Chapter 22
Jamie unlocked the door to her house and stepped into the dark quietly. She smiled as she turned around and watched Jeff walking back to his car and climbing in. With a quick honk of the horn and wave he pulled out of the driveway.
Jamie shut the door and locked it behind her, before switching on a light and dropping her purse on the ground. She touched her ears gently; to make sure the earrings were still there and couldn’t hold back a smile.
She walked into her kitchen in an almost happy daze. Pulling out a bottle of water and opening it, she looked at her answering machine to see a blinking 1. Pressing the red button quickly, she sat at a chair at her kitchen island.
“You have 1 new message,” the automated machine said.
“Jamie,” her father said, “I don’t know where you are, but you don’t have your cell phone with you and I need to talk to you. You’re probably out with that Jeff guy. I don’t care what time you get in, come over here. Don’t even bother calling, it’s incredibly important Jamie.”
Jamie sighed as she looked at her wall clock, not knowing what could be so important at after 11 at night. Feeling a bit guilty for not talking to her father except for a few minutes on the phone after they had seen each other at the country club, she put her jacket back on and picked up her purse and walked back out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Dad,” she called, unlocking the front door with her own key and walking in, “Dad? You up?”
Jamie walked into the dark front hall of her father’s large house. Quickly flipping the light on next to her, she looked around the empty front hallway and living room.
“Dad?” she called a little louder, not sure whether she should wake him or not.
“I’m in the family room,” she heard him yell from the back of the house.
Jamie quickly walked down the hall, through the dining room, and stepped into the entrance of the family room. As soon as she reached the entranceway, the smell of alcohol hit her, forcing her to step back.
“Dad?” she asked, peering into the dark family room, seeing his figure on the recliner on the other side of the room, “why is it so dark in here? And why does it smell like beer?”
“Hi honey,” her father said, ignoring her previous questions, “I’m glad you decided to come over.”
“Yeah,” she said, flipping on the light switch on the wall next to her, she watched her father squint, getting used to the light, as if he had been sitting in the dark most of the night “What was so important that I needed to come over right away?”
“Don’t you look pretty,” her father said, slurring his words together, and standing up, “All for Jeff. Doll yourself all up for Jeff…”
“Dad,” Jamie sighed, realizing just how drunk her father was, “Oh my God, you’ve been drinking again.”
Jamie looked at her father horrified. She hadn’t seen him look like this since her mother left; His now thinning and gray hair sticking up, unshaven, and his work clothes wrinkled and shirt un-tucked.
“I’ve been worried,” her father corrected, walking towards her. Even from feet away, Jamie could smell the alcohol on her father’s breath.
“Dad, you should just go to bed and sleep this off,” Jamie said, “I’ll help you upstairs and you can…”
“No!” Her father yelled, interrupting her and causing her to jump, “We are going to talk. I’m your father damnit! And you’ll listen to me!”
“Dad, it’s not a good time,” Jamie replied, nervously, “you’re completely wasted.”
“Don’t tell me what I am and aren’t,” her father yelled, slurring his words, “Jeff and you… I don’t like him Jamie. You can do so much better…”
“Is that was this is all about?” Jamie interrupted, raising her voice angrily, “the reason that I came over here at midnight when I have to go to work in the morning is to discuss my relationship with Jeff?”
Jamie turned to walk away, but her father grabbed her arm, and turned her around quickly. Pure terror showed in Jamie’s pale blue eyes.
“Don’t walk away from me young lady!” her father yelled drunkenly, “You are my daughter and you will listen to me.”
Jamie didn’t say anything, she couldn’t. She was too scared. She had never seen her father like this before, not even when her mother had left had he been like this. Jamie stared into the glazed over eyes of her father.
“This man is bad news,” her father said, “he’s just like your mother. He’s going to hurt you just like your mother hurt me.”
“Mom hurt me too!” Jamie yelled back, managing to find her voice, “and Jeff would never hurt me! He loves me Dad.”
“Jeff is nothing but white trash,” her father yelled back, “I saw him. He’s not like you… he’s not like us! He’s from the other side of the tracks…”
His voice trailed off as his eyes became focused on Jamie’s neck. Jamie felt his gaze and reached up, touching the pearl necklace around her neck.
“That was your mothers,” her father stated.
“Yeah,” Jamie agreed in a whisper, “She left it behind. I thought it was pretty.”
Without saying anything else, Christopher Smith grabbed the pearl necklace, pulling it off his daughter’s neck as she screamed in surprise. Jamie didn’t know what to say or do as she watched the pearls spill onto the floor and roll in different directions. Dropping to her knees, as tears formed in her eyes and small sobs escaped her lips she tried to gather them in her shaking hands.
“I don’t want you to have anything to do with your mother,” her father said, looking down at his kneeling daughter, “nothing to remember her by, nothing! Including that stupid picture in your living room of the little girl and the mom.”
“My photograph?” Jamie asked shocked, looking up at her father with wide, tearful eyes.
“Yes, that ugly picture,” her father repeated, “I want all your photography down actually. It’s only feeding your fake desires to become a photographer. You’re not one Jamie, you’re a businesswoman. Don’t fool yourself.”
“My photography?” Jamie sobbed, barely getting the words out as she clasped her hands over her mouth, dropping the pearls she had collected back onto the floor.
“And I don’t want you seeing Jeff again Jamie,” her father demanded, “Never. You and he are through. He just feeds your fantasy of living a different life then you have. A romantic, wild life is not what you have; you have a life like mine, filled with business, country clubs, and respectable people. Not like that wrestler boyfriend of yours!”
“Daddy,” Jamie pleaded from the floor, “please stop it. I love him…”
“You don’t even know what that means!” he cried, “I thought I loved your mother and look what she did. She up and left!”
With that, Mr. Smith stumbled out of the room. Jamie listened to his heavy footsteps go up the stairs and down the hall to his bedroom where he slammed the door shut. Jamie counted to twenty before lifting her sobbing body off the floor and using the wall for support, quickly made the way out of the house.
Chapter 23
Chapter 21