I gasped. Uncle Mike almost never swore, at least not in front of me. It was like hearing Pastor Nash say bad words in church to hear Uncle Mike talk like that right there in the kitchen that had been at the heart of our home for most of my life.
Aunt Ruby nodded, her shoulders slumped. "He was a horrible, horrible man."
Then they both fell silent, sipping coffee, and I shot a bewildered glance at Jack.
"But… Why did Lorraine marry him, if he was that awful? And you told mehelefther, not the other way around. I don't understand."
"Not at first," Aunt Ruby whispered. Then she cleared her throat and began again in a stronger voice. "He wasn't bad at first. He was handsome and charming. Slick, maybe, in hindsight. He came to town at the end of '69. Never really told us much about his past or where he'd come from, but most people don't in Dead End. "
And we didn't pry. That was one of the best things about our small town.
I was seeing how it could also be a problem.
Jack put his mug down. "How did he meet Lorraine?"
"Oh, the same as everybody. He got a job at the hardware store and started going to Beau's for lunch. Lorraine was pretty as a picture back then," Aunt Ruby said, smiling a little. "Everybody wanted to date her."
Uncle Mike put an arm around her shoulders and smiled. "Not everybody."
Aunt Ruby blushed. "Well, no, not everybody, silly man."
Uncle Mike glanced at me and nodded. "We'd just gotten married. I was still going to college for my engineering degree and worked for the tractor supply almost full-time on top of that."
"And I worked part time wherever I could and tried to turn this old house into a home," Aunt Ruby said.
"You did an amazing job there, ma'am," Jack said gently.
She gave him a distracted smile. "Thank you. We… we liked to invite people over for dinner. Just simple things. Barbecue. Potluck. We were scraping every penny back then. Lorraine and Earl came over a lot."
I thought about the scene at the festival. "And Eleanor?"
Uncle Mike shook his head. "No, she was still a kid then."
"She was sixteen or seventeen when Earl… left," Aunt Ruby said. "She worked at the diner after school a few afternoons a week. That's how she knew Lorraine and why she…"
"Why she what?" I realized my fingers were drumming on the table and put my hands in my lap. "Will you please tell me whatever is making you both so upset? What made Eleanor faint at the festival, for Pete's sake?"
Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby exchanged a look. I caught him almost imperceptibly shaking his head, but before I could call him out on it or start yelling at both of them, Uncle Mike fixed his gaze on Jack. "We have things to discuss before we decide what we can share," he said. "And this is really Lorraine's story. I know she talked to you last week."
Jack nodded slowly. "She did, and she said I was free to talk to you about it, but she didn't say why."
"I can't believe this," I blurted out. "You won’t tell me what's happening? Whyour friend isunder arrest? You know something about it and won't tell me?"
Uncle Mike paused, but then shook his head. "We can't until we talk to Lorraine. And Eleanor. Please give us just a bit of patience, honey."
Aunt Ruby finally spoke up. "Oh. And dinner with Shelley's uncle and his family is postponed until Sunday evening. I texted them. We… we just aren't up for it."
I sat there, hurt battling anger and frustration in a roil in my stomach, and then shrugged and stood. "Fine. I'm going home. I have to open the shop tomorrow. Maybe Eleanor or, heck, some total stranger will tell me what's going on since my family won't. Give Shelley a kiss for me."
Uncle Mike stood too. "Now, Tess…"
I waited, but nothing came after my name. Aunt Ruby just huddled in her chair, hands cupped around her mug, not saying anything or even looking at me.
"Fine," I repeated. "Jack, are you coming with me? Or do you want to stay here and have a secret talk about Lorraine and Earl, since obviously you also know more about this than I do?"
I knew I sounded childish, and I hated it, but my family had never kept secrets from me before. I could feel tears burning behind my eyelids, and I wanted to escape before anybody saw me cry.
Especially when they wouldn't tell me anything, anyway.
