Moving On

C h a p t e r 5

I soon woke up and realized I had drifted off to sleep. I sat up and look in the mirror on the dresser. I saw a tear rolling down my face. I tried to wipe it away as I picked up the ring from the nightstand. I just kept reading the engraving over and over again. I continued to cry. I leaned in the side of my bed with my face in my knees. This went on for a while until my phone rang. It was Alice. I walked slowly and picked up the phone with a tried tone in my voice.
"Hello?" I said tiredly.
"Jughead?"
"Yeah?"
"You don't sound so good. Do you want to take a day off?"
"That would be great. Can I?"
"Sure."
"Thank you."
"Yup."
"Bye, Jughead."
"Bye." I hung up the phone. I was still drowsy and exhausted by the events that had occurred in the last 24 hours. The ring, the flashback, Julie's dream, everything. It was too much. I walked into the closet to get dressed. There were two closets. Mine, and Betty's. I hadn't opened Betty's in months. I stored all of her stuff in there. When I walked in there, it was like she never left. I couldn't stand the thought that she was still alive. And that maybe she was being tortured all of these years? It's a painful thought. I tried not to think about it. I went into the bathroom to my dad's old dog tags in the drawer. I took the dog tags off of the chain and brought the chain back into the bedroom with me. I crouched down next to the nightstand and picked up Betty's ring. I put the chain through it and put the clasp on around my neck. I put the necklace under my shirt. I zoned out for a little bit. Then, I remembered I have to keep going. I showered and then got dressed. I put the necklace back on under my shirt.
"Want to go for a walk, Hot Dog?" I said. Hot Dog lifted his head up. I fed him first, then I grabbed the leash. We started walking around the neighborhood. Elm street. I always thought if I ever ended up living on Elm Street, I'd being living there with Betty. I had to stop thinking about it. So, there was one thing I knew I could do. About an hour later, I was back home and there was a knock at the door.
"Hey, Toni."
"Hi, Jones." I let her in the house and shut the door behind her.
"I would ask if your okay, but, by the looks, of it your not." I just looked down at my feet. I started fiddling with the necklace.
"What's around your neck?"
"Um.." I tried to think of an explanation.
"Wait, is that a ring?"
"It's um.. it's Betty's ring."
"Didn't Betty have the ring on her when she went missing?"
"Mhm." I nodded.
"Jughead, I'm gonna need more than that."
"Okay, but you can't tell anybody. Not even Cheryl. This can't get out."
"Okay. Okay. Just tell me, Jones." She sighed.
"The other day, Julie went over to Sweet Pea's."
"Okay.."
"She came back and she saw something in the tree. Something hanging. It was shiny-"
"The ring."
"You would be correct. It had a note on it. Here, I'll go get it." I went into my office and dug threw the drawer until I found the slip of paper. I handed it to Toni. She read it with confusion.
"What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. What is there to do?"
"You could talk to the police."
"Yeah, because they helped so much when Betty went missing in the first place."
"I guess your right."
"This is something I need to do on my own."
"No, Jones. You have Julie now. You have to take care of her."
"Why can't I do both?"
"You can't protect her and investigate your wife's alleged murder." I just kept looking down. I was trying to hold back my tears.
"Sorry, that was harsh. Look, all I'm saying is, you have to protect Julie. And, you can't do that if you put yourself in the crosshairs."
"I know." Toni sat down next to me as I broke down. We just sat in silence for a while.
"Hey, I have an idea."
"Hm?"
"How about you and Julie come over for dinner." I hesitated.
"Come on, you've got to get out of this house."
"I guess."
"I'm sure Julie would love to see Kiara and Scarlett again. And you've only met Eli once. You can even bring someone if you want."
"Hm?"
"Archie and I talk, Jones. I know about Tabitha."
"It's really nothing, especially with this hanging over my head."
"Jughead, we all want you to move on."
"I know. I just don't know if I can. Also, it would be really weird for Julie. It's her teacher."
"Well, I didn't know that part."
"Funny." I said sarcastically.
"Thanks, but I'll pass. I'm just not ready to date."
"Come on Jones, you've got to put yourself out there."
"I know. Just not yet."
"Whenever your ready, I guess." She sighed. We talked for a little longer then she left. It was almost 3:00 by now. So, I got in the car to go pick up Juliet. I sat there in silence for a second. It felt rather sad so I turned on the radio. I waved to Archie as he was pulling out as well. We waved and I pulled out. I parked the car and walked up to the gate. I heard a faint
"Daddy!" In the distance.
"Daddy!" Julie called out again.
"Hi baby!" I squatted down to her level as she ran up to me. She ran as fast as she could with her little legs and gave me a big hug. I picked her up and held her on my hip.
"Look what I made! It's a picture of you and me.. and mommy."
"Oh, Bug, I love it." I said and kissed her on the cheek.
"Hi there, Mr. Jones."
"Oh. Hi." It was Tabitha.
"I didn't see you this morning at drop off."
"Yeah, I was going through some stuff."
"Like what?" Julie said confused.
"Nothing, baby. Just tired." Tabitha gave me a look.
"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you, would you like to have dinner on Sunday?"
"Hm?"
"You, me, and.. Julie." I panicked. I didn't want Julie to worry so, I decided to include her.
"Sunday night?"
"Yes." I responded quickly.
"6:30 good? Sorry, just Julie has to go to bed by 8:30."
"Oh, that's alright." She laughed.
"I normally have an early dinner anyways."
"Haha cool. Well, I guess we better get going." Julie started getting squeamish.
"Daddy, let's go!" Julie shouted. Both Tabitha and I laughed.
"Alright, we'll go home. Bye, Tabitha."
"Bye, Jughead." Julie and I waved and we crossed the street. I buckled her in her car seat. And, we listened to some music on the radio. Julie started waving at Tommy rapidly. Archie and I just started cracking up. We both pulled into our driveways. Julie and I had sandwiches when we got home. We played with hot dog, then, we worked on some of her homework. Her homework that she has as a 1st grader, I know. It was easy since, she's only in the 1st grade, after all. I started Julie a bath. I dried her off, and got her dressed. I brushed out her hair and used the hair solution Veronica told me to use. I changed my clothes, while Juliet watched tv in my room. I tucked the necklace under my shirt so it wasn't noticeable.
"Ready to go, baby?"
"Yeah!" Juliet said shouted jumping up and down on the bed. I picked her up and brought her downstairs. I put her down once we got downstairs and she grabbed my hand. I lifted her into her car seat. We got out at the grocery store and we bought a cherry pie. That's what Betty used to bring whenever we went to go see Cheryl.
"A cherry pie for cherry bombshell of course." She used to say. It made me laugh. We got a cherry pie and headed back to the truck. We drove up to thistle house. It was remodeled on the inside now. Less red everywhere. The red carpet was a little over the top. Both Toni and Cheryl greeted us at the door. We had a good time. I saw Eli laying in the bassinet in the living room. I always wanted to have a boy. With Betty. Mainly so him and my dad could do fun stuff together. Like, go fishing or race the motorcycles. Toni let me hold Eli. He was so cute. I'd only seen him once before. Briefly. Julie played with Scarlett and Kiara. They were both a year younger than Julie but, she got along with them. After a few hours, we went home and I put her to bed. I went to sleep and it was peaceful. It was almost like life was normal. As normal as it could be.