I glanced between the two of them. “Helped you how?”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “There’s a lot I need to tell you.”
“I’ll say,” I said with a sneer.
“He’ll explain everything,” said Livy, in that sickening authoritative voice of hers. “I’m exhausted from covering it up.”
“Covering what up?” I gave her a cold stare. This fresh betrayal was excruciating.
“Let’s go somewhere to talk,” said Ron. His voice sounded as if he would choke up at any second.
I held my head between my palms and squeezed as a hideous image crossed my mind. “Wait a minute. Are you herboyfriend?” I asked my brother.
Ron and Livy looked at each other; then they both answered at the same time. “Yes.”
As an angry sigh blew from my lips, I looked heavenward, muttering, “God help me.” We all sat there in silence before I said, “I don’t get it. Who is Nick?”
“I am,” said Ron. “At least while I’m in America.”
“Yeah. We have alotto talk about.” I spun around, catching sight of Leon.Leon!He and Handsome Johnny stood ten feet away, chatting among themselves. This had to have been awkward. I stepped over to him, slipping an arm through his. “Ron. I have someone I want you to meet. This is Leon Wright. Johnny’s cousin.”
Ron looked at him curiously.
“Hey, man,” Leon said, reaching out to shake Ron’s hand. “I’ve been hanging out with your cool sister all weekend. She’s told me a lot about you. Welcome home.”
Ron smiled. “Thanks, man, happy to be here. I thought I’d never make it.”
“Sounds like you guys have some catching up to do. Let me grab her address, and I’ll let you two talk.”
“No!” I said in a panic. As happy as I was to see my brother, I was not going to let Leon justleave. We had our “What’s next” to discuss. Leon had said it himself; he didn’t want Woodstock to be the end of us. Sha Na Na was stepping onstage. This was not the right time for Ronand me to “go somewhere to talk.” I squeezed Leon’s arm. “Can’t we all listen to Jimi Hendrix together?”
“Cool with you, man?” Leon asked Ron.
“Way cool with me. I thought I’d missed him.”
This new plan gave me solace, but I knew it would be short lived. We had only a couple of hours left.
“Hey, man,” Ron said to Leon. “How about I borrow her for a short talk first?” When Ron smiled, I noticed three of his teeth were chipped.
“Sure, man,” said Leon. “Take all the time you need.”
Time? There was no time. I was aching to know the details about Ron’s scars and how he’d gotten an early release from the army, and I needed to know what he meant when he said Nick was his name while in America. But not right now. I didn’t want to leave Leon. Not even for a second.
But I didn’t have the heart to tell my brother he had to wait.
“Let’s find our seats first,” I said, sounding a bit desperate. “It’s easy to get lost around here.”
“Good plan,” said Ron.
As the five of us stepped through the war zone of trash, left behind by a half million people, Livy sidled up next to me. Her voice was low, so no one else could hear. “I’m sorry I’ve acted weird. Does everything make sense now?” She raised her eyebrows with a smile, like she was proud of herself.
But my fury had reached a new high. “No. Absolutely not.”
Her shoulders curled as she sighed in frustration. “I’ve been dying to tell you, but Ron begged me not to. When he didn’t show up on Friday, I became frantic. Not for myself. Foryou. I knew how happy you’d be to see him, and I didn’t know how to handle it if he never showed up. It was all on me.”
There was sincerity in Livy’s voice. It genuinely seemed as if her concern was for me instead of herself. It still didn’t excuse her lie about being the one in the bed with Ron. Or prancing naked around Leonwhen she knew I loved him. That betrayal was a splinter I would never be able to remove.
“When Ron never showed up, I was so freaked out, man,” Livy said. “The only way I knew how to handle it was to drop acid. I had to escape the pain. I was tormented, SuSu. Ron and I planned this whole trip so you two could reunite. He wanted to be the one to tell you why he’s out of the army, and about his horrible wound.” Livy’s eyes swelled with tears. “You’ll learn the whole story when you talk to him. I’m just happy I could help him.”
