Page 81 of We Are All Guilty Here

“She’s not the go-after-her type.”

Jude wasn’t surprised. Cliftons liked to make a clean exit.

Tommy crossed his arms. He studied her for a moment, then said the most Tommy thing ever. “Does Billy Idol know you stole his look?”

“Does Kojak know you stole his?”

He smiled his same, long-ago half-smile. “Are you here to dance on Dad’s grave or …?”

Jude waited for theor, but he didn’t finish. “How’s Myrna taking it?”

“She doesn’t take anything these days.” Tommy scratched the stubble on his cheek. “She’s got Alzheimer’s. Late stage. Doesn’t recognize any of us. Forgot she’s supposed to eat. Can’t bathe herself. Wakes up in the middle of the night screaming about—”

Jude heard the abrupt stop in his voice. She watched Tommytake a long look at his watch to give himself an excuse to hide his grief.

“Wow, didn’t realize how early it was.” He cleared his throat before looking back up. “She’s being transferred to a home at seven thirty sharp, so just a few more hours. Dad arranged it before he died. Didn’t give us much of a choice.”

Jude took her own moment to process the information. She had braced herself for Myrna’s sharp tongue and cutting glances. To learn that her mother was effectively gone made Jude realize that she had been secretly hoping for some type of reconciliation.

She said, “You don’t seem surprised that I’m alive.”

He smiled again, a nervous affectation. “Mid nineties, two FBI agents knocked on my door. Said they were doing a deep background check as part of your potential employment.”

“What’d you tell them?”

“Did a lot of stuttering and stammering at first. Kind of shocked that they were acting like you were alive. Then I told them the truth. That I hadn’t seen you in over a decade. That you liked to party back in the day, but I couldn’t guess what you were up to lately.”

Jude guessed he’d done her a favor. “Did they talk to Dad?”

He shrugged. “It’d make sense, but he never mentioned it to me.”

Jude knew the follow-on to his answer. Tommy hadn’t mentioned it to Gerald, either. She looked at the doors Emmy had just left by. “She clearly knows.”

“Dad sat us down last year and told us.”

“And you acted surprised?”

“Don’t know if you remember, but I’m pretty good at acting.”

Jude watched the nervous smile return. She gathered that Tommy was still not one for confrontation. He’d always had a loner quality about him. Henry and Jude had been Irish twins, born fourteen months apart. They’d been each other’s shadow. There hadn’t been much room for Tommy to get what he needed.

Jude figured that was a good place to start. “One of the many things I regret is that Henry and I left you out so often. I’m sorry we excluded you. We should’ve all stuck together. You were a good brother, Tommy. It was never about you.”

“Probably a bad idea to dig into regrets right now.” He scratched at his stubble again. “Dad stopped drinking after you left. Went cold turkey. I came home from college and all the bottles were gone.”

“Did he say why?”

“Nah, but I figured it was because of Emmy.” The smile was genuine this time. “She was like a ray of sunshine. Gave them another chance—gave all of us one, to be honest. They were so good with her. Better people. I can’t explain it, but if I didn’t love her so much, I’d be jealous.”

“They were like that with Henry. At least in the beginning.”

“No, it wasn’t the same. They didn’t worship her. They adored her. Mom even took a whole year off from school just to be with her when she was a baby.”

Jude felt herself smiling, too. “Who corrected everybody’s grammar while Myrna was gone?”

They both said the answer at the same time.

“Celia.”

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