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“Not everything, Carrie.”
“Well, lots of things, anyway.”
“That was before you dumped me for Maggie,” he says sarcastically. Then he adds quickly, “Don’t be upset. I’m not. I expected that when Maggie and I divorced, everyone would take sides. Maggie got all our friends.”
This makes me laugh. “I’ve missed you.”
“Yeah. I guess I’ve sort of missed you too.” He flips the hamburger, puts a prewrapped piece of cheese on top, opens a bun, and places the two pieces on either side.
“You want onions and peppers?”
“Sure.” I fool around with the bottles of mustard and ketchup, until I can’t stand the guilt any longer. “Walt. I have something to tell you. It’s really horrible, and you’re probably going to want to kill me, but don’t, okay?”
He lifts the hamburger onto the bottom of the bun. “Lemme guess. Maggie is pregnant.”
“She is?” I ask in shock.
“How would I know?” he asks, sliding the cheeseburger onto a plastic plate and pushing it toward me.
I stare down at the burger. “Walt. I know.”
“So she is pregnant,” he says, resigned, as if this was always going to be a foregone conclusion.
“Not about Maggie.” I take a bite of the burger. “About you.”
He wipes the counter with a cloth. “I can assure you I’m not pregnant.”
“Come on, Walt.” I hesitate, holding the burger between my hands like a shield. If I’m going to tell him, I have to do it now. “Don’t be mad, please. But you’ve been acting so strangely. I thought you were in some kind of trouble. And then Sebastian—”
“What about Sebastian?” he asks, his voice tightening.
“He said he’d seen you—at that place. And then The Mouse and I—we spied on you.”
There. I’ve said it. And I will not tell him Maggie was there. I mean, I will tell him, eventually. After he digests this information.
Walt breaks out into a nervous laugh. “And what d
id you see?”
I’m so relieved he’s not angry I take another bite of the cheeseburger. “You,” I say with my mouth full. “And Randy Sandler.”
He freezes, and then yanks his apron over his head. “That’s just great,” he says bitterly. “How many other people know besides you now?”
“No one,” I insist. “We didn’t tell anyone. We wouldn’t. I mean, it’s your business, not ours, right?”
“Apparently it is your business.” He throws the apron into the sink and stalks out the swinging door in back.
I sigh. Can this evening get any worse?
I grab my coat and run after him. He’s standing behind the restaurant, trying to light up a cigarette. “Walt, I’m sorry.”
He shakes his head as he inhales, holds the smoke in his lungs, and slowly releases it. “It was going to come out anyway.” He takes another drag. “Although I was hoping I could keep it a secret until I go to college and get away from my father.”
“Why? What’s he going to do?”
“Ground me. Or send me to one of those shrinks who are supposed to convert you back to straightdom. Or maybe he’ll send me to a priest, who will tell me what a sinner I am. Wouldn’t that be ironic?”
“I feel horrible.”
