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“You’re wrong.”
“Yeah, well, it wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong. Just go about your schoolwork, M. Dinner should be up soon. Eat it yourself. I’m not very hungry, and it probably will hurt to chew anything for a while.”
“What about the man?”
“What about him?”
“Are you just going to forget about this?”
“I’m not about to call the police or anything, if that’s what you mean. He’s gone. I’ll deal with it in my own way.”
She returned to her bathroom and closed her door. I heard her running a bath. I left, and on the way back to my room, I heard the buzzer. I was afraid the man had returned, but when I looked through the keyhole, I saw that it was the delivery boy from the restaurant. I opened the door and took the food, but I had lost my appetite, too. I tried to eat a little, taking my time and hoping that Roxy would come out for something, but she didn’t. I was certainly not in the mood to do any homework.
Later, I heard her come out, but before I could say anything, she told me she was leaving. I imagined that she was off to see Mrs. Brittany. I didn’t know who else she would go to for anything. I watched the clock, tried to work, but couldn’t concentrate on anything. It was nearly eleven by the time she returned. As soon as I heard her come in, I charged out of my room.
“What happened? Where were you?”
She took off her jacket and flopped onto the sofa.
“I was right. She sent this goon up. I think she really believed that I would involve you if I was faced with it and knew it would please her.”
“What did you tell her? What did she do when she saw your face?”
“She was sorry about that, but she said I’d live. Mrs. Brittany is not big on sympathy, especially if she thinks you are partly to blame. She reminds me a lot of Papa.”
“But what did you tell her about her idea? I mean, involving me in . . . ?”
“I told her I would work on the idea.”
“You did?”
“Sure. I can stall her and get her off our backs for a while. Maybe after time passes, she’ll forget about it.”
I didn’t believe it for a moment. One thing Papa had taught me was never to fool yourself. “Burying your head in the sand, even for a short time, is self-defeating. Prepare yourself, and train for trouble. Face your problems and challenges head-on and defeat them,” he often preached, as if I really was in his army. I was sure it was advice his own father had given him.
But I saw that Roxy wanted me to believe that she had things under control, so I kept quiet.
“I told Mrs. Brittany you had a holiday coming up and I would use the time to work on it. I told her we were going to France. That was part of what I was doing today. I made our ticket arrangements. You’re out on Friday, and we’re off on Saturday. I’ve called Uncle Alain. He’s very excited about it.”
“Me, too,” I said.
“Good. Just put this out of your mind. It won’t happen again. I promise,” she said.
“Okay. I left food in the fridge for you,” I told her.
“Yeah, maybe I’ll nibble on something. Thanks.” She rose and then paused just before going into the kitchen. She kept her head down. “I’m sorry I said what I said before in my bedroom. I’m glad you’re here.”
Before I could respond, she went into the kitchen. I returned to my room, finally believing that I would be able to get to sleep.
In the morning, I brought her a cup of coffee before I left for school. The trauma on her face looked worse, but her lip wasn’t as bad.
“Don’t worry about this,” she said, seeing how I stared at her. “Makeup does wonders.”
“Is it really the first time something like this has happened to you, Roxy?”
“Some men are a little rougher than others, but no one has deliberately hurt me before this.”