Mom had been at the strip mall and saw me throw up when I learned about it. Recognition started to come over her face.
“You act like I’m some kind of unfeeling monster,” I powered on. “I didn’t take the perceived betrayal of my two best friends lightly. I was devastated to find them naked in my bed and a used condom in the bathroom.
“What did you do when you learned what happened? You told me I had to apologize, or I was grounded. I would have thought you, of all people, would know what something like that felt like.”
Aw, shit. Dad gave me a hard look. I knew I’d gone too far. Poor Bev Mass hadn’t come to our home to be a part of something like this. My mom sat there for a moment in stunned silence. She looked at me and then surprised me.
“I’m sorry. I admit, I never thought about it like that. At the time, I was so wrapped up in my own problems, I didn’t see how you must have felt. To me, it was obvious that Alan and Tami would never do something like that. I just assumed you were being stubborn. Yes, I remember how you reacted when Megan told you. I’d always intended to talk to you about what was going on.
“David, I’ve never thought more of Tami than you. I can see how you might think that, but you’re my baby boy. Sometimes I forget that you’re just that, a ‘stupid boy’ and not a man. I don’t mean that to sound the way it came out. You act the adult so much that I forget that you’re just figuring all this stuff out. I don’t always remember that things that seem obvious to me sometimes do so only because of my experience that you don’t have yet.
“I want you to know that even though you decided not to tell me sooner, I’m proud of how you worked within the system to get this resolved. Bev, thank you for helping him,” Mom said.
“I think I pissed him off at times, but he was patient and pushed when it was needed. The arrest would have never happened if it weren’t for David. He’s responsible for getting a monster off the streets,” Bev said.
“Are we good?” I asked my mom.
“We’re good,” she said.
Dad looked like he’d gone ten rounds. He just stared at us and didn’t seem to know what to say. Mom smiled at him, and he chuckled. The poor man should never try to get between Mom and me when we went at it like that.
I felt like the barrier that had been built over the last several months had finally been breached. I felt like Mom and I could move on from this and get back to where we had been. Now all I had to do was tell Alan and Tami. I wondered how bad that would be.
◊◊◊
Tonight was date night with Halle. She’d decided we needed to go to State where they were having a movie festival. They were showing a Japanese movie from 1954,
Unfortunately, we were recognized in the lobby after the movie and had to sign autographs. I watched how Halle handled it. She’d lived with her mom all her life and had watched Rita being approached and how she dealt with fans. I was gracious and spent fifteen minutes doing it. Everyone wanted to know about
I’d done five interviews during the week. The most recent one was on our big country station. They planned to have a live remote at Washington because Eve would be playing a free concert. I just hoped people showed up.
◊◊◊ Saturday March 12
The plan for the day was I would arrive at Washington around noon, and the events would start at one. They planned to have different attractions and activities going on throughout the afternoon. Eve would play for about thirty minutes around two, and the baseball game would start at three.
Coach Diamond had called my dad yesterday and said they expected that maybe a thousand people would show up. Kendal and Megan agreed to help me sign pictures. Frank had had a canvas
Fritz drove us in the SUV and planned to look menacing all day. When we arrived, we found they had set up a stage right behind center field. Washington had a wide-open area behind the baseball field that they used for football practice. Behind right field was a food and beverage tent, and behind left field was the petting zoo and games for children. They had a little carnival-like thing going on.
Our area was beside the stage, and I was happy to see our decorated school bus was next to us. Sun, Brit, and several volunteers were there. I had several duffle bags full of extra clothes that I gave as a donation to kick things off. Mr. Orange was all smiles when he arrived with brochures and some of his staff to help.
