Teresa watched Ellie and Rob also. It hadn’t been quite two months since she’d walked away from her family. What would birthdays and holidays be like? How would it be when Daniela made her First Communion and she wasn’t there for it? What if one of the aunts ended up in the hospital? She turned back to the table.
“I don’t know.”
CHAPTER 27
“She’s here!”
The diner wasn’t open yet, but the grill cooks were busy chopping potatoes and onions as they did their prep work in the kitchen, and the waitresses were wiping down all the booths and stools.
There was a lot of commotion as everyone crowded around to hug Louise and welcome her back.
Ellie came rushing into the kitchen from the office. “Did I hear—?”
She flew to Louise for a hug. Louise held her tightly.
“I’ve missed you so much,” Ellie said happily. “How are you feeling?
“Like a bus ran me over,” said Louise. She tugged at the upper part of her blouse to reveal an angry red scar over her breastbone. “My advice is to never have this done.”
“It’s better than the alternative,” said Patty, coming in behind her mother.
Louise gave an impatient wave of her hand. “How are things here?”
“Everything is in good shape,” Ellie said. “All the bills from last month are paid, all the orders are up to date, payroll taxes are done.”
Louise shook her head. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“How many times have I said that about you all these years? Want a pickle?”
Louise laughed. “Let me see the books.” She and Ellie went into the office where Ellie had the diner’s checkbook and ledger sitting out. Louise ran a finger down the columns. “I couldn’t have done better myself. You didn’t need me here at all.”
“Don’t be silly,” Ellie said. “It’s one thing to keep this up for a few weeks without you, but you are the heart and soul of this place. It would never be the same if you weren’t here.”
Louise sat back in her chair, searching Ellie’s face. “And how are you?”
“I’m okay,” Ellie said.
“That’s not really an answer.”
Ellie shrugged. “I’m busy. Between the bank and the diner and… I’m fine.”
Louise watched her for long seconds. “How’s Teresa?”
“She’s good. She’s busy at her store, and she’s been helping out here.” Ellie stood. “We should get back out there. I know everyone wants to visit with you before Patty makes you go home and rest.”
Louise chuckled. “You are very good at changing the subject, Ellie Ryan. We’ll talk more later.”
“Sandy, I’m taking a couple of hours off.” Teresa locked the pharmacy. “I’ll be back by two to take care of any prescriptions.”
“Okay, Boss.”
Teresa stopped short and grinned. “Boss,” she muttered, going to the office to get her purse. “I like that.”
The air was hot and humid as she left the store’s air conditioning, and it made her miss Bloomfield with its trees and shady sidewalks. This part of the city was ugly—good for business, but ugly. She felt a pang of nostalgia for the walks she used to take to deliver prescriptions for their older customers, the way they used to invite her in for a bite of whatever they had cooking, the way they told her what was happening in their families. She rolled down the VW’s windows and drove to Francesca’s house.
She parked in their driveway behind Francesca’s Mercedes station wagon. Climbing the porch steps, she paused and took a deep breath.
When she rang the bell, she heard the kids running to the door. Rickie yanked it open.
“Aunt Resa! Where have you been?” He hugged her around the waist.
Daniela ran up behind him. “Did you bring us anything?”
“Daniela!” Francesca hurried after them, holding the baby. “That is not polite.”
“But I do have something for you,” Teresa said. She held up two bags. “One for each of you.”
The kids grabbed their bags and dumped them on the living room floor, squealing over new coloring books and crayons and bottles of bubbles.
“I have something for you, too,” she crooned to Annalisa, offering a plush teddy bear.
She looked at her sister who stood looking back. “Hi.”
Francesca stood there for several seconds. “You haven’t talked to me for three months, and all you can say is ‘hi’?”
She turned toward the kitchen. Teresa followed.
Francesca put Annalisa in her high chair and scattered some Cheerios on the tray. She turned to Teresa with her arms folded. “Well?”
Teresa suddenly felt as if her legs might not hold her up. She sat at the kitchen table. “I’ve wanted to call you so many times.”
“Then why didn’t you?” Francesca got two glasses down and filled them with iced tea. She set one glass in front of Teresa and joined her at the table.
Teresa opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. All of her reasons and excuses for not calling suddenly seemed very feeble. “I didn’t know what to say.”
She glanced up to gauge the expression on Francesca’s face and was startled at how much her sister looked like Sylvia. “Has Ma talked to you at all?”
“Not really,” Francesca said. “For the first few weeks, she muttered a lot about how ungrateful you were, and how you were no daughter of hers, but she never really said what happened. What did happen?”
Teresa gulped her tea. “I… it was about Ellie,” she managed to say. She reached over and rearranged the Cheerios on Annalisa’s tray while she waited for Francesca’s response.
“Is she your lover?”
That should be such a simple question to answer, Teresa would think later. She forced herself to meet her sister’s gaze. “Yes.”
“Wow.” Francesca sat back. “That explains a lot. You should have heard Ma go off about the whole Billie Jean King thing.”
Teresa laughed at the absurdity of that scenario. “Yeah, the timing of that could have been better.”
They both sipped their tea while Annalisa gurgled happily.
Francesca gave Teresa a sidelong glance. “So, you’re really…?”
Teresa took a deep breath. “I love her.”
“Wow,” Francesca said again. She shook her head. “No wonder Ma won’t talk about it.”
“It was awful. She said—” Teresa shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what she said. I had to leave. I haven’t meant to stay away, I just didn’t know how you would feel about everything.”
Francesca leaned forward. “I miss you. We all do. The kids, the aunts. It’s worse than when Rob wasn’t coming over. You were always in the middle of everything. It’s weird without you there.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Why would you even question that?”
Teresa blinked at the sudden tears stinging her eyes. “I’ve missed everyone so much.”
“Can’t you… can’t you come without Ellie?”
Teresa shook her head. “It’s not just coming over without Ellie. You know Ma. I’d have to crawl back, say I was wrong about everything. Never see her again.” She met her sister’s gaze. “I just can’t.”
Annalisa threw a handful of Cheerios at them and giggled. Teresa smiled. “I’ve missed this. But I have to live my life. I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about this.”
Francesca reached for Teresa’s hand. “You’re my sister. I love you. I want you to be happy.” Her expression sobered. “I just don’t know how you’re going to be happy being torn in two.”
“What do you think is going on in there?”
Linda tilted her head toward Bill White’s office where White, two other men they didn’t know, and Aaron Myers had been sequestered for t
he past hour. It was late afternoon, nearly time to start counting their drawers. The door opened, and Myers walked out, not looking in their direction as he went back upstairs to the loan department.
“Miss Ryan?”
Ellie’s head snapped up. Bill White was standing in his doorway. He gestured toward the office where the other two men sat with somber expressions. Ellie glanced toward Suzanne and Linda, and then walked to his office.
“Please, have a seat.” Bill White indicated the chair Aaron Myers must have just vacated.
Ellie sat on the edge of the seat, looking from Bill to the other men.
One of them cleared his throat and said, “Miss Ryan, we’re here about the alleged incident of last month.”
“Alleged?” Ellie interrupted. “There is nothing alleged about it. He attacked me. I defended myself.”
The other man shifted in his seat and cleared his throat. “That’s not how Mr. Myers tells the story.”
Ellie’s mouth fell open. “And you’re going to believe him? I suppose I hit myself across the cheek?”
The first man said, “He said you fell and struck your cheek against the desk.”
“That’s a lie!” Ellie stood. “He grabbed me, and when I kneed him in the balls, he hit me.”
“Well,” said the second man with a hint of a smile. “He said you would say something like that.”
“He’s a pervert! Just ask the other girls how many times he tried to grope them,” Ellie said furiously. She turned on Bill White. “You know what he’s like. Why are you just sitting there?”
Bill’s jaw worked from side to side. “Aaron means no harm, he just—”
“I don’t believe this!” Ellie looked from one of them to another.
“Look,” said the second man. “The bottom line is, you’ve become a distraction at this branch. We’re offering you a transfer to one of our branches down—”
“A transfer?” Ellie’s eyes blazed. “Instead of doing something about him, you’re going to get rid of me?”
“Now see here,” said the first man. “We’re offering you a diplomatic solution to your problem.”
“My problem?” Ellie laughed. “I’ll give you a diplomatic solution. Go to hell.”
She yanked the door open and stormed through the lobby into the staff room where she pulled her backpack from her locker. She came back into the lobby, unpinned her name badge, and slammed it on the teller counter. “Good-bye,” she said to Linda and Suzanne, who were watching with wide eyes. With one last disdainful glance toward the men peering around the door of Bill White’s office, she turned on her heel and walked out the front door.
Teresa unlocked the apartment door to find KC sitting there scolding her for leaving her alone so long. “Where’s your mother?” Teresa picked her up. “Ellie?” There was no answer. Teresa got a can of cat food from the refrigerator and fed KC. She glanced over and saw that the light was blinking on their new answering machine.
“Teresa,” came Ellie’s voice. There was so much background traffic noise that Teresa had a hard time hearing her. She leaned closer to the machine as Ellie’s message continued, “I may not have a choice any more about taking Louise’s job offer. I walked out at the bank. Those bastards were—”
There was a long pause on the machine, and Teresa could hear that Ellie was crying. “Anyway, I’ll be home later. I just need some time.” There was another pause, and then, “I love you.”
Teresa looked around in dismay. How long ago had Ellie called? And where from? She played the message again and again, listening to the background noise. She thought she heard an amplified voice in the background saying something that sounded like “Philadelphia”, but she couldn’t be sure.
“Shit.”
She was down at the Greyhound station. She was searching for Daniel down there again. She raced across the hall and pounded on Sullivan’s door.
“What’s up?”
“It’s Ellie. I need your help,” Teresa said.
Sullivan pulled his door shut and followed Teresa down to the VW. She explained as she drove.
“But why’s she looking down there?”
“Because some bag lady thought she recognized Daniel’s name, and thought that’s where she’d seen him,” Teresa said.
“That’s a rough part of town,” Sullivan muttered.
“Tell me about it,” Teresa said, her voice tight. “I’ve asked her before not to go down there alone, but she sounded so upset about whatever happened at the bank.”
They sat in a tense silence as Teresa wove through traffic. She found a parking space not too far from the bus station.
“What now?” Sullivan asked.
Teresa looked around. “I hate to say it, but we should probably split up.” She glanced at her watch. “Let’s meet back here in an hour, okay?”
He nodded and went in one direction while she headed in the other. She glanced through the doors of the topless bars, open to the warm summer night. Music thumped with amplified basses that she felt in her abdomen, and she saw women gyrating on the bars while men sat on the barstools, ogling them. Surely, Ellie wouldn’t have been stupid enough to go inside any of those places. She turned to the alleys between buildings, calling for Ellie. The stench of rotting garbage and excrement was suffocating in the still, humid air. Where there were street people, she stopped to ask if they’d seen Ellie. A group of them had.
“She went that way,” one toothless man said, pointing.
“Thank you.” Teresa hurried in the direction he had indicated.
She was in a dank tangle of dark streets. The buildings had their windows thrown open to the night, and the sounds of televisions, people shouting, music—it all tumbled to the curb below in a cacophony of noise.
“Ellie?” she called hesitantly.
“What you doin’ down here, Snow White?”
She turned to find three men approaching. They spread out to cut off any avenue of retreat. They were all dressed similarly in jeans and dingy T-shirts that used to be white, but now were stained under the armpits and yellowed under the dim light falling to the sidewalk in patches from the open windows above them. Two of them held open cans of beer, and the third had a lit cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth.
She tried to push between two of them, but one sidestepped, blocking her.
“Let me pass,” she said, and she could hear the tremor in her voice.
“Don’t be so unfriendly,” said the one with the cigarette. “We just wanna talk.”
“I have to—” She tried again to shoulder her way through, but one of the guys with beer grabbed her arm while the third moved in behind her.
“Leave me alone!” She twisted out of his grasp, looking around in a panic for an escape route, but the one with the cigarette stepped in front of her.
“You shouldna come down here if you wasn’t lookin’ for company.” Grinding the cigarette under his heel, he moved closer. She could smell the beer and tobacco on his foul breath.
“I was just looking for someone,” Teresa said.
They closed in, their sweat and body odor almost gagging her.
“Well, you found three someones,” said one of them.
“Please…” Teresa looked around desperately. The street they were in was dark and deserted.
One of the men reached for her hair. She jerked away.
“Don’t touch me!”
They laughed. “You know you want it. That’s why you came down here.”
The two with beer in their hands threw the cans down and reached for her arms, dragging her deeper into the shadows. Teresa screamed for help. One of the men slapped her hard across the face and clamped a filthy hand over her mouth. She kicked and struggled, but they laughed harder and pinned her against the building. The roughness of the bricks and mortar ground against her
shoulders and back as she fought. Two of them held her tightly while the third ripped open her blouse and shoved his hand under her bra. His other hand tugged on his belt. She bit at the fingers of the hand over her mouth and yelled for help again when the hand was yanked away. The man she’d bitten cursed and then punched her. Her head slammed against the brick wall behind her. Lights popped in front of her eyes and she fought to stay conscious. It seemed everything was happening from a long way away. There were other noises—yells and something that sounded like growling. She couldn’t tell what was happening, but she realized the men weren’t holding her anymore as she slid to the ground. Her legs refused to support her. As she slumped sideways, she had foggy images of a scuffle and a dog leaping before everything went black.
CHAPTER 28
Teresa lay on her side with her eyes scrunched tightly shut, the covers pulled up over her head to shut out even the little bit of sunlight coming through the closed blinds of her hospital room. She stuffed a corner of the sheet into her mouth to keep from shouting at everyone to leave.
“Is the doctor sure there’s no brain damage? Three days is a long time to be unconscious.”
“They say she should be fine, but she’ll have headaches for a long time from the concussion.”
“How could this happen? Why was she even down there?”
“That’s what the police want to know. Thank goodness they got the man.”
Teresa’s eyes snapped open. The man? Why only one?
“Is she awake?”
“I don’t think so.”
A shadow loomed over the bed, but she remained still.
Cast Me Gently Page 27
