The Challenge(64)

They told her that he couldn’t be bailed out until the judge set bail at the arraignment, and the arraignment would be the day after Christmas. Justin was going to spend Christmas in jail, and in her heart of hearts, she knew he deserved it. She explained it to him when the officer gave him back the phone.

“I can’t do anything about it,” she told her son.

“What about Pitt? Can’t he get me out?”

“No. You’re stuck there until the arraignment, and they may put you in jail this time. I can’t do anything about that either.” She felt sorry for him, and for Noel and herself. It was going to be a sad Christmas without him. And she was stranded now without a car.

Justin was crying when they hung up. She could hear the raucous sounds of the jail behind him, on Christmas Eve. It was a depressing way to spend Christmas. His first without his father, who would have been so upset about him.

She lay awake for a long time that night, thinking about Justin and what she was going to do.

She called Tom early the next morning and told him what had happened.

“Thank God he didn’t kill himself driving drunk,” he said to her. “They may send him to jail for a while this time.”

“I told him the same thing. Maybe this is what he needs. It’s a hell of a wakeup call.” She sounded tired and disappointed. “The arraignment is tomorrow.”

“I’ll go with you…oh shit…I’ll be in Aspen with Juliet. We leave in the morning.”

“I’ll manage.” She’d have to rent a car until she could get a new one. And pay a lawyer for Justin. He was playing an expensive game. His father would have been livid.

“I’m so sorry, Marlene. You don’t deserve this.”

Tom called her again that afternoon, and he brought her Christmas present. It was a gold chain necklace with a gold heart on it. Justin hadn’t called her again, and she couldn’t call him. Noel had cried when she told him where Justin was.

“He’s really screwed up, Mom. He’s been smoking pot and drinking.”

“I know.”

They had a tender Christmas in spite of Justin. Marlene didn’t visit him in jail. He needed to learn the lesson.

The day after Christmas, Tom came to give her a quick kiss before he and Juliet left for Aspen. She had given him a navy-blue cashmere sweater and he was wearing it.

She went to court for Justin’s arraignment. She had brought him a suit for his court appearance. The judge refused to give him bail, fined him five hundred dollars, suspended his license, and sentenced him to six months in a rehab facility, or in jail, whichever he preferred. He chose the rehab. He was delivered there by the sheriff the next day. His mother had a right to visit him after the first two weeks. She couldn’t see him before then. He looked pale and exhausted when she saw him in court. The rehab facility he was going to wasn’t a posh one. They were known to be tough on the residents, who were under lockdown so he couldn’t run away. She couldn’t protect him this time, or make it easier for him. He had to face what he’d done. He wouldn’t get his license back for six months. He had to attend high school classes while he was there, which he hated too. And he had to keep his grades up. Marlene was still adamant about his going to college, and fortunately his DUI was a misdemeanor again. But private colleges might not accept him with two DUI convictions. He might go to a state college.

She did a lot of thinking while Tom was in Aspen, and she finally knew what she had to do. It wasn’t what she wanted, and things weren’t turning out the way she had hoped. But Bob was gone, and she needed a change. She couldn’t just switch horses and hope that someone else would take care of her. It wasn’t fair to Tom, no matter how crazy he was about her, and she was about him. She was using him, and now she realized it. She had to stand on her own two feet, at least for a while, no matter how much it scared her.



* * *



—

She told Tom when he got back. She had already made the arrangements and spoken to the lawyer in her office. She was selling him their law practice, and putting their house up for sale. She needed a fresh start. And she had to get out of Fishtail.

“I’m going back to Denver,” she explained to Tom. “I have family there, even though my parents are gone. I can get a job in a law firm or start my own practice. Bob wanted to come here, I didn’t. I always let him decide everything for me. Now I have to get my kids in control. Justin will be in rehab until the end of June. I’m moving the day after New Year’s. I have to get Noel enrolled in school. Denver will be better for us. At least for a time. I don’t want to go and I’m sad to leave you, but if I stay here, I’m just going to hang all over you and Justin will run wild. You don’t deserve to have the burden of two kids who think they hate you and will give you a hard time. I have to solve my own problems now. And they need time to get over their father’s death. Maybe we can make this work later, but not now. It really was too soon.”

Tom had been thinking about it too, and he knew she was right. He was crazy about her, but crazy was the operative word. He needed peace in his life now, not insanity. He couldn’t inherit all of her problems and two angry boys. Marlene had to clean up her own mess and get back on her feet, on her own this time. He knew he couldn’t do it for her, no matter how much he wanted to.