In Sickness and in Death

By the time Ray dragged Erica into the house, all the song had left her. In fact, she ran to the bathroom and all the drink left her, too. I scraped her off the bathroom floor and tucked her into our bed. Ray would have to take the couch tonight, and the kid would have to make do with a sleeping bag on the floor.

Ray lit a fire and toasted marshmallows with Danny, for whom it seemed a new experience. He torched several before he got the hang of it. Then Ray told him a few ghost stories. The kid didn’t scare easily. I left them around ten o’clock to lie down beside my sister, who snored louder than Ray. I wrapped my pillow around my head and tried to get enough sleep to face the next day.

At seven a.m. Ray left for work with a crick in his neck, shoulders hunched from sleeping on the too-short couch, a grim look on his face. He didn’t even kiss me good-bye. Danny and Erica arrived at breakfast around ten, both with sour expressions and moans.

“Coffee. Water. Aspirin.” Erica rested her head on the table. “Did you get another kid last night?”

I set a cup of coffee in front of her. I’d made it especially for her, knowing that she would want it. I never drank coffee, although I did enjoy the aroma of it. It reminded me of Ray, who could never go more than a couple hours without a cup.

I set juice and pancakes in front of Danny. “What are you talking about, Erica?”

She pointed to Danny. “There’s two of him.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “You’re a drunk.”

Erica whipped her head off the table, then put her hands to her temples, blinking rapidly. “I am not.”

“You puked last night. You’re gross.”

“You’re a thief.”

He shot her the finger.

I banged on the table. Erica moaned.

“Erica, you’re thirty-three years old. Stop arguing with the twelve-year-old. Danny, more rules. No swear fingers and no name-calling.” I set the aspirin and water in front of Erica. “Drink up. We have a noon appointment with Dr. Albert.”

“I don’t want to see him.”

“Well, he wants to see you. He’s skipping lunch just for you. So get it together, because we’re going.”

The forty-five-minute ride to Dr. Albert’s office passed in silence. I couldn’t even play the radio, because Erica said it made her head ache.

Danny muttered “boo hoo” in the back seat after she complained. I shot him “the look” via the rearview mirror. He got the message and shut up.

Dr. Albert rented office space in a building conveniently located next to the state psychiatric center, where Erica had spent many months after her multiple suicide attempts. As we pulled into the parking lot, the shadow of “the tower,” the nickname for the fourth floor where she’d resided, fell over the car. She slumped in her seat. “I’m not going in.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Danny got his word out first. “Chicken.”

Erica whirled to face him. “I am not chicken. I hate chicken.”

“Chicken.”

As their battle raged on, I got out of the car, walked around to Erica’s door, and whipped it open. I grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the car.

“Ow.”

I kept hold of her arm and marched her toward Dr. Albert’s office. “You’re arguing with the twelve-year-old again.”

“I don’t like him. Can’t you give him back to foster care?”

The thought had crossed my mind more than once, but at the moment, I didn’t like my sister all that much either. I kept walking.

Dr. Albert was hot, and the minute Erica saw him, she remembered that. She straightened up and smoothed her clothes, smiling at high voltage. He gave her the same wattage in return and ushered her into his office. “Give us an hour, please, Jolene.”

I turned and realized Danny hadn’t followed us inside. I jogged out to the parking lot. He was in the car. I let out a sigh of relief and climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Thanks for riding along with us, Danny. When we get home, your furniture should be coming. And Ray has tomorrow off because it’s Thanksgiving. Maybe you guys can start painting the room in the morning.”

“Which room am I getting?”

I swallowed. “The second bedroom.”

“The one with the baby crib in it?”

Tears warmed my eyes. “Yeah. You guys will have to move all that furniture into the garage.”

“Did your baby die?”

I dug a tissue out of my purse and blew my nose. “No. We had a baby from foster care for seven months. We wanted to adopt her, but her mother changed her mind and wanted her back.”

“And now you’re sad. That’s what Ray said.”

“He did?”

“He said you were sad, but having me around would make you happy. He said not to worry if you cried, because you’d snap out of it.”

That sounded just like Ray. For years I’d soldiered on in the face of my mother’s suicide, my father’s death, and my sister’s bizarre behavior, Ray helpful by my side. But when we lost Noelle and I slumped into depression, Ray accepted two months of my misery before he sat me down. He said he’d never worried about me before when he left for work, because he knew I’d go on whether he came home or not. But now he did worry, and it was affecting his decision-making. I’d told him, “Don’t worry, I’ll snap out of it.” And I would—in time. But it needed to be my time.

“He’s right. Not to worry.” I managed a smile as I stuffed the soiled tissue back in my purse. “I’m okay now.”

Danny gave me a relieved twitch of his lips in return. “I don’t know what’s so great about babies anyway. All they do is cry and mess their diapers. They smell bad.”

“They smell really nice after a bath, trust me.” I pinched the bridge of my nose to stop the tears from returning.

“I guess.” He faced the window. Our bonding was over.

I turned on the radio and listened until it was time to retrieve Erica, trying not to think about Noelle or about Ray’s scheme to make me feel better by sticking me with this juvenile delinquent in training. But when the song “You Are So Beautiful” played, I pictured Noelle’s sweet face and almost lost it.

I locked Danny in the car while I walked into the office building, explaining it was for his protection. His expression said, “Yeah, right, lady.”

A light snow had started. I stuck my tongue out to catch one of the first snowflakes of the season before entering the office building. Maybe in my next life I would be a carefree, drifting snowflake.

Erica handed me her prescription as we stepped into the hall outside Dr. Albert’s office. “He said to get this filled on our way home. And we need to pick up my car from The Cat’s Meow. I have to work tonight.”

I put my hand on her arm to bring her to a halt. “Did you talk to Dr. Albert about your poor self-image, your drinking, and that stuff about being a receptacle?”

“Yes, Jolene.” Erica resumed walking, kicking the new fallen snow into the air. “He says my medication helps promote weight loss.”

“Really?” I read the prescription. It was for the same stuff she’d been taking for the last year, maybe a higher dosage. The fact sheet from the pharmacy said it could promote bloating. Good thing Erica never read the fact sheets.

“He also said studies have shown that women’s hymens can regenerate after months of celibacy. I’m going to be a born-again virgin.”

I stopped walking. She took a few more steps, missed me, and turned around.

We couldn’t have this conversation in front of Danny, and I didn’t want to lose the opportunity. “What are you talking about?”

“I offered to go home with one of the guys at the bar last month. We did it before, a couple years back. He passed. He said my receptacle has been used one time too many and was stretched out like a chicken that had laid too many eggs. Then nobody wanted to go home with me anymore, not even this guy who always sits around until after two a.m. talking to me. And he’s not even that good-looking.”

This must be what Ray meant when he said Erica was making a fool of herself all over town. She’d been begging men to take her home. Ugh!

I resumed walking. Erica followed.

“A guy over at The Cat’s Meow liked me. He wanted to take me home, but Gumby wouldn’t let him.” She twirled her hair. “Gumby’s just jealous. He wanted to make it with me a couple months ago, but I turned him down.”

I stumbled and righted myself. Gumby got married five months ago. Was he cheating on his wife already? I shouldn’t be so surprised with his track record. But Erica was Ray’s sister-in-law. Gumby should show more deference to his comrade-in-arms.

“Dr. Albert said I could be a virgin again if I abstain for a few months. Then my receptacle will be brand new.” Erica twirled in circles across the parking lot. “He’s so smart. He might even want me then.”

I didn’t attempt to explain all her faulty logic, nor did I question the quality of Dr. Albert’s therapy. Abstaining sounded like a wonderful idea to me. At least it would keep her out of The Cat’s Meow.

We climbed into the front seat of the car. I turned over the ignition and glanced over my shoulder as I clicked the gear into reverse.

The back seat was empty.

I slammed the car into park and leapt out of the car. “Danny? Danny?”

My gaze swept the parking lot and the grounds beyond. I couldn’t spot any movement other than a plastic bag blowing with the wind.

I raced into the office building and crashed through the door to Dr. Albert’s waiting room. No sign of Danny.

I ran back outside. Erica met me at the door. “Did you find him?”

“No.”

I darted across the parking lot, threw open my car door, and wrenched my cell phone from my purse. My hands shook as I dialed Ray.

He answered on the second ring.

“He’s gone.”

“Danny?”

“Yes, yes! I left him in the car outside Dr. Albert’s office. I locked him in and told him not to open the doors for anyone. I came out with Erica and he was gone.”

My mouth felt dry. A lump formed in my throat. I’d lost another child.

“Do you think someone took him, Ray?”

“I doubt it. I’ll issue an Amber Alert anyway. What was he wearing?”

I told him.

“Okay. Stay right there. I’m on my way.”

I hit the end button and met Erica by the trunk of the car. “Ray’s coming. He doesn’t think anyone took him. Danny must have taken off by himself.”

Erica kicked a stone across the parking lot. She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “You didn’t tell Danny I wanted you to give him back, did you?”

____


Ten minutes later Ray arrived. He sent me into the building to knock on all the office doors while he conducted a car-by-car search of the parking lot. The psychiatric center sat a quarter-mile off the nearest artery, so he reasoned that Danny didn’t walk away. We would have spotted him.

No one in the office building had seen Danny, nor had the guard inside the psych center. I returned to the parking lot where Ray was talking on his radio.

“Erica said a car was parked next to you when you pulled in. Do you remember what kind of car it was, Darlin’?”

I looked at the spot where Erica stood, outlining a car with frantic waves of her arms. A faint car shape remained in the snow-covered parking lot. “It was a white car, Jo. I remember.”

I closed my eyes and visualized pulling into the parking spot. “A white Toyota Camry, a 1996 maybe.”

Ray announced that information over his radio.

A male voice responded, “I got a white Camry in sight. Southbound on Pinion Heights. O-o-o-h. Correction, make that stationary at the Charleston intersection. He just rear-ended a Volvo.”

“I’m on my way.” Ray leapt into his car and took off, siren blaring.

Erica looked at me. “Aren’t you going to follow him?”

We chased Ray’s sheriff’s car, exceeding the speed limit without fear of being stopped since every available officer was on Danny’s trail. I did slow down after sliding a few feet through a red light on the fresh snow.

Ray had pulled over about five miles from the psych center, joining a line of parked cars. Danny sat on the side of the road with his head between his knees. A paramedic knelt in the grass next to him, talking to him.

Another sheriff’s deputy and a state police officer stood in the road with what looked to be the driver of the other vehicle, a Volvo station wagon. His arms waved as he spoke to the officers.

Erica and I avoided them and approached Danny.

Ray got to him first.

“Danny!”

He looked up and quivered. I couldn’t blame him. Ray’s nostrils were flaring, his neck flushed.

“Where did you get this car, Danny?”

“It’s my dad’s.”

“Bullshit.”

So much for the no swearing rule.

Danny jumped to his feet. “It is.”

“Danny, it was parked in the psych center lot, next to Jolene’s car. Why would your dad leave his car there?”

“I dunno, but he did. These are his keys.” Danny pulled them from his pocket and dangled them in front of Ray.

Ray snatched them from his hand. I could see the initial P on the key chain. So could Ray. The flush on his neck started to fade. He marched over to the Camry.

We all chased after him.

He tried the ignition. It turned over.

Ray shut it down and opened the glove box. It was empty.

He checked the back seat, under the front seats and the floor mats, and in the seat pockets. All empty.

Ray walked around to the trunk and opened the lid.

A Styrofoam ice chest sat in the middle of the space. Ray glanced at Danny, who shrugged.

Ray lifted the lid off the chest. A cloud of dry ice rose. It cleared.

We all leaned in.

Erica screamed. She darted onto the sidewalk and gulped fresh air.

I tried to swallow the bile that had washed up my throat and onto my tongue.

Danny took a step back, biting his lip, his body trembling. “My bad. It’s not my dad’s car. I found the keys in the ignition. Honest.”

Ray’s eyes reduced to slits.

“Go stand on the sidewalk next to Erica, Danny. Don’t say another word.”

The other two officers had joined Ray and me behind the car. One of them leaned into the trunk and whipped his head out in the blink of an eye. “What the f—”

What was not in question. It was more who.

A woman’s forearm sat in the middle of the ice chest, red fingernails embedded with tiny sparkling rhinestones, the index finger sporting a gigantic ruby ring to match, and the wrist, gold bangles, one studded with rubies. It would have been an attractive limb, but for the naked sinew, dried blood, and raw flesh right about where the elbow should have been. That was the image that kept the bile high in my throat.

That, and the thought that somewhere a woman was missing an arm, and I imagined, most likely her life.





Ray kept Danny with him and sent Erica and me packing. When I saw fear in Danny’s eyes, I protested. A bolt of lightning flashed from Ray’s eyes into mine. Raising my hands in defeat, I relinquished all custody of the child, giving Danny a light squeeze on the shoulder in support.

As I drove Erica back to The Cat’s Meow to collect her car, I hoped that Ray would bring Danny home tonight. Juvenile detention wouldn’t do anything to solve his problems, and I didn’t like to picture him alone there with all the big bad boys.

Erica and I pulled into the parking lot at The Cat’s Meow around three o’clock, after stopping at the drugstore to fill Erica’s prescription and have her swallow the first dose.

The strip club had opened at noon. About a dozen cars were in the lot. Erica’s black Porsche 944 sat alone, looking forlorn, at the far edge of the lot next to a corn field that still needed to be plowed under. I felt a little forlorn myself, since the Porsche used to be mine. I’d given it to her when I had to buy a four-door Lexus to accommodate Noelle’s car seat. Seeing the Porsche now made me mourn her as well as my father. He’d bought the Porsche from an insurance company after it bounced off two trees and a Winnebago. He completed the restoration work himself. The car had been my high school graduation present. Every time Erica ground the gears, I cringed. I’m sure my dad did, too.

Erica slid behind the wheel and backed out. As I followed her out of the parking lot, a woman with fiery red hair stormed out of the strip club and wedged her considerable bulk into a yellow Mustang convertible. Her lips were moving the whole time as though she had someone to talk to, but she was the only one in sight.

A message from Cory awaited me on the answering machine when I arrived home.

“Hey Jo, I’ll be bringing a guest tomorrow. What time should we come? Call me. Bye.”

I dialed the number at the shop. Cory answered on the third ring.

“How’s your day going, Cory?”

“Good. The dealers for the Caterhams returned your calls. They’re both headed out of town for the holiday, so you can try them again on Monday.”

“Okay. Listen, come by around two tomorrow. We’ll eat at four.”

“Great. What can I bring?”

“How about an hors d’oeuvre of some kind?”

“Okay. Brennan said he would make candied yams.”

“Brennan? Brennan Rowe?”

Cory sounded sheepish when he replied “Yes.”

I sank onto the couch. This was an interesting turn of events. We both knew Brennan as a customer, but Cory never let on that he might have a greater interest in the man. “Are you guys dating?”

“Sort of. We went to dinner a week ago, and he came to see me in the show the other night. We went out for coffee afterwards.”

“So Thanksgiving will be your third date?”

“Is that a problem?”

“I guess not.” But it could be. Danny, the delinquent, might be in attendance. At least Cory and Brennan didn’t carry purses for him to pilfer from, but who knows what he might do next? And Erica wasn’t exactly Miss Sunshine lately. Neither was I, for that matter. And who knew what kind of mood Ray might be in at the start of an investigation. God forbid, he might even have to work tomorrow and stick me with the turkey and all of them. I started to ask Cory if he really wanted to expose Brennan to all of us, but he had to hang up to take another call.

I would hope for the best.

____


Ray arrived home around six o’clock with Danny in tow. He immediately led Danny into the nursery and sat him in the rocking chair with instructions not to move. He closed the door, and I followed him into the kitchen.

“Why is Danny in there?”

Ray pulled a Corona from the refrigerator, popped the cap, and took a long slug. “Think of it as a timeout. He’s not going to sit around and watch television, that’s for sure.”

“Did you find the owner of the Camry?” Not to mention whoever cut off that poor woman’s arm?

“It was stolen from a used car lot outside Geneseo. They reported it missing on Monday. They didn’t care if it was ever recovered. Their insurance will pay for the repairs to the front end.”

“So how did it get to the psych center parking lot?”

Ray opened the refrigerator and started digging in the drawer. “I’m guessing the thief left it there.”

“Could Danny’s father have stolen it before his arrest?”

“Anything’s possible. He’s not admitting to it.”

“What about the arm?”

Ray pulled a package of cheese from the drawer and ate two slices. “What’s for dinner?”

It always amazed me that severed arms and dead bodies did not keep Ray from food. I tried not to look as guilty as I felt about having failed to prepare him a meal. “I didn’t know when to expect you or if Danny would be with you.”

He tossed the cheese on the counter. “How about grilled cheese sandwiches and soup?”

I busied myself with opening cans of clam chowder and microwaving them while Ray slathered butter on the bread and sandwiched the cheese slices. I wasn’t going to let him ignore the elephant on the table, however. “What about the arm, Ray?”

“They’re looking for fingerprint matches. We haven’t had any calls about a missing local woman, so we put the word out we have an arm and no body.”

“Were there any fingerprints in the Camry?”

“Dozens. They’re being matched as well. I’m not holding my breath.” He opened the oven and slid the tray of sandwiches under the broiler.

“Did Danny tell you anything else? Why did he take off in the first place?”

Ray leaned against the oven door with his arms folded. “He wanted to see his dad.”

My heart panged in sympathy. “Why didn’t he ask me to take him?”

“I don’t know. He’s impulsive.”

Was that understatement supposed to be an excuse or a medical diagnosis? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. “Can he see his father?”

“I told Danny I’d take him to see his dad tomorrow, if he behaves himself.”

Maybe that would relieve some of Danny’s distress. “Was the key in the Camry’s ignition?”

“That’s what Danny says.”

“But you don’t believe him?”

Ray peeked in the oven to check on the sandwiches. He flipped them. “All I know for sure is the key was in the ignition when the car was stolen from the used car lot. But it didn’t have a key chain on it, just one of those white tags with the vehicle identification number written on it.”

“Why would they leave the key in it at the lot? Are they idiots?”

“It needed new brakes. Someone was supposed to pick it up after hours and drive it to the garage.”

So Danny wasn’t completely at fault for rear-ending the Volvo. “Do you think Danny’s dad might have stolen the car, put his key chain on it, and left it at the psych center?”

“Maybe. He won’t even admit to stealing the Cadillac Escalade he was caught driving.”

I wondered if he’d tried the finders keepers excuse, too. “Did he tell you anything more about where their things are? Where they lived?”

Ray shook his head as he pulled the tray from the oven. “We sent his mug shot and a description of Danny to area homeless shelters, but none of them claim to have housed them. I’m beginning to wonder if they lived from stolen car to stolen car. Danny’s father does not have any vehicle registered to him in the state of New York.”

What a horrible existence. Again, my heart bled a little for Danny and even for his father.

I scooped the soup into bowls and set them at the breakfast bar. Ray sliced the sandwiches and went to call Danny for dinner while I poured milk.

Danny chose the chair near the wall. He seemed pleased when I sat next to him. Perhaps he feared Ray would fire more questions at him during dinner. But instead Ray formulated a plan of attack for painting Danny’s new room that included Danny carrying all the baby furniture to the garage as soon as Ray disassembled it.

I cleaned up dinner while they started working. Then I contributed to the effort by moving the rocking chair into our living room. We would need the extra seats for our guests tomorrow anyway. I also cleaned the bathrooms and vacuumed the whole house, including Noelle’s now empty room.

I told myself the dust from vacuuming had caused the tears to form in my eyes.

____


Thanksgiving morning we awoke to find two feet of snow on the ground. Ray sent Danny outside to shovel the driveway and the sidewalk while he stuffed the turkey, a task he took great pride in each year. He planned to keep Danny working all morning, and he did. By the time the doorbell rang at a few minutes after two, the bungalow smelled of fresh paint mixed with turkey, pumpkin and apple pie.

Cory had on tan khakis and a gold long-sleeve polo shirt, untucked. Brennan Rowe, a young Robert Redford look-alike and the best-looking man I’d ever met, wore dark-washed jeans and a crisp white dress shirt tucked in neatly. They made a handsome couple.

I introduced Danny to them. Ray prompted him to shake hands. He did, although without much enthusiasm. Once again, I attributed his behavior to being twelve.

While everyone sat down in the living room, I carried Brennan’s dish of yams into the kitchen and retrieved a bottle of wine. Both men accepted a glass. I got Danny root beer and Ray a Corona. Cory uncovered a tray loaded with a variety of mouthwatering tidbits. We dug in, Danny watching glumly.

I started the conversation. “So Brennan, Cory says you’re planning to race your Mazda Protégé. Have you decided in what venue?”

“We’re looking at the specs for Grand Am Cup racing, although I need more time on the track to qualify for a license in that series.”

“Have you raced before?”

“Some dirt track and rally and vintage at Watkins Glen, which is a good way to work myself up.”

“My dad used to take me to the track at the Glen all the time.” I loved those days, and thinking about them made me miss my dad all the more. Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday.

Erica waltzed in just then, tossing her coat on the rack and leaving her purse by the door.

“I brought cornbread muffins from the restaurant. They’re really yummy.” She caught sight of Brennan and her eyes widened with pleasure. Then she realized he was with Cory. Her smile faded. She followed me into the kitchen.

“How come all the best-looking guys are gay?”

I lined a bread basket with a napkin and dumped the muffins. “Excuse me, I think Ray is good-looking.”

“Okay, gay or married. All that’s left for me is losers.”

I considered arguing with her, but given her dating record, it was too much of a challenge. “Your prince will come, don’t worry.”

“Right, Jolene. When? When is he going to come?”

“I don’t know. My crystal ball is broken. But trust me, when you least expect him, he’ll arrive.” I looked her up and down. “Did you take your medicine today?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mom. How’s our little car thief doing?”

“He’s mad. Ray made him work his tail off all morning. I wouldn’t be surprised if he falls asleep in his mashed potatoes.”

We both grinned at that image.

But when we served dinner, no one fell asleep. The food tasted fabulous, the conversation flowed, and even Danny laughed at Ray’s jokes. Thankful for those present at the table, I buried my anguished thought that this would be Noelle’s first Thanksgiving, one of many she wouldn’t be celebrating with us.

The unidentified woman with the severed arm came to mind. I wondered if her family noted her absence at their holiday celebration, too. Maybe they would file a missing person report, and the police would be able to identify her. If not, I wondered if she would ever be found. Discovering her arm had been quite a shock, but to think of the rest of her lying alone somewhere, abandoned, was unbearable. I couldn’t imagine how her family would feel.

After dinner, Ray lit a fire while I made coffee and cut the pies. I had just handed him a slice of pumpkin loaded with real whipped cream when the phone rang. He answered and stepped into the kitchen.

Erica raised an eyebrow. Cory and Brennan didn’t seem to think anything of it.

But when Ray appeared wearing his uniform a few minutes later, even their eyebrows shot up in question.

“I’m sorry to break up the celebration. I have to go to work.”

I rose to my feet. “What’s going on?”

“We may have identified the woman’s arm.”

Brennan spoke up. “We saw the story on the news last night. Weird. ”

Ray nodded. “It gets weirder. Gumby—another sheriff’s deputy—told his wife, Briana, about the arm. She works at The Cat’s Meow. She thinks it belongs to a girl who worked there sporadically for a month, then stopped coming in on Sunday. The club owner figured she was a transient and didn’t think much of it. She wasn’t too friendly with the other girls, but Briana said her fingernails were decorated like the ones on the limb we found and the jewelry matches Briana’s descriptions. The possible victim lives in a different county, but Gumby and I are going to check out her address with their deputies.”

He leaned over to kiss my cheek. “I’ll call you later.” A blast of cold air wafted into the living room as Ray left.

Brennan shook his head. “How horrific. I suppose they’re going to find her dead.”

Cory took Brennan’s hand in his. “I don’t doubt it. Too bad she didn’t have anyone who cared enough about her to know she was missing.”

Brennan nodded. He gave Cory a look that spoke of his affection.

Erica sighed and helped herself to another piece of apple pie.

Danny got a look on his face like he might throw up. He stood and raced into his bedroom. I followed him.

“What’s wrong?”

He pointed toward the living room. “They’re fag—”

I slapped my hand over his mouth, shut the door, and dragged him to the far side of the room. “We don’t use that word in this house. They’re our friends.”

I took my hand off his mouth.

“My dad says—”

“Lower your voice, Danny.”

His eyes flashed with anger, but he lowered his voice to a whisper. “My dad says to stay away from guys like that. They like little boys.”

“Men who like little boys are called pedophiles. That’s a mental illness.” Or at least I thought it was. Erica might know for sure, given her time at the psych center. “Danny, most men like women, but some men like men, grown-up men. They’re born that way. It’s not an illness.”

“My dad says that’s sick.”

I lost my patience. “Your dad isn’t here. This is my house, and Ray’s, and those two men are our friends. You’ll be polite to them.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Then stay in your room.” I walked out and left the door open behind me, but only because I feared the paint fumes might kill him. My head ached already. I didn’t know if it was from the confrontation or the fumes, maybe both. I did know I could live without this kid in my home, needy or not.

We chatted by the fire for a while longer before Cory offered to help me do the dishes. I declined his offer, but he and Brennan gathered the pie plates and took them into the kitchen anyway. Erica and I followed, carrying the coffee tray and the pies.

Brennan approached me. “Thank you for a lovely evening, Jolene. My mother has been dead for years and I’m an only child. I was going to be alone. I really appreciated the invitation.”

“We’re happy to have you.”

The front door slammed. It sent a shock wave through the house. We all jumped in surprise.

A car motor turned over in the driveway. A lump formed in my throat as I raced to the window.

Danny backed Erica’s Porsche out of the driveway. His aim was true, but his speed too fast for the slippery conditions. The car spun out of control on the road, colliding first with Brennan’s Mercedes then bouncing into the snowbank.

He floored it, trying to horse his way out of the snowbank. The Porsche smoked but refused to budge.

Erica appeared at the window beside me. She screamed.

“That little shit. He smashed my car.”

Brennan and Cory took one look and grabbed their coats, racing across the two-foot-deep snow in our front yard.

I dug out a pair of boots and slid into my coat, silently cursing Ray for bringing this nightmare home.

Cory and Brennan were examining the damage to the rear quarter panel on the Mercedes. I darted past them and crossed the road to Danny, who had his head down on the steering wheel. The car was shut off.

I noticed the keys in Cory’s hand. He must have wrenched them away from Danny while I got on my coat.

Danny’s shoulders heaved up and down. I grabbed his bicep.

He raised his head from the steering wheel, sobbing, “I want my dad. I want to see my dad.”

Erica skidded to a stop next to me, arms flailing to catch her balance. “You little shit. Get out of my car.”

“Erica!”

She shoved me aside and dragged Danny out from behind the wheel. “I’ve had it with you. Don’t you ever touch my stuff again, you little brat.”

He stood in the road sobbing as Erica collected her keys from Cory. The two men pushed her car out of the snowbank. She took off down the road without even a thank you.

Cory looked at me. “I can fix both cars. Don’t worry.”

I nodded, feeling numb. Was chaining a child to a bed frowned upon in modern society? What the hell was Ray thinking bringing this boy home?

Cory glanced at Brennan then back at me. “Do you need me to stay?”

“No, go on. We’ll be fine.” Too bad I wasn’t as sure about that as I sounded.

After I apologized profusely, Brennan and Cory climbed into the Mercedes, Brennan seeming unperturbed by the damage to his car. I watched him creep down the slick road, thinking perhaps Cory had finally gotten it right.

I turned my attention back to Danny, who used his fists to dry his eyes and the arm of his coat for his nose, leaving a long trail of mucus on his sleeve. “Danny, what were you thinking?”

“Ray said he’d take me to see my dad, but he left. He’s not going to take me.”

True, Ray would not be back in time to take him as promised. “That’s no reason to steal a car, Danny. If you wanted to see your dad, all you had to do was ask me. I could have taken you.”

His eyes brightened then dimmed again. “Oh.”

If Ray had been home, he would have made Danny sit in his room or wash the dishes or some other punishment. But he wasn’t, I was. And I felt sorry for the kid, even though he’d ruined an otherwise lovely day, not to mention two very nice cars. He was twelve and without his father. I knew all about missing a parent and wanting them desperately.

I sighed. “Promise me you will not drive any more cars. You don’t have a license.”

“Okay.”

His hands were in his pockets so I couldn’t see if his fingers were crossed. I wouldn’t hold my breath. “Do you want to go see your father now?”

He lit up like a Christmas tree. “Can we?”

“Sure.” I wanted to get a look at his father anyway.

I wanted to see the man who had created this monster.