“I’m not letting you disappear again,” he warned her, “even if you run off to Afghanistan. I wish you wouldn’t do that, though. There has to be something equally useful you can do here instead of halfway around the world, in situations where you might get killed.”
“There really isn’t. They need us so badly in the places I go.”
“I never figured you for a Mother Teresa type. You were so glamorous on the air.” She and Mark had really been the golden couple of network news, and now she was in Afghanistan riding a mule. He just couldn’t see it, but she seemed committed to it, which worried him. He was going to try to talk her out of it, if he could. But he knew how stubborn she was, and he doubted he’d be successful. She sounded like she was on a holy mission, and with the boy, too. He admired what she was doing for him, and he thought she was right to check it out. The boy deserved to be avenged and have the perpetrator punished and put in prison. Kevin hoped Ginny would follow through. “I’ll call you as soon as I know something. Take care, and behave yourself till then.”
“I will. I promise.” She felt better when she hung up. He had been exactly the right person to call.
She didn’t say anything to Blue about it that night. She didn’t want to until she had concrete information. She wanted Father Teddy’s last name, and to know if he was still there, but she thought she could get the information from the parish, if she was clever about it. She wanted to see him for herself.
She was thinking about it that night after she’d gone to bed, when the phone rang. It was Becky. It was rare for her to call so late, which was dinnertime for her in California, when she was always busy with her husband and kids, and cooking dinner for them.
“Something wrong?”
“Dad fell today and broke his arm,” she said, sounding distressed. “He got lost again. I think the medicine stopped working. We took him to the hospital, and he had no idea who I was. He still doesn’t. He might be better in the morning, in daylight, but Ginny, you’ve got to come out. Dad just isn’t going to last forever, and he’s getting worse. If you don’t come now, and wait till you come home again, I think he’ll be gone by then. Or his mind will be. Even if he doesn’t recognize you now, at least he’s lucid some of the time.” She sounded like she was at her wit’s end, and Ginny felt sorry for her.
“I’m sorry, Becky. I’ll do what I can. Maybe I can come out this weekend.” She thought about it quickly. She didn’t want to pull Blue out of school. She didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize his graduating in June. But she hadn’t said anything to Becky yet about his staying with her again. And she didn’t like the idea of leaving him at Houston Street for the weekend—she would be away for a long time soon enough. “If I come out,” she said, “I have to bring someone with me.”
Her sister sounded startled at the other end. “Are you seeing someone?” Ginny hadn’t said a word to her about it.
“Yes, but not the way you think. Blue is staying with me again. I’m trying to get him into a very special high school. In fact, he has an audition and interview there next week, so the weekend would work.”
“Oh my God, not that again. For heaven’s sake, what are you thinking? The last thing you need is a homeless teenage boy in your apartment, or your life.”
“He’s doing very well.”
“Are you fostering him?” She just couldn’t understand what Ginny was doing. It sounded like she’d lost her mind.
“No, I’m mentoring him. But he’s staying with me while I’m in town.” The concept was so foreign to Becky that it made no sense to her at all. Nothing Ginny did now made sense to her. But Becky was too tired to think about it. She had her father to deal with. And at least Ginny had agreed to come to L.A. It was long overdue, and she was glad that she had finally convinced her.
“I don’t want to impose on you,” Ginny said respectfully, “especially since there are two of us. We’ll stay at a hotel.”
“We still have a guest room, and the boy can sleep in Charlie’s room, if he behaves himself.” She made him sound like a savage. Ginny tried not to react.
“He’s very polite. I think you’ll like him.” At least she hoped so, but they weren’t going to stay long. She was thinking about flying out on Friday afternoon after school, and coming back on the red-eye on Sunday night, to get Blue to school on Monday morning. It was going to be a short trip. “I’ll e-mail you what flight we’re on,” she told Becky, and a few minutes later they hung up.
Ginny thought about it afterward, and how upsetting it would be to see her father in that condition. And it would be the first time she had seen Becky and her family in three and a half years. She felt nervous about it. She hoped it would go all right.
She told Blue about it in the morning, and he was excited to go to California. She told him why they were going, because her father was sick and old, but he said he was looking forward to meeting her sister and her kids. He was very upbeat about it, which cheered her up, too. And after he left for school, it occurred to her to call his aunt. Fortunately she was there and answered on the first ring. She told her that she was going to L.A. and was planning to take Blue with her.
“Would you mind signing a letter for me?” Ginny asked her. “He’s a minor, and I don’t have custody of him. If someone at the airline asks me for paperwork of some kind, I don’t want them to think I’m kidnapping him.”
“It’s no problem,” Charlene said willingly, and they agreed to meet at Mt. Sinai hospital again that night, as they had for the school permission. Ginny drew up the letter for her, and they took care of it in two minutes in the cafeteria.
Then Charlene looked at her. She still couldn’t understand why Ginny was doing this for Blue, but it was a very nice thing to do. She suspected that Ginny was a very lonely woman, to be so open to taking Blue into her home and life.
“How’s he doing?” Charlene asked her as they walked out together.
“He’s doing great,” Ginny said with a confident smile. “He’s graduating from eighth grade in June.”
“If he sticks it out,” Charlene added, from experience. She had no faith in his ability to stay in school.
“He will,” Ginny said with a determined look, and they both laughed. She was dying to ask her what Father Teddy’s last name was, but she didn’t want to arouse her suspicions. Instead, she asked her conversationally what her parish was, and Charlene proudly said it was St. Francis’s. To cover her tracks and her interest in it, Ginny told her that she hadn’t gotten Blue to church yet, but she was sure she would.
“Don’t count on it,” Charlene said knowingly. “He hates going to church. I finally gave up.” Ginny wondered if she even remembered Blue telling her that the priest had kissed him. It sounded like she had just dismissed it as a childish lie.
Ginny thanked her again for signing the letter, Charlene went back to work, and Ginny took a cab back to the apartment where Blue was getting ready for bed. She had already laid out his travel clothes for the next day. She had bought him another pair of jeans, khaki pants, three collared shirts, a thin windbreaker, a new pair of high-top Converse, and new underwear and socks. She wanted to give him the best chance with her sister that she could. She didn’t think new Converse alone would do it—it would take a lot more than that to win Becky over. But Ginny had faith that Blue would behave well and hold his own with her family in L.A. He was thrilled about the trip, though sorry that her father was sick.
“Sleep tight,” she said, stooping to kiss him once he was in bed. She had just checked his suitcase again, and he had everything he needed, including new pajamas.
“I love you, Ginny,” he said softly as she kissed him, and she smiled at him, startled to hear the words. It had been so long since anyone had said that to her, especially a child.
“I love you, too,” she said, smiling, and turned off the light, and went back to her room to pack her own suitcase for the trip. She just hoped it would go all right.
Chapter 9
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nbsp; Ginny picked Blue up at school in a cab on Friday afternoon, and went straight to the airport with him. She had spoken to Becky that morning, and their father was a little better during the day. And Ginny had Charlene’s permission letter in her purse. When they got to the airport, she checked their bags, and they went inside. She suggested they go through security early and buy magazines for the flight.
“Can you buy them in the airport?” Blue asked with a surprised look. And she realized then that Blue had never been in an airport or flown anywhere. He had never left New York City, and the only place he’d seen an airport was in movies or on TV.
“You can buy all kinds of things.” Ginny smiled at him as they stood in line at security, and she told him to take the coins out of his pockets, remove his belt, and shoes. And he put his laptop in one of the plastic bins, as Ginny put hers in another one, and got one more bin for her purse and shoes. And then they went through and picked everything up again. Blue was fascinated by the process and watched everything intently. This was a major adventure for him. She was only sorry they wouldn’t have more time. She would have liked to show him around L.A. She had some trepidation about going out there, because of the memories it held for her, but she tried to keep her attention on Blue.
They looked around the bookstore, where she bought a paperback for the trip, and magazines for him. They bought gum and candy, and stopped at a souvenir store. He was hungry after school, so they bought a hot dog, and he ate it before they boarded their flight. She had never done as much in an airport on the way to a flight. Usually she just went straight through after security and got on the plane, but he wanted to see everything. He looked jubilant by the time they boarded and took their seats. She gave him the window so he could look out. After they put their hand luggage overhead and sat down, he turned to her nervously.
“It won’t crash, will it?” he asked anxiously.
“It shouldn’t,” she said, smiling at him. “Think of all the flights that are taking off and landing right now, and are in the air, all over the world. Thousands and thousands of them. When was the last time you heard of one crashing?” she asked him.
“I can’t remember.”
“Exactly. So I think we’ll be okay.” He looked reassured. She told him to fasten his seatbelt, and he was excited to hear that there would be a movie and a meal.
“Can I order whatever I want?” he asked her.
“They give you a choice of a couple of things, but you’ll have to wait till we get there for a burger and fries.” It touched her to see how new it all was to him, and he looked excited on takeoff, and not scared as the jumbo plane lifted off the ground. He looked out the window for a while, then read a magazine. He took the small video screen when they offered it to him, and selected the movie he wanted to see. Ginny was doing the same, and they both put their headphones on. He was loving the newness of all of it, and he chose what he wanted to eat when they handed him the menu. He ate while watching the movie, and afterward he fell asleep, as she covered him with the blanket. No one had asked for the letter, or questioned why she was traveling with him, or even if they were related.
She woke him before they landed in L.A., so he could see it from the air. He was fascinated when he saw all the lights and swimming pools below, and when the big plane touched the ground, bumped twice, and rolled down the runway to the terminal. Blue had just completed his first flight. She grinned at him. She had almost forgotten why they were there: so she could see her father possibly for the last time. She felt as though she had just come home, even after so much time away. She realized now that L.A. would always be home to her.
“Welcome to L.A.,” she said as they joined the crowd in the aisle waiting to get off the plane, and a minute later they were in the terminal, heading for baggage claim. She had told her sister she would rent a car at the airport so they didn’t have to pick her up. And as she stood at the rental desk, she hoped Becky and her family would be nice to Blue. She didn’t want him to have a bad time, or feel uncomfortable with her sister’s kids. His life experience had been different from theirs in every way. They were the typical suburban family with a mother, a father, a house, a pool, two cars, and three kids. Nothing untoward had ever happened to them. Their kids did well in school, and Charlie, their oldest, had just been accepted at UCLA. Their youngest, Lizzie, and Blue were the same age. She couldn’t imagine her sister’s children and Blue having anything in common, but she hoped they’d be polite to him at least.
The rental car company at the airport gave her a brand-new SUV, which Blue thought was exciting, and they headed into the traffic on the freeway, toward Pasadena. They had taken a five o’clock flight out of New York, and with the time difference, it was eight o’clock in L.A., as people headed home or out for dinner, on a Friday night, or left work late. The traffic was worse than ever, and it was eighty degrees. Blue loved it and was grinning from ear to ear.
“Thank you for bringing me with you,” he said, looking at her shyly. “I thought you’d leave me at Houston Street for the weekend.” He was thrilled she hadn’t and grateful for everything she did for him.
“I thought you’d have fun here, even if I have to spend time with my dad. But he sleeps a lot, so we can drive around a little, and I’ll show you L.A.,” Ginny told him. Except Beverly Hills. She didn’t want to go near it, or see the street where they’d lived. She didn’t want to be reminded of the life she had once lived here, and had walked away from three years before.
“What did you do when you lived here?” he asked with interest. He had never inquired about her previous life—he knew it was sensitive for her. He never talked about Mark and Chris unless she brought them up first, and she rarely did, except for a passing comment about something she remembered, or something one of them had said.
“I was a TV reporter,” she answered his question, as they crawled along in the traffic.
“Like on TV?” He looked stunned as she nodded. “Wow! You were a star. Were you the one sitting at the desk, or the one standing in the pouring rain with your umbrella inside out when they lose the sound?” She laughed at the description, which seemed apt even to her.
“I was both. Sometimes I filled in at the desk, with Mark. He was the one at the desk every day. And sometimes I covered stories in the pouring rain. Fortunately, it doesn’t rain much here.” She smiled at him.
“Was it fun?”
She thought about it, then nodded. “Yeah, most of the time. It was fun with Mark. People used to get excited when we went places and they recognized him.”
“How come you don’t do that anymore?” Blue watched her face as she answered, and glanced at him.
“It wouldn’t be fun anymore, without him. I never went back after…I stayed at my sister’s for a while, and then I left, and went to work for SOS/HR traveling all over the world.”
“Nobody shoots at you when you’re on TV. You should go back to it one day.” She didn’t answer for a while, then just shook her head. All that was over for her, and she wanted it to be. She could never have gone on doing it without Mark—it would have been too unbearable with everyone feeling sorry for her. Now what she did was new every trip.
They took the Arroyo Seco Parkway exit to Pasadena, an hour after they got on the road. Ginny drove them down tree-lined streets with handsome homes on either side, and then up a small hill and turned into a driveway, outside a large good-looking stone house with a big pool along the side. It had gates, but they had left them open for her. She had forgotten how big their house was, and it suited them perfectly. And a black Lab barked in greeting when they drove up, as Blue took it all in.
“This is like a movie,” he said in awe of the house, the pool, and the dog. And as they got out of the car, Becky came out to greet them, and Ginny was relieved to see she hadn’t changed. She was wearing a striped T-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops. Ginny watched her check out Blue carefully and smile coolly at him. She didn’t approve of his existence in Ginny’s life and i
t showed. But he didn’t seem aware of it, and Ginny was glad he wasn’t. He was too busy taking in the scene.
Becky’s hair was a darker blond than her younger sister’s and it was piled up on her head in a banana clip. She wasn’t wearing makeup, and she never did. She looked no different than she had when Ginny last saw her. She had been prettier in college, but after she had Charlie, she had gained fifteen pounds and never bothered to get rid of it. And she wore the same kind of casual clothes and flip-flops every day. She called it her uniform, and she was too busy taking care of her kids, and now their father, to care.
The dog followed them inside. They went in the back way, and walked into the kitchen, where all three kids were having dinner at the kitchen table. They were having pasta and a big salad and chicken wings. Ginny could see that Blue was hungry again, as he walked shyly into the kitchen and hesitated when he saw Becky’s children. Margie was the first one to get up and give her aunt a big hug and tell her how glad she was to see her, and then Ginny introduced her to Blue. She wondered what Becky had said to explain him, but Ginny just introduced him as “Blue Williams,” without saying anything about his relationship to her, or that he was staying with her in New York. And then Charlie came to hug her and shake Blue’s hand. Ginny was startled by how tall her nephew had gotten—he was even taller than his father and was over six foot four. And then Lizzie bounded up to them, kissed the air somewhere around her aunt’s cheek, and looked straight at Blue. They were exactly the same height and age, and she had long straight blond hair like her aunt.
“Hi, I’m Lizzie,” she said to him with a broad grin, and she still had braces, which made her seem younger than Blue, but she had a woman’s figure and was wearing a pink T-shirt and white shorts, and he looked dazzled by her. “Do you want to sit down with us and eat?” she offered and he looked relieved. He felt awkward standing there and he looked to Ginny for her approval, and she nodded and told him to sit down, while Lizzie got him a plate and offered him a Coke. Margie and Charlie started asking Blue about the trip. They seemed much more grown up at sixteen and eighteen. But Blue looked instantly at home, while Lizzie chattered, and he helped himself to pasta and chicken wings.
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