“He must like the water, too,” Mad Dog remarked.
“He loves the water and can swim like a fish, but if he spills a drop of water on his clothes, he’s stripping them off like it’s burning his skin,” Samantha said and then grinned.
“Do you have any beer around here, Ellen? I sure could use a cold one. It’s damn hot,” Mad Dog said as he stretched out his legs.
A furtive glance to Mason, Ellen offered sodas and the whiskey Mason had left at her house.
“One bottle of whiskey isn’t enough for all of us. I’ll make a run to the liquor store,” Mad Dog offered.
“I’ll go,” Mason piped up, finally having an excuse to get away.
Mad Dog rose and stood in front of him. The dark look in his eyes left no question, the alpha male was giving a command.
“No!” Mad Dog said, his voice emphatic. “I’ll go. You need to stay here!”
Mad Dog turned and asked, “How about you come with me, Samantha? You can hold the beverages.”
“I’d love to go. Let me grab my jacket.”
***
JD splashed water in the birdbath. Somehow Mason had gotten the responsibility of babysitting while Ellen showed off the house to Dee Dee and Spider. Jabbering to himself, JD played in another world. Mason didn’t try to engage the boy in conversation, only observed. A handsome kid, too bad he is so strange, Mason thought. He rubbed his chin with his thumb and index finger. He wasn’t sure how was he ever going to relate to JD. He had to find a way. His relationship with Ellen depended upon it.
Guilt plagued him over the childish way he had acted that morning and his behavior now. He still felt like running, but his feelings for Ellen kept him there. He had missed her like crazy that day, and when he saw her in the driveway, he wanted to grab her, take her upstairs and make love until they fell into an exhausted sleep. But immediately his rapture had turned to dread when he spotted JD huddled into her back. Mason thought that if he were smart, he’d leave and forget all about Ellen Abrams and her kid. Deep down, he knew the relationship was a train wreck waiting to happen.
Elbow on knee, head in his hand, Mason sighed. A light, warm breeze cooled his skin. The sun, a reddish smudge in the horizon, marked time. Mad Dog should be back soon. Mason needed a drink. Remembering the whiskey he had brought over, he went in to get it.
He opened the cupboard where he’d left it. He heard Ellen and Dee Dee talking upstairs. He filled a glass with ice then grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniels. He walked back outside and sat down on a lawn chair. Water flushed over the sides of the birdbath. JD was no longer there.
“Fuck!” Mason gulped some of the whiskey, then got up and walked behind the garage. No JD. He checked if the gate was still locked. JD must have gone out to the front yard. Rounding the house, Mason saw JD standing by his Sportster. Squatting, the boy inspected the chrome-plated pipes.
“Don’t touch those!” Mason barked.
JD stood without registering Mason’s voice; he tried to kick the bike off its stand.
Mason sprinted, catching the motorcycle before it fell to the pavement.
“Rule number one, JD!” Mason scolded, as he righted the bike, breathing in short irritated puffs and shaking his finger. “Don’t ever touch a man’s motorcycle.”
JD ran up the porch steps, stopped, and turned to face Mason. Arms up, JD twisted his hands side to side. “Are you mad at me?” he asked.
The look in his eyes reminded Mason of Ellen when he had approached her on the highway.
“No,” Mason said as he shook his head.
“Are you disappointed?”
Mason moved closer and sat down on the step in front of the boy. Resting his back up against the house, he looked at JD. “I’m not mad or disappointed. If the bike fell, it would hurt you, and those pipes are still hot.”
“Would I have to go to the emergency room?”
“Maybe.”
JD let out a loud, frustrated growl. Storming at emptiness, he yelled, “JD is unteachable!”
Mason didn’t know how to respond and feared JD would run away if he got any closer. Slowly, he rose and went to the motorcycle. “Do you want to take a ride now?”
JD shook his head wildly.
“Want to sit on it? I’ll show you what all this stuff is.”
JD briefly made eye contact.
“Come on. It’s all right. I’ll stand here by you so it won’t fall over.” Mason patted the leather seat.
Cautiously, JD stepped off the porch. Mason felt a small grin move across his face. JD stood next to him but made no attempt to get on. Mason realized he didn’t know how.
“Stand like this, and swing your right leg over the seat.”
Mason demonstrated.
“You see the pegs there?” Mason asked, pointing. “Once you’re seated, put your feet there and hold on to the handle bars.”
JD flapped his hands, biting his bottom lip.
“Go on. It’s okay. I won’t let it fall.”
Awkwardly, JD swung his right leg over the seat. Mason steadied the bike until JD gripped the handlebars. “Is that the speedometer?” JD asked.
“Yes.”
“The speed limit is thirty-five miles an hour,” JD shouted. “Hey, lady, this ain’t a parade!”
Once again, JD lost himself in a world Mason couldn’t enter.
“I guess this is how it’s got to go for a while. Me on the outside, observing,” Mason spoke his thoughts aloud. “We’ll have to go slow, take it one step at a time.”
JD, obviously catching a part of what Mason said, eagerly looked up. “I want to go fast. Let’s go fast!”
Mason chuckled. “We can only go for a short ride. It’s getting dark. If you want to go for a ride tomorrow, I’ll take you.”
This time Mason meant it.
“I don’t think Dee will mind if we borrow this,” Mason said as he snatched Dee Dee’s helmet and adjusted it on JD.
“I want to ride around in a loop like Homer Simpson,” JD said and then smiled.
“We aren’t going to be making any loops yet. You want your mom to beat me? Scoot back, so I can get on.”
Mason took hold of the handlebars as JD moved to the back. He kicked it into neutral and backed the bike up with his feet.
“Hold on to me,” he shouted. JD obeyed, wrapping his arms around Mason’s waist. Mason kicked it into first gear, released the clutch and rolled the throttle. The bike thundered up the street.
***
“I still can’t believe Rambo bought you all these roses, Ellen,” Dee Dee remarked as they came down the stairs.
“No more surprised than me and I’ve been wondering how he afforded it all.”
“The paper mill pays well and he’s single with no kids. That’s how,” Dee Dee replied.
“All I can say is, he’s got it bad, that’s for sure,” Spider muttered, trailing the two women out to the porch.
They caught site of the motorcycle as it climbed the hill past Ellen’s house. Apprehension choked her. “Mason should’ve asked me first. What if JD falls off?”
Unaware she spoke her fears loud enough to hear, Spider patted her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, Ellen. Rambo knows how to handle a bike. He probably took advantage of the moment and couldn’t ask you.”
Spider’s red handle bar mustache moved upward, exposing a warm smile. Ellen looked into his green, reassuring eyes.
“He’s going to turn your boy into a biker before you know it.”
Ellen smiled. “That’s okay—as long as JD doesn’t come home with any tattoos in private places.”
They all laughed.
CHAPTER sixteen
“Refreshments have arrived,” Samantha announced. She came out on the porch, carrying a large tray of crackers, cheeses, and fruit along with a stack of ice-filled Solo cups. Mad Dog trailed behind her with a small cooler loaded with beer and whiskey.
“What the hell is this?” Spider asked as Samantha offered him the tray
of delectable snacks and a cup.
“It’s appetizers, you dumbass,” Mad Dog said as he plunked down the cooler and then pulled out bottles of beer. “Don’t you have any class, Spider?”
Mad Dog handed Spider a bottle and said, “Samantha worked hard making this tray of… or…de...dervs… that looks like a fucking work of art, so you better have some goddamn manners.”
Sitting at the end of the settee, Ellen cringed. She hoped JD couldn’t hear what was being said out on the porch. Mason, who sat in the adjacent wicker chair, reached over and patted her hand. As if she had spoken her thoughts aloud, he reprimanded the other men. “Hey, you two fathers, there’s a young, impressionable child listening.”
Mason looked towards the open window of the parlor where JD was watching his DVDs and then at Ellen and grinned. The suggestive nature of his smile made her edgy. When he and JD had returned from their ride, a relaxed Mason had finally greeted her with a gentleman’s kiss to the cheek, which only made Ellen hungry for his previous roguish caresses.
“What the hell you talkin’ about, Rambo? We haven’t said one single cuss word. Relax, have some freaking crackers,” Mad Dog said as he pulled another bottle out of the cooler and handed it to Ellen. “And, especially for you, Ellen Abrams, a hard lemonade.”
Ellen smiled. “Thanks for remembering I don’t drink beer.”
Mad Dog sank down into a wicker chair with a beer and a whiskey bottle. He poured some whiskey into his cup and then offered it to Mason. “I’d never forget you, Ellen.”
Mad Dog grinned, turning his attention to Sam. “I told you, you were wasting your time fixing food. Bikers don’t care about fancy crackers and shit like that.”
“It was nice of you to go to all this trouble, Samantha,” Dee said and smiled. “Don’t pay any attention to these barbarians. Their idea of a good time is going to a swap meet and looking at motorcycle parts.”
“Don’t worry, I can handle it. As a freelance photographer, I’ve encountered rougher crowds,” said Samantha as she took the seat next to Ellen.
“That must be a great job. Going around taking pictures of shit,” said Mad Dog.
Mad Dog smiled at Samantha. Sam smiled back, tossing her hair and then eying him as she took a sip of beer.
Her sister’s little flirtatious gesture made Ellen grin. Apparently Sam had also been charmed by Mad Dog, and a twinge of jealousy took Ellen by surprise. She shouldn’t be. Sam had no problem attracting men, and she always had been the one to put an end to the relationship. Ellen wondered if her sister knew what a broken heart felt like. This budding infatuation would be interesting to watch. Ellen sipped on the lemonade.
“I’ll have to show you some of the pictures my little sister has taken, Mad Dog. She’s traveled all over the world.” Ellen proudly patted her sister’s thigh.
Mad Dog’s intimidating eyes fell on the two of them and, even in the darkness, Ellen saw Sam blush. He turned and looked straight ahead without comment, taking a drink of beer. Stretching out his legs, he sighed. “Will you look at all those stars?”
Like neon paint speckled on black canvas, the stars sparkled in a charcoal sky.
A warm breeze moved deftly through the smooth, silky night and settled around the small party. The alcohol worked its magic, and the group began to laugh more readily. Occasionally JD could be heard through the open window as he recited lines from the movie he was watching. Every time Ellen heard him, she smiled. It was a comfort to hear his voice again; JD made the house come alive.
The group’s friendly banter turned to the highlights of the rally. The men related their stories to Samantha, most of which were exaggerated and at Ellen’s expense.
“I can’t believe you spent the night at a rally,” Samantha said in too loud a voice. “You’ve never been known as a risk taker, Ellen. You’ve always played it safe. So why did you get on Mason’s motorcycle and go with him?”
“I am so a risk taker!” Ellen defended herself.
“No, you’re not. You do everything by the book. In high school, you never went to any drinking parties or caused any sort of trouble. You went to college, met Mr. Right, graduated, taught one year, got married the next, two years later you have a kid, buy a house…. Everything is so predictable about your life.”
“My husband getting killed in an accident wasn’t predictable, nor was JD’s autism,” Ellen said as she sat up, squaring her shoulders, irritated by her sister’s jabs.
“You’ve always played by the rules, Ellen, and you know it.” Samantha flicked her sleek auburn hair over her shoulder.
“What’s so terrible about playing by the rules?”
“It’s boring.”
“Well, I guess I never had the luxury of being the irresponsible baby of the family. While you got to travel the world after college, I was working and married.”
“That was your choice. You could have done the same, but you wanted to play the part of the dutiful wife and mother.”
Mesmerized by the two sisters, Mason watched. Having grown up with only brothers he never experienced the dynamics of sisterhood.
Ellen turned to him and caught him smiling. “What’s so funny?”
Mason couldn’t resist stirring the pot. “Nothing’s funny. I’m waiting.”
“Waiting for what?” Ellen’s brown eyes snapped.
“When do the two of you start bitch slapping each other? Isn’t that what happens next?”
Ellen leaned over the arm of the chair, her mouth a tight line. “How about I bitch slap you?”
Mason grinned. No longer fettered by his previous doubt and apprehension, he thought of the night she had provoked him to anger only to manipulate his passion and now the tables had turned. “Are you going to do it with the whip I bought you? In front of everyone?”
He arched his brows.
Samantha shot up from the wicker love seat. Her startled eyes wide with disbelief, she brought her hand to her throat. “Oh my God!” she gasped. “That was for the two of you?”
Mad Dog looked at Samantha. He pointed his beer bottle at her. “Don’t!”
Samantha glanced at him and then turned to Ellen. “I can’t believe it! Are you having a mid-life crisis? First this biker lover,” Samantha said as she shook a finger at Mason, “and then I find that!”
She looked at Ellen in horror.
Ellen shook her head. “What are you talking about? Found what?”
“In the basement. That… that… room or whatever it is!”
“God damn it, Samantha, shut the hell up!” Mad Dog stomped his foot.
Ellen looked at Samantha and then to Mad Dog. He cast his gaze downward, rapping his finger-tips on the arms of the wicker chair. Ellen turned to Dee and Spider, but they sat silent, looking as baffled as she did. Mason choked on his whiskey as she turned her attention on him. “What did they find in the basement, Mason?”
A deadly silence fell among them. Mason looked up, smiling sheepishly, to hide his amusement. He took a deep breath and then exhaled. “Remember the road not taken, Ellen?”
“What?” She cocked her head to the side.
Mason sucked his lips into his mouth and then released them with a smack. “Remember the two paths of rose petals?”
“Yes.”
“Do you recall what the card said about the path leading down to the basement?”
Ellen looked puzzled. Mason helped her to remember. “The pleasures of our pain?”
He raised an eyebrow and waited. “I forgot to put things away.”
Mason watched the blood rush to her face.
“Oh my God! What did my sister find down there, Mason?” She practically screamed the words.
“Don’t play coy, Ellen. You know what I saw! The chains. Those cuffs. What if JD had gone down there? How did you plan on explaining that to a ten-year-old boy?”
“Samantha, if you don’t shut the hell up, I’m going to come over there and gag you!” Mad Dog threatened.
Samantha turned
on him. “Do you think a mother should leave something like that for a kid to find? Poor Paul! He’s probably turning over in his grave by now!”
Mason stood up. “Ellen didn’t leave those things there. I did.”
He moved closer to Samantha. “And why they’re there is not your concern. Besides, what were the two of you doing down in the basement?”
Samantha stood toe to toe with Mason. Her eyes sparked with anger. “That’s none of your business, you sick, perverted asshole!”
At that moment, JD came running out on the porch. “What’s going on out here?”
JD’s anxious voice punched a hole in Mason’s temper. JD clutched the front of his mother’s blouse, pulling like he wanted to crawl underneath it. “Mommy!”
JD turned his terrified eyes on Mason. “The stranger and Aunt Sam have gone mad with power! We need to call the police.”
“It’s all right, JD!” Ellen pulled him close. “They were having a discussion, but it’s over.”
“Do they have frustrations?”
Ellen nodded. “Yes, but they’re all gone now. Right, Mason and Sam?” Ellen asked as she looked at the two of them.
Mason sat down, his chest heaving. JD got up and walked over to him.
“It’s all right,” JD said as he patted Mason’s shoulder. “Your autism is just too big.”
Mason couldn’t speak. Embarrassed by the boy’s simple display of concern, he hung his head. He knew so little about kids, much less one with autism. He had watched Rain Man. Aren’t people with autism incapable of empathy? he wondered. He looked up at JD, who turned his head away. “JD, show me what I need to do when my autism is too big.”
JD went to his mother and aunt and sat between them.
“Mommy has to rub your back,” JD said to Mason. To Samantha JD asked, “Do you have frustrations?”
“Not anymore.” Sam smiled, hugging him into her side.
Mason looked at Ellen. She flashed him a smile so full of pride, it reconfirmed the admiration he felt toward her. She brushed something from her cheek. Mason wondered if it was a tear. She has a right to be proud, he thought. JD was impressive, like his mother.
The Word of a Liar Page 17
