Jonathan rose from his chair. “Sit down,” he said. “I’ll get you a towel.”
Lawrence waved both away. “No thanks. Don’t need a towel. Feels good—it’s those rain forest genes. Come on, Nemo. There’s someone we want you to meet. We got her waiting down at the house.”
Nemo didn’t stir. “What makes you think I want to go anywhere with you, Lawrence?” Jonathan started to go into the house, but Nemo wanted an audience. “No, stay. Lawrence was just leaving.”
Lawrence shook his head, and the scales on his forehead bristled. “Sometimes we don’t know what the hell Justine sees in you. Do you want to know how she’s doing? Do you care that she’s about to put her life on the line for your sorry little ass? Or are you too busy pouting? You coming or not?”
Nemo came out of his chair ready to tell him off. He wasn’t some little kid to be ordered around anymore. But he felt Jonathan’s hand on his shoulder, and he stopped. “Go with him,” Jonathan said quietly. “I think you should go with him.”
Nemo took a deep breath. Jonathan was right. Lawrence was right. He was burning up with rage. He needed to cool down, find out what the hell was going on before he charged into the Bin with a virus in his head. “Who is it you want me to meet?” he asked Lawrence.
“We’ll let her tell you, since you don’t put any stock in what we got to say anymore.” He started back home at full stride, and Nemo hurried to catch up with him.
SHE
WAS
SITTING
AT
THE
KITCHEN
TABLE
,
JUST
WHERE
JUStine had sat. Her long legs were crossed, and there was something odd about them. Then he realized what it was. She was wearing hose. Somebody had dug awfully deep to find those. Looking at her legs, he could understand why. She pulled her hair back behind her ears and smiled at him.
“Elaine,” Lawrence said. “This is Nemo.”
She held out her hand as if he should kiss it, admire her lovely arm. He grasped her fingers briefly and let them go.
“Elaine recently spoke with Justine,” Lawrence said. “You might find their conversation rather informative, Nemo. Whenever you wish to begin your return journey, Elaine, we’ll be waiting in the front parlor.” He bowed and left the room.
Elaine shuddered. “Doesn’t he give you the creeps? He talks like a hick one minute and like a British person the next.” She smiled at Nemo and looked him up and down. “She didn’t say you were so cute. Figures, though, I guess. If she’s so crazy about you.” She pointed to the candles on the table. “Could we light these? It’s getting awful dark in here.”
“Sure.” Nemo hunted up some matches and lit the candles. He sat down across from her. She was one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen, and he’d taken an almost immediate dislike to her. “Is that what you talked about? She told you she’s crazy about me?”
“You’re the whole reason she’s doing it. That’s what she told me, anyway. She’d
have
to be crazy about you to do something like this, wouldn’t you say?”
“Do what?”
“Download herself, of course. I’m going in tomorrow, and she’s downloading into my body.” Her hands criss-crossed in front of her in a vague pantomime of this procedure. “You didn’t
know
that? She
is
nuts. I figured I was here for you to check me out, see what you thought.” She smiled flirtatiously. “I’m sorry I look so awful. My hair got all wet. So what do you think?”
But he wasn’t there anymore. He was with Justine. She’d do this for him, throw her life away, no guarantee he’d even talk to her again—all because she loved him. And he was about to run out on her. He was filled with shame.
“Hey,” Elaine said. Her smile had faded, and she was waiting expectantly for his reply. “I’ve got to get back to Virginia Beach before its gets too late. The Construct said you wanted to talk to me.”
“I do. I do. When are you going to do this?”
“Tomorrow at noon.”
That couldn’t be a coincidence. He smelled Gabriel. He tried to fit it all together into some kind of sense, but couldn’t. It didn’t matter anyway. He had to stop Justine.
“So what do you think?” Elaine prompted. “Am I okay? Do you think I’m pretty?”
“Yes, you are, very pretty. What did she say exactly?”
elaine looked stunned that her beauty warranted only a sentence. “Well, she said she loved somebody out here and wanted to be with him. And I told her it was romantic, or something like that. I don’t remember exactly. Does it matter?”
“No, I don’t guess it does.”
“She’s kind of strange, you know? The only thing she asked me was if I could sing. For all she knows, I’ve got cancer or something.”
“And what did you tell her?”
“I told her I was healthy.”
“I don’t mean that. Can you sing?”
Elaine had obviously decided that Nemo was as strange as Justine. “Well, my voice isn’t exactly my best feature. A girl can’t have everything.” She tried the smile again.
Nemo stood up. “Nice meeting you, Elaine. Lawrence—that’s the Construct’s
name
—will see you home.”
“Guess I’ll see you again, huh?” She giggled. “At least my eyes will.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.”
“She’s not going to back out, if that’s what you’re thinking. She’s dead set on it.”
“Not if I can help it.”
Lawrence told him to wait until he got back, and he’d go in with him and help him look for justine, but Nemo couldn’t wait. He tried her hotel first, but she wasn’t there. He retraced their steps around D.C. and came up with nothing. Real World Tours was closed up, and The Black Dog wasn’t open yet. He even swallowed his pride and called his mom to ask if she knew where Justine weas, but she didn’t. She obviously knew something was up, but she was smart enough not to ask. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.
“If you see her, tell her I’m looking for her, okay?”
“I will, dear. We love you very much.”
“Me too, Mom. Look, I’m sorry about last night—I was a little crazy.” He hung up. He was at a public phone in the lobby of Justine’s hotel. He’d decided to camp out there. She had to show up sometime. He paced up and down, then went into the Grotto, but Gene wasn’t working, and he couldn’t see the front door from in there anyway. By eleven, he’d figured out she wasn’t going to show. She had no reason to go back to her room. She couldn’t be planning on getting much sleep tonight, and it wasn’t like she’d have to pack to go outside. All she’d have after she downloaded would be the clothes that were barely on Elaine’s back.
She was supposed to play at the Black dog, but he’d figured she probably blew that off, like the other night when she took off to New york. Who would want to sing, facing something like this? Now he realized he’d been an idiot. This was her last night in here, her llast chance to sing.
SHE
WAS
SINGING
WHEN
HE
WALKED
IN,
BUT
THE
PLACE
WAS
so packed he couldn’t see her. He wormed his way toward the bar, squeezed in and stood on the rail. He could see her head floating above the crowd, her eyes closed, singing into the microphone. So beautiful.
“Hey buddy, get off the rail.”
Nemo turned to the voice. “Sorry.”
“Wait a minute. you’re the boyfriend. Man, she is hot tonight. But tell her to take a break, will you? She’s been going at it for over an hour and a half. I need to sell some drinks here.”
Nemo hopped down from the rail. “I’ll take her a note,” he said.
“Good idea.” The man wrote
Take a break
on a napkin and signed it
Bruce
.
Nemo pushed through the crowd toward the stage, the napkin folded up in his hand. He succeeded in pissing off several people along the way, wondering who this idiot was who seemed to think he could find a seat down front.
There was a place to stand in front of the door to the green room, just to the left of the stage. He made it there without her seeing him, and laid the napkin on the bass player’s amp next to his cigarettes. She was about to introduce another song when the bass player handed her the napkin. “We’re going to take a short break now,” she said. “You are a great audience.”
Even when she finally came off the stage, the applause was so loud Nemo and Justine couldn’t have heard each other if they’d tried to speak. She froze, staring at him as if she couldn’t quite believe he was real.
I love you
, Nemo mouthed, and opened his arms to her. She ran into them, and he spun her around, holding her tight. When he set her down, for a brief second Rick’s face was right in front of him, fixing them both with a venomous stare. Then Rick slipped into green room with the drummer on his heels.
“I don’t like that guy,” Nemo said.
“What?”
“Is there a back door to this place?” he shouted.
She led the way through the crowd, everyone smiling at her and giving her the thumb’s up. They stood outside under a tiny striped awning, the rain pouring down all around them. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he said.
“I was having dinner with Mr. Menso. I didn’t want to be alone. I…” She threw her arms around him again. “God, Nemo, don’t run off again, please. I couldn’t take it again.”
She was trembling all over. He held her close. “I’m so sorry. I just went a little crazy when I found out you were Angelina. ”I’m never leaving you again.“
She looked up at him. “I don’t know if you can understand this, Nemo. But I’m not Angelina anymore. She spent her whole life learning what I already know. She could’ve never loved you like I do.”
He smiled. “And no one could ever love you like I do.”
She rubbed his chest with the palms of her hands. “there’s something I have to tell you.”
“I already know about Elaine.”
“You do? But how?”
“Lawrence brought her by the house to meet me.”
“I had no idea—”
“I know you didn’t. I’m glad he did. It woke me up. Made me realize what a coward I’d been. I’m coming inside, Justine. I want to be with you, always.”
She shook her head. “But you don’t have to come in here, Nemo. I know how you feel about this place. ”It’s all arranged. I can come to you.“
He put his hands to her face and stopped her head from shaking. “I know I don’t have to. I want to. You’ve changed how I feel about this place, about my life—about everything.” He could see her wavering. “Besides,” he said. “You’re much sexier than Elaine.”
“Yeah, right.”
“No, I’m serious.” He drew her in close.
“To you, maybe.”
He feigned offense. “And who else are we talking about here?”
She smiled. “Nobody.”
“Marry me?”
Her face lit up. “Yes!”
“Aren’t you going to ask me if I’m sure?”
Her eyes glistened. “I told you I’d quit asking when you were.”
They kissed, melting into each other’s arms, passionate but unhurried, at peace and full of joy, unafraid of the future, in a timeless present. After a while, they became aware of a noise coming from inside the club, a rhythmic thudding. They had no idea how long it’d been going on. It was the crowd, he realized, stomping their feet, hitting their fists on the tables, wanting to hear his future wife sing a few more songs. He tossed his head back toward the club. “You need to do another set, or they’ll tear the place down.”
“They can’t. It’s the Bin, remember?”
“Bruce said you were hot tonight. You thought it was a swan song, didn’t you? Why don’t you sing a few songs to celebrate? I know you want to. Listen to them, they love you. I love you, and I love to hear you sing. I’ll sit up front and adore you, every guy in the place hating me.”
She smiled at him. “You won’t be able to get a seat.”
“I’ve got connections. Bruce is rooting for me. He called me ‘the boyfriend.’ He’ll get me a seat.”
“Bless his heart. He’s afraid I’m getting it on with Rick. Mr. Menso warned me about Rick and Ian, by the way. He said to watch out for them. I think Rick’s some kind of religious nut from outside, if you can believe it.”
Nemo shrugged. “I’m not impressed. I’ve chatted with the head nut himself. Besides, I’m leaving all that behind.” He cocked his head to one side. “This Menso guy’s my grandfather, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, he sure is.” She searched his eyes. “You’re a lot like him, you know.”
“How’s that? I’ve never met the man.”
She narrowed her eyes and studied him. “Smart. Sweet. Intense. Honorable.”
“Honorable? Me?”
“I had my doubts about the smart part, myself.”
“I replaced it. Works fine now.”
She laughed, holding his face in her hands. “I can’t believe you’ve come back to me. It’s like you never left.”
“I can’t believe I ever did. Must’ve been that defective part.” They looked into each other’s eyes, smiling like idiots.
Bruce stuck his head out the backdoor. “I hate to interrupt you lovebirds, but they’re getting a little rowdy in here. How about a half-hour set, Justine.”
“Be right there,” she said, her eyes still on Nemo.
“Hey, Bruce,” Nemo asked, “could you get me a place to sit?”
“Sure thing. Buy you a drink. Anything.”
“We’re getting married,” Nemo said.
“Swell. Congratulations. Make that two drinks. Bottle of champagne.
Justine
?”
“Sing me a song?” Nemo asked her.
“Sure. Anything.”
“You know what I want to hear.”
“Anytime this week,” Bruce pleaded.
NEMO
WOKE
AS
THE
SUN
WAS
COMING
UP. HE
LAY
IN
BED
watching Justine sleep, her eyes fluttering with dreams. He’d almost lost her, shut her out of his life completely. Because he had no faith. It was hers that had saved them, while he was cracking up. What had he been thinking? He touched her hair lightly, so as not to wake her. He’d been thinking that she wasn’t who she seemed to be, that she wasn’t real, that he couldn’t trust her anymore. All the while, her love had been more real than his.
He told Lawrence once, when he was about eleven, that he wished they knew those people Lawrence used to be in London and Nagasaki and Abilene, and that they could all be friends together. “Nice thought,” he said, “but it wouldn’t happen that way.” Nemo had had his feelings hurt at the time, but Lawrence reassured him, “We’d all like
you
just fine. We just don’t care to see those other folks again.”