ALMOST TOO LATE
Chapter Two
Jolie sat on the bench and watched Jack draw.
She didn’t like it when he drew; he seemed to go into another world. She would
have to talk very loudly to get him to pay any attention to her. He ignores
me on purpose, she thought. Since he was so busy, she was looking around at
the crowds. Down here in third class, the men were much the same as the
riffraff in the streets of Paris. Jolie saw Fabrizio coming towards them. That
was one gutter rat she’d like to get rid of. He took up entirely too much of
Jack’s attention. Jolie wished that she could find a friend, if only for the
voyage. "So, Jack, what you doing today? I missed you last night. There
was a party."
"Hello, Fabrizio." Jack looked up
and smiled at his friend. "Was it a good party?"
"Yes, it was. You should a been there.
You too, Jolie. Was a lot of fun. I dance with the beautiful blonde we meet at
dinner."
"How you two doing?"
"I don’t know what she say, she don’t
know what I say, so we get along fine."
Jack laughed, and the whole time neither of
them noticed Jolie, sitting there getting more and more angry.
This whole conversation had decided Jolie.
She had to get Jack away from everyone else. She couldn’t allow him to be
friends with anyone. He might realize that she was lying to him. He couldn’t
find out the truth. Not until they were married, and she wouldn’t have to
pretend to be pregnant anymore. I’m almost sure that Fabrizio knows I’m not
pregnant. I can’t allow him to tell Jack. "Jack, let’s go out on deck.
The air would be good for us," Jolie said, putting her hand on her belly.
She didn’t look at him, just started to lead the way. If she had looked, she
would have seen Jack frown. She had done that so much that Jack was getting
sick of it. Fabrizio frowned, too. He wondered why she did that. It was obvious
to him that she was not with child.
Out On Deck
Jack walked over to where Jolie was sitting
on a deck chair. He noticed her gazing towards first class. "Don’t you
want to be there someday, Jack? Look at all those beautiful dresses."
Jack glanced up, only he wasn’t looking for
dresses; he was looking for Rose. "Their lives can’t be all better than
ours," Jack said, trying to relate to her for once.
"Oh, Jack, don’t you have any idea? The
houses these people must live in, the paintings they must own? Don’t you want
that, even just a little bit?"
Jack stood there, not sure what to say. Rose
certainly wasn’t very happy, he thought. "I’d rather be poor and happy
than rich and miserable."
Jolie got really frustrated. Jack didn’t
understand her at all. She got up, ready to go back downstairs. "There is
no way anyone could be rich and miserable," she said, as she turned her
back to him.
Let her go, Jack thought.