"Oh, no!" Adeline cried as she squatted to pick it up. I closed my eyes, knowing what the ugly sound meant. "Oh, no," Adeline said again as she turned the phone over in her hand. "I am so sorry." Her voice sounded choked. I opened my eyes. The glass on my new phone had a thick crack running from one corner, diagonally across the face, to the other. The upper corner had a small web of cracks to mark the original landing point. "I didn't mean..." she started.
"I know!" I said way too loudly. Adeline jerked at my tone. "I know," I said more calmly. She presented the phone to me, her hand shaking. I took a deep breath and took it from her. I pushed the button and a psychedelic array of colors appeared; the screen was unreadable.
"I should just wait here," Adeline said, and began to back away. "I'll call my sister from inside," she said, pointing at the door we had exited from. I could see tears forming in her eyes. I felt like shit, and my phone was broken. I knew then that she was a curse. It was my own fault for thinking I owed her something this morning.
"No," I said quietly. I put the paperweight of a phone in my pocket. "I'm not leaving you here." It was only a phone, and not the first one I have broken. I stepped to the side and gestured for Adeline to get in. She didn't move. She looked at me with tears running down her cheeks. "I know you didn't mean it. It's only a phone," I said calmly.
"It happens a lot," Adeline cried. She turned and moved back toward the building, her face in her hands. Shit. I ran to catch up with her.
"Adeline, come on, don't stay here." The thought of leaving her here at the prison defeated the whole purpose of bailing her out. She turned to me, her cheeks flooded with smeared tears.
"I broke your car and your phone, and I don't even know if I can get your jeans back." Those were my best jeans. I shook the thought out of my mind.
"The jeans were old," I lied, "the car and phone are insured. They were just accidents."
"I am a walking accident," Adeline cried, for the second time in less than ten minutes, I let her cry on my shoulder. I held her as best I could, in the middle of the parking lot. This time, I held her better.
"Look," I suggested stupidly, "I have to get back to work. I'll drop you at my place. I still have a land-line. You can call your sister and straighten everything out." I don't know why I trusted Adeline. She just didn't seem like she was truly dishonest. Not the way she caved when she thought I was angry with her last night. She sniffled and broke her embrace; mine was a slower release.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Adeline replied. She wiped her eyes and looked at me. "It would be better for you if you left me here."
"Nope," I said truthfully, "I think I would be happier if I knew you were okay and not stuck in a prison waiting room." I was already in too deep to stop now. "I have to protect my investment." I smiled to soften the message. I got a small smile back. It was better than the crying. At least I was a thoughtful idiot.
"Okay, but just until I get hold of my sister," Adeline agreed. I smiled again and led her back to my car. I got her seated and closed the passenger door. I walked around the car calling myself a moron under my breath. I knew this wasn't the wisest course of action, but I kind of forced myself into it by showing up in the first place.
"Why did you bail me out?" Adeline asked carefully as I pulled out of the parking lot. That question had no good answer. Maybe she was as confused as I.
"Why did you tell the cop the truth last night?" I responded with my own question.
"I didn't like myself after you yelled at me," Adeline answered, "being arrested was better than having you hate me." Her honesty was surprising. I had thought she would dodge the question as I had.
"Why did they arrest you? The cop said you were on a restricted license, but usually they just give you a ticket or something." Adeline looked down at her feet, and I instantly regretted asking. I was about to change the subject when she spoke.
"Things happen to me," Adeline responded cryptically, "I know they're my fault, like your phone. Its just not on purpose. It seems to happen a lot." She brushed imaginary dust off her jeans and absently picked at one of the leg seams."I really shouldn't drive." She looked up at me and there was sadness in her eyes. "I am so sorry about last night. Not just the accident, but trying to dump the blame on you." She sounded completely sincere.
"So, there are a lot of accidents," I said stupidly. My attention returned to the road. For some reason I became more aware of my own driving.
"Is it okay if I don't tell you how many?" Adeline asked softly. I could feel the embarrassment in her voice. It didn't really matter how many, I was only involved with one. I shifted the subject.
"I was celebrating the end of my own mistake last night," I said, finally answering the question Adeline had tried to ask last night. I looked over quickly and saw she was relieved I didn't press her about her history. "A very long divorce, kind of bitter in the end." She was silent as I spoke, but her eyes were watching me. "I wasn't ready for someone, especially a woman, to...handle me the way you did last night. Sorry if I was a little heavy in the asshole department."
"I was a bitch." Adeline's eyes went back to her jeans. "I'm not a very good one. I fell apart when you told me I was."
"I never called you that!"
"You were thinking it and you were right." I looked over at her as she fiddled with jeans again.
"I bailed you out because I felt terrible for thinking you were a bitch," I admitted. Her eyes came up to mine. "I'm not very good at being an asshole," I said as we shared a small smile. I moved my eyes back to the road. We were silent for a few minutes.
"My house burnt down," Adeline said with no context. "I have been living with friends, the last of which will probably never speak to me again." I looked over to her, she was looking right at me. "I am not a good person to know." I wanted desperately to ask her about her house burning down. She was warning me, but it felt insulting to ask. "I probably lost my job for not showing up to work today. The best thing that has happened to me in years is the guy I rear-ended bailed me out of jail."
I was a little stunned at Adeline's revelations. I wasn't sure how you respond to something like that. I thought Jessica had driven my life into the dumpster, but I had been living the high-life compared to Adeline. At least I had Oliver. Stupidly, I held my hand out to Adeline. Hesitantly, she placed her hand in mine.
"I could use a friend as well," I said quietly. I felt her relax in her seat; her shoulders losing their stiffness. I wasn't as loud or friendly as Oliver, but I could at least be present. Her hand felt good in mine. I was reluctant to remove it when I had to make a turn. I pulled into my driveway and prayed silently that my house wouldn't burn down.
"You have a nice home," Adeline said as if it wasn't a good thing. She looked frightened. She was beginning to scare me. I shook it off. I wasn't going to fall into believing in luck, good or bad. She was basically a good person who had a string of bad things happen. It couldn't go on forever.
My house was small, a bachelor pad in style. It was thirty years old and partially remodeled. It had an open kitchen, bordered by a counter with stools where I usually ate. Beyond the counter was a great room with a flat panel, a fireplace and a set of eclectic, comfortable furniture. There were two bedrooms, one basically an office now, and a single bathroom with a shower. Off the garage was a small mud room that housed the smallest over and under washer-dryer appliance I could find. Anything larger and I wouldn't have been able to open the door to the garage.
"That is beautiful," Adeline commented as she moved away from my pride and joy. Against the wall, opposite the flat screen, I had a large 210 gallon saltwater aquarium. It had taken me years to figure out how to deal with the salination and waste issues. Now, it was as perfect as it could get. I had given it a light blue rock bottom with natural and fake coral seemingly growing in odd directions. The fake coral created niches the smaller fish loved to hide in. It was bathed in soft light that gave the whole room a warm, blueish glow. Swimming slowly on the
bottom, my lion-fish sauntered along, its colorful dorsal waving slowly. The tank, and its care, is what kept me sane during the divorce. It was like a soothing movie that never stopped.
"My claim to fame," I said with a proud smile, "that's Mufasa swimming along the bottom." Adeline gave me a strange look. "So I like cartoons, sue me." Adeline smiled. A very pleasing smile. I grabbed a pen and paper on the kitchen counter. I wrote down my office number, and thinking wisely, wrote down my home phone for her. "Here's my office number and this is the number here." I said as I pushed the paper toward her. "I am already late so feel free to look around. There should be something in the fridge and clean towels in the closet next to the bathroom. Help yourself, but please call or leave a note when you leave so I know you're okay."
Adeline smiled at me and sat on a stool and looked at my note. "Thank you so much, Damon. I'm glad it was you I ran into last night." It was meant well, but sounded terrible. She lost her smile and looked at me with concern. "You know what I meant. If I had to run into...."
"I know," I laughed, "the feeling is mutual." There was that wonderful smile again. "I'm late," I reminded her as I hurried out.
"Thank you," Adeline shouted again as I left. I was late to work, driving a rental, my phone was shot and my best pair of jeans were lost. I had known her for less than a day. Why didn't I hate her?
Chapter Five
More meetings. I barely made it to the first on time, and another had been added to my schedule during lunch. At least the second didn't have me staring at a useless PowerPoint presentation. I actually earned my keep during the last meeting. A large batch query some fool devised was taking too long to execute every night. I looked it over, devised an index, broke it into two queries and brought it down to a thirty second job. Not bad for processing a couple hundred million rows. To me, it was a no-brainer. To the moron who coded the initial query, I was a life saver. His first attempt ran over three hours, essentially multiple full table scans with heavy temporary table creation. I accepted the praise and kept my secrets to myself. Sometimes I was a good at being an asshole.
I was back at my desk around three when the phone rang. "Damon Richardson," I answered.
"Damon, it's Adeline." I cringed and let out a breath. I didn't hear any sirens in the background so maybe my place wasn't on fire. "I can't reach my sister. I've tried a bunch of times, but she hasn't called me back. Do you think you can drive me to a hotel when you get back?" My jaw released and I flexed it. The idea she was still at my house was not a bad one. In fact, it was kind of nice.
"Why don't you make dinner and spend the night," I offered in trade, "I have two bedrooms."
"Dinner?" Adeline responded. She sounded less than excited about the idea.
"Sure," I continued, "there are noodles in the cabinet above the dishwasher, and some jars of spaghetti sauce next to them." I figured boiling water wasn't going to do any serious damage to the house. I shook the possible disasters out of my head. She'll do just fine.
"Are you sure? I've been here longer than I should already." I smiled to myself, maybe not long enough.
"I don't know about you, but I'm starving," I said with a light voice, "I missed lunch, and it would be wonderful to have a hot meal waiting when I get home." I suddenly felt like I was talking to my ex, back when we were still talking. My thoughts were a little cross-wired.
"Okay, I can do spaghetti," Adeline replied, and I heard the smile in her voice. It brought one to my lips. "What time will you be home?" Now she sounded like a wife.
"About 5:30."
"I'll see you then," Adeline said cheerfully. I was about to hang up when I heard her voice again. "Damon, do you have an old t-shirt I can wear? I'd like to take a shower and wash my clothes."
"Bottom left-hand drawer of the dresser in my bedroom."
"Thanks." Why was I so happy she would be home when I got there? So far, knowing her had been a disaster. It has been about three hours since she had broken something of mine. Maybe the trend was over. One could always hope.
***
I left work a little early and dropped my broken phone at the store. They said they could flip the SIM card and have a new phone fired up in about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes in a phone store feels like a week. I told them I would be back in the morning. At the price I pay for the warranty, you would think they would have a phone fired up and waiting just in case.
When I entered the house, my nose was greeted with a heavenly scent. It was spaghetti, but not like it comes out of the jar. This smelled like it had flavor. Adeline was smiling when I entered the kitchen. She looked simply wonderful in my Stay Puft Marshmallow Man t-shirt. I had to laugh as she modeled it with a little twirl. It was a little short, but covered all the basics.
"I found your spice rack," Adeline said proudly, "I gave the sauce a little kick."
"Smells wonderful" Nothing seemed to be broken and there were no flames. Not that I really expected damage, it was just nice that there wasn't any. "Is that bread I smell?"
"Yep, hillbilly bread," Adeline said, then peaked into the oven. It was obviously not done yet since she closed the door and went back to stirring the sauce.
"Hillbilly bread?" I had to ask.
Adeline looked at me and smiled. "Regular white bread, a little butter, garlic salt and sprinkled with cheese. It tastes good with spaghetti." I think that was the smell filling the house.
"Ingenious."
"My sister made it for me when I was young," Adeline said as she peeked into the oven again. This time she grabbed an oven mitt and pulled out a pan of toast. It was golden brown with yellow running through it. She flipped off the oven, which I took to be a very good sign. "I think we're ready. What do you want to drink?"
"Why not wine? I have a few bottles and never have a chance to drink them. There are some wine glasses above the stove." I realized the problem with my statement as soon as I said it. Adeline turned and reached high to open the cupboard. In my mind, I saw broken glass on the stove as she went on her tip toes. I almost said something then my eyes shifted. Broken glass no longer concerned me.
If you took sexy and mixed it with adorable and painted it blue, it wouldn't come close to the exposed tush I was looking at. The t-shirt had ridden up, and half of Adeline's tight butt was exposed, neatly covered by baby-blue panties. Her legs were taut, emphasizing her figure. I felt desire and didn't want to let go of it. My eyes didn't move fast enough when she came down with the glasses. I was caught perving and felt my face flush.
I expected an evil look. Maybe disappointment. What I saw was a joyous smile and sparkling eyes. "Wine?" she asked, waving the two glasses she had retrieved. I came out of my fog and gave her an apologetic smile and headed to liquor cabinet.
"White Zinfandel okay?" I asked. I had a red also, but felt it might be too dry.
"Fine with me, you can have anything you want tonight." I turned quickly. I was sure she had emphasized 'anything.' I found her back to me, stirring the sauce. I do believe she was flirting. I closed my eyes and saw the blue panties in my mind. I hoped she was flirting.
Dinner went smoothly. We talked about silly stuff, and I steered clear of accidents or any other topic that might ruin our happiness. I hadn't had a pleasant night with a woman in years. I found it warming and comfortable. I had missed the feeling. Jessica had done more damage than I first realized.
"Why the fish?" Adeline asked while sipping her wine. I looked over to my aquarium; Mufasa was lumbering up a hill of coral.
"It was therapy of sorts," I said truthfully, "everything was coming apart in the divorce so I decided to build something new." I looked back at Adeline who was staring at me intently. "If you get close, you can see a small orange and white fish that swims in and out of the little caves. I named him Jessica after my ex; he's a clown fish."
"I'll take your word for it," Adeline grinned, "I have no intention of getting anywhere near the tank."
"You afraid of fish?" I asked, a little perplexed.
/>
"They should be afraid of me," Adeline laughed. "The tank is lovely, and I want it to stay that way." I looked at her with concern. I think she truly believed she was cursed.
"You know..." I began and was interrupted by the phone ringing.
"It's probably my sister," Adeline said, moving quickly to pick it up. I silently hoped it was not. "Hello," she said and waited a moment, "who may I say is calling?" At least it wasn't her sister. Adeline covered the speaker side of the phone with her palm and whispered, "Jessica Barrow."
"My ex," I said quietly, "I don't want to talk to her." I made an ugly face, as if it would painful. Adeline smiled and nodded.
I Knew You Were Trouble: Accidents Happen Page 3