Fighting For Our Forever

by Heidi McLaughlin

  Whiskey throws roll after roll, laughing as she does. I refuse to help her. I don’t want to get caught up in this mess. If she gets busted, her parents will do whatever they can to help her. The only person I’ve got is her.

  Roll after roll is thrown over the shrubs, trees, the car parked in the driveway, and the house. Once she runs out, she runs back to the truck and grabs more, all while I stand there, pleading with her. “Whiskey, that’s enough, come on.”

  “No,” she snaps. “Harvey deserves this.”

  I step back and put my hands up in the air. “Have at it, sunshine!” She takes my words to heart and continues to decorate the good Judge’s house. And just when I think she’s finished; she goes back to her truck and pulls out a cartoon of eggs.

  “Seriously, Whiskey?”

  “What, I can’t make it easy for him.”

  “What’d he ever do to you, huh?”

  She starts hurling eggs at his house, ignoring my question. They crack and splat down the wood siding. This man is going to have to get up at the crack of dawn and clean this up before the sun heats up.

  “Whiskey?”

  “What, Ajay? You want to know what this bastard did?”

  “Yeah, I do, because if we’re going to get busted, I at least need a reason.”

  “He won’t touch us because if he does, I’ll tell his pretty little wife that he fancies my mama and told my mama that if she wants to keep her job, she’ll fancy him back.”

  “Does your dad know?”

  “Yeah, he does, but Harvey is a piece of shit and my daddy doesn’t want to lose his job, so I’m going to take care of it for him.”

  I shut up and let her get her aggression out on the house. I know Mrs. Foster loves the Sheriff, so I’m not worried about her cheating on him. But the Sheriff, he might not appreciate the Judge if he were to find out.

  When the sprinklers come on, she screams and runs toward the truck. I hop in just as she slams the door.

  “Drive, Ajay!”

  I do as she’s ordered, burning rubber as I try to get away from the house. I look over at my girl; her hair is wild, but there’s a damn smile on her face and that’s all that matters.

  “Mr. Ballard, you’ve entered a plea of not guilty. Do you still stand by your plea?”

  “Jameson Foster did this,” I blurt out, forgetting where I am. There’s a gasp in the galley, and I turn to find Whiskey sitting in the back, turning red. Fuck, my life.

  “Order in the court,” Harvey slams his gavel down.

  Saul stands. “Your Honor, if we could take a short recess—”

  “Proceedings just started and now you want to take a short recess. What kind of fool do you take me for?”

  “Your Honor, the State requests a recess to go over this new information.”

  “Fine, fifteen minutes.” He slams the gavel down again and heads to his chamber. As soon as he’s up, I rush to the back of the room and drop to my knees.

  “Whiskey, I’m sorry. I was thinking about that night and your name… it just came out. I remember what you said about Harvey. I need you to tell him the truth.”

  “Why should I?” her glare burns a hole right through me.

  “You shouldn’t,” I tell her honestly. “I don’t deserve anything from you.”

  “Fletcher, am I allowed to testify?”

  I glance over my shoulder at the attorney. “Yeah, Jamie, you can unless Mr. Ballard’s attorney has any objections.”

  “None from us,” Saul says.

  “Thank you,” I say to her.

  She stands and I follow, still loving that I’m a head and shoulder taller than her. “Aren’t you worried about me lying on the stand?” She smirks as she steps past me.

  I inwardly groan. I wasn’t, but I am now.

  12

  Jamie

  The look of pure shock — or maybe it’s realization — on Ajay’s face is priceless, yet I feel like a complete shit for saying what I did. He has every right to tell the truth about what happened that night. I never asked him to lie for me or withhold information. When I committed the act, I knew he’d take the fall… that was the kind of guy he was. But he’s changed since then; he has a career and even though this is petty, not only the charges brought against him but the act itself, it could probably tarnish his image.

  Fletcher takes me by the elbow and leads me out of the courtroom and down the hall to a small conference room. He shuts the door once we’re inside and sighs. “What the hell is going on? Why are you even here?”

  “I had some business to take care of this morning,” I tell him. “It’s not like I planned this. I don’t even know what possessed me to go into the courtroom.”

  “Curiosity?”

  “Of what? Seeing my ex?” Fletcher shrugs. “Yeah, I had enough of that the other day when he and his perfect girlfriend came into Bailey’s.” I start pacing back and forth in what little space is available. I should’ve never walked into the courtroom, but something told me I needed to be in there. I shouldn’t care what happens to Ajay because as far as I’m concerned this is payback for ditching out on me. Maybe there’s some deep-seated jealousy on my part. He’s living the life, the one I thought we’d live together, while I’m still in Bailey working in a bar. That must be it. I’m angry at him for leaving me behind.

  “So now what?” I ask Fletcher. “Do you put me on the stand?”

  He nods as he thumbs through some papers. “If I don’t, Ajay’s lawyer does. You can either testify for the State or for him.”

  “If I testify for you, I lie up there.”

  Fletcher looks at me, his face pensive and almost sad. His dirty blond hair is kept short and styled neatly. “Or you tell Harvey you forgot.”

  “Isn’t that the same as lying?”

  He shrugs. “It was a long time ago, memories are hazy. You don’t remember whose idea it was or when it happened.”

  I nod and continue to walk back and forth. I’ve definitely gotten myself into a jam before but nothing like this.

  “What I don’t get is why your name isn’t mentioned anywhere in the police report.”

  “You and I both know that the police report was recently filed, likely when my father and Harvey sat around the poker table, smoking cigars, and plotting the demise of Ajay as soon as they heard he would be passing through town, all for something he did years ago. What I don’t understand is why? Why would they even care at this point? It’s not like Harvey’s house sustained any damage.”

  “It’s because of you, that’s why. Your dad must somehow think that this is payback for what Ajay did to you. Fletcher tosses the folder down onto the table. “This case is nothing but a waste of my time. I shouldn’t even be in court right now.”

  “Harvey clearly has a vendetta, which I don’t get.”

  “I’m going to ask you why you targeted him. Is that something you can answer?”

  I nod, even though I don’t want to tell the story of how Harvey tried to coerce my mother into sleeping with him. After I decorated his house with two-ply and the dozen eggs that had been in my truck for a week, she got a raise and he left her alone. I hadn’t expected that outcome but whatever. Message sent and received as far as I was concerned.

  “What else will you ask me?”

  “Some basic questions, name, age, those types of things.”

  “Nothing about Evelyn, okay?”

  He looks at me like I just pulled his puppy dog’s tail. “Why would I do that?”

  “I don’t know but Ajay doesn’t know about her and I’d like to keep it that way.”

  “Think he’ll be upset?”

  “I’m not sure,” I say, shrugging. I stop and stand at the end of the table. “When I lost…” I pause and take a deep breath. “I just don’t know how he’ll react, and I don’t think he should find out in court.”

  Fletcher nods and goes over the night in question. I tell him everything, how it was my idea, how Ajay begged me to leave but I refused,
and how the only thing he’s guilty of is driving the truck away from the scene. What I leave out is what we did afterward even though I can still clearly remember us together that night. The relationship Ajay and I had was explosive, some even called it toxic because I was a rebellious teen. Many blamed him for my bad attitude. When we were in the room together, the sexual tension radiated off us. All we had to do was look at each other, and people would tell us to get a room. A room we rarely had, and I often wondered how we never got caught having sex in public. If anything, we should be on trial for indecent exposure or public fornication, not teepeeing someone’s house.

  “We need to go back in. I think under the circumstances; you should be prepared for Ajay’s lawyer to come down on you hard. I’m sure they’re eager to get the heck out of town and back on tour.”

  “Then the feeling’s mutual because I’m just as I’m eager for him to get out of town.”

  Fletcher opens the door and I follow him out. Ajay is standing in the hall with his girlfriend by his side, and two people who I know aren’t his parents. I try to smile but all he gets from me is a grimace.

  Once in the courtroom, I sit directly behind Fletcher. He tells me that as soon as Harvey brings court into session, he’ll call me to the stand. I feel Ajay walk beside me and do everything I can to keep my gaze on Harvey’s black chair even though Ajay’s cologne is overpowering my senses and making me tingle. My body is a traitor, yearning for his touch, when all I want it to do is be repulsed by him.

  “He has somebody,” I whisper, hoping my senses can understand that he’s off limits. Not that I would even go there to begin with. My life doesn’t need the complications that one roll in the hay with him would bring.

  The bailiff tells us to stand and gives his spiel about Harvey being honored and all that. I roll my eyes and Fletcher glares at me from over his shoulder. I shrug, letting him know that I can’t help it. Harvey is the least honorable judge in our county and needs to retire, but he won’t because he likes the power he has over us “common people”.

  “Mr. Oakes, please call your first witness,” Harvey says as he settles into his chair.

  Fletcher stands and clears his throat. “The State would like to call Jameson Foster to the stand.”

  Being the dramatic one that I am, I stand, straighten my shirt and saunter to the seat. Once I’m in it, I avoid looking at Ajay.

  “Raise your right hand and repeat after me,” the bailiff says. I do and that’s when it hits me that if I lie up here, I could end up with a fine or worse… jail time. Right now, I want to take back everything I said to Fletcher; I don’t want to testify. My palms start to sweat as Fletcher comes closer.

  “Please state your name for the record.”

  “Jameson Foster,” I say into the microphone.

  “May I call you Jamie?”

  “You may.”

  “Jamie, do you know why you’re here?”

  “I do.”

  “And you can say confidently that you’re familiar with the case?”

  “I can.”

  Fletcher returns to his table and picks up a piece of paper. “Jamie, on the night in question, can you tell us who was responsible for the vandalism?”

  Something compels me to look at Ajay, and I wish I hadn’t. He looks sad, defeated, like the world is against him and the last time I saw him like this was when his grandma died, leaving him with no one. I remember when he cried on my shoulder and I begged my father not to call child services because they would take him away from me. I was the only family he had, and I had to protect him. However, telling the truth now will put me in the same situation he’s in.

  “Ms. Foster?” Fletcher calls my name to get my attention. I smile softly at my friend.

  “Spouses can’t testify against each other, right?”

  Fletcher looks at the sheet of paper again. “At the time of the incident, you were not married to Mr. Ballard,” he points out.

  I glance at Ajay, who is focused intently on me. “This is true, but we did marry.”

  “And subsequently divorced, therefore your testimony is admissible.”

  I drop my head and look at my hands. The dollar store ring Ajay had bought me is resting somewhere at the bottom of some river I drove past on my way home from Nashville. The green iron stain that it left behind on my finger disappeared slowly, day after day, until one day I noticed it was gone. That was the day when everything became a reality for me. The love of my life was no more. The cheap ring that signified our life was gone and I had nothing to hold onto.

  Looking back at Fletcher, I try to grin, but my cheeks barely move. “Ms. Foster?”

  “I invoke my spousal privilege or whatever it’s called.”

  Fletcher steps toward me just as Ajay leans forward. “There isn’t anything to invoke,” Fletcher says. “You and Mr. Ballard have been divorced for seven years.”

  I sit up straighter in my chair and close my eyes. I have no choice but to come clean. Even if I were to file the papers today or tomorrow, he’d get a copy and know that I never followed through with the divorce in the first place. I chance a look at his girlfriend who is watching me intently, probably wondering what the hell’s going on. I spotted her ring earlier and could feel a small bit of jealousy course through me. The rock could cut a piece of glass and it could’ve been mine. I stop myself from thinking what should’ve been because who knows if Ajay and I would’ve made it? I used to dream that we would have.

  “Your Honor, if you would please instruct the witness to answer the State’s question,” Ajay’s lawyer stands and says.

  “Ms. Foster, please answer the question.”

  I mentally flip Harvey off.

  “Like I said, I invoke spousal privilege because Ajay Ballard and I are still married.”

  The small group in the courtroom erupts. Immediately, my eyes are back on Ajay. He stares at me, stunned. The lady he came with has her hand over her mouth as she looks on. The man is saying something to the lawyer, and Ajay’s girlfriend looks pissed. I have no doubt that once we leave here, she’s going to demand the papers be filed so they can get on with their lives.

  Harvey, on the other hand is having a field day with his gavel. He keeps slamming it down and yelling “order” even though it’s fairly quiet in the courtroom. I’m not sure what the big deal is, other than the obvious, but it’s not like I confessed to murder or something equally egregious. Ajay and I are still married when we thought we were divorced. Seems like a simple fix.

  “Your Honor, in light of the newly revealed information, I move for an immediate dismissal against my client.”

  “Not so fast, city boy,” Harvey says. He turns and points his gavel at me. “Listen young lady, I will not tolerate these lies from you.”

  “As if I care.”

  His lips go into a fine line and I can see that he’s grinding his teeth. “Very well, then. Jameson Foster and Ajay Ballard are hereby remanded to the Prineville County jail until the facts of the matter can be verified by the county clerk.”

  My mouth drops open and before I can say anything, he slams down his gavel and walks off toward his chambers.

  “What just happened, Fletcher?” I ask, standing up.

  “He just put you in jail for mouthing off to him.”

  The bailiff walks behind me and pulls my arms together. “Can he do that?” I screech as the cuffs go around my wrists.

  “He just did.”

  Fletcher turns his back on me as the bailiff pulls me toward him. Ajay and I make eye contact and I try to convey some remorse, but he turns toward his girlfriend just as I’m pushed through the wooden door.

  13

  Ajay

  The words “Ajay and I are still married” keep replaying over in my head as I’m driven back to jail. Leave it to Whiskey to smart off to the judge and leave it to Harvey to be a major piece of shit by having me locked up again. As soon as the cell door slams shut, I can hear Pate laughing. I’d really like to take on
e of my drumsticks and put it where… no, my drumsticks are too good for the likes of him.

  The cell door opens, and Whiskey is pushed inside. I’m stunned by her presence. The bailiff looks at the both of us and says, “Harvey thinks you two need to spend some time together and get your story straight.” He shuts the door, leaving us in the cell together.

  I don’t ask if she’s okay or what the hell she’s doing, lying on the stand like that. I do feel like confronting her, telling her that she needs to tell the damn truth so I can get back to my job. But I don’t. Instead, I sit down on the edge of the cot and rest my elbows on my knees. I’ve worked so hard to keep a clean image, this is surely going to get my ass booted from the band. And once that happens, I’ll have nothing.

  Whiskey sits across from me and cries softly. It’s a ploy. I know her. She’s not crying because she’s hurt, it’s because someone with authority has pissed her off and she didn’t see it coming. My girl was — and still is by the looks of it — a con artist. I’m not falling for it though.

  Whiskey stands and goes to the bars. Of all the times we broke the law, I never imagined us locked up together. Yet, here we are, and for what? Harvey has such a bone to pick with me, her, and apparently us, that he has no qualms about putting us in here when the information he needs is probably right in front of his face.

  “Pate,” Whiskey yells, “turn your damn television down, I can’t think!”

  “Shut up, Jamie. You ain’t the boss of me.”

  “Asshole,” she mutters as she sits across from me again. “You’re quiet.”

  I shake my head slightly. “Not much to say.”

  “You don’t have anything to say to me? No questions? Nothing?”

  “No, I do, but I’m not sure I can find the words until my temper cools down.”