Page 99 of Everything's Better With You
“I couldn’t stand it, you know? Joe thinking this was all his fault. You let him believe this was all him, and that wasn’t fair. So I told him. Be pissed at me if you want, but it’s out there. Don’t ask me to keep shit from him ever again. Not after he’s taken such good care of you.”
Sandy pushed back from the table as the server brought their food. She set it down in front of them trying to keep a smile on her face while they watched Sandy walk out the door.
“I’ll go,” Agnes said.
“No. This is my doing. I’ll handle it.”
Leslie stood and walked out the door of the restaurant, noticing a few folks looking at him. Well, so be it.
“Hey,” he said as he reached the Jeep. He leaned his elbows on Sandy’s window and sighed.
Sandy sat back against the seat and stared out the windshield.
“You can be mad all you want, but he cares about you. He took care of you. It’s not right keeping him in the dark, Leslie. You wanted to be with him for so long, and I’ve stood by you even when I didn’t agree, but this—”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Sandy wiped at his eye and looked at his hands resting in his lap.
“You’re right, and you were right to tell him. I’m not mad.”
Sandy nodded. “You need to tell him everything. Let him make up his mind.”
“You’re right.”
Sandy turned to him and frowned. “Why aren’t you mad?”
“Because. I’m mad at myself. I’ve taken you for granted, Sandy, and I apologize for that.”
“No. You haven’t, but this thing with Joe…you were so happy, and I didn’t want to see you fuck it up.”
“You’re right. I fucked up. I should have told him.”
“Man, stop agreeing with me. You’re freaking me out.”
Leslie laughed and it finally got Sandy to smile.
“It’s not like I’ve ever been in love, you know, but I remember what it looked like with Mom and Dad.”
Leslie squeezed his shoulder. “Yeah. They were in love. I wish you could have seen them before, you know?”
Sandy finally looked at him. “You’re nothing like he was. You’re not going tobehim. I don’t need medical tests to tell me that.”
Leslie blew out a shaky breath. “How? How can you have so much faith in me when I don’t have it in myself?”
Sandy turned to face him. “Because you raised us. You never raised your voice unless we deserved it. You were fair and tough, and you let us know you hated our actions but you loved us. We could never tell with Dad.”
“He loved you the best he was capable of. Anything I did for you and Randy I learned from his example.”
“What did you learn?” Randy asked as he and Agnes approached the car with to-go containers in hand.
“That my brothers are pretty damned smart. Now, let’s get back to Ayre Valley. I have work to do.”
They got back to Greenvale in time for football practice and Leslie let his brothers take the lead. When it was over, he walked over to Higdon and worked up the courage to go inside and face the music, like the moody stuff he heard coming from inside the common room. It seemed empty until he stuck his head in the doors.
Joe was alone, in front of the mirrors, dressed in snug black pants and no shirt. He moved in long lines, reaching at a diagonal and lifting the opposite leg and then he’d switch directions, making his way across the floor in a fluid movement. Joe’s long limbs seemed to grow impossibly longer as he stretched them out as far as they could go and still be attached to his body. His feet were bare and his hair was loose and wavy, falling in his face.
Leslie stepped into the room and watched Joe move as if he wereliquid, or a flower bending on its stem with the breeze or the weight of a bumble bee. He did a series of turns and then a leap that sent him rolling on the floor. He rose slowly, a little unsteady on his feet, and his facial expression was so full of passion, of longing and…sadness. He reached out with his hands, the muscles on his arms standing out, his fingers spread wide, articulating each bone with each grasp. He swung his leg in an arc and his toe hit the floor, leading into a lunge. His arms wheeled over and over until he brushed the floor with his fingertips and then he arched back, bending in half. He held that pose until the music ended and then he stood upright, his chest heaving as he stood in front of the mirror, glaring at Leslie.
