A Hole in the Universe - Mary McGarry Morris [100]
The mattress was halfway off the bed. Thurman rolled over it and landed in the hallway. Colt and Ray stumbled down the stairs, out the back door.
She stood the chairs back up and righted the table, but the rest was hopeless. The floor was slick with jelly- and syrup-covered broken glass and oily salad dressing. All this wasted food. She rinsed her hands in the sink. Every nail had been bitten to the quick except for her pinkie finger. At least she had one. It was a start, anyway. From now on things would be different, she vowed as she ran out the back door. She made her way through a warren of little backyards until she came out on Green Street. She took her time walking home.
Her mother’s head lifted slightly from the pillow as she crept into bed next to Leonardo.
“Where you been?”
“School.”
“I need my pocketbook. Go get it.”
“Why don’t you wait, Ma? See how long you can go.”
“Why?”
“Don’t you even want to try? For me, Ma.”
“Yeah, okay, I will, I’ll try.”
Jada buried her smile in Leonardo’s warm neck.
Her mother sat up in a burst of dismal laughter. “There! Okay, I did it, I tried. Now go get the fucking pocketbook. Now!”
Delores had called asking if he could help her move some things on his way home from work. The stationery store would be closing for good this weekend. Gordon was on his way there now, but first he had to buy stamps.
Many of the signs downtown were in Spanish. The buildings he remembered most clearly were the huge granite banks. Mostly vacant now, they seemed smaller. The post office had been built when he was in high school, but the ensuing years had dulled it with the same grime and fatigue as all the other buildings. He hurried inside to the end of a long line. A few minutes later he realized these people were all waiting outside the door to the passport office. He went around the corner and bought eight stamps for his bills.
He was leaving the post office when a woman in a yellow suit and red sunglasses stepped in front of him.
“Oh! Gordon! I’m in such a rush I didn’t realize it was you,” Jilly Cross said with a quivering smile.
“I just bought some stamps.” He watched his reflection in her sunglasses foolishly hold up the strip.
“I’ve got to get my passport renewed,” she said, pulling her shoulder bag close.
“It’s a long line. I was just in it. Well, by mistake, that is.”
“I know. I should’ve come earlier. I’ve just been so busy lately. Running around like crazy.” She glanced ahead to the door. “Trying to get ready for a trip. To Bermuda.”
“You better go in, then. It’s pretty long.” His face felt hot. Hadn’t he just told her that? Tiny beads of moisture dotted her cheeks. Could she tell how fast his heart was beating? He was short of breath.
“Yes, I better, but . . . well, how’ve you been?”
“Fine, thank you.” He paused and then, when she didn’t say anything, felt he had to keep talking. “I’ve been really enjoying this nice weather.” Looking troubled, she stared up at him as if there were something she needed him to say. “After all this rain we’ve had. I mean, it’s nice to get out, out in the sun. The roses are so . . . so beautiful.”
She smiled and seemed relieved. “I know you’re probably not interested, but the other day I got this great new listing and I thought of you immediately.” She removed the sunglasses. “It’s on the first floor with its own little . . . well, courtyard, I call it, but you could have plants out there. And just be able to sit outside when you want. Dennis is right, you know. Staying in Collerton just doesn’t make any sense. There’s so much crime and . . . he worries about you, Gordon.”
He felt it building—this anger, this indignation, the need. She was so pretty, so sweet, and what she was doing was so wrong.
“It really bothers him. He’s always—”
“You shouldn’t be going out with my brother,” he heard himself saying. “It’s not right. He’s got a wife, a very nice wife. And his children . . . I mean, he’s a happily married man. A father. Doesn’t that matter? Don’t you care? Don’t you think that’s important?”
“Well, I . . . I .