Page 79 of The Good Guy on My Porch

A hand shoved me into the room and the door shut behind me. I spun to see Mary clicking the lock. “We just want to talk, Dilly. Come in and have a seat.”

This wasn’t good. “I’m still on the clock,” I said. “I need to get back to work.”

“We cleared this with your boss,” Norma Jane said. “An emergency session of the book club. Come in and sit down.”

I didn’t want to sit down. I wanted to get away as fast as I could, but I knew that running away in a small town was never really an option. So, I found a seat, between Betty and Norma Jane, and I folded my hands in my lap. “Is this about the new book? I warned you some of the scenes are graphic, but—”

“This is about your mother, dear,” Mary said, moving to stand in the center of the circle. I glanced at Carrie and she gave me a small, confused smile.

“Did something happen?” I asked. Mom had looked so frail and my heart hiccupped with worry.

“No,” Mary said. “She’s the same as she’s been. Nothing new has happened.”

“Your mother’s sick,” Betty said. “We all know she’s sick, but she’s using her illness to manipulate you, and it’s not right.”

“Betty,” Norma Jane said. “We said we were going to approach this gently.”

Betty snorted. “What’s the sense in that? The girl can’t keep living this way, and she already knows there’s a problem. Why beat around the bush?”

“Wait,” Carrie said. “I thought this was a meeting about getting Dilly and Oscar back together. What’s wrong with your mom, Dilly?”

My heart had frozen in my chest. It was all going to come out now and Carrie would never forgive me. “She’s sick,” I said, the words rough and sharp on the way out. “She’s anxious about her safety and my safety. She’s…She’s weak because she won’t eat the food I bring her. She’s worried that someone might have poisoned it. She won’t leave the house because she’s afraid of what will happen to her. I have to call her six times a day, so she knows I haven’t died in some sort of freak accident. I can’t leave Catalpa Creek, because she needs to know I’m here and safe.” I hadn’t meant to say so much, but once I’d started talking, I couldn’t hold the words back. It was like they needed to get out of me, but I didn’t feel any better once they were out there.

Carrie’s expression changed from confusion to worry and…Hurt. “How long has she been sick?”

“She’s only gotten this bad in the past year or so.”

“How long?” Carrie asked. “How long have you been taking care of her?”

I couldn’t answer. I didn’t want to tell her, didn’t want our friendship to end.

“Dilly’s mother locked her in her room for three days when she was fourteen,” Aunt Melly said. “She wanted to keep Dilly safe. As soon as Dilly could get away, she moved in with me. Her mother has been getting progressively worse since then.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Carrie asked.

“Your sister was killed around the same time,” I said. “You didn’t want to hear about my problems. You didn’t need to be worrying about me.”

She pinched her lips tight. “Okay. But what about after that? What about all the years after that when you didn’t even mention your mother? All the years when you lied to me and said she was doing great and was passionate about her work. Has she even been working?”

“You didn’t want to hear about my problems. I had it under control and I—”

“You’re my best friend,” she said, her eyes glassy. “Why would you lie to me about this? Why wouldn’t you tell me? I told you if I had a hang nail that had been bothering me. Why would you keep this from me?”

“I—”

She waved her hands. “You know what? I don’t want to hear your excuses. I feel like I don’t even know you. What else have you lied to me about?”

I bit my lip, torn between the desire to lie again and the awareness that I had to be honest with her or she’d never speak to me again. “Some of the guys I told you I dated…They didn’t exist. Sometimes, when I told you I’d been out late partying, I’d actually been up all night with Mom. It was small stuff, nothing you—”

“Small stuff?” she said, the tears spilling out of her eyes and down her cheeks. “Small stuff?” She shook her head. “Who are you, Dilly?”

“I’m the same person, except now you know about my stupid baggage and all the depressing drama.”

She placed a hand over her mouth and another over her belly, the tears streaming down her cheeks. She pulled her hand from her mouth to speak. “I can’t…I’m sorry. I’ve got to go.”

She ran from the room, pausing only to unlock the door and let herself out. I stood to go after her, my eyes stinging, my throat tight. “I’ll go,” Lance said. “You need to stay here.” He had every reason to be angry with me, to hate me, but there was only sympathy in his eyes.

I watched him go after my best friend and I sank back onto my chair. I swallowed hard and glared at the women in the room. “Why would you do this to me?”

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