Chapter 115

Mary did that thing she does with her lower lip between her teeth when she's cornered.

"Go ahead. Get it out of your system. I know you can't wait to tease me."

"I feel like I should, like it's my job. But I can't. It would be like I was picking on Jill. I guess you're growing up. Or I am. Maybe both of us."

I'd made my way over to the table by now. Mary stood up and hugged me. I put my arms around her and held tight. My baby sister wasn't a baby anymore.

I sat down in my chair and Jill gave me another cup of tea. She had a big smile on her face.

I couldn't get the picture of the posts Mary had gotten in her mouth as the first part of her dental implant procedure out of my mind.

"So, did you have any problem with your fangs?"

"Fangs?"

"You know. The posts they put in your mouth."

"Oh, those. You don't know, do you?"

"Don't know what?"

She lifted her lips apart in a grotesque smile. Where she'd had titanium posts replacing the missing front teeth, she now had teeth.

"I thought it was going to take at least six weeks before they could attach the teeth."

"It is. These are temporary bridges. That's what the dentist wanted me to go back for on Friday. That was the surprise he had for me."

She took the thumb and index finger of her left hand and pried apart the lips to the side of the new teeth. Talking with her teeth closed and the lips on one side pried open made her a little tough to understand.

"See? There are some white straps over the real teeth holding them in. They used to use metal but now you can hardly tell. I could have actually gotten a better set of these if I wanted, but I wanted the implants. These aren't anywhere near as stable."

"Are they comfortable?"

"They feel a little weird. But so did the posts. I'm pretty used to them."

"Do you keep them in all the time?"

"I could, but I take them out when I sleep at night. Except Friday. But that was a special occasion."

"Yeah, I guess. So, did you guys really fall asleep?"

"Yeah, we did. In each others arms. Charlie says I looked so cute he just let me sleep. The next thing he knew, his father was shaking him on the shoulder. Mom had called and woke him up."

"Were you guys dressed?"

"Yes, we were dressed. Charlie's dad looked a little curious, but he didn't say anything."

"So, I guess you two are pretty serious."

"We're not ready to get married, but we like each other. We're each just as messed up as the other. I owed him, too."

"Come on, Mare. You can't mean that."

"Jack, look at me. I went out on my first date and didn't come home. A gang of drugged out assholes attacked me and could have killed me. And they came closer to killing Charlie because he tried to stop them. I had to go through some very painful surgery in the hospital and more surgery in my mouth because of them. Charlie lost an eye. Yeah, I do mean it. We're both messed up. What he did for me deserved at least a blow job. And if he wants it, he can have the whole thing."

"God, I didn't know you felt that way. You never talk about it."

"Not to you. I've had a lot of talks with Mom and Jill. And more with Charlie. Jack, I love you and I care about you, but you have no concept of what it was like for me."

"I'm sorry. I should be there for you."

"Jack. You can't be all things to all people. You were there when I was in the hospital and that's what I needed from you. I'll always be grateful for that. There are some things you just can't give me and that's OK. That doesn't make you a bad person." She grabbed my hand and pulled it to her cheek. "There's never going to be anyone to take the place of my big brother."

She got up from the table.

"I've got to go. Thanks, Jill. I'll keep what you said in mind. And Jack? Thanks for accepting me and not embarrassing me."

I felt kind of weird hearing that from my sister, but she was right. My first tendency when I overheard her conversation had been to tease her. Thank God I hadn't followed through on it. Mary left to do her thing and Jill came over to me and hugged as best she could while I sat in the chair.

"I'm proud of you, Jack."

"For what?"

"For not giving her a hard time."

"Boy. You too?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I can see Mary making a big deal of it, but why you?"

"Oh, come on, Jack. I've seen you tease that poor girl a few times. You put her through hell when you were talking about her dental work and the banana. And she still talks about that time when you two were riding home from school and you took off on your bike and made her think you were leaving her."

"Yeah, that was pretty funny."

"Not to her, Jack. She worshiped the ground you walked on and she thought she was never going to make it home when you took off."

"Yeah, maybe it was a little mean of me."

"Ya think?"

That was the problem. I didn't think. At the time, close to ten years ago now, I'd thought it was the funniest thing in the world to take off on my big bike when I was supposed to be bringing her home. There I was, feeling proud of myself, waiting around the next corner where she couldn't see me for her to catch up. After a few minutes, I backtracked to find her crying, her little bike between her legs. The training wheels had just come off the week before, and I was riding off, five or ten times as fast as she could go. She was grateful that I came back for her and the crying was reduced to sniffling. Thinking it was her fault, she did her best to go faster. As far as I knew, she'd never told anyone about it before. I'd all but forgotten the incident.

I got a glass from the cupboard and filled it with crushed ice and water from the refrigerator door.