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  “Aden?”

  “Yes, Sandy?”

  “You’re naked and it’s snowing.”

  He jumped into the hot tub. In a flash, he stretched his arm out and snatched Sandy’s towel off. She squealed and ran to get in the hot tub.

  “You’re the very best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Aden said.

  “Prove it.”

  As the snow fell into the hot water, he rose to her challenge.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Saturday afternoon – 1:05 P.M.

  MJ held his wife Honey’s hair while she threw up in the toilet.

  “Are you sick from the Captain Crunch?” MJ asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Honey said. “I think I’m pregnant.”

  “What?” MJ asked. “How is that possible?”

  “The egg is released from the ovary. It travels down the fallopian tube where it meets the sperm…”

  “But I thought we couldn’t. You couldn’t. I…”

  “They said six months,” Honey said. “It’s been about five months since I was injured.”

  “Wow.” MJ leaned against the sink.

  “Could you get me a wash cloth? I can’t really get it myself.” Honey gestured to her paralyzed legs.

  “Oh. Yeah. Sure.” MJ wet a hand towel and gave it to her.

  Honey wiped her face and hands.

  “You seem lost in thought,” Honey said.

  “You’re sure? I mean about a baby. You’re sure.”

  “No, I’m not at all sure,” Honey said. “It could a combination of the Crohn’s and three bowls of cereal.”

  “Oh,” MJ said.

  “Oh?”

  “Let’s make sure.”

  MJ carried her back to bed.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Saturday afternoon – 1:05 P.M.

  “What do you mean?” Blane asked. “What did he say?”

  He was lying with his head on Heather’s lap while they discussed Jacob and Jill’s wedding. Heather was sitting against the headboard on her queen sized bed.

  “I don’t care if he is the Lipson CFO, he’s very rude,” Heather said. “Someone should teach him some manners.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He said I couldn’t be married to you because you’re gay. He, kind of, went on and on. I was so mad. He implied you weren’t good enough to be my husband.”

  “I am gay,” Blane said. “You’re straight. And we are married.”

  “We were arguing when Tanesha told him to shut his pie hole. She told him only a real asshole would get a pregnant woman so angry. She dragged me away.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to intervene.”

  “What’s his problem?” Heather asked. “Is he like the marriage police?”

  Blane shrugged.

  “What?”

  “I used to date his brother.” Blane’s face dropped with sorrow.

  “What did his asshole brother do?”

  “I thought… Anyway, it didn’t work out.”

  “You thought what?”

  Tres Sierra had pushed Heather’s loyalty button. She was mad.

  “I thought he was the ‘one’. You know, like Sam and Celia, Val and Mike…”

  “Jill and Jacob,” Heather said.

  “Yeah.”

  Blane’s face shifted to hard stone.

  “We were together for a few years… three I think. Dated off and on, then seriously for a while. We lived together for nine or ten months.”

  “What happened?” Heather asked.

  “He found out about me.”

  “He found out you were gay?” Heather asked.

  Blane laughed.

  “I think he would know you were gay,” Heather said.

  “He found out about how I… You know…”

  “I don’t,” Heather said.

  “Promise you won’t divorce me if you find out? Our family, strange as it is, is the best thing I’ve ever…”

  “I don’t care what you did in the past,” Heather said. “You’re a good husband, Blane, now, in the present - honest, loving, kind. You give me your checks so I can run our household. You even buy me little presents or things for the baby. I’d be a fool to divorce you for something you used to do.”

  “You’re a good wife, Heather,” Blane said. “You’ve really made a home, not just for you but for us. I have space for myself, my studies, and space to hang out with you. I wouldn’t be able to get through this medication stuff if you weren’t taking care of me. You’ve taken my chaotic life and made everything work. I’m really happy.”

  “It works for us,” Heather smiled. “What did jerk-off find out about you?”

  “When I was twelve or so, I got addicted to drugs,” Blane said. “It’s like one of those after-school movies. I’d been in foster care all of my life. Abused. Used. I mean in foster care, everybody uses you for something – sex, money from the state, vent their anger, whatever. Drugs were an escape.”

  “What kind of drugs?”

  “Everything. I didn’t like hallucinogens – LSD, XTC – but… everything else.”

  “What did you get addicted to?”

  “Heroin. In the end, it was only heroin. That’s how I got interested in acupuncture. It helped me kick it.”

  “That’s why you have so much pain,” Heather said. “And won’t take pain pills.”

  “Right.”

  Blane was silent for a while.

  “You were telling me about something, but I’m not sure what,” Heather said.

  “I used to work Cheesman servicing the men on their way home to their wives,” Blane said.

  “As a prostitute?”

  “Yeah, hooker, whore, whatever. I worked Cheesman, the bathhouses, and the bookstores. I never did in-call work because… well, I was just a kid.”

  “Is that how you got sick?”

  “Yeah,” Blane said. “Or dirty needles. I didn’t care. I didn’t really expect to live very long. Kids like me usually only make it three or four years.”

  “How awful,” Heather said. “I mean, I thought about doing that. You know, we were really poor. I wanted nice clothes or whatever. But Sandy? Jill? Tanesha? They talked me out of it. We were all in the same place. Over the years, we all thought about it. Well, except for Sandy. She was always going to do hair. But hooking? It seems… easy, you know?”

  “It’s not,” Blane said.

  “Yeah, I can see that now. But at twelve, I don’t know what I would have done,” Heather said. “So what did the jerk do?”

  “It’s my fault too,” Blane said. “I should have told him. He found out at a party. Someone made a joke about it. He was so horrified that…”

  “That what?” Heather asked.

  “He threw me out… called me awful names… threw my things onto the lawn. I didn’t have anywhere to go so I went to the Castle. Jake was just back from Maine. It was like three in the morning and he took me in… He found me a bed and stayed with me while I cried. He got my things, dealt with the guy… His name is Enrique. Ric.

  “Ric told everyone. I was the butt of every joke. I lost my job. My friends. I wanted to die. How do you overcome something you did so many years ago?”

  “What did you do?”

  “Jake was like a rock. He hired me as his assistant. He believed in me, like Celia did. When they hired Tres, I had the final say. Jake wouldn’t have it any other way. They helped me buy this house about six months later. Family. Jake and Sam really came through for me like real family.”

  “Well, screw Enrique,” Heather said. “And his brother too. They suck. Oof!”

  Blane’s head jerked as the baby kicked him in the head.

  “Hey! Did you feel that?”

  Blane sat up to put his hand on Heather’s belly.

  “Yes. Our boy has a kicking leg on him,” Heather said.

  “I wonder if he’ll do it…”

  The baby’s kicked again.

  “That’s so cool!”

>   “I think he agrees,” Heather said.

  “With what?” Blane asked. “Come on baby! Do it again!”

  “That those Sierra brothers suck.”

  “The problem is…”

  “What?”

  “They are very hot.”

  “Tres is hot,” Heather said. “We have to think of them like the pretty gardens on the side of highways. Beautiful, but you drive on by. We won’t deal with either of them ever again. They’re cute garbage on our journey to real husbands.”

  “Highway gardens,” Blane nodded. “I like that.”

  The baby kicked his agreement.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Saturday afternoon – 1:05 P.M.

  “I have to get some sleep,” Jacob Marlowe said. He rolled from Jill to rest against the fluffy pillows. “Tomorrow is a big day.”

  “You’ve said that. Twice. Then you’ve made love to me.”

  “Complaining?”

  “Not a chance,” Jill said.

  “Dance with me.” Jacob hopped out of bed.

  “I thought you had to sleep.” Jill rolled onto her stomach.

  “I’m too happy to sleep. Dance with me.”

  Naked, Jill stood to meet his naked form. Following his steps, they waltzed around the thousand square foot Executive Suite at the Grand Hyatt. Jacob picked up strawberries from a tray as they went by. He put the strawberry between his lips. She nibbled strawberry until her lips locked onto his lips. Beaming with joy, they kissed and danced their way back to the bed.

  “I have to get some sleep,” Jacob said.

  “Tomorrow is a big day,” Jill giggled.

  Laughing, Jacob made love to her again.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  Apes don’t like snow

  Sunday morning – 5:20 A.M.

  Valerie couldn’t help but smirk. As if they were tragic lovers waiting for the train that would separate them for life, Jill and Jacob clung to each other. Valerie pulled her old Mustang up to the curb next to them. Valerie’s arrival launched the lovers into full lip-lock make-out mode. One last kiss and Jacob was in the car. Jill waved to Valerie. Laughing, Valerie waved back.

  “Ok, it’s not that funny,” Jacob said.

  “It’s pretty funny, little brother. How was last night?”

  Making her way to Lipson construction headquarters, Valerie continued up Welton. They were turning right on Broadway when Jacob said:

  “Perfect.”

  “Took you a while to respond,” Valerie laughed.

  “It’s weird, you know. We’ve been together for a while. It’s not our first night… but… It’s like every thing is different.”

  “Better?”

  “Yeah. More solid. More real.”

  “I felt like that after Mike and I got married. I felt like I’d reached a kind of bedrock. A foundation, you know?” Stopping at the light at Colfax, Valerie turned to look at Jacob. “I think that’s why we had so much trouble. Bedrock is addictive. When our earth quaked… I… I guess I wanted it back and…”

  Valerie put the car in gear and drove through the light. She was silent through their short drive on Broadway. Turning right onto Eighth Avenue, she finished her statement.

  “I guess I realized it was there all the time,” Valerie said.

  “That’s a lovely thought,” Jacob said.

  “I thought for a long time that ‘true love’ was a curse Mom and Dad put on us. Just because it’s true love doesn’t mean it’s not work. It means you don’t really have a choice to go find another person… like… like a new pair of shoes. In the last months… Well, really seeing you and Jill, I realize how lucky we are.”

  “We’re lucky in our curse?” Jacob laughed.

  “Something like that.” Driving the Eight Avenue curve to Kalamath Street, Valerie asked, “Are you ready for today?”

  “We signaled a big fat fuck you to the bank yesterday by not responding. Our credit line is canceled. They called the debt last night.”

  “Sounds so ominous.”

  “No company has ever done this. At least any company we can find a record for. We have to do it right. I don’t have the option not to be ready.”

  “And if this doesn’t work?”

  Jacob shrugged.

  “We’ll figure something out,” Valerie said. “You’ll figure something out.”

  “I’m glad you’re here and… participating… working.”

  “I’m in Denver until January. I’m happy to help. I’ve had the greatest time, really. It’s like…”

  “An old pair of shoes?”

  Pulling into the parking lot of Lipson Construction, Valerie laughed.

  “Who has old shoes?”

  ~~~~~~~~

  Sunday morning – 5:45 A.M.

  Jacob stuck his head in the conference room where Blane had set up breakfast for everyone. Valerie and Sam were drinking coffee near a corner of the room. Tres and Aden were eating at the table. The venture capitalist was due at six o’clock.

  “Tres,” Jacob said. “Can you spare a minute?”

  Blane caught Jacob’s eye and Jacob smiled in return. Tres got up from his chair to follow Jacob into his office.

  “What’s going on, Jake?”

  “I need to know why you were so hard on Heather yesterday,” Jacob said. “I wasn’t there but I’ve heard you really went after her.”

  “I… Oh,” Tres said. “Yeah, I wasn’t nice.”

  “Do you know her?”

  “I met her yesterday,” Tres said. “At your wedding. I mean, she sat next to me at the reception. She was assigned next to me… by Valerie.”

  “Heather is Blane’s wife.”

  “Blane is gay, Jake. You know that. He can’t be married to her. He just can’t be.”

  “Why?” Jacob asked. “Their relationship has nothing to do with you.”

  Tres flushed and looked away from Jacob. When he looked back, he was chewing his lip for moral support.

  “How much trouble am I in?” Tres asked.

  “Quite a bit,” Jacob said. “You know how harassment is treated here.”

  “Immediate termination,” Tres said. “Are you firing me?”

  “I don’t have any interest in firing you, Tres. I have a big interest in making sure that a pregnant woman isn’t abused by a Lipson employee at a social gathering. If you had acted like that here or at a site you’d be gone. Why did you do it?”

  “Well…” Tres plopped down in a chair near Jacob’s desk. “Honestly?”

  “That’s a good place to start.”

  “I don’t know,” Tres said. “She’s gorgeous, you know. I’m sitting there next to this gorgeous woman and I notice she has a wedding ring. I think, ‘Of course she does.’ I mean she’s pregnant and all. She’s safe for me, you know.”

  “Safe?”

  “Well, I don’t have to think about asking her out, or being smooth, or whatever. I can enjoy her company. I’m not very good at all that dating stuff, you know.”

  “It’s a construction thing, I think.” Jacob leaned against the edge of his desk.

  “We’re never around women,” Tres said. “Heather… I… We talked and laughed for a couple of hours. She’s really funny. Blane came over a few times to check on her, but I didn’t think any thing about it. She’s a friend of your wife’s. I thought he was… doing his Blane thing. You know? The last time he came over, she said something about going home with the husband. And I…”

  “Lost your fucking mind?”

  “Well… yeah,” Tres said. “I’m furious with myself. I totally fucked up. I knew that at the time, but I couldn’t stop myself. I…”

  “Being mean to girls we’re attracted to doesn’t work, Tres. Didn’t work in fourth grade, doesn’t work now.”

  “Attracted to? She’s… yeah,” Tres said.

  “You need to apologize to Blane. A real apology. Heather doesn’t want to have anything to do with you, which is understandable. You already know you owe her an a
pology.”

  “But how can they be married?”

  “It works for them, Tres. Blane’s happier than I’ve ever known him to be. They’re both very happy.”

  Unable to comprehend, Tres shrugged.

  “I am sorry, Jake. I didn’t mean to make a scene at your reception. I… I’m not sure what happened.”

  “You’re ten years old?”

  “I haven’t had that much Captain Crunch since I was ten years old,” Tres said.

  “Talk to Blane. We have a long day. We can’t have any friction between us. Deal with it now.”

  Nodding, Tres left the room. Jacob followed him to the conference room where he watched Tres ask Blane if he could talk to him. Sitting down next to Valerie, Jacob longed for the quiet, sandy beach he had planned for his honeymoon.

  “You’d never let someone else take care of this.” Celia, his mother, appeared across the room. “This is your deal, your baby, your chance to make history.”

  Jacob nodded. Valerie waved her hand in front of Jacob’s face. Leaning into him, she whispered:

  “Nervous?”

  “Nah. You?”

  “Excited,” Valerie said. “Dad too. What did Mom say?”

  “That she loves you,” Jacob said.

  “Of course.”

  Tres came back into the conference room. Sitting back down next to Aden, he nodded to Jacob.

  “Right this way.” They heard Blane from outside the conference room. “We’re having a bite to eat. Won’t you join us?”

  Jacob let out a breath. Show time.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Sunday afternoon – 1 P.M.

  “So I said I would,” Sandy said to Jill.

  Knowing better than to make a scene, Jill beamed. They were walking behind Noelle, Nash and Katy at the Denver Zoo. Katy ran off to see the penguins with Noelle right at her heels. Even with last night’s snow on the ground, the day was bright and warm.

  “What about the kids?” Jill asked

  “I love these kids as if they were my own,” Sandy said. “It’s like my little brother and sister were practice for these guys. I don’t know how the next couple of months will go.”