Chapter 23

School had only one more week before Christmas break and it seemed to Brock as if the place was a zoo at times.

Merie was his constant companion and when she wasn’t by his side--and sometimes when she was--Jen was right there, too. The rumor mill was buzzing again and even Bill Jacobs gave him a crosswise look when he would see the three of them in the hallway.

But school was nothing compared to the sight of Merie, Jen, Mel, Susan and Tara sitting on his front porch one evening when he got home from Christmas shopping.

Merie greeted him with a hug and a kiss and one by one the others did the same. Tara was last and gave him a brief kiss on the cheek before turning away.

“We were just planning your vacation,” Merie said with glee. “I’m going to make this my unofficial residence during the holidays. Mel and Jen are staying here, from what I understand. That frees up their bedrooms. We’re not sure where everyone else is going to land yet.”

Brock just nodded dumbly. He knew that Leslie had designs on using his house as a staging area for the 10-day break.

“Well, Jen and Melanie have already claimed the space here,” he said quickly. “No more room at the inn--as it were.”

Merie looked at him with a smirk.

“Please,” she said sarcastically. “We know where Jenny and Mel will be sleeping. Don’t hand me that. We’ve done some measuring. We think all six of us can fit in your bed.

“We already know five can and Tara is just a tiny little thing.”

“It wasn’t my idea,” Tara added hastily. “I know you don’t want me here. I understand your reasons.”

Merie cut in quickly.

“I’m sure Brock will consider letting you stay here if the rest of us do,” she said. “I was only joking with him. I wouldn’t make a decision like that for him.”

Brock was obviously relieved.

“Let’s just see if everyone can get along for a few hours,” he said with a smile. “You might find that I’m no longer a person that you’d like to be around anyway. I’m a little different than what you remember.”

Tara looked at the others and then at the ground.

“That’s a good idea,” she said. “I would guess I’m not the same either. At least I hope I’m not. I would like to think I’ve learned a little bit about respect and trust from what happened to you and from what I did while it was happening. I know I learned a lot about being a friend.”

Susan wrapped her arm around her friend’s shoulder.

“We’re all having a sleepover at my house tonight,” Merie told Brock. “Well, all of us but you, that is. My dad probably wouldn’t mind having you stay over but Mom is still a little reluctant. Heck, Dad probably would like for you to visit just to offset the estrogen in the house.”

Brock smiled.

“I think your Dad can handle himself,” he said. “Tell him if he needs to he can call me tonight and I’ll tell him a dirty joke or something.”

Merie laughed then she got silent.

“Can we talk in private for a minute?” she asked.

Brock nodded his assent and led her into the house.

“Leah has been granted a furlough for Christmas,” she said without preamble. “She’s allowed out from noon Christmas Eve until 6 p.m. Christmas Day.”

Brock put his arm around his girlfriend.

“That’s a good thing, Princess,” he said. “I’m sure it will be nice for your whole family to be together.”

Merie’s face turned into a frown.

“But I was planning to invite you to spend Christmas with us,” she said. “But Mom and Dad don’t think it’s a good idea. Leah is, well, I think you have an idea how she can be. I know you don’t want to spend Christmas Day with Tara and her mom so that rules out the Miles family. I don’t want you to spend Christmas alone.”

Brock hugged Merie tightly.

“I’ll be fine,” he said. “Last Christmas was spent in an 8-foot-by-10-foot room. I had food loaf for Christmas dinner because I was on restriction. Food loaf is where they toss your entire meal into a blender and you get the result. It is not appetizing. I promise I’ll be OK.”

“Maybe I can come over Dec. 23rd and spend a little time with your family.”

Merie’s eyes were filled with tears.

“I promise I won’t have any private talks with her,” she told him. “If she says one mean thing about you, I’ll knock her brand new teeth down her throat.”

Merie wiped her eyes and looked around the room.

“You don’t even have a tree,” she said. “No tree, no decorations. You can’t even tell it’s late December.”

Brock shrugged.

“That stuff was always Mom’s thing,” he said and a memory brought a small smile to his face. “Every year we would have the annual Christmas tree fight. She would want me to rearrange all the furniture in the house to put the tree in front of the window. Keep in mind there wasn’t a soul who could see our house from the road. Ask Suzy, she’ll tell you.

“And every year I’d tell her it was the last time I was moving that darned couch clear across the room to accommodate a Christmas tree. But every year, sure as heck, I’d be trotting that heavy sleeper sofa across the floor in mid December and moving it back the day after New Year’s.”

Reminiscing had brought tears to Brock’s eyes now.

“It’s funny,” he said as he dried them away. “That’s the stuff I miss most. I pretty much decided that I wasn’t going to fool with it this year.”

“I can’t take the place of your Mom,” Merie said quietly. “But I can order you around a little if you’d like.”

She gave Brock a kiss on the cheek and headed back outside to the others.

The holidays got off to a roaring start.

The girls decided to make prank phone calls to Brock’s house about every 20 minutes. When he unplugged his phone they bombarded his cell phone with text messages.

Each one was a little more provocative than the one that preceded it. He finally shut his phone off at 9 p.m. but a half hour later his evening was interrupted by a knock on the door.

He was shocked to see Erin Wyatt standing on his porch.

“I know this is a surprise,” Erin said. “And I hope I’m not intruding. I hope I can take a few minutes of your time.”

The messages from the girls had Brock in a playful mood, so he stepped aside and invited her in.

“Tara and I have found a house nearby,” Erin began. “I know your feelings toward me and my daughter and I don’t blame you for them. I can go down a laundry list of mistakes but we’d be here half the night and probably not get close to the end.

“Susan is going to be living here,” she continued. “I think that is a foregone conclusion. Tara wants to live close to her only friend. The same people who deserted you a couple of years ago have deserted her since the truth came out. It hasn’t been easy for her, either. Tara said you know about what she tried to do in May. Believe it or not, things only were worse afterward. If Susan hadn’t come back, I’m sure Tara would have found another way.

“But after she spent Thanksgiving up here, she seemed better. She is really looking forward to a new start. I know you can understand that. In truth, I am, too.”

Brock really didn’t understand what this had to do with him. In fact, his jovial mood was coming to a rapid end. But he still stood silently while Erin talked.

“The upside is, we won’t move here if it will make your life more difficult,” she said. “We owe that much to you--and probably a lot more. I’d like to live here. It seems like a nice place. Tara would like to live here to be close to Susan--and to you. But neither of us is willing to look for happiness here if it is at your expense. I hope you’ll take a few days to consider whether or not you’ll be able to live the life you want here if Tara and I are nearby.”

Brock shook his head to clear the confusion.

“You’re saying that if I tell you I don’t want you living in Corbly, you won’t come here?” he asked. “Am I hearing this right?”

Erin looked at the floor and nodded.

“Mrs. Wyatt,” Brock said, choosing his words carefully. He didn’t want to sound flippant or harsh. “I appreciate that you’ve taken my feelings into consideration,” he said. “It really does mean something to me that you have. But I think you’re way off base.

“If you think you and Tara will be happy here, to hell with me. If I don’t like you living here, I got two choices--live with it or get over it. I’ve told my neighbors that a hundred times and they’ve always managed to do one or the other. Regardless of my feelings toward your family, I would never do anything to impede your happiness--even at the expense of my own. You might find this hard to believe, but I truly hope that you and Tara find happiness.”

Erin looked up and smiled.

“I don’t find that hard to believe, Jordan,” she said. “Sorry, Brock. Tara had, uh, several boyfriends before you. You know that. You were the only one I liked. At the same time, I hope you can someday look at things objectively from Tara’s point of view and from mine. I know we were wrong. But we didn’t know it at the time. You had been accused of a litany of heinous crimes. I mean, seriously, how many innocent people did you meet while you were in the penal system?”