Blackbird (12 page)

              “Because…I’ve had to move on over the years. I don’t like to stay in one place too long. It’s better that way.”

              “I can’t see how that would make anything better. Chelle…you’re homeless.” She didn’t like the way he said the word. She’d been on her own, yes, but the word ‘homeless’ implied something more desperate than how she felt. She wasn’t homeless so much as she was a house borrower. Or at least, that was how she liked to think of herself.

              “And you should get out of here. Right now you’re breaking and entering.”

              “We need to find a place for you to go. My brother is expecting me to take you to the hospital tonight. Your test results came back.”

              “I’m not on drugs. If it says I’m on drugs you need to do it again,” she said, hearing herself become defensive.

              “Easy there, Hulk. There were no drugs, but he said you have a ton of metal in your blood. Although after seeing this it totally makes sense. He’s concerned your organs are going to shut down. I don’t know what I’m going to tell him. I think we should get you out of here and into somewhere safe.”

              “I’m not going to the hospital. I’m not stupid. They do experiments on people like me.” Ever since seeing a fake documentary on alien abduction where they’d captured and dissected a ‘real’ alien, Chelle had been terrified. She knew it was just for TV, but who’s to say they didn’t actually have a secret lab somewhere that people like her, assuming there were any more of them, were being dissected at this very moment.

              Robert put his hands in front of him. “Ok, ok. We can go wherever you want. You’ve survived this long. Your organs must be ok, but you can’t stay here. This is someone else’s house. If you end up in jail you’ll get to enjoy people doing experiments on you of a different sort.

              Chelle thought about that for a moment. Perhaps it was her denial, or perhaps it was her stubbornness, but she didn’t want to leave. She was at ease here. As much as a person could be at ease squatting in someone else’s home that is. “I’m staying.”

              Robert knew he was defeated. “Alright. It’s up to you. But, listen, if you ever need help or a place to go I…”

              “I’m a big girl, boss,” she said, making things more formal than they had to be right now. He’d seen her, wings and all. Calling him boss she hoped would put a bit of distance between them. The wings began to shake once again, as if anxious, ready to do something, ready to assert themselves in a way they’d not ever done so before. Suddenly she was overcome with fear.

              “Robert, I need to be alone for a bit, ok?”

              “Um…ok. Is there anything I can do?”

              “No. I just have to put them back in. I’ve never had them out this long before. I’m not sure what’s happening.”

              Robert gave her a nod. “Ok then. Chelle I’m just a phone call away. He put one of his business cards on the end table by the couch and stared at her for another long moment before speaking again. “Can we meet tomorrow? Will you be at the coffee shop in the morning?”

              She thought about that for a moment and a flutter of excitement twisted in her stomach at the prospect of seeing him again. The wings fluttered ever so slightly. “Sure,” she said. As he was about to head for the door she realized she was still clutching his jacket to her naked chest. “Your jacket,” she said.

              “You can return it to me in the morning,” he smiled.

              “But you’ll be cold.”

“I’ll be fine. It’ll give me something to look forward to.” Without waiting for a response he turned and left. Now she was alone in the living room, blushing to herself.

Chapter Twelve

              Robert had not had a chance to get as far as the nearest intersection before his phone went off. It was Paul calling. He took a deep breath and hit the answer button. “Hey,” he said.

              “Hey. Are you on your way? I’ve got everything set up here.”

              “Yeah, about that.” What about that? He had no idea what to say to his brother. He needed an excuse and needed one fast. He decided plain old avoidance would do until he could think of a better one. “I went looking for her but couldn’t find her.”

              A pause. “She wasn’t home?”

              “Well, no. It’s not exactly her home. That is to say that she’s between places right now.” Damn. “She’s moving so she’s not at her old place, and I’m not sure where her new place is exactly.”

              “Ah, Jesus. Well that’s lousy timing.”

              “It is,” he agreed. “And I’m not sure where else to look.”

              “Well, will you see her again soon?”

              Robert’s mind wandered back to what he’d seen inside the little house that Chelle was squatting in and he answered, wistfully. “Most definitely.”

              “Good. You get her to the emergency room as soon as you see her. The sooner the better.”

              Robert smiled to himself. “Roger that. Don’t worry, Paul. Everything’s going to be just fine.”

              “Well, for her sake I hope you’re right. By the way, practically everyone else who works for you tested positive for marijuana.”

              He didn’t know if it was the shock of what he’d seen or the sheer absurdity of it all that caused him to react, but Robert doubled over with laughter behind the wheel. “No kidding?”

              “Yeah. That’s funny?”

              “It’s amazing,” he howled. Before Paul had a chance to respond he said, “I’ll call you back tomorrow,” and hit the disconnect button. It took another two streets before his laughter died down and alone in the car he was sure if someone he knew had spotted him they’d have assumed he’d lost his mind.

              Robert drove around as he always did when he needed to think and by the time he pulled in his driveway it was close to midnight. He yawned with exhaustion but knew it would be a sleepless night, yet again. He had to talk to someone. He made his way through the house, avoiding all of the boxes and clutter that moving was causing him and lay down on his bed, scrolling through his contacts until he came to the number he wanted. Billie.

              He was pissed at her for having fired Chelle. Obviously his serious talk with her the evening before had not been serious enough. He stared at the number for a moment, scowled at it and kept scrolling. When he realized nobody else would be up this late he lay his head on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling practically vibrating from excitement.

              He knew a wonderful secret and had no choice but to keep it to himself. Then he thought himself selfish. It was a wonderful secret…for
him
. Obviously it had not been such a wonderful secret for Chelle. Thrown out, scarred, homeless. He hadn’t realized the pretty and sometimes mouthy young woman he’d hired had been so lost. He’d worked right beside her every day for the last three months and felt like only now, had he truly begun to see her.

              The thought of her excited him in a way he couldn’t explain and he was even more excited that she’d agreed to have coffee with him. He had to know her. They had to be friends. Robert laughed at himself with that thought, realizing he was acting like a teenage girl. Truth be told he felt as giddy as one for some reason.

              As he relaxed a bit his phone suddenly went off, scaring the daylights out of him. Billie’s name popped up on the screen and he clenched the phone tightly in his hand, trying to decide if now was the best time to answer it. At the last moment he decided it was.

              “Hi, Billie,” he said.

              “Robert. You ran out pretty fast tonight. I had to help Rick close down the bar.”

              Robert could tell she was beyond irritated. Suddenly, so was he. “Well, that’s what happens when you fire the only waitress that’s working that shift. If you’re gonna send someone home you have to be prepared to pick up the slack.”

              A silence filled the phone line for a few moments as Billie realized she couldn’t argue that point. “Where did you go? You went to see, Chelle, didn’t you?” Her tone was nothing short of icy.

              “As a matter of fact I did.”

              “Oh? And what did you…do?”

              For a moment Robert was actually confused. “I talked to her. Everything’s fine. She still works for me, I hope.”

              “Oh yeah? And when you talked to her tonight was her belt on, or off?”

              Robert rubbed his forehead, finally realizing what Billie was insinuating. “Oh my god, Billie. Really?”

              “Really!” she practically yelled into the other end. “On or off? If you’re going to cheat on me before we’re married I think I have a right to know.”

              “I’m not cheating on you.” Now he was yelling too.

              “Then explain to me why you had her belt in your desk.”

              “Because I picked it up off the floor.”

              “After you fucked her? That was nice of you. You’ve always been a gentleman.”

              “I don’t have to listen to this, Billie. I’ve never cheated on you. I never would.”

              “Robert if you’re not going to be honest with me we’re going to have to call off the wedding, or at least postpone it until you can get your head back on straight.”

              Robert was gritting his teeth and had the phone wrapped so tightly in his hand that he’d be surprised if he didn’t crush it. “You know what? That’s a good idea. And maybe we should postpone it until you learn that you do not fire my employees. Cole’s is my business and I run it. Not you!”

              He could tell by the long silence he’d wounded her. “Fine,” she said quietly. The soft clicking noise let him know she’d hung up.

              “Fuck!” he said to himself, dropping the phone on the bed. Stumbling into the bathroom he ran the cold water, splashing himself in the face.
Did I just break up with my fiancé?

              He stared at himself in the mirror for a long time and concluded, surprisingly, that the answer was yes. More surprisingly, he was actually relieved. He smiled at himself, strolled to the bedroom window and opened it. As the cold winter air poured in he inhaled deeply, feeling as if a horrible weight he hadn’t even known was there had been lifted. He was lighter and freer than he’d felt in months.

              When he’d finally had enough air he shut the window against the cold and crawled into bed, but not before setting his alarm. He definitely didn’t want to miss seeing Chelle in the morning. After the lights went out he lay staring at the ceiling and expecting to be kept awake by the multitude of thoughts that were rolling around in his head. To his surprise, Robert Cole slept like a baby.

Chapter Thirteen

              Chelle lowered herself into her usual chair at the coffee shop and prepared herself for a long wait. It was six a.m. and she was sure Robert wouldn’t be here any time before nine. He never was. She, on the other hand, had no other place to go and routinely sat there as a means of keeping out of the cold. Usually the coffee warmed her, as did the little electric fireplace. Not today. Her hands were like ice and the only time that happened was when she was nervous.

              Holding fast to her cup she huddled there, her fingers trembling. This was going to be a long three hours. She looked at Robert’s jacket, neatly folded on the seat next to her, and contemplated wrapping herself up in it. It was certainly warmer than her own. It was thick and leathery and smelled of him.

              After she’d cleaned up last night she had taken the jacket down into the basement with her and had actually, to her embarrassment, contemplated sleeping with it. She had way too much self-respect to do that however, and so ended up simply staring at it from across the room as she lay there in her sleeping bag. It taunted her, calling to her to come get it, but she refused. She told herself she’d be glad when it was back in his possession, but deep down knew that was a lie.

              She forced herself to look away from it and dug her paperback out of her backpack, hoping to distract herself for a while. It was the first time that she could remember that she couldn’t get lost in a book. Reading had been the only thing keeping her sane for quite some time, but today, for some reason, she couldn’t even do that.
My god,
she thought.
Do I actually have a crush on my boss?

              How pathetic would that be? He was rich, he was good looking, but he was also engaged to a rotten excuse for a human being who was a spoiled teenage brat in a grown woman’s body. No way could she ever have a crush on him. It was totally unreasonable. Twenty-five year old women didn’t get crushes…did they? If they did they shouldn’t. Even the word itself was childish. Crush. That was something a person drank if they were thirsty, not something in reference to what a perfectly reasonable and responsible adult woman felt toward the man who employed her.

              For every bit of reasoning she attempted, she stared at the jacket, and thought of him. He’d held her hand, he’d said nice things. Things nobody had ever said to her. He knew her secret.