The thin cop had trouble restraining him, so the chubby one lent a hand. “If you’re lucky, you’ll have seen the judge by then.” The two cops wrestled Paul into the back of the car and slammed the door.

“Let’s see that snooty bitch Marlene get you out of this one,” Rhonda said and laughed. “Your little fairy-tale life ain’t looking too good, is it?”

“Fucking bitch!” Paul shouted from the backseat.

“Don’t worry, baby daddy, I’ll put some money in your account when I get my check!” Rhonda taunted as the police took Paul away.

Marlene lay in her bed, trying to get into her Jackie Collins novel with little luck. It was three o’clock in the morning and she still hadn’t heard from Paul. She tried calling his cell phone, but it kept going to voicemail. She wanted to cry, but figured it wasn’t going to do her a damn bit of good. She would just have to accept the fact that Paul wasn’t ready to be an adult just yet.

She reached under her bed and retrieved the journal Paul had brought for her on their one-year anniversary. The inscription on the front read, “Thank you for twelve months of happiness.” She got all choked up for a minute, thinking about how their relationship had been before the bullshit came into play. It seemed like the more of her heart she gave him, the more he neglected her. She understood his problems within life and God knew she didn’t blame him for Rhonda, but how much of a toll was carrying the weight of everyone else’s bullshit and neglecting her own needs going to have on her? Marlene wasn’t getting any younger and she had had about enough of twisting Paul’s arm.

Picking up her house phone, she dialed Audrey. When she picked up, Marlene said, “Audrey, I might be going away for a few weeks, so I’m gonna need you to do something for me.”

37

Reese knelt over the toilet, puking for the third time that morning. She had been going through this since a day or so prior. At first, she thought it was the combination of alcohol and penicillin, but when her mother had made a comment about her skin glowing a bit more than usual, paranoia kicked in.

When she was just about sure that nothing else was going to come out, she pulled herself up from the toilet. The face that stared back at her in the mirror was an unattractive one. Her eyes were red and speckles of vomit were on her chin. Taking a cold cloth from the side of the sink, she proceeded to wash her face.