Secrets (30 page)

He glanced at Angie when the women’s voices rose from the kitchen. Angie looked toward the kitchen and then back at Scott.

“Shouldn’t you defend Sarah or something?” she asked.

He grimaced. “You want me to get in middle of that? Do I look suicidal? Who do I side with? I live with your mother permanently, and you know how she’ll get if she’s mad at me. And Sarah handles herself just fine. I don’t think the wrath it would draw me is worth it.”

“But I think it hurts Sarah’s feelings.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re sleeping with her. She wants you to take her side. Duh.”

“You’re not going to start on me too, are you? I don’t need dating advice from my sixteen-year-old niece.”

“Maybe you do. Besides my mom’s pretty antagonistic about Sarah. Why?”

“I think Sarah threatens her place in your life.”

“That’s stupid, which I’ve told her. I think you should tell her too.”

“Hmm. Maybe.”

Angie was quiet for a moment. “I really like Sarah. She’s really nice to me.”

“I know, kiddo. It’s one of the reasons I like her.”

“No, you like to sleep with her. Just, maybe this time, you could not treat her how you do your other dates.”

“Angie—” he started to say, then stopped. He knew he’d done a lot right by Angie, but this, dating in front of her, he’d done wrong. But in his defense he had only been in his early twenties when Angie had hit her teenage years. It wasn’t like he’d meant to be a bad example. He just hadn’t thought it through. And Vanessa had never said anything otherwise. So until Angie had popped up unexpectedly pregnant, he hadn’t truly known his niece was even curious about sex, let alone having it. “Angie, what is it you think I’ll do?”

“Dump her, then not call. Break her heart and ignore her like you haven’t done the most, you know, like, the most intimate of acts with her. I just don’t think you should treat her like that.”

He let out a long breath. Sometimes he had a little too much estrogen in his life. “Is that what the father of your baby did to you?”

Angie dropped her gaze, studying the blanket wrapped over her. “Maybe. Whatever. I think you ought to be better to her.”

“Sarah is an adult and understands me and us far better than a young girl like you can. So don’t think I’m so terrible, okay? Sarah is a big girl and knows how to handle herself.”

“It doesn’t mean she’ll hurt any less.”

Scott was stumped. Angie was right and he was wrong, and he knew it. How could he explain the unexplainable to Angie?

He sighed. “Angie, I know who the father of your baby is and I know why you’ve refused to tell us.”

Angie’s eyes came up, big and shocked. Her hair was stringy and long down the sides of her bloated, round face. He felt an overwhelming amount of love and tenderness toward her vulnerability. He wanted so much more for Angie than an unwanted pregnancy her junior year in high school.

“How do you know?”

“I put two and two together. I thought it was best if you told us, but you don’t seem inclined to tell us.”

“Does she know?” Angie asked, her voice a whisper, glancing furtively toward the kitchen where Sarah and Vanessa were still arguing.

“No, Sarah doesn’t know. But I think it’s getting time to tell her. Does Sean know you’re pregnant with his child?”

Angie shrugged. “Well, like, everyone knows I’m pregnant, I was the talk of the school the last month. But he and I never talked about it being his. We haven’t talked face to face in months, like only a couple of times since we quit talking.”

Scott got up and came over to Angie. He sat down and put his arm around her. “I’m sorry. I am. What did he do?”

“Nothing. Just we, you know, had sex, then we ignored that each other existed. And it really hurt. Before we did it, we were really good friends. We talked about everything. Then nothing. He quit even looking at me.”

“Why don’t you tell your mother? Or even Sarah?” Scott asked, desperately wanting one of them to help him figure out what to say to a teenager with a broken heart.

“Sarah will hate me once she figures it out.”

“That you shop lifted from her to get back at her brother for ignoring you? Hurting you? That you knew you were carrying Sean Langston’s baby? Trust me. Sarah won’t hold that against you.”

“Would you tell her for me?”

Scott didn’t get women, especially young ones. But how could he deny Angie this? “Okay, I’ll tell her.”

“Thanks. And think about what I said. You should be different this time.”

Angie got up and shuffled up the stairs, her weight shifting awkwardly as she went. Scott sighed at the sadness of the sight. He heard the voices from the kitchen rise. He grabbed his I-Pod and turned it up loud to drown them out.

He reclined on the couch for several songs when suddenly he was hit across the legs. Startled, he opened his eyes to find Vanessa standing over him, the magazine she’d just swatted him with, in her hand.

“I can’t take it anymore. She has got to go.”

He sat up.

“You weren’t even listening?” Vanessa shrieked as she noticed his headphones.

“I was trying not to,” he said glumly. Sarah was just over Vanessa’s shoulder glaring at him too. Both wanted him to agree with them against the other. He refused. Instead he tried a new tactic. “Do you two have any idea what your fighting does to Angie?”

Both looked at him surprised. “What did you think? That she likes listening to her mother, and you, Sarah, her idol as well as her boss, fight? Do you think she enjoys it or even understands it? Well, she doesn’t. She feels torn, and like me, she feels disloyal taking either of yours side. Now, I suggest you two get a grip and figure out some way to co-exist. Because as I told you, Vanessa, I don’t know how long she’ll be here.”

“Get a grip?” Vanessa echoed her eyebrows arched in disapproval.

“I can answer how long I’ll be here. About five more minutes. I agree, Angie shouldn’t listen to this. But neither should I,” Sarah said, as she walked past them and stomped up the stairs, slamming the door.

Vanessa glared at him, hands on her hips. “I will not accept her living here.”

He turned on Vanessa. He fisted his hands to keep from grabbing her arms and shaking her. “You know what? You will because it’s my God damned house. No matter how you like to think you rule me, you don’t have quite the grip on my balls you think you do. Now you’ll can it. I mean it. You quit picking fights with Sarah. And you especially make sure Angie isn’t around. Sarah will be here until she is no longer the target of a stalker.”

“And then what?”

He stared, stumped. Then what? He couldn’t contemplate that now. “Whatever happens, will have nothing to do with you.”

He turned and ran up the stairs. He opened the door and stopped dead in the doorway. Sarah was busily moving about his room, collecting stuff she had around. More of it than he’d realized had found its way into his drawers, or hung in his walk-in closet.

“What are you doing?” Scott asked, as he shut the door behind him.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m packing.”

“No, you’re not.”

“You don’t own me. You can’t keep me here.”

“You know what? Yes, I can. Only a few weeks ago I drove up to your car, just about convinced you’d be sitting in it dead, or that you’d be kidnapped and we’d never find your body. So, you’re wrong when you say I don’t have a say. Do you think it’s okay with me if you end up dead?”

She stopped and looked at him, her face shocked, her eyes wide as she regarded him. “You really thought that?”

“Yes. I really thought you weren’t going to be there. And if you think I’m letting you leave here and disregard what we know is out there, ignore the warning we already got from the bastard, you’re wrong. I consider him leaving you alone that night our chance. And not heeding it, next time, you might be taken.”

She wilted and sat down heavily on his bed. “He just calls. It’s easy to start to believe they are that, just annoying phone calls. In fact, I’ve almost gotten to where they don’t scare me like they did.”

“Well, that’s nice, but I am scared by them.”

She peeked up at him. He stood glaring down at her his arms crossed over his chest.

“You take me very seriously. I’m not sure most guys would. Most would blow me off, tell me to go home and quit being such a hysteric. Most wouldn’t let me live with them for weeks on end with no complaint, no innuendoes, no asking ‘when are you going to be leaving?’ Why is it you’re so okay with this?”

“I’m not okay with your being harassed. I’m not okay with any woman being stalked. Your being here makes sense for your safety. And…well, we’re sleeping together, so it works. I don’t think much beyond that. It makes sense, and it needs to be. And you certainly are not going to leave because of Vanessa. She is a pain you can deal with. The stalker you can’t. So, that’s why you’re not packing.”

“Could you just once stand up for me? With her?”

“I just did. I told her off, as I’m telling you to quit engaging her. Ignore her. I can’t stop her, and I’m not kicking her out of here, nor am I kicking you out of here. So here we are. Both of you bite your tongues, and both of you make sure there is no more fighting around Angie. You’re the logical one of the pair, so I expect you to stop. Agreed?”

She sighed. “Fine. But I hope you realize someday, Vanessa is totally irrational, and in love with you.”

“She is not.”

“You’re in such denial about her.”

“Why do we keep having this same fight about her? Nothing’s going to come of it.”

She got up with a jerk. “I know you’ve been very clear of that fact since about the first time I ever talked to you.”

“And you’ve been clear about where you stand. Can we agree to disagree?”

“Fine. Since I’m nearly a prisoner here, what choice have I got?” She stood now her back to him, pretending to stare out the window, her arms crossed over her stomach.

“You’re being a little dramatic, aren’t you?”

“Well, you seem to enjoy it so much with Vanessa, I thought I’d give it a try.”

“Great. When you’re done throwing a hissy fit and acting like you’re about five, come find me. I have something of actual importance to talk about.”

****

Sarah nearly quivered with annoyance. How dare he? Say she was throwing a hissy fit? She was the one who took the brunt of Vanessa’s wrath. Wrath he, in fact, hid from, and he claimed she was the dramatic one? That she was the irrational one? She might be accused of being controlling, cold, borderline detail-obsessed, but irrational?
Her?
No way.

Still…Scott seemed to have something to say. Curiosity finally won out over her anger. She left his room, and found him out in the garage, bent over, banging against a car part. What he was doing and why he was doing it was a complete mystery. She hunched down and petted Cookie who had rolled over with glee at Sarah’s appearance. The day was overcast, and mild. Scott didn’t acknowledge her for several long moments, which she was sure was punishment for her earlier “hissy fit” as he saw it. There was no way Scott didn’t know she was there, he always knew.

“Well?” she called after a while, speaking loudly over the metal banging.

He glanced at her, lowering the car part and mallet he’d been using. He finally came over to where she was still scratching Cookie. He towered over her from her disadvantage of kneeling by the dog.

“Well, what?”

“Well, what did you want to talk about?”

“Are you still mad?”

“Well, I’m not throwing a hissy fit if that’s what you’re wondering.”

He nodded. “I’m sorry you don’t feel like I defend you against Vanessa. But with you two it doesn’t matter what I say or do, you’ll still go at it. And I have to live with her, Sarah, so I take the path of least resistance, and I’m sorry if you get hurt by that. But the fact is, I can’t change how you two feel about each other. Or that I don’t hate Vanessa, and I obviously really like you. So there I am.”

“Do you like me more than her?”

“If I say yes, will you quit being mad at me?”

“It could possibly do the trick.”

“Fine. I think it’s pretty evident I like you better. Not that it’s a contest. But that rational point seems lost on you two.”

“Good,” she said, her tone smug. “What is it you want to talk about?”

He sat down, rubbing Cookie’s ears. Looking at the dog’s face she could almost picture Cookie moaning in doggy ecstasy at all the petting. Scott stared out toward the neighborhood, made up of old and new houses, well-spaced and broken up by the large old trees that dominated all the yards.

“We should meet with your brother.”

Her shoulders jerked back. “My brother? Why would we need to do that? You don’t think he has anything to do with this stalking stuff, I mean come on, no way. He’s a pill, but he wouldn’t do anything like that.”

“No, I don’t think he did that. I think
we
, as in Angie needs to meet with him.”

“Why would Angie need—” Sarah froze. “You think Sean’s the father? My brother? He’s fifteen years old.”

“And Angie’s sixteen. Perfect age for each other. I know how you feel, how unbelievable it is that these kids you think of as little kids are actually not. They are, in fact, facing adult, life changing mistakes. But we can’t pretend any longer.”

“How do you know? Are you just speculating?”

“I suspected when your brother wouldn’t look at me that night we met your family for dinner. Angie finally told me the truth, and wanted me to tell you for her.”

“Why would she think she couldn’t tell me?”

“Hero worship makes the expectations high. She’s afraid you’ll take your brother’s side. Or get mad at her for all this.”

“That’s why she first shoplifted from me, isn’t it? She was getting back at Sean. She was trying to get his attention through me.”

“Yes. She didn’t intend to like you as much as she did and then end up working for you. She felt like once that happened she couldn’t tell you. And therefore, she wouldn’t tell anyone. They haven’t spoken in months. From what I gathered, after they last slept together, he ignored her. So he might not get that Angie’s baby is his. He needs to be told. And assuming he’s okay with the adoption, he’ll have to be involved as far as that.”