Jack and Angie

Chapter 14


Angie felt better a couple of days later. She still had random bouts of nausea, so her appetite was not what it usually was, but the stuffy nose and headaches were gone. Sofie and Camille came over every day to bring her food and magazines and to keep her company.

Bobby came over so much that she was sure he had moved in, and Angel played her errand boy, going to get anything she needed while Jerry stayed at home with his girls when he wasn’t working so that Camille could mother hen her. Jack, she figured since she didn’t bother to ask, stayed at home with Sebastian.

Jack.

What was she going to do about him? She often wondered to herself as she lay in bed. She loved him so much and it hurt her to be away from him, but she had tried many times to tell him the truth, yet he had put her off saying that they would talk after the business about his mother was finished. She understood that if he had suspected what she had to say, he would have demanded that she tell him on the spot, but she had been too much of a coward to give him a hint.

When she finally told him, it was while he laid in the blood and the snow, teetering on the edge of living or dying. She cringed when she thought of this. She should have told him, no matter how much stress he was under at the time. She should have made him listen to her. If only she had told him when she first found out she was pregnant.

Before she could get on this train of regret, Camille let herself into Angie’s house with a shout. Angie gave herself one last look in the bathroom mirror and went downstairs to find out what had Camille so excited. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, Camille was doing a little jig in the hallway, making Angie laugh.

“What’s going on Camille?” Angie asked while snickering.

Camille flashed her a huge smile as she danced herself into the kitchen and got something to drink. When they were both seated at the worn pine table, Camille’s face became more serious as she said, “Angie, you know that mine and Jerry’s anniversary is coming up right?” Angie nodded. Camille gave her puppy dog eyes as she said, “We are going to have a party. Not just for our anniversary, but for everything. Catching Evelyn’s killers, Jack being okay and Jerry’s business doing so much better. We have a lot to celebrate…all of us.” Camille stared into her eyes coaxingly.

“I know we do Camille.” Angie said with a smile.

Camille shifted in her seat uncomfortably before rolling her eyes and saying. “Look Angie. I know that the last person you want to see right now is Jack, but this is for the family…do you think you can suck it up for a couple of hours to party with us?”

Angie didn’t know what to say for a moment. Did they honestly think that she would not want to celebrate the Mercer family coming out of everything that happened almost unscathed, simply because her and Jack couldn’t get their shit together? She said as much to Camille.

Camille gave her a strict look as she said, “Angie, I know that Jack hurt you and now you have hurt him. There—you are even. Now you need to do what you have to do to fix things with your man. Do you know what Jack has been doing all week?” Angie shook her head like a scolded child, “When he isn’t putting up this big front with Sebastian, he locks himself in his room and listens to sad love songs. He is depressed Angie, he knows that his behavior hurt you and he doesn’t know what to do about it.” She reached across the table and squeezed Angie’s hand as Angie’s eyes filled with tears, “You love each other, hell, everybody in Detroit knows that! Give the boy a break Angie. Stop punishing him and yourself.”

“But what if…” Angie sniffed, “what if he doesn’t really forgive me? He was dead set against us being together anymore until he saw Ryan kiss me.”

Camille snorted and slapped a fist on the table, “Angie honestly! Do you think Jack, who has always been the least violent of the Mercer brothers, would have beat the shit out of a guy that dared to try to kiss you if he didn’t love you? No. You and I both know what happened to any girl that he dated before you that he caught cheating on him. He walked away and forgot them. You are the only one he ever got possessive like that about, because you were the only one he ever really loved. The others were just someone to get laid.”

Angie twiddled her fingers as she thought about what Camille was saying. She knew that Camille was right. She was over reacting to the whole situation. She was paying Jack back for the hurt he caused her tit-for-tat. Now she just had to figure out how to fix it.

“Jackie-Boy.” Jerry called as he knocked on the door to his little brother’s room. Hearing Jack call back for him to come in, he opened the door to find Jack lying on the bed with his hands behind his head staring at the ceiling while Journey’s ‘Faithfully’ played on the small stereo.

Jerry sighed and shook his head at the miserable mess that was his baby brother before entering the room and sitting down in the chair next to the bed. “Come on now, don’t you think you have moped around long enough?”

Jack didn’t answer, just turned the song up louder. Jerry reached over and turned it back down and asked, “Where is Sebastian?”

“Angel and Sofie took him out to Chucky Cheeses for lunch.” Jack answered without taking his eyes off of the ceiling.

Jerry sat back and pulled off his gloves and said, “Listen. Camille and I are having a party, to celebrate. The business with Victor Sweet is over, you are okay, you got a boy, Angel and Sofie have finally decided to get married and the business is doing good, so let’s party!” he grinned with his big teeth, “We want you and your new band to play. It won’t be just the family, there will be all our friends and the guys from work and their dates. You game?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Jack said without any enthusiasm and still with his eyes on the ceiling, but Jerry didn’t let that get him down as he told him that they were going to have the party the next weekend in the Hyatt hotel and that Jerry had gotten all the family rooms. Sofie and Camille had already went to go organize the decorations and libations and Angel and Bobby already knew about it.

Bobby had a fit a couple of days earlier when he asked Sofie to make herself useful and make him a sandwich and Sofie flung plain ham on bread at him while making Jack the biggest BLT that Bobby had ever seen while smoothing Jack’s hair and giving him a kiss on the top of his head. When Bobby asked why Sofie was being so nice to Jack, Angel told him with a big smile that Jack had apologized for always being a dick to her and had welcomed her into the family. This information made Bobby hiss ‘Traitor!’ at Jack at every opportunity while bemoaning the fact that there was definitely no way of getting rid of La Vida Loca now.

Over the course of the week, Jack tried to be excited about the party. It would be the first time that he and his band would be playing since they had formed. They were pretty good, if he said so himself. At least, if not better than his old band. They were not looking to be international rock stars, just well known enough to play when they liked and stay close to home, because most of the band members were family guys. Paul had a wife and two kids and Ronny and his girlfriend had four, even though he was only twenty-five. He liked to joke that his sperm was strong enough to overcome any and all forms of contraceptives. Jason was the only single guy of the group, but he was dedicated to taking car of his ill grandmother to be bothered that the rest of them were not dreaming about private jets and expensive yachts.

After their practice sessions, three days before the party, they decided to have a couple of beers together before going their own ways. They would do that sometimes and they had ended up at Johnny G’s when they saw Angie. Jason took one look at the barmaid and let out a long, low whistle.

“Holy shit! Would you look at her!” he exclaimed with his mouth hanging open, “I think I’m in love.”

“What? Where?” Paul and Ronny swung their heads around to look. When they saw her, they both said, “Wow!” before turning back to Jason and daring him to go talk to her. When he started to stand up to go do that, Jack, who had had his eyes glued to her since they walked in, hissed at Jason, “Don’t even fucking think about it!”

The other three looked at him with round eyes before Paul asked, “Why shouldn’t he go try to ask her out Jack? Do you want her for yourself?” he teased.

Jack glowered at the others before taking a swig of his beer and saying, “That’s Angie. She is my—she’s the mother of my son.” He cursed himself as he almost said that she was his girl, because he was starting to seriously doubt that she ever would be again.

Jason sat back down. He was an alright guy. It was plain to everyone at the table that Jack was obviously still hung up on the girl. And no real friend would poach where it might get his dick ripped off, especially by a Mercer. No chick was worth that.

“She’s the ex you keep singing those sappy songs about?” Paul asked as he looked back over his shoulder at her.

Jack just nodded and drank the rest of his beer. Not really wanting to elaborate on the subject of his fucked up love life. But then the guys had started to badger him for information. They were all intensely curious on how he managed to lose a girl that good looking and why he wasn’t doing anything about it.

Jack drank a couple of more beers and told them the whole story. When he was finished, they all looked at each other before Paul said, “Dude? What are you waiting for? Go over there and talk to her!”

Jack shook his head and Ronny called him a pussy before saying, “You know you want too, and the worst that would happen is she says no, come on, man up and get your ass over there!”

Again, Jack just shook his head and said, “She won’t want to talk to me. She told me to stay away.”

“Yeah, but that was when she was mad.” Ronny said, “My old lady tells me that all the time, usually after she has to go buy a pregnancy test, but still! She always calms down when its time to go to bed.” He leaned forward and poked the table to prove his point as Paul nodded in agreement.

Paul said, “She’s had a couple of days now to get over it, so get off your ass man!”

When Jack still looked unsure, they grumbled and Paul, who was the one to drive them to the bar, “Fine man, whatever. We’re just going to go and leave your ass here. Hitch a ride with your girl or walk.” With nods at one another, they all got up and told him they would see him Friday for one last practice before the party. Jack glared at them as they left and then turned his attention back to the bar.

He had planned on talking to her, but not tonight. He had planned on doing it at the party, thinking they could go somewhere private and talk. But the guys were right. Angel and them were right too, he was being the worlds biggest pussy. But then, the very real possibility of rejection at the hands of the love of their lives was enough to turn any man into a chicken.

He knew that she noticed him sitting there by himself as he kept is eyes glued to her and by the time the bar closed, she was a nervous wreck. He finally got up and walked up to the bar. He cleared his throat to get her attention and asked, “Um, Angie, could you give me a ride back to the house when you’re finished? The guys left me here.”

She looked at him with a mixture of apprehension and hope before her expression closed and she nodded, “Sure. I have to pick Sebastian up anyway.”

He sat at the bar until everything was cleaned and put away and with a nod in his direction, she led him out of the bar and into the parking lot as they told John goodnight. It took a couple of minutes to get her car started as the temperature had dropped to freezing as her car had sat in the cold for hours. Jack looked over at her a couple of times as she drove carefully down the snow filled streets.

Detroit in the spring…you gotta love it…or move somewhere else.

Angie, keenly aware of his eyes on her started to make small talk, “So. How is your band doing?”

“Fine.” He answered her, “We are playing at the party on Saturday. Are you going to be there?”

She pulled up to the house as she answered, “Yeah. Camille and Jerry roped her sister’s three girls to babysit all the kids in one of the rooms so that the parents can enjoy themselves at the party.”

“That was nice of them.” Jack answered as she opened her door and got out. He saw his chance to talk to her slipping away and reached for her arm, stopping her in the middle of the sidewalk. He noticed that everyone was there. Sofie and Bobby’s cars were parked in the driveway while Jerry’s sat in the street. He knew that this was his best chance to talk to her alone.

“Can I talk to you Ang?” he asked softly with pleading in his eyes.

She stopped walking and turned to face him. For a moment, neither one of them knew what to say, so Angie finally spoke up and said, “Let’s go sit on the porch.”

Jack nodded and followed her.