6

April checked herself into a motel on the outskirts of town and only once she had set down her suitcase and flopped onto the bed did the realization come that it could well be the same Motel where Brian and his floozy had spent the weekend. The idea disgusted her, but she reasoned that the chances were pretty slim. There are plenty other motels around here, she told herself, although she couldn’t think of a single one.

She tried to push away the thought of Brian and another woman rolling around on the same bed she was lying on and then gave up on trying to do it herself. She called Marisa first and then Tracey to tell them what had happened. No point calling her mom just yet, it would only upset her and in her fragile state, April didn’t think she could deal with her mom and her feeling down.

She called for pizza a little while later when her stomach began growling and she remembered that she hadn’t even eaten yet.

Pizza for Sunday lunch? she asked herself.

Why the hell not? I’ve already had a shot of whiskey for breakfast, may as well break all the rules.

Afterwards, she put the phone on the side table next to her bed, tried to read, had little success in being able to concentrate, so instead turned on the TV that stood on a doily covered table in the corner of the room.

About fifteen minutes later, there was knock on the door. That was fast, she thought. But then a familiar clearing of the throat from the other side of the door caused her to freeze in her tracks. Through the blind of the window beside the door, she could make out the outline of a man’s shoulder. Instead of answering the door, she tiptoed quietly to the window and with two fingers, parted the blinds to look out.

It was Brian.

Oh no! she thought. His eyes were still focused on the door and she had just enough time to see that he was holding something in his hand. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought it may have been a gun. His eyes flicked towards her just as she recoiled away from the window.

Did he see me?

“April!” he shouted. “I want to talk to you!”

Hide hide hide, her mind raced.

She dashed across the room and dived over the bed, crouching down on the other side of it where she could keep an eye on the large windows.

“Let me in!” shouted Brian from outside. “I know you’re in there. It’s the twenty first century, April. You can track just about anyone these days.”

He paced back and forth past the window before stopping in the middle to cup his hands to the glass and peer in. She ducked her head down behind the bed, her hand pressed tightly against her lips to hold back the scream threatening to tear from her throat.

The phone was at the other side of the bed on the side table. To reach it she would have to dive over the bed and risk being seen by him. On the other hand, if she didn’t, he might break in anyway and it was anyone’s guess what he would do then.

She poked her head over the top of the bed to see that he had moved away from the window and slid her body up over the bed, keeping as low as she possibly could. With one hand she reached out and grabbed it and recoiled back to her position on the other side of the bed.

“I can see you,” said Brian. “I’m not going anywhere until we talk,” She could see the silhouette of the thing clutched in his hand now. It was a gun, there was no doubt about it anymore.

April dialed 911.

“Hello,” she whispered. “I’m in a motel room. My ex-fiance is trying to break in.”

After giving the operator the her name and the address, she hung up. She thought of Max and how nice he had been to her. He had told her to call her in case of trouble and if this wasn’t trouble she didn’t know what was. What if she didn’t get a chance to thank him properly? What if Brian had finally lost it and the moment he got frustrated at not being able to get inside, he shot through the window at her?

She hurriedly dialed Max’s number and he picked up on the third ring. “Hello, Max Connor speaking.” She tried to keep her voice steady, but even so, she couldn’t keep the panic out of her voice.

“Max,” she said. “It’s April.”

“April? Are you okay?”

“I’m at the Greenferry Motel out on Old Lake Drive. He’s here. Brian. And I think he has a gun. I called 911, but just in case I wanted to…”

“Listen, stay low, get into the bathroom and lock the door. I’m just a few minutes away. Hold on.”

The phone went dead in her hand and she stared at it for a moment, her mind struggling to grasp the instructions he had given her.

The bathroom was on the other side of the room. If she got up, from her spot, she’d be out in the open. Even if she leopard crawled, there was a 5 feet of open floor between her and the bathroom that would make her an easy target.

Nope, she thought, I’m not taking any chances. Instead, she pressed her body flat against the floor and waited.

The beating against the door continued and she poked her head up intermittently to see if either Max or the police had arrived.

After what seemed like hours, but what must have been mere minutes, she saw a black Range Rover pull up in the street on the other side of the motel parking lot. April watched as a silhouette strode across the lot toward Brian. Brian was standing at the window peering in again, waving the gun around. As the silhouette drew nearer, she recognized Max’s confident gait. Without hesitation, Max slipped one arm up under one of Brian’s armpits and around his neck, locking him in place and securing the weapon. Max brought his other fist up into Brian’s kidneys. The gun dropped instantly from his hand and Max booted it away, out of reach as he wrestled Brian to the ground.

Sirens wailed in the distance and finally the flashing lights of two police vehicles appeared in the parking lot. The officers double timed out of the vehicles and over to the two men, entangled on the ground.

April bolted out of the room to find the two officers pulling Max from Brian. Both men were restrained and one of the officers spoke into his radio while the other turned to April.

“Do you know these men, ma’am?” he asked.

“Yes, he’s my ex-fiance and this is Max, a friend of mine.”

“I see. And you made the call?”

“Yes, officer. My fiancé had a gun. We’d just broken up this morning and I thought he was going to try something stupid. He’s been drinking too much lately and acting really strange, so I was really worried. I called Max just in case. Max was only stepping in to help.”

The officer released Max and walked over to where the gun lay on the ground. With his pen, he lifted the gun up by the trigger guard. “Ma’am, do you know what kind of gun this is?”

“No, officer, I’ve never seen it before. I didn’t even know he had a gun.”

“This is BB gun. Pretty harmless unless he shot someone in the eye. Has he harassed you before?”

“Not really. I mean he almost tipped me out of my chair last night, but…”

“We can get him for harassment and intimidation, should you choose to press charges, but I’ll be sure to give him a good talking to down at the station. Make sure he never pulls this sort of thing again. It might be wise to get a restraining order set as well.”

“Okay, do you mind if I talk to him quick?”

“Go ahead.”

April walked over to where Brian was being handcuffed. His eyes were wild and his face flushed. “What were you thinking, Brian? I can’t believe you.”

“I thought you were in there with some guy. I was just going to scare him.”

“Oh Brian, listen. It’s over. I never want to see you again, do you understand? I don’t belong to you. It’s over. You need to get some help and get over this. You have a kid to take care of now. Someone else’s kid. That’s the life you’ve chosen. Just go.”

The officer bundled Brian into the police car and after asking her and Max a few more questions, they drove off.

Max and April stood in the parking lot watching as they drove away. “I’m sorry to get you involved in all that,” said April.

“Better safe than sorry,” said Max.

“I still don’t get it,” said April. “How did he know where I was? Last night. Today. It doesn’t make any sense. He said something about it being the twenty-first century and being able to track just about anyone.”

“Maybe he tracked your phone. It’s pretty simple to do. Here,” he held out his hand and April handed it to him. Max quickly disabled the GPRS and handed it back to her. “That should take care of that. Do you have somewhere safe to go?”

April shrugged. “Not really.”

“Come on,” he said, “Get your things.”

***

Max lived alone on a ranch just a little further out of town. A massive estate looked out over miles of rolling hills, lush forest and a jagged line of mountains along the horizon.

“Why do you live all the way out here?” said April. “I mean, it’s beautiful and all, but doesn’t it get lonely?”

“When you spend all your time in busy restaurants and nightclubs, this place is like a lip balm for your soul. Nothing quite as refreshing as spending a summer evening under the stars, or waking up with fresh winter air in your lungs. Also it’s nice and tucked away. You’ll be safe here until things with Brian are sorted out.”

“But how can I repay you? I mean this is all too generous.”

“Think of it as a halfway house,” said Max. “Halfway between your old life and the new one of your choosing.”