Bouncing

by Jaime Maddox

  Then a possible solution occurred to him. Wes would help. His brother loved him, and he was smart. He’d figure out what to do.

  Pedaling hard through the night, P.J. was back home twenty minutes later, and, sitting beside his brother on the bed, he told him everything. For the first time since his problems began, he unburdened himself with a cleansing confession, and as he’d hoped, Wes approached the problem not with anger, but with the analytical mind that made him so good at problem solving.

  “Let’s talk to him,” he said after a few minutes.

  “What? No! He doesn’t want to talk. He wants to hurt people!”

  “I understand that, P., I do. But he’s a businessman, and businessmen do business. Let’s see what we can offer him. Maybe it’s a payment plan, or maybe another job we can do for him. We’ll figure it out.”

  P.J. looked at the clock. It was just after two in the morning. He’d never sleep, but he should try. Apparently, his brother thought the same thing. “We’ll talk to him in the morning,” Wes said, and then ran a loving hand through P.J.’s hair. “Get some sleep now.”

  P.J. didn’t sleep, and for once he was ready before anyone else in the house. “I won’t see you tonight,” his mother said. “I’m working a double. There’s leftover lasagna for dinner. Bring home some fresh bread and you’ll be fine.”

  “Okay, Mom,” he said and suddenly felt guilty for what he’d done. She’d gone back to nursing when his father lost his job, and at fifty years old, those doubles weren’t easy. But she did them anyway. And his father now used his mechanical-engineering degree in a department store, a job that was both a demotion in pay and stature, but he happily went to work every day, and some nights, too. This so the family wouldn’t have to move, so P.J. wouldn’t have to switch to a lower-ranked school and lose his friends. So his life would be better. To give him an opportunity. And how was he repaying them?

  Promising himself he’d turn his life around, he read the morning paper, waiting for Wes. The headlines didn’t interest him much, but he read them anyway, stalling until he read the sports scores.

  “Ready?” Wes asked half an hour later.

  P.J. nodded, and they climbed together into the old Toyota Camry that had been his father’s last car. “What are we going to do?” P.J. asked a moment later.

  Wes shrugged. “I’m not sure, but we’ll do it together.”

  Suddenly, P.J. was filled with dread. This had been a stupid idea, recruiting his wimpy, nerdy brother when he needed a linebacker or a hockey player. But he really had no other ideas, and the wheels were already turning, taking him to whatever destiny was in store for him.

  The drive was short, and they didn’t speak again. He sensed his brother was as nervous as he was. P.J. told him where to park, and they looked at each other. “Ready?” Wes asked, and P.J. nodded. He had to do this.

  Wes followed him through an unlocked side-entrance door, down a series of corridors, and stopped when P.J. did, in front of an open door.

  “Hey, Little Man! You’re here early.” The Man’s greeting was playful and light, but P.J. knew he could grow dark and dangerous very quickly. As Wes pushed him aside and faced The Man, P.J. feared he was witnessing such a transition now. The Man’s face contorted as he looked from brother to brother and back again.

  “Who the fuck are you?” he demanded, studying the potential threat before him.

  “Weston Blackwell, IV. I’m P.J.’s brother.”

  “Oh, nice to meet you. But I’m not hiring right now.”

  “I’m not here about a job. P.J. has a little problem. Tell him, P.”

  P.J. swallowed and blurted out the details of his crime before he had a chance to change his mind.

  The Man leaned forward in his chair, and pointed a finger at Wes. He squinted and his face contorted in anger. “You think you can say you’re sorry and all will be forgotten? That’s not the way it goes, Little Man. There’s always punishment when you screw up.”

  Wes spoke. “See, the thing is, P.J. is only seventeen. He doesn’t make much money, so he can’t pay you back. Not today, anyway. I came with him to see if we could work out some sort of payment plan.”

  The Man shook his head and laughed, softly, staring at points high up on the unadorned wall. Then his laughter became louder and sinister, and his gaze focused on Wes. “There’s no payment plan. I get my money or he gets hurt. And maybe you do, too, for butting into my business.”

  Wes swallowed, and P.J. watched, helplessly mute as his brother dug at his own cuticles, a sign of his anxiety. “If you hurt my brother, you’ll never get the money. And maybe my parents might even find out and go to the police.”

  The Man pounded his desk and sneered. “I own the police,” he boasted, and P.J. sensed the truth in his statement, for how else could an illegal operation like this thrive right out in the open?

  Wes nodded. “There must be some service you need that we can provide. I’m asking this because he’s my brother.” Wes nodded at P.J. and shrugged. “He’s young and stupid, and it’s up to people like you and me to teach him the ropes. You’re teaching him a good lesson, you know?”

  Apparently, The Man liked the praise or the image of himself as a role model, for suddenly his posture relaxed and his expression softened. “What kind of skills do you have? What can you do for me?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Let’s Be Friends

  “Hey, how are you?”

  Alex turned toward the voice she’d heard playing in her mind for days. The eyes that met hers were indeed as blue as she remembered. The smile was hesitant, and for that, Alex knew she was responsible. Thoughts of Britain Dodge had haunted her for all of the minutes and hours and days since she’d run from her on the boardwalk, and if she weren’t so totally humiliated by the end of that evening, she would have called Brit the next morning to see her again. But the evening had ended badly, and Alex had needed this time to recover her dignity and figure out what to do next. In fact, she could probably use another decade or so, but here she was, in the auditorium of the high school, facing the only woman on the planet who made her nervous.

  The entire morning had been consumed by an in-service meeting at the high school. Arriving early so she could speak with Brit hadn’t worked out. Alex couldn’t find her anywhere. Filled with a sense of dread, she worried Brit might have changed her mind about the job. Silly, but the thought of not seeing her turned Alex’s mood sour. During a minute-long pause between speakers when she’d stood to stretch, Alex had spotted her in a small group at the back of the room. At her height, Brit literally was heads above the rest.

  When the break was announced, Alex should have sought her new colleague in the horde of teachers exiting the high-school auditorium. Instead, she’d held back, choosing to delay the inevitable meeting. Part of her regretted offering Brit the coaching job. Just a small part. She really wanted to coach with Brit. That wasn’t the problem. That she wanted to spend time with Brit was the problem. That she’d been consumed by thoughts of her was the problem. That she longed to do things to take that hesitant smile and turn it into a vibrant one of welcome—that was also the problem. The way their last time together had ended was perhaps the biggest problem of all.

  It amazed her that she’d lived so long and had never fallen in love, had never even really had a significant romantic relationship, yet in just a few hours Brit had sent her world spinning. In that short time frame she’d managed what others hadn’t accomplished in many years. She had Alex thinking about more. To hell with her illness and freedom and no commitments. Britain Dodge had truly zapped her.

  Brit had known this moment was coming, but she still found herself unprepared for meeting Alex again. In fact, she’d been avoiding her. If their evening on the beach had ended any other way, Brit would have called Alex. Perhaps they might have driven to school together, or met for lunch to talk about the upcoming year. Enjoyed that round of golf at Mountain Meadows. But after it all went wrong, Brit didn’t
have the heart to do that to herself. The memories were bad enough—being with the woman who’d burned her with so quick and hot a fire was just asking for more pain.

  In her mind, she’d replayed the scene on the boardwalk a thousand times, still dumbfounded by how quickly she’d gone from the elation at meeting such an attractive woman as Alex to the dejection she felt after Anke appeared. Battling the attraction she’d felt for Alex would be a huge challenge, and Britain wasn’t ready for it. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be ready to look into those eyes and keep her heart at a distance. She’d reconsidered the coaching job. She’d reconsidered the teaching job. Hell, she’d even reconsidered her friendship with Sal. There was nothing she wanted from Alex. That was about all she could handle.

  Yet those eyes were so blue, and instead of the gentle rebuff she’d planned when they met again, she felt her heart melting under the heat of Alex’s gaze. “Hi,” she said simply.

  “I am so sorry about the night on the boardwalk,” Alex told her, and her eyes turned a darker shade of blue as emotion welled within them.

  “You don’t have to apologize, Alex,” Brit replied, and offered a small smile of understanding before she looked away.

  “What would you like?” the woman making sandwiches in the cafeteria lunch line asked them. The lunch was free today, with a salad bar and made-to-order sandwiches, pasta salad, and fruit. They gave their requests.

  Gently, Alex held Brit’s elbow to stop her from advancing along the deli counter, to stop her from running away. Alex had to make it right with Britain again. She’d felt an attraction that night she’d never felt before, and if she had any sense at all of women—and Alex liked to think she was an expert on the matter—Britain had felt it, too.

  “Alex, honestly, you owe me nothing,” Brit said, her voice very neutral as she stared ahead.

  “Please. Meet me after the in-service. We can just talk.” Alex knew she sounded desperate, and she’d never had to beg for a woman’s attention before, but she would if she had to.

  Alex held her breath as Brit studied her, searching her face for something. Then she reluctantly agreed to meet Alex at South Abington Park that afternoon and left Alex staring after her as she walked away to sit with her new colleagues. When the in-service resumed after lunch, Alex was there in body only. It was impossible to concentrate on the school district’s official sexual-harassment policy and changes in the health-insurance plans offered. Inclusion and curriculum changes went right over her head. All she could think of was Brit.

  When the conference adjourned for the day, Alex was surprised to find Brit waiting at the back of the auditorium. She hadn’t seemed eager to meet her, so Alex just assumed she’d see Brit at the park.

  Brit studied Alex as she approached the rear of the auditorium. Wearing a T-shirt and golf shorts with her sneakers, Alex looked relaxed, yet Brit sensed her tension. When she spoke, though, even her voice was strained. “Congratulations, Brit. You’ve finished your first full day as a teacher.”

  Brit smiled as the reality of Alex’s words hit her. She looked around the large auditorium with its cushioned seats, three sections on the main level and two balcony areas in the rear. It was decorated in green and white, the district’s colors, and behind the stage, the word FALCONS was printed in large letters on the drawn curtain. The podium on the stage was adorned with the school’s emblem. Her school’s emblem. It was official. She really was a teacher. “Thanks,” she said as she looked around again.

  “Do you want to follow me?” Alex asked, wasting no time.

  “Sure,” she answered, and they began the brief trek to the faculty parking lot. They walked in silence, and Brit was even more aware of Alex’s angst. This tension in Alex definitely hadn’t been there at Sal and Sue’s, or at the Frogg Pond, or on Rehoboth Beach. Was it the back-to-school blues? Or trouble with Anke? She was tempted to break the silence, to ease Alex’s concern, but she just wasn’t sure what to say. And then they were at their cars, and the moment passed.

  “This is me,” Alex said as they reached a black SUV much different from the Jeep she remembered from Sal and Sue’s house.

  “New car?”

  “Nah. Just more practical. I leave the Jeep at the beach so I can have fun all summer.”

  Brit pursed her lips in contemplation. Before she could catch herself, she replied, “I’ll bet you do have fun.”

  Alex cringed, but Brit smiled and then turned away. Watching as Brit walked to her car, she exhaled some of the tension that had built up on the short walk from the school. She needed to tell Britain what had happened that night on the boardwalk or she would explode. She was still reeling from the confrontation with Anke, and the days that had passed hadn’t helped.

  The drive from the high school to the park took just a few minutes. Parking spaces were scarce, and by the time Alex had parked the car and walked to Brit’s, Brit had changed from sandals to sneakers. With the capri pants she wore, the sneakers were perfect. After locking her car, she and Brit entered the flow of pedestrian traffic moving toward the park’s center.

  A baseball and soccer complex took up the entire space on one side of the park, while volleyball and a picnic area formed another border. Beyond were basketball courts and a children’s play area. Many of the people were bypassing all these options and heading over a covered bridge and into the woods to enjoy the walking trails. Without discussion, the two of them gravitated in that direction.

  Brit glanced at the basketball courts where she’d been playing lately. They were jammed with players, but none of them looked familiar to her. Kelsey, the young woman she’d met, wasn’t around today, but the thought of her reminded Brit that she needed to inform Alex that she’d changed her mind about coaching. She just wasn’t sure she had the courage to say the words. Her evening at Sal’s house had convinced her she wanted to coach, and in spite of her concerns about Alex, the job offer was hard to turn down. But there were other basketball teams, and she’d already made a few inquires. Perhaps she wasn’t ready to coach basketball with Alex, but she could still get back in the game somewhere.

  Alex seemed to be equally troubled. In spite of her invitation to talk, Alex was quiet as they made their way toward the woods. Brit decided to open the dialogue. “So how’s Anke?” she inquired. Where the hell did that come from? Alex’s personal life was really none of her business.

  Sighing in relief or frustration, Alex replied. “I think she’s safe and sound and back in Germany.”

  Britain looked to Alex for clarification. “I don’t understand.”

  “She was only here for the summer, to work at the beach.”

  “Oh.” Brit looked down as she walked, attempting to divine the meaning of Alex’s statement. After a minute of silence, broken only by the voices of the other people walking along the trail and the birds flying in the trees above, Alex spoke.

  “Brit, what happened on the boardwalk totally shocked me. As far as I knew, Anke had left the country that morning.”

  They’d crossed a covered bridge and turned on a path carved into the mountainside and began walking along the stream winding at its base. Ahead and behind them they saw others out doing the same thing—walking, talking, seizing one of the last days of summer and enjoying it. Many of the people were pulled along by dogs of various sizes and breeds, and Brit couldn’t help smiling as she watched the canines introduce themselves to each other, circling and sniffing butts.

  “So you’d broken up with her because she was leaving?” Brit wasn’t judging Alex; she was simply trying to understand what happened. Why would Anke say such things to Alex if they’d already broken up? How could Alex flirt with Brit, and seem so ready to move on, when she’d just broken up with her girlfriend? Shouldn’t she have been sad and spent the evening talking about her girlfriend, how wonderful she was and how much she’d miss her? Instead, she and Alex had locked eyes and shared smiles a hundred times during the night, and although Brit was still a virgin, she wasn’t stu
pid. Alex had been flirting with her. And yes, Brit had been flirting back. But Brit didn’t have a girlfriend, and apparently, Alex did. Because, if they’d broken up as Alex claimed, why hadn’t anyone informed Anke?

  Brit’s inner turmoil must have been written on her face, because Alex reached out and gently held her forearm, and her speech sounded pressured as she spoke, as if her words were exploding from somewhere deep inside her.

  “We were never a couple. When we met at the beginning of summer, she’d already booked her return flight to Germany. She was very clear that she was leaving in August and was only interested in a summer fling. And that was fine by me. I didn’t want a relationship, either.”

  “A fling?” Brit asked, mystified. While Brit had no sexual experience, she did possess a very active imagination. She wasn’t a prude, yet she had difficulty understanding this type of relationship. A one-night stand, where an alcohol-fueled fire burns hot and then burns out—that was understandable. But the concept of a summer-long fling baffled her. How do you give yourself to someone—all of yourself—and then take it back when the calendar ran out of pages? How do you not feel something? “How can you just have sex without becoming emotionally involved, Alex? How do you prevent women from falling in love with you?”

  A bench at the side of the trail beckoned them, and again without discussion, they took a seat and looked out over the stream. Alex had to be honest with Brit, to tell her everything so they could start over. Because Alex liked Brit and was attracted to her, and for the first time, she wanted something more than a fling. She feared it was already too late for her and Brit, but that didn’t change her desires.