Page 129 of A Lesson for Laurel

“It’s fine,” she said. “You were there for me and I’m going to be here for you. Tell me more about what happened.”

She listened while he told her about the open door and going into the house. “You’re pissed,” he said.

“You’re damn right I’m pissed. If you called me I would have come home and gotten my gun.”

“You’ve got a gun?” he asked. “Why didn’t I know that?”

She shrugged. She didn’t tell too many of the men she dated. They tended to make comments on it. She got sick of justifying the things she did to people.

“It’s not a big deal. It’s in a safe under the bed.”

“And you think I would have let you go there on your own with a gun?” he asked. “Are you smoking crack? It’s one thing for you to fix a dishwasher but another to put yourself in danger.”

“Do you have a gun permit?” she asked with her hands on her hips.

“No.”

“Then you wouldn’t have gotten my gun to go over. But that’s not the point. You’re the one that put yourself in harm’s way!”

“Damn, we are going to fight, aren’t we?” he asked.

She started to pace around the living room. “I didn’t want to, but I’m getting worked up.” She took a deep breath, put her hand in front of her face and dragged it down the center of the air to do it again. “Okay, I’m better. Keep talking.”

“My parents have always chosen drugs over me. I haven’t given two shits for years. But then I stood there and couldn’t decide what I wanted Abe to do. I almost wished there was a warrant out for his arrest and it’d be taken out of my hand.”

“I can understand that. Sometimes it’s easier to not deal with things.”

“Never for you,” he said. “You tackle things head-on. Just like you did with Philip. I didn’t think you should have called him and yet you handled it well.”

She’d gotten a call yesterday morning from Philip’s father saying the lawsuit was going to be dropped and then he apologized to her. She’d been stunned. Philip’s father said that he was sorry that his son treated her so poorly and that his wife felt the same, then he wished her well and said there would be no more problems from his family and she’d get something official in the mail in a few days.

“But I called you right away. I needed you by my side,” she said.

“You did and I did the same today.”

“Tell me what you’re struggling with,” she said, pulling him to the couch to sit.

“Giving him a chance. He told me my mother died two years ago as a matter of fact as if saying my shirt is blue.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“I don’t even know how she died. Not that it matters.”

“Of course it matters,” she said. “It was still your mother.”

“Do you think of yours?”

Her head went back and forth. “Sometimes. When I was planning my wedding I thought of her a few times and then told myself she wasn’t worth it. I had my Aunt Helen. You have your Aunt Carrie.”

“I do,” he said. “I need to remember that.”

“Do you feel guilty that you let him get arrested?”

“Not that long ago I wouldn’t have,” he said.

“Then why now?”

“I didn’t want you to think poorly of me.”

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