All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (29 page)

He reached across the table and grabbed her forearm. His
voice got quiet and smooth as he said, "Sit down. Don't embarrass us,
especially in front of your friends. I'm not threatening you or anything. Let's
have a nice dinner."

Polly looked over
his
shoulder and Lydia's hand was on Aaron's arm. He
looked as if he was ready to explode out of his seat, but she held him back.
Her eyes were questioning Polly. With a slight shake of her head, Polly sat back
down.

"I'll have you know,
” she said.
“It is only because I don't want to see you pulverized
by my friends that I'm going to sit back down. You
r
attitude is
completely unacceptable and if you can't understand that and get past it, I
will be glad to turn you over to the Sheriff and let him put you on a plane
back to Boston."

"Oh, Polly, stop it.
” Joey’s tone had become patronizing. “
You are over reacting. I'm not going to hurt you. Have
I ever hurt you? You mean the world to me and I can't imagine living without
you in my world. So what am I going to have to do to make that a reality for
both of us?"

At that moment the waitress came back to the table
with their food. Polly's stomach was so tied up in knots, she couldn't imagine
eating anything. She opened the sandwich and layered the lettuce and tomato on
one side with a little mayo, then flipped it over and put ketchup on the bun,
followed by onion and pickles. This really was her favorite sandwich and she
was furious that the idiot sitting across from her was going to make it
a
miserable
meal
. She poured
ketchup onto her plate beside the fries,
then
cut her sandwich
into quarters.

She sat back in her chair and tried to relax. Picking
up one of the quarters, she took a small bite and rolled it around in her
mouth. She forced herself to breathe slowly, then
smiled
a little
as she realized this was now the third time today she'd had to force
herself
to relax. Men
drove
her over the edge
and the one across the
table exuded pure insanity. So, how was she going to get rid of
him?
After a few
more deep breaths, which Joey had the courtesy to allow her to have in
silence,
she was ready to deal with him again.

"
Okay, h
ow long are you planning to stay in Iowa?" she
asked, and then cringed as soon as it was out of her mouth. She knew exactly
what he was going to say and he didn't disappoint her.

"I will be here as long as it takes to convince
you to come back to Boston with me," he replied.

"Yeah.
That's what I thought you were going to say. I don't
even know why I asked. But, what are you doing about your classes or your work
at the Peabody?"

"I scheduled a sabbatical for this fall. I don't
think anyone really cares if I'm gone as long as I am happy when I return. I'll
be happy if you return with me. Hopefully, we can get
you home and settled in Boston
within the next month or so. I'd like to get started
again
with my work
by the middle of January."

"Oh
,"
she said
.

She bit her lower lip; the dry weather was starting to
crack them now and she hadn't brought any protection with her this evening. She
wondered what the boys were doing back at the school house. Then, it occurred
to her that one of these days she was going to have to come up with a cool name
for
that place. Her mind began wandering
through some of the fun places she'd seen while driving around the countryside.
Most of those wouldn't make sense in Bellingwood. She was going to have to come
up with the name of the school all on her own.

"Polly? Are you listening?" Joey was looking
at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked how you liked your sandwich. For a joint
like this, mine is pretty good."

"Oh. Yeah. It's fine." She looked down and
saw that she had finished the quarter sandwich she had in her hand and was
automatically eating fries. Wow. She'd wandered away from the entire evening.

"So, Joey.
How are your parents?" she asked.

"They're fine. Mother is gearing up for the big
Christmas ball. She started working on that in June, I believe. Father is
planning a trip to Italy for them after the holidays. You know, he had a heart
attack this summer."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that
. How is he doing
?"

"I suppose he is
fine
. I don't get up to the
house very often, but Mother calls me once a week to remind me that I have
responsibilities and to let me know what is happening in their world. She
was concerned that you had moved out west
. She said something about Indians and cowboys. Even I
know that is nothing to worry about."

Polly smiled and nodded. "No, there aren't too
many battles this side of the Mississippi anymore. We even have automobiles and
electric lights now." She shook her head,
then
pulled out her phone. Her mind wondered if she
could still outthink the jerk.

"So, I got this
new Samsung phone the other day. What are you using now?" she asked.

"It's the same
old thing, just updated." He pulled his phone out.

"Can I see it?"
and she held out her hand
. When she had her hand on
the
phone, she
bumped his glass of wine into his lap. Keeping hold of the phone, she said,
"Oh, Joey! I'm so sorry!"

"It's no problem. I'll be right back. Don't even
worry about it," he said.

He left for the bathroom and she rapidly began
scanning his call history. She found his mother's name and phone number
as well as the
phone number of the little bimbo from the library who had been helping him. She
also landed on a phone number for a clinic in Cambridge and entered those all
into a note in her own phone. Sending it on, she cleared back to the main
screen and set the phone back near his plate.

Lydia and the others had watched the entire
process
take
place with what seemed to be proud grins on their faces. Polly felt much
better. She had people to contact who might help her
handle
whatever
Joey had managed to plan. She felt badly that his Dad was dealing with heart
issues and his mother a big soirée, but Polly's life was about to crash right
into their carefully laid plans.

She winked at her friends and picked up another
quarter of her sandwich. Funny how her appetite returned once she took back
control. Then, she had one more thought. Pulling her phone back out, she
switched to the voice recorder. As
Joey
walk
ed
out of the bathroom,
she
clicked it on and set it in her lap
and then
picked
the sandwich back up and took a bite.

"I rea
lly
am sorry about your pants,
"
she apologized.

"Don't worry about it, Polly. I brought plenty of
clothes. If it takes longer than a week to convince you to return to Boston,
I'll find a dry cleaner. For that matter, I suppose even Des Moines should have
some department stores which would take my money."

"Joey, I'm not going back to Boston."

"Oh, honey,"
his voice turned to velvet and it made her want to slap him
. "I know that you think you are going to do
something with that little school up in that strange little town, but you and I
both know that you are much better off with me than by yourself."

"
No,
Joey," she pushed now.
"I'm not
better off with you and I will repeat myself one more time. I broke up with
you. I left you and I left Boston. I want nothing more to do with you. I want
you to get on a plane back to Boston tomorrow and leave me alone. Do you
understand?"

"Polly, I have no idea why you are saying these
things to me. You and I
are
a match made in
heaven. I've told you over and over again that I waited a lifetime for you to
show up and I'm not about to let you go. I will do
anything
to
convince you to return with me. Do you want me to buy you out of your little
school? I'll do that. Do you want me to find a building in Boston for you to
renovate? I'll do that. But," and his v
oice
took on a sinister tone, "y
ou are
returning to Boston with me. You are going to be my wife and you are going to
be the mother of my children."

"Joey, I have no idea what makes you think any of
that is true," she started.

He interrupted, "Because I say that it is true.
For god's sake, Polly.
I don't know why you can't get on board with this. No one has ever said no to
me before and I'm not about to let it happen now. I love your spirit. It is
going to be a wonderful thing in our children, but you have to get over this
crazy notion that you are going to live without me. I won't have it!" He
pulled his napkin out of his lap and flung it on the table.

"
Look,” he
said loudly. “
You have made me lose my
appetite. This was a perfectly decent dinner and your continual insistence that
you and I aren't going to be together is infuriating me. I'm tired of listening
to you say these things."

"Now who's embarrassing who?" she calmly
asked. "Sit and calm down, you fool."

"How do you think you can get away with talking
to me like this?"

"What?" she asked flatly. "Are you
planning to beat me up?"

He wilted. "Polly, I would never lay a hand on
you. You know that. And those times with those guys. I was so jealous that they
got to spend time with you when I didn't or that they were touching you when I
wasn't. It didn't seem fair."

Polly decided to try one last push, just for the fun
of it. "So, you have to be with me all the time in order for you to be
normal, is that what you're saying?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Well,
truthfully, Polly, that is when I feel the most normal. As long as it is only
you and me and there is no one else around to take your attention, things are
fine. Anything else isn't right. Don't you feel the same way about me?"

"No Joey, I don't and I have to tell you that
your attitude and behavior makes me wonder if you were seeing a normal
counselor. Anyone who would let you get away with believing those types of
things is irresponsible."

She waved as the waitress walked past. "Could we
get the ticket, please?"

"Joey, I'm going home now. I don't want you to
follow me or try to see me.
Ever again.
You have made a couple of mistakes and if you cross
the line with me, I will be glad to have you thrown in jail. Stay away and
don't push me to do something that neither of us
want
me
to do. Will you do that?"

"Sweetheart, you're not going to throw me in
jail. You were the one who bailed me out the last time I was there. You stayed
with me through thick and thin and I trust you completely."

"Well, that's just foolish." The waitress
placed the ticket on the table and Polly grabbed it. Joey tried to take it from
her and grabbed her wrist. "You want to let go of that right now,
Joey," she said. When he didn't, she repeated, "Right now. Let go or
things are going to get ugly in a hurry." She glanced over his shoulder
and he turned around. Aaron's face was bright red with fury. "Right
now," she said again. He released her wrist.

"You know," he said. "Your friends
aren't always going to be close by."

"Don't try to frighten me, you idiot. You have no
idea how close my friends are."

She looked at the ticket, counted out cash, found the
waitress and pressed it into her hand, saying "Thank you."

Polly picked up her purse, dropped her phone in on top
of everything else and strode out of the restaurant. She got into her truck,
backed out of the parking place and started the drive home. It wasn't
until she pulled into her parking lot that she finally
breathed normally again. She looked up, saw the entire place lit up and smiled.
It was good to be home.