Chapter 15

 

Jamison picked up Jamie from Mama Jo and called Sabrina again. The older woman had pulled him aside after he walked in.

“She’s hurting, that one’s been hurt.”

He nodded. “I know. But I like her.”

“Patience boy, yuh need lots of patience for her. But I tink she worth it, she likes the boy.”

“Yeah?” he wondered if she liked him as much as he was beginning to like her.

“Yeah. Her eyes light up when they see yuh, but there is still pain, she not sure what’s going on. Confusion too. Take a stroll wit dat one, it’ll be better than a marathon.”’

Pressure had lifted from his chest, but he had nodded and went to get Sabrina and Jamie from the room.

He’d been calling her for the past hour and a half with no luck. They were supposed to have dinner and a movie tonight. Concerned, he pulled up to the gate at his subdivision. The guard flagged him down as he drove through.

Pulling over he waited until the smaller man reached his car. “Whatsup?” he asked.

“Just letting you know you had a visitor earlier, I didn’t let her in, but I went to lunch and someone else worked the gate. She had some kind of letter with a seal saying she could come on the property because of her son.” The guard’s eyes flicked over Jamie. “Just giving you a heads up.” The guard backed up and Jamison extended his hand and they pounded each other’s fists.

“Good lookin’ out. Much appreciated,” he said before returning to the road. It seemed like another confrontation with Elise was on the menu tonight. He wished she would just go away. Before he reached his street, he called his attorney and repeated the security guards words. His attorney hadn’t been advised that the restraining order was lifted and advised him to call the police if Elise was at his home.

“Okay, will do.” Jamison drove slow and turned down his street trying to see if he had uninvited guests. As he approached his house, he opened the garage door and started to pull in. Elise walked around from the side of his home. He closed the garage, and backed up. Arms folded across her chest, she stood on his grass watching him drive away.

He called the police and drove around the block twice before returning to his home to meet with the police. If the situation weren’t pissing him off he’d comment how quickly the cops came to his high priced neighborhood.

Jamison opened the garage and pulled forward. He closed the garage on the sound of Elise screaming in the background. Once he turned off the alarm, he gave a silent Jamie a snack and sent him into his room to watch a movie and play.

The doorbell rang.

Prepared to file charges, Jamison answered the door with a copy of the restraining orders he had against Elise. “I called the police because she is not supposed to be on my property or anywhere near me. And yes my attorney will be filing another complaint in the morning. I am suing,” Jamison said before the police officer spoke. He didn’t bother looking at Elise, but heard her insults regarding his person and lineage.

The officer looked at the papers and spoke into his shoulder mic. “I’m here talking to Mr. Volks.” He looked at Elise. “These papers are in order, you have to leave the premises. From what you’ve said, you were just released from jail this morning, and now you’re violating this order.

Jamison didn’t say anything, simply waited for the officer to return the papers. He glanced over his shoulder in the direction of Jamie’s room and hoped this would all be over soon. For the most part he ignored Elise and anything she had to say but the mention of Sabrina grabbed his attention.

“Her grandparents know that you don’t split a family…” Jamison glared in her direction. Obviously he had played into her hands, because she laughed and pointed at him as the other officer backed her off the front lawn. “That’s right, I talked to her peeps…” the rest was lost as he took the papers and closed the door.

Elise talked to Mr. Jones? He wondered if that had anything to do with her not answering her calls. He strode to Jamie’s room and looked in. “You okay buddy?”

His son nodded while holding up a drawing on his electronic toy. “Good, pretty huh?”

“Nice…really nice,” Jamison said wondering what the object was.

He sat on the bed, flipping his cell phone in his hand wondering what to do next. No telling what lies Elise spun to old man Jones. He punched in Sabrina’s number again, it went to voice mail. Aggravated by the loss of contact with Sabrina and the uncertainty of what happened at her grandparent’s home, he grabbed his son’s bag, got in his car and headed across town.

Twenty minutes later he reached her grandparents and was dismayed when he didn’t see Sabrina’s car. “Maybe she’s off with her grandmother somewhere,” he told himself as he unbuckled Jamie from his car seat.

“I have to ask Mr. Jones a few questions and then we’re going to get something to eat, okay?” he told his son as they walked up the sidewalk to the porch. He rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer.

He was relieved when Mr. Jones came to the door, but his relief changed to surprise when the older man stepped outside, rather than invited him in.

“Jamison.”

Startled at the cold greeting, Jamison nodded. “Mr. Jones.” They looked at each other for a moment and Mr. Jones glanced down at Jamie, frowned and then returned his gaze to Jamison.

“Is Sabrina here?”

“No.”

Jamison waited for a little more information, but it became glaringly obvious the man had nothing more to add. “You got a problem with me?” He stepped closer to the man huffing at him. “Me and Brina being together?” He asked through a tight jaw remembering his son was with him.

“I just discovered you and Brina were together today. Not from my granddaughter by the way, but by some woman claiming Brina had destroyed her family.”

“She was lying,” Jamison said his face was on fire. Damn Elise was poison, trying to kill every good thing that came into his life. Not this time. This time he’d fight and win because Sabrina was his. “I just had the police escort her off my property a few minutes ago, she has a problem.”

“But…”

“You expected Brina to tell you we were dating when we just decided last night? She probably didn’t have time. Yesterday was rough for her, she was in a lot of pain…”

“She told you that?”

“What? That she was in pain?” He noticed the discomfort on the man’s face and wondered at the cause but didn’t ask.

Mr. Jones nodded.

Thinking on their conversation, Jamison nodded. “More or less.” He stopped when Angela spun into the driveway, hopped out and headed toward them at a fast clip.

“Hey Jamison, this your son?” she asked smiling down at Jamie.

“Yeah, we came to pick up Brina to grab a bite to eat, but she’s not here.”

Angela frowned and then glared at her grandfather. Jamison wondered what happened to cause that look. “That’s what Missy said. Seems like Elise told a bunch of lies and Brina split.”

“Split? Over Elise? She knows better than anybody that Elise is a lying psychopath. Why would she leave over that?” Jamison didn’t understand what she meant.

Angela turned slowly and stared at her grandfather. “That’s a good question, why would she leave over that, Pops?”

Jamison stared at the older man, wondering what was going on. Had he missed something? Normally, he avoided non-personal crises at all costs and other people’s family problems were a hard limit for him. But he needed to know what happened with Sabrina. If there was a problem, he would fix it. No way would he lose her over some BS Elise started.

“Let’s go inside.” Mr. Jones opened the door and waited until he, Angela and Jamie had entered before bringing up the rear. He pointed down the hall. “My office is this way.”

Jamison stopped near the foot of the stairs and then walked into the small study. “I can’t stay long, as you see I have my son with me. Just tell me what happened with Brina and where I can find her and I’ll be on my way.” He didn’t have time for their family drama. After dealing with his woman yesterday, and seeing her tears, he didn’t care if he never saw the older man again. Unfortunately, Brina did care so he needed to tread carefully.

“Can I get him something to drink?” Angela asked pointing toward Jamie.

“No. we are going to dinner in a few.” Impatient, he looked at Mr. Jones expectantly.

“I told you the woman and her aunt came, told us…” he glanced at Jamie and then back up at Jamison. “Some things that didn’t sit well with me or my wife. When Brina came home this morning, we asked her about it. She…became angry and left.”

Jamison knew that was a highly edited version of this morning’s events but he wasn’t about to press the issue. What bothered him, no what was tearing at him, was that she left town and hadn’t talked to him. Granted they’d just made the commitment yesterday, but it had been one of the best days of his life. He’d been certain they had connected. That she felt the same. How could he have been so wrong?

“She just left?” He asked in a low voice. “She just left town because she was angry?”

The older man shrugged but didn’t meet his eyes.

“I would’ve left too if you believed strangers over me.” With that pronouncement, Angela spun on her heels and stomped away. Jamison didn’t want to consider what Angela said, but it was the only thing that made sense. He gazed at the sullen look on Mr. Jones’ face and knew Angela had nailed it.

“Wow,” he said amazed that they’d fallen for Elise’s tricks. “As if dealing with all that baggage with her dad yesterday wasn’t enough, she came home to being accused of …” He was too incensed to speak. “Come on, Jamie.” He took his son’s hand and walked out. Sometimes family could be more deadly than a paid assassin.