A CALIFORNIA ROSE
Chapter Nine
Saturday, November 23, 2002
"Come on, Cal. Please? I’d really like
to see this." Rose spoke into the phone, her eyes scanning the newspaper
in front of her.
"Rose, if you want to see a theatrical
production, I’ll take you to Los Angeles. Not to some half-baked community
college production."
"This isn’t being shown in Los Angeles
right now," Rose told him. "I already checked."
"Then you can wait until it is."
"I heard a sample of the music through
this place you can call through the newspaper. It sounded really good. Besides,
the reviewer says it’s excellent."
"I am not taking you to see a college
production, Rose, and that’s final."
"Than I’ll go by myself."
"I don’t want you roaming around by
yourself in a strange place. It could be dangerous."
"There’ll be plenty of people around.
Besides, I visited Masline City College last year. It’s not that bad."
"In case you’ve forgotten, Rose, we have
a date tonight. I’m taking you out to dinner and a movie."
"Why don’t we go to the theater instead
of the movies? This musical has to be at least as good as most of the movies we
might see."
"Rose..." The warning in Cal’s
voice was unmistakable.
"Please, Cal. Just this once."
Cal was silent for moment. Finally, with a
sigh, he relented. "All right, Rose. But only this once."
After they had hung up, Rose jumped up and
danced around jubilantly. Something was going her way, for once. And, although
she wouldn’t admit it, even to herself, she hoped to see Jack again.
The show was excellent. Rose admired the
stage design, wondering which parts of it Jack had worked on. The actors were
well rehearsed, very professional, and even Cal applauded at the end of the
show.
Afterwards, the actors and the audience
strolled outside to mingle. Cal was impatient, wanting to leave before it got
too late, but Rose was talking to one of the actresses, complimenting her and
the whole cast on a job well done.
Cal was surprised when a young man with blonde
hair came up to Rose, asking her how she liked the show. He didn’t look like
one of the actors, and Cal was immediately suspicious.
He put a possessive hand on Rose’s arm.
"Who’s this, sweetpea?" he asked, looking at the young man warningly.
"Cal, this is Jack Dawson. He’s a
student here, and helped design the set for the show."
Cal nodded curtly to Jack, then tugged on
Rose’s arm. "It’s getting late. We’d better get going."
Rose followed reluctantly. When they reached
the car, she turned on him.
"That was rude."
Cal started the car, ignoring her remark.
Rose’s temper flared.
"You could have at least been polite.
You didn’t even talk to anybody after the show."
Cal just glanced at her. His mouth twitched
angrily.
"What’s with you and this Jack
Dawson?" he demanded.
Rose sighed. "Mari and I ran into him at
the library at Elias. He was doing research, making copies from books. Mari
sent his notebook flying, and we helped him pick up the mess."
"And he knows you well enough to pick
you out of a crowd?"
"We exchanged names. It seemed
polite." They had stopped at a red light, and Rose noticed Cal clutching
the steering wheel angrily. "He’s an acquaintance, Cal. Nothing
more."
"He’d better not be, Rose. You’re my
fiancee. Please try to remember that."
"As if I could forget."
Cal’s hand connected with her face. Rose
ducked, trying to stay out of reach, rubbing her stinging cheek. It wasn’t the
first time Cal had slapped her, but he seemed to hit her a little harder each
time.
"You’d better watch it, Rose," he
warned her, as the light turned green.
Rose just sat back in her seat, seething with
resentment.