by Nancy Adams
Soon the neighbor was answering the door, her face still pretty bruised from her beating four weeks before, yellow and purple patches all over it and her nose still bandaged.
“Hey, Jules,” she said when she’d come to the door.
“Hey, Gwen. Have you seen Juliette?”
“She was over this morning, but she left a while ago. The last time I seen her was when she left to pick up David two hours ago.”
“She seem okay when you were with her?”
“Yeah. We just drank coffee, ate cake and talked.”
“Did she seem her usual self to you? Did she seem extra forgetful or confused?”
“She weren’t no different than most times and she weren’t no more forgetful than she always is.”
“Okay, thanks, Gwen.”
“What’s the matter, Jules? You got me all worried.”
“Juliette didn’t pick David up at school today.”
“Oh my,” Gwen exclaimed gently, placing her hand over her mouth. “You don’t think she’s been hurt, do ya?”
“I don’t know. I’m gonna go and take a look around, see if I can’t spot her about the neighborhood. Maybe she got lost.”
“Lost!? But how could she get lost?”
Shaking his head, Jules replied, “I’m not exactly sure. I hope that I’m wrong and she just got waylaid somehow.”
“You tried calling her?”
“Yeah. I found her phone on the couch just now.”
“Oh, my! Well, you call me when you find anything out, okay?”
“I will, Gwen. It’s probably nothing. Can you call me if she comes back while I’m out?”
“Of course, Jules.”
“Thanks.”
Jules left and went back to the trailer where David was standing in the kitchen.
“Did Gwen see her?” the boy asked with an anxious face.
“Yeah, she was with Gwen earlier. She went to pick you up two hours ago, so I’m gonna go searching for her along the streets and if I don’t find her, I’ll call the police.”
The mention of the police made David’s face further crease with worry as he contemplated the seriousness of the situation involving his missing momma. Jules himself was inwardly panicking. The thought of his love, confused and wandering the streets filled him with a terrible storm of angst which bit into him even harder with each passing second.
“Come on, Davey, let’s go find Momma,” Jules said, making the boy smile with the thought of discovering Juliette.
Only minutes later, they were cruising slowly along the streets looking for any sign of her, David gazing out one side and Jules the other. It was only a twenty-minute walk to David’s kindergarten and there were only six possible streets she could be down if she hadn’t turned off from her route. When they reached the kindergarten having seen no sign of her, however, it became obvious that she had turned off somewhere.
So Jules began searching down the adjacent streets, occasionally stopping so that he could show a pedestrian a picture of Juliette that he carried in his wallet and ask them if they’d seen her. But each time, the person simply shook their head and said that they hadn’t seen anyone matching that description. With each new disappointment, Jules slipped further and further into despair, trying his best not to show it outwardly to the boy, whose concern was also increasing with each passing minute. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Juliette was wandering around some strange neighborhood in an increasingly bewildered condition. It was now three hours since Gwen claimed she saw Juliette leave to collect David, and Jules realized that she could be anywhere in the city.
He decided the best thing to do would be to phone the police and hope that Juliette was found by someone. He was sure that the more she got lost, the more likely it was that someone would spot her and realize the situation, thus calling the police. It was also possible that Juliette had already been picked up, but in her confused condition had been unable to tell the cops where she lived.
On the way home, Jules called the LAPD and reported Juliette missing. He was told to bring a form of her ID to the nearest police station and fill out a report with the sergeant there. He then called up Jose and explained the situation. Jose offered him his commiserations and told Jules that he would pack the work stuff up himself and find his own way home. Jules thanked him and then put the phone down.
When they arrived back at the trailer, David waited in the pickup with the engine running while Jules ran inside and got Juliette’s passport. He then dashed back out, jumped in the Toyota and roared away to the nearest police department.
The female officer at the desk was very helpful and understanding when Jules came in to fill out the report. When he stated the last time that Juliette was seen, the officer was alarmed because it was only four hours ago. It was then that he glanced behind him at David, who was sitting in the waiting area reading a magazine. Turning back to the officer, he told her about his suspicions that Juliette may be suffering the early signs of serious dementia. Being a compassionate person, the officer wrote into the computer that Juliette was a registered sufferer of dementia. A white lie, but one which would allow them to bypass certain regulations that stated she had to be missing for twenty-four hours before they could act. Jules could have cried at the officer’s small mercy, so grateful for it did he feel.
While they were filling the details out, another officer checked to see if someone matching Juliette’s description had already been picked up by another station nearby. The call came back that there hadn’t, as well as the happier news that no one matching Juliette’s description had been admitted to the hospital in the last four hours. This last piece of information gave Jules a tiny respite in his otherwise melancholy thoughts.
Once they’d finished in the station, Jules thanked them and took David home.
When they got inside the trailer, David sat at the kitchen table while Jules made them dinner. Neither of them said much the whole time and Jules was surprised that the boy hadn’t gone off to watch television or play on his Joy-Box while the food was being cooked. Instead, the boy had spent the whole time not two meters from Jules.
Soon they were sitting opposite one another eating homemade burritos, Jules’s specialty. Usually this was seen as a special occasion and the boy would tuck into them heartily. But now he found that he hardly tasted them at all in his dry mouth, attempting to chew them while he considered his poor momma and where she might be. Jules too found the food hard to swallow and, even though he was hungry, he found eating a labor.
“Where do ya think she could be, Pa?” David asked suddenly.
His question surprised Jules, as the boy hadn’t said more than two words on the subject since they’d gotten back from the police.
“I don’t know, Davey,” was all he could muster in reply.
“I hope she’s with good people and not bad.”
“Me too. I’m sure she is. Soon someone’ll find her and bring her back.”
“She’s strong, Momma. She’ll be tough if they’re bad. She’ll be tough like she was against Charlie when she punched his nose and taught him a lesson.”
Jules smiled at the boy, reached across and roughed his hair.
“She sure is tough, Davey.”
“She’s like a superhero or something,” the boy said, beaming all over, his anxiety decreasing as he imagined his supermom.
They heard the sound of a car pulling into their drive. Jules got up from the table, went over to the window and pulled the curtain to one side. Outside, he saw a police car. Sitting in its backseat with a glum expression was Juliette. His heart fluttered the moment he saw her, and he raced to open the door.
“Momma,” David exclaimed as he jumped from his chair and ran outside with his father.
The police officer got out to meet them as Jules went to the backdoor and opened it. He immediately leapt inside and took his love in his arms, and she responded by holding him tightly and weeping into his breast.
“Oh
Jules!” she sobbed into him.
Soon they had gotten her inside and she asked Jules to put her to bed. So he guided her delicately to her room where he got her ready. While he undressed her, she didn’t say a word and David stood in the doorway watching them as his momma gazed blankly into space.
Once she was in bed, Jules went into the kitchen and joined the officer who was seated at the table.
“Can I make you a coffee?” Jules offered when he came into the room.
“No, I’m good,” the man replied.
Jules came and sat with him, telling David to sit in the lounge and watch cartoons.
Once they were alone, Jules turned to the officer and asked him what had happened.
“She was found wandering along the Ventura freeway,” the officer began, “about six miles from here. Several cars stopped to offer her assistance, but none of them could get her to come inside their cars. In the end, someone called us and we found her.”
“How was she when you found her?”
“Pretty confused. She appeared to think she was in Colorado Springs. She was trying to get to her home, but she could only give us an address in Colorado. She didn’t have any ID on her, so we called in for a missing person and that’s when we got ahold of your report from earlier.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s all in a day’s work. She’s a pretty sweet lady, so she was a pleasure to look after. When I was driving her here, she was telling me about her traveling in Mexico with her friends Margot and Claude. They sound pretty sweet. My folks are from Mexico, so it was nice when she was telling me about how she’d been there last year and had an amazing time. She sounds like an adventurer.”
Jules shuddered at the mention of Mexico. Her claims of it being last year were off by a long shot. Juliette had last been to Mexico ten years ago.
“Well, anyway, I gotta be off,” the officer said, standing up and grabbing his hat from the table.
Jules stood up with him, shaking the man’s hand, thanking him and then seeing him to the door. Once he was alone, Jules stood in the kitchen and felt tears begin to fall from his eyes, realizing with absolute certainty that his love was suffering from dementia.
CHAPTER THREE
Sam was at the launch of the next generation of Techsoft’s gaming console, the Joy-Box. He was standing on stage with Sarah Cortez, a controller in each of their hands and a huge screen in the background detailing the new device’s skills. They were demonstrating the console’s prowess to a crowd of one thousand people, as well as live streaming cameras that fed over six million online viewers. It was a big day and Sam enjoyed the huge wow factor that his new console had. Many of its features had been leaked to the media already and the storm of anticipation that Techsoft had created around the console had reached astronomical levels. Before the new Joy-Box beta was even launched they had over fifteen million pre-orders worldwide. It was an astonishing event in the world of video games.
At the end, Sam and Sarah stood and absorbed the applause with glee, soaking up every handclap. Once they were finished, Sam left the stage feeling the exhilaration that comes from standing in front of so many excited people and having them hang upon your every word. The moment he was backstage, he took as little time as possible to speak with everyone there, before making it into a little side room where he was alone. Taking a seat in the corner, he pulled his phone out and dialed Claire. Within one ring tone, she picked up.
“Hey,” he said.
“Oh, Sam! I feel awful.”
“What’s wrong? He hasn’t hurt you?”
“No. But he was in a terrible state. He’s smashed up the apartment and I’ve never seen him look so sad and angry.”
“It’ll take a while for him to get over the loss of his first love, but I’m sure he’ll feel much better in a few weeks.”
“He didn’t look like he would. Plus, I spoke with someone at his hospital earlier today and they told me that he’s been suspended for walking out during his shift. I’m scared he’s going to do something really stupid. He’s falling apart.”
“But what can you do?”
“I feel like I owe it to him to make sure he’s okay.”
“Hasn’t he got friends in New York who could help him?”
“No one. It’s like I told you, we only moved here three-and-a-half months ago.”
“What about his folks back home?”
“I daren’t call them, Sam. I’m not even sure Paul’s told them about us breaking up. It would be horrible if I called them and they knew nothing.”
“But they need to know that their son is in a bad way.”
“How’s it going to help though?”
“They could come down here and take him home for a few months, until he gets his head straight.”
“But he needs help now, Sam.”
“I don’t know what to say, Claire. He just needs to get it all out of his system. He’s angry now, but I’m sure once it’s all out of him, he’ll calm down and get on with his life.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
Sam paused for a moment, unsure of how he should reply to this. He didn’t know the guy. From what Claire had told him, Sam was under the impression that Paul was a good guy. That he had treated her with kindness and love for these past years, and for that Sam was eternally grateful to him. He realized that the guy had been dealt a very bad hand with all of this and sympathized with him. But what could he do? He loved Claire, and nothing was more powerful than that to him.
“I don’t want to sound cruel,” Sam begun, “and I understand that the kid is going through hell right now, but he’s experiencing something that almost every human being on Earth experiences at least once during their lifetime: heartbreak. I’ve been through it and so have you. He has to learn to deal with it, just like all those other people. I’m sorry if that sounds heartless.”
“No. You’re right. But I still care for him and that makes me scared when I see him like I did today.”
“That’s understandable. You’ve been with him for so long. I feel the same with Jenna. I’m dreading going to see her in L.A. tomorrow. We spoke on the phone last night and I can tell that she knows exactly what I’m coming home for. I was so scared that she’d suddenly have it out with me there and then.”
“Wouldn’t that have been better? To get it all out of the way.”
“I don’t know. It probably would, but I’d still rather be there and tell her to her face. I don’t even know how she’ll react. I don’t know if she’ll be angry or if she’ll just shrug and take it. I really don’t know.”
They were silent for a moment, both of them listening to the other breathing.
“When will you be finished there?” she asked after a while.
“I’ve gotta speak to a couple more people and then I’ll be heading back home. You back yet?”
“Yes, I’m sitting in your gigantic lounge hearing the echo of my own voice.”
Sam closed his eyes and pictured her sitting there, waiting for him.
“Well, I’ll be there in about an hour, okay?”
“Okay. Love you.”
“I love you too, sweetie.”
He was about to put the phone down, when she said, “Sam?”
“Yes.”
“This will all be worth it won’t it?”
“Of course, Claire. It may feel difficult now, but soon we’ll be together and there’ll be nothing to keep us apart.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Once she was off the phone, Claire gazed around the empty apartment for a moment. Sam had recently sent all of his house staff away to give the couple complete privacy. She stood up from the couch and began wandering around the huge place. It took up the top two floors of one of the most prominent buildings in Manhattan and was estimated to be in the top-three most expensive New York apartments.
Claire made her way out onto the large stone balcony and gazed out at the setting sun as it disappeared below the cityscape, the evening twil
ight drenching New York in soft light and making it all look so peaceful.
Sighing deeply, Claire took her phone and made her next call. It was to her mother.
“Hey, sweetie,” June answered.
In the last two weeks, Claire had been careful not to mention anything to her mother. But June being June, the mother had known something was up and, coupled with the fact that Claire had turned down Paul’s proposal of marriage in front of her, she had subtly probed her daughter at every opportunity during their recent calls. However, Claire had stubbornly resisted being pulled in.
“Ma, are you sitting down?” Claire asked.
“No.”
“Well, you need to take a seat.”
“Okay. But you’re worrying me.”
Claire heard her mom sit herself down and continued.
“Ma, the first thing I’ve got to say is that today I broke up with Paul.”
“Oh, honey!” her mom let out, her sweet voice breaking with emotion. “That’s awful. What happened?”
Without hesitating or trying to sugar coat it, Claire answered, “I met someone else.”
“What!? I don’t understand. You’ve cheated on Paul?”
“Not exactly. I met someone else and realized that me and Paul weren’t meant to be.”
“And after meeting this other fella for five minutes you realize that? And what—you’re in love with this other guy?”
“I am in love with this other guy.”
“How long have you and he been seeing each other?”
“Only two weeks.”
“Only two weeks and you’re already in love!?”
“It’s not that simple, Ma.”
“But ya loved Paul and now ya saying ya don’t. This is all too much.”
“Look, Ma, I know this is tough, but you’ve got to understand that I didn’t want to hurt Paul or anybody, I just met this other guy and fell in love with him. The way he makes me feel made me realize that I didn’t love Paul; that I couldn’t stay with him.”
“And how does Paul feel about this?”