The Liberation of Kate Shaw Ch. 06

“And what did you tell her?” I asked after a moment.

“What do you think? We told her to kick you in the ass and jump start you,” Peter said seriously.

I gaped at him, then we all burst out laughing.

“Well!” I said, wiping tears from my face. “What are friends for, after all?”

“So, the next thing we hear is that you’re living with some guy named Paul, and Jordan is living with some woman named Toby….”

“What?” I interrupted. “You know about Toby?”

“Darling, we’ve MET Toby,” Jeffrey said. “Jordan has brought her here a few times when she’s come to pick up work she’d dropped off.”

“Well, what do you think? Is Jordan in love with her?”

There was silence, then Jeffrey said, “Jordan and Toby have a long history, but Jordan’s not in love with her…not like she’s in love with you.”

My heart leapt when I heard this, and I stood up and began pacing. It occurred to me that, since all this had begun, a lot of people had been doing a lot of pacing around me lately.

“What should I do?” I asked. “I can’t just waltz in and demand that Jordan leave Toby and start up with me…. much as I’d like to be able to do that, it’s just not right. The thought of Jordan living and sleeping with someone else is driving me crazy, though. I haven’t been able to sleep, and eating is pretty much out of the question.”

“Well, knowing what I know about Toby and Jordan and their past, it may not be long before Jordan tosses her out again. You might just have to wait for that to happen, as hard as that seems to you,” Jeffrey said.

“Hard? Damn, it’s impossible! I’ve got to find some way to let her know how I feel, that I’m sincere and ready to commit to her. How the hell do you expect me to wait and do that when this whole thing is eating a hole in me?” I asked, running my fingers through my hair.

At that moment, the bell over the shop door rang, and Peter looked over my shoulder, half-standing to see who it was.

“Looks like you may not have to wait,” he said grimly, his eyes meeting mine.

I turned as if in slow motion and saw Jordan standing in the doorway, her face blank with shock at seeing me there.

We stared at each other, and the electricity of her gaze meeting mine was almost visible. Peter and Jeffrey made nonsense noises as they rushed about nervously, and finally managed to somehow push Jordan into the workshop with me as they left us alone.

We stood and said nothing, just looking at each other for a long moment. My mind was totally blank, and my heart was pounding so hard I was sure Jordan could hear it from where she stood. Of their own accord, my feet began to move until I was standing directly in front of her. She didn’t move, but stood there silently and faced me; the only sign of the tension inside her a slight raggedness to her breathing.

“Jordan,” I breathed. I wanted to take her in my arms, but my hands were frozen at my sides.

“Katie,” she said, her voice breaking, and she reached out with one hand to touch my cheek. Tears flowed down my cheeks at her touch, and just as I was about to speak, a voice from the showroom insinuated itself between us.

“Jordan? Are you back there, hon?” the voice said.

Jordan snatched her hand away from my cheek just as a woman walked through the doorway and stopped when she saw the two of us standing there.

“Well,” she said, looking the two of us over with a pair of ice blue eyes. “I didn’t realize you had company, Jordan.”

Jordan stepped back and walked over to her, taking her hand and drawing her over to where I was standing.

“Toby, I’d like you to meet Kate. Kate, this is Toby,” she said, her eyes not meeting mine.

As if in a dream, I held out my hand and waited for Toby to take it. For a moment I thought she wouldn’t, then she shook my hand roughly and let go almost immediately.

“So, this is the famous Kate!” she said, her voice harsh and bristling with sarcasm.

“Toby, come on,” Jordan began, trying to smooth things over. She pulled on Toby’s arm to get her away from me, but Toby stood firm and looked at me with those cold eyes. She jerked her arm out of Jordan’s grasp, and Jordan stood there, miserably avoiding my look.

“I’ve seen your pictures, Kate,” she said, and I gasped in shock. I had no idea Jordan had printed them, much less showed them to someone else without my knowledge. Jordan, however, became instantly angry and pulled Toby around to face her.

“You’ve WHAT?” she asked, almost spitting in Toby’s face. “You went into my darkroom and looked where you have no business looking?”

Toby recoiled at Jordan’s anger, but I felt better knowing Jordan hadn’t betrayed my trust to her.

“Well, what do you expect?” Toby asked defensively. “Do you think I don’t know how you moon over Kate? How do you think I feel, knowing that every time you see anything about the famous Kate Shaw in the paper you go off into another world? Do you think I don’t know you went to her concert the other night?”

At this, both Jordan and I gasped. I remembered suddenly how unsettled I’d been during the performance, and wondered now if it was because I somehow knew Jordan had been there. Jordan, flushed with anger and embarrassment, looked accusingly at Toby.

“You were SPYING on me?” she asked, her voice dangerously quiet.

Toby flushed, but raised her chin in defiance and looked over at me angrily.

“Jordan, can’t you see what a fool you’re being over this woman?” she asked, speaking to Jordan but still looking at me. “She has no idea what she wants, but you can’t seem to let her go. She made her choice, but you can’t seem to accept that. I’ve seen all your pictures of her, and I found the place where you keep all her clippings. So, yes, if you want to call it spying, I guess I have been. But honey,” she said, looking at Jordan and taking her face in her hands, “all I want is for you to be happy, and to see that Kate is wrong for you. Where has she been all this time? With you, making you happy? No, she’s been living with some guy and making you miserable, and if she really loved you, she never would have done all of that. Can’t you see that? Can’t you see that I’M the one who truly loves you?”

I started to protest, but Jordan held up her hand and looked at me, the pain and confusion in her eyes tearing me up inside. Hearing Toby say that Jordan had been keeping track of my career and still had my pictures filled me with joy, but mixed with that was the fear that Toby’s words would somehow convince Jordan that I really was wrong for her. I almost strangled on my need to speak, but Jordan’s upraised hand kept me silent.

Toby started to speak again, but Jordan cut her off. She looked at Toby, then at me, and silently backed out of the room, almost running out when she got to the doorway. Peter and Jeffrey appeared, both with concern etched on their faces, as Toby strode over and stood in front of me.

“Are you fucking happy now?” she snarled. “Damn you, Kate Shaw. Damn you for making Jordan love you and then leaving the rest of her for me to pick up when you broke her heart.”

“What?” I asked incredulously, my anger boiling over. “Who the fuck do you think you are? YOU are the one who came between us in the first place, Toby. You KNEW how she felt about me, but you fucked with her head anyway and did everything you could to keep her from me. Do you honestly believe Jordan loves you the way she loves me?”

Toby’s lip curled, and she drew back her fist as if to hit me, but Peter and Jeffrey were there instantly and pulled her away from me. She was almost screaming as they dragged her out of the shop, and I heard Jeffrey say firmly that she was not welcome in their shop any longer. I leaned on the counter, beginning to tremble as the implications of all that had happened started to hit me. Peter was back in an instant, offering me a glass of water and leading me to a stool so I could sit down.

“Are you all right?” he asked, brushing my hair back from my face.

I took a deep breath and then a long drink of water before I answered.

“Well,” I said, my voice hoarse with unshed tears, “that certainly could have gone better.”

“Darling, I am SO sorry about that,” Jeffrey said as he came rushing in. “I didn’t know Jordan was coming in today, and I certainly didn’t expect Toby to be here.”

“It’s okay, Jeff. Really, maybe it’s better that things happened this way,” I said, putting down my water and scrubbing my face with my hands.

“What the hell happened, anyway?” Peter asked. “We leave you alone for a few minutes and suddenly World War Three is starting. God, I thought Toby was going to haul off and clobber you!”

I laughed wearily. “Well, it seems you were right about how Jordan feels about me,” I said, “and apparently, Toby knows it too. She’s been spying on Jordan and snooping around, and found out that Jordan still has those pictures she took of me, and that she keeps clips of all my performances.”

“Whew,” Jeffrey whistled, “That’s probably been driving her crazy, knowing Jordan thinks about you all the time.”

“So, what are you waiting for?” Peter asked. “Why don’t you go after Jordan and talk to her, let her know how you feel before Toby gets to her again?”

I looked at him, startled. “My god, you’re right!” I said, as I started out the door. “I’ve got to find her!”

The last thing I heard before the door closed was both men yelling “Good luck!”

To be continued…..