Chapter 7
As Billie had predicted, Jason met Mickie one evening when she showed up at the
apartment. Jason had picked Billie up after work in his Jeep, they had gotten sushi
and were going to eat in his kitchen. Billie went to get some more of her textbooks she
wanted to study, and Jason was with her when Mickie suddenly appeared like a vision.
She was surprised to see them, and immediately turned a sexy look toward Jason. It
wasn’t personal, Billie knew, it was just the way Mickie responded whenever she saw
a male between the ages of thirteen and ninety-seven. She couldn’t help it. It was how
she was wired. Jason could sense that too.
“Sorry, I won’t stay long,” she said to Billie, curious who the man was. He was nicelooking. She would text her about it later. Billie was digging through a box of books
when she walked in, and Jason was waiting for her, sprawled on the uncomfortable
couch. He stood up when Mickie walked in, as a reflex more than anything else, and she
noticed how tall and well-built he was. He looked like he worked out a lot, which was
true. Alex was leaner, thinner, less athletic, though he had a trainer twice a week, and he
wasn’t as tall as Jason. He was an entirely different style. Jason looked a little too
wholesome for Mickie, which Billie knew too. “I just came by to pick up my bikinis
and beachwear,” she said to Billie. “Alex is going to see a patient in Hawaii to do some
treatments, and I’m going with him.” She was starting to take the perks of his lifestyle
for granted, expecting them as the norm, as though they were her due.
“Lucky you,” Billie said, and introduced Jason to her sister. She saw an odd look
pass between them, of hostility and suspicion. It was fleeting and vanished just as
quickly as it had appeared.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Jason said pleasantly, trying to observe the usual norms
of introduction to a family member of the person one was dating.
“Probably all bad,” Mickie said easily. “She lies,” she added, and disappeared into
the bedroom, as Billie stacked up the books she was looking for.
Mickie was back five minutes later with two well-stuffed garbage bags and two
valises. The garbage bags were visibly full of hats to wear at the pool. “Alex sees
patients all over the place. We were in Palm Springs last weekend, and we’re going to
see an actress he’s treating in Montecito.” She was clearly trying to impress them and
Jason took an immediate and profound dislike to her. He had the feeling that she was
trying to make Billie look and feel bad in front of her new man. Mickie couldn’t help
herself, she was a scorpion to her core and needed to sting someone in order to feel
good about herself.
“It must be fun for you to tag along,” Jason said indifferently, reminding her subtly
that she was just an add-on, not the main event. She was there for decoration and not
much else. And he didn’t like the supercilious way she looked at Billie, who was worth
a thousand of her sister, a million in his opinion. He had a visceral reaction of dislike
for Mickie, and she had excellent antennae and could sense it, and didn’t like him either.
“How did you two meet?” she asked, pretending to be interested and lingering for a
moment to ask.
“At the pool here,” Billie said innocently. She knew her sister better than that, but she
was out of practice dealing with her sister’s games. It had been a while.
“That’s nice for both of you, convenient,” Mickie said with a supercilious look. She
was the star now, and they were two poor inconsequential people far beneath her.
“Have fun, you two, see ya,” she said, and sailed out the door, juggling her suitcases
and the garbage bags. Feeling intentionally rude, Jason didn’t offer to help her. She
didn’t deserve it. The door banged behind her and Billie exchanged a look with him.
“I don’t like your sister,” he said in a tense tone. “I’m sorry to be so blunt. I don’t like
the way she treats you, or the way she talks to you.”
“I don’t pay attention to it anymore,” Billie said quietly and stood up with her books
in her arms. “She’s young, and she feels like hot stuff with her fancy doctor in Bel Air.
When that ends, she’ll just be one of the masses again.” But there was a hard look in
Mickie’s eyes that Jason found almost frightening. There was ice in her veins. It was
hard to believe that the two women were even related. Billie locked the door behind
them and he carried the books back to his apartment for her. She was sleeping there
every night now, and it was comforting to walk into his cozy, inviting apartment after the
brief visit to her barren, ugly one. Mickie’s behavior hadn’t shocked her as much as it
did Jason. Billie had seen her behave much worse at other times. They had no fight with
each other. Billie didn’t begrudge her the fun she was having, or her moment of stardom
in the press on Alex’s arm. She was happy for Mickie. Her dreams were coming true.
But Jason sensed something truly evil about her. It made him nervous thinking of her
anywhere near Billie. As he had suspected, from what Billie said about her, and the
photograph he’d seen of her in the paper, she was a woman without a heart, and
possibly some seriously scary agendas. In his mind she was using the fancy Bel Air
doctor for her own purposes as much as he was using her as the face of his beauty
center. In Jason’s book, they deserved each other, two users exploiting each other. He
felt sorry for Billie being related to someone like her. She deserved a lot better than
that. She was a warm, kind, intelligent, honest woman. He found it amazing that anyone
as young as Mickie could already be so twisted and ambitious at such an early age.
Billie seemed like an innocent next to her. Jason didn’t think that she fully saw her sister
as evil, as he thought she potentially could be if it served her purposes. And the very
thought of it frightened him for Billie, and chilled him to the bone.
By August, two months after Alex had opened Bellissima, he was seeing ten or twelve
patients a day. They had people waiting two months for appointments to see him, and he
was invited away by patients every weekend, to do treatments at their beach and country
homes. Many of them sent their planes to pick him up, and Mickie went everywhere
with him. She had met all his most important patients by then. They were out almost
every night, at all the best parties in L.A. He had become the darling of the Hollywood
set. He was still running the beautiful ads in all the major magazines, and Mickie had
been asked to do fashion shoots identifying her by name in Vogue and Vanity Fair. She
went to fewer go-sees now. Clients of her agency called and asked for her. She was
becoming a celebrity in her own right, which meant a lot to her. It had always been one
of her dreams, to be famous. And it was starting to happen. She and Alex were
frequently in the press. Her before and after photos were in the Bellissima brochure.
His patients still marveled at the way she looked for her age, when he confidentially
shared with them that she had just turned thirty-four, which he claimed was the best-kept
secret in the world. But he was telling them so they could evaluate how effective his
work and secret formulas had been on her. He still managed to keep an aura of secrecy
around Bellissima, as it nestled in the rarefied atmosphere of Bel Air.
In August, as they came back from a weekend in Atherton, just outside San Francisco,
at the home of the brightest young billionaire star of Silicon Valley, he and Mickie had
frantic sex in the bathroom of the plane. They were alone on the flight with the crew,
and he asked Mickie to move in with him.
“You’re using your old apartment as a closet. Why don’t you just move it all to my
place, and give your sister the apartment? You don’t need it.” Mickie hadn’t spent a
night there in two months, and she loved the idea of fully living with him. She knew that
she had used her own particular brand of magic on him, and he was seriously addicted
to her, and couldn’t go more than a dozen hours without having sex with her. It had
become a desperate need for him. They had sex at the parties they went to, in the homes
of the patients they visited as guests, in stores and restaurants. It had become a game to
find the most unusual places and not get caught, and once his office staff left at night,
they had sex in every possible position and place in the entire Bellissima Center. Sex
had become the most powerful tool Mickie had to control him, and what he loved most
about her. He couldn’t imagine his life without her, and his patients loved talking to her.
They thought her a lovely, very refined, sweet woman who calmed any fears they had
before their treatments and sometimes stayed in the room to hold their hands. She was
useful to Alex in so many ways. And she knew exactly how to behave in each situation.
Discreet and demure in his office. And the most daring, outrageous, down-and-dirty
hellion in his bed.
She moved the last of her wardrobe into his apartment at Bellissima, and she felt very
secure once she did. She had told Billie that she would continue to pay her half of the
rent until the end of their lease, which was a kindness to Billie. She couldn’t have
afforded to pay the entire rent, and she didn’t want to move in with Jason, even if she
was sleeping there every night. They still had the freedom to sleep at their own
apartments if they wanted to. She was happy for Mickie that things were working out for
her. She never invited Billie over, or offered to introduce her to Alex. She kept her
family in the background, and Billie didn’t expect anything different from her. Families
weren’t important to Mickie, nor to Alex, since his parents and grandparents were all
dead and he had no siblings. And he had never expressed a desire to meet Mickie’s
sister since they didn’t appear to be close and Mickie had never talked about her.
Mickie was aware that Alex’s practice was booming. He charged a fortune for some of
the procedures and there were telltale signs that his income was increasing
exponentially. He bought himself an Aston Martin, which had always been his dream.
He chartered planes when his patients didn’t send theirs for him. He no longer flew
commercial, and he was always generous with Mickie, and had bought her several
pretty pieces of jewelry from Van Cleef and Cartier. Two bracelets and a necklace, no
engagement ring yet, but Mickie wouldn’t be surprised if it happened. He said he
couldn’t live without her now, and she believed him. And she enjoyed his lifestyle
immensely, and kept him sexually satisfied no matter what it took to please him and live
out his fantasies. No woman had ever been as willing and creative as she was. He got
anxious if she left the house for more than a few hours. He was obsessed with her. It
was all-consuming, and all he could think of day and night. Even when he was working,
he thought of what he would do with her in a few hours. Nothing was too outrageous for
her, or off limits. He’d never known any woman like her.
Alex and Mickie spent Labor Day weekend at the home of patients in Mexico, and on
the flight back on Monday, he told her that they had an important dinner engagement on
Tuesday night. He emphasized that it was important, and didn’t tell her with whom. She
never asked questions. He told her what to wear. He didn’t tell her that he had rented a
private room at Chateau Marmont until that afternoon. He told her to wear something
serious and sexy, on the more conservative side, for the dinner. He looked intense when
he said it, and added that it was a business meeting and he wanted her with him. It was
an important opportunity that would affect his business in future. He mentioned casually
that if it went well, he was thinking of leasing a jet for their use, so they could travel to
see patients anywhere in the U.S. at any time. He had just turned forty-three and he was
already a very rich man. Things had gone well for him ever since he opened Bellissima
and he called Mickie his lucky charm.
They left Bel Air at seven, and were at the restaurant by seven-fifteen. Alex
employed two security guards at all times at the house now, and one of them drove them
in a Bentley Alex had recently bought. He let Mickie drive it whenever she wanted, and
she had dropped by to see Billie at work to show it off. She didn’t like going to see
Billie at the apartment. She didn’t want to run into Jason. Their mutual dislike was
palpable whenever their paths crossed, so she avoided him whenever possible, and she
didn’t see Billie often. Their lives were very different now. Mickie’s star had risen high
into the heavens at rocket speed in the last three months, thanks to Alex. But once in a
while, she liked to see Billie just to show her how far she’d come and rub it in. Her
wardrobe was no longer secondhand. It was all brand-new. Billie was happy for her.
Alex’s guests arrived at the restaurant at seven-thirty, and Mickie saw that Alex had
rented a double room. There was an anteroom for cocktails, and a space beyond it for
dinner. Three Asian men arrived looking like serious businessmen. They looked at
Mickie with interest, and spoke to Alex in low voices. Two of them spoke fluent
English, and they translated for the third. She heard Alex say something about Korea at
some point, so they were obviously Korean.
Mickie had no idea what the meeting was about, but from what Alex had said, there
was a great deal of money involved.
The three men spoke with Alex in low voices over cocktails before dinner. All three
of them and Alex drank Scotch, and Alex had ordered very high-priced French wines
with dinner. None of them ever spoke to Mickie during the evening. She was there
purely as decoration or, she wondered, as an example of Alex’s work, if he told them
that she was thirty-three or -four. She was used to people thinking that was her age now,
and she thought it was funny. Now and then she acted her age, but usually only with Alex
at night. The rest of the time she was believable as being in her thirties, and her
wardrobe added to that impression, since the clothes he paid for were so obviously
expensive from the most expensive brands.
There was a very intense quality to the meeting, and Mickie had never seen Alex as
serious. There was clearly a lot on the line. When the evening had ended, Mickie
couldn’t tell from Alex’s expression if it had gone well or not. He looked exhausted. He
didn’t speak in the Bentley on the way home, and she asked him gently as they got
undressed, “How do you think it went?”
“I can’t tell. They spoke among themselves a lot. They play it very close to the vest.
They said they’d let me know by the end of the week.” They stayed close to the house
all day on Saturday and lay by the pool, still waiting for a call.
His cellphone rang at six o’clock on Saturday, and he grabbed it and walked into the
house. He sat down in the living room they used as a waiting room to take the call. They
were alone in the house. Mickie didn’t follow Alex inside. He had been very subdued
since the night before, and they had made love only that morning. He was too distracted
to even want to have sex with her again after that, which he usually would.
He was on the phone for a long time, and came back to the pool looking dazed. He sat
down facing her, and a slow smile lit up his face. His electric blue eyes that his patients
talked about were dancing.
“They’re in,” he told Mickie. He was shaking. “They’re giving me ten million dollars
to set up a center like Bellissima in Dallas. They want it up and running in six months.
We really do need a plane now, if I’m going to be commuting to Dallas. I haven’t
figured out how that will work yet,” since no one did the treatments except him, or knew
the formulas he used. It was all kept secret even from his medical assistants. “But ten
million dollars.” It really was his dream come true. “And if they’re happy with that one,
they’ll give me another ten to set one up in New York.”
“And you’ll be giving treatments in all three locations?” She looked incredulous.
“I’ll have to figure it out,” he said slowly. “We’ll have to see how it works in Dallas
first. It will be a good test market. I have clients from there who will help us line up the
patients.” He named a few. “I’ll have to do three days in each city. Or four and two.
We’ll need to work out a system. But ten million dollars, Mickie. Imagine it. We’ve
grown exponentially.” And then he thought of something he hadn’t asked her before.
“When are you going back to Stanford? When I met you, you said you were going back
in January. Are you still planning to do that?” He looked anxious about it. “I really need
you here, close to me. There’s going to be a lot going on.” She looked pensive as she
considered it.
“I guess I could put it off till the fall semester a year from now,” she said, as though it
was a major sacrifice for her. She knew just how to play him, and didn’t hesitate to do
so. He walked to his desk then, took out a checkbook, and wrote a check, walked back,
and handed it to her. It was a hundred-thousand-dollar check made out to her.
“Will that help make the decision easier?” he asked her, and she smiled at him. He
knew the way to her heart. For him it was sex, for Mickie, it was money. They were an
even match.
“I think that will do it. Stanford can wait.” She beamed at him, and he pulled her into
his arms and fondled her breasts. She never wore her bikini tops, and most of the time
they swam or lay in the sun naked.
“Thank you for giving up school for me,” he said in a voice already husky with
passion. He wasn’t sure which excited him more, the Korean investors or Mickie’s
body.
“How soon will you have to start working on the Dallas center?” she asked him.
“It can wait a while. We’ll be able to put it together pretty quickly. But I think I’ll
lease the plane now,” he said. He had other plans in mind, but he wanted to surprise her.
She was leading a golden life with him. The modeling job she had done for him for
his ads and the brochure was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
They went upstairs to their bedroom to celebrate. They could both see new horizons
opening up. It was a lot to think about, and the treats Mickie had reserved for him drove
even the Korean investors and his plans for the Dallas office from his mind.
Billie and Jason were at a Dodgers game that night. He was making an avid baseball fan
out of her, and she loved going to the games with him. She was happy with Jason. They
both worked hard at their jobs, and enjoyed their time off together. They had a weekend
off, and he took her to San Francisco. They stayed at the Fairmont on Nob Hill, and
went to all the best restaurants and walked around the city. They crossed the Golden
Gate Bridge and drove around Marin County in the car he’d rented. Billie had fun with
him. He asked her to move in with him, and it was tempting because she wasn’t using
her apartment anymore. She agreed and gave the building notice on Monday when they
got back. Their relationship seemed more solid now. She moved the few things she had
into his apartment that week, and texted Mickie to ask permission to get rid of the
furniture. There was nothing worth keeping. It was all battered, stained, and ugly. It had
been all Mickie could afford at the time. Now she was shopping regularly at Chanel,
and using the credit card Alex had given her almost daily. He didn’t seem to care what
she spent as long as she looked fabulous and chic all the time. She was a walking
advertisement for him, and she had to look spectacular whenever patients would see
her. They were still going to parties every night, and walking the red carpet at every
event they went to. Mickie was becoming a celebrity in her own right now. People
recognized her in stores and in the street, and she’d had an offer to do ads for a perfume
campaign. Alex wanted her to do it. She was linked to Bellissima, and he wanted her to
get her face out there. Inevitably, it would bring in more patients who wanted to look
like her. But Mickie’s beauty was a gift of nature, it wasn’t man-made or even enhanced
by any of Alex’s treatments.
She was on the cover of Us magazine, on their beauty issue, with the caption “the
most beautiful face in the world.” Jason saw it at the checkout stand at the supermarket,
and Billie put it in their basket.
“I’m happy for her,” she said to Jason. He didn’t see how. From everything she had
told him, Mickie had ruined Billie’s youth and childhood. But Billie seemed to forgive
her whatever sins she had committed in the past. She had a generous nature, which
amazed him.
When Thanksgiving rolled around, neither Mickie nor Billie went home to Iowa. They
hadn’t in several years, without their mother, and their father didn’t care. He hated all
holidays since his wife’s death and hadn’t liked them much before. It was his late wife
who had seen to it that they had real holidays. So neither Mickie nor Billie went home
for Thanksgiving anymore, only for Christmas, which their father grudgingly
acknowledged, but wasn’t enthusiastic about either. He hated holidays in general, after
his own hard childhood. His parents had died young and he’d been brought up by
relatives who beat him regularly and were drunks. Now he was one too.
Alex and Mickie spent the Thanksgiving holiday with favorite patients in Aspen.
Jason had to work, so Billie offered to work that day too, so someone else could be
with their family. It was a sacrifice she was willing to make. They bought a prepared
turkey dinner that night on the way home and ate it in Jason’s kitchen. There was a new
tenant in her old apartment by then. It was nice being just the two of them, even if they
didn’t have a big fancy dinner or family to be with. Billie didn’t hear from Mickie. She
called her father, and he didn’t answer the phone. She assumed he was either drunk or
having a Thanksgiving meal with friends.
Jason asked her a question, while they each had a slice of pumpkin pie with vanilla
ice cream.
“What do you usually do on Christmas?” he asked her. It was clear that she didn’t
have strong family ties, and she wasn’t in regular contact with her father. Jason had
called his own family from work that day. His sister and her boyfriend were with his
parents when he spoke to them. He was sorry to miss the Thanksgiving holiday with
them, but he was going home for Christmas in Connecticut.
“I go home to Iowa, and so does Mickie. I don’t know what she’s doing this year with
Alex. Neither of us had serious boyfriends before, so we went home to spend it with my
father. I’m not sure he cares. He doesn’t like Christmas, or any holiday. It was more my
mother’s thing than his,” she said quietly.
“Would you come to New York with me?” he asked her. “We spend the actual holiday
at my parents’ house in Connecticut, and my sister and her boyfriend will come down
from Vermont. It’s very cozy and informal. I’d love you to come with me, Billie,” he
said gently. He’d been planning to ask her for months, if they were still together in
December. They’d been dating for six months and it had turned into a serious
relationship. “My parents would love to meet you. I’ve never taken anyone home for
Christmas before, so it’s kind of a big deal,” he admitted with a boyish grin. “This will
be Thad’s second Christmas with us, with my sister. I guess we’re all finally growing
up.” It sounded like a serious invitation to Billie.
“I’d love to come,” she said, “but I feel like I should ask my father how he feels
about it. I haven’t seen him all year, since last Christmas.”
“Does he ever call you?” She never mentioned it. She shook her head.
“No, he doesn’t. As you know, we’ve never been close, particularly since my
mother’s been gone. But I think I should ask him.” It felt like the right thing to do, and
Jason respected her for it. “I’ll ask Mickie what her plans are too. Thank you for asking
me.” It meant a lot to her, and it did to him too.
They spent a relaxed weekend watching football and went for a walk on the beach.
He’d been busy at work lately—they’d been giving him investigative assignments, some
of which were interesting, and he was good at them. It was like solving mysteries. He
had come up with some very interesting material that had led to an arrest in one case,
and the exposure of a sex trafficking ring coming in from Mexico in another. They were
challenging and he liked working on them, more than reporting gang murders.
Billie called Mickie on Monday when she got back from Aspen, and asked her about
Christmas.
“Are you going home?” Billie asked her, and Mickie answered quickly.
“Not this year. Alex chartered a boat. We’re picking it up in St. Barts, and we’re
going to float around for two heavenly weeks. We might invite some patients over New
Year’s.” It never dawned on Mickie to invite her sister, and Billie had never met Alex.
Mickie had no interest in introducing him to her family. She kept her two lives separate,
and Alex had never asked to meet Billie. Jason had commented that they behaved like
aliens from another planet. None of the traditional behaviors seemed to apply to them.
They each lived in their own bubble, and everything was motivated by Alex’s practice.
Normal people didn’t behave that way in Jason’s world. His family meant a great deal
to him and they were close. They spoke to each other regularly on the phone, and he
admired them and wanted a life like theirs eventually.
“Are you going home?” Mickie asked her. It occurred to Billie that it would be even
worse than usual without her sister, not that Mickie made any great effort for the
holiday, and nor did her father. But at least they were together. This year she would be
alone with her father, which would be very hard. He would be uncommunicative by day,
and drunk every night. He and Billie had nothing to say to each other.
“I don’t know,” Billie said to her sister. “I wanted to ask you about your plans, and I
think I’ll ask Dad how he feels about it.”
“You should just do what you want. Dad doesn’t care about Christmas.” It was
depressing but true. “He can have dinner with friends if he wants to.” The truth was that
he got excited if Mickie came home, but never about Billie. He hardly spoke to her the
whole time she was there. She wondered where her friend Tom would be this
Christmas. She hadn’t heard from him in a year, on his undercover missions. She missed
him, but not as much now that she had Jason.
“Jason invited me to spend Christmas with his family in New York and Connecticut,
but I didn’t want to leave you and Dad in the lurch.” It had never occurred to Mickie to
ask Billie about her plans, and it surprised her to hear Billie say it. She was excited
about the boat Alex had chartered. It was huge.
Billie called her father that night, and he sounded like he’d been drinking when he
answered. He wasn’t incoherent but he was slurring a little. Any later, and he would
have been passed out. There was a very narrow window of opportunity to talk to him at
night.
“Hi, Dad, how’ve you been?” she said in as cheerful a voice as she could muster.
Calling him always depressed her. It brought up painful memories for her, of being
ignored all her life, being considered a freak, and being dismissed.
“I’m fine. Who is this? Mickie or Billie?” They had similar voices.
“It’s Billie,” she said.
“Oh. Is something wrong?”
“No, everything’s fine. I wanted to say hello, and I wanted to know how you’re
feeling about Christmas, if you want me to come home.”
“I don’t care,” he said gruffly. “I hate Christmas, you know that. Your mother liked all
that nonsense, Santa Claus and Christmas trees. It’s a lot of hogwash. Is Mickie coming
home?” he asked her.
“I don’t think so.” It was up to Mickie to tell him. He sounded ancient as she listened
to him, and he wasn’t. He was in his forties, and he sounded seventy. Hard work and
bitterness, alcohol, and losing his wife at an early age had made an old man of him
prematurely. He had no love in his heart for anyone, and hadn’t been great to Billie’s
mother either. He was a hard man, and came from a hard family.
“I’m not going to make a fuss about Christmas if you come home,” he warned her. He
never did. It kind of went on around him, like water around a rock in the stream.
“Would you mind if I don’t?” Billie asked him. He didn’t make it sound appealing. “I
could come another time.”
“I don’t care. Where are you living now?”
“I’m still in L.A. I got a job here in June, so I stayed.” He didn’t ask what the job
was, and didn’t care, as long as she wasn’t asking him for money. She never did, and
hadn’t since she left home for college with her scholarship.
“Are you still living with Mickie?” he asked her.
“No.” They were both living with men, and he had no idea. “We’re living in separate
places. Well, I guess I won’t come home then, if it’s okay with you.” The idea of
spending Christmas with him was just too depressing now that she’d spoken to him.
She’d spend the whole holiday in her room, waiting to leave, while he drank himself to
sleep every night and didn’t care if she was there or not. “I could come in January or
February, if you’d like.”
“Do whatever you want. It’s all the same to me,” he said. Whatever human had been
in there when her mother was alive had died long since, even before his wife. He was
tough on everyone, except Mickie.
“Take care, Dad. I’ll call you sometime.”
“Say hello to your sister for me when you see her. Send her my love,” he added,
which hit Billie’s heart like a wrecking ball. He never sent his love to her, and didn’t
have any, except for Mickie, his favorite. There was no room in his burnt-out heart for
Billie, and never had been. He cared more about his cows and his dairy than about her.
She was too much like her mother, with her nose in her books.
“I’ll tell her, Dad. Take care of yourself.”
“Yeah, you too,” he said, and he hung up. Billie sat quietly for a minute, recovering
from the call. There were tears in her eyes and she wiped them away. The whole story
of her miserable childhood was in that call. He had no love to give anyone except
Mickie, because she was beautiful and more like him. Billie knew she’d been
disqualified at birth. She wasn’t a boy and couldn’t work on the farm with him. She
wasn’t strikingly beautiful like Mickie. She was of no use to him whatsoever, and her
getting an education had driven them even further apart. She remembered Tom telling
her when they were kids that her father was a jerk, and it had been a relief to know that
he thought so too. Her mother never admitted it, and always defended him. But at least
she defended Billie too. No one else had, except Tom. And he had disappeared out of
her life after West Point. It was a huge loss at the time, and still was.
She walked into the living room of the apartment she shared now with Jason. She had
offered to pay rent but he had refused and said he didn’t need her to, it was a lucky
break for her.
He was sitting at the dining table with his laptop and notes all over the place for an
article he was writing. He looked up and saw the look on her face. She felt like an
orphan, and in a way, she was. Her father had no love for her and never had.
“Well, you can have me for Christmas, if you want me,” she said, looking forlorn.
“What happened?” He could see that something had.
“I spoke to my father. He’s fine if I don’t come home. I think he’d actually prefer it.
He hates Christmas, and he loves seeing Mickie, not me. She’s the star. I’ve always
been a huge disappointment to him. He thinks I’m a freak. I went to college, which he
considers a waste of time. I’m not a boy, and I don’t look like her. So I’m useless. It’s
better this way. I didn’t want to go home, it would have been awful. It always is. And it
would have been worse without Mickie. I wouldn’t have had anyone to talk to for a
week. He gets drunk at night.” It sounded like a nightmare to Jason, and he was glad
she’d been spared. So was she. She looked at him with a wintry smile. “I’m happy I can
come with you. It was just depressing talking to him. It puts it all in my face again and
reminds me of how bad it was. The only good thing at home for me was my mom, and
she’s gone. She kind of forced him to pretend he was human when she was alive, but he
never was. I realize now how unhappy he must have made her, although he didn’t drink
as much then. But he’s not a nice guy sober either. He never was to me, or to her. He
hates education and everything she loved and taught me. My sister has always been
more like him.”
“Well, I’m going to see to it that you have a fantastic Christmas,” Jason said to her.
“We love Christmas at our house. It’s going to be great, Billie, you’ll see.” He pulled
her onto his lap and put his arms around her. She fit on his lap like a child, and he
wished he could make up to her for the rotten family she got stuck with. It made his heart
ache for her, just thinking about it, and he was thrilled she was coming to New York
with him. He couldn’t wait to tell his parents and for them to meet her.
