Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Sam reached for my hand and squeezed tight, which instantly told me everything I needed to know. In that moment his concern was for me, no one else. He needed me to stay where I was and take a beat. Things were not as they seemed.
“Hi, Robert,” Sam said gently, “good to meet you.”
“And you, sir,” he said, his breath catching.
Sam then turned to Linda. “He’s not my son.”
“Well, I suspect a DNA test will sort that rather quickly,” she rushed out.
“No. It won’t,” he assured her. “And I won’t be taking one.”
“You can’t just—there was that party, and a month later––”
“This was––” He went quiet, like he did when he was thinking. “––what, 1984, right? That summer after we gradated?”
“Yes, I––”
“There was a big Fourth of July party at Steve Everhart’s house, and you and a lot of other people went.”
She was taken aback, it was all over her face, and she traded glances with her son before looking back at Sam. “Yes, I…I was there with, like, six other girls, and you and I––”
“Here’s the thing, Linda,” he said, letting go of my hand and leaning forward to look at her. “Mario Cordello. You remember him?” She nodded. “Well, he was one of my best friends from high school. We played football together, as you know, since you were a cheerleader.”
“What does––”
“He was crazy about you, and you knew that.”
She nodded. “I did. Yes.”
“Well, I knew my buddy was carrying a big torch, so there was no way, even though you never gave him the time of day, that I was going near you.”
“But at the party––”
“You have to understand something. The only reason I know about this particular party was that I got a letter from Mario and several other people who I stayed in contact with, telling me all about it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“See, I wasn’t home that summer. First, I was at boot camp, and then I was deployed. I don’t know if you remember, but right after I graduated, I went into the Marine Corps.”
“No, I—you did?”
He nodded. “I was overseas that summer.”
“No, you were there. I remember.”
“I was not,” he assured her. “I have the paperwork to prove where I was, but even better, there are letters my mother has, from me.”
Linda looked stunned.
“But anyway, about the party, in his letter, Mario said that you got trashed. He said he found you in one of the upstairs bedrooms with Dennis Oakley. Do you remember him?”
“Yes, I—but I would have never done anything with Dennis or––”
“Mario wrote that Janine Summers, the valedictorian of our class, came to get him because she saw Dennis take you into a room and you looked out of it. So the two of them went upstairs, Mario got Dennis off you, picked you up and carried you downstairs. The whole time Dennis was right there beside him, yapping, telling him that you had already––” He went silent a moment, choosing his words. “––been with Steve, so it was his turn.”
She gasped.
“At which point Mario told me he put you down on the couch, turned, and hit Dennis so hard that he knocked his ass out.”
“Holy shit,” I said.
“I didn’t believe him,” Sam said flatly, turning to me, shaking his head. “I mean, he’s never been a big guy, not a lot of power there, so I figured he was talkin’ out of his ass, but then I got a letter from Janine, and, like, three others, and they all corroborated that it was a helluva punch,” Sam stated, smiling before turning back to Linda. “But yeah, so Mario put you in his car, with Janine and Debbie Liddell, you remember her? Our class president?”
“Of course I remember Debbie.”
“Yeah, so the three of them took you home, and from what Janine said, they stopped, like, three times on the way to your house so you could barf, and once they got there, they took you to the front door.”
She was sitting on my couch looking utterly stunned.
“Janine spoke to your father and your brother… I wanna say, Billy?”
“Yes. Billy, well, Bill now.”
“Yeah, so she told them everything, Mario and Debbie stayed with Janine the whole time, and when it was his time to speak, Mario was honest when he said that he didn’t know what Steve did or didn’t do.”
She nodded.
“I don’t know why your father didn’t tell you any of this.”
Her sigh was long. “I think I might. Steve’s family was rich, as you recall.”
“Yep.”
“My father, he—he came into a lot of money that summer.”
It all sounded horrible, and I felt terrible for Linda and her son.
“Can you ask your dad about it now?”
“No. He passed nine years ago.”
“Your mother?”
“It wasn’t…she wouldn’t have known. He did everything with the finances. She had no idea about anything. When he passed, Bill took over. She lives with him and his family now.”