Chapter 9: Plans

Joey and Deirdre woke from Tess' knock, and then they heard her voice through the bedroom door.

"Breakfast in an hour!" she announced with a giggle.

Joey looked at his alarm clock. Ten o' clock. He turned to Deirdre who smiled.

"An hour. Any idea what to do until then?"

They joined Tess for breakfast a little over one hour later and their silly grins were a dead giveaway. Tess just smiled and told them to dig in. She had baked fresh bread rolls and had prepared scrambled eggs with strips of bacon, a hearty breakfast after the previous night. After breakfast, the three young people worked for another two hours to clear the mess in living room and basement and then Joey drove Deirdre home.

He brought her to the door and gave her a brief kiss before leaving again. Deirdre opened the door with her key and a scowling Karen confronted her.

"Do you know what time it is?" she stormed.

"Karen, please!" Maureen could be heard from within.

"It's half past one and yes, I had a wonderful evening. How nice of you to ask," Deirdre answered, put-off already.

"Where were you?"

Deirdre steeled herself as she faced down her mother's lover. "Joey and I made love until the wee hours and we slept in until ten. Then we had another go and I had to shower, of course. Breakfast at eleven, then cleaning up the mess from the party. I think that accounts for everything."

Deirdre thought Karen would have a stroke, but she was determined.

"Karen, I'm over eighteen. I'm not a lesbian like you and Mom. I know beyond doubt because last night was the best ever in my entire life."

"Y-you should have called! We were worried!" Karen maintained.

"You have Joey's phone number. You knew I was there."

"We did not allow you..."

"Karen, you're not my mother and not my father: you're my mother's girlfriend. There is no reason in the world to ask your permission for anything."

Maureen appeared, clearly worried. "Karen, please, must you ruin it?" she pleaded.

"She stays away all night, admits to fucking around, and you 'don't want to ruin it'?"

Deirdre felt red-hot anger wash over her. Her angry scream shocked both women.

"Aaargh! Leave me the fuck alone, you hear! I've had it! Get out of my life and stay out!"

"Karen, Deirdre, can you keep it down?"

"God damn it, Mom, don't you see it? It's been like that all my life! All those fucking years she's been trying to run my life; in Pittsburgh and here. This is supposed to be my home, right? How come I don't feel at home? How come I feel that I have to excuse myself for being normal?"

"Deirdre, that's just not true. I know things have not been easy for you..."

"Are you fucking kidding me? She made me a pariah! You could go to your damn office but I was sitting at home listening to her endless rants while nobody dared to visit me. She wouldn't even leave girls in peace. I was in a prison and she was the fucking warden."

Karen's face was red and she was close to blowing up. "It's that lousy fucker who's messing her up! I'm gonna show him not to mess with us! I'm gonna..."

"Shut up, Karen!" Maureen commanded sharply. "You'll do nothing, especially not touch Joey! He's a great young man, and I'm happy that he and Deirdre are so close.

"Karen, I allowed Deirdre to spend the night. I'm her mother. I called the shots. Now even I can't do that anymore because she's of age. You have no call telling her what to do and especially not whom to date. Remember our own youth? Remember your people telling you that you were sick? Remember what your father did to you, to 'set you straight'?"

Karen turned a ghastly pale.

"Now the shoe is on the other foot. We're gay but Deirdre isn't. Are you calling her sick? Will you 'set her queer' by force?"

Karen shook her head frantically. "Morry, you know I could never hurt Deirdre! Please, tell me you don't believe that!"

Maureen cast a hard look at Karen. "Then show some reason! You're hurting her already. You are driving her away from us, can't you see that? Damn it, the last weeks you were almost as bad as in ... Now, wait a minute! Karen, are you taking again?"

Karen's face changed to tomato-red but she wouldn't answer. In this moment she almost looked like a teenager caught with Daddy's Playboy.

"Oh my God! Didn't we have that talk a year ago? Karen, I'm a fucking DA and I'm investigating prescription drug trafficking. You want me to haul you in and have you sent away? Or do you want me to lose my job? Why, in God's name?"

"I was losing muscle tone," Karen said sheepishly.

Maureen's face was like stone when she answered. "Karen, I believe it's better you moved out."

"Morry, no! Baby, I love you!"

"No. If you did you wouldn't put muscle tone over me."

"I'll stop, Morry! I promise! Give me a chance here!"

"I gave you a chance after you almost got Deirdre expelled from school. I gave you a fucking chance. How long will you keep clean this time? A year, six months, or until I turn my back to you the first fucking time? When did you start again?"

"After New Year," Karen answered, her head hung. "I was feeling down and I felt like a wimp all the time. And then you danced with that black chick and I felt I was losing you."

"Damn it, Karen, you dragged me to that dance. I danced with Numi exactly twice and how often with you? Twenty dances? Anyway, who's your supplier?"

"Morry, I can't rat on people!"

"And I can't ignore my oath. I'm sworn to prosecute criminal behavior. You are free to leave this house but if you want to stay you have to give me names."

"Montalban, Rafael Montalban and his brother Enrique. They run the Pro Gym, on Frankford."

"They're taking, too?"

Karen nodded unhappily. "Heavy. They have excellent definition."

"How admirable!" Maureen snapped. "Do you just use or do you distribute? Oh Jesus, tell me you didn't give Tess of the stuff!"

"She could've used some but she wouldn't. She's a Miss Goody-two-Shoes."

"Are you absolutely nuts? Do you have an idea what will happen to you if you mess with that kid, or with Joey for that matter? Those two geniuses who scratched the paint on Joey's car, they spent two weeks in the hospital and suddenly we get evidence of their drug habits from an anonymous source. Somebody is watching over those two kids, somebody with a very short fuse." She saw Deirdre's face. "Joey probably knows nothing, but the coincidence was too strong. Our guess is, the uncle who towed the car reported the incident to the higher-ups."

"Okay, okay, I never forced it on her. I offered, she refused, I accepted."

"Don't ever let me find out you're dealing this stuff to minors!" Maureen said grimly. "Or rather, don't ever let me find out you're taking it either. Karen, we're not just fuck buddies. What we do affects the other and Deirdre. This is a responsibility. Grow up. Leave it behind before this destroys us."

"You're giving me a chance then?" Karen asked, and Maureen took a deep breath.

"Against better judgement. Karen, this is your last chance, okay? I'll try not to implicate you in the investigation but those two brothers will go down in flames. So will you if you touch that shit again. Tomorrow we'll shop for a therapist. You have to clean up your act. Don't try to be a man, Karen: I don't dig men, don't you know? I don't mind a strong woman but you still have to be a woman."

Deirdre blushed when she heard that, but she scraped her resolve together.

"Karen, I want you to be the friend again that you were last summer and fall. We got along so well but when you get all aggressive I want to lash out at you. Please, do what Mom says."

Karen looked uneasily at Maureen and Deirdre, but she nodded. "Okay, Kiddo. Sorry. I'll try my best. I don't want to lose what I have."

The altercation with Karen had a strong impact on Deirdre. Her mother might give Karen another chance but deep inside Deirdre was sick of having to defend herself for being a heterosexual girl. It was nothing she decided or even thought about. Unconsciously, Deirdre stopped inviting her friends over to their house, rather opting to spend time away herself. One afternoon after two weeks, Deirdre explained things to Joey as best as she could.

"I'm not afraid of Karen," he maintained.

"Joey, please, let's just avoid this whole drama. It's only a few more months until I graduate. Then I'll be gone and can live my live."