Hustle Me (22 page)

The gates started to open and by the time I made it to the front door, she was already opening it. She didn't welcome me like she had the day before. Instead, she walked in front of me to the living room and sat down. I sat across from her and rubbed my hands on my pants while I thought about how to explain everything to her. "Mom, I need to know how you found out about Charlotte. Who told you that they all died in that fire?"
 

"Well your father, of course. He came right home and told me."
 

I ran my hands through my hair, noting how pissed she was going to get when I told her that he lied to her. "Mom, Char...Lena didn't die in the fire. She survived."
 

"But that is impossible. Your father told me that they had died. You have to be mistaken. Who is giving you this information and why do you care so much about this family? John, please tell me what is going on? Why are you here asking about our past and a girl that died a long time ago?"
 

"She didn't die and the reason that I know is because I've been living with her for the past month. Joe must have known the truth. When he died, he left her and her little brother the Tavern. Mom, it's really her, I swear."
 

"Did you just say that Joe is dead?"
 

"He died of cancer a few months back. Charlie didn't even know he was her real father. Her mother never told her the truth. She found out from the attorney that was handling his will."
 

My mother held her hand over her face and I could hear her crying. She looked up at me as she sulked. "So the child lost her parents, but what happened to her, if Joe didn't take care of her?"
 

"She went into foster care. Mom, it was awful. She's been through hell."
 

She cried even harder and I couldn't help but walk over to her and hold her. "John, I would have taken her in. I would have given her a home and loved her like she was ours. Why didn't your father just tell me the truth?"
 

I rubbed my mother's back. "I was hoping you knew the answer to that."
 

She pushed herself away from me and stood up. "John, I've loved your father for a very long time, but we haven't always been happy. When Charlotte first took Joe's daughter away, Joe stayed with us. I don't think you remember it. He stayed in the basement and was barely ever upstairs. Anyway, your father was so involved with the business and making it his empire that he forgot to pay attention to me. Although it was brief, Joe and I had an affair. It's not a time that I'm proud of, but it was the only time in my life that I felt so alive. Your father caught us one night. He said he was going out of town and waited for us to be together before he walked in. Joe left and went to live at the Tavern, but your father told me if I ever saw Joe again, he would take his business from him. It killed me, but I never spoke to Joe again. I'm so sorry, son. You must hate me."
 

I grabbed my mother's hand and looked into her reddening eyes. "Mom, when I left home, I met Joe. He let me stay with him for a year, but he never told me he knew you or dad. I'm just wondering now if he was keeping me safe because he still cared about you."
 

She smiled and squeezed my hand. "If he did then I wish I could have thanked him. God, he's really gone?"
 

"Yeah, that's how I met Charlie. I went back to the tavern to thank him and she was there. That's actually what brought me here. There's more that dad isn't telling you. He put a damn lien on the tavern. Charlie has thirty days to come up with fifty grand. I need you to convince Dad to back off. This vendetta he has is going to leave two people that I care about without a home and a business."
 

"I can't talk to him about that. Why would your father even care what happens to the tavern if Joe is gone?"
 

"Because he left a quarter of it to me. Yesterday, I thought Joe was just letting me stay with him to get back at Dad for something, but now I know that he did it for you. He left me a quarter of that bar so I could find out the truth. Somehow he knew I would figure it out eventually. Mom, I know you're scared, but I love Charlie and right now she hates me so much. Please help me make things right."
 

She didn't want to help me, in fact, I knew she didn't want to get involved at all. Sure, I was a little taken back when I found
out that my mother had an affair with another man, but in the whole big picture of things, I could see how it would happen. "I want to see her. Take me to see Charlie."
 

"That's not going to be easy. I sort of lied about who I was for the whole month we've been together and she hates my guts."
 

She kept shaking her head. "I just can't believe this. I can't believe that you fell in love with that little girl. John, I want you to take me to her."
 

It didn't take but a second for me to agree. Any reason to see Charlie was a good enough reason for me. I was just hoping that after she talked to my mother, she would let me be in her life. I was too crazy about her to just let her walk out of my life.
 

My mother insisted that I drive her Jag instead of my old beat up piece of shit. I think she was okay until we pulled up out front. Her eyes filled with tears. "It still looks the same as when Joe bought it back from the bank. He'd never been so happy as that day when he knew it was his again."
 

I rang the buzzer and prayed that Charlie would come answer the door. There was a chance that she wouldn't and this attempt to talk to her would be for nothing.
 

After about four minutes, I could hear someone approaching and then opening the door. Charlie looked like she was still crying and when she saw me and my mother, she just stood there staring at the woman. I cleared my throat to get their attention. "Charlie, this is my mother, Lydia. She needs to talk to you and I am begging you to hear her out."
 

She rolled her eyes at me, but opened the door and smiled at my mother.
 

We followed her up the stairs and I noticed my mother looking all around the bar. I guess it was bringing back a bunch of memories. Once we got upstairs, Ryan came out of his room and jumped in front of me. "Jammer, I knew you'd be back. Who is that lady?"
 

"That's my mom. Her name is Mrs. Lydia."
 

He walked up to her and she bent down to say hello. "You're pretty for an old lady."
 

We all started laughing. "Hey Ry, you wanna come downstairs and shoot a couple games of pool with me?"
 

"Awesome!" He headed for the door.
 

I looked back at the ladies. "I'm just going to take him downstairs so you two can talk."
 

I left the ladies and headed downstairs with Ryan, even though I just wanted to stay and be with Charlie. I looked her way as I started to close the door behind me. For just a second, I thought that I saw her start to smile at me.
 

It was important to me to spend time with Ryan. If Charlie didn't take me back, I wouldn't be able to see the kid anymore.
 

He had already picked out a stick and was grabbing the balls and putting them in the triangular shaped rack. "You break and then I will make the shots."
 

I laughed. Ryan didn't understand the rules of the game, but he loved to shoot the ball all around. I grabbed a house stick and broke the balls up. He walked around the table, just like I did when I was scoping out how I was going to run the table. He was cute though. He didn't know that was what I did, he'd just seen me walking around and started doing it himself. "You see a shot you want to take?"
 

He put the stick up on the table and got on his tippy toes. Every single time he went to take a shot, his little tongue would
stick out. He shot at the cue ball and knocked all the balls around the table. The seven ball fell in the side and his face lit up. "Did you see that?"
 

I let out a laugh. "Yeah, dude. That was a great shot."
 

He kept shooting around, while I sat back in the corner chair and sulked about how I'd managed to fuck up something that could have been so good. I wasn't convinced that my mother was going to help out my broken relationship with Charlie, but at least she would know more about her father.
 

After a while I sat Ryan up on the table and let him slide the balls all around. I think he liked the way it sounded when they made contact with each other.
 

I heard feet walking down the stairs and then saw both of the women coming toward the billiard lounge. My mother had a tissue in her hand and I could tell she was crying at some point again. Charlie stood in the doorway and looked over at me. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
 

I left my mother and Ryan and walked to the front of the bar with Charlie. It would have been nice if she just wrapped her arms around me and told me that I could come home, but she
didn't. "Charlie, please don't hate me. When we first hooked up it was about fucking each other. It wasn't about my real name. I know you're pissed about that, but when I started to have feelings for you, it was too late to tell you the truth."
 

"Jammer, it doesn't change the fact that you lied to me the whole time we were together. Your mother told me everything and it's just a giant fucking mess. I can't deal with it right now. She can't help me get the money to save the tavern and from how she explained things, your father will stop at nothing until this building is tore down."
 

"Let me help you figure out what to do next."
 

"No, I think it's best if you just go. I'm not saying I hate you, because I think we've dealt with enough lies for one lifetime, but I can't be with you."
 

"Charlie," I grabbed her hand and held it with both of mine. "I..."
 

"We don't need to get all technical with the goodbyes. It's best if you just go now, so it isn't any harder."
 

I wanted to tell her that I loved her and I guess I should have instead of saying goodbye to Ryan and walking out the door.
 

When I got back in the car with my mother, she was still sniffling. "John, thank you for taking me to see Charlie. I can see why you love her."
 

"Yeah, it doesn't really matter how I feel. She doesn't want anything to do with me."
 

She reached over and grabbed my shoulder. "She needs you. You can't give up on that."
 

I sighed and kept my eyes on the road. "She's too proud to have me come back, Mom. I fucked up. Oh, sorry for the language. I'm just so pissed at myself."
 

"You're a grown man. If you need to say fuck to make yourself feel better, don't let me stop you."
 

We both laughed for the first time since we'd seen each again. "Mom, I don't know the first thing about being in a relationship. Every time I feel like I'm doing something right, I'm just messing up. Every bone in my body tells me that I'm supposed to be with her. Do you have any idea how it makes me feel that my father is the damn reason that I can't be happy?"
 

"I didn't want this life for you, John. I knew he was the reason you left, I just wished you would have kept in touch with me. I miss you. You're my only son."
 

I stopped at a red light and turned to her. "Mom, I'm sorry. I just needed to get away from him. I knew if I stayed he would be involved in whatever I wanted to do."
 

"I'm going to try to help you, John. I can't promise anything, but maybe I can get him to back off."
 

"Mom, anything is better than where I'm at right now. I'd do anything to have a real shot with Charlie."
 

When we finally made it back to the house, I had filled her in on what I'd been doing for the past six years. She wasn't too amused about my choices, especially my tattoos, but I think my mother was just so happy that we were together that it didn't even matter.
 

I was determined to find a way to save the tavern and I was willing do whatever I needed to do to get it done.
 

Chapter 25
 

Charlie
 

Lydia Thomas left me more confused. I could tell that Jammer was desperate for me to forgive him. I wanted to, I really did. It hadn’t even been twenty four hours and I felt like calling him and telling him to come be with me. It's funny how you don’t know how much someone means to you until they're gone.
 

Ryan was really happy when Jammer came back, so when he left again, it was harder for me to explain he wasn't coming back. Just as I put Ryan to bed, I got a text message.
 

I'm sitting outside. If you don’t let me in, I’m going to sleep in my car. -J
 

Are you really trying to coax your way inside like that? - C
 

Charlie, I know you're mad at me, but I also know you're in love with me. -J
 

Did he really just say that to me?
 

You aren't coming in. -C
 

I'll play you for your heart.-J
 

You're crazy.-C
 

Okay obviously I have an advantage. I'm going to stand at your door for exactly ten minutes. If you love me like I think you do, you'll let me in. -J
 

What if I don't open it?-C
 

Then I will know that you never loved me and we are over for good.-J
 

I guess this is going to be a long ten minutes for you. -C
 

I'm confidant you will come to the door.-J