Jack and Angie

Chapter 4


Angie buried her head in the pillow at the pounding coming from the front door. Cracking open an eye, she hoped whoever it was would die on the doorstep for waking her up at whatever ungodly hour of the morning it was.

After Angel and Sofie had left, she had locked up the house and gone to bed, only to lay there for hours, tossing and turning as she thought about the past and all the wrong choices she had made. At this point in her life, she knew she had been horribly wrong to push Jack away in the way she had, but at the time, it had seemed like she was doing what was the best for the both of them.

Instead, she had only ended up hurting them all. Jack, Sebastian and herself. She had cheated her baby out of knowing his father and she had cheated Jack out of being there for his son in the way that she knew he would have been. The more she thought about it, the more she felt like Jack would never forgive her, and she didn’t even deserve his forgiveness if she was being honest with herself.

She was brought back to the present as the pounding continued. Thanking God that Sebastian was spending the night at Jerry’s as she got out of bed and went to answer the door, she was pulled up short to see Bobby through the glass.

Wordlessly, she stepped back for him to come in. “Good God girl! Took your ass long enough to answer the door. Do you know how fucking cold it is with me standing out there for the last twenty minutes?” He grumbled at her as he took off his jacket and sat down at the kitchen table. Noticing her rumbled form still glaring owlishly at him, he snorted and asked innocently, “Late night?”

Shaking herself and going to start the coffee, she waited until she was seated across from him before saying, “You could say that. I kept Angel from getting his nuts blown off by Sofie’s now-ex-boyfriend.”

“Yeah, she was there this morning.” Bobby said disgustedly. “Now she’ll never leave.”

Angie smiled at him as she went to pour them both a cup. “You know Bobby, it wouldn’t kill you to be a little nicer to her. She’s really not that bad as long as you aren’t trying to piss her off.”

Bobby waved a dismissive hand as he drank his coffee, “She still is and always will be a crazy bitch.”

“Oh, and I assume that means you are perfectly sane Bobby Mercer.” Angie teased.

Bobby merely grinned at her. They drank their coffee for a while until Bobby decided she had enough caffeine in her to be reasonable. He had learned long ago that to do or say anything to her that was likely to piss her off before she had her morning cup of coffee was to take the chance of ending up with her wearing your balls for earrings. And Bobby Mercer liked his balls exactly where they were thank you very much.

As she relaxed against the back of the chair, he pounced, “So, tell me about your son and whether or not he is Jack’s.”

Angie groaned as she said to no one in particular, “What? Is there a sign on the corner that says ‘Angie Montgomery got knocked up by Jack Mercer and never told him.’, or should I just take an ad out in the Free Press?”

Bobby didn’t look too shocked as he asked, “So it is his kid?”

Angie sighed yet again as she said, “Yes. Jack is the father of my son and no, I never told him.” She was tired. Tired of hiding the truth from damn near everyone that had known about her and Jack. Jerry and Camille knew, Angel and Sofie knew, now Bobby. What was the point of waiting until she found the right time to tell Jack? At this rate, everyone in Detroit except Jack would know the truth by the end of the fucking week.

“Why not? Didn’t you think it was something he would want to know Ang? Something he deserved to know?” Bobby asked her far more gently than most people would give him credit for. That was something she loved about him. He was a tough guy, but when it came to the women in his life that he loved, like her and Miss Evelyn, he was a big fucking teddy bear. Not that anyone would believe it if she told them.

She hung her head and contemplated the cup in her hands as she said softly, “Of course Bobby.”

“Then what the fuck happened? One minute, you two were totally in love and planning to move to New York and the next, I hear that you cheated on Jack and he caught you in bed with that dickhead Derek.” He asked seriously, letting a trace of the anger he had felt on behalf of his little brother show through, “What the fuck happened Angie? I could have sworn on a stack of bibles and on Ma’s life that you would never, ever cheat on Jack with anyone, and let me tell you, I don’t have that high of an opinion about many women except you and Ma, and maybe Camille. I still don’t believe it so I’m asking you to explain to me what the fuck happened.”

She got up and looked around for her cigarettes as she gathered her thoughts. Once she found them, she lit up and sat back down at the table after bring the whole coffee pot from the counter. Finally she began, “Do you remember the last Christmas we were all together?”

“Yeah. Jackie bought you that bracelet with the charms on it.” Bobby answered wondering what the fuck Christmas had to do with it.

Angie nodded and went on, “That when he told you all about our plans to move to New York after graduation.” Bobby merely nodded for her to go on, “I hated the fact that Jack was working so much bussing tables in order to save enough for us to go, but it was exciting you know? Thinking about being in New York and together. He would be with the band playing gigs and trying to get a record deal, and I would get a job doing something so we wouldn’t be completely broke.”

“You could have been a model darlin’.” Bobby interrupted fondly, “You are certainly good looking enough.” He knew she would have been big if she had decided to try it. She was a very beautiful girl with her long dark blonde hair with reddish highlights, her huge silver eyes that were sometimes greenish and sometimes a more blueish color and full red lips that never needed any lipstick, all set in a pale heart-shaped face. And that wasn’t even getting into how hot her body was. She had curves that would literally make men drool after her, until one of the Mercer boys put their fist in their eyes at least. Bobby always thought privately that Jack was one lucky motherfucker that he was the only one she loved like that.

She waved a hand to dismiss the compliment. She was never one to overly worry about her looks. Getting her story back on track, she said, “That May, a couple of weeks before graduation, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. I fainted in the doctor’s office when he told us, so they took some tests and found out I was pregnant.”

Bobby inhaled sharply. He was beginning to understand.

Angie plowed on, “I knew that I should tell Jack about the baby, but I was scared. How could I just take off to New York and this new life with Jack when my mom was slowly dying?” She wiped at the tears falling from her eyes as she looked at Bobby’s sympathetic gaze, “The doctor told us that she had waited too long for them to be able to do anything about it. It was inoperable. And Jack? I knew that if I told him about the baby and about my mom, he would decide to stay here and take care of us, but then how could I let him give up his dreams? He had been talking about New York forever. I was afraid that if I told him, he would end up staying in Detroit and eventually, he would resent the fact that he had to give up everything he wanted to take care of a family that he didn’t plan for. I just couldn’t live with the idea that he would eventually hate me for making him do that. So I called Derek and he came straight over. He isn’t as bad as you guys think he is you know.” She shook her head sadly, “He spent two whole days trying to talk me out of this plan I had come up with to make Jack so angry that he would break it off with me without looking back.”

“So Derek tried to make you tell Jack about the baby?” Bobby asked for clarification.

Angie nodded, “I knew that Jack was going to come over that day, so I made Derek sleep in my bed with me. When Jack saw us together, he was so furious he didn’t even realize that we were still dressed in our pajamas. He just pulled Derek out of the bed and started beating the shit out of him.”

Bobby shifted forwards on his elbows as he said, “Well Angie, can you really blame him? I mean, Jack spent a good three months completely sure that Derek was trying to steal you from him.”

Angie shook her head, “Derek never felt like that about me Bobby. Never.”

“Come on sweetie, I’m not stupid you know. No red-blooded guy would have been able to be that close to a beautiful girl like you without wanting more.” Bobby scoffed.

Angie smirked as she said succinctly, “They would if they were gay Bobby. You were more Derek’s type than I ever was.”

At Bobby’s wide eyed stare and gaping expression, she started laughing her ass off. After she fell out of the chair holding her sides, he said disgustedly, “Hey, it’s not funny!” which of course, only made her laugh harder.

Waiting with a scowl on his face for her to calm down, he went to the fridge and took out a beer. By the time he opened it and threw the cap in the trash as he sat back down, she was back in the chair and a little calmer. They were silent for a few minutes as they both thought. Finally, Bobby said, “You fucked up sweetheart. You should have told Jackie Boy everything the day you found out.” She opened her mouth to remind him again of her reasons not to and he held up his hand in a silencing gesture as he shook his head, “No. You should have told him. Yes, he would have dropped the plan to go and he would have stayed, but do you think that any success he had in New York would be anything to him without you there with him? He loved you Angie, more than any guy I have ever known can love a woman. He would have stayed and maybe he wouldn’t have been a rock star, but he would still have been happy as long as he had you.”

At Angie’s shamefaced look, Bobby drove the point home, “That boy would not hesitate to jump in front of a bullet for you because he loves you that much. He still does you know.” Angie looked at him with eyes full of hope and he smiled reassuringly, “Yeah, you heard me. He still loves you. He’s plenty pissed though. Do you know that the idea that he might be the father of your kid hasn’t even crossed his mind yet?” After all, it was going to be a fight just to get Jack to agree to be in the same room as her, never mind to actually get him to listen. Bobby didn’t want Angie to get her hopes up that it would be easy.

Listen to him…just call him Oprah. He shuddered with the thought.

“Somehow Bobby, I doubt that’s true anymore.” She said with a shake of her head. When he looked at her skeptically, she added, “He made a point to tell me at Jerry’s house that you would fuck me and then dump me.”

Bobby’s eyes flashed angrily, but he let that slide for now as he asked, “So where is my little nephew?”

“He spent the night with Jerry’s girls. I have to go get him in a couple of hours” she answered looking at the clock. They talked a little more and Bobby swore he was going to kick Jerry and Angel’s asses for not telling him about their nephew, at which point she told him that Evelyn had found out as well when she had had enough of Angie’s avoidances of the topic a month before she died.

“No shit!” Bobby exclaimed before turning thoughtful, “So that’s why…”

“That’s why what?” Angie asked curiously.

Bobby hesitated to tell her, but told her anyway, “Last night at dinner, Jackie said something about Ma calling him a month ago, trying to get him to come home for a visit.” He noticed her narrowed eyed look and hurried to say, “You know Ma, she was probably just trying to get the two of you to talk so that you could tell Jackie about her grandson.”

“Interfering woman.” Angie muttered with a sad, fond smile, “God, I’m gonna miss her.”

“Yeah, me too.” Bobby said forlornly. She patted his arm in support and he stood up and announced, “Well, I gotta go. Jackie is cooking dinner and then me and the boys are going to play some Turkey Cup. Want to come?”

Angie laughed. She told him that she didn’t think it was a good idea to spring her on Jack right now and that after she and Sebastian had dinner with Camille and the girls, she had to go to work. He was appalled that she was working on Thanksgiving Day, but she merely shrugged her shoulders and that was that. No one that lived around here was in a position to turn down work when it came, something he knew only too well. Instead, he asked her where she worked and she told him that she had been working under the table waitressing at Johnny G’s for a few months alongside her job at the same restaurant she had worked at since she was sixteen, but that the restaurant was closed for renovations.

She shivered to herself as she closed the door after hugging him goodnight. She didn’t like the gleam in his brown eyes as he left.