by Jamie Knight
“Hey Maya,” I said, finding her by the punch bowl.
“Oh, hey Sally,” she said hugging me.
“The cake is in the kitchen,” I said.
“Cool! Thanks,” she said, heading off to go and look at it.
When she was gone, I poured a cup of the punch which had definitely been spiked, I suspected with vodka, determined to at least try and enjoy myself, which I actually did. Helped by the fact that Mike wasn't there with Jessa as his date. I had realized that it probably wasn't meant to be, even though I was fairly sure I was falling in love with him.
The treats were Halloween themed, of course. No actual food, as in things with actual nutrients, but nothing that would kill you either. I tried to reign myself back when it came to eating the wonderful sweetness but I just couldn't help myself. I had always been something of a stress eater. It started when I was a kid, always keeping a pocket full of gummy bears. It played merry hell with my allowance but I needed them or thought I did. It only got worse when I got into college. As bad for me as they were, I figured it was still better than smoking which I no doubt would have been doing, or worse, if I hadn't already started with the sweet, squishy little treats. The worst I had to deal with was a few cavities and gaining some weight. Still a far cry from lung cancer. At least that was what I told my mother at the time whenever she brought it up. She couldn't really argue with that.
“Hey,” Gia said, popping up out of nowhere.
“Hey,” I said, my mouth full of eye-ball designed gumballs.
“How are things going?” Gia asked.
I figured she was talking about with Mike. I wondered if she really didn't know about what was going on there of if she did and was letting me tell her in my own time. I wasn't quite sure what to say. To say that it was complicated was actually an understatement.
I actually had no idea what was going on except that it was over. I was ghosting him but didn't want to admit, not least because of several tirades I had done about how it was a jerk move and how I would never do it. You can't be called a hypocrite if no one knows about it.
I was rescued from embarrassment, for the moment anyway, by the arrival of Maya and the cake I had built for the party. She had stuck a knife into the 'head' portion so the 'blood', actually a liquid raspberry center, was running out over the 'face.'
When she arrived, all eyes went onto Maya and the cake. There were actually a couple of audible gasp from the assembled number.
Maya put the cake on the table slowly pulling the knife out, with wonderfully gross results. Not done yet, Maya then took the knife and cut off the head at the top of the neck and then in half to the disgusted delight of the party-goers.
I caught myself hoping that someone was filming it at least on their phone. I had the somewhat crazy idea of using such footage as a promotion for the bakery. That specific case of the head cake might be a bit limited but was a good example of what could be done with layers of cake and icing. It could also include the photos of the cemetery cake. I suddenly wished I had thought to take a photo of the butterfly cake at the time.
Reducing the cake to individual slices, Maya handed them out among the guests along with small hard plastic forks. I held my breath awaiting the final verdict on my work. Looking cool was one thing and was good enough for a sculpture but the catch to my chosen creative medium was that it also had to taste good.
“Disgusting and delicious,” Amanda said, her mouth full of cake.
“Agreed,” Catharine said.
“What do you think?” I asked Gia.
“Awesome,” Gia said.
“Hey, can you do a cake for Friendsgiving?” Catharine asked.
“Sure, what were you thinking in terms of design?” I asked.
“A turkey,” she said.
“To go along with the meat turkey?” I asked.
“No, instead of,” Catharine said, “most of my friends are vegan.”
“Ah,” I said, actually seeing the logic of her thought process.
If I had been offered a turkey shaped cake for thanksgiving dinner, I would have jumped at it. Particularly before the age of twelve when I would have been more likely to jump on it.
“That's a really good idea,” Gia said, saying what I was thinking.
“Thanks,” Catharine said.
“Be sure to get lots of pictures,” Gia whispered to me, winking.
“Duly noted,” I said.
Chapter Thirteen
Mike
My fingers flew across the keyboard keys like a concert pianist. Old reflexes reasserting themselves with a vengeance.
I was always the fastest typist in school and hadn't flagged at all with age. Helped in no small part by the fact that I used a computer to make my millions after a brief teenaged flirtation with hacking. I never got while crossing over into the dark side but it was close, even though I never did any real damage by design.
I was trying to test myself and my skills not fuck people over. I was ambitious, not a complete asshole, no matter how many people claim that the previous statement is a distinction without a difference. A close encounter with the local police that made be go out the window of an internet cafe, no way I would be dumb enough to use my ow IP address in the days before solid VPNs openly lying about my name when signing in at the front desk made me decide to turn over a new leaf pretty fast.
It was also about this time I was graduating high school and got accepted into the computer science program at college, so it worked out.
As I worked I couldn't help but think about Sally and all that happened. Despite my guard being up I really did like her and even missed her if I thought about, though I tried not to too much. I also thought about Jessa, at least as far as what she said about how if she couldn't have me she felt good that no one did. Not only did it show her up to be the borderline psychopath I had been suspecting that she was at least since our disaster of a break up. In retrospect it seemed unlikely that the video was what it looked like. I had a vague memory, somewhere in the back of my mind, of having seen Sally before when Jessa was ordering cakes for her numerous parties. Seemed a bit of a stretch that this would lead to a hug in greeting but as far as I had seen Sally was really sweet and a hug might have been her instinct. I started wondering if I might have been wrong about the whole situation but told myself not to be stupid. I had already been duped by Jessa and videos didn't lie.
I looked at my watch and decided to quite for the day. I couldn't really focus and it was nearly quitting time anyway. Taking the silent elevator down to the lobby I thought about what to make for dinner. I didn't have much back at my condo and would probably need to stop at the grocery store on the way home.
To say that I was surprised to find Reece in the lobby of the office building when I stepped off the elevator wouldn't be quite accurate. We had no plans to meet and he certainly didn't have an appointment, I didn't even have to check to know this, popping up where he was needed, was just something that he did. Like a fashionable guardian angel.
“Hey,” he said.
“What's up,” I asked, already able to tell that he was there for a reason.
“How are you doing?” Reece asked.
“Fine,” I said.
“There's no need to like. I really want to know,” Reece said.
“Really?”
“How long have we known each other?” Reece asked.
“Okay, fair point. I guess I'm okay. I'm not about to do something stupid like relapse.”
“That's good to hear,” Reece said, not making it clear if he was joking or not, “how are you feeling about Sally?”
“What about her?” I asked, deflecting.
“Come on man, I know you two broke up, after a manner,” Reece said.
“How – wait, don't tell me, Gia.”
“Good guess,” Reece said.
“What did Sally say?”
“I don't know her exact words. I wasn't actually there. I only know what Gia told me after the fa
ct. The upshot of which was there is some pretty nefarious shit going on.”
“What kind of nefarious shit?” I asked.
“Again, not a lot of specifics but I know it has something to do with the On the Go app and would wager that you do too with that brain of yours. You were always the smart one. When you were sober anyway.”
“I don't -”
“I know you have to talk to Sally, now, before you lose her. Jessa is messing with you. Both of you and you are about to make a bit mistake.”
“You don't know that,” I protested.
“I know you, Gia knows Sally and you know Jessa. Think about it man. You always go on about logic and how to find solutions. What was it Sherlock Holmes used to say?”
“'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains however improbable, must be the truth.'”
“Right, which seems more probable? That Sally is a plant pretending to like you while fucking your brains out to get information to report back to Sally despite the fact she also fucked you when you showed up out of nowhere and she had nothing to gain or that Jessa, who has a history of being a Machiavellian schemer, now further empowered by her stolen control of On the Go is setting you both up to hate each other and be unlovable due to a manufactured scandal?”
“Well thanks for dropping by, and I'll think about things. See you at the next Ranger's game, yeah?” I said, deflecting like mad.
He was right of course, he usually was, we all figured that much out years ago, as stupid and addled as most of us were at the time, though I didn't want to admit it because then I would feel like an asshole. No one can call you an asshole if you don't admit it.
“I get it,” Reece said, in that sage way of his, “really I do. All I ask is that you think about it. There was a similar mistake when I first met Gia and I almost lost her. Don't make the same mistake I did.”
Chapter Fourteen
Sally
It was coming again. A slow, cold, creeping feeling, like a zombie crawling out of the grave. I had been sick for a couple of days. I did know if I had the flu or something even worse. It only happened in the morning and I conferred with the calendar to make sure I hadn't missed my period. I had. By a quite a bit. I had been so busy with work I hadn't really noticed.
I knew the condom broke and we hadn't exactly been careful once I had told Mike I was on the pill. It was pretty obvious what was going on, whether I wanted to admit it or not, even to myself. I doubted Mike would have been over the moon to find out I was pregnant, especially since, for all I knew he saw what we had, before it all blew apart, as a fling. I really hoped, against all logic, that I was wrong and I wasn't pregnant, thought I couldn't help but imagine what our baby might look like. Neither of us were bad looking. Mike was quite beautiful actually and I thought our kid would be gorgeous. I didn't think the pill would have failed but that really would be just my fucking luck. Getting pregnant by a guy who was duped back to his super-villain of an ex-girlfriend.
If he actually did. Gia seemed really surprised that Mike would get back with Jessa and from what I had pieced together about their past, I knew that Jessa could be a manipulative bitch who was very good at getting what she wanted, no matter what anyone else might want. The more I thought about it the more it seemed reasonable that Mike would have been tricked to going back to Jessa, if he did at all. Other than the video I had never seen them together and the video was from the source that she owned and could have been doctored to give a particular impression. No, there was no real evidence they were together at all and actually some fairly compelling evidence that they didn't at all and Jessa was lying just to fuck with us.
The lighting always got me. No matter how many times I went into a drug store, particularly one of the big box one, I had to blink or a few seconds before I could see clearly. I knew that particular store pretty well having been there before. It never failed to surprise me how may different brands and styles of pregnancy tests there were. Condoms made sense. There were all kinds of considerations there. The function of a pregnancy test seemed a bit too straight forward to really account for such variety, particularly it terms of price range, which was almost comically large. Getting what I deemed to be the simplest one, which also turned out to be one of the cheapest, based on a philosophical consideration more than an economic one, I went to the cashier and rang through, not really feeling the need to load up on a bunch of unneeded crap to try and disguise the purchase. There was nothing wrong with buying a pregnancy test and I shouldn't have to feel any shame about it.
Not feeling any need to beat around the bush, I took the test as soon as I got home. Better to know and be able to prepare than the alternative. As I waited, I put on a kettle for some tea. No matter what the result, I was pretty sure I would need something to calm my nerves.
I knew that Americans were meant to drink coffee but I also didn't give a shit. I was really never one to keep with the status quo, besides which my dad was from Yorkshire originally and had brought his tea drinking habit with him to our shining shores. My mother never really got it but I loved the ritual of it. I would watch him set up the tea tray as the water boiled, setting out everything just so.
He advised me on the best biscuits for which types of tea and which of the liquids, milk or tea, to put in first. He was dead set against the addition of sugar to a nice cup of tea, or 'cuppa' as he used to call it. Another on the list of dictums I disregarded during my twenty-three years of life.
The egg timer dinged and it was time to check the test. There were times when clarity was a curse more than a blessing. There was no two ways about it. I was pregnant and it was Mike's. While I knew it was questionable I decided not to tell him. At least not right then. I wasn't planning to tell anyone, not even Gia. I needed time to think. To consider things. The information was still pretty new to even me and I needed time to digest. The situation made even more complex by the fact that I had been in a similar situation with Gia recently when I was the first person she told that she was pregnant with Amber. She was conflicted about telling Reece and I had counseled her to tell him.
She would regret if she didn't and besides he was a right to know. She would no doubt mention this as evidence I should tell Mike. The difference was I could see that Reece was good, that he would support Gia and be there for her even if Gia couldn't. Yes, he had lied by omission about his money but it had been understandable considering Gia's attitude at the time and everything worked out in the end. I knew no such thing about Mike. Not for sure and neither did Gia. She and Reece were happily married. There was no way she could understand my conflicted feelings about Mike.
The kettle started to scream in the kitchen. Putting the test back on the counter, I went to put it out of it's misery. Making a cuppa more or less the way dad had taught me, I sat down at the table, taking a long sip, the effect of the concoction instantly doing its work, calmness washing over me making me physically relax. I thought about my dad then and what he would have thought of the whole situation.
He had been a pretty clever man, in both the street and the book sense, and would likely have figured that Mike was being manipulated. I doubt he would have been thrilled about the exact circumstances of it's coming about he would have been happy to be a grandad. I really wished I could have called him then.
Chapter Fourteen
Mike
The turkey design on the google home page was just one more reminder that Thanksgiving was upon us, though I didn't really feel like I had too much to be thankful for. I had been shutting myself off for weeks. Either in my office at work or in my condo working at my station.
I was starting to get what looked like prison pallor due to a lack of sunlight. I convinced myself it was to try and forget about Sally. Doing what Reece had suggested, though I doubted he had meant to do it in quite that way, but it was, of course, bullshit. I knew what I was doing, even if I wasn't willing to admit it yet.
Thanks to Jessa I was cutting myself off from my social li
fe to keep from having to see her or Sally at social events. Jessa had made it clear that she knew where I was most of the time and Sally and I had a few too many friends in common not to bump into each other. On the other hand it might not be so bad if that happened. I felt pretty bad about what had gone down and didn't feel quite right approaching her directly but I still wanted to talk to her. I knew Reece had been right and there was no realistic way that Sally was a spy for Jessa. Me suspecting that Sally was working for Jessa was exactly what Jessa had wanted. She had moved us like chess pieces and we had let her. I really hoped I would have been smarter than that but, like Ava liked to say, for a genius I could be really stupid.
I was pissed off at Jessa for what she did but even more than that I was mad at myself for falling for it so completely, for being so terrible to someone as sweet as Sally and cutting her out of my life because of a scheme from my super-villain of an ex who could give most spy masters a run for their money when it came to subterfuge.
Suddenly, the words of George Orwell came flooding back. The bit about how rolling in the muck was not the best way of getting clean. I had fucked up but was over taken by a new drive. Not one of anger against Jessa or indeed myself, but a more constructive one towards trying to make amends and set things right if such a thing were still possible. I grabbed my coat and called the limo company.
Chapter Fifteen
Mike
It was dark by the time I pulled up. The street was pretty jammed with cars and I had to have the limo parked six blocks away from Catharine's brownstone. The length of limo playing no small part in the difficultly in getting a spot just the right size for that mammoth machine. I made a note to myself to not asked for a stretched limo next time. They looked nice but had too may problems to make them worth dealing with.
It was a sterling example of automotive ballet as the driver got the limo in the gap between a Lexus and an Audi. Both testaments to the upper class culture of the area, which had been freshly gentrified, anything even resembling a detached house being like gold in New York, even if they were in Brooklyn. At least they were close to the bridge. You could actually see the Empire State Building from the street I was on.