The Redemption(39)

“You’re better at this than I am.”

“I’ve had more practice.”

“I’ve had none.”

“None?” I ask. “You’ve never left a girlfriend before? That can’t be right.”

Walking around me he stops in front of the back door. “I’ve never cared about anyone enough when I left to tour.”

“So what you’re saying is that you like me too.”

He chuckles. “Yes, I like you, as if that wasn’t already clear.”





The next day everything changed. It’s strange and kind of amazing how that happens. You think you’re finally figuring things out, but you’re not and stuff gets twisted… and tainted. No matter how you fight against the inevitable, fate finds you just to make sure you never forget the pain of the past.

It all started off with a knock on the door just as I was about to load the boys into the car to take them to camp. Janice stood there, a frown on her face. Tears in her eyes.

“Janice,” the name rushes from my mouth. “What’s wrong?”

Her eyes settle on the kids behind me. “I forgot about camp. Can we talk when you get back?”

“Yes. Yes. I won’t be long.” I call the boys to come with me as Janice hugs them each before we leave. “I’ll be right back.”

The day camp is just down the street from my neighborhood, so it doesn’t take long to get there, but my thoughts are consumed with worry. I’ve not seen Janice so distraught since… since her son died. I gulp, the lump in my throat heavy with fear. The fear is something I try to swallow down in front of the boys. I don’t want to scare them.

After checking them in and making sure they’re all set, I head back home. When I open the door, Janice is pacing the living room. She looks up, and the devastation I saw earlier has morphed into anger. “How could you do it? How could you disrespect my son like this? Hurt your children?”

“What?” I ask, taken aback as the door closes behind me. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s on the internet.”

“What is?”

Another knock disrupts and I look at her like she might know who it is. Janice crosses her arms over her chest, and turns her back to me. The knocks turn to pounding and I rush to answer the door. It can only be someone who has my code, so I don’t expect to be surprised again, but I am when I open it. “Dex? Hi.”

“Hi,” he replies looking uneasy.

“What are you doing here?”

Janice’s voice carries over my head. “You chose him, a drug-addict over my son!”

“What?” Shocked by her statement, I turn back to her. “I don’t understand—”

Dex says, “Rochelle, she knows about us.”

Glancing back to him, I ask, “What does she know?”

Janice screams. “I saw the pictures online. Do you know how humiliated and hurt I am by what you’ve done?”

I’m shaking my head, my hands starting to follow suit. My breathing quickens, shallowing when all I want is to take a deep one.

Dex steps forward. “Janice, I know you don’t like me, but my feelings for Rochelle are genuine.” He enters my house with his hands up in surrender.

She continues to shout, the anguish she’s feeling heard. “I don’t care about your feelings. I care about my son!”

Dex still approaches her slowly. “I loved Cory like a brother—”

“Don’t you dare insert your despicable self into my family like that when you have done nothing but cause the band trouble! Cory was always there cleaning up your mess of a life and this is how you repay him?”

Her anger and Cory being dragged into this stabs my heart. My thoughts start to twist, so I reach for the nearest wall for balance. With my palm flat against the sheetrock, I close my eyes, but hear Dex say, “I’m not the same person I was before, Janice. You only know what you read and that’s not the truth anymore. Believe me. Our kiss was innocent, but sincere.”

My world is spinning—guilt, anger, sympathy, Dex, Cory, Janice, the kids as she yells, “I saw the posts with you and Rochelle kissing in public like it doesn’t matter, like you don’t care about anyone but yourselves or how this would make me or the boys feel. So much damage was done with your ‘innocent’ kiss.”

I collapse to my knees on the cold tile, my hands falling forward as my mind begins to blur.





A steady beat infiltrates my dreams. I fight the awareness that brings me from the darkness to a more lucid state, the sound louder. Beep. Beep. Beep.

My eyelids flutter open at the sound of the machine next to me. The soft light above feels too bright until my eyes slowly adjust. Janice is there, her hand on mine. “Rochelle. Dear.”

The last moments before I blacked out come rushing back to me. The beeping picks up as my heart does. “Dex.” I cough to clear my throat. “Where is he?”

Her hand leaves mine. “Rochelle, you shouldn’t be thinking of him. There are photographers outside the hospital, waiting for you to comment on this ‘story.’ It’s time to end this crazy behavior. You need to think of your children.”

“What story?” I start to sit up.