Victims And Volunteers Ch. 02

"What fucking difference does that make?" Julie asked.

"Well, if you're doing it because you..." Tori started.

"Tori, from the moment I said 'I do' I been fucking around on Mike," Julie admitted.

They lay in silence for several minutes.

"I am so confused," Tori finally admitted. "If you been fucking around on him from Day One, why all of a sudden is it bothering you?"

"I don't know," Julie admitted.

"God, you are so fucking blonde, I swear," Tori said.

"Oh I know you didn't just..." Julie protested.

""You know what? Go to sleep," Tori said. "Just shut up and go to sleep."

****

"Well, no, no I've never been to La Scalia's," Tori said.

Julie looked up from the egg salad she was making for everyone's lunch.

"No, no, that sounds great; yeah, I'd love to," Tori said.

She mumbled something that Julie couldn't here, then flipped her cell phone closed.

"Tomorrow night I need you to watch Isabella for me," she demanded, marching past the kitchen to the bedroom.

Julie heard Tori fumbling in the closet for a moment.

The toaster dinged and two slices of whole wheat toast popped up.

"How's this look? For La Scalia's?" Tori popped into the kitchen, holding a lime green dress against herself.

"God, Tori, get me some sunglasses, huh?" Julie shrugged, grimacing at the bright color of the dress.

"Okay, I need you to watch Isabella for a bit; I need to go to Babbage's," Tori said, looking at the lime green dress, and then disappearing into the bedroom again.

"Nuh uh, no monkeys running in the house," Julie called out as a giggling Kasie ran past the kitchen, carrying her favorite pink ball.

Julie quickly finished preparing lunch, cut the crust off the bread for the girls, and called everyone for lunch.

"God is good, God is great, thank Him for this food on our plate," Andrea said the grace and they ate.

"So, what color you think I ought to look for, since you don't like my green?" Tori said as they did the dishes together."

Black. After all..." Julie said, resting her head against Tori's shoulder.

"Black is beautiful," Tori smiled.

And real hose; I know he likes fishnet but you're going to be out. In public," Julie advised.

****

The dress had been a perfect 'little black dress' that came down to just above the knee. The hose was a smoky black, with a line up the back, her pumps were black patent leather, with a four inch heel, and matched the black clutch perfectly.

Because she had a larger bed for the girls, and Isabella had more toys, especially Barbie dolls for them to play with, Julie was watching the three girls in Tori's apartment.

As a precaution, Tori had hidden all the alcohol in the apartment.

"Unnng!" Kasie demanded, slapping at Tori's stereo.

"Okay, let's see, oh! I haven't heard this in like forever!" Julie said, pulling out the soundtrack to 'Saturday Night Fever.'

She really couldn't dance, but if Kasie noticed that her mother was terrible at it, she didn't let on. She laughed as her mother tried to dance, laughed that she and her mother were dancing.

"You really like dancing, huh?" Julie smiled and kissed the girl.

"Lub oo you," Kasie declared.

"Love you too, you little Monkey," Julie laughed.

****

Frank was miserable. He was sure that all the patrons in the upscale restaurant were looking at him, laughing at the old fool, trying to pretend to be some kind of stud, with the gorgeous young woman. The staff was polite, almost to the point of fawning, but he could swear he detected a smirk on the wine steward's face as he poured the wine for his approval.

And Tori did look absolutely beautiful. Her make up was flawless. Her hair had been curled; she admitted that she and Julie had spent nearly an hour with a hot curling iron, getting it just right. Her dress was elegant, seductive. She displayed poise and grace, impeccable table manners.

And she kept smiling at him. Kept smiling at him.

He was close to throwing his napkin on the table and declaring that this had been a huge mistake when their dinner was served.

"Oh, Honey, you have to try this!" she exclaimed, holding out a fork of her veal to him.

He accepted the fork and agreed, it was good.

"May I?" she asked, pointing to his shrimp.

"Oh, of course," he said and scooped up a shrimp and some of the sauce and held it out for her.

Mmm, that is good," she agreed. "I'll have to get that next time we're here."

"And for dessert..." the waiter said as the empty plates were cleared away.

"Is that a live band I hear?" Tori interrupted.

"Ah, yes ma'am; our lounge does have a live band and there is a dance floor," the waiter smiled and pointed toward the lounge entrance.

"Honey, can you dance?" Tori asked, eyes blazing with excitement.

"Not worth a hoot," Frank admitted.

Seeing some of the light fade in her smile, he cleared his throat.

"But I'm willing to try," he agreed.

Her smile brightened even more.

"Very good," the waiter said, putting the check on the table. "Whenever you're ready sir."

"Wait a minute, you were telling me about the dessert," Frank pointed out.

"You can have dessert in the lounge, sir," the waiter smiled. "But if your date wants to dance, I'd take her dancing."

Frank wasn't lying; he couldn't dance worth a hoot. But Tori could and she was enjoying teaching him. The lounge did allow smoking; Frank was grateful for that.

Two young African-American males did come up and ask her to dance while Frank was taking a smoke break, rudely ignoring Frank. Both times, Tori clutched possessively onto his arm and flatly refused their advances.

"Oh, Honey, that was so much fun! Did you like that? I could do that every night!" Tori whooped as they waited for the valet to retrieve his car.

"Um, when did I become 'Honey?'?" Frank asked, slipping the valet three rumpled dollar bills.

"The moment you asked me out on a date," she laughed and slid into her seat, giving the valet a good look at her legs.

She was again his guest at his house. They made love twice, and then he made her get dressed and drove her home.

****

Julie woke up when Tori slipped into bed, freshly showered, scrubbed clean of Frank's lingering cigarette smell.

"Had fun?" Julie mumbled.

"You little white bitch," Tori smiled. "You told him, didn't you?"

"Somebody had to and don't you ever call me 'bitch' again," Julie yawned.

"Fuck you; I'll call you whatever I want to," Tori smiled and kissed her on the lips.

"Uh huh," Julie returned the kiss, and then rolled over. "Fuck, it's late; go to sleep."

She waited for a long moment, and then added, "Bitch."

"What?" Tori laughed, sliding over to lie next to Julie.

"You heard me," Julie laughed.

"Aw you are so dead," Tori said and moved to strangle Julie.

"Julie, you ain't got no..." Tori said, patting Julie's bare shoulder.

"Monkey peed on me," Julie laughed. Don't worry, I got on panties."

To verify Julie's claim, Tori reached down and felt Julie's large briefs.

"Fuck, granny panties, huh?" Tori laughed.

"Fuck, they're comfortable," Julie protested. "Wasn't exactly planning on getting molested tonight, you know?"

"Molested?" Tori laughed.

"What you call it; rubbing all over me when I'm trying to sleep, huh?" Julie laughed too.

"I love you," Tori declared.

"Love you too," Julie said.

Within moments, both women were sound asleep.

Chapter 8

Julie parked in from of Sylvia Chamblee's house. She sat in the car for a long moment, silently praying, took a deep breath and got out of the car.

Thursday was Andrea's fifth birthday; they were having a party for her on Saturday. It was going to be a 'Barbie' party; Julie had sent out all five invitations; one each to Tori and Isabella, one to her mother, one to Mr. Frank, and one to Mike's mother.

Tori and Isabella had said that they would be there. Mr. Frank said he was coming and even asked if he could bring his granddaughter.

"Oh, and my son and his wife; I'm pretty sure they won't let me take Francesca out of their sight for more than five seconds," he had smiled.

"Absolutely," Julie smiled. "Love to have them."

Her mother had grudgingly agreed to come; Andrea was, after all, her granddaughter. Julie's declaration that there would be no alcohol served at the party was met with a snort of disbelief from Marnie.

Julie approached the front door, tried the doorbell, and then remembered that it did not work, or at least it had not worked the last time she had been a guest in the Chamblee home.

She knocked firmly on the door. A moment later, Sylvia yanked the door open and glared at Julie.

"And just what do you want?" Sylvia hissed, venom practically dripping from her lips.

"Hi Miss Sylvia," Julie said, ignoring the venomous greeting.

"I said..." Sylvia spat.

"Yes ma'am, I heard you and I'm fixing to tell you what I want," Julie politely said.

She kept her voice polite, kept her voice low, non-confrontational.

"Miss Sylvia, I sent you an invitation to Andrea's birthday party; she's going to be five and I never did hear back from you," Julie said.

"Didn't hear back from me 'cause I ain't planning on going," Sylvia spat hatefully.

"Miss Sylvia," Julie said firmly. "I know I've been a horrible person to you, God, I've been a total bitch to you and the horrible things I did to your son; I'll never be able to make up for any of that. I understand that, believe me, I do."

"Oh do you?" Sylvia screeched. "Do you really?"

"Well, no, not really," Julie admitted. "I really don't understand how or why I did all those things to poor Mike; God he was such a sweet... And I just shit all over him; if there was some way I could make it up to him..."

Julie felt the sting of tears begin.

"But, Miss Sylvia, there's a little girl; she didn't do anything. She's the real victim here," Julie said. "She's just a little girl; she doesn't know anything about D.N.A. or any of that stuff. She doesn't know about alcoholism, or drug addiction or any of that. All she knows is she hasn't seen her Grammy in a long time."

"Oh, you're good," Sylvia sneered. "You're real good. Turning on the waterworks like that."

"I am being serious," Julie said, tears beginning to trickle down her face. "You hate me? Fine, hate me. Take it out on me. Spit on me, hit me. If it'll make you feel better, do it; get it over with, get it all out of your system. But don't take it out on my daughter."

"Yeah?" Sylvia sneered. "I can spit on you?"

Julie closed her eyes and leaned her face forward, offering the woman a clear target.

"I'll think about it," the woman grumbled and slammed the door shut.

Julie wiped her face with the back of her hand and walked to her car.

"Well, THAT went well," Julie thought to herself as she started the car.

She drove down to the grocery store, picked up the Barbie cake then drove it to her mother's house.

Marnie did not even try to disguise her intentions. She sniffed at Julie, trying to see if she could smell any alcohol on her daughter.

"Clean and sober, Mother," Julie smiled tightly. "Thanks for letting me hide the cake here.

"Uh huh," Marnie said.

"Couldn't hide it at Tori's, then Isabella would see it and tell Andrea all about it," Julie said and finished rearranging the contents of the refrigerator.

"Uh huh," Marnie said.

"Okay, see you at about eleven, all right?" Julie said and gave her unresponsive mother a hug and a kiss on the lips.

****

The day was a hot, humid day, but Mr. Frank had put up a tarp to shield them from the sun, and put out two large fans that blew warm air on the few guests.

And who's ready for hot dogs?" Julie smiled.

"Me, me, me," Andrea and Isabella demanded.

"Okay, Isabella, you have to sit here, because you're my best friend," Andrea declared, pointing to the bench next to her.

Julie cut up a hot dog and put the plate in front of Kasie, then began to fix Andrea's hot dog.

""Need me to feed her?" Marnie asked.

"She can feed herself," Julie smiled. "Monkeys can do all sorts of things."

"Am I too late for a birthday party?" Sylvia asked, entering the fenced in yard.

"Grammy!" Andrea called out.

"Thank you so much for coming," Julie smiled at the woman.

"Uh huh," Sylvia said flatly.

"Grammy, we're having hot dogs; my mommy will get you one, okay?" Andrea cheerfully called out.

"Hold on, just one cotton picking stinking minute," Julie said in mock seriousness. "Did we say Grace?"

"Amen," Kasie loudly declared and resumed sticking hot dog pieces into her mouth.

"Did she just say...?" Marnie asked.

"She's saying all kind of things now," Julie laughed as everyone decided that Kasie's 'Amen' was a good enough Grace.

"I heard there's a little girl here that just turned five years old! Is that right?" Mike loudly asked as he entered the back yard.

"Daddy!" Andrea screamed and jumped down from her chair.

"Oh my God!" Julie whispered, mouth open in shock.

"Hi Sweetheart!" Mike said as he scooped his daughter up and hugged her tightly. "Oh my goodness! Look at you! Oh, you are getting so big!"

"Damn; that's him?" Tori whispered to Julie.

"Oh my God!" Julie whispered.

"And you let that go?" Tori asked. "You are one crazy ass white girl."

Julie looked at her best friend.

"No," she shook her head slowly. "I threw that away. You right; I am one crazy ass white girl."

In the six months since she'd last seen him, he had grown more handsome. His dark hair was cut short, he had shaved off his mustache, and he had gotten a deep tan. His arms, shoulders and chest were even more muscular, as were his deeply tanned legs.

"Wait right here," Mike smiled as he put Andrea down. "I'll be right back."

Andrea bounced up and down, excited as she waited for her father to return.

"I heard you like Barbie; is that right?" Mike asked as he pushed a Barbie bicycle into the yard.

Aahh!" Andrea gasped as she looked at the magnificent bicycle.

"See, it's got training wheels; those pop right off when you've learned how to ride without them," Mike squatted down and showed the girl.

"Hi," Julie quietly said as Andrea examined the bicycle from all angles.

"Hey," he smiled at her, standing up.

"I um, I," Julie stammered, unsure of what to say or do.

She had fantasized about seeing him again; what she would say and what she would do and how he would react. But he was standing right in front of him, smiling easily and her mind was blank.

Finally, she just grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the tarp shelter.

"Come on, I want you to meet, Tori? This is Mike. Mike's my..." she stammered, and then looked up at him for verification.

"Hi Mike Chamblee," Mike said, reaching out a large hand.

"Hi, Tori Underhill, Julie's downstairs neighbor," Tori smiled.

"And my best friend," Julie cut in. "And that little girl that's stuffing her face is Isabella, Tori's daughter, and Andrea's best friend."

She pointed to Frank and Anthony as they manned the grill.

"And that's..." Julie said.

"Uncle Frank and my cousin Ant," Mike smiled as he waved to the two men.

"Your..." Julie asked, mouth open in shock.

"Yeah, I'd ask if you remembered them from our wedding, but I'm sure you don't," Mike said, sneering slightly.

"Yeah, well I uh..." Julie stammered again.

"Uncle Frank's my mom's brother. So, where's the beer?" Mike asked as he looked around for an ice chest.

"It's a children's' party; there's punch, or punch to drink; what you want?" Julie asked.

"Punch, I guess," Mike agreed.

"Want a hot dog?" Julie asked.

"Sure, with..." Mike said.

"Pickle relish and ketchup," Julie smiled.

"Yeah, you remembered that, huh?" Mike asked.

****

Both Andrea and Kasie were worn out by seven o'clock; Mike had stayed and played with both girls, running around after them, catching them, letting them chase him.

He bathed them both, read to them, then kissed them both good night. Kasie was already sounding asleep and Andrea stirred slightly when her father's lips pressed against her forehead.

"This has been the best birthday ever," she declared.

Julie wrung her hands indecisively as he entered the living room.

"You have to, um, you got, can we talk for a minute?" she stammered.

Mike was slightly amused; Julie of old would have been screaming at him from the minute he entered the back yard until she either passed out in a drunken slumber, or until he left, whichever came first. Julie of old wouldn't ask if they could talk; she would have demanded that they talk. Her doing the talking, him doing the listening.

She looked like the Julie of old, nearly the same weight she had been right before her belly began to show with Andrea, her hair was long, her skin was lightly tanned. She was simply beautiful.

Unlike the Julie of old, though, was the softness. Gone were the hard lines, the hard scowl, and the anger that had sharpened her features.

She had changed out of her earlier outfit of tank top, cargo shorts, and canvas sneakers. Right now, she wore a half shirt that left her belly bare and a pair of nylon running shorts. Her feet were bare. She had changed out of her outfit while he read to Andrea and Kasie; had toyed very seriously with the idea of dressing in her black camisole top and Velcro thong. Her nerves, however, abandoned her at the last moment and she dressed comfortably instead.

"You want to, um, here, um, have a seat, you want something to drink? Julie stammered, guiding him to the sofa. "I got, well, there's a bunch of punch left over; I told Mom not to buy a bunch of that stuff, we really didn't need all of that. Or we got Seven Up. Oh, you still like coffee? I can make you a cup of; I got one of those..."

"Coffee would be great," Mike smiled, fighting the urge to laugh at her nervousness.

He had been extremely nervous coming to the birthday party.

He had, at times recalled that cold day when he walked away from his wife and her two daughters with amusement, and with disgust. If he had a few beers in him, he could almost laugh at the thought of her reaction when she finally figured out that he was gone. But, when he was stone cold sober, he did not laugh. He was disgusted with himself for inflicting such cruelties on her and two defenseless children.

He had imagined walking into the backyard and being greeted by a screaming banshee, a blood thirsty demon.

He had even imagined being greeted by 'the new man in her life,' whoever that unlucky bastard might be and having to get into a brawl. Of course, a brawl at a children's' party would be a huge embarrassment, but Julie's new man would invariably be a drunk, like Julie, so a fight would be the norm.

He realized that Julie was talking, rambling as she fussed about in the kitchen.

"Yeah, it only takes a couple of minutes; Tori's got one and I just had to have one, can't keep running downstairs every time I want a cup of coffee. Still take it with a little cream?" Julie chattered.

The soft, happy, sober Julie had been a total shock, even after his mother's warning.

Kasie had been a real shock too. Andrea was getting so big, but that was too being expected; she had been a big baby. But Kasie, smiling, and talking, and when Julie had gotten her pink ball, running around the yard laughing.

Kasie wasn't quite potty trained yet, but when she needed her diaper changed, she went and told her mother.

And dancing. Tori had pulled out a boom box and put on K.C. and the Sunshine Band and Kasie had shown him how she loved to dance.

"And you look, she keeps perfect time with the beat," Tori had laughed and clapped as Kasie stomped, wiggled, clapped to the music.

"Here you go; hope I got it right," Julie said, handing him a mug.

She put a coaster down on the table next to him and then sat on his left.