Chapter 353: Tangers XXXII—Too Much to Handle
The second I saw their faces, I knew something had gone wrong, terribly wrong and I knew I was a fool to ever trust that Dan Hinote was a man of his word. I couldn’t pin exactly what had happened but Patty had a real severe look on his face when he opened the door. I had come over brimming with confusion and elation about Penelope’s call to me and I had wanted to ask Michele about the right thing to do or something but that look. His face was pale and his eyes glowed with fire and his lips were pulled in a tight line. He looked as if he had just lost an important game, an elimination game. “Hello, Alex,” he said but his voice sounded so cheerful and then the anger melted off his face so quickly that I wondered if I had imagined the whole thing.
“Hi Patty,” I said and I felt a little awkward walking into the house. I took of my coat and didn’t say anything as I hung it up; I even let the puppy snarl at my ankles without saying anything. “What’s going on?”
“Oh nothing,” Patrick replied and his voice sounded deep and low, the cheerfulness had gone from it.
That’s when Danny came out of the kitchen, and his face, oh I could see it, his eyes were cast to his feet and he had his hands shoved into his coat pockets and he walked so heavily and fast to the door. It didn’t take a genius to realize that he was trying to make an escape. “Hey, Danny,” I said feeling suspicious.
“Hey, Tangs,” Danny said briskly and he didn’t say a thing to Patty, he just went out the front door. He didn’t slam it but he did close it heavily enough to make a point he probably didn’t want to make.
I looked at Patty for an answer and I saw his narrowed eyes. “Did you know he was here?” I asked, and I didn’t want to know the answer. I really didn’t need to know but I had to ask.
“Of course I did,” Patty replied in an annoyed voice, a cutting voice and I could feel inside that he didn’t know, or had only recently found out. “What do you want, Alex?”
I gulped. “Well, Patty I just came over to ask if you wanted to come play some pool or something but if I’m bothering….”
“Not today, Alex,” Patrick said and he ran his fingers through his hair. “I have some things I need to do at home today, maybe some other time.”
“Oh,” I said, backing away from him. My stomach hurt and I felt angry, I knew that somehow Dan had found a way to mess things up here, and Patrick was preparing to clean up the mess. And I couldn’t blame Michele, I couldn’t because, well because in my mind only Danny could be at fault for this. “Well I guess I should be going now, I guess. I mean I don’t want to be in your way.”
Patrick grimaced and lifted his eyebrows, his eyes sparkled.
“Alex you can stop by later, I’m sure the children would love to see you,” I heard Michele’s voice from the kitchen. It sounded like it had the same low tones as Patrick’s, she spoke slowly, her words sounded insincere and careful, and tired. My instincts told me to go into that kitchen and grab her by the shoulders and look her straight in the eyes to find out where her heart lay. She couldn’t possibly want to destroy her own family, she couldn’t! But common sense told me that this was a place I didn’t belong, and these were things I didn’t have a right to know, and I should leave right now.
And as I got into the car, I felt my teeth creaking under the force of my angry clenched jaw. Danny was gone; I hadn’t noticed his car when I drove up to the house because I had been filled with thoughts about myself. I was angry because Danny had just used my arrival at the house as the perfect opportunity to escape any type of immediate responsibilities or consequences for whatever had just happened. What had Patrick seen? That tore into my gut as well, I had seen a kiss, if he had seen more…. I shut my eyes. No I couldn’t think of that happening.
By the time I had got home, I was crying and I couldn’t stop until I just crawled into bed. I admit it, right there I had felt as if my own flesh and blood had been attacked and I had been powerless to do anything about it.
I woke up with my phone howling at my ear. I opened my eyes and wrinkled my nose because my mouth tasted like a swamp smelled and it was dark and I grabbed the phone and almost hung it back up. Curiosity got the better of me and I pulled it to my ear. “Hello?”
“Alex, my love.”
Oh that pretty airy voice, that girlishly light, kittenish, Spanish voice. I sat up and felt my outrage and pain melting away into a completely knew pain. “Penelope!”
“You did not call me. I told you to.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Yes she called yesterday and I had fallen on my butt and winced in pain as she breathlessly told me that she wanted to be with me and could I ever find it in my heart to care for her as much as she did for me. Oh she didn’t have time to talk but she left me a phone number I burned into my brain and told me that I had to call her back, and she would be counting on me to call her. She begged me to call because she just wanted to talk if anything and all I could do at that time was squeak and moan.
“Why did not you call? Eh? What’s wrong with you not to call me?” I heard a snappish slight in her voice. Oh it was an annoyed snip that I knew I could follow half way around the world to bask in.
“Things happened,” I sighed and then I remembered everything.
“What sort of things? Is this bad?”
“Family things, yeah it’s bad.” I felt my eyes moisten all over again and spill with tears. Oh heavens now she would hear me as a sobbing mess because in a few minutes I knew I would be incapacitated and blubbering.
“Oh I’m sorry, Alex,” she breathed. “I did not know this, forgive me.”
“Oh it’s not your fault,” I said and I hiccupped.
“You’re crying!” She exclaimed. “Who has made you for to cry? I will kill him! And if it is a her I will claw out her eyes!”
I grinned, and the way she said “keel” softened me more realizing that I was now overwrought with too many things to handle. I laid back into my pillows and pulled my comforter around my body and sank into softness. “No it’s gonna work itself out, things always do I guess. No killing is necessary.”
“Are you sure?” Penelope giggled. “Because I have a vast arsenal, vast of many weapons,” her voice became low and sounded haunting. “I can be your hired assassin, psshht like that and you never have to worry about anyone crossing your path again!”
Now a genuinely wide smile cut into my face. “Are you drunk or something?”
“Now that’s not nice, here I offer services and you just brush me off as drunk!” And she didn’t sound offended, merely amused and playful. My heart sank with each sound of her breath, and voice, because she didn’t seem real to me. She seemed like a phantom I’ll never be able to really touch or have.
“I’m
sorry,” I said and my chest tightened.
“Good,” Penelope replied, “Now
I will come to next game, I have tickets, so I will see you there, and this
time I expect you to look for me.”
“Of course,” I said, “Where will you be sitting? I bet I can get you better tickets.”
“Eh of course perhaps you can but Tom has some good tickets that I suppose are…”
I sighed. My heart sank further down than it could ever.
“What is wrong?”
I didn’t answer her.
“Alex?”
Just a dream, I thought. It’s not fair. “I need to get to practice early, if it’s okay.”
“Oh I understand,” she said brightly, like a child cruel in her ignorance. “You need sleep and rest and I keep you from this. Buenos noches Alex my love, score me a hat-full of goals yes?”
I felt my mouth pull at one corner. “Sure, a whole hatful, good night.”
When I hung
up the phone I thought about crying but no more tears were left in my body. And
then I thought about the goal net, I thought about the game and the