Page 100 of More Than Pen Pals

“Yeah, why?”

“Will you call and ask her to check on Leslie?”

“Of course.” He stands. “Be back in a sec.”

I can hear his voice from his bedroom as he talks to Wendy, but I can’t make out the words. While I wait for him, I take deep breaths to calm down.

He comes back to the couch, props his feet on the coffee table, and says, “Tell Uncle Randy everything.”

I relay the conversation to him. When I finish, I say, “I can’t believe she thinks I’m ashamed of her.” The thought makes my chest hurt.

“Here’s the thing,” my brother says, “I know you’re not ashamed of her, and you know you’re not ashamed of her, but how is she supposed to know that? You think you know each other well because of the pen pal thing, but you really don’t. She hasn’t experienced you as an adult, and she has no clue what Mom’s like.”

I nod.

He continues, “She also doesn’t understand how much you hate letting people down. Should you have called and canceled with Melissa after last night?” He shrugs. “I would’ve in your position, but I’m not you. Sadly, I don’t care as much about letting my friends down as you do. Not that I have any friends anymore … except you.”

“I get what you’re saying, but how is any of that supposed to help me? I don’t think telling her those things is going to do any good. Why should she believe me?”

“You’ve already helped yourself by having me call Wendy.” He holds up one finger. “One, because Wendy knows what kind of man you are.” He adds a finger. “And two, because the first thing you did after leaving the bar was to get a friend to check on her. That’ll mean a lot.”

“Okay. Should I call her?” I’m dying to explain, even if she doesn’t want to hear what I have to say.

“Maybe later. Let her calm down first. Hopefully Wendy is helping with that. The other thing you can do to help this situation is to tell Mom about Leslie as soon as possible.”

I hate how much I’m afraid of Mom’s response, but I know what my brother says is true. I have to tell her, but there’s one problem. “She’s out of town until Saturday. I can’t tell her on the phone—especially not when she’s with Aunt Joan.” Our aunt is scarier than Mom.

“You’re right, but tell her as soon as she gets home. I don’t envy you that conversation. Now, what are you going to do about Melissa?”

“I have to cancel now. Not only because of what happened with Leslie tonight but also because I’m going to tell Mom the truth, so there’s no reason to keep up the charade. Which means Melissa will also have to tell her mom the truth.”

“She can tell her mom whatever she wants—whether or not it’s the truth.” He shakes his head. “That’s not up to you.”

“You think our mom won’t tell her mom?”

“You’re right. She’ll have to confess, too.”

“How did I mess this up so badly?”

“Because you’re human. That’s what we do.”

We sit in silence for several minutes while I try not to think about how much it pains me that I hurt Leslie.

I finally say, “You didn’t call Wendy ‘Glinda’ tonight. What’s up with that?”

“Nothing,” he says, perhaps too quickly.

A corner of my mouth quirks up. “How long did she stay after we left last night?”

“I don’t know.” He folds his arms over his chest. “A while.”

I raise my eyebrows at him. “Oh, yeah?”

He narrows his eyes at me. “Leave it alone. I’m still getting over Colleen, remember?”

“The breakup didn’t keep you from being interested in Melissa.”

Randall sighs. “That was the rebound talking. Not that I don’t like Melissa—I do, and not only because she’s easy on the corneas. But I’m not ready to date again.”

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