Shane didn’t disagree. “At least you don’t have to go on worrying that he was hurt somehow.”
“Or that he’s dead,” I added. It was especially good that he wasn’t dead because now, I would be able to kill him. “I have all new things to worry about. Like, how will we keep the restaurant going? It could have been a temporary problem but this message makes it clear that his absence is permanent. The Woodsmen will be at their practice facility in July and it’s already spring.” We made most of our money in the summer—we had to have that income.
“You’ll be graduating soon,” he noted, but that was hardly important now.
“I was thinking that we could take this time to try to make the repairs on the roof at Walter’s, because honestly, we hardly ever get enough business during these weeks to justify staying open,” I mentioned. “Maybe we could also train someone as the new cook.”
“Who?” he asked. “You? Are you talking about yourself, that you’d step into that job?”
“Maybe me. I don’t know,” I said. “The problem is that there’s no money for repairs and if we’re closed, there’s no hope of earningany. If we hire someone, that person will need a real salary. It’s a mess.”
“I brought something, just in case.” He moved gingerly and managed to reach into his pocket to pull out some tissues. “If we need it, I also put a different T-shirt for you in the car.”
A different one, since I had never returned the T-shirt I’d cried into before. “Thank you,” I said. I was crying again now.
The front door opened and my brother came in. He still looked shell-shocked to me, and then he looked confused when he saw me wiping my eyes. “I thought you said he wasn’t dead,” he said.
“No one’s dead,” I agreed. “I’m crying because this has all been—I’m not sure what—I don’t have any answers. I still don’t have any answers.”
“How could you? It just happened,” Shane reminded me.
“Everything has been brewing for a while, since we found out about the loans and the gambling. Right now, he’s probably sitting at a casino and enjoying himself, and here we are. Stuck.”
“But he’s not at a casino around here. He got banned from all of them for bad behavior,” my brother explained to Shane. “Molly already called them and double-checked.”
“We’re going to lose this house,” I stated. “It’s probably for the best, because it has two mortgages on it already and we won’t be able to keep up with the payments. What about Mom?” I asked Max. “Where will we take her to live?”
“Uh, just so you know, I’m here to get my stuff.”
“What?” I asked him.
“I’m moving in with Avonlea,” he explained. “Let me know when you figure out the shit with the restaurant. I guess we should sell it, something like that.”
“Great. Yes, great,” I told him. “Go live with your girlfriend. Have fun.”
He didn’t seem to care about my sarcasm and disappeared upstairs. The coward.
“He’s deserting us,” I announced. Max was just like Dad.
“Might be easier. When people don’t help, they sometimes get in the way,” Shane said.
Maybe, but at least he would have been another body, another person to distract Mom. She had been frozen in her bed since the text. I’d tried to give her water and food, like she was in prison, but she hadn’t spoken or moved.
“Do you want to be the cook?” he asked. He moved, shifting his weight.
“Does your arm hurt? Are you supposed to take pain medication? Don’t worry about me and the restaurant.”
“You don’t worry about me and my arm while you’ve got all this crud going on,” he directed.
I nodded and blew my nose.
“Want me to get the T-shirt?”
No, I didn’t want him to leave, not right now. Not another person. “I’m ok,” I croaked.
At this opportune moment, my sister appeared. “Why are you crying?” she asked me in horror. She turned on Shane. “Did you hurt her?”
“Of course not!” I immediately defended him.
