Up at Butternut Lake: A Novel (32 page)

CHAPTER 25

M
iss Jax?”

“Frankie?” Jax said, surprised. And a little miffed. She hadn’t expected anyone else she knew to be at the Mosquito Inn tonight. Except, of course, for Bobby. And he was fifteen minutes late already. She’d been sitting there, tucked into a booth, watching the front door and trying to look innocuous. Or as innocuous as a woman who was eight and a half months pregnant could look in a dive bar at nine o’clock on a Thursday night.

“Miss Jax, what are you doing here?” Frankie asked.

“The same thing you’re doing here,” Jax said, evasively, sipping her Coke.

“
I’m
playing pool,” Frankie said, frowning. He indicated the pool cue he was holding in his right hand.

“Well, I’m meeting an old friend for a drink,” Jax said.
An old friend who’s blackmailing me. An old friend who I’ve been having murderous fantasies about.

“This isn’t a good place to meet a friend for a drink,” Frankie said.

“You’re here,” Jax said, a little defensively.

Frankie shrugged his gigantic shoulders. “I come here sometimes, to shoot pool,” he said. “But this is no place for a lady like you, Miss Jax. Especially since you’re . . . you know . . .” His voice trailed off.

“Pregnant?” Jax supplied, amused in spite of herself.

He nodded, embarrassed.

For all his outward toughness, Frankie, she knew, was very shy.

“Don’t worry, Frankie,” she said, glancing nervously at the door. “I’ll be in and out before you know it.”

But Frankie didn’t budge. “Where’s Jeremy?” he asked.

She sipped her Coke again, trying to stay calm. This was one problem she hadn’t foreseen. “Jeremy’s at his weekly poker game,” she said. “And Caroline, bless her heart, has offered to stay with the girls for a couple of hours.”
And unlike you, she didn’t ask any questions,
she thought irritably. But she immediately felt guilty. Frankie wasn’t prying. He was just being protective of her.

He wavered a little now. “Okay. I’ll leave you alone. But when your friend gets here, you two should find someplace else to go. I mean, right now, it’s pretty quiet here.” He looked around at a mostly subdued crowd. “But later in the night, it gets a little . . . unpredictable.”

“Look, don’t worry about me,” she said, keeping one eye on the door. “Believe it or not, I’ve been to places like this before. I know how to handle myself in them, okay?” And that part, at least, was true. It was why she was having such a visceral reaction to being here now. The smell of stale beer, the clink of glasses, the crack of pool balls knocking together. She’d spent way too much time in places like this when she was a child. When she was a child raising two drunk parents.

“I’ll see you later, Frankie,” she said, pointedly.

He nodded reluctantly and retreated to the back of the bar, where the pool tables were.
Thank God Bobby was late,
she thought, glancing at the door again. It had spared her the embarrassment of having to introduce him and Frankie to each other. Although part of her would have loved to have seen the expression on Bobby’s face when he met someone as big, and as tough, as Frankie. Because for all his swagger, Bobby, she knew, was a coward.

She reached into her purse now, took out an unmarked envelope, and set it down on the table in front of her. It looked innocuous there, but what was inside of it, she knew, might one day cost her marriage, and maybe even her family. She opened the flap on the envelope and took out the check inside of it. It was made out to cash, for ten thousand dollars.

She’d transferred the money between accounts that morning. It hadn’t come from their checking account or their savings account. It had come from a third account. An account they’d set up after Joy was born, at a time in their lives when they were barely making ends meet themselves. But they’d had a dream then, just the same. They’d wanted to save enough money to send Joy, and any other children they might have, to college.

Jax, of course, hadn’t gone to college. Jeremy had gone, but he’d worked his way through and graduated with student loans they’d only just recently finished paying off. They’d both wanted their children to be able to go to their state university full-time, without having to wait tables, and they wanted them to graduate free and clear, without owing any money.

That sounded simple enough, at least on the face of it. But saving the money for their daughters’ educations was more difficult than they’d ever imagined it would be. Life, they soon discovered, was full of emergencies, big and small. A new roof for the hardware store. A new transmission for Jeremy’s truck. A new septic system for their house. The list went on.

Still, the college account grew slowly. Incrementally. Until, this last spring, it had reached the ten-thousand-dollar mark. They both knew that wasn’t enough to pay Joy’s way through college, let alone that of her younger sister’s. But it was a start. And they were determined to do better in the future. After all, Jax knew how to economize. She’d been doing it all her life.

Which was why this morning’s decision to transfer the money from the college savings account into their checking account, and to write a check for the same amount, had been such a wrenching decision for her. She hated the thought of giving that hard-earned money to someone as undeserving as Bobby. But even more, she hated the thought of Jeremy finding out about it.

The one thing that gave her hope that he might not find out right away was that it was Jax, with her head for numbers, who was responsible for both their personal finances and the hardware store’s finances. She paid the bills, and the taxes, and made all the deposits, withdrawals, and transfers between accounts. And Jeremy rarely, if ever, monitored those accounts. But he had access to all the information, and it was only a matter of time before he stumbled on the fact that Jax had emptied the college fund.

Jax’s plan, such as it was, was to somehow replace the missing money before that happened. How she would do that, of course, was anybody’s guess. She didn’t have another ten thousand dollars lying around. And she didn’t know anyone else who did, either. But maybe, she reasoned, if she was very careful with their family’s finances, and diverted as much money as possible back into that account, she could eventually build it back up again before Jeremy found out. It wasn’t a very realistic plan, she knew. But right now, it was the only plan she had.

“Hey, baby,” Bobby said, startling her as he slid into the booth across from her. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts, she’d forgotten to watch the door.

She looked at him now, warily, and was surprised to see how much prison had changed him. And not for the better, either. Outwardly, he looked more or less the same. He was a little thinner. His hair a little longer. But it was on the inside she knew the real changes had taken place. She could see it in the way he hunched protectively over the beer he’d brought to the table with him. And in the way his eyes shifted constantly around the room, as if trying to assess the threat level from every direction.

“Hi, Bobby,” she said, neutrally. “You’re looking well,” she lied, hoping to keep things on a friendly footing.

“You’re looking fat,” he shot back, after giving her the once-over.

“I’m pregnant,” she said, gritting her teeth.

“Jeez,” he said, taking a long pull on his beer. “How many kids will that make?”

“Four,” Jax said, hating him.

But the response didn’t get a reaction out of him. He wasn’t interested enough in her to care how many children she had, Jax realized. Instead, he looked around the room again, and Jax found herself doing the same. She was relieved to discover that nobody seemed to be paying any attention to them. She looked back at Bobby and watched in distaste as he swigged his beer and then set the empty bottle down hard on the table.

“What’re you drinking?” he asked, standing up.

“Coke,” Jax said distractedly, pushing her glass across the table to him.

“Jack and Coke?”

“A Jack Daniel’s and Coke?” Jax clarified. “For God’s sake, Bobby, I’m pregnant.”

He shrugged, disinterested. “Whatever,” he said.

“I’d like a
Coke-a-Cola,
if you’re getting another round
,
” she said, glaring at him.

“Fine,” he said. But instead of going to the bar, he stood there, a little awkwardly. “Uh, I’m going to need some money,” he said.

Jax sighed, reached into her wallet, and handed him some bills. He was back a few minutes later with their drinks.

“Is that for me?” he asked, eyeing the envelope.

Jax nodded and slid it across the table to him. “The check’s in there. It’s made out to cash, in the amount we discussed.” She forced herself to sound calm and dispassionate.
This is a business transaction,
she reminded herself
.

Bobby took a long draw on his beer bottle and glanced around the bar again. Then he picked up the envelope, slid the check out, and gave a low, long whistle.

She watched him, marveling that it was even possible to hate anyone as much as she hated him.

“This should set me up nicely here,” he said, putting the check in his wallet.

Jax stared at him blankly.

“What’s the matter?” Bobby asked, his eyes narrowing.

Jax gave herself a little shake. She’d probably just misunderstood him. “Nothing. You just made it sound like you were planning to stay here. In Butternut.”

He drained the rest of his beer and smiled at her maliciously. “I am. Is that a problem?”

“Yes, it’s a problem,” she said, feeling a little tremor of panic. “It’s a problem because our agreement was that after I gave you the money, you’d leave Butternut. Remember?”

“Did I say I’d leave?” he said, leaning forward across the table. “Because if I did, I’ve changed my mind. Now that I’ve got some cash, I want to hang around here for a while. Keep an eye on my daughter. Make sure she’s being raised properly.”

Jax felt the color drain out of her face.

“That’s right,” he said, nodding. “I want to meet my daughter.”

“You can’t,” Jax said, her panic mounting. “You can’t see her. She’s not here. We sent her away for the summer. She won’t be back for . . . for a long time,” she finished.

“You know, I don’t believe you, Jax,” Bobby said, obviously annoyed. “I think you’re lying. I think you’re trying to keep me away from my daughter. But you can’t do that, Jax.”

I can damn well try,
Jax thought, anger rising in her. And the anger, she decided, was better than the panic. It cleared her head.

“You promised me you wouldn’t have any involvement in her life,” she said, through clenched teeth.

“Promises are made to be broken,” he said, with a shrug. “Besides, I might run out of money sometime. And even though you’re crying poor now, I think there’s more where this came from.”

Before all those words were even out of Bobby’s mouth, Jax felt the baby twist around inside of her. It was such a sudden, painful movement that she thought for a moment she might scream. But she didn’t. Instead, she grabbed the edge of the table in front of her. Which was a good thing, since it steadied her when she felt the room tilt, precipitously, to one side. She heard the sounds in the bar—the hum of conversation, the tinkling of the jukebox, the slap of the screen door closing—fade into a distant murmur, as a cold, prickly sweat broke out all over her body. Then, a wave of nausea rolled over her like a steamroller. She was either going to faint or throw up now, she thought, but either way, it wouldn’t be pretty.

Somewhere, at the edge of her consciousness, she heard a voice. A familiar voice.

“Miss Jax, are you okay? What’s the matter?” And then the same voice, “What the hell did you do to her?”

It was Frankie, she realized with relief, as his massive face swam into view. He was kneeling beside the booth, shaking her shoulders gently. “Jax? What’s wrong? Should I call an ambulance?”

“No, no ambulance,” Jax said woozily. “I’m fine, really.”

“Well, you don’t look fine,” Frankie said doubtfully. “You,” he said, apparently to Bobby. “Get her a glass of water and some napkins.
Now
.”

For once, apparently, Bobby did what he was told to do, because when Frankie spoke again he addressed only her.

“Miss Jax, you don’t look good. Your skin . . . it’s almost gray. Please let me call an ambulance, or take you to the hospital myself.”

“No. Please don’t, Frankie. I’ll be all right. I promise.” She took a deep, shaky breath. She did feel a little better. She didn’t think she was going to faint or throw up anymore. But the panic? The panic was still there, thrumming through her veins. And as soon as she thought about what Bobby had said, it came rushing back.

Bobby returned from the bar then and set a glass of ice water and a stack of cocktail napkins down on the table in front of Jax. He slid back in across from her again and glanced, resentfully, at Frankie.

“I didn’t do nothing to her,” he muttered, under his breath.

But Frankie ignored him. He dipped a few of the cocktail napkins in the ice water and handed them to Jax.