Authors: Kathy Reinhart
Con and the girls hadn’t been gone for more than fifteen minutes when I began to wish that I hadn’t gone along with his plan. It was a good plan assuming it worked and it would certainly give the girls something to think about the next time they meddled in someone’s life, but I was beginning to think it wasn’t worth the feelings of separation I was suffering now. It would have been nice to share more time with him before we had to face what was in store for us.
He had unexpectedly given me a storybook weekend but I wasn’t fooling myself into believing that everything would fall neatly into place once we returned to our normal lives. I knew we had our work cut out for us considering all of the bad blood between our families, but even after every negative word and insult I’d heard about Joker Ellis, a part of me was excited over the prospect of meeting him.
In the time since Con had left with the girls, I must have walked the imaginary path between the front door and the recliner at the far end of the living room a hundred times, my head twisted toward the bow window with each pass. Gram used to say that the watcher boils much faster than the pot and it turns out to be another of her many expressions I find to be true.
After watching the clock count down every minute for the last two hours I was beginning to feel anxious over his return when in the distance I heard an engine whine as it made its way up the road.
I met him in the driveway, eager to hear what happened after he left. His expression was a little sullen as he closed the car door behind him.
“So... what happened? Did they believe you?”
Before he answered my questions, he took me by the hand and headed toward the house.
“Con, is something wrong?”
“Yes... well, no but... yes. I knew they’d be upset, but I didn’t realize just
how
upset they’d be. They promised that they wouldn’t contact anyone until after they’d heard from me, but I don’t know how long they’ll be able to hold out.” Giving me a sympathetic grin, he added, “They’re both a mess.”
Suddenly I felt terrible for the prank we played on them. It seemed like a good idea at the time but now, I felt unworthy of their friendship.
Pulling on my hand when he came to a stop, I turned to look at him.
“Meg, don’t go getting all upset with yourself, this was my idea, remember? We’ll just go in and get our things and we’ll head back.” Lifting my chin with a finger, he questioned, “Okay?”
I offered a faint nod.
In an attempt to lighten my mood, he joked, “You know, I really outsmarted myself in the end.”
I shrugged. “How’s that?”
“Well, after what they did to us, I thought we’d one-up them. But, I’ve got to tell you, it put a real damper on my plans for this evening.”
As I asked, “Which were?” I happened to look up and catch the seductive gaze that lit his eyes.
Certain my cheeks had reddened, I let my hair fall across my face.
He squeezed my hand. “I’m sorry. I was teasing... well; a part of me was anyway.” He leaned forward and turned to face me, placing his head directly in front of mine to show me his animated smile. “I joke a lot, but I do have standards. Sort of like a code of ethics; friendship before romance, romance before love and love before sex. I know, a little corny and old-fashioned, but I think if you can stick to that order there’s a lot better chance of it lasting past the sex.”
He’d been able to read me like a road sign since our first meeting and now, if there were any particular words that could cause me to melt at his command, he had just said every one of them.
Before I could think of anything to say that wouldn’t embarrass me further, he added, “I think we have the friendship part down, so how about we pick up the pace a little and get to the good stuff?”
The air in my chest felt as though it solidified with his last remark. It wasn’t that I was opposed to any type of relations with him, sexual or otherwise, my dilemma was quite the opposite. I just thought that if and when that time came, it would be a little more romantic than, ‘let’s pick up the pace’.
I looked to him with my mouth wide open and completely empty of words. He was shaking his head and laughing.
Suddenly, feeling very foolish, I bashfully asked, “You were only teasing, right?”
He bobbed his head back and forth playfully. “...okay.”
I couldn’t help but warm up to his good-humored fun. He had a way of putting me at ease like no one had ever been able to do before.
He took one more step before turning to face me again. Running his hands through my hair and letting them rest on my shoulders, he said, “God knows I haven’t had a single thought that hasn’t included you since the first time I saw you. And, as much as I would
love
to make love to you, I don’t want our relationship to be based on sex, I want it to be more.” Pulling my head into his chest, he whispered, “Much more.”
I raised my head to meet his gaze. “Con, how do you know? I mean, I don’t doubt your feelings because I’m feeling things, wonderful things, and I can’t explain them, but how do you know for sure? With Brian, I thought I was sure and look how that turned out.”
“You just answered your own question.”
I searched his eyes.
“With him you
thought
, with me you
feel
. We can talk ourselves into thinking and even believing something for awhile, but if we don’t feel it—it won’t last.”
I offered a knowing smile and we walked up the stairs of the front porch in silence. His heartfelt words put me in such a tranquil state-of-mind that I had almost forgotten about Cory, Charlotte and our less-than-clever prank.
I packed up what little we had lying around and Con checked the locks and made sure the fire was completely out. With our belongings waiting on the porch, we each took one, last look around and locked the door behind us.
Con said it was a forty-five minute ride back to Upper Darby and he thought we should go directly to Cory’s, where Charlotte was supposed to be waiting with her, before they got anxious and went to the police themselves. Many scenarios regarding their reactions passed through my thoughts. I knew they would be upset at first. I knew they would also be happy that I was in fact safe. I couldn’t help but wonder which emotion would prevail for the long term.
“Are you nervous?” He asked, patting my hand.
I watched what seemed like a hundred trees flash by the passenger window, trying to come up with a single word to describe how I felt about facing the girls when we got back to the city.
“I’m not really nervous. I feel a little guilty and a little responsible for their anguish but on the other hand, I feel justified. Don’t get me wrong, if I were going to find myself stranded with anyone, I couldn’t have hand-picked someone better, but they didn’t know that when they concocted this whole weekend.”
“You have every right to feel that way. It’ll all work out, you’ll see.”
Slipping his arm behind my neck, he pulled me toward him and I laid my head against his shoulder. I put thoughts of the girls out of my mind and concentrated on the man beside me and our budding romance. I loved his old-fashioned outlook regarding relationships, but secretly, I didn’t know if I could hold out that long. He smelled so good and I couldn’t help but notice that his bicep fit perfectly into the contour of my neck and shoulder... he kept just enough buttons of his shirt undone so that a small amount of soft hair peeked out the top and Dockers were definitely made with him in mind.
I squirmed a little in my seat and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, we were sitting in Cory’s driveway and I couldn’t recall dozing off. I inhaled a deep breath, and mumbled, “Ready or not.”
A jolt of nervous energy raced up my spine each time Con’s knuckles hit on the heavy wooden door. Time seemed to stand still while we waited for an answer to his knocks.
I swallowed hard when the door began to squeak open slowly.
“Con, Meg, come on in.”
Con let me enter in front of him. Before the door had closed behind us, I asked, “Where’s Cory and Charlotte?”
Kevin didn’t answer immediately. His expression was sullen as he stared at the floor. I looked to Con and then back to Kevin as I felt my head begin to swim.
“Kevin, where are they? Why are you here if Cory isn’t?”
He looked at Con before speaking. “Meg, I’ve got bad news.” He turned and walked further into the living room. “Cory called the house about an hour ago and told Charlotte that she felt so terrible about what happened to you, she didn’t think she’d ever forgive herself. She said she had taken some pills... I don’t know what kind... anyway Charlotte and I rushed right over. We called an ambulance and Charlotte rode to the hospital with her. I’m waiting for a call from her now.”
I felt like I couldn’t breath and the weight of Con’s hand on my shoulder was causing me to buckle at the knees. I grabbed his arm as my eyes filled.
I choked out, “Oh my God, what have we done?”
Kevin’s tone was emotionless, as he asked, “Meg, what’s going on? I thought you were missing. You had everyone here real worried.”
I was beginning to focus on the enormity of our prank and the repercussions of it.
“Kevin, I’m so sorry. We had no idea it would go so far. We were just trying to...”
Con’s words broke through mine. “Kevin, come clean. Where are they?”
Kevin’s look of complete surprise only lasted a moment before his mouth turned up in a smile and he began his apology.
“I’m sorry; those two put me up to this. I told them I couldn’t pull it off. Con, after you said you were going to talk to the police, they figured out what was up.” Motioning toward the couch, he said, “Have a seat, I’ll get them.”
It took a second for his words to penetrate. I had barely regained my composure when Cory and Charlotte entered the room through the patio doors.
It was like a scene from one of our college parties when we drank too much, each of us talking, laughing and crying at the same time and barely making any sense.
Unable to hold back my tears, I cried, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to worry anyone.”
“That was a horrible thing to do, Meg.” Charlotte chided.
“So was faking Cory’s overdose.” I rallied back.
Cory said, “We’re sorry, too. We shouldn’t have abandoned you like that... oh my God, what happened to your face?”
Releasing them from our embrace, I replied, “A little collision with a tree, I’m okay...” Glancing toward Con, I added, “and don’t be sorry for that.”
Giving Charlotte a playful slap on her upper arm, Cory teased, “See, didn’t I tell you? I have a goddam gift for this matchmaking stuff... what tree?”
“The one with all your carved hearts. It seems you were quite busy down at the pond!”
Cory laughed. “Hell, that’s just the short list.”
“So, how did you guys know what we were up to?”
Cory answered. “Well, at first he had us fooled, but once we had time to think about it, we realized that had you really been missing, he wouldn’t have waited, like, two whole days to tell anyone. He would have walked back to the city on his hands if he had to.”
“Am I that obvious?” Con joked.
Cory placed a hand on her hip, and said, “Hell-o! You were that obvious the first time we saw you at the café.”
Kevin broke in, “Con, a piece of advice... when they get into one of these huddles, it’s best to speak only when spoken to. If not, you’ll end up the only buttercup in the middle of a field of hungry bees.”
“I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”
I couldn’t get into any of the details about my wonderful weekend as long as Con and Kevin were in the room, but before we left Cory’s, I promised the girls that we’d meet at Sal’s in the morning and I’d fill them in on everything.
I was relieved to put thoughts of the girls and our prank behind me but that left a lot more time to think about my grandparents. I had questions that needed answers, like why Con said his grandmother killed his father and why Gramp went to jail for the very same crime.
I had always respected my grandparent’s privacy and stayed out of any business that didn’t concern me, but now was the time for that to change. It had become clear that the past and the secrets it produced involved me directly and I had the right to know exactly where I fit into the secrets they guarded so fiercely.
I almost hated to disturb his thoughts. “Are you up for a question or two?”
“Fire away.”
“You said that my grandfather didn’t kill your father. Why do you think that?”
“I’ve always known that. My mother will tell you the same thing. I was wondering why you thought your grandfather did it.”
“My grandfather spent over twenty years in jail for murdering your father.”
A genuine look of disbelief filled his soft blue eyes. “I wasn’t aware of that, but why... my mother wouldn’t lie about that.”
“Maybe she was lied to but I’m certain that my grandfather killed your father. He admitted it to me not very long ago.”