“This here Jackie. You’re after her, ain’t ya?” To William’s horror, Larry nudged him with his elbow as though they were fellow conspirators, the best of friends. “I’ve had my eye on her since she came to town. Mom says—not that she knows anything—that this lady flyer’s been all over the world, so I figure she’s done some things. You know what I mean?” He winked at William. “Done some things that the ladies of Chandler ain’t even heard of. So now this Jackie is here in this one-horse town, and I ain’t heard nothin’ about her doin’ nothin’ with nobody, you know what I mean? So I figure she’s dyin’ for it. And I figure I’ll just help myself to what she’s got. She’s kinda old, but I figure she’ll be grateful to have a real man in her bed. She’s probably beggin’ for it after all this time and after havin’ to put up with them fancy foreign fellas. ’Course I can see that you was here first, so I’ll let you have her all you want, what with you bein’ a Montgomery and all. Hey! Maybe later you can pay me back, since I saw her first. You can give me and my dad jobs. Nothing too hard or anything, just somethin’ kinda friendly like, with maybe a bonus now and then. What’d’ya say?”
“Have you seen my shoes?”
In speechless horror, Jackie turned toward the kitchen door to see William standing there, a little-boy-lost expression on his face. She had just spent thirty minutes trying to make Terri believe that there was no man in her life, certainly not any man in Chandler, and now here was William. Asking about his shoes, no less!
She wanted to scream at him, but she knew that whatever she said would only make things worse. Within one hour after Terri saw William Montgomery in her house the town of Chandler was going to be alive with the gossip that old Jackie was having an affair with very young William.
“If it isn’t Billy Montgomery,” Terri said. “I haven’t seen you in a
ges. What have you been doing?”
Jackie braced herself. What was William going to say to that? Was he going to tell the truth? That he was spending his days trailing Jackie about, just as he’d done when he was a child?
“Jackie and I are going into business together.”
“How nice. How is your mother? And your father?”
While William was answering these questions, Jackie looked at him. Usually William was very tidy, every hair in place, his shirt tucked in just so. But now he was slightly disheveled, and there seemed to be a place on his cheek that was darkening, as though it might be a bruise. Glancing down at his hands, she saw that the knuckles on his right hand were bleeding slightly. When he saw where her eyes were going, he put his hand behind his back and kept on talking to Terri, answering her questions about his family.
“And how did you do in school?” Terri was asking.
It took Jackie a long moment to grasp the fact that it had not entered Terri’s head that William could be the man who was staying with Jackie, the man Terri had been asking about with all the gusto of an interrogator during the Spanish Inquisition.
The truth was, Terri was talking to William in that tone of voice that adults used with children. An aren’t-you-cute voice. Any minute Jackie expected to hear her ask if William had washed behind his ears.
“So you’ve been taking care of Jackie,” Terri was saying. “That’s very kind of you, especially when you have your own life to lead. A handsome young man like you must have a hundred pretty little girlfriends.”
“A few,” William said with a soft smile.
It was a smile that enraged Jackie. It was the smile a boy would give to an older woman when he was trying to be on his best behavior.
Outside, a horn began to blow insistently—Terri’s horrible son demanding that his mother leave and leave now.
“If you need any help with Jackie, let me know,” Terri was saying as she started to put on her coat. Graciously, William held it for her. “You always were a gentleman. Wasn’t he, Jackie? You remember how he was. Even as a little boy he was so polite.”
Jackie could say nothing. She didn’t want to remember that she’d known William as a little boy.
“But of course you remember,” Terri said when Jackie didn’t answer. “You were his baby-sitter, and he used to follow you everywhere. Oh, the escapades you two had! And now, Billy, how nice it is of you to help Jackie when she needs it. Well, please remember me to your parents, and maybe you can get together with my children.”
“Yes,” Jackie said in a very nasty tone. “Maybe we can arrange play dates for them. In a sandbox. Or maybe we can take them to the circus. They could ride the elephants and eat cotton candy.”
At her hateful tone, Terri looked surprised and confused. “Well, yes, maybe.”
“Jackie’s hand hurts her,” William said placidly, and his calmness made Jackie even angrier. “It puts her a bit on edge.”
“Walk me out to the car, will you?” Terri said to Jackie.
Her hands clenched at her side, Jackie walked with her friend to the car where her big son sat glowering behind the steering wheel. As they approached, he turned his head away, but not before Jackie saw a smear of dried blood leading from his nose across his cheek.
“Don’t think you can put me off,” Terri said cheerfully as they reached the car. “I mean to find out who the man in your life is.”
Jackie’s teeth were locked together. “William is not a child, you know. In case you haven’t noticed, he is a man.” She had not meant to say that.
Terri looked puzzled, as though what Jackie had said had nothing whatever to do with what was going on in the world. “Of course he’s a young man. I didn’t mean to imply that he wasn’t. Do you think I hurt his feelings by asking him about his parents? Children that age can be so sensitive.”
“William is not a child!” Her words sounded more forceful than she meant them to. Why couldn’t she be sophisticated and cool-tempered? She might as well tell Terri the truth about how she was beginning to feel about William.
“No,” Terri said calmly, “Billy is not a child, but once you’ve seen a person in diapers you tend to always see that person in diapers.” She cocked her head to one side. “What is wrong with you? I think it’s very nice of Billy to take care of you. You’ve certainly taken care of him often enough. I remember how he was always on your heels. Everyone in school used to laugh about little Billy Montgomery following you around.” She reached out and patted Jackie’s arm and gave her a sad look. “Billy must be the closest thing you’ll ever have to your own child.”