CHAPTER FOURTEEN
KP
I lay awake with Caitlyn curled up by my side. It was early in the morning, nearly dawn, but Sunday, so we could sleep in. Hopefully, Caitlyn wouldn’t demand too much “me time,” because the party was pretty much a lot of her time.
I don’t know why I felt so off about that. She accepted the car, which I frankly thought she would never do, and she was free with her body, even initiated a little car sex, and I appreciated the spontaneity. I was feeling off-kilter though. She wasn’t that much younger than me — less than ten years — but the diversity and utter coolness of her friends made me feel like a relic.
I was rich as all fuck and incredibly famous, and none of them cared. Caitlyn had given them the heads up to steer clear of me, but even when they were drunk, they didn’t seem at all interested in me. What they cared about was music, weird cheap drinks, and Caitlyn. That made me crazy.
After lying there awhile, I realized I was too wired, frustrated, and generally upset with myself to sleep, so I carefully slipped out of bed. I’d go to the kitchen to catch up on some work. I usually worked every day, and outside of sex, work was the best thing to calm me down.
As I tucked the sheet around her tighter, guilt bubbled up. I’d hurt her tonight, taking her as hard as I did. I was so pent up and ravenous, I just pounded her like I would Rachel, who loved that kind of thing. Caitlyn was vanilla with a little bit of spice — very little — but willing to try more, which was sweet. Still, I’d taken advantage.
After my laptop booted, I checked my emails. Rachel was begging to come back and Lucas was confirming for Tuesday. Well, those two were as predictable as always. As sad as it was, it felt more normal. I looked around the house and tried to discover what Caitlyn’s normal was. There were paintings on nearly every visible inch of wall space, which was a testimony to her late grandmother and her voracious love for Caitlyn. Then the graffiti piece made with poetry and art. But what else drove her?
I found a stack of her notes near her laptop. Tucked in the pile was a drawing that intrigued me. It was a girl with a massive volume of twisted and curled hair. She had a beautiful mouth drawn into a kind of sexy pout. I loved the way the character looked. The name in an irreverent-looking print was Mathilda, and the name of the animated series — I assumed by the look of the drawings I flipped through — was “So Now it’s X.”
I was so intrigued, I sat down and read Caitlyn’s entire pitch for the series. She had printed it out, so she must have intended to take it to school with her the following week. She hadn’t even officially begun school, I loved the eagerness. It took me an hour, but by the time I had read the whole pitch for the young adult animated series, I was hooked.
So Now it’s X” is about a depressed teen on meds, who is seeing a shrink and trying to manage her depression. Unbeknownst to everyone, she is actually a superhero who has to face the world’s ills.
The tone of the series was snarky, poignant, and cool. I could pitch something this timely in my sleep. It dealt with mental illness, music, sexuality, suicide, school… life. I wanted it, I wanted to make it. I’d finally found our common ground. Caitlyn and I had a crossroads where her world would meet mine.
I was tempted to wake her with a kiss and share how impressed I was, but instead, I decided to have her pitch me her version of the series. If I had her spin on it, I could use it to work my magic.
I felt better, having found little miss irreverent Mathilda, the depressed superhero teen, in Caitlyn’s kitchen. It was still dark when I inched back into bed, put my arms around her, and fell asleep. We both slept in and didn’t wake until our bodily needs could no longer be ignored.
“I’m starving,” she said in a sleep-dazed state.
“I have to pee,” I growled.
We both reluctantly crawled out of bed. She started breakfast, and when I walked into the kitchen, I was surprised to see her only wearing panties and an apron as she sizzled up some bacon and eggs.
“Um, think you forgot something,” I said as I snuck up on her and started kissing her neck as she cooked.
I had learned that her neck, the tops of her inner thighs, and her belly button where her sweet spots. If I wanted her to play with me, I knew to go for those zones.
“Did I?” She acted as if she had no idea what I was talking about.
“You did.” I slipped my hand inside of her panties and let my fingers dance around her soft, lovely skin.
“I don’t want to burn you,” she warned as she moved the bacon and eggs to a plate.
“But you already have,” I teased, “with desire.”
We both laughed at how corny I sounded, and it made me fall in love with her a little more. I wanted to make love to her again. Soon, it would be a week before I got the chance. After she plated the food, I was ready for her.
“Just take it easy this time, okay,” she gave me a sweet warning.
After we ate, I did take it easy. I also took my time. Kissing every inch of her skin, I lapped at her labia and clit, soft strokes that drove her crazy. As rough as last night was, this was gentle and loving. Still new territory for me, but I enjoyed it.
Afterwards, I begged her to pitch me the show. She told me she and the students at the art center had created the show as a parting gift. They wanted her to develop it while she was at Parsons. I smiled; I had a better idea.
I was reluctant to leave Sunday night, but I knew she would be moving nearby soon, so I tried not to make a big show of it. Robert picked me up around five o’clock, and I returned to Manhattan feeling incredibly lonely. It was only two more weeks before Caitlyn moved to school. We compromised on the dorm, and she agreed to rent a single apartment near campus. There was no doubt in my mind that she would make friends — cool, artsy friends. The thought terrified me for some reason.
I’d made a big stink about having to wait for her to move in, and maybe that was why it all happened the way it did. Being honest had its disadvantages, as I soon discovered. After returning to the office, I went back to business as usual, calling Caitlyn twice a day as we had agreed was sensible. The only thing really powering me through that week was putting Caitlyn’s pitch on the agenda. I was excited about getting that project approved and started. I had a sparring match planned with Lucas the next day, so things were going back to normal.
On Tuesday, I returned to my office after a quick lunch with a cinematographer I was trying to woo into working on a crap film to up its credentials. I was feeling pretty good because the lunch meeting went well, and I almost had him convinced that it would be a good move for him.
I was feeling great until I walked into my office to find Rachel spread out on the couch wearing a pair of high heels and a set of pearls. Her long, bronzed legs were crossed, and she was reading a trade magazine. She looked just like the cover of a skin rag.
I was speechless. I would have loved to say that she had zero effect on me whatsoever, but that would be a bold-faced lie. At least one part of me was really excited to see her, in fact too excited to hide.
Fuck. My easily aroused state must have been some kind of condition I needed to have looked into at some point. She noticed, and once seen, it was hard to unsee.
“Missed me?” she purred.
In spite of my traitorous body’s arousal, my brain wasn’t impressed. “I made it exceedingly clear that we aren’t doing this anymore.” I was having trouble keeping my anger below the surface.
She stood in all her naked glory. “I thought I’d surprise you.”
“How did you get past Sandra? She’s pretty much Fort Knox.”
“It was easy. I don’t think anyone told your prison warden that I was no longer coming.” She slunk over to me, her eyes blazing with lust. “If you really didn’t want to see me again, one would think that would have been the first thing you’d done.”
“I told her to call me if you came to the office, so either someone wasn’t doing their job, or someone is lying.” I had a pretty solid bet which it was.
She sighed dramatically. “Fine, I waited till she left her desk for the copy machine.”
“I need you to leave, I have work to do.” I went to my desk and booted my laptop, trying to not even think about what Caitlyn would do if she ever learned about this.
She followed me to the chair and leaned down to press her lips to my ear. “You don’t want to do your work; you want me. It’s been too long.”
When her hand moved to my crotch, I batted it away. “I’m exclusive with Caitlyn, so I’m not interested in anything casual anymore.”
“Great, you’ve conquered your conquest.” Her hand went back to my fly. “Now you can fuck me.”
I stood up, ready to toss her out of my office when the phone rang. At first, I thought it might be Sandra before realizing my door was still open.
I grabbed Rachel’s wrists, holding them both in front of me. “Stop, get dressed, and leave.” I was pissed.
Instead of doing what I asked, Rachel sank to her knees. “Just a little lovin’ first. Let me make you feel good.”
“Are you completely out of your mind? The fucking door is open and you’re totally fucking naked.” I tried to yank her up, but she went limp like a freaking toddler, and ended up staying where she was.
“Oh, come on. You love a little PDA.” Since I was still holding her wrists, she surprised me by leaning forward and pressing her face to my zipper.
As if I was in some nightmare, I heard the door in the outer office open. I expected to see Sandra, and that would have been bad enough. But — shit, shit, shit — it was Caitlyn. And I’d never seen anyone look more surprised. Or hurt.
I knew what this looked like, I wasn’t a fool. But I also knew what this wasn’t, and from the look that was now taking over Caitlyn’s face, she wasn’t in the mood to believe me.
“Fuck!” I yelled and tried to push Rachel away. The damn woman sprang back, her hands clutching at me again.
“Come on, baby. Now that you’ve fucked your little waitress, it’s my turn again.”
Caitlyn gasped, her hand coming up to her mouth, and Rachel’s head whipped around, seeing her in the outer office for the first time.
Rising slowly from the floor, Rachel made a show of wiping off her mouth, an evil glint in her eyes. “Looks like I won that bet, baby. I owe you a dollar.”
Time stopped, and all I could do was shake my head. No, it’s not true. No, this isn’t what it seems. No. No. No.
Caitlyn whirled and stormed out. This couldn’t be happening.
I went to race after her, but damn Rachel grabbed my leg, slowing my progress. “Get out,” I roared at her, shoving her hands off me. “And don’t you ever come back.”
Bursting into the hallway, the damn elevator door closed before I could get inside. Fuck. That gave her a twenty-three-floor head start. A startled looking Sandra appeared around the corner, a coffee mug in hand.
“What’s wrong?”
I pointed at the office. “Get her out. Call security if necessary. And never let her back in.”
Sandra began to cry. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“It’s okay,” I said as I took off for the stairs. “Not your fault. Just get her out.”
I was dripping sweat by the time I got to the bottom and burst outside. No Caitlyn. Her Volvo was there, a very confused looking valet holding the keys.
“Mr. Preston, the lady left these with me to give you.”
“Where is she?”
He pointed to the cab pulling out onto the street. I took off. This was fucking New York. She’d be snarled in traffic. She wouldn’t get ten feet.
But no.
The one minute I craved a traffic jam, there was none. And even as I ran, the yellow car turned the corner and was gone.
My world shattered and there wasn’t enough rage inside me to glue the pieces back together. I wanted to go back upstairs and rip Rachel apart, but I knew she was just doing what she did, what we did until a few weeks ago. How could she know how much I had tried to change? Had changed?
Thank god Rachel was dressed when I walked back into my office. “So I take it that was the little waitress?”
“Get out.” I looked at Sandra. “Call security.”
Rachel huffed. “No need in that. I’m going.”
But she didn’t fucking move. “Out. Now.”
She cocked her head to the side. “You really like this girl, don’t you? I’ve never seen you have remorse for anything. It was just a blowjob, she’ll get over it. Take her some flowers and give her a few orgasms and she’ll be putty in your hands.” Rachel grabbed her bag and blew me a kiss as she passed by.
“Get out!”
Rachel opened the door, but stopped and turned back. “I’m gonna miss that dick of yours. It was the best fucker in town. Oh, well, maybe I’ll now find a real man without your cock to distract me. See you around.”
Sandra looked like she was about to have a stroke, and I reminded myself to give her a fat bonus.
“I’m sorry,” I told her and meant it.
She relaxed fractionally. “I—”
“Didn’t deserve to witness that,” I finished for her. “It won’t happen again.”
She nodded. “Mr. Preston?”
“Yes?”
“Go after her.” When I just stared, she added, “Not that one.” She wrinkled her nose. “The other. Your girlfriend.”
Yes, she was getting a huge bonus.
I nodded. “I will.”
Not that it did any good.
I camped out on her front porch, but she didn’t come home, and Richard shut his door in my face when I knocked. Tammy gave me the most intense tongue-lashing I’d ever received in my life.
Tail tucked between my legs, Robert drove me back to New York, me pressing the redial button every few minutes. Voicemail every time.
The thing was, I knew I deserved all that nonsense. It’d never occurred to me that Rachel had real feelings for me, but a few days later, she sent an email apologizing and confessing her love.
But she loved the me I was before — cold, ruthless, rich, and wild. Caitlyn had grown to love the man I was trying to become.
I kept calling her, but she never answered. And the one time the call did go through, it was Tammy with a few choice words on where I could stick my dick.
It was all pretty soul-crushing. I couldn’t call Wenton. These matters were over his head, and the news of Caitlyn leaving would surely kill him. Since I had a sparring match already on the books with Lucas, I decided to raise the white flag.
“Can we cancel tonight’s workout?” I asked with my heart dragging behind me.
“Wow, what happened to you?”
“I need advice.”
“Okay, let’s hit the pub and hash this out. I can kick your ass another day, seems like someone has already done a fair job of it already.”
We drank more scotch than we should have, and by the time Lucas was firing out his ideas to get Caitlyn back, we were both really drunk.
“Okay, I think I got it. It’s really hard for women to turn down men when they come in riding on a white horse, professing their undying love and devotion,” Lucas slurred.
“What? You want me to buy a white horse? That seems a little over the top.”
“No, not a real horse, idiot!” he chided.
“Well a fake one sounds more stupid,” I fought back.
“Remember that scene in Say Anything where Andrew McCarthy shows up with a boom box and plays Peter Gabriel’s ‘In Your Eyes?’ It was the song they made-up fucked to, remember?”
“Kind of, that’s a pretty old chick flick.” I was suddenly very discouraged. That was all he had for me?
“But that scene, that’s a famous fucking scene, more famous than the movie,” he encouraged.
“The movie was shit.” I hated that film, probably because I felt like the embezzling father on occasion.
I never stole money, but I stole other stuff. Hearts mostly.
“But you gotta pull a ‘Say Anything’ man.” He was bro’ing out on me, but I got his point, and it gave me an idea.
“I think you might be onto something,” I conceded and Lucas thumped his chest.
We finished our drinks and Robert took our drunk asses home.
The next day, I had a raging hangover, but I was pumped. I would pitch Caitlyn’s animated series at the Friday pitch meeting then head out of work early to put “Project Prince Charming” into place.
The pitch went well, most of the executives loved the idea, and a few had biases about the subject matter. Since I was the president of the company, I figured I would get my way as long as I had a majority, which I did. I would just whittle down the rest. By four o’clock, I was out of the office and had Project Prince Charming in play. I got Robert up to speed and he drove me to an antique car dealership where I bought an old model white Mustang convertible. I made sure the muffler made lots of noise.
By six, I was at the top of Caitlyn’s street, ready to make my move. I had also bought a portable AV speaker system, which I plugged into the car’s cigarette port. Small but very loud, I cranked them up as high as they would go. I was pretty sure I’d blast them out, but who cared, I could afford a thousand speakers. Getting Caitlyn to at least talk to me was worth all the money in the world.
I had to admit, I was extremely nervous, but I was ready for this. I got my microphone, did a vocal warm up — even though it was useless — and waved Robert on. He drove slowly down Caitlyn’s street with me standing in the backseat of the convertible, microphone in hand, Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me” blasting at ear-shattering decibels as I sang along.
The sleepy little boulevard came alive with curiosity, and a fair bit of annoyance as most of the elderly people came out onto their porches and flipped me off.
Little kids came out and cheered us on as I rode down the street singing my best, which was still remarkably bad. We passed Caitlyn’s house, and there was nothing. My heart sank. Was she even home? Her beater car was there, and I could see a figure in the window. It didn’t look like Caitlyn, maybe Tammy? Oh god, her whole posse was most likely there. Her friends usually flocked to her whenever she was in need. I looked at Robert, defeated.
“Now what?” I was near tears.
He stopped the car. “Are you holding on tightly back there? I don’t want accidental manslaughter on my record.”
“What are you proposing?” I was excited and just a little bit nervous.
“I say we keep at this and go around the block until she comes out of her house,” he suggested.
“Same song over and over?”
He nodded and I nodded back. She would have to come out of her house, to shut me up if anything.
“I’m in, let’s do it!” I geared up for the song again, preparing to belt it out as many times as it took.
Which apparently was six. Six damn times of making a total ass of myself for Caitlyn, Tammy, and Ricky to open the door.
Caitlyn tried to look unaffected but I could tell she was a little bit impressed. Robert stopped, and I picked up an enormous bouquet of flowers, bigger than any wedding, funeral, or Quinceañera had ever seen. Robert then slowly drove into Caitlyn’s driveway, and I took up the mic again.
“Will you take a chance on me? Even if I’m not perfect and I really fucked things up?” By this point, the entire neighborhood was out of their houses and watching us. And dammit, phone cameras were rolling too. Looked like the entire world would get to witness my lovestruck capitulation.
Caitlyn remained serious. “We need to talk,”
It was better than a “no.” There were some cheers from around the block as I got out of the car and followed Caitlyn into the house with flowers in hand. She hadn’t accepted the flowers and looked sad when she turned to face me in the living room, which was warm and familiar. Just being there crushed my heart. Tammy and Ricky sat on either side of her, and I sat in the seat across from them. They were my judge and jury.
“I don’t think I even want to know what happened, KP. I saw what I saw. I tried to call you and let you know I was coming.” Her eyes teared up. “The school had moved up my registration date, so I thought I would stop by since—”
“You shouldn’t have to explain yourself,” Tammy said. If looks could kill, her face would have already murdered me.
I faced them with all the honesty and sincerity I had in me.
“Rachel was a woman I’d been sleeping with when I met you. She wasn’t the only woman I’d been sleeping with, but she was the one I saw regularly. When I first met you, Caitlyn, I had hoped to have a similar kind of arrangement with you.”
“Get out!” Tammy stood up and came at me.
I stood to meet her, “Just, please, hear me out.”
This was enough for Tammy to sit down, but my death was still probably imminent.
I took a long breath. “When you didn’t take me up on my offer, I made a bet with her that I would remain celibate until I could…” I trailed off, not needing to say it.
Caitlyn had the same catatonic stare she wore when her grandmother died.
Tammy pointed a finger at me, and I could tell she wished it was a gun. “Well, congratulations, you won. Now leave, you motherfuckering piece of shit scum of the Earth.”
She was pissing me off. “Feel better?” I asked, unable or unwilling to keep the snideness out of the tone.
“Not as good as I’ll feel when we get a restraining order on your ass,” she quietly threatened.
I was getting sidetracked, so I turned back to Caitlyn. “When you finally let me into your world, I didn’t even know how to feel human emotions. But over the course of knowing you, I fell in love with you.”
God, now it was my turn to start crying. I had to get my shit in order. I couldn’t be kicked out of her house weeping like an idiot.
Tammy snorted. “You sure got a shit way of showing it.”
Ricky just held Caitlyn, consoling her, in the place I should have been.
“I am in love with you. You are the only woman I ever want to be with. I told Rachel that, and she was testing me. That’s what you saw. A moment earlier, you would have seen me trying to kick her out. A moment later, you would have seen me trying to kick her out. What you saw was the worst possible moment of my fight against her, and I’m sorry for that. But you have to know that my mind never wavered. I was kicking her out when you walked in. You can believe me or don’t, it’s up to you, but I love you, and I can’t see a world worth living without you in it.”
I was out of breath, my pounding heart creating a roaring noise in my ears.
I’d said what needed saying. The rest was up to her.
When she finally looked at me, it was over. All the emotion I’d bottled up my entire life began pouring from my eyes. I sobbed like a child. Then she was there, my beautiful Caitlyn, her arms around me. “I forgive you,” she whispered as she held me in her arms.
Then another set of hands were on me. I looked up to find Tammy crying too. “Do it again and I’ll give you something to cry about.” But the threat had no head as she stroked my arm in a comforting gesture.
By the time I stopped crying, Caitlyn had taken the bouquet from my arms and had wiggled into my lap. Ricky invited us over to Ricky and Rafael’s house for dinner, then both friends left us alone.
Caitlyn made love to me on the chair, and when I came, I called out her name, declaring my love over and over again. As I held her afterward, I asked for a favor. “Can we take a picture of us with these flowers to send to Wenton?”
It was part of the hunt.
“Are you sure this is it, KP? We would hate to disappoint him.”
She was being reasonable, but I hated it because it only came out when honesty was truly difficult. I was ready.
“My last hunt was to fall in love, Caitlyn. I’ve done it, and I want him to know you’re the one.”
And there it was.
We took a selfie with the flowers and sent him a text with our picture: LOVE = Flowers.
I then looked through my phone for the picture I took with Caitlyn of the heart I painted on her graffiti gift project and sent it to him as well. LOVE = Names on a Tree (paper).
I usually heard right back from him, so I was surprised when he didn’t respond immediately.
Later over dinner with her friends, the worry grew. It wasn’t that late, and he was usually a night owl. I called rather than texted, but he didn’t answer the phone. Something inside of me, something visceral, knew something was wrong. I called the facility.
After speaking to the receptionist, I was put on hold a long time. My heart started racing. This was also strange. The facility was always so hot for our money that we were treated like royalty. They would have never had me wait for anything, let alone for someone to come to the phone. Finally, his doctor picked up.
“Mr. Preston. We were just about to call you. We’ve been attending your brother. It seems Wenton has had a heart attack. He’s in the hospital and we have him stabilized, but…”
The phone dropped from my numb hands. Caitlyn picked it up and got the details then called Robert to pick us up. We made it in thirteen minutes, a world record. I ran inside, but they wouldn’t let me see him.
“He needs to rest, and we have to monitor his condition. We’ll let you know when you can see him. I suggest you go to his cottage and wait for our call,” the doctor instructed calmly.
“I want to see him,” I shouted.
“Seeing you upset won’t help him. We have him stabilized, and he’s fine for the moment. Please take some time to calm down, and we’ll call you as soon as we think he’s ready for visitors.”
“He’s my fucking brother! I’m not a fucking visitor!”
Caitlyn grabbed my arm and pulled me in the direction of the waiting area. “We’ll be in here when you have news.”
She stayed with me all night, stroked my head, and spoke in soft, comforting tones. Sometime around seven in the morning, they let us see Wenton. We were both stiff and tired but happy to be able to finally see him. He was in good spirits but looked weaker and frailer than I’d ever seen him. His eyes were glazed over and distant, and the greenish pallor of his skin had deepened a shade. I knew, as soon as I saw him, that I was losing him.
“Hey there, Drama King, what’s this nonsense?”
The smile was so very weak, but it appeared. “How else could I get you out here on a weekday?”
“You could have called.”
I was serious. If he wanted me, he should have known he could call.
“They took my phone,” Wenton said with deep sadness.
“So, you didn’t see the pictures I sent you?” I was trying to be light and happy, no need to dwell on the obvious.
“Nope.”
“I did it, bro. I’m almost done with the last hunt. I have a picture with my initials in a tree. Well, sort of a tree. Also got a picture with flowers. All we need is a picnic, a kiss, and um…a lovestruck gaze, then I’m through.”
“Great. The lucky woman better be Caitlyn.”
She took his hand. “I am.”
“Well, let’s go on that picnic,” Wenton whispered, already tired from talking too much.
I lost a little of my enthusiasm at that point. They’d never let him out for a picnic.
Wenton apparently felt otherwise because he buzzed the nurse, who he obviously had some sort of flirting relationship with, because he went into mode when she arrived.
“Amelia,” he batted his eyes, “can I go to the lake?”
Amelia was a heavyset, kindly looking woman in her fifties. She looked like an angel until she said the following words, “Doc won’t allow it.”
“Please, just for two minutes to see the water? You don’t have to tell the doc, just sign the little paper that says I can. I’m not going off property, just to see the water.”
She patted his hand. “Sorry, Wenton, I can’t do it. Your heart isn’t feeling too well today, I won’t be able to get the approval,” she said sadly.
“Okay, can I get a wheelchair to take a spin around the floor then?” Wenton gave his best puppy dog grin.
“I might be able to authorize that, just give me a minute,” she said as she walked out.
“Okay, here’s our chance.” I recognized Wenton’s sneaky mode. “Go get a chair from the nurses’ station. Amelia has to go find the doctor to authorize my wheelchair. We just have enough time.” Wenton’s hopeful smile broke my heart.
“Buddy, I can’t take you out of here, you’ll die.”
He squeezed my hand. “You only live once.”
“Well, yeah, but let’s keep you around for a while longer.”
To my horror, tears appeared in his eyes. “I don’t want to be here awhile longer, I want to see the lake. Please… I’ll never see it again.”
“I’ll do it,” Caitlyn volunteered, surprising the shit out of me. “You’re right, you only live once.”
Before I could open my mouth, she was out the door and stealing a wheelchair. The funny thing was, with Amelia gone, nobody even questioned it. She wheeled it close to the bed. “Step one is a success.”
I shrugged and went for it. Wenton’s electrodes were wireless, so I didn’t have that problem to deal with. I frowned at how light he was when I lifted him from the bed and sat him in the chair. Checking to see if the coast was clear, we zipped down the hallway, not breathing until we were out the door.
“Robert is bringing the convertible around,” Caitlyn said, her eyes shining.
“Good idea.”
We most likely would be arrested for what we were doing, but I had a great lawyer and loads of money. I could handle the heat. We were going to bust Wenton out of here for one last day in the sun. Robert brought the convertible while Caitlyn strolled Wenton out the service entrance unnoticed. As soon as we got Wenton in the convertible and the wheelchair stashed in the trunk, he was beyond thrilled and squealing with joy.
“Shhh, we don’t want to get caught,” I cautioned as Robert backed out of the driveway.
People had begun to take notice, but we ignored them as Robert sped away. As soon as we were clear of the facility, I turned up the tunes, playing all of Wenton’s favorites. He was humming Guns N’ Roses “Sweet Child of Mine” as we rode off into the distance. He made me sad that he couldn’t sing it at the top of his lungs like normal.
Robert drove us to the lake where Wenton and I grew up. It wasn’t far from the facility so we could be back in under fifteen minutes if necessary.
It had been years since we were on the shores that were the symbol of our childhood. I carried Wenton to the water’s edge and placed his feet in the water. Robert had made some calls and left to quickly pick us up a picnic with food, dishes, a checkered blanket, the works. I had him get some towels and a change of clothes too should we decide we wanted to get wet.
It would be a little while before he got back, so we just watched the calm, cool water together. Of course, it was very metaphoric because we knew we were on the edge of a great change in all of our lives. The lake was vast, a large and beautiful body of water. It made the little lake at Wenton’s facility look like a puddle. Wenton and I had looked out at that view so many times in our lives, planning our future. It was so strange to be in a place where the future was here already. In fact, for Wenton, it was almost the end. I had no capacity to deal with the emotions that were bubbling around inside me, so rather than revert to sex, I did the next best thing, laughter.
“Wenton? Do you remember when we went fishing with Grandpa Preston?” I knew this story was one of Wenton’s major triumphs. I wanted Caitlyn to hear it from Wenton himself.
“Yes. I hated fishing,” he pouted.
“You told Grandpa you didn’t want to go because you wanted the fish to stay in the lake.”
“I didn’t want them to die, and I hated to eat fish. The bones poked my mouth,” he remembered with distaste.
“Yeah, and what did you do?”
“Well, you and he caught a lot of fish.”
“I think we caught twelve.” We had a banner fishing day, I recalled.
“I was just hanging over the boat, putting my hands in the water.” Wenton laughed at his devilishness.
I laughed. “Yes, those little hands were under the water, quietly unstringing and releasing each one.”
“Grandpa was like, ‘Where are all the dead fish coming from?’ Cause some of them already died.” Wenton did his best impersonation of our stuffy grandfather, and I nearly fell over laughing.
It was our grandfather’s one and only fishing trip with us. He was a sports fisherman who loved to compete in local fishing events and prided himself on his expert skills. He had invited a group of people over for a fish fry with freshly caught fish, but since Wenton released them all, he had to get store bought. I don’t think his reputation survived that incident.
“And we made a deal that we would lie and say Grandpa didn’t catch any.” I was so proud of that day.
“And we never told anyone ever,” Wenton confessed. He looked at Caitlyn. “Until now.”
“Our mom was so pissed because she knew something was up, but we stood together, and Grandpa nearly killed us,” I added.
“Then there was that time we stole all of cousin Patty’s undies from the dryer,” Wenton said.
My nostrils flared. “Oh yeah, she was visiting us from Maine, and she was bothering you, right?”
“She got mad at me because I got permanent ink on her purse.” Wenton looked a bit guilty about this one.
“You played connect the dots with the Louis Vuitton symbols with a sharpie,” I reminded him.
He frowned, looking angry now. “And she called the police. They got mad, but I didn’t go to jail.”
“So, you stole all her underwear out of the dryer on the day she was leaving. That was brilliant because she had our maid wash all her clothes since she was going home for summer break after our house. You left her like one pair of dirties.”
“Again…we knew nothing,” he said, his fingers coming up to his lips to lock them up.
Caitlyn slapped her thigh. “You guys were terrible.”
“We weren’t the only ones,” I defended my brother. “People didn’t always get us, they were so distant and judgmental, we were better off without them. Right, Wenton?”
But Wenton didn’t answer. He was starting to show some signs of fatigue, his breathing had become shallow, and his eyes rolled in his head.
“Wenton!” I yelled.
To my enormous relief, he snapped out of it and came back to us. I knew we had precious little time left.
“Maybe it’s time for us to go back, buddy.” I wasn’t ready to take him back, but he seemed to be fading.
Robert screeched to a halt and began unloading the car. Along with the requested items, he brought collapsible camping chairs and a table. I was seriously impressed with all he was able to wrangle in such a short time. Another big bonus was in order.
“Wow, you’re amazing,” I said.
“God bless Target,” was his dry response.
We set out the picnic he brought. Nothing too extravagant, but some of Wenton’s favorites, peanut butter and jelly. Brie and grapes, juice boxes and some wine for Caitlyn and me. Sour Cream & Onion Pringles and Snickers. Just what the doctor ordered. I brought Wenton over to the table.
“Look at this, Wenton,” I said, showing him the spread, “It’s a picnic!”
“Ohhhh, take a picture of all three of us,” he said as we scooted together and took a selfie in front of the food. “Send it to me,” he demanded.
I texted him the picture: LOVE = Picnic.
We ate our meal as Wenton slowly faded.
“We should get you back soon, buddy. Caitlyn and I might have to spend a night in jail if we keep you out any longer.” I was getting worried that he was slipping so fast.
As much as I hated to admit it, the hospital was the best place for him.
“Just a minute more, please?” he asked.
He was staring at the castle on the hill at the nearest end of the lake. The house was an eyesore; it was the biggest home in the area and looked like a medieval castle. My mom had such shit taste. My father had it built for her from scratch. According to him, it wasn’t his undying love that inspired the architecture but rather his need to just “shut her up” about it.
“Do you think they’re home?” he asked.
“Maybe, do you want me to go check?” I figured this might be the final curtain, so if Wenton wanted it, I would do anything.
“No,” Wenton wheezed, “just say goodbye, okay.”
“Ah, they’ll come next family day, I’m sure.” I was just straight up lying to him.
He did nothing but roll his eyes.
“Okay,” I conceded.
We stayed as the sun set, but it was obvious that Wenton needed to go back to the hospital, so Caitlyn and I took a very tired and a very sick Wenton back to the facility. I carried him in, and he was immediately admitted to a room and hooked up to monitors. Then we were given a lecture on our recklessness.
“What you did, Kembrough, was illegal. We called your parents,” Dr. Wells fumed.
“And no one answered the phone, right?” I fumed. “They don’t care, but I do, so I took my dying brother for a joyride, one last time, get over it.”
“I’m still waiting for a return call,” he confessed.
“Good luck with that,” I said sarcastically.
“You gravely endangered Wenton’s life,” the doctor chided.
“He’s dying. His life is already gravely endangered,” I shouted. “I gave him one last chance to see his home, to say goodbye to his childhood, his dreams and his life.”
“You may have shorted his life—”
“By what? A day?”
Dr. Well’s mouth tightened. “Possibly two.”
Caitlyn placed a hand on my arm. “We’re sorry. We hoped it would make him happy.” She smiled her gorgeous smile, which seemed to pacify the doctor.
He took a deep breath and nodded. “I can’t say this as a physician, but as a human, I can’t blame you.”
We stayed in a hotel that night. I needed to be close to my brother, just in case.
I was exhausted and when we slipped into bed, I was in a weird mental space, and I couldn’t find any of my feelings. I was a robot. Caitlyn stroked my hair and my skin and tried to make love to me, but my body and mind refused to work. Instead, she wrapped her body around mine and engulfed me in her flesh. It felt good to be surrounded by someone I loved.
All I wanted to do was turn back time, back to the day when Wenton was born. I wanted to imprint his smiling face into my memory. I would never see another one like it. No one in this world was as kind or as generous. No one loved as freely or as completely as he did. I couldn’t bear to lose him, so I stayed with him in my dreams.