Page 18 of Beautifully Used
Jackson nodded. “You might be right.” He walked to the cupboard, grabbed a glass and headed to the fridge, filling the container to the rim with cold, filtered water from the spout. Then he drank down the entire contents. “So, what’s the deal?”
“Grab your beer. Rufus, come on boy, let’s go get some fresh air.” If there was one thing that Rufus got excited about, it was the prospect of being outside, sniffing around. Bloodhounds were naturals at tracking, and the first thing he did when he got outside was put his nose to the ground. I watched him as he sniffed his way toward the back of the property, following the trail of some squirrel no doubt. The raccoons don’t come around anymore now that they know Rufus is here. When he was a puppy, they’d come around and try to steal his food in the middle of the night. Now that Rufus was full-grown and ate his food quickly, they’d stopped coming.
I walked to the middle of the yard, stopped, and took another swig of the beer I held. Another bolt of lightning cracked, but not as bright as before. A few seconds later, thunder boomed in the distance. The storm was heading south. I glanced around the yard, dimly lit by the single porch light. “The grass needs cutting,” I mumbled.
“The gardeners were here a few days ago.”
“Maybe they should lower the blades on their mowers, then,” I suggested. “The grass always grows twice as fast in the summer months.” My eyes fell upon the old hammock our uncle had tied up between the two oak trees. I pointed my finger at it. “The netting on that needs to be replaced before your wedding.”
“So now we’re talking about things that need to be done around here. Okay. At least we’ve graduated from one-word sentences. I’m well aware of what needs to be done.”
“Gabrielle.” Her name flowed past my lips with a heavy breath.
“What about her?”
“How much do you know about her?”
“Not much. Just things Lena has told me. She had started singing in Weezer’s band several months before Lena left it. They’d become close in those months. Gabby attempted to keep in touch, but apparently, Troy never let Lena know she’d tried. Why? Has she done something wrong?”
“No. Nothing like that. Nothing wrong. Just … strange.”
“As in?”
I glanced back at the house. Not wanting anyone, especially Lena, to hear what I had to say. “A few minutes ago, I was coming down the hall. I’d just gotten out of the shower, was towel drying my hair and hadn’t been looking where I was going. I smacked into Gabrielle.” I recounted the whole story about how Gabrielle had spilled the milkshake and then became all weird, apologizing and sounding like a scared little girl. “I’m telling you Jackson, she wasn’t herself. The way she stared at me, blotting the sticky stuff off my chest and stomach, saying, ‘Please don’t be mad, I promise I’ll clean it up, please don’t make me.’ It was like I was somebody else and was going to punish her in some weird way.”
“Make her do what?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t say. She just ran from me into her room and locked the door, or blocked it, because it wouldn’t open when I tried to check on her. My first thought was that she was on drugs or something, but when she finally let me in, I could tell she’d been crying. When I asked her what was going on, she came up with some lame excuse about acting out a character for a story she’s writing.”
“A story?”
“Yeah. Apparently, she’s getting a book published and writing another one.”
“Wow. That’s fantastic. But you think she was lying about the whole character thing?”
“Yeah. I’m positive.”
“Should I have Lena talk to her?”
“No. Let’s just keep it between us. I was only wondering if Lena had ever mentioned anything about Gabrielle’s past to you.”
“No. Nothing weird anyway.”
“Well, I think I’ll go pick up a bottle of bubbly to celebrate the book. Maybe that will make her feel better.”
“Sounds like a plan. Oh. Something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. This is none of my business, but why have you been home so much lately?”
“You’re right. It is none of your business.” Jackson knew me too well. He’d never buy the bucket of shit I was about to lay on him. But I didn’t want him getting all brotherly on me and start talking about Beth. He knew how much she’d affected my life. “I figured it was the least I could do since we have a houseguest. I didn’t think it was right to leave her alone knowing you and Lena would probably be busy with each other. New love and all.”
Jackson smirked. “Oh. And here I thought it was because you liked her.”
“Don’t get your hopes up there, big brother. She’s made it very clear that she wants nothing to do with me that way.”
“So you’ve tried.”
“Long time ago. Last year, but I think we’ve come to a mutual understanding now.”
“Which is?”
