AllFreeNovel
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1996 - 1998
Knocking on the door, Leo stared at the cobblestones of the porch. Gil answered as if he was expecting him. He’d known Leo a long time so he probably was.
Amelia’s father gestured for him to enter and led the way to his study. They sat, two men sharing various forms of grief, and didn’t speak for a long time.
Finally, Leo asked, “Can you tell me where she is?”
Inhaling deeply, Gil told him, “The West Coast. Back when I worked a real job, I had some contacts in the computer industry. I reached out to someone who made it possible for Amy to disappear from her life. She-she doesn’t want to be in hers anymore.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t blame her. I’ve thought about running myself.”
“Why don’t you?”
Gil sat back and folded his hands in his lap. He cleared his throat. “I know you hate Augusta and you should. I-I can’t hate her. I don’t know why. It makes me feel weak but...I still remember the girl she was when I met her.”
Looking for anything to stop his own pain, Leo begged for distraction. “Tell me about it.”
“I traveled here for business. Explaining computers to people who didn’t have a clue. It was the winter and I’d never experienced anything like it where I grew up in South Carolina. I got sicker than a dog within hours of landing. Augusta was the counter girl at the drugstore. Prettiest girl I’d ever seen and quick-witted. I was older by ten years and didn’t realize she was flirting until I got back to my hotel.”
He chuckled sadly. “I went back there every day for one stupid purchase or another. I fell for her within a week. Came back in the spring and asked her to marry me. I didn’t have much and she came from even less.” Gil stared through the window but saw nothing beyond it. “It didn’t matter.”
For almost a minute, he seemed lost in thought. “We had Amy and when she was five, Augusta won the lottery. It was something I teased her about...playing every week. The first year, we were normal people with a lot of money.” He cleared his throat. “Then it changed. I-I don’t know for sure what caused it but I think it was Augusta going to her ten-year high school reunion. She was beautiful, intelligent, and had a family. More than a lot of folks there had. A woman there had this ridiculous photo book of her daughter in all these pageants and things.”
“She knew the woman?”
Gil nodded. “They were rivals of some sort in school. I don’t know much because she wouldn’t talk about it but...after that, our lives were different.” He gestured at the room. “She had this house built and enrolled Amy in all sorts of classes for dance and so forth. My little girl was always smiling and happy. She loved learning new things and I thought it was good for her.”
Meeting Leo’s eyes, he sighed heavily. “When Amy started middle school, the fun of it started to wane. She was tired, didn’t like missing classes, and thought the other people at the pageants were mean. Augusta became violently protective. Got into nasty altercations with one pageant mom or organizer after another. She pulled Amy out of school more and...you know how that went.”
The older man twisted his hands together tightly in his lap. “I excused things I shouldn’t have and refused to argue in front of Amy. My own parents used to have raging fights in front of me and it was the one thing I forbade in this house. Once in a while, I’d catch a glimpse of that counter girl. The woman I fell in love with.”
Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his knees. “I have no excuse and that’s the truth. I said as much to Amy. I thought about leaving two years ago but Augusta let me know I wouldn’t have visitation. It went from bad to worse but I didn’t know how far she’d fallen.”
Standing, Gil walked across the room and poured himself a drink with a shaking hand. He drank it quickly.
“Now I’m alone in this big, rambling house and I have no clue what to do with myself. There are horrible memories here but...also good ones. My relatives are gone or scattered, my ex-wife is in prison for awful crimes against my only child, and my daughter is damaged beyond belief and running from what she wants more than anything.”
He shrugged. “I have nowhere to go, Leo. Amy came to me because she knew I’d help but she hasn’t begun to forgive me for my part in what happened. She might never reach that place and I understand.”
“What will you do?”
“I keep selling stuff and it’s liberating. Over and over, I told Augusta to stop accumulating things but...it was a fever in her brain. I hate the clutter. I placed everything I knew was important to Augusta in a condo that I’ll keep for her until she’s released from prison. I split everything after I made sure our child was taken care of. I guess I’ll sit here and try to think of a way I can be useful.”
Pouring another drink, he returned to the couch. “What about you, Leo? What will you do?”
“I leave for college tomorrow. Staying here makes things worse. I need to work, study, and push myself so I can numb all of it. I don’t want to feel anything. I just want to be a robot, going through the motions until they feel real again.”
“I’m sorry about the baby, Leo. I’m sorry about what was done to Amy...and how all of this has gone off the rails. It doesn’t seem possible for so much to change in three months.”
Blinking against tears, Leo whispered, “She blames herself. I tried so hard to convince her…” Shaking his head, he said, “Never mind. It doesn’t matter now.”
He stood up and Gil did, too. “Let me know if she needs anything but...I think she believes that being with me made her weaker.”
“You’ve always been steady, Leo. It didn’t make her weak but Amy didn’t have to worry because you handled everything. You’re intelligent and capable beyond your years. She got used to leaning on you.” They walked to the front door and Gil put his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “I’ll keep you posted - let you know she’s safe.”
“Thanks.” Wiping at tears that fell against his will, Leo told Amelia’s father, “I never saw the end coming. Even after the baby and all of that...I never saw this. One more loss on top of the rest. Guess it’s good I’m so strong, huh? Let her keep thinking I’m invincible. No need for her to worry. Bye, Gil.”
“Take care of yourself, Leo.”
“There’s no one else so I might as well.” He walked rapidly to the car and slid in the back. Baylor closed the door behind him. He whispered to himself, “Fuck all of it.”
