Cascade (3 page)

“
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
apology.”

“
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: