Chapter 9

4:15 p.m. Tuesday

Andy heard the phone in the apartment ringing as he fumbled for the door key on his ring. It had stopped by the time he got inside. The need for groceries – and the fact that the woman in front of him had taken four dozen items through the "10 Items or Less" line – had delayed his arrival. He would barely have enough time to get supper done before his mother got home.

He thought about trying to call Regan but he had no idea of what her schedule was like. He was positive that, like Elizabeth Pena, Regan Riley had several afterschool activities to keep her occupied. He also knew that any call he made would be billed as long distance. Even a call to a local cell phone came up as a charge on their bill – as he had learned to his chagrin the first month he owned a cell phone. The home phone would accept calls from a cell phone without a charge but it put an almost usurious fee on any call made to one.

If he hadn't gone out Sunday night and purchased a calling card, he might have been able to afford a new phone. But he had purchased a card so that ship had sailed. His call to England had taken $42 of the $50 on the card and, because of the smile on his mother's face the evening before, he considered it money well spent.

He was browning the hamburger for taco night when the phone trilled again. Andy thought that the phone must have rung more in the past few days that it had in his entire life – but then he recalled the number of bill collectors who frequently called the Drayton household. They usually waited until right about this time to make a pitch for a payment that likely would have been made if it was at all possible.

"Hello," he answered in a gruff voice. That usually deterred the caller from getting snippy if it was a creditor on the line.

"Andy?" Regan asked. She was certain it was him but he certainly didn't sound very happy.

"Oh, hey!" Andy said, his voice brightening considerably. "Look, I'm sorry about last night. Elizabeth told me that you tried to call and were worried when you couldn't get through. How was your day?"

Regan felt the tension drain from her shoulders. She was almost boneless as she sat down on her bed to talk to Andy. She had been pacing the room for the past half hour – agitating Ruth DeLancy to the point the girl left the room to take a shower (shock of shocks).

"Was that you earlier?" Andy wondered.

"I tried to call a little while ago but didn't get an answer," Regan admitted.

"I had to stop at the grocery store," Andy told her. "I had only a couple of things but this woman practically broke into a sprint to get in front of me at the checkout line. She piled about 50 things on the conveyor of the express checkout line. If we didn't need food in the house, I would have just left the stuff and come home. I was still trying to get the key in the lock when the phone rang. Sorry I missed you."

"No, it's OK," Regan said. She suddenly realized that she had never been to the grocery store in her life. Food seemed to just magically appear in the refrigerator at her house because she was sure her parents didn't stop for it. She figured the cook or the housekeeper must do all the shopping.

"Are you still there?" Andy asked. Regan had gone silent as she contemplated yet another difference in her life and Andy's.

"I'm here," Regan confirmed. "I was just thinking."

"About what?" Andy wondered.

"It's nothing," Regan answered. She decided that she didn't need to point out how different her life was from Andy's. He seemed to understand that all too well for her tastes.

"So, the reason the phone was busy last night," Andy said. "I ... I, uh, called my father on Sunday night."

"You did?" Regan asked, sitting up on her bed. "How was it? I mean, you weren't still talking to him last night were you? Elizabeth said you were in school Monday."

"No," Andy told her. "I mean, he called here yesterday when I got home. England is a few hours ahead of us. I waited until it was morning over there to call. It's been a pretty hectic week, I guess."

"It sounds like it," Regan said, smiling. "So, what's he like?"

"I'm not sure," Andy admitted after considering the question. "I mean, he sounds nice enough. He's a little stuffy but I guess he's no worse than your parents. Shit, that didn't come out right."

Regan laughed as Andy backtracked.

"No, stuffy is probably the nicest thing you can say about my parents," she said. "So you and he talked the whole evening?"

"Not me," Andy said, a grin coming to his face. "He and Mom talked all evening. I didn't even know until Elizabeth asked me this morning why you couldn't get through. I thought maybe you'd gotten busy and couldn't call."

"That isn't it at all," Regan said. "I will never be too busy to call you."

"Oh, I doubt that's true," Andy said. "At least I hope it's not. I'm actually a little too busy right now to give you my full attention. I've got supper on the stove and Mom will be home soon. Can you call back after supper?"

"Does your Mom work tonight?" Regan asked. She always worried that Andy's mother would be sleeping and the phone would awaken her.

"She quit her night job," Andy said. "That's something else I wanted to tell you. I'm not sure if Evan plans to call back again tonight or not. If you get a busy signal, wait until nine or so. I'll push Mom off the phone by then if I have to unplug it from the wall. Crap, I wish I had a cell phone."

"There is an electronics store in the mall down the road from your apartment," Regan said. "Go pick one up."

"I spent the money I was saving on a calling card Sunday night," Andy admitted.

"And that's fine," Regan said. "I'll call the store and set up an account for you to get what you need."

"I can't let you do that," Andy said with a sigh.

"Listen to me," Regan said firmly. "I'm not talking about a top-of-the-line iPhone with a $400 monthly plan. They sell prepaid phones there. I looked it up online when I got back to my room. You can get a good phone for around $75 and a plan with a thousand minutes for another $50. I will pay for the phone and first month. You can pay me back if you have to. No, you know what? You've already paid me back. You have a check there from me that you've never cashed. So go pick up any damned phone you want and have them set it up. I was so worried that you were angry with me that I was worthless today. I want to be able to talk to you!"

"Regan... ," Andy began but she cut him off.

"Joy's mother is going to drive to your apartment and deliver you a phone if you don't pick one out yourself," Regan informed him. "I was sort of mean to Joy today and she asked me why. I told her about your phone being off the hook and your cell phone getting broken. She was going to call her mother and have her buy one for you. I would imagine Collette would probably enjoy picking you up something pink that has sparkles all over it."

"I'll just cash the check and get it that way," Andy decided.

"I voided the check when I thought it was sent to the wrong address," Regan said. "Just do this, Andy. If not for you, then do it for me. I really missed talking to you last night."

"I'll talk it over with Mom," Andy said.

Regan decided that was the best she was going to get.

"If you buy one, call me with the number," she said.

"I will," Andy promised. "Outside of you, I don't really have anyone I want to talk with very much."

Andy was just putting the taco shells in the oven to warm when his mother walked in. She was yawning as she hung her purse on the back of the chair.

"Is that where that goes?" Andy asked with a wink. Since he was 10 years old, his mother had insisted he hang his coat up whenever he came inside, often asking an identical question if he put in on the sofa or a chair.

"Aw, Geez," Camille replied, mimicking her son's frequent answer. But just as Andy always did, she opened the closet and put her purse inside.

"Perhaps if you didn't stay up half the night taking on the phone you wouldn't be too tired to put your things away properly," Andy admonished with a grin.

"I hope I didn't keep you awake," Camille said as she sat down at the table. "I didn't realize how late it had gotten."

"I knew nothing about it until Elizabeth Pena gave me crap this morning because Regan couldn't get through last night," he replied as he pulled the salsa, lettuce and cheese out of the fridge. "How late were you up?"

"After midnight!" Camille said, shaking her head. "It wasn't until Evan told me the sun was already up over there that I realized how late it was."

Andy considered his life complete when he saw his mother blush. He considered giving her a hard time but then thought it might cause her to stop doing something that obviously had made her happy.

"Well, the phone's going to be all yours so don't worry about how long you talk," Andy told her while he filled his plate.

"Regan was mad because the line was busy?" Camille asked incredulously.

"Not really," Andy answered, unaware of the conclusion his mother had drawn.

"So why did she break up with you?" Camille wondered. That question caused Andy to look up.

"I don't think she broke up with me," Andy said in confusion. "No, I'm sure she didn't. I just talked to her for a couple of minutes right before you came in. Why do you think she broke up with me?"

"You said the phone was all mine," Camille pointed out.

"I'm going to get another cell phone," Andy replied with a frown.

"Good!" Camille told him. "I'll go down Saturday morning and transfer money from the savings account and we'll pick you up whatever you want."

"Uh," Andy stammered. He had thought about Regan's offer as he cooked. He decided it was silly for him to turn it down. He needed a phone – not only because it would make calling Regan a lot easier but because everyone he knew had one. He hadn't considered that his mother might be able to pay for it. "Uh, Regan offered to front me the money so I could get one tonight. I decided that was OK."

Camille looked at him for a moment and then nodded.

"Well, good," she said. "That was one of the things Evan and I talked about last night."

"My need for a cell phone?" Andy wondered. Camille rolled her eyes.

"Think bigger picture," she said.

"My need for a tablet or notebook?" Andy tried. It took his mother a moment to figure out that he wasn't making a joke.

"One of the reasons I broke things off with Evan was because of the differences in our backgrounds," she said. "I let the fact that his family came from wealth and privilege influence my decisions. I do not want you to do that with Regan."

"It's sort of hard not to," Andy told her.

"I know it is," Camille replied. "It's something that is always going to be out there. As he told you, Evan was estranged from his parents when we met. His father and mother had different expectations from his and he came to America to spite them. We had been together for several months before I got the full picture of who his family is and what it meant. When we went over to Wales the Christmas before you came along I saw the way his family is viewed. I saw how much money they had. You said it yourself. My family still fell on the poor side of the ledger. It was sort of like us: We had all we needed but little of what we wanted.