“OK, but for goodness sakes, don’t provoke any of them.”
Vicki pulled up to the curb behind a panel truck that had an ugly apple tree on the side.
Natalie rolled down her window. “Hey! Excuse me, sir?”
The guy kept walking like he didn’t hear her, and he probably didn’t with the loud buzz of the lawnmower in the background. He shrugged out of the jacket and threw it over his shoulder, waving to the people working in the yard. Natalie got out of the car.
“What on earth are you doing?” Vicki hollered after her. “Nat!”
Natalie waved her off. “I’ll be right back.”
She jogged across the sidewalk and through the open gate. The guy had made it to the halfway house steps, but now Natalie could clearly see the Elbridge Jones insignia pin on the jacket’s lapel.
“Excuse me!” she said. “Sir, can I talk to you a moment?”
The guy turned around, plucked the cigarette from his mouth and blew out a forceful puff of smoke. “What the hell you want? Don’t tell me child support ‘cause I don’t know you and I ain’t got the money to pay for another kid.”
“No, no,” Natalie said, shaking her head. She glanced to her right, where the tattooed man and the meth-head woman had stopped what they were doing to stare at her. She shivered and turned back to the man who had JD’s jacket. “I have to ask you—where did you get that jacket?”
He scrunched up his face and looked down at it, then back at her, eyes narrowed. “What’s it to you?”
“I know that jacket—that pin there—it belongs to my husband. Actually, the whole outfit looks like his.”
“Huh.” He tossed his cigarette down on the concrete step and smashed it with the sole of one of JD’s dress shoes. “That right? Small world, ain’t it?”
The hairs on Natalie’s neck pricked. Her mouth went dry. If this man had mugged JD… “I just want to know where you got those, that’s all.”
“He gave ‘em to me, fair and square. I didn’t steal nothin’. Ain’t like it helped anyway. Still can’t get a damn job, even wearin’ this yuppie shit.”
“Are you sure JD gave those to you?”
“I ain’t got time for this.” He turned around and stomped up the two remaining steps and into the house.
Natalie was tempted to run after him, but Vicki was honking the horn, and the big tattooed man was headed for her. She turned around and jogged back to the car. Once inside, Vicki peeled a tire, speeding away from the halfway house.
“Nat, are you crazy? Don’t scare me like that again! What did you say to him? Did he have JD’s coat?”
Natalie ignored her and dug frantically in her purse until she found her cell phone. She saw she’d missed a call from JD. Damn it—she could never remember to turn off silent mode. She called him back, praying silently that he would answer. Instead, she got his usual stoic voicemail: This is Principal JD West. Please leave your message at the tone.
Soon as she heard the beep, she said, “JD, it’s Nat. Please call me as soon as you get this message.”
She clicked ‘End’, closed her eyes, and let her head fall back against the headrest.
“Nat,” Vicki said, “What happened? Is JD all right? Do you think that man mugged him or something?”
“I don’t know. He said JD gave him the clothes. I can’t fathom why, but if he was going to mug him, why would he take his clothes and come back to the halfway house? Something weird is going on.”
“Want to drive by and check on him?”
“No, I left a message. He’s good about calling back. If he doesn’t call back within the hour, we can drive out there.”
“I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation. Maybe he just donated some stuff to the halfway house.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
****
Fifteen minutes passed at El Nopal. Vicki munched on the chips and salsa and sipped her margarita while Natalie mostly just stirred hers and stared at her cell phone where it lay on the table. Phil would be there soon, but if JD didn’t call…
Vicki browsed the menu. “Why don’t you call JD’s mom and dad or the school and see if someone’s heard from JD? Maybe he’s just busy or the phone’s dead.”
“Good idea.” Natalie picked up the phone and scrolled through the contacts list for the school’s number when it buzzed in her hand. She looked at the screen. “It’s JD!”
She hit ‘accept’ as quick as she could. “JD, are you all right?”
“Yeah,” he said, with a note of confusion in his voice. “I was about to ask you the same question.”
A trio of teenage girls were the first to take the karaoke stage. They belted out a Katy Perry song in deafening disharmony, punctuated by warbling giggles.
Natalie switched the phone to the ear farthest from them and stuck a finger in her other ear. “I’m fine, much better now, but I saw a guy today at the halfway house. He had your clothes and said you gave them to him.”
JD was silent for a few seconds. “What were you doing at the halfway house?”
“We passed it on the way here. We’re at El Nopal. I saw the guy on the sidewalk and confronted him.”
“You did?” There was genuine surprise, and perhaps a little pride, in his voice. “Well, yeah, I did give my clothes to him, but you shouldn’t be there around those addicts, Nat.”
“Sounds like you’re actually concerned about me.”
More silence. “Of course I am.”
“So, why did you give your clothes to him?”
“I’d rather not talk about it over the phone. Why don’t I meet you at the house tomorrow?”
“I have a better idea. If you’re not busy, can you come out here to El Nopal? Vicki and I will be here for a while.” She expected him to say no, that he was busy with paperwork or stuck at a meeting. But, Natalie didn’t want to wait. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something strange was going on with JD, even now that she knew he wasn’t lying in an alley somewhere.
Silence again. Then, “OK, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
As fate would have it, both Phil and JD arrived at the same time, chatting as they wound their way through the tables and high chairs toward their booth. Phil wore a nice button up shirt and blazer which was more appropriate for a fancier restaurant. But Natalie had to admit, he looked handsome. Vicki’s expression when she saw him—mouth slightly agape—suggested she was thinking the same thing.
“Hey,” Phil said. “Fancy meeting you gals here. Care if I join you?”
“Sure,” Natalie answered, trying not to smile, but it was really hard, especially since Vicki hadn’t taken her eyes off him or even blinked for that matter.
“Thanks.” Phil seated himself on the cushiony bench seat beside Vicki.
She finally broke free from the spell and glared at Natalie, mouthing, “I knew it!”
Natalie smiled and sipped her margarita. JD stood by the table, hands in his pockets, as though he wasn’t sure what to do next. His thick, dark hair was a little mussed from the windy evening. He wore the lavender dress shirt she had gotten him for Christmas last year, sleeves rolled up, black tie loose. His khaki Dockers hugged his hips—they’d always fit him well. Natalie choked a little on her margarita. Clearing her throat, she gestured for him to sit. He slid stiffly onto the bench beside her, avoiding eye contact. His wedding ring glinted in the red and green pepper lights.
“Hi, Nat.”
“Hi.” She turned to Vicki, who gave her one of those now-we’re-even looks. “We just ordered food. Hungry?”
Drumming his fingers on the tabletop, he shrugged. “Not that much, but I could eat.”
“I ordered fajitas. Want to share?”
“Sure.”
Splitting a dish had been a common happening when they were still together. The portions at El Nopal were more than either one of them could eat in one sitting. It felt a little weird now though, sharing food with the man she would soon divorce. The man whose handsomeness she had tr
ied to forget, but still made her heart flutter.
Vicki downed the last of her margarita and winced. “Whew, brain freeze. So Phil…” she gave Natalie one more accusatory glance, before she focused on her not-so-unexpected date. “…how are you?”
“Fine. You?”
“Fine. What brings you here?”
“Um…I…the food I guess. It’s good.” He grabbed a chip, scooped up a big glob of salsa, and chomped down. A drop of it splattered on Vicki’s arm. “Sorry.”
He picked up his napkin and wiped it off. Vicki blinked at her arm as though he’d performed some kind of miracle.
“No problem.” Her voice sounded whimsical, like she was under hypnosis. She waved down a waiter, handed him her margarita glass, and said, “Keep ‘em coming.”
Natalie leaned over and whispered to JD, “Aren’t they cute?”
He grinned and nodded. She had a real impulse to touch the dimple on his cheek, but sat up straight, keeping her fingers busy with her napkin. She had to lay off the margaritas.
****
Twenty minutes later, they’d laid waste to all the fajitas and most of the chips. JD ordered his second beer. Vicki and Phil were deep into a discussion about astrology and moon signs. A little alcohol had loosened their tongues so much one would think they’d been dating for months.
A young, and innocently clueless, couple took the karaoke stage next. They lent their tentative voices to a Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty duet. All smiles and blushes, it was enough to make Natalie a little nostalgic… and a little nauseous.
JD chuckled. “Do you remember when we drove to Virginia Beach?” It seemed Dos Equis had loosened his tongue, too. “I think we’d been dating about three months.”
“Oh yeah, I had that big sun hat and you had those cheap flip-flops that kept falling apart.”
“And the jellyfish sting on your ankle—don’t forget that.”
“How could I?” She finished off the melted remnants of her margarita. “You peed on me.”
“Hey! It worked, and you know it.”
Natalie laughed. “Didn’t I meet your mom and dad not long after that? I swear she rolled over my foot with her wheelchair on purpose.”
“No gringo girl was good enough for her boy.”
“Of course not.”
JD nodded. “The day you and Vicki opened the daycare, she knew you were a keeper. She kept telling me you’d be a good mother, and how proud she was to call you her hija. I was really proud of you, too.”
“Really.”
“Yeah, really. Mama still calls and asks about you every day.”
“She does?”
“Yeah.”
“What does she say?”
JD focused on this beer bottle and picked at the label. “She says we should stop being loco and get back together.”
Natalie’s eyes burned; she blinked back oncoming tears.
Across the table, Vicki and Phil were comparing horoscope apps on their phones. With her friend duly distracted, Natalie took advantage of the opportunity to ask JD about his clothes donation. “So, what happened with the guy at the halfway house?”
“He’s the father of one of our students, Mike Byrne. Guy’s name is Charlie. He was on the news a while back—Charlie the Spoon they called him.”
“Oh, the guy who attacked that window washer?”
“Yeah, that’s him. His kid’s getting bullied. I thought he ought to know, and hoped he’d want to see Mike. They haven’t seen much of each other for a long time, for good reason. But he said he needed clothes for job interviews. I had my dry-cleaning in the car, so I gave it to him.”
She should have known it was school-related, but she’d never known him to take a personal interest in any student’s life before. “That was really nice of you, JD.”
He shrugged. “I figured if he is making a good effort at finding a job and staying clean, then he and Mike might have a better chance of reconciliation.”
The teenage girls took the stage again, usurping the too-cute-to-be-true couple. This time, they sung some horrible Arianna Grande song.
Natalie had to speak up over the noise. “He seemed upset when I spoke with him. I don’t think he had any luck today.”
“It’s not going to be easy for him, being an ex-con and drug addict, but he knows that.” He looked up from his beer bottle and met her gaze. Worry deepened the creases around his eyes. “He didn’t threaten you, did he?”
Warmth crept up Natalie’s cheeks. She couldn’t remember the last time JD had appeared so genuinely concerned about her well-being. “He certainly wasn’t the kind of man I’d want to share dinner with, but he didn’t threaten me.”
JD smiled. “Good, because you can do much better than that.”
“I already did.” She laid her hand softly on his where it rested on the table.
He flipped his hand over and gave hers a gentle squeeze. Nodding toward the karaoke stage, he asked, “Why don’t we go up there and show ‘em how it’s done?”
Natalie looked over at Vicki, but her friend had hold of Phil’s hand, concentrating hard on reading his palm. “You’ve got a really long life line.”
Phil nodded. “Yeah, my pap’s seventy-five and still going strong. My grandpap’s almost a hundred and only now needing a walker.” He pointed to another area on his palm. “What’s this line here? The heart line?”
“Yes,” Vicki said, beaming a smile on him. Anyone who shared her love of mystical science was an instant friend, hopefully more in this case. “And see how it feathers here on the edge of your hand? That means you’re really passionate when it comes to love.”
He chuckled. “Yeah? Maybe I am. Haven’t had a lady long enough to test that theory, though.”
“Really? Such a shame. I mean, look at you…” She straightened his lapels and smoothed a piece of his hair that had gotten out of hand. “Do you want a margarita? I do.”
“Naw, I’m driving, but you go ahead. I can drive you home.”
“Would you?”
JD shook his thumb at the smitten couple and grinned. Natalie laughed quietly. He stood, offering his hand to her, and led her to the stage. The girls were battling it out, each one trying to out-scream the other during their song’s final chorus. Natalie winced, resisting the urge to cover her ears. JD leaned close to the deejay and yelled something to him. The bald, rotund man smiled and punched whatever buttons were necessary to queue up the music.
Finally, the teens were back at their table, giggling and texting furiously on their smartphones. JD picked up two mics. He handed one to Natalie. The song started, and Natalie couldn’t help but laugh. They sang Sugar, Sugar like they’d actually lived in 1969. She hadn’t had this much fun since long before they’d lost John Allen, and unless it was just the beer talking, it looked like JD was having fun, too.
By the time they reached the last few lines, half the restaurant was clapping and singing along. Natalie and JD got a nice bit of applause and even a thumbs up from the deejay when the song was done. Hand in hand, they started back toward the table.
JD stopped about ten feet from the booth. He pulled Natalie close and whispered, “Want to get out of here? I’m not ready for the night to end just yet. Or, I can drive you home and leave it at that. It’s your choice.”
It occurred to her that she ought to say no. The divorce papers were signed and sitting somewhere in the lawyer’s office, waiting to be processed. But, the man with her now was more like the man she’d fallen in love with than he had been in a long time. She breathed in his cologne, mixed with the musky scent she’d be able to identify anywhere as JD West. Her husband. Just for tonight, she wanted her him back, like the way things had been before it all fell apart.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, “Yeah, let’s get out here. But on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
Her fingers found his pants pocket. She smiled when she felt his body tremble. Then, she pulled out his keys. “I�
�m driving.”
****
The house was dark and quiet, with only the porch light illuminating their arrival. Natalie and JD went inside and without a word, they made their way toward the bedroom. It felt almost normal, like any other Wednesday night they might have shared in the past. A good dinner, then home to make love, watch some late night TV, and fall asleep snuggled up together. She couldn’t wait. Life would pick up where it left off tomorrow. She needed tonight.
Before they could step through the door, JD said, “Wait.”
“What is it?” Her heart sped—she hoped he wasn’t backing out. But then again, maybe it was a bad idea. Chances are they’d still end up divorced and even more awkward around each other after tonight. But, she wanted to take that risk. She turned toward him, carefully avoiding looking across the hall at the nursery.
He put his hands on her waist. His expression was gentle, loving, and regretful. He opened his mouth to speak, shut it again, and took a deep breath. Finally, he spoke. “I’m sorry, Nat, for not being here. For you. For us. I’ve told you that before, but I didn’t say it well. I haven’t said a lot of things very well. You deserve better than that.”
Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them back and put her hands on his cheeks. For the first time in a long time, he had opened up to her. “Thank you, JD.”
His grip on her waist grew tighter. “If you don’t want this to happen, it’s OK.”
She put a finger to his lips. “Shh. There’s enough time for talk tomorrow. Let me have tonight.”
She untied his tie, pulling one end of the black silk fabric until it slid free of his shirt collar. He leaned in and kissed her, his lips as warm and passionate as ever. She dropped his tie on the floor, hooked her fingers around his belt, and pulled him into the bedroom. JD kicked the door shut behind them, and for a few hours, they owned the night.
Chapter Eleven
An hour before dawn, JD rolled out of bed and walked naked through what had once been his house.
When you have loved a woman and you still love her, can’t stop loving her, then it is as natural to have her beside you as to feel the sun on your skin. JD thought that. Nat’s hand touching him anywhere, on his arm, his cheek, inside his pants, said to him love and said to him home.
Chances Are Page 7