As happy as Will and Dale were, Sue was suspicious.
“Why are you fixing the hot water heater now?”
“Because it’s leaking and you can’t use it. How long have Mom and Dad been boiling water to wash with?”
“I don’t know. I have my own water heater in the apartment. I don’t use a lot of hot water here.”
“Except when you wash dishes,” Johnny pointed out.
Sue folded her arms. “Dad said he was going to get to it.”
Johnny shook his head. “Whatever. I’m getting to it now.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s broken.” Johnny stood up and turned on the water. “One more thing down.”
“Why is that broken window all covered in tape?”
“Because tomorrow I’m going to get a piece of glass cut to fit the hole and I’m going to replace it.” Johnny started for the stairs, but stopped at the furnace to pull out the filter. It was black.
“Oh, gross.”
“Yeah. Another thing on the list.” He shoved the filter back in and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket.
“What’s that?”
“My shopping list for Home Depot.”
“There’s a lot of stuff on that list.”
Johnny shoved the paper back in his pocket. “No duh.” He headed for the stairs.
“Where are you going to get the money for that?”
“Right now from Mr. Mastercard.” He ushered his sister through the basement door before closing it. “I fixed the burners on the stove. When did those stop working?”
Sue turned on all the burners. When she looked up again it wasn’t with happiness, but deeper suspicion. “How did you fix them?”
“Toothbrush. There was a little buildup where the gas comes out.”
“Why are you doing this?” Sue squared her shoulders as she repeated her question.
“I told you. Because it’s broken.” Johnny walked to the kitchen door and opened it so he could tighten the hinges.
“This stuff has been broken for years, some of it.”
“I’m not surprised. I don’t want it to be that way anymore.”
“Anymore, or until you leave again?”
Johnny studied her face, trying to decide what she wanted out of his answer. That would at least give him a place to start. He couldn’t exactly tell her it was Elaine’s decision whether he stayed or not. This was why he’d never come back before. Layers of guilt and desire and shame and wishful thinking overlapped one another like the mattresses from the fairy tale about the princess and the pea. Too many people he loved had been hurt by his inability to both keep his mouth shut around unfriendly sheriffs and his hands off his sister’s only friend who also happened to be underage. Now he would have to choose between leaving again and hurting a lot of people or staying and hurting Elaine by not being able to come out of the closet with her.
Unless he could somehow turn himself into a hero and save the day. That was looking more and more impossible by the moment. “Try to be Zen about it. Enjoy the moment.”
“Zen? I thought you were in Florida, not California.” Sue managed a flickering smile. “Thanks for fixing the burners. Maybe you can show me what you did so I can fix it myself? You know, next time.”
Johnny nodded. “Sure, if you promise not to get Mom and Dad any alcohol or cigarettes.”
Sue bristled. “I didn’t give them any alcohol or cigarettes.”
“Then why is Dad upstairs smoking in a room with an oxygen tank? Did they give him cigarettes at the hospital? Maybe that’s the same place they got that bottle of rotgut they’ve been sharing all afternoon. Sue, you can’t give them that stuff.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Yes, I can. We’re going to an Al Anon meeting tonight.”
“What? I can’t leave. Dad is sick. Who’s going to take care of him?”
“Too much to ask of Mom, I guess.”
“Mom can’t–” Sue cut herself off. Her face twisted into a seriously ugly expression. Johnny thought her head might start spinning around or she might breathe fire. Instead she spat venom. “Look, you don’t get to come back after fourteen years and start issuing orders. I’m not going to any self-help meeting and neither are you. You’ve upset Mom and Dad enough without embarrassing them too. Did you stop to think who might see you at that meeting?”
“Yes, I did. That’s why I wanted to go. I want to show people that things are going to change. You think no one knows what’s going on here? You think it’s a big secret that our parents are drunks and our dad is violent? Please. The only secret is what a huge mess Dad has made of the money, and that’s just because Larry Phelps doesn’t air other people’s dirty bankbooks.”
“What do you mean?”
“Money. There’s no money. Dad has screwed things up to an amazing degree. His accountant isn’t speaking to him anymore. He screamed obscenities at me when I called. The suppliers are refusing to deliver any more parts until the bills get paid. I’ve been taking money out of the till and getting parts at Auto Zone when I need them. The mortgage on the house is behind.”
“No, that can’t be. There is no mortgage on the house. Grandma and Grandpa paid it off a long time ago.”
“And Dad took out another mortgage on it six years ago. The money’s all gone. He hasn’t even paid his taxes.”
Sue slumped back on the counter. “Taxes,” she murmured. “He told me it was going to be mine. He said I was getting everything in the will. The house, the business, Great-Grandma’s silver, everything.”
“Well, right now it’s a race between the bank and the township to see who’s going to get it first. There’s a year of back taxes unpaid.”
Sue stiffened. “I’m gonna kill him.”
Johnny grabbed her around the waist before she got out of the kitchen. He clapped a hand over her mouth and carried her outside. Behind the garage, he stopped. “I’m going to let you go now. I need you to focus on not killing anyone.”
As soon as he released her, she started running for the house. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. “Let me go,” she sobbed. “It’s not fair.”
“I know. It sucks. He’s managed to throw away three generations of work and she’s let him do it. That’s why we can’t let it go on. I have a plan and it’s going to take some effort, but I think we can save the farm at least.” Johnny grabbed her shoulders. “I’m not going to leave you hanging again. I’m doing the best I can, but I need your help.”
Sue cursed and sniffled. “Fine. What do we have to do?”
“Tonight, Al Anon. Tomorrow, meeting at the bank. Next week I’m going to see a new accountant. Mrs. Bennetti’s grandson. He said he would be willing to look at the books.”
Sue nodded. “I’ll get some dinner together for Mom and Dad to not eat. What time is the meeting?”
Johnny sighed. Maybe he could be a hero to someone.
* * * *
Elaine finally got home after soothing Lily’s hysteria at being left alone with the festival three days before it was due to start. Kitty was sitting on her porch sipping a Coke and looking calculating. Three hours in the ER with their mother demanding every test imaginable to make sure that Elaine’s marathon nap was nothing more than a nap, and Kitty hadn’t said a peep. Now she was waiting on the porch. No good could come of this.
“What do you need, Kitty?” Elaine asked, unlocking her door.
“I don’t think you want to have this conversation outside.” Kitty stood.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’ve finally solved a mystery that’s been plaguing me for fifteen years.”
Elaine stopped with the door half open and turned to study her sister. Kitty had a peculiar blank expression on her face. Not the usual smarmy, seductive grin or the fake pleading moue. No, this was Kitty in hard-core thinking mode. Elaine squeezed the door handle. “Kitty, I’ve had a long day. Don’t play games with me.”
> “I assure you, I’m not.” Kitty shook her Coke can. “Inside?”
Elaine pushed open the door. It didn’t matter what Kitty was planning on leveling at her, she wasn’t ready. She hadn’t been ready for anything lately. “Kitty, I don’t know what you’re plotting, but I really don’t have the energy to deal with it.”
Kitty dropped onto the couch and set her can on the end table. “So how long have you been sleeping with Johnny McMannus?”
Shock froze Elaine’s knees and kept her from falling into a heap on the floor. “Excuse me?”
“It was something you said that got me on track. You see, I’ve been trying to figure this out off and on since I was thirteen. You went through an interesting personality change right about then.”
“Kitty, Mom and Dad were fighting about Mom going back to school. They got divorced two years later. I think everybody in our house went through a personality change around then. You started running around with Jeff Wilson and Greg Fitzroy. I’m still surprised you didn’t end up pregnant.”
“Yours didn’t follow form. No, all of a sudden you got to be very happy and easy to get along with. And I didn’t run around with those guys for long. Greg Fitzroy told me to buzz off before I got his neck broken.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Elaine folded her arms and leaned against the wall, trying to relax. Kitty was smart, but not that smart.
“I have been wondering about that for years. I’ve also been wondering about your second personality change about a year later. That was when you turned into the bundle of joy and love you are now.” Kitty sat up and steepled her fingers. “You know what the doctor said to me and Mom today while you were getting dressed?”
“I don’t know. What?”
“He said you were profoundly depressed.”
Elaine frowned. “And how would he know that?” The doctor had had this conversation with her too. It felt worse coming from her little sister.
Kitty shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. But he said your eating habits and your sleeping patterns among other things led him to believe you were depressed. I laughed and told him that you’d been like this since you were seventeen.” She grinned. “That’s when I put it together.”
“And what did you do to get a doctor to enter into this breach of ethics?”
“Duh, I stuck with Mom. She should be an interrogator for the government.”
That was true. Mom could get information about anything from anyone. “Fine, Kitty, what exactly did you ‘put together’? Is it a major government conspiracy? Should we call The National Enquirer? Or maybe Fox Mulder?”
“I wouldn’t pass on Fox Mulder, but I doubt The Enquirer would be interested. You were sleeping with Johnny McMannus before he left town fourteen years ago, and now he’s back and it’s got you all in a tizzy again.”
Elaine laughed. It sounded like a stick being dragged across a fence. “Johnny McMannus? What interest would he have had in me at sixteen?” Her throat thickened around the truth of her question. What interest? The same interest of any delinquent. To see how much he could get away with. She had let him get away with too much.
Kitty folded her arms. “I wondered that too, still am in fact, but then I remembered how you were always hanging out at his house and Sue didn’t know about it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I was talking to Sue a couple of years ago when she started doing my nails. I asked her how she could stand having you around that much because you drove me nuts. She said you weren’t there very often, but I know you were, or said you were, over there two or three times a week all that year. Then suddenly, poof, you stopped. Right after Johnny left town.”
“Kitty, your logic is faulty. You’re taking things that don’t fit together and adding them up wrong. I admit the timing is a little funny, but that’s all it is. Coincidence.”
“But you see”–Kitty licked her lips–“I’ve always been very good at math. And this adds up too neatly. Mom and Dad started fighting right about the beginning of the year when I was thirteen. I remember on your birthday having cake and ice cream in total silence right before Mom took you to get your contacts. Then about a week later you came home very mellow. I didn’t know much about sex then, but if it were anyone else I’d swear you’d gotten some. Right about then Greg told me to buzz off. Greg, who was friends with Johnny back then. You stayed happy all that year while Mom started school and Dad worked constantly. You also suddenly knew how to diagnose car problems. I learned how to hot-wire a car from you.”
“You did not.”
“Did so. Remember when we went Christmas shopping and you lost the keys to your car? Dad would have killed you if he found out, so you made me promise to never tell and you hot-wired it to get us home. I never told anyone, by the way. But I did watch.”
Elaine moved to the table. She remembered shivering in the mall parking lot with Kitty that Christmas searching and re-searching her purse for the keys. Dad would have brought them the spare set, but he would have been icy and silent about it for weeks and Christmas wasn’t promising to be magical in any event. She’d helped Johnny hot-wire the Packard a few weeks before and learned how.
“I always thought it was a little strange that you went into a funk as soon as Johnny McMannus left town. I mean, who was Johnny McMannus to you? He was Sue’s brother, so you knew him, but you were always such a good girl I couldn’t imagine you saying anything more than ‘pass the butter’ to him.”
Elaine picked up the mail and sorted through it. She couldn’t come up with anything to derail Kitty’s logic. “And I thought the only person you ever thought about was yourself,” she muttered.
“Oh no, dear sister. I think about you a lot. You are my sister, and you’ve been a total bitch the last few days.” Kitty sat up. “But this is the thing I don’t understand. You hooked up with Johnny at sixteen and he left town a year later. You stayed single, completely unattached to the point where half the town thinks you’re in the closet. Johnny comes back to town after his dad has a heart attack and you are still single. Why is that?”
Elaine’s face flexed into a painful mask against the flood of tears. She covered her face and turned toward the kitchen.
“Lanie?” Kitty had her arms around Elaine’s shoulders. “What’s the matter?”
Elaine pressed her cheek into Kitty’s flat stomach. Sobs shook her. “He’s embarrassed to be with me. I thought he loved me. I am so gullible.”
Kitty stroked her hair. “Oh honey. I had no idea. You’re really in love with him.”
“He said. . .he said someone might see us. They might figure out what was going on.” Elaine felt husked and scalded. “He was always worried someone would find out. He said he could go to jail.”
“Jail? I think there’s a statute of limitations on statutory rape.”
“No, not now. Then. Now he just doesn’t want anyone to see us together. He keeps talking about what people would say. What would the parents of my students say? People would know.”
“You’re both consenting adults now. Who cares what they would say?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Good for you. That son of a bitch.” Kitty slapped the table so hard the fruit bowl jumped. “How could he do this to you? No wonder you’ve been such a bitch. He really burned you.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been so awful.” Elaine wanted to pull herself together, stop crying, straighten her backbone, throw it off, but she couldn’t imagine where to begin. She didn’t want anyone but Johnny McMannus.
“No, you don’t have to apologize. I totally understand now. That bastard. I’m gonna go clean his clock.” Kitty started to pull away.
“No, don’t. The humiliation is more than I can bear. Just let it go.”
“I’m not gonna let it go. Are you nuts? He ruined your life. He deserves to be called on the carpet for it. Everybody said that statutory rape thing was bogus, but obviously it wasn’t. I mean, Shelly
Myers was a slut, but not you. That he would do that to you.”
“We never had sex.”
Kitty stepped back, studying Elaine’s face. “Come again?”
“We never had sex.”
“Never?”
“No.”
“You messed around with Johnny McMannus for a year and never–?”
“No. He said that would get him put in jail.”
Kitty walked across the room making little circles with her index fingers. “So you never had sex with him. In a year. Did you do anything at all?”
Elaine put her head in her hands, peeking through her fingers.
“Okay, good enough answer. TMI. I understand.” Kitty shook her head. “I just don’t understand how you could not. Johnny McMannus is legendary for his hotness. Legendary.”
“It wasn’t because I didn’t want to.”
“I’m gonna clean his clock. That’s it.”
“Kitty, please don’t. Don’t talk to him.”
“I can’t let him get away with this.” Kitty sat down at the table. “Damn. What are you going to do?”
“I told him if we couldn’t be seen in public together, I didn’t want to be with him.”
“Which was a lie, right?”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Come on, Elaine, everybody wants to be with Johnny McMannus. He’s the holy grail. Way hotter than Zack Jarvis...” Kitty trailed off, her imagination clearly running wild.
“Kitty, can you try to keep your mind out of the gutter for a couple minutes? I meant ‘be with’ in a general sense.”
“That’s a relief. I was beginning to think what everybody said about you might be true.” Kitty fanned herself. “Let me talk to him at least.”
“No. Just don’t go there. Let me handle it.”
“Because you’ve been doing such a great job handling it all these years.” Kitty stood up. “Fine. I won’t talk to Johnny about you. I’ll tell Mom I stopped in to check on you and you were fine. She wants you on Prozac or something, so don’t be too surprised if she pops up with a psychiatrist appointment for you.” She patted Elaine on the shoulder. “Take care of yourself, sis.”
Secrets Everybody Knows Page 8
