“I’ll drive you to Babylon, and you can catch it,” Tony offered.
“You can’t. You have to get to work,” Lilly said realistically.
“Tell your uncle your subway got stuck in a tunnel, and you missed the train. It’ll be OK,” Tony reassured her.
“Sure. Let me know about the house and the team, OK?’
They were still hugging when Mike and Frank came out of the building.
Lilly whispered, “Talk to them. Blackmail, threaten if necessary.”
“Sure.” Tony went up to them while Lilly started for the commuter station in Tuckahoe.
“Lil, you headed for Tuckahoe? I’m going to a hardware store.” Mike caught up with her.
They walked and commented on passing traffic before Lilly broached the subject. “Mike, I never told Colleen anything about Marsha,” she said.
“That’s nice.”
“Don’t you believe the better part of valor is discretion?”
Mike smiled at her, “Don’t worry. I’m always discrete, not always valorous though.”
“Good. I’d never say anything to Colleen anyway. But she wouldn’t understand Tony and me.”
“Don’t be so sure. You seem to think she’s an angel.”
“Colleen?”
He grinned devilishly, “Discretion is the better part of valor.”
They split up at the train station.
A heat wave set in. Tito bought an air conditioner. Tanta, Joe, and, Nunzio came over to sit in the air conditioning with Isabel, Tito, Frank, and Tony. The extra bodies easily negated any effect the air conditioning could have had.
Tony never ceased to be amazed at how much his uncles sweated. Nunzio and Joe had coarse hair up their backs and all the way up their arms. Tony had seen Frank in front of the mirror frantically searching for signs of hair on his back. Nunzio was a two-fisted Italian, to his brothers he only spoke Italian, and he was the only person who asked Lilly if she bleached her hair and then sounded disappointed when she said no.
Tony loved to listen to his father and uncles argue. They were in a heated dispute over whether it was ninety-five, ninety-six, or ninety-seven degrees when the phone rang.
Tony murmured to Frank, “That’s probably Nick saying ninety-eight.”
Isabel answered, “You listen to me, girl. Nice girls don’t call boys.” She hung up the phone.
“Ma, was that Lilly?” Tony asked.
“No.” Isabel started washing the dinner dishes.
Tito teased, “Was that a girl for Frankie? He could use any girls who’d call him.”
“No.” Isabel kept washing.
“For Christ’s sake, Ma! Who was that for?” Tony asked.
“You.” She scraped the plates in the garbage.
“Ma, I’m not a boy anymore. I’m a man.”
“She’s not a girl. She’s a married woman.”
“Who?”Mrs. della Robbia kept working.
“A married woman. Hillary?”
“That one!” Isabel snorted. “When is she ever with her husband? She was here with another man a few weeks ago. Now she’s calling you.”
“Yeah, Ma. She’s a real black widow.”
He called information for her number. “Hillary? Did you just call?”
“Tony. I forgot your calls are screened. I called to invite you out here. You can stay in the sunroom.”
“That sounds great. I’ll be there Friday night. Where are they playing?”
“The Coasthouse in Southampton. I’m not going to tell Lilly. She could use a surprise.”
“What’s up with Lil?” Tony asked.
“Her aunt and uncle are squirrelly.”
“Even more than her mother?” Tony laughed.
“I wouldn’t say more, just different. Her aunt drinks … a lot. Her uncle’s a middle-aged, converted hippie. He keeps asking her to get him some pot. He wants to be hip,” Hillary said.
“Where’d she get her relatives?”
“The Guinness Book,” Hillary answered. “I’ll see you at the Coasthouse Friday.”
“I’ll be there.” Tony hung up.
Isabel said, “You are going away again this weekend? You’re meeting a married woman?”
“Yup!” Tony walked toward the door. Ever since he knew he was moving out, Isabel was driving him crazy. “Frank, c’mon. I want to show you something.”
Frank followed him to the car. They drove to a dilapidated house.
“I’m going to move here in two weeks,” Tony said proudly.
Frank checked out the house, noted Tony’s pride. “This dump? You’re gonna move out of our apartment for this dump?”
“Frank, it’ll be great! There are five other guys. I’ll have my own room. The other guys go to Brighton. There are two living rooms and a big kitchen. Think of the parties.”
Frank caught his enthusiasm, “Could we go in?”
“No, he doesn’t rent it for the summer.”
“It’s so far.”
Frank feared college would create a rift between the brothers.
“Not really. I’ll pick you up anytime, and we’ll both work at the station. You know I’ll be driving up Cassilus a couple of times a day. Or you could take the bus. Where are you thinking of college?”
“Westchester Community. I’m not getting any scholarships, that’s for sure. Does Lilly know about this?”
“Yeah … well, not that I have this house for sure. That happened today. But she knew I was looking at it, and she knows I’m moving.”
“Are you two getting serious?” Frank asked.
“We’re not playing around. Yeah, we’re serious. How about you Frank? Sheila gone?”
“And almost forgotten. It’s because I’m short.”
“Napoleon was short, and Josephine always had a shit-eating grin on her face. You’ve got to think of yourself as a man, not a height.”
Frank thought that was easy for his brother to say.
Friday night, Tony got to Southampton while the band was still playing the first set. He found Hillary sitting by the new soundboard.
“So, this is the prize money?”
Hillary introduced Tony to Bill, who was mixing sounds. Hillary said Bill, who had grown up with Jay, had shown up on their doorstep the week before.
“Bill is a guitar player.” Hillary smiled conspiratorially. “Bill is teaching himself bass and learning the songs when José isn’t home.”
Tony asked with feigned innocence, “But where will José go?”
Hillary said pointedly, “He can go to the devil for all I care. Jay and Randy said Lilly and I can’t be there when they fire José. I can’t wait to get that dirty slob out of my house.”
“I can understand Jay wanting to avoid a scene. I can picture you two.”
Everyone went outside at the break.
Lilly asked Tony, “Where are you staying?”
“Hillary’s home for the wayward and awkward.”
“Which are you?”
“Wayward. Can’t you tell?’
“Tony, I’m staying there too.”
He looked at her then over at Hillary.
Lilly continued, “Hillary didn’t know I was going to stay until tonight. I told my aunt that I’d have a hard time getting to town tomorrow morning after playing tonight. I left my clothes there.”
“Which room?”
“The room over the garage. It has windows all the way around Hillary called it …”
“The sun room,” Tony interjected. “Hello, roomie.”
Lilly giggled, “I know you’re tired of having a roommate, and you want your own room. I’d offer to stay in the maid’s room, but that’s where Bill is. He’s a nice guy. Maybe he wouldn’t mind doubling up.”
“I’m going to keep you up all night.”
“Promises, promises.”
Randy walked over and handed Tony a joint. “I’m glad you’re here. I have some ideas for a song. When are you going back?”
“Monday
morning. I work at noon.”
Randy watched him intently as he said, “By the way, Marsha is going to stay there tonight.”
Lilly turned to Randy. “Make sure you wash your hands. You do work with food.”
Randy pulled a few strands of her hair. “Such a sweet girl. It’s a shame you have no personality O’Dwyer.”
“Randy, Randy.” Lilly shrugged and walked over to Hillary.
Tony and Randy finished their joint and renewed their friendship.
The next day Jay gave her a ride to her house to pick up clothes.
Lilly told her aunt, “It worked out so well that I’ll stay with Hillary tonight and tomorrow.”
Aunt Vera said, “I thought you had off on Monday.”
“I do. I’ll come back Monday. We’re playing a party Sunday night.”
Her aunt agreed.
Back at Hillary’s, Lilly went to sleep immediately in the living room while everyone talked.
Hillary woke her in time to shower before leaving. “The guys are gone. I want to talk to you. I got a letter from my parents. You get ready, and we’ll talk in the car on the way to Southampton.”
Lilly ate yogurt and drank soda for dinner while Hillary drove and worried aloud. “My parents are coming home for a month in September. They asked if Jay and I would stay with them for a week or so. Lilly, I’m nervous. I wasn’t completely straight with them about Jay. I didn’t out-and-out lie. When Jay was working in the factory, I made it sound like he was a boss. They asked about his people, and I said the Sullivans were an old southern family.
“My parents thought they would be at the wedding. When my father met Jay, I thought he was going to have a heart attack. At the reception my father pigeonholed Jay and asked from which college he graduated. Jay told my father he hadn’t. Jay said, ‘Usually, don’t they like you to finish grammar school first?’ My father couldn’t speak. I pulled Jay away and that’s why I wanted to get away so fast so in their minds the marriage would be consummated. I was really afraid they would annul it. This may sound stupid, but I’m afraid they are going to try to buy Jay off.”
Lilly listened. “This sounds like a movie plot.”
“It’s not funny, Lilly. If Dad offers Jay money, a great deal of money, more than Jay’s ever seen, I’m afraid I’ll lose him.”
Lilly softly touched Hillary’s hand. “Hillary, you’re too insecure. Jay wouldn’t leave you for a million dollars. He didn’t marry you for your money, and your parents wouldn’t do that.”
“I hope your right. My mother called two weeks ago and caught me off guard. She casually asked where Jay was and I said Shop All. She said, ‘He’s working as a stock boy?’ Lilly, you’ve heard of deafening silences? Well, this one was sickening.”
Sunday, the store closed at noon. Lilly went to Hillary’s. Everyone was still sleeping. Randy and Jay had Sundays off, so they had been up all night jamming with Bill.
Tony joined them downstairs after Lilly went to sleep. They were still in the living room when Lilly left for work. When she got back, she noticed the living room was now empty so she went upstairs to nap. Tony was asleep in the tee shirt and jeans he had worn downstairs. He woke her at three o’clock. He was freshly showered, smelling much better than the old-shoes-smelling creature beside whom she’d fallen asleep.
“Lillibelle, let’s go to Montauk and watch the fishing boats come in. You can buy me dinner. Come on girl.”
“Anthony Lorenzo Luigi della Robbia, drop dead! Let me sleep!”
The door to the sunroom did not shut completely. Randy came in from the hall. “Anthony Luigi Lorenzo della Robbia? Is that really your name?”
Tony ignored Randy and said to Lilly, “I should never have told you that.”
“You didn’t. Your father did. Now you get out, then I’ll get up,” she said looking at Randy.
He left calling in mock Italian accents, “Lorenzo? Is thata you Luigi?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was there,” Lilly said.
“The only way you can make it up is to brush your teeth.”
They went to Montauk, walked around the docks, ate lobster rolls, and listened to gulls chasing boats.
Lilly wondered whether it would be worse to confide in Tony her concerns about her aunt and uncle. Her aunt was usually close to being passed out when Lilly came home from Shop All. Uncle Sean was too familiar. He constantly walked into her room without knocking. She thought he was trying to catch her in some degree of undress.
She began dressing in the closet, and she got in the habit of locking the bathroom door, which had been taboo in a house with four other sisters. Sometimes the way he looked at her was absolutely lecherous. Lilly decided not to tell Tony, thinking perhaps the heat of their passion would spill over and cause an overreaction on his part.
Monday, Tony and Lilly parted for their separate abodes. Her uncle was waiting on the porch. “Where have you been?”
“I stayed with friends in town. I asked Aunt Vera. I’m going to take a nap.” She hurried by him into the house.
She could not believe the mess inside the house. She gathered as many glasses as she could and headed for the kitchen. She had to leave the glasses on the floor while she washed the dishes in the sink. She spent an hour cleaning the kitchen. Then she went to the living room to start there. Her aunt was on the sofa, and she cleaned around her loudly, wanting to disturb her.
“Lilly, how was the weekend?”
Lilly turned and stared at her coldly. “Must have been some party here.”
“I have a cleaning lady coming tomorrow. Don’t bother. We had some friends from Southampton.”
Vera’s voice was so repentant that Lilly suddenly felt sorry for her. Her pity lasted only until she reached the bathroom. She cleaned there while she cried angry tears.
That evening Vera passed out early, and Sean burst into her room twice. Lilly wished she had gone to Ireland with her family. Then the fact that had been glossed over before came to her. Her mother had let her out of the trip, citing her job and band, but she had never been in to be let out. She remembered her mother had gotten passports in March. That was before she was working at Shop All and before she knew if the band was even going to get a summer gig. Her mother had never gotten a passport for Lilly.
Thursday night, Lilly waited until her aunt was drunk and then approached innocently. “Aunt Vera, last weekend worked out so well, I mean staying right in town. Can I stay with my friend Hillary again?”
“All right, Lilly. I don’t like you hitchhiking to town anyway. If I had a daughter, I’d never let her hitchhike.”
Vera rambled on for thirty minutes, giving her some insight into her uncle’s treadmill of anger, pity, guilt, and frustration. She grudgingly admired her uncle for not abandoning his wife years ago.
Tony came out for the weekend. Bill was to premier on bass. José’s departure from the band had been quiet, almost cordial.
Lilly and Hillary planned a big meal on Sunday. They canvassed some cookbooks Hillary had received as wedding presents. They made jambalaya, hoping to cover inexperience with wine. Lilly fell asleep at the table. Tony picked her up and carried her upstairs. Tony, Jay, and Hillary spent the evening listening to music and playing cards, and Bill and Randy soon joined them. Lilly came downstairs around nine, a little shaky.
“A little wine, Lil?” Jay teased.
“Never again,” Lilly croaked.
“We’ve all felt like that,” Bill said. He and Jay told stories of growing up in the mountains of Kentucky. Then Bill and Randy went to the Talkhouse to check out the girls. Hillary and Lilly went to the kitchen to make coffee.
“It’s only us old married couples left. The kids are out,” Hillary said as she finished loading the dishwasher. Lilly asked how she kept the house so neat.
Hillary put her finger to her lips and whispered, “Maids. Don’t tell Jay, but on Saturdays, Mondays, and Thursdays, a cleaning woman comes. She works for six hours. I bill it to my f
ather’s household accounts. Jay thinks I do such a nice job. Why disappoint him?”
Monday morning, Tony and Lilly stayed in bed and talked. Tony was moving on Thursday.
He told Lilly, “I’ll come out, but maybe not ’til Saturday. It depends on the house. When is your mother coming?”
“She’ll arrive in New York Sunday evening and then stay in Yonkers ’til Monday afternoon.”
“Our last weekend,” Tony said quietly.
“I guess. Does your father know about your plans for moving yet?” Lilly asked gently.
“Not yet.” Tony looked away.
“Chicken.”
“I don’t want to hurt his feelings,” Tony muttered.
“There’s more?” she demanded.
Tony didn’t answer for a minute, and then started slowly with building conviction. “Well, it’s always bothered me that maybe they were putting up with me until I was ready to be on my own. I mean neither one of them is my real parent. When I move out, I might become a visitor.”
Lilly said earnestly, “Tony, I don’t think so. Your father loves you. He’s so proud of you. You should have seen him at your graduation. I sat right next to him when you gave your Salutatorian speech. He had tears in his eyes. I think he loves you even more than Frank, because his love for you was tested.”
“I don’t know. I’m an alley cat’s bastard.”
“Tony, don’t say that! You are not a bastard. I love you. You can’t think of yourself that way.”
Tony mulled it over. “Well partner, I’d love to stay in bed with you, but I have to get back to Yonkers to work.”
“Tony, tell them tonight. Give them a few days to get used to it,” Lilly said firmly. She sat on the edge of the bed and made a face. “I have to get home.”
Tony stopped dressing, “How’s it going at home with your aunt and uncle?”
“Fine.”
“Your tone lacks conviction.”
“Mom said he’s a financial wizard. He bought all the right stocks and stuff. He’s always provided my mother with cleaning ladies.”
“If he’s so rich, why does he have to borrow your mother’s house?”
“He had a house in Southampton. They sold it this spring because he’s going to relocate to California.”
A Yonkers Kinda Girl Page 13