Saturday Morning

By the time Lance finds himself awake at 2:30 in the morning on a Saturday, it is the first of September. Just like that, the summer has gone by pretty fast. It didn’t feel like that long ago since the Macallens first arrived in Lake Haven, but just like that, two months flew by. It’s been an exciting two months with its fair share of ups and downs: one of the downs that included his accidental involvement in covering up the death of a local woman, Kaitlynn Westergart.

While Seth is out like a light, Lance lies in bed, staring up at the ceiling as he thinks about the events that have transpired last night at the party. He and Seth had no choice but to shut the party down, as requested by Jessa, so that they didn’t risk getting into any trouble while the adults were out. Jessa didn’t think the party was such a great idea after all, and she reluctantly offered to take Jake home by tending to his slight wounds after Lance punched him in the face for calling Jessa a “bitch.” Lance has also learned that Jessa and Tansie are estranged, and Jessa–when she has time to calm down–will eventually tell her and Seth about the estrangement from Tansie.

Lance smiles, thinking about the moment when he and Jessa decided to make their relationship official. He knows that she’s with him now, and he trusts that she won’t go back to Jake. Jessa has insisted things are over for good between her and Jake, and Jake has given him the okay to see Jessa, so what can possibly go wrong now?

Another thing on Lance’s mind… The moment Vincent approached him at the beach earlier that day. He can’t help it, but he wants to know what Vincent wanted to talk to him about. At the very least, he owes it to himself to tell Vincent to stop contacting him for good. An idea begins to form in his mind that he should make his way to Vincent’s place to give him a piece of his mind. It’s a dangerous idea, but it’s completely worth it.

Seth is such a heavy sleeper, Lance isn’t sure if he wants to disturb his brother and let him know that he wants to go out for a walk–at this time–to clear his mind from everything. Just to stay on the safe side and not to incite Seth’s anxieties should he wake up and notice Lance’s absence, he decides to let him know. He turns on the light in the room and gently taps Seth on the arm. “Hey, Seth?” he whispers.

The gentle tap on the arm is more than enough to get Seth to open his eyes. “What’s up, Lance?” he asks sleepily.

“I can’t sleep. My mind is on a million other things: how Rousseau approached me at the beach, and everything that went down here in the house last night with the party. I need to go for a walk to get my mind off everything.”

Seth gradually sits up in bed. “What time is it?”

“A little after 2:30.” Lance glances at their alarm clock.

Seth gives him a baffled look. “Are you sure this is such a great idea? Don’t you realize how unsafe it is to be outside at this time… Given what’s already happened to Kaitlynn?”

“Relax,” Lance reassures him. “I’m not gonna make myself an unintentional target of anything bad… I had no control over what happened on the Fourth of July as I was leaving Jessa’s.”

“I know, Lance. You had no control, and it wasn’t your fault. That asshole is responsible for putting you in that place. He might be lurking around at this time, so just be careful, okay? There’s no telling what else he’s capable of.” Seth sighs. “Which, as far as we can tell, is just about anything.”

“I promise I’ll be safe, Seth. You don’t have to worry about me. I won’t be gone for long. At the very least, I’ll be gone for 30 minutes or an hour. I’ll be back soon enough.” He gives a thumbs-up, as if he’s keeping true to his promise. “I doubt Mom will be coming back from Wallace’s place right now. She said on the phone that she’s staying for breakfast at his place before she can leave, so…”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true. Anyway, good luck with clearing your mind.”

“Thanks, buddy. I know I’ll need lots of it.”

Lance decides to go out through the window, just like he did the last time he’d gone over to Jessa’s. When he gets outside, by chance, he sees a young woman presumed to be in her early twenties driving by in a black Lexus, and he waves to her to get her attention. He wants to hitchhike, which is probably a smarter idea than walking around the streets in the dark at this hour because God only knows what types of dangers are out there at this time of night.

The girl, after seeing him wave, slows down and parks her vehicle. She opens her windows and asks him, “Yes, may I help you?”

“I need a ride to Savannah Street. 454,” he recites Vincent’s house number, which he surprisingly remembers, due to his photographic memory.

“Okay, hop in.” She smiles as she gets out to open the passenger door for him. She is a pretty redhead, and Lance assumes that she must be the same age as Kaitlynn and a possible friend of hers.

“Thanks.” Lance smiles at her.

“No problem. Are you going to meet someone in particular at this time of night?”

“Uh… Yeah. A friend of my cousin’s.” Lance is skilled at lying right through his teeth whenever possible. “He sort of asked me to come over. He wanted to talk to me about something important.”

“Okay.” The girl nods, smiling as if she’s taking his word for it. “A little weird to have this kind of conversation in the middle of the night, though.”

“Yeah, I know, right?” Lance chuckles.

“Are you going to stay for long? I just got back from work, and I don’t mean to sound a little rude, but I kind of don’t have that much patience to sit around and wait until you’re through with your strange little visit at this time at night. So, I’m gonna need to start heading out immediately after I drop you off to wherever it is you need to be.”

Lance appreciates this woman for even giving him the time of day–or night–to give him a ride to Vincent’s, so the least he feels he can do is to allow her to go her own way and get a ride home from Vincent. That is, if he’s willing to take him home without scaring him off again like he did last time.

“Yeah, I don’t know how long I’ll be, honestly,” Lance replies with a shrug, “but you don’t have to worry about sticking around for me, though. I can just get a ride from this friend. It’s no worries at all. Trust me.”

“Are you sure?” She gives him an understanding smile.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Your giving me a ride is more than enough. Thanks.”

“No problem.” She grins. “I wish you the best of luck in your meeting with this friend of yours.”

“Thanks. I’ll need lots of it.”

They chuckle, and in no time at all, they arrive at Savannah Street. The young woman pulls up to the front of Vincent’s driveway. She parks the car and says, “Well, I think this is it. What’s your name, by the way?”

“Lance,” Lance replies. “And yours?”

“Darla.” She shakes hands with him. “Nice to meet you, Lance.”

“Thank you for bringing me here, Darla. I’ll get a ride back from this friend, so don’t worry about me holding you up or anything.”

“Thanks, Lance. Again, I didn’t mean to sound a little rude… I just needed to call it a day after a typical long day of work and school.” She chuckles, and Lance smiles.

“Yeah, I totally understand. Thank you very much.” Lance says as Darla gets out to open the door for him. They shake hands again, and she watches him go up to the door and knock on Vincent’s door. To ensure his safety, she decides to stay there and watch Lance until he goes inside.

Vincent’s voice calls out from inside, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Lance,” he calls out. “Open up now.”

Lance clears his throat, so as not to risk raising his voice again. The block is asleep at this time, so it’s better that he doesn’t have any noise complaints filed against him.

Lance turns around and sees Darla still in her car, watching him with a smile on her face. He shrugs, as if to say, “You know how it is”, then Vincent answers the door, shirtless. Lance turns around again at Darla, and he immediately notes a look of suspicion and concern on her face. He waves goodbye to her to ease her concerns, and she waves back to him before heading her own way.

“A friend of yours or something?” Vincent asks.

“Nah.” Lance shakes his head. “That’s just Darla, a really nice girl who was kind enough to give me a ride.”

“Oh, Darla.” Vincent smiles as he shakes his head, shutting the door after Lance. “I actually know her a little bit. She’s a friend of Kaitlynn’s.”

Lance knows he was on the right track when he suspected that Darla is the same age as Kaitlynn. The suspicious look on her face just now said it all: she’s concerned for him. She appears to know Vincent Rousseau all too well.

“Really?” Lance asks, amazed.

“Yeah. Well, make yourself comfortable.” Vincent wears a white t-shirt that’s lying on the couch. He often wears that shirt to sleep. If he’s not in the t-shirt, then he’s usually shirtless. He lives alone, so this place is his castle. “I’d ask what you’re doing here, but…”

“I wanted to meet with you… After our awkward little run-in at the beach yesterday,” Lance says.

“Oh… Okay.” Vincent looks stumped. This isn’t the first time a Macallen has agreed to voluntarily meet with him when he least expected it. “Well, I mean, given what you and your brother said to me, and what your mom said…”

“Seth doesn’t know that I’m here. I only told him that I just wanted to spend time alone at Lindsey Park to clear my mind from everything that concerns you, so I don’t want to stay here for too long or give him reason to worry about me. Our mom’s not around; she’s on a date with this new man in her life or something, I don’t know. She’s spending the night with him, and she’ll be back tomorrow morning…” He clears his throat. “I mean, in many more hours from now, I think. And our aunt and uncle have gone for their weekend anniversary trip and won’t be back until Sunday. So, it’s just me, Seth, and the kids and the puppy in the house.”

“Okay, that’s nice.” Vincent sits next to Lance on the couch. “Word from Jake: you and your brother threw a house party, huh?” He smiles.

“Uh, yeah… We did. Jessa wasn’t too thrilled, of course. She certainly wasn’t happy to see Jake, so Seth and I did the right thing by shutting down the party while we had the chance. Our mom will never have to know.”

“Yep, can’t blame Jessa for not being too keen on seeing Jake again after all this time. They’re broken up because of me, and I don’t think they’ll ever get back together. What do you think?”

“No.” Lance shakes his head in agreement. “Because Jessa’s into me now. Or, well, I thought she was until she got mad about the party. So, I don’t know where we stand right now.”

“Ah, just give her some time. I’m sure you guys would be great together. She deserves to be happy for once. Anyway, I assume you’re here to talk about our random encounter at the beach, right?”

Lance nods. “Yeah. I know you said you wanted to apologize, but I didn’t want to give Seth or the kids an impression that I was okay with accepting your apology. I know you’re sorry. I accept your apology, but I don’t think I can ever fully forgive you because of what you’ve put me through. You know that I didn’t even know Kaitlynn personally like you did. Seth and I have never even met her. We only knew about her through Jessa. With my involvement in this whole mess, the cops will think that I had some type of connection to her, and that’s not fair. That’s why Seth and I had to lie to the cops, saying that Jessa didn’t tell us anything about your and Kaitlynn’s relationship. She told us everything. She opened up to us like a waterfall, and we had to lie and say that she didn’t tell us anything. I hate living with these guilty feelings. You wouldn’t understand, of course. You say that what happened to Kaitlynn was an accident.” He scoffs. “Yeah, I don’t know how I’m supposed to believe that.”

“It really was just an accident, Lance,” Vincent says. “I mean it. I know you weren’t even there, and I got you involved after the fact, but Kaitlynn and I were the only ones there. It was an accident. It’s not like I meant for her to fall over the edge of the boardwalk.”

For the first time, Lance is surprised to learn that that’s the real reason why Kaitlynn died. “You pushed her?”

“Yeah, I-I… It was an accident. I’m gonna tell you exactly what I told your mom, word-for-word. The God-honest version.” Vincent begins to tell Lance everything he told Christina when she first came to his house a few weeks ago to confront him about his coercion of Lance. Lance is an avid listener, and after Vincent tells the story, Lance realizes he has no choice but to believe him. He knows that Kaitlynn wasn’t killed because “she was seeing another guy.” She was killed because Vincent contributed to her death by shoving her overboard, causing her to hit her head on the beach umbrellas and tents and land into the water, where she eventually drowned.

Lance shakes his head in disgust. “We all stand corrected. You are still the reason why your pregnant girlfriend is dead!”

“I know, Lance, and I’m so sorry to have gotten you involved. I was just panicking, you know. If it wasn’t you personally, I would’ve tried to get any other person passing by to help me. This was nothing against you. You just happened to be the first person I saw, and…”

Lance scoffs. “So, you think that justifies anything at all, Rousseau? What the hell?” He raises his voice.

“I know, and I hate everything about that night. I hate getting you involved at all. I know you’re just a kid. You’re 16, right? When I was 16, Jake was eight, and just like I told your mom, I had to play the role of big brother and father to him at that age when our own father couldn’t even do that for us. I know it’s not an excuse for anything, but that’s just the way things were for me. I know now that it doesn’t excuse my mistreatment of Kaitlynn. She totally deserved so much better than me, that I can admit.” He nods in acknowledgement. “I could’ve learned to control my anger that night. I had no right to question the legitimacy of her pregnancy. I know that she couldn’t have done it with anyone else so soon after our break-up, which seemed permanent at the time. So, I should’ve been an adult about it, and I didn’t handle it well. I’ll always regret it.”

Lance sighs, torn between feeling bad for him and wanting to fire back at him some more. “My dad never hurt my mom, so you don’t have an excuse for how shitty you were with Kaitlynn. She deserved much better from you, and if you couldn’t give her that, she deserved to move on. She didn’t deserve you at all. You had no right to make her feel bad for carrying your child. Even if you weren’t happy about it, you still should’ve pretended that you were. And if you were pissed about it, you should’ve gone to the gym and punched a punching bag or something to let out all that anger. But you don’t ever hit a woman. I’ve never even had a steady girlfriend before, and I’m telling you, a 20-something dude about how to treat a woman. Imagine that irony, Rousseau.” He shakes his head.

Vincent sighs. “I know. I live with shame and guilt every single day. I always wish I could take back that night, including all the awful things I said to her. We had a fight about our future, a future that I didn’t see anymore because we were already over at that point, or so I thought. I still stand by what I said, though: I don’t think I would’ve made a great father, for obvious reasons. It would’ve been just a burden for me, and I insisted that Kaitlynn get an abortion.” He scoffs. “You can only imagine her reaction to that.”

“Right, because you’re a guy, and you thought you had every single right to make her own choices for her?” Lance says sardonically.

Vincent shakes his head and chuckles. “No, I didn’t have a damn right to say that to her. No girl would be okay with you telling her to get an abortion. I know that’s not something she would’ve wanted to do.”