Yes, it is,” Bea replied.

  “Fine,” John said, leaning closer. “Then I’ll stop protecting your secrets.” Bea froze like a deer in headlights.

  What secrets? Should she call his bluff? Or was he serious?

  “Fine,” she returned. “Then I’ll stop playing nice in the interest of your political career. God knows nearly every decision we’ve made during our marriage has been for that reason alone. I’m sick and tired of it. You’re nothing but a bitter old man who wants to appear more powerful than he really is. I see through your charade, Mayor John Hughes.”

  Bea stood up, gathered her things, and moved to the back of Max’s chair. “Come on, Max,” she said. “Let’s take a walk.”

  Lana, Natalie, and Ruth looked around nervously, hoping to avoid a strained ride home alone with John. Bea was sure that the ladies in her life now wished they had driven separately. This was no happy family.

  “A walk to where?” John asked, incredulous.

  Bea ignored him. “I’m serious, Max,” she said. “Come with me. Right now.”

  “Where are we going?” Max asked, getting up. Bea knew her son was asking more than simply where they were going in the next few minutes. She knew things with John had reached a boiling point and that they’d never be the same. Max was asking where they were going in life. He was asking what would happen to them and if everything would be okay. Bea gave Max her most reassuring look, but she honestly didn’t know what to tell him.

  “Go, son,” John growled. “Go be a mama’s boy. That’s the truth of what you are, anyway. You won’t get far. You’ll come crawling back. Both of you.”

  Max looked stunned at his father’s words. And Bea’s heart broke for him. She hadn’t expected this. Not exactly. The relief felt satisfying, but not at Max’s expense.

  As Bea and Max turned and began to excuse themselves from the dinner table, they heard a boom so loud that it sounded like a bolt of lightning had struck nearby. People in the restaurant screamed and several stood up and ran out the front door. A little girl seated nearby began to cry big, pitiful tears. Bea didn’t have to turn back to see what had made the noise. She already knew.

  John’s roar came next. He stood up, kicking pieces of the now broken table in front of him as he bellowed like an angry grizzly. He was in a full-on rage, seeing red. There was no stopping him now. He began bucking around and thrashing, destroying chairs and dinnerware as he went. People who hadn’t already left the building pulled smartphones out of their pockets and handbags to record their mayor’s meltdown. Within minutes, it would be all over the Internet and all over the news.

  Bea turned to her mother and sisters, putting one arm around Lana and the other securely around Max. “Let’s go,” she said. “We’re leaving together.”

  “Bea,” Natalie said to her little sister in the most sincere voice as she placed a hand gently on her arm. “We had no idea. I’m so sorry.”

  10

  Bea’s palms were sweaty as she picked up the receiver to one of the few public telephones left in town. She inserted a couple of coins into the slot and dialed the number she knew by heart. He picked up after the first ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Someone knows. Well, more than one person, probably. We need to talk right away. When can we meet?”

  “Oh,” he said simply. “And after all these years.” Bea didn’t reply. It was all she could do to steady her breathing. “Tomorrow morning. Ten a.m. at my building. Use the back door and I’ll buzz you in.”

  11

  Bea didn’t go home that night. At least, not for long. With her mother and sisters, she and Max hired a rideshare service. The driver took them to the house and waited outside while they packed a few things.

  Natalie and Ruth were treating Bea better than they had in years. They both offered their homes up for those who had been displaced from the Hughes house. Lana agreed to stay with Natalie for a while, which was good. Natalie lived alone and had two guest rooms available. Truth be told, Lana probably should have been staying with Natalie all along. She was the only one of the three sisters who didn’t yet have a family of her own. The logistics made sense. The pair of them agreed to keep Marmalade for a while as well. Bea didn’t want any living creature left under John’s roof and subjected to his rage.

  Bea considered taking Natalie’s other guest room for herself and Max, but Sacramento was too far to commute to school and she didn’t want her son missing out. Next, she thought about staying at her friend Gabrielle’s. It was late and Gabby had no idea what was going on, but she didn’t need to. She was the kind of friend who would be there for Bea with no questions asked. The arrangement felt like an imposition, though, because Gabby’s boyfriend Miles had recently moved into her loft. Bea didn’t want to dampen the couple’s early days of living together with her very real problems. Finally, Bea settled on a generous offer from her twin sisters and let them put her and Max up in a hotel room. It was just for a few weeks until Bea got things sorted. Now that they understood what she had been subjected to, the twins felt sympathetic towards Bea’s situation and had stopped teasing her. Normally, Bea would have rather starved than accepted their assistance. But they seemed to genuinely want to help and Bea needed the hand.

  “I told you they were nice underneath all of their prickliness,” Max said to his mom about his aunts as the two of them used the cash Ruth and Natalie had given them to check into the hotel. “I knew it. They love us.”

  “You were right,” Bea confirmed. “My sisters really came through in a big way tonight. I’m surprised, but grateful.” Bea scanned the lobby of the hotel for familiar faces as the clerk entered her information into his computer. She didn’t want John to know where they were staying. At least, not yet.

  “What are you looking around for, Mom?” Max asked. “Or, who?” There was so much for Bea to explain to her boy. Too much. It would ta
ke time and deliberate planning if she were to make it all make sense.

  “No one in particular,” she lied. It hurt her as it came out of her mouth. She didn’t want to lie to her son. “You know what, that’s not true,” Bea quickly clarified.

  “Okay,” Max said, confused.

  Bea leaned down to talk to her son without the desk clerk overhearing. “The truth is, I don’t want your father to know where we are. I’m not sure what condition he’s in tonight and I think it’s best if we keep some distance.” Max nodded, but didn’t say a word. “You understand, right?”

  “Yeah, I do,” he said. Bea thought his voice sounded suddenly too grown-up. She hated what John had done to them.

  As Max slept that night, Bea laid in the bed on the other side of the room wide awake. She stared at the ceiling and went over things again and again in her mind. Within the span of a single day, she had gone from a relatively predictable existence to a future that was uncertain. But for some reason, it felt like progress. She willed herself to close her eyes and lie perfectly still until finally, she drifted off to sleep.

  12

  Bright and early the next morning, Bea put on a v-neck, floral-print blouse and a pair of flattering jeans, then walked Max to school. The hotel’s proximity to his high school made for a comfortable stroll through downtown. John’s office was less than a block in the other direction, but Bea doubted he was there. After last night’s tantrum, she wasn’t sure he’d be there ever again except to collect his things. Did they let mayors who destroyed restaurants in a blind rage remain in office? Surely not. For all she knew, he had been arrested last night and had spent the night in jail. She had purposely avoided news and social media for the past twelve hours.

  Once Bea saw Max off and knew he was safely in the building, she turned her attention towards the next task at hand. It was time to get herself a car. The one she had been driving for the past few years was in John’s name. She didn’t want to rely on anything that could be taken from her on a whim or at a moment’s notice. She kicked herself for not getting things in her own name sooner. Here she was, a thirty-something adult moving through the world like a child. John’s child. Bea scarcely had more independence than Max did. It was time for that to change.

  She began with a rental car since it would take a while to work out a permanent solution. With more of the cash in hand that Natalie and Ruth had given her, Bea walked back past the hotel and a few more blocks towards the outskirts of downtown until she reached a rental car lot. There, she paid cash to rent a sensible silver sedan for the next week. Thank God I kept my driver’s license, Bea thought to herself. There had been a point a few months ago when John had almost talked her out of renewing it. Looking back, she now realized that was insane. She wasn’t certain what she had been thinking. But she was beginning to think clearly again, like she used to before she became filled with self-doubt and low self-esteem at the hands of John’s cruelty.

  The next order of business made Bea’s heart race for good and bad reasons all at the same time. She would pay a visit to the person who had been with her and Max the night the incident happened a decade ago. She had to warn him. It was only fair. He deserved to know what she did so he could make his own decisions about how to respond.

  Bea climbed into her new rental car and put her sunglasses on, feeling the cool September air against her skin. Then she sped out of town and towards the bay.

  13

  “Bea, babe, look at you. You are as drop-dead gorgeous as ever,” Travis said as he opened the door and laid eyes on her. “What has it been? Nine years now? Ten? You don’t age.”

  Bea felt her cheeks become warm, flush with the blood that was suddenly pumping strong throughout her body and making her feel alive in all the best ways. She loved it when Travis called her babe.

  “Hello to you, too,” she said coyly. She couldn’t have hidden her smile if she’d had to.

  “I wish the circumstances were better,” Travis mused. “But I have to say, I’m awfully glad to see you.”

  “The feeling is mutual.”

  They stood sizing each other up for a minute without saying anything more. The chemistry between the two of them was palpable. Bea thought about how she genuinely liked the man standing in front of her. If only things had been different.

  “Well, come on in,” Travis finally said. “I don’t suppose I should leave you standing out there on the landing all day.” Bea nodded politely and followed him inside. She had been to his place plenty of times when they were seeing each other, but that was a long time ago.

  Travis’ apartment was a charming loft with high ceilings and exposed brick situated above his furniture store. The structure was built in the 1920s without an interior staircase, but Travis didn’t mind. He quite liked having to climb the exterior stairs to enter his living quarters. Something about the setup was rough and tumble, just like him. His place looked exactly the same as Bea remembered it.

  “Everything is just the same,” she commented as she looked around the loft.

  “That’s right,” Travis said with a chuckle. “You caught me. Here I am, frozen in time. Waiting on you to come back and be with me.” Bea blushed. She wasn’t sure he was kidding. “But,” Travis added. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

  “Oh, no,” Bea said, absentmindedly twirling the silver wedding ring around on her finger. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Travis noticed her gesture. “Mayor’s wife, huh? That must be a pretty good gig, if you can get it.”

  “Something like that,” Bea said. “But looks can be deceiving.” She hadn’t yet decided how much she wanted to tell Travis about her marriage to John. He’d known before that their relationship was a cold and loveless one. He could assume that nothing much had changed.

  “I hope John Hughes is good to you, at least,” Travis said, tilting his head and lowering one eyebrow. “Because if he isn’t…”

  “I’m fine,” Bea said, diverting attention away from her husband. She wasn’t ready to discuss him.

  “Are you sure?” Travis asked. “Because your face doesn’t look fine when I mention John’s name.”

  “I’m alright,” she insisted. “Truly. It’s a story for another time.”

  “Then I look forward to hearing it,” Travis said as he reached one big, strong hand up and placed it on Bea’s shoulder. His touch electrified her body and threatened to make her melt like putty.

  Nervous and unsure of exactly what to do with herself, Bea volleyed the attention back in Travis’ direction. “How about you?” she asked. “Is there a Mrs. Earl in the picture?”

  His eyes got big in mock protest. “Wow, you just get right to it, don’t you?” he asked with a chuckle.

  Bea started to apologize and hang her head, but then remembered she didn’t have to do that around Travis. Instead, she lifted her chin high and met his eye contact. “Well, you know,” she said. “Inquiring minds and all.”

  “I get it,” he replied. “It’s a reasonable question. And you can ask me anything.” His hand was still on her shoulder. “The answer is no. There’s no Mrs. Earl in my life. I’ve dated here and there, but it never turned into anything serious.”

  “Isn’t that something?” Bea mused. “All these years, and you’re still an eligible bachelor.”

  “I guess I haven’t found the one,” Travis said, moving his hand slowly around to the back of Bea’s neck, underneath her long hair. “Although, there was the one who got away. I think you know her, actually.”

  This is escalating quickly, Bea thought to herself.

  She was largely powerless when it came to Travis’ charms. She knew she probably ought to feel guilty. She was a married woman, after all. Except she didn’t. Her marriage was a sham. And the connection she and Travis shared felt true and good. It felt like they belonged together. It felt incredibly right.

  “I might know a little something about that,” Bea managed to say between heavy breaths. His touch was makin
g her wild with desire.

  “Tell me again why we couldn’t be together,” Travis prompted as he stepped closer, his lips less than an inch away from Bea’s ear. Her knees buckled as she felt the heat coming off his body and smelled his familiar, sexy scent. “I mean, really together, Bea. Happily ever after together. I wasn’t kidding when I said that I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Bea said, although she knew he was serious. She didn’t move to step away. “I’d feel terrible if you’ve been pining for me all this time. You deserve better.”

  “Maybe,” Travis said, sliding both of his hands around Bea’s waist and lacing his fingers together in the small of her back. “But if I end up with the love of my life in the end, it will have all been worth it.”

  Bea was completely and totally taken with this man. Here he was— a decade after she had walked away from a future with him— professing his undying devotion. And she had chosen John Hughes, who resented her very existence.

  What’s the matter with me? I got it all wrong.

  “Travis…” Bea began. “You’re amazing and I’m flattered. But I came here to tell you something important. I think I should get to it. You might not feel the same about me when you hear what kind of trouble I’m in.”

  “Nonsense,” he said, squaring his face against hers and moving to kiss her on the lips.

  “I mean it,” Bea said, pulling away. She didn’t want to pull away. In fact, she wanted nothing more than to melt into his arms and make sweet, passionate love to him. But first, she needed Travis to know the truth.

  “Okay, okay,” he said. “Lay it on me.”

  14