An Allegheny Homecoming

by T. R. McClure

  Sue propped a hip against the sink and finally gave Wendy her full attention. “When he was little, things were different. We were both busy working, Josh was into sports. But somewhere along the way, things started to go downhill. Brad and I disagreed when Josh should head off to college. Brad wanted him to help with the landscaping business, and I thought he should begin school summer semester. Even then I was thinking of early retirement so I could start the bakery. But I planned to stay at the university long enough for Josh to get his degree. He had reduced tuition because I was a secretary in the chemistry department.” She raised her brows. “Brad never wanted me to open my own business.”

  “Why didn’t Josh go to college?”

  “He did. He was taking biology at Penn State with plans of becoming a physical therapist. He and Dr. Reed used to talk about anatomy all the time. That and sports fascinated Josh from the beginning. Josh played ball in high school.”

  “Dr. Reed?”

  “Deb Gold’s father. Brad had the contract for the grounds at the mansion Josh’s senior year of high school. He was so busy Josh ended up doing most of the work. Which is why we argued about when Josh would start school. I’m sure Josh felt guilty leaving his father without help that summer.”

  “Smells good in here. It smells like home.”

  At the sound of Josh’s voice, Wendy turned and dropped the stemmed wineglass in her hand. “Oh my.” Josh grabbed it before it hit the floor.

  He smiled at Wendy’s surprise. “I look that different?”

  “Oh my.” For a woman who made her living with words, she was having a hard time thinking of anything other than oh my. The beard had hidden his strong features. His father’s strong, defined jaw, and his mother’s telling smile.

  “There’s my boy.” Sue reached up and rested her palm on Josh’s cheek. “I knew somewhere behind that scruffy beard was my handsome son.”

  “This face is better off hidden, Mom.” He ran a hand over his hair, which he had combed back from his face, but it was still long enough to touch the collar of the navy blue pullover he wore with dark jeans.

  Sue stood on tiptoes and gave her son a quick kiss. “You look much better.” She turned back to the stove. “Whew. I thought you were going to keep that look forever.”

  Wendy remained frozen, gripping the edge of the counter with one hand and the towel with the other. She wouldn’t have minded kissing that smooth-shaven man herself, except that wasn’t what they were about. She was here because...because...

  “You might want to tell your father dinner will be on the table in five minutes.” Sue was peeking at the rolls in the oven.

  “I’ll carry the turkey in,” she offered.

  Five minutes later Wendy sat down to dinner with the Hunters. The golden turkey sat on a flowered meat platter in front of Brad, where he stood holding a wide knife, prepared to carve the turkey. Mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, corn, a basket of Sue’s perfectly browned rolls completed the meal.

  “This smells delicious, Sue.” Brad Hunter sent his wife a slight smile.

  His mother gave a slight headshake. “Wendy, would you like a roll?”

  Wendy nodded. No prayer before the meal? No what am I thankful for? Just pass the rolls.

  Mr. Hunter persevered. “The turkey looks good, Sue. Small, but good.”

  “With only four people we didn’t need a twenty-pound bird, Brad.” Sue fluffed out her cloth napkin and slid it over her lap. “What is your family doing today, Wendy?” She handed her a bowl of mashed potatoes.

  Wendy accepted the bowl and spooned a portion onto her plate. “They’re visiting my sister in New York City. I think they went out to eat.”

  “I’ll bet that’s expensive. Thanksgiving dinner in New York City. Hold up your plate, Wendy.” Mr. Hunter forked a long slice of turkey onto her plate.

  “Sounds like fun to me. It would be nice for once not to have to do all the work for a holiday meal.” Sue glared at her husband down the length of the table. She held out her plate.

  Brad put turkey on her plate. “Maybe someday you’ll have a daughter-in-law who can cook.”

  Sue’s eyes narrowed. “You know men can—”

  “We forgot the coleslaw.” Josh jumped out of his seat. “I’ll get it, Mom.”

  “And I’ll get the wine.” Still in shock over Josh’s transformation, she had completely forgotten the bottle of wine she’d brought. She followed him into the kitchen. She suspected Josh was as anxious to escape the tension in the room as she. With his back to her, he stood staring at the contents of the refrigerator.

  “Coleslaw.”

  He nodded. “Thanks. It’d slipped my mind.”

  “Easy to do.” She opened the wine and caught him studying her. “What?”

  “Are you sorry you came?”

  “Are you kidding?” She cupped his face and marveled at the smooth-shaven jaw. “I would’ve shown up for bologna sandwiches just to see you cleaned up.”

  He kissed her then, so quickly he was out of the room before she knew what had happened.

  Right. Back to the dining room, she thought. “Here you go. White wine to accompany the turkey.” She smiled at the solemn family and wondered how many times in the past Josh had acted as intermediary for his parents.

  “Where have you been staying, Josh?” his father asked. “I left the light on the night you stopped here, but I guess you found somewhere else to sleep.”

  Wendy caught Mr. Hunter’s raised eyebrow. She waited for Josh to correct his father’s erroneous assumption. When he didn’t respond. She did. “You’ve been staying at the cabin, right?”

  “I’ve been hungry for halupki. Any plans to make some, Mom?”

  “I usually make it for Christmas.” She looked at him. “Will you still be home? Or do you have to be back on base?” Sue’s brow wrinkled in thought. “But then, come to think of it, how did you grow such a long beard? Were you on special assignment?”

  Wendy looked at Josh in surprise. Back on base? She thought he was working on a ranch somewhere. Then she remembered the oh dark thirty reference.

  “You’ve been on leave, haven’t you, son?” Mr. Hunter poured gravy from a flowered pitcher and offered the dish to Wendy.

  She shook her head.

  Brad set the pitcher back on the matching saucer. “Living it up, eh? Where’d you go? Some tropical island?”

  Josh looked decidedly uncomfortable. He glanced at her but quickly looked away. “I’m out.” He said the words so quietly everyone else at the table stopped what they were doing.

  “You’re what?” Mr. Hunter’s dark eyebrows drew together.

  Josh finished his wine in one gulp. “I said, I’m out.”

  The only sound was the clanking of silverware as his parents resumed eating as if uncertain how to respond.

  “Well, I for one am glad that we’ll see more of you.” His mother’s face lit with a rare smile.

  Setting down his fork, Mr. Hunter leaned back in his chair and favored his son with a steady look. “You’ll be needing work. I don’t have much going on right now, but if you’re still around by summer, you can help me.”

  His parents had spoken at the same time and then stared at each other. Sue finally broke the silence. “Don’t start that again.”

  “Why not? He’s a grown man. He has to have a job.”

  “He can go back to school.” Sue’s face lit up. “Can you use the GI Bill? You can live here and go to Penn State, just like we planned.”

  “I’m not sticking around.” Now that the beard was gone, Josh’s expression was easier to read. His face reddened as his parents discussed his future.

  Maybe it was her turn to change the subject. Seeing Josh’s empty glass, she reached for the wine bottle. “More wine?”

 
Just as he had at the cabin, Josh rested the palm of his hand over the empty glass. “No, thanks.” He gave her a polite smile.

  One glass. Again he had one glass of wine. “Your mom said you went to Penn State for a semester.” As soon as she said the words, she knew she’d said the wrong thing. But then, conversation with these three was a veritable minefield. “We would’ve been there at the same time.”

  “I was just there summer semester.”

  “Oh. I didn’t start until fall.”

  “I flunked out. Not college material.”

  “Nonsense. You were honors list in high school. You could’ve been a doctor.”

  “If he’d stayed home that summer and helped me with the business, he wouldn’t have gone out and partied so much. That’s why he flunked out. Drinking.”

  Wendy waited for Josh to defuse the escalating fight but he seemed lost, staring at his plate of food in deep thought. “Well, high school to college is certainly an adjustment, I can tell you.” She tried to catch someone’s eye, but each member of the family seemed engrossed in the meal. “I was worried a few times.”

  Slamming down her fork, Sue raised her head and stared at who Wendy figured was the woman’s soon to be ex-husband. “By the way, what happened to the living-room furniture? I want it back.”

  * * *

  “AS SOON AS these dishes are done, I’m leaving. And if I had anywhere to put the entire set, I’d take the china with me.” Sue turned from the sink and caught her son’s gaze. “Maybe I could put them in the basement of the tea shop. Temporarily.”

  “Mom, settle down. Dad’s sorry.”

  “He’s sorry no one is here to cook and clean for him, that’s all he’s sorry about.” She scrubbed at the bottom of the roasting pan, her face red with effort. Josh stopped her and took over scrubbing. “You know how he is when he thinks he’s right, Josh.”

  Of course he did. Josh had seen that look of resolution on his father’s face many times. He knew no amount of persuasion or promises would convince his father to change his mind.

  “Please, Dad. Can I have the car tonight? I promise I’ll be home by midnight.”

  “No. I might need it and besides, I don’t think you should be gallivanting around the countryside.”

  So he had biked to Dr. Reed’s and let himself into the big mansion. Dr. Reed was at a medical school reunion in Philadelphia. He had the house to himself. He wandered around until he found himself in the study, the room where he and Dr. Reed discussed sports, anatomy and sometimes even girls. Dr. Reed had fallen in love with his wife when they were twelve, and he had found no one to replace her since she passed away ten years earlier. The whiskey sat on a silver tray in a crystal decanter. Dr. Reed’s one indulgence. That and the car. But he liked one or two glasses of the high-end whiskey after dinner a couple of nights a week. He called them highballs.

  Josh carried a stack of plates into the dining room and put them away. He could hear his father’s voice from the living room. He entered the hallway and moved to the archway of the living room. Wendy sat in the rocking chair and his father in the recliner.

  “You can keep that.”

  Wendy stuffed a sheaf of papers into her large handbag. Seeing Josh in the doorway, she stood. “I should go. Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Hunter.”

  Josh shook his head. His father had done none of the food preparation. But he seemed to have taken a shine to Wendy. “You’re welcome, young lady. Glad you could join us.”

  “I’ll walk you out.” Sue stood next to him in the archway, her lips pressed tight. She thrust her arms into her coat sleeves. “I’ll be taking my dishes, Brad.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to leave them here awhile? Maybe we’ll have Christmas dinner together.” His dad shot a look at him as if pleading with him to agree and encourage his mother to celebrate another holiday at the house.

  “Could I have my coat?” Wendy was standing in front of him, her face expressionless.

  “Sure.” Retrieving her coat from the hall closet, Josh held it out as she slipped her arms into the sleeves. Again the floral scent as she moved close. She turned to face him. Behind him Josh could feel his mother’s presence as she waited at the front door. Putting her hands on his shoulders, Wendy stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “I can’t say I miss the beard.” She smiled and disappeared out the door with his mother. He waited until both women had driven away and returned to the living room, where he settled into the rocking chair vacated by Wendy. He could still feel her warmth in the faded print cushion, flattened by generations of Hunter behinds.

  Feet propped up, his father sat in the recliner watching a football game on the giant-screen television. “With your mother starting that fight, we didn’t get any dessert. Wonder if she left the pumpkin pie?”

  Josh stared at his father, whose attention was still on the screen. For the first time he wondered if his father really loved his mother, or if he just wanted things to go back to the way they were so he could be comfortable. Josh leaned forward, elbows on knees, hands clasped, and stared at the beige carpet that his mother had installed the summer before his senior year. From the marks left by the missing furniture, he could see the carpet hadn’t been shampooed in a long time.

  “Why don’t you stay in your old room? That cabin must be freezing.”

  Josh glanced at the screen. Halftime. His father’s attention was once again on him. “I’m not staying, Dad.”

  “I don’t know what’s going on with you. Does that pretty weather girl have something to do with it? You afraid of falling for her? She’s got her eyes on the bright lights of the big city, you know. If you’re looking for a girlfriend, you should go to the library.”

  “Why would I go to the library for a girlfriend?”

  “The new librarian. Eliza.” His eyes wide, Brad gestured at Josh. “Nice girl. She opened a cat rescue at her home. You could do worse.”

  “I never knew you to visit the library, Dad.”

  “Yeah, well.” He settled back into his chair and focused on the commercials.

  “Remember that night I asked for the car and you said no?” He had to tell someone. Being in this town, knowing what he had done, was eating him up inside. Hawkeye’s secret had emerged after fifty years. Is that what he had to look forward to? The threat of his secret always being found out?

  His father’s dark eyebrows knit together. “Seems to me there were lots of nights you asked for the car and I said no. We couldn’t afford repairs if you had an accident. I’m getting pie.” He put down the footrest with a thump and disappeared into the kitchen. He came back with a saucer of pumpkin pie with whipped topping and a cup of coffee. “I left the pie on the counter for you.” He sat in his chair, set the coffee on the table next to the chair and concentrated on the game.

  Josh continued to stare at the beige carpet. All he really wanted to do was follow Wendy out the door. He should be able to tell his dad. Something like this was exactly what a father was for. Now he had his doubts.

  At the next commercial his dad looked over at him. “When you said you’re not staying, did you mean here at the house, or did you mean in Bear Meadows?”

  “I can’t stay here, Dad. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I can’t stay here.”

  “You hate this town?”

  Josh shook his head. If he could only get the words out, his father would understand. “I don’t hate this town.”

  “Oh, I get it.” Brad picked up his coffee and took a sip. “You don’t hate Bear Meadows.” He set down the cup and threw his son a grim smile. “You just hate your father.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE DOG GREETED her as soon as she unlocked the door. He seemed to understand her feeling of melancholy instantly. She let him out into the yard and sat on the porch while he sniffed spots
on the ground and near the trees. The blue jay was back.

  “Come on, bird, you must have a story I can use.” She rocked gently and watched the dog, wondering what was keeping him here, wondering why he didn’t go home. She would have to take him to the pound. Although, at this rate, it didn’t seem as if she were going anywhere. She would be on WSHF reporting the forecast for the rest of her life.

  The temperature dropped with the setting of the sun. When the dog came back to her, they both went inside. She changed out of her clothes into a pair of yoga pants and a loose sweatshirt.

  She curled up in a comfy chair in front of the fireplace and turned on the television, flipping channels until she found a rerun of the morning’s parade. The book in her lap was open to the same page it had been ten minutes ago. Somehow she couldn’t read, which was unusual for her. She checked her phone for messages. None. Well, nothing said she couldn’t call them, right?

  She had no sooner picked up her phone than it rang. Expecting the caller to be her mother, she didn’t even look at the display when she answered. “I was just about to call you.”

  “Really?”

  Wendy recognized the Southern lilt, but she still looked at the display. Katherine King. The headhunter. Her heart beat a little faster. “I thought my mom was calling, Ms. King. I’m surprised to hear from you. Did you have a nice holiday?”

  “Very nice and I’m sorry to bother you. I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time?” Her sweet-sounding lilt made Wendy feel as if they were having tea in the drawing room of a Southern mansion.

  Wendy glanced down at the sleeping dog. This is it, Rover. My big chance. “No, go ahead.”

  “A small affiliate station in Miami is looking for a morning news anchor. I know it’s not exactly investigative journalism of the first order, but at least you would get more experience than doing the weather. Are you interested?”

  As quickly as Wendy’s hopes had risen, they fell. Another small station. “Can I think about it?”