A Soldier’s Family (10 page)

Suspicious anger brought her hands to her hips. “How long have you known about this?”

Manny chewed his lip. “Uh-oh, here it comes. Hurricane Celia makes landfall.”

She pressed palms to her hips and narrowed her eyes at him to the point her upper and lower eyelashes tangled. She blinked to free them. “Well! How long?”

A sigh heaved from him. “Does it matter?”

“Of course it does. If you knew, you should have told me.” She jabbed a finger at the tip of his nose with every word. “Manny Péna, I better not find out you knew about this without telling me immediately because that’s the worst kind of betrayal.”

He leaned back, not wanting to get poked in the eye with her claw of a fingernail. “I think you’re being overly dramatic. I was put in a tough position, Celia. Please try to understand.”

“What’s so hard to understand about the fact that you lied to me by omission? How can I trust that you’d have my son’s best interest at heart?”

“In my opinion, I didn’t lie. I made a judgment call according to what I thought best for Javier.”

She stomped. “That’s not your job. You’re not his parent. I should have been the one making that judgment. Not you.”

He lifted his hands and let them drop. “I’m sorry. That’s all I can say.”

“You have no idea how angry this makes me, Manny. How can you expect—”

“You promised.”

Manny and Celia turned at the sound of Javier’s strained voice. Immediately, Manny rose and ambled toward him.

Javier shook his head, a look of hurt and betrayal twisting his face into someone Celia hardly recognized. Bradley stood behind Javier, eyes wide. He darted back into the game room. Celia suddenly wished Amber was here. Her peacemaking demeanor could diffuse this. But she’d gone to jog and to pick up Bradley’s meds from the pharmacy.

“Javier, listen—” Manny chanced another step forward.

Javier stepped back from Manny, and shook his head. “No. I trusted you. Dude, you promised not to tell.” Tears bubbled in the corners of Javier’s eyes and his voice cracked the way it did when he’d entered puberty.

Celia felt horrible. Horrible. The look of hurt and dismay on both their faces, and this was all her fault for badgering the truth out of Manny. “Maybe Javier and I should go,” Celia said to Manny, and cast a tempered glance at Javier, who visibly trembled. Hopefully she could calm Javier down, and Manny would return the next week to work out with him, and everything would be back to normal.
Dream on.

Javier bolted for the door in a blazing huff. Celia cast an apologetic look at Manny and raced after Javier, who paced at the bottom of the outside stairs.

Manny approached the porch, looking past her to Javier. “When you’re a parent, Javier, you’ll understand what I did for you was with your best interest at heart. I’ll see you around.”

“I doubt it.” Javier sneered and booked it out of the yard.

She followed then, torn, turned back to Manny. Above her, the front door closed with a soft click, leaving her to stand in the cold wind, alone and reeling with the fact that she’d gotten what she wanted.

Manny’s influence out of Javier’s life.

She didn’t need him, right? She could raise her son by herself and prod him to do good just as well as Manny. Then why did she suddenly feel like finding the nearest bathroom and throwing her socks up?

Hopefully she could apologize to Manny and to Javier and that would smooth things over. Just a little glitch, she told herself. This is an easy fix.

Except that old 1970’s Aerosmith song played in her head again.

Dream on.

T
wo weeks with zero contact between the two shot Celia’s hope of reconciliation between Javier and Manny all to Havana. Celia set her lesson plan satchel down after returning from school and peered at the answering machine. Disappointment inflated. Manny wouldn’t return her calls, and Javier would stalk from the room with even a mere mention of Manny’s name.

She’d had complaints from every one of Javier’s teachers, and last night he’d come home from work reeking of alcohol. He threatened to run away if she made him quit his job. What could she do, toss him out on his ear? He certainly wouldn’t seek refuge at Amber’s with Manny there. That left the shelter or the street. Celia knew how treacherous the latter could be.

She had no choice. For some reason, his restaurant job was the one thing that meant the most to him right now. She’d just have to sock it to him where it hurt and hope for the best.

The garage door creaking signaled his arrival home from after-school detention. Since she taught at the Christian elementary school, she couldn’t keep an eye on him. Armed with Javier’s cell phone, she squared her shoulders and went to do battle.

He sauntered in, avoiding where she stood near the kitchen counter. He veered toward his loft room.

“Not so fast, buster.”

Javier stopped on the stairs but didn’t turn around.

“Down here. Now.”

He huffed and tromped down, toting a scowl that she imagined matched her own.

“I smelled alcohol on your breath when you came in last night.”

“Someone spilled beer on me. Besides, everyone drinks.”

“No.” She jabbed a finger at the carpet. “Everyone doesn’t. Especially not underage kids who do stupid things to impress each other like drink too much so they can do stupid things stupider.”

He scowled. “
Stupider’
s not a word, Teach. You’re too old-fashioned. Riding around on dinosaurs screeching in the dark ages.”

She pursed her lips. Maybe if she’d grounded him in a decent church, this belligerent back talk wouldn’t be happening. Gone were the days when she could simply sentence him to a time-out. “God sets the standards, Javier. Not contemporary morality.”

“You’re a fine one to talk. When do you go to church? Try never.”

What could she say? He was right. Maybe she should take Amber and Joel up on the offer to attend theirs.

“You gonna make me stand here all night?” He sulked against the stairs.

“Just might.” When all else fails, try distraction. “Better yet, let’s decide what your punishment will be. For starters, I’m taking your phone.” She lifted it up and removed the battery, placing it in her pocket.

His eyes narrowed. “So? I hardly talk on it.”

“No? You went way over the limit on text messaging and you know the rule. When you pay your part of the bill, you can have your phone back.”

He huffed and swooped past her.

She grabbed his sleeve. “Not finished, Flash. I also changed the computer password. When your grades come up and your teachers stop calling me with misbehavior reports, I’ll tell you what it is.”

He rolled his eyes. “Big deal.” He slouched.

“And I called your boss. You no longer have a job. I resigned you.”

That got him. Straightening, rage stormed from his eyes. “You can’t do that.”

“I most certainly can. And did.”

“You don’t understand why I need that job!” Javier gritted his teeth and took a lumbering step toward Celia. It took everything in her not to flinch. If he laid a hand on her, she
would
call the police, and he
would
spend the night in jail.

As if sensing her resolve, Javier slunk back on his heels and shoved his hands into the pockets of those jeans that drove her nuts because the crotch drooped to his knees.

“Why you doin’ all this, Ma?”

“Why are you doing all you are to mess up your life?”

“I’m not—never mind. You won’t believe me, so who cares.”

“If you’re not going to care about it, then I will.” She jabbed her finger at the floor multiple times for good measure.

“I
do
care about it. You
don’t
understand.” Javier paced one end of the small living room to the other, chin jutted, fists clenched.

“Then help me understand, Javier. Talk to me.”

“I miss Manny, and—and I miss Dad, and I hate you for making them leave me.” He turned and stomped into the garage.

What? Making them leave? She stormed after him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Javier spun. “You always griped at Dad to ‘work overtime, work overtime. We don’t have enough money. Work overtime.’ Well, he did, and he got shot.”

Celia’s knees went weak. She grasped for the doorway, sliding down to the steps. Had he secretly blamed her all these years for Joseph’s death? Is that why he rebelled now?

“Javier, I—I just wanted to have enough money for you to go to college. Don’t you know that I—”

“I don’t care. Whatever it is. I. Don’t. Care. It won’t bring him back.” In one powerful motion, Javier flung his arm in a backward arch, knocking an entire row of tools off the wall shelf. They clattered to the concrete like thoughts in her mind.

Don’t you know I go to sleep with regret in a lonely bed every single night for pressuring him to work overtime that day?

Dizziness swarmed Celia. She stumbled backward, falling into the house. She stood on wobbly legs, so badly wanting to change the past.

Don’t you know if I could, I’d die in his place so he could be here with you?

Leaning against the kitchen wall for support, Celia lowered herself to the floor, heaving air and brushing damp hair from her eyes. The garage door opened, chinking up the rails.

She lunged to standing. The floor tilted. She clung to the wall.

Don’t go. Javier, please don’t leave mad. Your dad left mad and he
—

Her feet wanted to run after her son but they felt like cinder blocks. She forced herself blindly toward the garage door.

At the heart-wringing sound of him sobbing, she stopped. One hand clung to her chest, one to her mouth to keep from wailing. She hadn’t heard him cry since the day of the funeral. Not once.

Maybe he needed to. This was long overdue. Yes, Celia decided, she needed to let him cry it out or to walk off some steam. She no more than finished the thought when her heart lurched in her throat. Did she just hear the car start?

A four-cylinder
vroom
spiked her pulse. “No!”

Tires squealing on her garage floor confirmed her fear.

Javier had taken off in her car. And he had no clue how to drive. Celia bolted to the street in time to see him weave through the intersection at a high rate of speed. “Javier!”

Panic seized her, setting her block feet into motion. She sprinted into the house. Gasping for breath, she reached for the phone, dialed 9-1-1 then phoned Joel at the DZ since Amber took Bradley there after school to watch the guys jump.

Joel’s voice calmed her. “I’ll call Manny to wait with you until we get there.”

“No—” She gulped.

“He’s right down the street.”

The door chimed. Celia went to answer it. “No. Joel, I don’t want Manny knowing about this. He already—”
Thinks I’m a bad mom.
Manny’s frame on her doorstep broke her words off.

“Never mind. He’s already here.” Maybe he picked up the call on a scanner.

Celia hung up as she opened the door. “How did you know—?”

When Manny turned, the enraged look on his face brought her up short.

He stepped forward using his crutches. “Do you know where your son is?”

Celia stepped back at the menacing tone. “I—I—He—We—Why?”

Manny took another step forward, putting him inside Celia’s door. “His first victim was a street sign. My scooter was second on the list. And Joel’s brand-new vinyl fence definitely didn’t make it.” Manny clenched and unclenched his fists in tempo with his jaw. His skin glistened with beads of moisture that trailed down his brown neck.

“Wh-what? What do you mean?” Celia fiddled with buttons at her throat. She needed air. Quick.

Manny gave her open door a curt nod. “See for yourself.”

Celia followed him onto the porch. He pointed at the tangled vehicles that now resembled a tossed glass-and-metal salad near the Montgomerys’ home at the end of the block. The smell of oil and gasoline dominated the air. Manny’s scooter lay in pieces. Her car sat cockeyed in a pile of excavated grass.

Her heart clunked to her feet. The flower beds Amber worked so hard to maintain, mangled to death.

Just like her son was going to be the next time she laid eyes on him. If he didn’t mangle himself first.

A closer glance into the vehicle revealed an empty seat. The way the door hung open, Javier had obviously fled on foot, probably into the nearby woods. Her son had wrecked her one and only vehicle, not to mention Manny’s very expensive scooter and the Montgomerys’ fence. Sirens whined in the distance. Or maybe they were close and she was on the verge of passing out so they just seemed far away.

Her world spun. She rested a hand on her porch rail for support. Celia stared at the wreck, feeling the heat of Manny’s glare on her. What could she do? What could she say?

According to the livid look on his face? Nothing that would make a difference.

Her body felt frozen, her mouth catatonic. Of all the people her teenage son could have plowed into…it had to be him. The man who liked her least and annoyed her most.

Manny shifted his weight to place one hand on his lean hip. “Well?”

Celia swallowed past the stricture in her throat. “We’ll pay for the damage. I’m very sorry.” The last words wobbled out, her voice fractured. Tears stung.

“We’ll?
We’ll
pay?” Manny clenched his jaw.

“Me. I will.” Obviously he thought it if were left up to Javier, he’d never get his money. Or maybe he didn’t think that at all, judging by frustration burgeoning on his face.

Despicable, traitorous tears welled in her eyes. Celia thought compassion flickered on and off behind the angry smokescreen in Manny’s, which seemed suddenly darker. Lethal black, in fact. She knew she wasn’t imagining it when his rigid stance relaxed.

It lasted three seconds before he turned to stone again.

He stepped nose-to-nose with her. “If you take care of this for him, he’ll never learn his lesson.” His challenging tone and pointed gaze dared her to argue.

She lifted her chin. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

His eyes narrowed into slats. “As I said before, you’re way too easy on him discipline-wise. You stifle his more noble strengths, then wonder why he does what he does. You need to lighten up where it doesn’t matter and tighten up where it does.”

Just where did he get off? Her anger notched up defensively. “How dare you give me advice on raising my kid when you don’t have any of your—Oh!” Celia clamped hands over her mouth the second she remembered. Too late.

Claws of dread clutched her shoulders.

Manny stiffened as if he’d been shot. He stared at her mouth as if white phosphorous, which incinerated everything within a thousand-foot radius, spewed from it. The profound hurt that flashed over his face lanced her heart with sincere regret. Remorse pushed Celia forward to place a hand on his forearm. He stepped back. Rage simmered in his eyes. He shook his head slowly, glaring deeply, signaling it was not okay to get close. Not okay what she said. Not okay. Period.

“I—Manny—I’m so sorry. That was a horrible thing for me to say.” She swallowed, voice warbling. “I know that you had a son because Joel told me about the drowning that led to your divorce and subsequently your wife’s overdose—”

His hand halted her words. “Save it.” His tone remained menacing, his glare icy. He turned to leave. She feared the hand rungs on his crutches would splinter the way he gripped them with white-knuckled fists.

Celia watched his retreat, desperate to make amends. She waved her arms and hurried after Manny. “Wait!”

Please don’t go. Don’t leave mad. Joseph left mad and never came home.

“Wait! Manny! Wait. Please.” She grasped for his back.

He half turned his torso…out of her reach. Her mind reeled, clamored, clawed for something substantial to say. Anything to keep him here, make him talk. Keep him safe. What could she say? What could she say to make him stay?

She swallowed bile. “What…what about the accident?” Her lips trembled but there was no help for it.

“What about it?” He tossed the angry, despondent words over his shoulder and stalked away, leaving her to stare first at his retreating back. Then into the shattered windshield of her car, and to wonder where her son had run off to.

Her husband had died because the only person who could help him left the crime scene. And her son had just fled the scene of an accident. She’d raised him to ruin. Now she’d irrevocably shattered her friendship with Manny.

“What have I done?” Celia breathed the prayer, dreading the answer. She knew exactly what.
Open mouth—insert shoe store.

She’d unleashed lethal words, wounding another human being.

Again.

She’d pounded another mallet into the already-present wedge between her and the only man her son had looked up to since his father died. She slid to the curb.

She swallowed back a sob and dropped her chin to her chest. “God, I’m sorry. Half my sin would cease if I’d super-glue my mouth shut. I am acutely ashamed of myself. Manny doesn’t know You as well as I do. It’s going to take a miracle to get him to forgive me. Please, help me learn to control my tongue if it’s the last thing I do.”

When police arrived, Celia stood and filled out reports in a half daze while officers scoured the neighborhood woods for Javier.

Her son. The fugitive.

About ten minutes later, Manny ambled back up on his crutches and filled out his part of the report, never once looking at her. The stubborn set to his jaw told her what she didn’t want to know. He’d retained his fury.