Best Laid Plans Novel – “Why should I believe you that you don’t steal? You’re no better than your mother. She was a bimbo, and so are you.” “I didn’t steal anything from you. I don’t know how to make you believe me, but that’s the truth.” Tears streamed down her face now, but she stood tall, her chin lifted in defiance. “Hey, your cherry was good, I’ll give you that, but I like my women clean, and you’re just a bimbo’s daughter, who cleans toilets in a diner.” She closed her eyes then, and I saw the fight leave her. When she opened her eyes, there was nothing there. She’d shut down. Completely. “There is nothing more to say. Anson, remember what you did today. Believe me, you will get your comeuppance. This time you have lost me forever! I swear!”
Anson I’d fallen in love with Nova, bought her innocent act. She’d been all I thought about when I left for Yale, after spending an amazing Christmas break with her. I’d been desperate to have her when I came back. I was five years older than her when we met. She’d been seventeen, and I waited until her eighteenth birthday made it special for her. We copulate, and I knew this was the woman I’d marry. She went back to her hovel after. I had decided I’d pull her out of there, and take her with me to New Haven, but that’s when all inferno broke loose. She’d stolen my grandmother’s jewelry. It was my fault. I’d shown the baubles to her I’d wanted her to see grandma’s engagement ring, the one I’d intended to give her.
It was all gone, and it was never found again, except for a couple of pieces that Pete had found in Nova’s apartment. I hadn’t wanted to believe it, but the security feed didn’t lie. Nova had been in the library where the safe was that afternoon after she left my bed. When Deputy Sheriff Pete Fontaine searched Nova’s place, he found a brooch and a bracelet. Pete was a friend, and the Fontaines were an old Georgia family like the Larues. They’d lost their money, but they were still committed to the well-being of the people. Pete’s Daddy was the Sheriff, and now so was Pete, after his father retired. I hadn’t planned to go see her after Pete arrested her. But I couldn’t help myself. She’d been asking for me, begging. So, I went. Heartbroken, angry, and feeling like a fool. Alma, my sister, and Bailey, my ex, had both been compassionate when they didn’t have to be.
They’d both warned me about Nova, but I’d been so in love with her, so taken by her, that I’d not listened. I stood outside the cold metal bars of Nova’s jail cell, a storm of emotions churning inside me. The sight of her in that dismal place, her eyes wide with fear and defiance, was almost too much to bear. I had come to confront her, to get answers, but now that I was here, my heart ached with a pain I hadn’t anticipated. “Anson,” she pleaded, gripping the bars with white-knuckled desperation. “You have to believe me. I didn’t steal anything. I’d never do that. Please tell me you know that.” I wanted to believe her. I really did. But the evidence was damning. Pete had found my grandma’s brooch and bracelet hidden in her rundown apartment on the wrong side of town—the part of Sentinel where people like Nova were supposed to live on nothing but broken dreams and shattered hopes. It had been my mistake to try to get her out of there, because maybe that’s what she deserved.
“Stop lying, Nova,” I snapped, my voice colder than I intended. “Do you think I’m a fool?” Her eyes filled with tears. “How can you think that of me? After last night?” “Is that what last night was about? You selling your first copulation to me?” I demanded, pain roaring inside me. How could she have done this to me? I loved her. I’d have given her anything. She didn’t have to steal from my family. She took a step back, her hand on her heart. She was in her diner uniform—Pete had arrested her at work. Even in that horrible gray shirt dress, she managed to look beautiful. Even with tears running down her cheeks, she was stunning. “Did you think stealing that jewelry was payment for your virgin cherry?” I shouted. She gasped and stared at me like she was seeing a stranger. Yeah, Sugar, I’m not the man you know anymore.
I’m Anson Larue, and no one copulates with me. “I’d have given you money if you asked. You were worth it, babe.” I knew she hated being called babe. “But stealing my grandma’s jewelry? Where is the ring, Nova?” She shook her head as if she couldn’t believe what was happening. Well, she should. “I never took anything,” she whispered. “You were in the library. I saw the security footage.” She frowned. “I…when?” “When you left my bed.” She winced. “I…was lost. That’s all. But I left right away.” She’d had to leave because she had a shift at the diner, and I’d let her go on her own. I should’ve walked her out. But I was sleepy after a night of awesome copulation and…I trusted her. “The jewelry was found in your apartment. How else do you explain that?” She held my gaze, unflinching. “I don’t know. I swear to you, Anson, I didn’t do this.” I clenched my fists, trying to steady the rage that was threatening to overwhelm me. “And why should I believe you? You’re no better than your mother.
She was a bimbo, and so are you.” The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them. A flicker of hurt crossed Nova’s face, and she took a step back, her hands falling away from the bars. “How dare you,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Why, Nova?” I asked, my voice breaking. “Why did you do it? If you needed something, anything, you could have just asked. I would’ve given you the world.” Tears streamed down her face now, but she stood tall, her chin lifted in defiance. “I didn’t steal anything from you. I didn’t take anything from you, ever. I don’t know how to make you believe me, but that’s the truth.” Her words hung heavy in the air, and for a moment, doubt crept into my mind. What if she was telling the truth? What if I had condemned the woman I loved without truly understanding the situation? But the hurt and betrayal I felt were too raw, too immediate.
I turned away from her, unable to look at her any longer. “I hope for your sake, Nova, that you can find a way to prove your innocence to the law. Because as far as I’m concerned, you’re damaged goods.” “Anson, please.” “Please, what? Hey, your cherry was good, I’ll give you that, but I like my women clean, and you’re just a bimbo’s daughter, who cleans toilets in a diner.” It was unfair to mock her for honest work. But she wasn’t an honest person, so what did I care! She closed her eyes then, and I saw the fight leave her. Her shoulders slumped. She’d always been insecure about what she did—that I’d think her dirty, unclean, less. When she opened her eyes, I felt everything inside me go cold. There was nothing there. She’d shut down. Completely. “What happens to you from now on is on you. You asked for it. And I hope to inferno you suffer.” I walked away, leaving her standing behind the bars, her silence echoing through the dimly lit corridor. My heart was shattered, torn between love and betrayal, and I didn’t know if I would ever be able to piece it back together again.
Nova On my birthday, a few days after I graduated from high school, I’d been waiting to get at least a message from him. It was nearly eight in the evening, the end of my shift, and there hadn’t been a peep from Anson. My heart was heavy when, right before closing, I heard the diner door ring open. I was about to say that we were closed for the night when I saw Anson, a backpack slung over his shoulder, that he dropped on the floor when he opened his arms to me. I ran to him, leaping up, my legs wrapping around his waist. “Happy birthday, Sugar.” “You’re here. You’re here.” I smooched his face, and everywhere else I could reach. “How come you’re here?” “It’s my girl’s birthday. You think I wouldn’t be here?” I was so happy that everything inside me burst open with love. “I love you,” I whispered. He smooched me in the mouth. “I love you, too, Nova King.” But when hit the fan, it was evident that Anson Larue had been after one thing. And once he had it, he discarded me, just like my father had my mother. At least I hadn’t gotten pregnant, and no thanks to him. I’d had the wherewithal to get an IUD implant at Planned Parenthood, once I decided I’d have copulation with Anson.
I wanted something foolproof, and I knew pills were not, as evidenced by several of the pregnant girls in my neighborhood. I’d also been warned that men forgot condoms, which could also break. Anson had been a great lover, so tender that it had been jarring to be treated like trash by him a few hours later. It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that Anson had believed that I was a thief because he wanted to. It was also clear to me that he didn’t love me, because if you loved someone, you didn’t abandon them the way he did me. If you loved someone, you didn’t tell your friend to make sure you were roughed up in jail. Pete took pleasure in telling me all about it after Anson left me in prison, causing me more pain than I’d ever felt in my young life. “He wants to make sure you hurt, Nova, and I have just the way to do it.” In my nightmares, it wasn’t Raymond Carre, the drunk copulation offender who hurt me. It was always Pete Fontaine and Anson, who stood by laughing. Anson, you lost me forever! I swear! You would pay for what you did today!