Paris - Chapter Eleven
JC’s fist did in fact connect with something, but it
wasn’t the side of Lance’s face. Joey had moved in
front of the punch, catching it in one hand. Now he
stood there, his bear-sized hand gently, yet firmly,
holding JC’s fist at bay.
"JC, stop this." Joey made sure he had JC’s full
attention before continuing. "It’s stupid. Is she
worth risking a friendship over?" He motioned toward
Annie over his shoulder.
Lance stood there, silently. He knew exactly why JC
had been so angry and it was all his fault.
Annie leapt off the bed, fire suddenly flashing in her
eyes. "What the hell is going on around here? Has
everyone completely lost their minds, or was there a
blue-light special at K-Mart?"
JC disentangled himself from Joey’s grip. "I don’t
know Annie," he growled, voice low and mocking. "Maybe
you, in your infinite wisdom, could enlighten us." His
eyes met her with cold fury. "I really thought you had
more imagination than this. I mean, you are the
artist."
Annie stared at him, bewildered. She opened her mouth
to speak, but the next words heard in the room were
still JC's. "Besides, among all of us here, you’re the
expert at dealing with crazy people." One of the most
unpleasant smiles streaked its way across his lips.
"By the way, how is Babette?"
Annie’s anger fell like a vase of flowers from a
second story window. "She’s dead," came the almost
whispered reply.
Annie now had the attention of everyone in the room.
Lance roused himself out of his thoughts, looking up
from the night table he had been leaning against. Joey
snapped his head around to look at Annie directly, but
still kept his place between JC and the room’s other
two occupants.
JC’s anger melted away. "What? How?"
"She fell out the window of her flat." Annie’s
shoulders shook, remembering that day. "It was a
tragic accident."
"I had no idea. I didn’t know."
A bit of strength returned to her voice. "Apparently,
there are a lot of things that you don’t know."
An awkward silence followed in the next minute, broken
only by the sound of Annie’s CD skipping.
Joey reached over to turn the music off, then faced
the group. "Okay, everyone sit down and we’ll see if
we can’t make some reasonable sense out of this whole
mess." He waited until everyone was settled. "Lance
you go first."
"I walked into Johnny’s office and overhead him
talking to Annie on the phone. He was about to hang up
on her until I took over. She was hysterical, crying,
so I came over to find out what was going on. I was
trying to calm her down when you guys burst in."
Lance’s eyes turned beseechingly to JC, "I should have
told you what was going on when I passed you in the
office, I know that. But I was so caught up in getting
over here before something happened. I guess I wasn’t
thinking straight. I swear, we were just sitting here.
Nothing happened!"
Joey held up a hand to stop Lance before he got
carried away. "Annie, what’s your version?"
"Pretty much like Lance said. I had just gotten some
terrible news about Claude, and I felt that JC would
want to know." Her voice had gotten softer. "No matter
what sort of things had happened between the two of
us. JC loved Claude."
JC stared hard at Annie, fear in his eyes. "What
happened to Claude?"
"He died last night." She whispered, not returning his
gaze.
Tears glistened at the corners of JC’s eyes. "Annie, I
don’t know what to say. He was.. He was so kind to
me."
Lance swallowed once, hard. "Did he suffer?"
"No, the doctors say he went peacefully in his sleep.
Most likely a heart attack."
Joey waited for several moments while everyone let
their grief pour out, himself included. When he was
sure, he could speak without his voice cracking, Joey
looked back at the group. "Okay, JC. Your turn."
JC wiped away a few more tears before turning to
Annie. "Why did you send that package? Did you want to
hurt me on purpose? Why?"
"Again with the package." Annie threw her hands up in
frustration. "I don’t have the slightest idea what
you’re talking about. All I sent was a painting and a
letter."
"What about the photos, the bracelet and the
engagement pictures?"
"What are you talking about? I never saw a bracelet."
JC rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure you didn’t."
"I didn’t!" Annie leapt off the bed. "Don’t you
believe me? Why are you jumping to conclusions with
half-truths?"
"You should know. It seems to be your way of doing
things." JC’s gaze was cold, his anger simmering back
to the surface by degrees.
"What?" Annie put a hand to her forehead. "I’m so
mixed up." She looked in desperation around the room.
"Please doesn’t anyone believe me?" Each face she
peered into gave her the answer.
All of it was too much. Annie collapsed on the floor,
sobbing uncontrollably. In doing so, she had
unconsciously activated, targeted and unleashed the
most devastating weapon the world has ever known.
"Annie, please don’t cry." Joey begged, looking more
that just a little uncomfortable.
Lance had risen from his spot on the table. "Please
stop. We’re sorry."
JC knelt down next to her, wrapping her in his
embrace. Lance took this as the perfect time to leave,
but Joey was a little slow on the uptake. The former
grabbed his arm, slowly pulling him towards the door.
Some papers he had seen on the night table had him
already forming a plan to help JC and Annie. Plus it
would also be his way of apologizing to them both for
his part in all this.
Once the door was securely closed, JC took Annie’s
face in his hands. "Please, he whispered, wiping the
tears away from her eyes with his thumbs. "Talk to
me."
Annie looked deep into his eyes. "I screwed up, didn’t
I? I never had all the facts, but I thought I knew
enough to pronounce you guilty. I’m so sorry." She
placed her hand along his cheek. "It must have hurt
terribly. Trying to convince some pig-headed girl of
the truth and getting nothing but rejection and anger
in return. I know it hurt me just now, when I thought
none of you believed me." She buried her face into his
shoulder. "I’m so very sorry."
JC stared at the top of her head in confusion. "Then
why did you put those photos in that package?"
Annie looked up at him. "But I didn’t. There was just
the painting, no other pictures."
"Then who else could have put them there?"
A look of shocked horror slowly came over Annie’s
face. "Jacques," she whispered incredulously. "I asked
him to mail the package for me."
JC’s face was hard for a moment, but he shook it off.
"Well, that’s at least one less mystery to deal with.
Next question: Why didn’t you answer my letters?"
"What letters?" Annie shook her head. "I never got any
letters."
"I wrote every day, but they always came back
unopened."
"Jacques was supposed to be getting my mail for me
while I was staying with Claude." Annie’s eyes
narrowed.
JC took her hand in his. "Annie those pictures of me
and Babette they aren’t real. All those things…I never
did any of them." He studied her face. "Didn’t you
look at them?"
"I did, but all I could see was what Babette wanted me
to see. Not the truth."
His face became even more serious. "What about the
engagement pictures?"
"Engagement pictures?"
"The package had pictures of Jacques putting a ring on
your finger, then of him hugging you in an airport."
"Jacques asked me to marry him before I left for
America. I said no, but he asked me to slip the ring
on for a few moments to make him happy." Annie shook
her head in disbelief. "Someone must have been there
to take pictures of it."
JC smiled. "On the home stretch now. Final question:
What about the bracelet?"
"Bracelet?"
"This one." JC procured it from his back pocket.
"It’s beautiful." She whispered, running a finger over
its surface. The bracelet was gold with their names
etched into it between two hearts. "But this is the
first time I’ve seen it."
"I was going to give it to you that day. Will you wear
it?"
"Of course. Could you please put it on me?" Annie
waited patiently until he was done, then looked at it
on her wrist. "Josh, I’m never gonna take this off."
"Annie?"
"Yes?"
"How about we start over? Like all the terrible things
that have happened never did, and we’re strangers
meeting for the first time."
Annie laughed. "Sounds like a great idea. I’ll go
first." She stuck out her hand. "How do you do? I
don’t believe we’ve met before."
JC took her hand and kissed it. "I certainly wouldn’t
forget if I’d met an angel like you before."
She laughed harder. "Okay, maybe not that far." She
mussed up his hair.
"You’re a hopeless romantic emphasis on the hopeless
part." Another giggle. "That was one of the worst
pick-up lines I’ve ever heard in my life."
JC smiled. "Okay then how about this one?"
ONE HOUR LATER
Lance and Joey stood outside the door, arguing softly.
"Just leave them alone, man." Joey stood in front of
the door, arms folded over his chest. "They’re
probably going to be busy for a while. Give them some
space."
Lance shook his head in disgust. "First of all, this
is important enough to interrupt all that. Second, I
can practically guarantee you that they’re not doing
anything in there any more censored than "The Lion
King." Third, I don’t intend to just leave his bag
sitting here in the hallway."
"Look, I know it’s important, but I still think they
need a bit more time to themselves. We can come back
in a few more hours."
"Why don’t you just knock on the door? If they’re not
doing anything, it’ll open up pretty quick. If they
are, I’ll admit you were right and we’ll come back
later."
Joey stared at him a moment longer, then sighed and
knocked softly on the door. "If JC comes to the door
half-naked with a blanket around his waist, I’ll make
sure you never live it down for the rest of your
natural life."
Fortunately for Lance, JC answered the door right
away, fully clothed and without a blanket. He motioned
them in, signaling them to be quiet. They saw Annie
asleep on the bed, also fully clothed. She must have
gotten enough time to change out of the robe.
"She fell asleep about ten minutes ago." JC whispered
as he quietly shut the door. "She’s completely
exhausted, poor thing."
Joey handed JC two plane tickets for Paris while Lance
set JC’s travel bag down gently on the floor by the
dresser.
JC stared at the tickets as if they were going to bite
him. "What’s this?"
Joey gave him his characteristic grin. "Johnny’s
arranged everything. Due to Lance’s quick thinking and
good memory for numbers, we got in touch with Annie’s
new boss. He’s granted her some time off for the next
week and we’ll be putting things on hold for you."
I still don’t_"
"You two are going to Claude’s funeral, then you’re
going to have a little make-up time to get any
lingering problems cleared up." Joey slipped into his
best "Tour-guide" mode. "First thing in the morning, a
limo will come pick you two up and take you to the
airport. TJ will be following along as both bodyguard
and chaperone. Once there, you’ll be staying at a Four
Seasons Hotel in Paris." He winked at JC. "Johnny says
it’s all on him, so go enjoy yourselves. We’ll talk to
you when you get back."
"Tell Johnny thanks for me." JC turned towards Lance.
"Hey man, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to freak out on you
like that." He extended his hand. "Still friends?"
Lance took it warmly. "Of course, And hey, don’t
worry. I’d fight for her too, if she was my girl. No
hard feelings." He smiled. "But you better take care
of her, and I mean that."
"I will."
Joey and Lance turned to leave. "Safe journey. I’ll be
praying for you guys," the latter said over his
shoulder as they shut the door.
"Thanks."
JC walked over to the bed and gently kissed Annie on
the forehead. She woke up smiling as she saw his face.
"You’ll never believe this," he whispered, hiding the
tickets behind his back.
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