MORE THAN THAT
Chapter Nine
Cal picked Rose up at 6:30 on the dot. He
hadn't told her where they were going. He wanted to surprise her.
"Happy sweet sixteen, Sweetpea."
Cal kissed her hello.
"Thank you, darling." Cal hugged
Rose tightly.
"You look beautiful tonight," Cal
said, spinning her around. Rose felt special because of the compliment. She had
worn a black, strapless dress with a slit on both sides. It was simple, but was
still sexy, and made her look elegant. Her hair was swept up, a curl hanging
down. She wore the diamond earrings that her father had given her and the
diamond necklace that had belonged to her grandmother.
"Thank you!" Cal grabbed her coat
and placed it on her.
"Shall we be on our way, Sweetpea?"
Rose nodded her head. Cal and Rose left arm-in-arm.
When they got outside, Rose saw the Jaguar
that belonged to Cal’s father.
"Cal! This is beautiful! How'd you
convince your father to let you borrow it?" Rose asked.
"I told him it was a special occasion.
He knew I was talking about you, so he let me borrow it," Cal answered
her. He opened the passenger's side door of the car and held out his hand. Rose
took his hand and made her way inside the car. She smiled graciously. She
couldn't remember the last time she had felt so happy.
Cal got in the car and turned the key in its
ignition. He placed a CD in the CD player and forwarded the songs.
"Oh, my God, Cal!" Rose was
surprised to hear the song. The CD player played Truly Madly Deeply by Savage
Garden. "It's our song."
"I know. I remembered, Rose. You're
truly mine, and you'll always be." Rose smiled at him. She didn't know
about the events that were going to happen.
*****
Jack had left Tommy's house. His mother was
watching TV when he stepped in.
"Hey, Mom," he said to her. She
looked up at him and smiled.
"Hey, Jack. Where have you been?"
"I went to Tommy's house. He just
dropped me off. What have you been doing?"
"I came home from the hospital just now.
Sorry I wasn't home last night. They kept me there in the emergency room."
Rebecca Dawson yawned, tired from working. She was a nurse at Victory Memorial.
"It's all right. I know you're trying to
do your best to support us without Dad being around." Jack held back his
tears when he mentioned his deceased father, Andrew Dawson. However, his mother
didn't.
"I'm sorry, Jack. I don't mean to cry. I
just miss your father so much." Jack hugged his mother.
"It's all right. You loved Dad. I miss
him just as much as you do."
His father had been only forty years old, and
he had suffered a heart attack. His parents had had a strong love, having been
married at twenty-one. His mother came from a high society family. His father
was just a farm boy. She had defied her parents to be with him. Jack had
admired his parents love for so long. He knew that her fire for his father
would never burn out.
"I'm going to bed. I'm tired," she
said, letting go of their embrace. She and Jack stood up at the same time.
"All right. Good night, Mom."
"Good night." She gave him a hug
and kissed his cheek, then quietly went upstairs. Jack saw the glass of water
she had left on the coffee table and brought it to the kitchen. He went
upstairs to his room, where he sat at the desk. His art portfolio lay on top.
He opened it up to the next clean sheet of paper and began to sketch.
When he was finished, he looked at the
drawing of a girl crying. She stared out at the broken angel wings. He signed
the picture with his initials and the date. He looked at his clock. It read
12:10 AM.
Boredom was hitting him hard. He tried going
to sleep, but couldn't. He kept thinking of Rose. He got out of bed and changed
into what he was wearing before.
Quietly, he went downstairs and grabbed the
car keys his mother had left on the coffee table. He shut the door quietly and
went into the driveway. He opened the door to the old station wagon his parents
had had before he was born.
He didn't know where he was going, but he
needed to clear his head. He headed out of the driveway. He drove wherever the
road took him.
He saw the signs once he reached Ocean
Parkway. He read the sign which read Belt Parkway West. He drove down until he
saw the sign for the Verrazano Bridge. He knew it would take him out of
Brooklyn and lead him to Staten Island. But he didn't care.
There weren't even any cars on the bridge.
Just two passed by. He reached halfway over the bridge, and then stopped. He
saw a shade of red blowing in the wind. He couldn't believe his eyes. He jumped
out of the car.