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Jennifer comes home to Georgia, divorced. The last thing she expects is loving again. |
| Jennifer stretched out in her bed, amazed at how refreshed she felt. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, thanks to Jordan's insatiable appetite. She rolled over and put her hand on the pillow he'd used. The indention of his head was still there. She wished she could have woken up with him beside her, but he refused to stay the night. He said it would be too uncomfortable for Chloe. His consideration made her love him all the more. “Momma? Are you up?” Jennifer's eyes drifted to the door. She jumped out of bed and pulled on some clothes. She was breathless by the time she answered the door. “Sorry, I was in the bathroom.” Chloe scanned her body. “Um hmm. I guess you got dressed in the dark too?” Jennifer frowned as she looked down. Her jogging pants were inside out and a pair of panties clung to her knee. Her shirt was on backwards and had a large hole, right under her breast. She crossed her arms over her chest as she felt her face warm. “What did you need?” “I have to show you something.” Jennifer held back a groan. “Can it wait until I've had a shower?” Chloe pushed past Jennifer, and dropped a book on her bed. “Nope. Come look at this.” Jennifer walked closer. Her feet froze, refusing to move her any closer to the blue book laying atop her jumbled bed sheets. Her vision tunneled. All the progress she and Chloe had made would be shattered due to the words written in that innocent looking journal. She lifted her gaze to Chloe, terrified of seeing the betrayal she knew was coming. “Chloe, I can explain.” Her brow furrowed. “You knew?” She nodded, mute. “Then why haven't you told Jordan?” Jennifer's mouth worked a few times before she forced the words out. “I planned to. I just haven't found the right time.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “The time was when that man showed up the first time.” Jennifer felt her knees began to buckle. She backed up until her calves hit the chair near her closet. She dropped down, struggling to breath. “Put your head between your legs Mom and take slow, deep breaths.” Jennifer tried to focus on her daughter's concern as she followed the instructions. The panic receded, leaving behind an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her world was about to be turned upside down. She sat back up. “I should have told you baby. I'm sorry. You shouldn't have found out this way.” Chloe nodded as her eyes went back to the bed. “You're right. I shouldn't have. This should have ended long ago. You need to call Jordan and tell him we know who the guy is.” The last few words pulled Jennifer from her self-pity. She studied Chloe closer. “Wait, what guy?” Chloe ran her hands over her hair, as if agitated. “Jean Prescott? The imposer, and probably the guy who's been causing all this trouble.” “Jean? But why do you think he's the guy?” “The book, Mom. Haven't you been paying attention?” Apparently not. “Maybe you should start at the beginning.” Chloe sat on the bed and put the book in her lap. She began leafing through the pages as she spoke slow. “Jean Prescott, Grandpa's partner. He's the man who showed up pretending to be Mr. Argen. I looked him up on the internet. He was released from prison three weeks ago. I bet he followed us here from Atlanta.” “Why would he do that?” Chloe looked up. The expression on her face said Jennifer was the slowest person on Earth. “He probably wants the rest of the money. You know, Grandpa's share. It was never recovered after he died and Jean went to prison.” No, the cops never found it. But I did. “How do you know the man is Jean?” Chloe stopped turning pages and stood up. She brought the book over and held it out for Jennifer to look at. The black and white image of her dad and his bank robbing partner was hazy, possibly dulled by age, but she recognized those eyes anywhere. That was why she'd had a flash of recognition that day. Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh God.” “Exactly. Now, we need to call Jordan and tell him. I don't think the trouble's over with. It won't be until he gets his money, or he's in jail.” Jennifer nodded and stood up. She started to walk to the nightstand before she remembered she didn't have her cell phone anymore. She'd meant to get a replacement and forgot. “Use mine.” Chloe pressed her Iphone into Jennifer's sweaty palm. She dialed Jordan's number from memory and held the phone to her ear. After six rings, his voicemail picked up. She left a quick message for him to call her as soon as he could and disconnected. “He didn't answer.” Chloe walked towards the door. “Then we need to go into town. Get dressed and meet me out front.” Jennifer called her daughter's name before she stepped into the hall. “Are you upset with me for not telling you about your grandpa? I'd understand if you were. It's quite a shock.” Chloe shrugged. “I already knew.” Jennifer stumbled back a step. “How?” “In the fifth grade, we did research on the history of banks. The teacher put together a slide show of notorious bank robbers. The point was to show how the money is protected, if something like that happened. Not all banks cover robberies, since they don't happen often. I recognized grandpa's picture and looked it up.” “You never told me.” Chloe took a deep breath. “You always said Grandpa died by a jealous ex-husband while selling insurance. I didn't know if you knew the truth, and I didn't want to upset you if you didn't.” Jennifer ran across the room and pulled her daughter into her arms. “Sweetheart, you are so incredible. I promise I'll never keep secrets from you again.” As soon as the words were out, Jennifer regretted them. No matter what happened, she couldn't let Chloe know she had the money her dad had stolen from those banks. It was a fact she wasn't proud of. If she wasn't so worried about the legality of it, she would have turned the money in years ago. Maybe it was time to let go of the burden. Once all of this was over and Jean was in custody, she would withdraw every cent and give it to Jordan. He never had to know she'd had it all that time. “Good Momma. Now hurry. I'm ready to see this creep behind bars.” *** Chloe was standing on the porch with Ma when Jennifer emerged ten minutes later. She smiled at her grandmother and started down the stairs. Two sets of footsteps followed her. She stopped and turned around. “Ma needs to go into town too. She figured it'd be easier to ride with us.” Jennifer grimaced. Chloe shrugged and stepped closer. “I tried to find an excuse for her not to come, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings.” Jennifer squeezed her daughter's shoulder. “Don't worry about it. We'll drop her off where she needs to go and run to the police station.” After they settled in the truck, Jennifer turned the ignition and shifted into drive. “So Ma, where do you need to go?” “You can drop me off at the community center. I have a committee meeting about our annual fundraiser for The Gardens.” “How long will you be?” Ma waved her hand in the air. “Don't worry dear. I don't expect you to wait around for me. I can get Marge to bring me home.” Jennifer took her eyes off the road to spare her grandmother a glance. “Are you sure? Our errands shouldn't take long. We could grab some lunch at the diner until you're ready to come home.” “Absolutely not. I'm not an invalid. I can make my own way thank you very much.” Jennifer knew from her grandmother's tone that there wouldn't be any point in arguing. “Momma, how fast are you going?” Jennifer glanced at the speedometer. “About three over the speed limit. Why?” “There's a car coming up on us pretty quick.” Jennifer checked her side mirror. Her stomach dipped as she recognized the same black four door car that had run her off the road last time. Her hands tightened around the steering wheel. She pressed the accelerator a little harder. The orange needle on the speedometer crept towards sixty. “Y'all make sure your seat belts are tight.” “Why? Momma, what's going on?” Jennifer shook her head. “Jennifer, you're pale as a ghost. Maybe you should pull over and let this car go past.” Jennifer agreed. She scanned both sides of the road, looking for a good place to stop. She was coming up on a curb. A quick check of her mirror told her it wasn't safe to slow down. She held the steering wheel with both hands. Her tires hit the gravel on the edge of the road. The truck pulled to the right. She over-corrected in the middle of the curve. A horn blared as lights flashed in the opposite lane. She heard Chloe scream. She forced the truck back into her lane and eased off the gas. “Momma-” Jennifer bit her tongue as the car behind them clipped her back bumper. A second later, the car swerved past them. Jennifer exhaled a sigh of relief. She slowed down, expecting the vehicle to pass them and speed down the road. When the car edged beside her, she tried to make out the occupants. The dark windows prevented her from seeing inside. The car ran nose to nose down the straight away, not making a move to get in front. Jennifer's heart rate sped up. “What is this idiot doing?” Jennifer shook her head. “I don't know Ma. It's starting to freak me out.” She glanced at her speedometer once more. She was now going fifty seven, which was too fast for the curvy street. Her foot went to the brake. She watched the car pull ahead before she noticed the glow of the brake lights. The car jerked towards her. She twisted the wheel to avoid impact. She screamed as a large tree rose to meet her truck. Pain ripped through her as they made impact. The air bag deployed and everything went black. |
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