“No, I’m not saying a word.”
“Good. Just don’t,” she mumbled. “Ouch! Jesus!”
She was hopping on one foot, gripping Joe’s arm to steady herself. Joe grabbed the pizza before she dropped it as she pulled her injured foot up to look at it.
“Now what did you do?”
“Pine needle. Damn, I can’t win.”
“Why don’t you just go in John’s house and borrow something for your feet until you get home?”
“Because nobody’s home. They went away about an hour ago.” She pulled the needle from her foot then took the pizza back again. She moved back to the rocky driveway, preferring the larger sharpness to the pin-like sharpness.
“So where do you work?” Joe continued up the driveway watching the way her awkward steps carried her; he found the contrast between her movements and her business clothes entertaining.
“In town.”
“I know that. And don’t say in a store. I know that too.”
“How about a store on Market Street? It’s called RJ’s.”
“RJ’s. I take this RJ’s is named after someone?” Joe asked snidely.
“Yes, as a matter of a fact it is. There is definitely an RJ in the picture.”
“Well, still, I never heard of it.”
“You will—soon. It’s going to expand by next spring.”
“How do you know? They may go bankrupt like most of the small businesses in this area.”
“Let’s just say I’m very close to the owner, and I know for a fact that business is doing quite well.”
Joe slowed his pace. So she didn’t wait long at all, did she? They walked the remaining distance to Jack and Sarah’s house in silence where she took the plate of pizza for her father and brother, then returned with Jackie. She was about to take Robby from Joe but he offered to carry him the rest of the way to her home. Since she was minus a pair of shoes, she accepted.
Although Jackie was half asleep, he walked ahead of Joe and his mother in an attempt to get to his home, and eventually his bed, as quickly as possible. But as Maddie walked next to Joe he heard her sudden intake of breath as she stopped suddenly.
“What’s wrong now?” he asked.
“Nothing. Take the boys inside. Here’s the key. They should go right to sleep. Tell Jackie I’ll be in soon—that I forgot something at Mom’s and I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Joe repeated his question, suspiciously.
“Just make sure the boys are in bed, okay? I’ll be right there.”
Joe stepped to the side, letting the moonlight fall on her and showing him traces of blood from the bottom of her foot. He looked behind her to where she had just stepped and saw the broken jar she had stepped on.
“Jesus, Maddie.” He started to kneel next to her, but she stopped him.
“The sooner I can get the boys in bed, the sooner I can get in the house and take care of this. They’re almost asleep now. I don’t need them waking up fresh and ready to go just because of this,” she pleaded.
Joe got up quickly and moved toward the house where Jackie was sitting on the front steps, eying him with a sleepy distrust. He unlocked the door and took a step inside.
“Jackie, you’ll have to show me where your bedroom is. I’ve never been in here before.”
“Where’s Mom?” Jackie’s voice was slurred from want of sleep.
“She forgot something up at your Gramma’s. Come turn on the light before I trip.”
Jackie slowly got to his feet, walking past Joe and absently switching on the living room light as he crossed the room then made a left and headed for his bedroom. Joe followed him, seeing the boy had stripped down to his underwear and was making a fast dive for his bed. Joe removed Robby’s shorts and sneakers and covered him with a sheet before turning off their light and closing the door.
“Mom leaves the door open,” Jackie said sleepily as he turned away from him.
He left the door partially ajar, then quickly went through the hall and living room to find Maddie sitting on the front steps, holding a tissue to her injured foot. He opened the door but when she made an effort to step inside, he picked her up and carried her across the room.
“Put me down!” she hissed at him.
“You wouldn’t want to stain that nice white carpet of yours, would you? Which way?” She pointed to the left, then, before they reached the boys’ door, to the right. “I’m sure RJ probably helped finance it.”
“No, I wouldn’t want to stain it. And yes, as a matter of fact, RJ did finance it,” she told him, then noticed where he was taking her. “In the bathroom, not my bedroom.”
“The bedroom will do.” He placed her on the edge of the bed then went for some bandages and peroxide.
When he came back from the bathroom, he saw she was rolling her stockings down over her thighs. Every muscle in his body seemed to instantly tighten at the sight. She always was quick to arouse him. She turned and noticed him watching her then lowered her skirt as she sat back on the bed.
“Well, I can’t exactly bandage it over the stockings.”
He looked at the magazine she stood on while she unhooked her stockings. Its front page was smeared with blood, saving the carpet beneath.
“You could have waited for me to help. You would have saved yourself that magazine.” He moved to the bed and knelt before her.
“I’ve already read it.”
His hands went to the stockings that were rolled to her knees, beginning to roll them over her calf and feeling the irregular texture of the nylon. Then it came to him that they weren’t made of nylon at all. They were silk. He quickly pulled it off. The Maddie he knew could never afford silk stockings!
“Another gift from RJ?” he growled as he pulled her foot up to inspect the wound.
“You could say that.” She winced at his treatment of her foot.
He wiped the wound with some gauze, seeing it was no more than an inch in length, but the steady flow of blood made it wet again.
“You’re gonna have to hold it together while I put some Steri-Strips on it. If that doesn’t stop the bleeding, then you’ll have to go in for some stitches.”
He opened the small pack of adhesive strips as she pushed her fingers together on either side of the sole of her foot. Then wiping it clean again, he began putting the strips on until four of them secured the wound. He finished by covering it with a larger bandage.
“Thank you. I can manage by myself now.” She moved to stand up, but he pushed her back down.
“Don’t stand on it! You’ll break it open again. How could you have managed being a mother for almost eight years and not know that?” he scolded her.
“Don’t you ever accuse me of being an incompetent mother, or you’ll be in for a fight like you’ve never seen!” she said in a low, threatening voice.
He picked up the magazine and the paper from the bandages and dropped them in a wastebasket, then picked up the unused peroxide and extra bandages and returned them to the bathroom. “Stay off the foot,” he ordered as he looked at her from the doorway.
“And just how do you expect me to get around?”
“I think you can manage for the night. Tomorrow you’ll just have to stay home from work. That is, if you can bear to be away from your generous RJ for a day or two.”
“That’s the trouble, Joe, I can’t,” she smiled smugly at him.
He walked back to her, looking at the furnishings around him; the dresser and bed were of the same era as the furnishings in the living room and bathroom. They could have all come out of a home during the Great Depression, but they were still in immaculate condition. That bathroom dated even farther back than that, with its claw-foot tub and matching toilet and sink. It was all quite nostalgic and expensive, something no working girl could buy on wages from a store, even if she were the manager.
“You got yourself a nice place here, Maddie. RJ pay for it?”
“Most of the furnishings and
two cars as well.” She looked at him defiantly. “Now, do you see why I have to go in to work?”
He stared at her for only a moment before his irritation moved his arms around her and pulled her to him. His mouth found hers; his lips possessing hers. She fought him only a second or two before giving in and opening her lips to him, meeting his kiss with a desire as hungry as his own. His hands went to her hair, pulling pins from it and allowing the dark waves to fall down her back, pulling her closer as their tongues moved together and he tasted her sweetness.
Joe pulled away, his breathing heavy as he looked down at her. “I always could get to you quickly. Just like . . . .”
As he said it, her hand met his face before he could tell her—just like she could always get to him. He looked at her with anger seething through him.
“Get out! Goddamn you, I don’t need you coming back into my life anymore! Get out!” she exploded.
He turned and walked to the doorway, pausing to look back at her. At that moment he didn’t want to be anywhere but in that fancy bed behind her, but when she reached for a glass bottle, he turned again.
“Don’t bother throwing it. You’d probably just turn around and step in the damn glass anyway. I’m going.”
CHAPTER VI
JUNE 1984
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“Mommy! I want to go with John and Tom! Can I go? Can I?” Robby ran into the house, followed closely by Jackie.
“They’re gonna meet Lew at the creek. Can I go, too?” Jackie’s face was bright.
Maddie took off her reading glasses and looked at her children. Jackie was tanning nicely, his hair bleaching to almost blond, and his deep brown eyes gave him an appearance that, someday soon, would steal many third-grade girls’ hearts. On the other hand, Maddie knew Robby’s hair would remain dark, almost black, while his complexion deepened to a bronze that would be much more intense than his brother’s. Robby’s eyes, though identical to Jackie’s in color, had an added, joyful sparkle to them the older boy’s lacked.
“I don’t know. Did they ask you to go along?” She leaned back from the desk where she was filling out order forms for the store.
“No, they’ll let us go though. They like us,” Robby told her.
“I know they like you. But you should ask first. Maybe they would like to spend some grown-up time together.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Robby said simply, clearly finding that notion quite absurd.
“Come on Mom, go up to Gram’s with us so we can ask. They’re gonna leave soon.” Jackie’s anxiety showed as he stepped from one foot to the other, then grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her chair.
Robby got behind her and pushed until she was on her feet laughing at their excitement. Granted, she didn’t take them fishing very often, but they went often enough with their uncles. She knew it was the chance to visit with Lew that made them eager for her to hurry.
“I didn’t say you could go yet, even if they did ask. What if I say you have to stay home and help me around here?”
“Ah Mom, you can’t make us stay home now,” Jackie whined as Robby climbed up on the chair she had been sitting in and jumped into her arms.
“Please, Mommy, please can we go? You can go too. I’ll teach you how to fish.”
“I have to go to the store today. I’ve already stayed home long enough. But you two can go, if John and Tom agree.”
Joe’s silent approach to the doorway turned Jackie’s expression dim, but lit Robby’s face with a fresh smile.
“I thought I told you to stay off that foot.”
“Joe! I’m going fishing!” Robby told him.
“I know. Your uncles sent me down for you. I think I’ll go along, too.”
“I asked Mommy to go, but she has to go the store.”
“Then you and Jackie better go get your rods and run up to your Gram’s. John and Tom are there waiting for you.”
“I’m staying home with Mom,” Jackie said sullenly as he let go of his mother’s hand and moved to the television, turned it on, and sat on the couch.
Maddie put Robby on the floor, and he ran immediately to the screen door and opened it, telling Joe to enter. She walked back to her oldest child and knelt next to him. She sensed Jackie’s resistance to Joe and wasn’t quite sure how to deal with it or if she even wanted to deal with it.
“Ya know, sailor, Lew’s gonna be there. Don’t ya want to go along and see him?” Maddie asked quietly.
“Yes, but . . . .”
“You like fishing with Tom and John. Last time you caught a big trout.”
“I know.”
“So don’t you want to go have another try? Maybe this time you’ll get two or three.”
“Mom, don’t you want me to stay home with you?”
“But I won’t be home. You can ride along to the store if you like, but I think you’d enjoy sitting next to Lew along a cool stream more than in a hot store.” She kissed his cheek then stood up. “Come on, run down and get your rods. Tom and John are waiting for you.”
Jackie reluctantly got off the couch and headed for the cellar door as Maddie switched off the television. When she turned back, Joe was sitting in the chair she had occupied earlier, listening to Robby’s childish babble about the trout his big brother had given him the last time they went fishing.
“I didn’t get any though,” Robby said sadly, then brightened. “So Jackie gave me his.”
“You like your brother a lot, huh?” Joe smiled at him.
“He’s big—and strong, like you.” Robby was pulling off a dusty sneaker, emptying the gritty sand from it before pushing it back on.
“I just bet you had to empty your sneaker right in that spot, Robert!” Maddie looked down at him. “That carpet was just screaming that it needed sand on it.”
“So now your house looks lived in, not like some piece of antique artwork,” Joe said as he bent to help the boy with his sneaker.
“Joe, if you don’t like my piece of antique artwork, you know where the door is.” She moved to the book of forms on the desk in front of Joe and closed it.
“Are you and Mom fighting?” Robby whispered to Joe.
“Us? Fight? Never.” Joe caught Maddie by the arm and pulled her unsuspecting body onto his lap. “She just likes to yell at me a lot; makes her think she’s important. But I don’t have to listen to her.”
Maddie’s eyes widened. How dare he maneuver her into such a position in front of her son!
“Me neither,” Robby whispered back.
“The hell you don’t, little boy!” Maddie tried to get up, but Joe’s arms held her firmly against his lap. “I can easily take you to the store with me instead of letting you go fishing!”
“No, you won’t.” Robby stared at them with an impish grin.
“And why won’t I?”
“Because Joe wants you to go along with us, dontcha, Joe?”
“Definitely.” He allowed her to get up from his lap and go to the doorway. “You sure you don’t want to go along?”
“Yes. I’m certain. I have to go to the store.” She watched him move to stand in front of her as Jackie arrived with the two fishing poles.
“The Maddie I fished with last time didn’t wear tailored suits and three-inch heels. She wouldn’t have known how to walk in them. Her legs were shown off rather nicely in bare feet and cut-off jeans. She would have jumped at the chance to go fishing with th
e guys.”
“She didn’t have two little boys to support. You better go, Lew’s probably been at the creek waiting for some time.” She started to walk past him, but he stopped her.
His lips met hers before she realized it, the gentleness of his kiss catching her off guard as her hands moved to his arms to steady herself. The kiss was making her warm again, making her feel things she started to welcome with agonizing relief, but, before it could go any further, he lifted his head and smiled down at her.
“Sorry about that. I couldn’t resist it. Next time I’ll have to be more careful.” He opened the door and started outside with the boys; Jackie eyed him suspiciously, and Robby just giggled as he walked behind Joe. “Stop by the creek on your way home. The boys will enjoy having you there.”
She watched them leave. He had no right to come back like this when she was beginning to think she didn’t care if she ever saw him again. But he was quick to spoil that illusion; he could still play her like a puppet so easily. Damn him for making her feel like a vulnerable fifteen-year-old again.
JULY 1974
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“They biting?” fifteen-year-old Maddie asked as she walked between her brother Tom and Bob Green toward the creek. Her enthusiasm over her outing with her brothers and uncle dimmed drastically when she saw Joe sitting near John and Lew with their lines already in the water.
“Not really. But then who came fishing to get any fish?” Lew answered. “Well, if it ain’t our little Boy Blue. You fix up any of my tickets yet, Bob?”
My Heart Can't Tell You No Page 8