Chapter 24

Friday, June 4, 2010

Julie and Jake followed Leanne into the kitchen where she started preparing dinner. It was a casserole and Jake volunteered to chop vegetables.

“How are you going to tell Kara and Brian about the divorce?”

“I’ll take them aside and explain what’s happening. I’m pretty sure they’re not going to be traumatized by the prospect of their parent’s break-up. Look how well Julie’s handling it.”

“It’s the best news in years. It’s like how I used to feel on the last day of school when I was little. All the drudgery was over, and I was looking forward to three months of freedom. Now I’m free from being scared of what Dad will do next.”

“Why are you free of Dad?”

Julie and Leanne looked up surprised. Kara was standing in the doorway.

Leanne looked over at Jake, but he kept his attention focused on his chopping.

“Sit, girl. There’s news.”

Kara sat at the table next to Julie.

“Tell me.”

“I’ve decided to divorce your father.”

“Does he know?”

“Yes.”

“He’s going to come home and hammer on all of us.”

“No, dear. He’s already moved out and he won’t be back. Not ever.”

“So we really are free?”

“Yes, dear.”

“Can I go to Columbia now?”

“If you can work out the details.”

“But how will you support yourself? And Brian and Julie?”

“That’s taken care of.”

“Where will we be living?”

Leanne froze.

He will give you the house free and clear.

“We’ll live here in our home.”

Kara sat down and stared off into space. Her mind was in turmoil. Jake relayed her thoughts and emotions to Leanne who started and then looked down at her feet.

There was relief as well as anger and regret for what she had had to give up because of her father. Kara’s eyes filled with tears but she just sat there. Jake saw that this was a discipline that she used with her father to keep her feelings out of sight. She sat there poised on the edge of grief, but something kept her from giving in to it. Leanne looked over at Jake with uncertainty.

She needs to know that she won’t be punished for giving vent to what she feels. Curse him.

Leanne looked at him, confused.

Curse your husband to Kara. Get into her face and tell her what you think of Gus.

Leanne knelt and looked into her eyes.

“He was a son of a bitch,” Leanne said. “I’ll never allow him back in this house.”

Still Kara sat with tears leaking down her face. Jake bumped her regret up a notch and that tipped her over the edge.

“Oh, Mama, I hate him,” she said and began to sob. “He chased off every boy I ever liked. He chased off Kenny. I loved Kenny, Momma, and he’s gone. He’s got a new girlfriend now.”

Leanne reached for her and held her as her sobs grew. Despair rose up within her. Jake turned back to the counter and started cutting up celery. Her cries became shrieks. Leanne held her through the great racking sobs.

It took ten minutes for her grief to run its course. She refused to lay down. Leanne finally gave her a cup of tea and Kara sat quietly at the table. Leanne looked over at Jake. By that time Jake had large mounds of celery, carrots, onion, lettuce, and zucchini.

Stop, Jake. I’m not feeding every family on the street.

Jake smiled guiltily. Sorry.

He sat at the table next to Julie.

The front door banged open and then slammed shut. Brian stomped into the kitchen a moment later.

“What’s with the huge piles of food?”

No one responded and he looked around, finally catching the mood. He noticed Jake and glared at him. Kara sighed.

“Ok, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Sit, Brian,” Leanne said.

“Just tell me what’s going on.”

“I’ve decided to divorce your father. He’s moved out and won’t be coming back.”

Brian’s eyes grew big.

“You’re serious?”

“Yes, Brian, it is done and there’s no undoing it.”

“Yahoooooo!” Brian screamed out.

He grabbed his mother around the waist and twirled her in the air. He pulled Julie up and hugged her. Even Kara got a big hug despite her reluctance.

Jake noticed that Julie had unusually strong feelings of affection for Brian so he began to reinforce them.

“When did you decide? What made you do it?” He looked over at Jake. “And what’s he doing here.”

Jake folded his hands together and put them in front of his face to hide his smile. Brian was relieved that he did not have to protect Julie from her father anymore. But that did not mean that he was going to overlook other dangers, and in his eyes, Jake was clearly a danger to his sister.

“Brian, behave civilly,” Leanne said. “Jake is Julie’s friend. I asked him to have dinner with us.”

Your brother doesn’t trust me, Jake sent to Julie. He’s worried that I will take advantage of you.

Oh, God, don’t do that to me. Then Jake smiled at her. I put my hand under the dress and find your naked bottom. I begin to rub my finger in the crack of your ass. As soon as I get to your anus you start to make that whining sound I love so much. Brian’s getting mad. He can’t see what’s happening, but he is sure that I’m touching you too familiarly for his taste. He can’t decide whether to stomp out of the room or to punch me in the face. I begin to push my finger into your anus and your hips start to twitch back and...

“Julie, are you ok?” Brian asked. “You look flushed.”

Julie sighed.

“I feel fine. It’s just hot in here. I think I’ll change into something a little cooler.”

She smiled at Jake and flounced out of the room.

Leanne watched Julie depart and frowned over at Jake.

“Is there anything else I can do to help, Mrs. DeRizzo,” Jake said with a wide smile.

“You haven’t done enough damage yet?” She nodded toward piles of vegetables.

“Maybe I can make amends.”

“Why don’t you set the kitchen table? We’ll eat in here today.”

The silverware is in the left-hand drawer here by me. The problem with a mind-reading boyfriend is that I can’t listen in on your conversations with my daughter. And I suspect that the things you were saying were designed to corrupt.

Jake began laying out silverware.

I admit that I’ve learned a few of Julie’s buttons over the last couple of weeks. But I deny that I was corrupting her. We were having an honest, above-board erotic conversation. She can be a big flirt.

The dishes and glasses are in these two cabinets here. She pointed to the cabinets. You’ve got Brian’s attention. What’s going to happen when he notices you two sniffing around one another?

Jake looked over at Leanne.

Which set of plates do you want to use?

Use the white plates and the glass salad bowls.

Jake nodded and reached for the stack of white plates.

He’s already suspicious because it’s his nature to worry about Julie, Jake sent. It’s only a matter of time until he learns the truth. In this case, I’d say that honesty is the best policy. He can’t stay mad forever.

Jake put the frosted glasses back and pulled out the set that Leanne wanted.

I’d like to get you alone for a while soon, Jake sent. Maybe tomorrow. There are some things we need to, um, talk about.

Jake heard Leanne giggle behind him as he leaned over to put the glasses on the table.

Sure. There’s nothing I’d rather do than, um, talk, too.

Jake smiled at her.

Ok. I want to do more than just talk, but there are some things I should tell you. Like how Julie and Carol are doing. There’s some real news.

What would Julie think of us going off to, um, talk?

Jake laughed.

I think that Julie has begun to understand why our relationship is so important to us. She’s not entirely above getting jealous, but I don’t think she’s feeling threatened. It’s more likely that she would get upset because she wasn’t included.

You don’t think she’ll feel enough jealousy to cause trouble? Napkins are in the last drawer on the right.

Julie knows who the women are who are important to me. And I try hard to make sure that Julie knows what it is about her that makes her so important, too.

Leanne skipped out of the way so Jake could get past her. He pulled open the drawer and saw several different napkin sets that varied by color and style. He looked back at her with his eyebrows raised.

The light blue ones with the tattered fringe. Use the dark blue napkin rings.

He rolled the napkins and put them in the rings. Leanne began to put the food on the table.

That’s the reality of having a relationship with me. Julie knows that. I was honest about that with her from the beginning. No woman who insists that I only be with her will stay around long enough for it to get serious.

He started for the table to put the napkins down.

Heads up. Hot casserole dish. There’s a trivet hanging on the wall just to your right. Would you put it under this dish?

Jake jumped to the side to make room for her to get by him. He reached for the trivet and slid it into place just in time for Leanne to put the hot dish on it. Then Jake noticed the thoughts around him.

Uh oh, he sent.

Uh oh, what?

Kara and Brian were staring at them wide-eyed. Julie was looking on from the doorway with a wide smile.

We’re busted.

“How did you do that?” Kara asked.

“Do what?” Leanne said.

“It was like you were dancing,” Kara said. “Moving around each other like that. Communicating with glances.”

“It’s like that boy has lived here for years,” Brian said. “He knew where to find everything without asking.”

Julie laughed. “I think that we were seeing a textbook example of a shared psychosis. I think they both inhabit another reality.”

“Jake, I think we make a pretty good team,” Leanne said.

There you go. Brazen it out. Admit to nothing.

“Why don’t you have a seat, Jake. What will you be drinking?”

“Milk, please. Brian, I think maybe your mother projects her thoughts or something. It’s like I just know what to do when I’m around her.”

“Now you’re just being silly,” Leanne said. “Sit everybody and eat.”

“Oh, my fucking God!” Brian said.

“Brian!” Leanne snapped.

Brian had just noticed Julie in the yellow sundress.

I’d say this is an auspicious change of topic, Leanne sent.

“She looks spectacular, doesn’t she?” Jake said, knowing that Brian’s reaction was more in the line of shock.

“You’re just a little girl!” Brian said. “Or you were a little girl. When did that happen?”

“When did what happen, Brian?” Julie asked sweetly.

“When did you grow all those woman parts?”

“I think you look very pretty,” Kara said. “Brian’s right. You’re really growing up.”

“Where did you get that dress?” Leanne asked.

“It was a present,” Julie said brightly. “From Jake.”

Leanne raised her eyebrows at him. Brian frowned.

“I was at the mall with my mom and saw the dress. It made me think of Julie, so I asked my mom for advice. She thought it would be nice and she suggested a size. Carol helped me wrap it.”

“You mean Carol wrapped it for you,” Julie said.

“Ok, I admit it. But it’s the only way the package would have looked nice. Manual dexterity is not my thing.”

“Don’t you think that’s a pretty racy dress?” Brian asked. “It seems disrespectful to me.”

“Dry up, Brian,” Kara said. “It suits her figure like it was designed for her. If you want to buy me any dresses, Jake, that’s just fine with me.”

“But she can’t go out like that,” Brian said.

“I don’t see why not,” Julie said. “What’s it to you anyway, Brian?”

“In that dress? You’ll need someone to defend your honor.”

“I take my duty to defend her honor and her safety very seriously,” Jake said.

“You’re the chief person she needs to be defended from.”

“Brian, I’m afraid there is a fundamental misunderstanding here. I am the one who needs to be protected from her.”

Brian frowned again. “I don’t know what you’re saying.”

“Brian, do you really want to go there?” Leanne asked.

“You’re on her side?”

“I know a lot more about what’s going on in her life than you do. I don’t doubt that your heart is in the right place, and I like that you want to protect your sister. But you’d have to be a lot more involved in Julie’s life to know whom and what to protect her from. When she needs to be protected from Jake, you’ll be the very first person I come to.”

“But why else would he give her a dress like that?”

“Do you mean why else besides that he has designs on her?”

“Exactly.”

“Jake, do you have designs on my daughter?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“See, he admits it,” Brian said.

“Jake, by that do you mean that you wish to undertake physical intimacies with her?” Leanne asked.

“Yes. Very much.”

“Would you refrain from these physical intimacies if they would bring harm to her?”

“On my honor.”

She turned to Brian.

“Does that satisfy you, son?”

“Not for one bloody second.”

“Do you doubt Jake’s honesty?”

“Well, no.”

“Do you think he intends to hurt her?”

“How would I know?”

“He just said that he didn’t and you’ve admitted that he’s honest.”

“Ok, maybe he doesn’t intend to hurt her, but he sure sounds like he intends to take advantage of her.”

“Brian, have you ever had sex with a girl?”

“Mom!”

“Brian!” Leanne said and brought her hand down smartly on the table. “I will not tolerate the hypocrisy of you prying into your sister’s personal life and yet refusing to discuss your own. Are you a virgin? Tell me the truth.”

“No, Mom.”

“Have you had sex with a girl? A female person not yet of adult years?”

“Yes.”

“Did you harm her in the process?”

“No! I wouldn’t do that.”

“Then tell me how you are in any way different than Jake, aside from the fact that he is honorable enough to be upfront about his intentions?”

“But she is only thirteen.”

“She is almost fourteen, not that that’s the point. Through most of human history, a girl of her age would be sought after as a wife. In this period of history, thirteen-year-olds have sex all the time without apparent harm. Do you know enough about your sister and her circumstances to know if she would come to harm were she to have sex?”

“No, I guess not.”

“It turns out that I do. I’m very involved with my daughter, and I am thoroughly aware of her circumstances. And hear this clearly, son. I know Jake well. I trust him. I hope that you will take the time to get to know him.”

Wow. I think I’m in love, Jake sent to Leanne.

Shut up, Jake.

“Well, that’s the liveliest conversation I’ve ever heard at the dinner table,” Kara said.

“It’s nice to be able to talk without worrying about being slapped down,” Julie said.

“Speak for yourself,” Brian said.

“Brian, you were bested in an honest argument,” Leanne said. “And I welcome the next round after you’ve considered what I’ve had to say and composed your counter-argument. Your viewpoint hasn’t been suppressed. You haven’t been threatened. This was the kind of vigorous discussion we had at my parent’s table all the time when I was growing up. I didn’t realize how much I miss it.”

“It makes me sad that just when we finally start to act like a family, I’m going to leave and go to school,” Kara said.

“You’ve still got almost three months before you go. I hope you’ll take advantage of the time you have left.”

“Oh, I will. Meanwhile, I have a question for Jake.”

“Oh? What can I tell you?” Jake asked.

“How long have you been sleeping with my sister?”

Jake looked at Julie but he projected his thoughts to both her and Leanne.

Do you two think Brian is ready for the truth?

I’d say the battlefield has been as well prepared as possible, Leanne sent back.

Julie nodded.

Jake turned to Kara.

“We first made love two days ago.”

“Shit,” Brian muttered.

Kara is a virgin, Jake sent to Leanne and Julie. Though I would guess that she hopes for enough freedom to have sex very soon. She’s not particular about who with at the moment.

“Kara, you should try Jake,” Julie said. “He made my first times very satisfying.”

“Julie, I’m not sure that it’s a good idea to talk about sharing your boyfriend inside the family.”

Hypocrite.

Guilty as charged, but I’m still worried that it might not be a good thing for Kara. This is going too quickly. It needs more thought.

You think too long, Julie sent her, and she’s going to screw the first halfway good-looking scumbag she meets on the street.

God help us, you may be right. But I don’t know how or even if I should intervene.

Talk to her, Leanne, Jake sent. Tell her about your concerns. I think that she’ll speak frankly with you.

But if she’s got her heart set on having a man, what am I going to say to her?

If she’s determined, what else can you do but help her find the right guy?

That’s where Jake comes in, Julie said.

She’s as lovely as you and Julie, Leanne. As I get to know her, I’m starting to think that she’s got as much character and charm as you as well. I’d reluctantly consider being her first, but only if it were necessary. I’m not the only sensitive guy out there. Maybe she already knows one.

Reluctantly, my ass, Julie sent. Besides, you’re the only mind reader out there. She would never find someone to make her first time as good.

“Kara, you and I need to have a talk after dinner,” Leanne said. “It’s time for a little mother-daughter time.”

“Leanne, if you don’t mind, Julie and I planned to go to the mall to shop a bit and then see a movie. Is that ok?”

“Do you need a ride?”

“If anyone is going that way, that would be nice. We could take a cab, too.”

“I’ll take you. Kara can come with us and she and I can stop off for some ice cream and conversation.”

“Leanne, I almost got you a dress like the one I got Julie,” Jake said from the backseat on the drive over to the mall.

“You can’t be serious. That’s way too young for me. I wouldn’t wear something like that.”

“But you’re even taller than Julie. It would show off your legs. Is there some other style that you would prefer?”

Several different styles flashed through Leanne’s head. All of them Jake thought too staid.

Kara was looking at her mother expectantly.

“So what kind of dress would look better, Mom?”

“Don’t disturb her,” Julie said. “She’s communing.”

Jake chuckled.

You keep on giving hints like that and she’ll figure out about me within three days.

You keep doing kissy face with my mom and Kara will figure out that you’re fucking Mom before we even get to the mall.

“Why are you so spacey today, Mom?”

“Yeah, Mom. Every time Jake comes over, you get like that.”

“Julie!”

I hope you know what you’re doing. If she’s as smart as you and your mom, it’s inevitable now ... Oh, shit. Look what you’ve done.

Kara was staring intently back at Jake. He watched her suspicions grow. She was nobody’s fool. If anything, she was more perceptive than Julie and Leanne. Kara glanced over at her mother and then looked back at Jake, her face growing cold.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Jake said. “You might as well just tell her now. The truth won’t do any more harm than the conclusions she’s drawing.”

“Julie, that was very foolish,” Leanne said. “If it had to be done, it could have been done a lot better than that.”

Leanne pulled the car into a parking place at the mall.

“What conclusions do you think I’m drawing?” Kara demanded. “And what aren’t you telling me?”

“I’ll tell her while you two are shopping. Forget about seeing a movie. Kara and I will go to the coffee shop by the main entrance. You two come back in one hour and we’ll all talk.”

Leanne, she’s got to keep my secret, or I’ll have to make it so that she can’t talk about it.

Would it hurt her if you did that?

No. But she’s too smart. She’ll know that I did something to her, and she won’t like it.

Leanne and Kara turned into the coffee shop, and Jake and Julie walked into the mall.

“That’s a pretty big gamble you just made for Leanne, me, you and Kara,” Jake said.

“I guess I wasn’t as sly as I thought I was. I’m sorry if it causes trouble.”

“Me, too. Meanwhile, I’d like to find something for Carol. She’s been a very good sport these last few days.”

“She’s been your slave.”

“She does seem to be very devoted.”

“Jake, when people fall in love, they often fall out of love later on. Can Carol do that or will she always feel this way about you?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I suspect the effect is long-lasting. And there is one other problem that occurs to me. Carol doesn’t form emotional attachments with other people. So that means that she will never be drawn to another man, well, except for sex. As long as I am the only guy she is fond of, she is my responsibility.”

“But the whole idea was to heal her so that she could have normal relationships with guys.”

“If it works out that way in the end, then that will be great. It might even happen that she finds a guy she really likes and asks me to tone down her affection for me. But that’s just speculation. If it doesn’t happen, she will always be focused on me, and she won’t let me change it.”

“I hope you enjoy your slave.”

“Were you and her ok after I left today?”