Chapter 64
He opened the door, his mouth already open to ask the question, but the words never came out. There at the door stood Amanda. He didn’t recognize her, but I waved her in.
“Hi, Amanda!”
Dad offered to take her coat, but she dismissed him. The car idled in the driveway. “Your driver is welcome to come in, too.”
She shook her head, which looked funny because her long, straight hair was now curly and short. “Thank you Mr. Laine, but I can’t stay long. Mom and I are moving downstate, and I had to beg her to stop as it is. I just wanted to thank Cory for what he did.”
“Moving, eh?” Dad asked, “Is that a good thing?”
“It’s the best we have right now – we can’t stay in this town.”
“Why?” I asked.
“We aren’t welcome here anymore.”
“But you didn’t do anything wrong,” I said.
“You wouldn’t know that by the way people look at us, or the way people treat us. It’s like we have leprosy. It’s not fair, but that how it is. Besides, it’ll be good to be somewhere my, um, personal problems haven’t been local headlines.”
“Yeah, I can understand that. How’d you know it was me?”
“Easy. You’re the only one who took time to ask. I couldn’t – tell – you, but you asked and I gave you the clues.” I nodded. “What about you, Cory? What made you able to see it?”
Jessie came back in from the bathroom. “Oh! Amanda! Look at you! I like your new haircut!”
Amanda smiled – the first time I’d ever seen that. Jessie sat down close to me on the couch and continued, “You look great. Doesn’t she, sweetheart?”
The smile vanished, and Amanda’s eyes narrowed. There was a tense silence. She looked from Jessie to me, and back.
“What’s going on here?”
Too late, Jessie realized her error. She looked at Dad.
“You might as well explain,” he said. Amada looked at us all suspiciously.
I figured that I had a stronger rapport, so I started. “Amanda, you can keep a secret, I know, so I’ll trust you with ours. Jessie and I have been in love for years – romantically only, okay? Yesterday, we went out of state and got married. I pulled the ring from my shirt to show her. Jessie did the same.
“You married your sister?”
“She’s adopted, so it’s legal. Anybody can tell we aren’t actually related.”
She turned to Jessie and exclaimed. “You married your brother?” Jessie nodded.
“And you knew about it?” she shouted at Dad. “What’s wrong with you people? Damn you, Cory, I see now why you picked up the clues so easy!” Veins bulged on her forehead, and saliva flew as she let loose with a vivid stream of profanity. We stared at her in disbelief.
“Yuck! Oh, and I suppose you’ve... Yuck! Oh, I can’t believe it!” Her face was bright red with rage. “You are slime! Your whole family’s scum! And to think I was here to say thanks. You’re as bad as... No, you’re worse. You can all burn in hell, along with those three perverts!”
With that, she ran to the door, slamming it behind her so hard that the glass in the storm door shattered into long, jagged shards. We could hear her screaming even after the car door closed. The motor revved, and her mother swung the car onto the street, taking out the mailbox.
We stood by the door, stunned, watching the taillights disappear. Pieces of glass fell from the doorframe. Dad took a step finally and closed the front door. And locked it. And sat down in his chair.
I sat near him on the couch, and Jessie laid her head in my lap.
“I’m sorry, kids, maybe I should’ve seen that coming. “
“It’s my fault, Daddy. I gave it away.”
“No point in worrying over it,” Dad said. “But that’s why you couldn’t go back to school.”
“Well, she’s leaving town,” I sighed, “And from what I can tell, not leaving many friends behind to spill the beans to.”
Dad sat back in his chair, his eyes closed. “Kids, we’ll need to go soon; tomorrow or Friday at the latest.”
Jessie looked nervous. “We have to assume that the secret’s out, huh?”
“Yeah, Bug, and people around here are not going to like it.”
We were all silent for a minute or two. Then Dad cleared his throat. “Kids, before our last guest, I started to tell you something – something that shouldn’t wait any longer.”