The rotation order meansEdenshould be posted today, however, this story was more at a cliffhanger,So.....
There was a knock on the door and Hoot Lawden, upon answering it, was shocked—and not in that good way—to see his wife.
“Where is she?”
“Who?”
“Her.”
Hoot stared blankly at his not quite ex-wife.
“Move,” Adele commanded, and pushed him aside, followed by Fenn.
“Where you at?” Adele barked, going through the living room, into the dining room, down the hall.
“What—?” another woman began, coming out of the kitchen. She stopped in her tracks at the approach of Adele who said, readjusting her purse strap:
“Bitch, we need to talk.”
This woman, whose name she did not know, opened her mouth, but Adele advanced toward her.
“You took my husband, you took my name, you hid his baby and now,” Adele said, “My father!”
Before anyone saw it, she had the woman by the collar and Hoot was shouting: “Let Vanessa go!”
“Vanessa?” Adele said, dragging her into the dining room. “Bitch, your name is Vanessa?”
Vanessa got free of Adele and shouted, running around the table as Fenn moved out of his sister’s way and let her seize the woman again by the collar.
Hoot moved in front of Vanessa shouting, “Calm down, Addy!”
But Adele popped him in the mouth, moved past him, and caught Vanessa, headlocking her over the table.
“How do you know him, Vanessa? How you know him? How do you know Leroy?
“Bitch, tell me how do you know Leroy Houghton?”
“Let me go!” Vanessa screamed.
Adele released her, breathing hard.
Vanessa rubbed her throat and said, “He’s my father.”
“What?” said Fenn.
“He’s my father.”
“Look, that ain’t possible,” Adele said. “Because see, he’s my daddy.”
“In all fairness,” Fenn said, “he could be half the county’s daddy.”
Vanessa massaged her throat, and shaking her head she told them:
“All I know is Leroy had a wife, and he had my mother. They never got married.”
“Oh, hell no,” Adele said getting ready to launch on her again.
She hid behind Hoot who said, “You didn’t know?” to her.
“Did you know?” Vanessa said. “How was I supposed to know your wife’s last name before she married you? And by the way you married me first.”
“You son of bitch,” Adele said, shaking her head at him. Then she looked around him, eyes burning on Vanessa.
“This bitch,” she began. “This… bitch. This is… This bitch...”
Fenn finished, succinctly, “This bitch is our sister.”
“Goddamn!
“Goddamn, goddamn, goddamn, goddamn, goddamn.
“Born in a hotel-died-in-a-hotel-goddamn…”
“How many ways,” Todd said, “do you think you can say goddamn?”
“Goddamned motherfucking, blue-red shit fucked goddamned if I know,” Fenn said.
He folded his legs under him and murmured, “Damn!”
“Baby, how bout I get you a Blizzard?”
“You really think a Blizzard will make me feel… Well, I don’t feel bad. I mean, I feel shocked. Not bad. But my point is: you think a Blizzard will unshock me?”
“Since when has having me at you beck and call not soothed you and made you feel better?”
Fenn looked at him.
“In that case get that Georgia Mudslide thing with all the brownie bits in it.”
Todd got up and was pulling on jeans and reaching for his wallet.
“I’ll be back in about twenty,” he said. “I’m gonna stop and get a movie.”
“We should stop paying Blockbuster,” Fenn reflected. “I’m gonna look into Netflix tomorrow. I like the idea of people mailing you shit.”
Todd turned out of the Dairy Queen, and he was headed up Birmingham when he saw a car he thought he knew.
“Paul,” he murmured.
He thought he’d chase him and Kirk a little bit. Honk at them, make a joke. So he followed Paul to where he turned off Armory, and then parked in front of the apartment building. But it wasn’t the apartments Kirk had talked about. These were older. Maybe Kirk didn’t know directions?
Then, just as Todd was about to give up thinking about this, and thought about how he wanted his Blizzard and it was getting late and he’d told Fenn he would be back, the front door of the apartment building opened, and in shorts and a large tee shirt that he had never seen him wearing, came Brian Babcock.
Paul stepped out of the car. The two men looked at each other and then, savagely, Paul caught Brian’s face and they kissed each other before Brian ushered him inside.
Inside the Land Rover Todd murmured:
“Goddamn.”
“Kenny, get over here!”Layla shouted.
Layla had summoned them all to the Hot Pocket on Demming Road. Brendan Miller sat awkwardly across from her, and Milo sat between him and Dena, who was looking away, out the window, trying to be as far from Brendan as possible. Will sat beside Layla and she swung out and said, “Sit by me, Kenny.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kenny said. “I gotta go.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea either,” Dena agreed.
“You know what I think?” Layla said. “I think you should both shut the fuck up.
“Now listen, we can’t go on like this. A few months ago at Dena’s party we were all together, all united. We were all there for her. And I assume for each other.”
“As I recall,” Kenny said, “that party didn’t turn out so well.”
“No,” Layla said. “But that was how we knew we were there for each other, and what happened didn’t have anything to do with us.
“Now look, I’ve been so angry, and so hurt and just plain seeing red. And pretty soon a new school year starts up, and we’re going to need each other again. I don’t want us all hating each other anymore. Or ever again.”
“So you want us to call a truce?” Dena said.
“Dena, I want us to all be friends.”
“He—” Dena said, pointing at Kenny, “started up something with Brendan while we were together. He and Brendan had been with each other long before this son of a bitch ever touched me.”
Brendan didn’t say anything. He had been looking small and ashamed, and he looked more so now.
“That’s not right, Dena,” Layla told her.
“How isn’t it?”
“You hurt me. You lied to me, and you know it.”
“I know that.”
“And Brendan… is our friend.” Layla shook her head. “He’s already torn himself down. You’ve already kicked him. You can’t keep on kicking him. I’m sorry, you can’t.”
“Layla’s right,” Milo said in a small voice.
“Is anybody on my side?” Dena said. “Does anybody think I have a right to… hate the both of them. Why am I even here?”
Dena stood up.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Milo, could you please move. I need to leave.”
“I’m on your side,” Brendan said, lifting his head and turning to her.
“I understand, Deenie.”
“Don’t ever call me that.”
“Dena,” Brendan modified.
“But I was wrong all the way around. I… did Kenny wrong. Real wrong. And, because I couldn’t accept what I was, or… how I felt, I did you wrong. I used you to turn me into something you couldn’t. I… How do you say sorry for that?”
“You don’t Brendan. You can’t.”
“No,” Brendan said. “You can’t. But… I only know how I’ve felt for the last few months. For… my whole life. Scared. Small. I don’t… hate anyone. I’ve never had to, or had to forgive anyone. But I think it has to feel awful. It must feel like shit. And, if I’m doing that to you, I want to… I want us to get past that Dena. And… if you’re doing it to yourself, if your holding onto all that bitterness cause you think I won’t hate myself unless you hate me too, then you don’t have to. “
He turned to Kenny.
“Either of you.
“I don’t expect the both of you to get this. I am what I am. But you both mean… so much to me. I love you both, and I hate that you hate me. I… That’s the worst. You don’t know how sorry I—”
Brendan stopped, and he swallowed. He didn’t talk for a long time. His head was down, and he blinked. Then he murmured, “I am so sorry.”
And now friends, in the following chapters, over the next week or so, we will be moving into the final part of our tale:The houses in rossford
