Around Our Heads

The following week I was at work about to go on my lunch break when my office phone rang. I never got calls for the company, and I only ever used it for outbound calls. I mean, I usually gave out the number on my card, but all the people I gave it to had access to my cellphone, so they never bothered. This just meant that whoever was calling knew I was at work, knew I might not hear my cell since it was usually on silent at work and was calling specifically for me.

“Marley Johnson,” I said, picking it up. I wasn’t used to having to name myself.

“Marley, it’s Gazarra. I was wondering if you would stop by my office for lunch?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure. I can do that.”

“When are you leaving?”

“About five minutes. I just have to close a few things up first.”

“Alright, I’ll see you soon then.”

“Okay, bye.” I hung up and finished so I could head to his office. Angie was behind the desk when I came in. I never caught her filing her nails or doing anything like that. She always seemed mildly busy but always ready to help. She smiled at me when I walked in.

“Hi, Marley,” she said in her liquid smooth voice. “They’re waiting for you. You can go ahead and go back.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks,” I said. I headed down the hall and let myself into his office. But I forgot that she said “they” were waiting for me. And so I was a little startled to see Chris sitting in the chair across from him. “Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked as I went to take the other seat.

“We have some uh—things to talk about,” he said. He wasn’t really smiling. He had his hand on his chin, leaning on his arm. He was bothered by something. So I turned to Gazarra.

“So, what’s going on?” He cleared his throat and looked at his computer screen.

“Chris had some questions for me regarding a previous case of yours,” he started. “So we called you down to talk it over with you.” I looked at Chris.

“What case?”

He reached for something on Gazarra’s desk and handed it over to me. It was a piece of paper addressed to both of us. It was letting us know that Trent had been released on parole. Trent was my ex-boyfriend. We had an affair when he was married. I broke up with him because of Chris. And then he turned around and beat the crap out of me when I was pregnant with Avery. I stared at the paper for a long time before looking back at Gazarra.

“So, what are we discussing?” I asked him.

“Well, Chris obviously has some concerns. He came in to ask me a few questions about restraining orders. He told me what happened, and I looked up your case. He just wants to know what you want to do about it.” I turned back to Chris.

“You’re worried.” He nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m worried.”

“Well—what do you think we should do?” I asked Gazarra. “Should we get a restraining order? What would we have to do to get that?”

“Well, the courts are legally obligated to let you know when he’s been released,” he told me. “Whether or not you choose to file a restraining order is entirely up to you. Moring hasn’t tried to make contact with you, and I can’t say for sure that he’ll even try. But Chris is understandably concerned and would like to take precautions. But the chargers were filed by you, not him. So you’re the only one with a legitimate reason to file. I would be able to get the paperwork for you, and I can represent you. But to file, you will have to go to court, and Moring will likely be there.” I considered that for a moment.

“You don’t really think he’s going to come after us, do you?” I asked Chris. He shrugged.

“I don’t know, Marley. He came after you before. Just because he’s been incarcerated doesn’t mean he’s sober or that he doesn’t still want to harm you,” he said.

“He hasn’t contacted you at all over the years?” Gazarra asked. I shook my head.

“We haven’t heard anything at all,” I told him.

“There’s always the possibility that he’s changed. He may have no plans at all to contact you. But Chris is right. He sunk low enough to assault a pregnant woman before. It might be in your best interest to file, but the order won’t protect you if he’s willing to break it to get to you.” I nodded slowly.

“If we go to court, will we have to talk to him?”

“No, not necessarily. All we’re going to do is request a hearing. We would appear before the judge, and I would bring up the previous case. His lawyer will plead his case if they think the order is unnecessary. The judge will make the final decision.”

“What exactly will you tell them about my case?”

“Just what’s been reported. He was charged and convicted. And I’ll uh—show them the pictures.”

“Did you see them?”

“Yes, I saw them. They’re in your files.” I looked at my lap as I thought it over. They were both patient with me.

I wasn’t sure if Trent was likely to come back and try to get revenge again. I didn’t think he was that stupid. But then again, I never thought he’d come after me the way he did in the first place. I hadn’t thought much about him in the past few years, but that didn’t mean the idea of him being free didn’t freak me out. I was mostly just afraid for Avery. I remembered what he said that day when he had his hands around my throat. “That should be my baby,” is what he told me. Maybe he changed over the years, but I couldn’t be sure. My instinct was to protect my daughter in any way that I could.

“Restraining orders expire, don’t they?” I finally asked him.

“It depends. If you want to file again later, you might need another hearing,” Gazarra told me.

“How much does it cost?” He shook his head softly.

“I won’t ask you to pay. You’re my daughter.”

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t do it then. Let’s just see where it goes. It’s better to be safe than sorry, right?” He nodded.

“I agree. I’ll go ahead and get started on the paperwork.”

“Have you eaten?” Chris asked as Gazarra started typing on his computer. I shook my head.

“Not yet.”

“There’s a salad in the mini-fridge. You can go ahead and help yourself,” Gazarra told me.

“Oh, I don’t want to eat your lunch.”

“I’ll have Angie pick me up something. It’s not a problem.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.”

“Okay, I’ll eat it. But only because I’m starving.” He just smiled. I went to his mini-fridge and opened it. There was a salad in a plastic container and a can of Mountain Dew.

“You can take the soda too. I’m not even supposed to have it,” he told me.

“Awesome.” I brought them both back to his desk and got started.

He asked us a few questions while I ate his lunch, and then he printed off some papers for us to fill out. There were quite a lot of them, so he told us to just take them home, and he’d take me to lunch the next day. I could give them to him then. So we agreed. I thanked him, and Chris followed me back out of the building and to his car. Since I’d taken the bus, he decided to give me a ride back to work.

“Are you scared?” I asked him.

“Yeah, babe. I’m scared,” he replied.

“When did you get the notice?”

“This morning. I dropped Avery off with Vic and headed right over here.”

“Why didn’t you let me know?”

“I wanted to know what it meant for us exactly. He said he’d help me out, and we called you over.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Everything.”

“By everything, does that mean you told him I was seeing Trent when he was married?” He nodded.

“Yeah, I told him about that. I told him about us. I told him about how you dumped the both of us, and eventually, you and I got back together. I told him how Trent came to find you after his wife left him and how he attacked you in the bathroom. He pulled up the files and read them over. Then he saw the pictures, and he was pissed.”

“He was mad?” I asked.

“Well, he didn’t know,” he explained. “He said he’d never looked up your files because that was rude and not his business. He only did it because I had the information and asked him to. Then he got to your pictures, and I watched him scroll through them. I know he hasn’t known you very long, but you’re still his blood. He cares about you. Someone still hurt his daughter, and if anyone ever put their hands on my baby girl, I’d have him gutted like a fish. So yeah—he was pissed.”

“That just—seems weird to me.” He glanced at me.

“He loves you, Marley.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Didn’t you see how happy he was to meet you again? He goes out to lunch with you once a week. He excitedly tells you about where you come from and eagerly tries to get to know all three of us. He wants to be part of your life. He wants to make up for lost time. He’s going to walk you down the aisle. Sure, you haven’t really known each other very long, but he wanted to know you. And now he’s finally getting that chance.” I smiled.

“You really think that?”

He smiled back at me and nodded. He knew how badly I wanted that loving family. Sure, I’d had my adoptive father all my life, and I’d adored him. But when he died, I didn’t have anyone else. My mother didn’t talk to me, and my grandparents didn’t speak to me. Zig and his family took years to talk to me. So now, all I had was Zig and Gazarra’s family. Besides Chris and Avery, of course. Chris telling me that Gazarra loved me was like him telling me there were cupcakes instead of muffins.

“Yeah, babe. I know so,” he said. I took his hand.

“Then I’m happy,” I replied.

“Me too. You deserve to be showered with love.”

“I wish I didn’t have to go back to work. I just want to go home with you and Avery and be lazy and go to the park or something.” He smiled again.

“When you get home, we’ll go to the park. It’s kind of chilly, but Avery will like it.”

“I can’t wait.”