Chapter 4
“Trust me, Jeanie…” Lindsay walked
from the bathroom wearing a thong bikini. “You need this.”
MTV was taping its annual spring
break out series. Lindsay was on the line-up of guests as was Blink 182. She’d
vowed to stop at nothing to hook-up with Mark and this was her chance. What
Lindsay neglected to tell Jeanie was that she’d heard that The Backstreet Boys
might put in a surprise MTV guest appearance. Lindsay was certain if Jeanie had
known that, she’d have broken a leg to keep from coming.
Jeanie looked at her young protege
and felt old...very old. What in God’s name was she doing here? The last place
Jeanie wanted to be was on the beach with thousands of college kids.
“Lindsay. I might do a little
work. You know, write a little.” She pulled out her laptop.
“No!” Lindsay wrestled the
computer away from her. Megan and Lindsay had talked a lot and they were both
more than worried about Jeanie. As far as they could tell all she did was work.
She barely ate, barely slept. Jeanie had confided in Megan that she got
“plenty” of sleep…usually from one or two a.m. until five or so. Megan was
shocked. Three hours a night was all she sleeping.
“Lindsay, you can’t stop me from
working.” Jeanie pulled the laptop away from her.
“Like hell I can’t!” Lindsay
jerked it back. “Jeanie, look at yourself. God…”
Jeanie didn’t want to look at
herself. She was old. “Lindsay, please. You don’t understand.”
Lindsay saw red. “Of all the
people in the whole wide world, I DO understand! Remember? I understand very
well.” Jeanie sat down on the edge of the bed. Lindsay knelt down in front of
her. “Whether you want to admit it or not, you’re working yourself into an
early grave. Stop. You’re young and so pretty. Don’t do this to yourself. Don’t
punish yourself for what Kevin did.”
She knew Lindsay was right, but
the fact was that Lindsay didn’t know everything. No one did…not Megan or Mike.
Not Mac or Jessie. Not Kevin… She was no longer punishing herself for what
Kevin had done. Jeanie was punishing herself for what she had done. Not one
single person realized that when she and Kevin broke up, she was eight weeks
pregnant. The week after he moved out, she had an abortion.
She had to keep working. If she
stopped, she would remember. If she slept, she had nightmares. She already had
one baby to raise alone. She couldn’t bear the thought of going through the
whole ordeal alone again. She didn’t have the strength to do it again. She
wouldn’t put her friends through it a second time. Jeanie felt she had no
choice.
It was living with the
consequences of her decision that was eating her up inside. The only solution
she had was to work until she literally would drop from exhaustion. That way,
she was too tired to remember and too tired to dream…
“You change into your bathing suit,
hear me? I’m meeting Megan and then we’re going to talk to the photographer,
Sean somebody…” Lindsay grabbed her bag. “If you’re not out there in fifteen
minutes, I swear I’m coming back and beat your ass, Jeanie Richardson…” she
giggled.
“Kirkpatrick…” Jeanie whispered.
“My name is Jeanie Kirkpatrick.”
Lindsay stopped. She had no idea
when Jeanie quit using Kevin’s name. They weren’t even divorced…yet. “Whatever
and whoever you are...just get your ass outside.”
**********
“So, man, who’s going?” Nick kept
his eyes closed and let the sunshine embrace him. He could hardly stay awake.
“Me, I guess. Come on, man. Come
with me. Just for a day or so. Just until I talk to Lindsay.” A.J. sat down on
the chaise next to Nick.
“Kevin goin’?” Nick mumbled. “You
two always seem to have a good time…” he shot a devilish grin back at A.J., who
answered by popping him with a towel. “Ouch! Geez…”
“I have no idea. If his girlfriend
lets him…” A.J. answered sarcastically. “You know Nick…I KNOW I fucked up and
one way or another I’m going to straighten it out with Lindsay. Kevin oughta be
kissing the ground Jeanie Kirkpatrick walks on. He says he loves her, but…well,
you know.”
“I know.” Nick sat up. “Lemme ask
you something. You think Jeanie would go out with me?”
A.J. burst into laughter. “No!”
“Why?”
“Nick? You can’t be serious!
First, she’s Kevin’s wife, hello? Second, she’s old enough to be your mother…”
“Older sister.”
“Whatever. God, no…no.”
“Maybe she likes younger guys,”
Nick laughed.
A.J. walked off. “I’m pretending
we never had this conversation. Are you going or not?”
“Yeah, I’ll go.” Nick jumped into
the pool. When he surfaced he yelled at A.J. “Hey!”
A.J. turned around. Nick was
treading water and grinning. “Don’t underestimate my sex appeal!”
“I wouldn’t think of it…you’re
sick, Nick.”
Nick laughed. “I know…”